World Cup Russia 2018

[I asked LT to delete my acct]

I find it ironic that the highlight of this game was the attempted Mexican wave so far.

 

[PackerFan71]

Ashley Young...........not quite as good as Ronaldo.

 

[PackerFan71]

That was pretty awful to watch, good goals by Kane however. Ohh dear the usual suspects are bigging up england already.

 

[Itkovian]

That was pretty awful to watch, good goals by Kane however. Ohh dear the usual suspects are bigging up england already.

It's funny how the talk surrounding the match went from "England still suck" to "England are champions!" In the 93rd minute

 

[PackerFan71]

It's funny how the talk surrounding the match went from "England still suck" to "England are champions!" In the 93rd minute

Exactly, this is why some find their football team so annoying at world cups because the media hype up their chances to the max, its always been this way. If Tunisa had forced a draw it would have been all doom and gloom again. They have one world class player when hes on form (Harry Kane) the rest are pretty standard at the highest level. Their sensible supporters know this.

 

[Itkovian]

I must say, that was a wild first matchday.

I expect less surprises this one.

 

[Bundesbiers]

I'm surprised, what penalty call should have been made ?
There wasnt a single situation on both sides where a penalty should have been called.
However, very good game by Mexico.

I think I may have been thinking it was the 70th minute where Hummels clearly takes down Hernandez in the box. I think they called it offsides in Hernandez. otherwise, it would have been a penalty.

 

[I asked LT to delete my acct]

I think I may have been thinking it was the 70th minute where Hummels clearly takes down Hernandez in the box. I think they called it offsides in Hernandez. otherwise, it would have been a penalty.

He's a typical German Bunds, he doesn't see obvious things that happen in games 1966 comes to mind for some reason....lol

 

[mhnessie]

He's a typical German Bunds, he doesn't see obvious things that happen in games 1966 comes to mind for some reason....lol

The only thing that comes to my mind when thinking of 66 is a (bribed) Russian Linesman

 

[I asked LT to delete my acct]

The only thing that comes to my mind when thinking of 66 is a (bribed) Russian Linesman

God Almighty, that's a new one even for you.....lol

 

[Bundesbiers]

Well clearly VAR isn't working. Idiot FIFA.

I feel bad for Serbia and Sweden. Absolutely no excuse for not calling these clear penalties.

 

[Croak]

Hey Buggy, I don't think we'll cash in our chips just yet. If Sweden beats Mexico (longshot) and when Germany defeats South Korea, we are in like Flynn.....

 

[mhnessie]

Wow, absolutely deserved win yesterday. Not only because of the fact that Germany was the better team, especially in the second half. Sweden and its destructive time-wasting behaviour simply did not deserve any better.
This time-wasting is something that can be seen at this WC all the time, it's ridiculous and I cant remember any other WC before where it was nearly as bad as this time.
Substitutions take almost 3-5 minutes, thats also bad sportsmanship. This WC also lacks of quality and increasing the number of teams to 48 (!) in 2026 wont make it better.
Regarding the penalty - you can call this and we couldnt complain if the ref had made the call but I have my doubts that the outcome of the game had been different. Sweden had started their time-wasting manner of playing football just 15 minutes earlier.
However, I must say that the German team is not good enough to win the WC again. You cant win another title with overrated players like Ozil (since years) and players like Hummels, Boateng, Muller and Khedira that seem to have nothing left in the tank. Especially Muller is a mystery to me, dont know what happened with him. Regarding Boateng there must be a reason why Bayern is willing to let him go if there is an offer.
Very impressed by Belgium so far, they could be one of the biggest surprises but lets see how they do when they play one of the better teams.

 

[PackerFan71]

Sweden had a gameplan that nearly worked, park the bus and hit on the counter. If their finishing was better Germany would have had the lead long before the Kroos face saver at the end. Boateng seems a bit of a joke player why is he playing at all? there must be an alternative. At this time Germans as a team seem a little burned out, i agree with nessie about them retaining their title. Will the win turn the tide for them in the tourney? we will see soon enough. Some of the other group games have seemed a little pointless, and were almost unwatchable at this World Cup. VAR is inperfect its plain to see, and there is always going to be mistakes.

 

[Itkovian]

Wow, absolutely deserved win yesterday. Not only because of the fact that Germany was the better team, especially in the second half. Sweden and its destructive time-wasting behaviour simply did not deserve any better.
This time-wasting is something that can be seen at this WC all the time, it's ridiculous and I cant remember any other WC before where it was nearly as bad as this time.
Substitutions take almost 3-5 minutes, thats also bad sportsmanship. This WC also lacks of quality and increasing the number of teams to 48 (!) in 2026 wont make it better.
Regarding the penalty - you can call this and we couldnt complain if the ref had made the call but I have my doubts that the outcome of the game had been different. Sweden had started their time-wasting manner of playing football just 15 minutes earlier.
However, I must say that the German team is not good enough to win the WC again. You cant win another title with overrated players like Ozil (since years) and players like Hummels, Boateng, Muller and Khedira that seem to have nothing left in the tank. Especially Muller is a mystery to me, dont know what happened with him. Regarding Boateng there must be a reason why Bayern is willing to let him go if there is an offer.
Very impressed by Belgium so far, they could be one of the biggest surprises but lets see how they do when they play one of the better teams.

