FIFA World Cup 2018 chat thread

[sussexpob]

Whatever god the Portuguese team believe in.... hes the real one.

Rubbish in the Euros in every game, win it. Rubbish against Spain, get a point. Rubbish against Morocco, but there is seemingly a force field around the net.....

Id just love to see them get smashed apart. They are such a crappy team

[Gingerfinch]

After watching 20 mins of it, I said to a colleague that there is no way this game is finishing 1-0, and what d'ya know!

[sussexpob]

Pepe trying his best to make every neutral support his team

[mikesiva]

Well well. A round of upsets. Maybe there's something in the water - the so-called big guns have struggled, while unfancied teams have raised their games. Is this indicative that the world game is getting more competitive? Or just a bit of a slow start, and business as usual. Makes the second round seem all the more exciting.

That said, I can't believe the Russia results. After Uruguay limped passed Egypt, Russia get through with no issue? Now, home field advantage is pretty important, and Saudi and Egypt are poor teams (Salah aside), but pre-tournament, Russia were also considered one of the weakest teams in the comp. I was listening to a podcast this morning that talked about the amount of potential corruption, both in terms of Russia getting the tournament in the first place, and how games could be fixed/referees bought to favour the home side. It does make you wonder. Will be interesting to see what happens when they line up against Uruguay, and presumably either Spain or Portugal in round 2.

I doubt the Saudi players are short of a Bob or two and therefore vulnerable to bribery. I just think they are bad.

We will soon how bad when they play Uruguay.

It's not like Peru who received vital shipments of grain the day after they lost6-0 to Argentina in 1978. Saudi Arabia players most likely had more to gain from winning than losing. MBS would have been generous.

This Russia team reminds me of the Soviet union in 1986. A hard running team that might be picked apart in the knockout stage.

[sussexpob]

Peru had already qualified though I think, wasnt it Argentina needed the points to get to the semis or something?

cant be as bad as the Germany v Austria game where they basically agreed the result then passed the ball around for 90 mins

[mikesiva]

That 1982 game was a disgrace!

Suarez gave Uruguay another 1-0 win. Saudi Arabia were better this time around but Uruguay just wanted three points and they got them.

Stodgy Uruguay are through to the knockout stage. They might not be pretty but their atletico Madrid defensive pairing of Godin and Gimenez look like a good centre back duo.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia go home.

[sussexpob]

Mike,

Apparently the 1978 grain thing is one of several suggested or leaked rumours about that game, seems one of those explanations that fits a result. I was wrong, it was Argentina that needed 4 goals to qualify for the final, Peru had already been eliminated in the second group round. Might have been as simple as Peru had nothing to play for and Argentina had a lot to play for, in front of a roaring crowd. I guess you add a lot of context, and it sounds believable. Dodgy government, massive turnaround on form, almost unfathomable result. Guess we will never know.

Its weird, I spoke to a guy in Trelew in Argentina at a former prison where the military government sent people (and murdered or tortured them) at the time the world cup was on. He says that all the people alive back then will tell you Argentina only one world cup. There is a significant campaign in Argentina that has a lot of support that wants the title officially stripped, but the FA doesnt want it. I did some research and asked other people because I thought he was talking rubbish, and they all said similar things. They dont acknowledge the 1978 World Cup, its never talked about, its never mentioned, they never claim it or play the replays to make people proud. Its like it never happened. The nation totally ignore it.

[sussexpob]

Its games like this that make you ask why referees just dont blow for the game to continue when players are literally rolling around for no reason. You want to throw yourself on the deck because someone farted near you, fine, but the opposition play over you.

Iran have been wasting time since minute 1

[sussexpob]

Now hopefully we see some attacking

[sussexpob]

Tight offside call for Iran, but seems a handball too... good call, even if unpopular

[The Professor]

I think Vuvuzelas annoy me more than Andy Flower

[sussexpob]

I think Vuvuzelas annoy me more than Andy Flower

That's not possible

[bigfluffylemon]

Whatever god the Portuguese team believe in.... hes the real one.

Rubbish in the Euros in every game, win it. Rubbish against Spain, get a point. Rubbish against Morocco, but there is seemingly a force field around the net.....

Id just love to see them get smashed apart. They are such a crappy team

I think they believe in the god they call Ronaldo. Can't stand the pr1ck myself, but he has basically dragged the team through these two games single handed.

Anyway, job done for Spain and Portugal, they're all but through. They both need a draw in their final game to guarantee it, but either side can even go through on an unlikely loss if the result in the other game falls in their favour (and for Spain even if they lose, the odds favour them going through - about the only situation where they don't is if they lose to Morocco by two goals or more. Not gonna happen).

Russia posting better results than Uruguay against the other two group teams . They'll top the group in the event of a draw, but one side plays Spain and the other Portugal - topping the group may not necessarily give much benefit.

[bigfluffylemon]

It probably won't pan out this way, but in the current circumstances, it's not impossible that England could finish second in the group, play Japan in round 2, and if they win that face the winner of a Mexico-Switzerland tie in the QF, before hitting one of Spain/Portugal in the SF.

It's actually possible that all four of Spain, France, Germany and Brazil could end up in the other half of the draw. And we'll know if that's the case by the time Belgium take on England. If that's so, it may be that neither side particularly wants to win the game.

Of course, being England, it probably won't matter anyway.

[Alviro Patterson]

By heck those Iranians are a half decent outfit, even if they were parking every mode of transport in front of goal for the most part. Very encouraging that the Spanish defence is breachable with a decent targetman in the team (i.e. Harry Kane)

Diego Costa trodding on the Iranian keepers foot (who even threw the ball out of play) and VAR not even giving a free kick, let alone a yellow card shows the system is useless.