All things Football (soccer) related

[warspite1]

Nice one Socceroos!!

I assume its the heat, but both teams seemed to be running through treacle in that second half.....

France vs Denmark should be tasty.

[warspite1]

Well it started so well with the Aussies. Sadly it all went downhill from then.....

Poland, France and now Argentina

[Torplexed]

The final matches of Group C are going to be epic and fun to watch.

Mexico has to beat the Saudis. The Saudis have to beat Mexico.

Poland just needs a draw to advance. Argentina probably advances on a draw, unless the Saudis do beat Mexico. And Poland isn’t secure. Depending on how things go in the other match, they could go out with a loss to Argentina.

I'm enjoying the chaos.

[warspite1]

This world cup is not proving a great advert for football.... How can you give a penalty because a player, who is already falling over when the ball goes behind him, puts his arm out to break his fall. The ball then hits his arm - but he can't even know where the ball is because its already behind him????

Madness. And when is Ronaldo going to retire? What a thoroughly unlikeable character. How can he claim a goal from a team mate who deserved the goal, when the ball CLEARLY never hit him?? Rubbish...

Still its not all bad news. There won't be too many Spurs players involved at the sharp end of the tournament at this rate

[Torplexed]

Ugh, don’t really know why they’ve suddenly switched to playing the matches two at a time.

[warspite1]

Ugh, don’t really know why they’ve suddenly switched to playing the matches two at a time.

warspite1

It's been that way since 1986. In the 1982 World Cup (and previously) the final group games weren't played at the same time. Problem with that is that the teams playing second had the advantage as they knew exactly what they had to do.

Hence the great West Germany vs Austria stitch up. Algeria had played their final game earlier so the Germans and Austrians knew what result was needed to ensure they both went through..... funnily enough that result was achieved and the poor Algerians went home

[warspite1]

Socceroos!!!!!!!!!! Well done Australia - but Denmark were poooer......

[warspite1]

I felt sorry for Mexico last night. Poland just didn't deserve their place in the last 16. They did enough, just, but that was a very lucky set of results that went their way and they made absolutely no effort to even try and score. They would have deserved it had Mexico scored instead of Saudi Arabia.

I suspect France are licking their lips at playing them!

[warspite1]

Two days of really exciting final group matches.

Unbelievable goings on in the Costa Rica, Germany, Japan and Spain group. For three minutes it was possible that Germany and Spain were both going out.... amazing. As it was the Germans went out.

Today we had a tense ending with South Korea, Uruguay and Ghana slugging it out for one slot. So pleased South Korea got the vital goal they needed almost two minutes into stopage time. Even then there was a nervous wait for the South Koreans as they had to wait for the Uruguay - Ghana match to finish. One goal for Uruguay and they were out. Fortunately it didn’t happen. Nice assist for Sonny.

[Torplexed]

Some members of the Uruguayan team were harassing the refs all the way into the tunnel too. Not a good look.

[warspite1]

Unlucky Socceroos Almost took the fancied Argentinians to extra time....

I am beginning to wonder if this is Messi and the South American's year. Loss in the first game and squeeking past Australia..... The ultimate winner usually gets some luck on the way...

[Torplexed]

That was a pretty good Senegal team that England defeated 3-nil. The match with France in the quarters should be an epic.

[RangerJoe]

Watch this play . . .

https://www.facebook.com/reel/459135762 ... ingle_unit

[Orm]

And that was the first complete match of the world cup that I watched. Missed the first few minutes. And it was probably the last.

England went down with a strong performance. Sad that they seem to miss so many penalties when it comes to important cup matches.

[Torplexed]

Commiserations England fans. That’s a rough way to go.

[warspite1]

Absolutely gutted - and so sorry for H (who will now be villified by the trolls).

But at least there were some positives. The plan to counter Mbappe worked, we had more possession and more attacks than the French world champions. We were easily the better side. Basically, we didn't stink the place out; quite the opposite.

The referee was absolutely appalling (though I don't use that as an excuse).

Well done Maroc!!

[rico21]

I'm not a football fan, I don't understand anything about arbitration which sometimes punishes and others not for the same faults.
The English played better and deserved to win but luck was on our side...
like a bad wargame whose victory depends on the dice.

[monjoie]

the farmer's league greet you gentlemen

[rico21]

Soon...
A new wargame without dice.
The revenge of the farmers.

[ernieschwitz]

I'm not a football fan, I don't understand anything about arbitration which sometimes punishes and others not for the same faults.
The English played better and deserved to win but luck was on our side...
like a bad wargame whose victory depends on the dice.

To be fair, the execution of the chances you get at scoring are as important as the ability to get those chances. I did think the English had some great chances, but their execution was not up to par. The French on the other hand, had some great goals, they were efficient. I don't think that the parable to the bad wargame is warranted.