Boateng definitely has lost a bit. Muller was the highest rated player on the field yesterday so I dont know where you are getting that part.

Khedira and Ozil need to go. They are no help at all.

Low still confuses me though; I have no idea why he played Rudiger instead of Sule.

 

[PackerFan71]

Fair enough england are doing what they have to do, but how the heck does a squad such as Panama reach the World Cup?

 

[mhnessie]

Fair enough england are doing what they have to do, but how the heck does a squad such as Panama reach the World Cup?

Come on, Panama played against the new World Cup Winners England. They're going to make it after todays game. For sure !
But to be serious, yes that exactly the problem of the World Cup, too many teams taking part that may have one their qualifiers but certainly lack quality to play a tournament like this. On the other hand its sometimes fun to have those teams there. But what we see at the moment is a clear argument against a WC with 48 teams, as said before it will even getting worse.
But we all know its all about politics and business.
And back on England - they look good, but will be interesting to see what happens when they play a better team for the first time. Must admit that I like Harry Kane and his style of playing football. Seems to have a good work ethic and certainly is one of their leaders.

 

[mhnessie]

Muller was the highest rated player on the field yesterday so I dont know where you are getting that part.

To me and many of other watching friends he was one of the worst players and he was rated bad in German media.
Besides Gundogan and Draxler he got the lowest ratings. In our German system from 1(best) to 6 (worst) he got a 4.5 by KICKER for example. Thats bad and exactly how he played imho.
Gundogan got a 5, he was indeed the worst player on the field.
We both know that Muller can do better and I wonder where the "old" Muller is, the one that surprises with scoring goals out of situations where you never would have expected it.

 

[Bundesbiers]

Fair enough england are doing what they have to do, but how the heck does a squad such as Panama reach the World Cup?

The answer is in the bolded. It's called the World Cup and therefore teams from all Continents will represent, regardless of quality. Panama rightfully qualified in CONCACAF for the 1st time in their history. Not surprising they aren't performing well in their debut to the World Cup. Add to that the fact the WC is on European soil this year, non Euro teams are likely to not make it far.

I could see Panama performing better in 2026 when the WC is on North American soil.

 

[PackerFan71]

The answer is in the bolded. It's called the World Cup and therefore teams from all Continents will represent, regardless of quality. Panama rightfully qualified in CONCACAF for the 1st time in their history. Not surprising they aren't performing well in their debut to the World Cup. Add to that the fact the WC is on European soil this year, non Euro teams are likely to not make it far.

I could see Panama performing better in 2026 when the WC is on North American soil.

Im not going to make this a europe, america thing............just saying in terms of todays performance at world level they aint up to it. I seem to remember Costa Rica desevedly beat my country and sweden in Italy in 1990, teams from over there have done well in european world cups.

Edit : I used to buy into that theory but now not so sure, Germany won in Brazil and other european teams have also contested Finals in countrys outside of europe.

 

[Bundesbiers]

Im not going to make this a europe, america thing............just saying in terms of performance at world level they aint up to it.

They aren't up to it. But that's not a factor in actually being there.

 

[PackerFan71]

Come on, Panama played against the new World Cup Winners England. They're going to make it after todays game. For sure !
But to be serious, yes that exactly the problem of the World Cup, too many teams taking part that may have one their qualifiers but certainly lack quality to play a tournament like this. On the other hand its sometimes fun to have those teams there. But what we see at the moment is a clear argument against a WC with 48 teams, as said before it will even getting worse.
But we all know its all about politics and business.
And back on England - they look good, but will be interesting to see what happens when they play a better team for the first time. Must admit that I like Harry Kane and his style of playing football. Seems to have a good work ethic and certainly is one of their leaders.

I stand corrected.

 

[Bundesbiers]

And this is why the missed penalty kick makes a difference. Had Germany and Sweden tied, Mexico would already be thru and:

1: They can rest their starters and have fresh legs for the Round of 16
2: Save on yellow card accumulation for the resting starters (a big deal)

Now, Mexico will not be able to do any of these things. And in fact, if Germany beats S Korea (likely) and Sweden beats Mexico, all 3 teams will have 6 points and unless the scoreline is Germany 1:0 S Korea and Sweden 1: Mexico 0, then Mexico would be out due to GD. All of that decided because of the missed PK try. VAR was designed to get rid of these mistakes by the on-field ref's, and twice it's failed when it was clear. Shame.

 

[Bundesbiers]

That crossed my mind, would be a first that a team with that many points went home if it panned out that way. Mexico should cover all bases and go all out for the win, to play for a draw or field a weak team would be crazy.

Well now they HAVE to field their best team. However, if Germany had tied Sweden, then they would not have.

 

[Bundesbiers]

Unless every single challenge is stopped and looked at VAR will miss so many incidents in the game, its far from perfect because the refs are not either.

I'm not talking about regular challenges, I'm talking about fouls in the box that would result in a penalty kick. The VAR people are there to quickly rewind and look at it closely and signal the referee that he needs to re-look. That doesn't happen a lot in any game to support this. Twice, so obvious in replays, they should have signaled the referee to look... and nothing was done. It's incredible.