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ORIGINAL: shunwick

You may not be the only troll on the forum. [:D]

Best wishes,
Steve

Awww man...trolled in turn! [:D]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Er whateves as the cool kidz say - I've long since lost my mind and am easily confused. So please stop attempting to use humor-I'm British! [:)] England are in the semi-final so nothing can upset my equilibrium today [:)]

Again, congrats.

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: shunwick

You may not be the only troll on the forum. [:D]

Best wishes,
Steve

Awww man...trolled in turn! [:D]

k

Best wishes,
Steve

The symmetry was not maintained.....[:)]

Who can call these? 1 time winner France vs Belgium who've never reached the final (this is their second semi-final) and 1 time winner England vs Croatia who've never reached the final (this is also their second semi-final). France has the best World Cup record of the remaining countries, having won it once, been runner-up once and been losing semi-finalists on three other occasions. Besides their winning year, this is only the second time England have reached the semi-final, losing on the other occasion to eventual winners Germany.

What does all that history mean for the forthcoming matches? Absolutely nothing (but I just love history) but my money is on Belgium vs Croatia for the final and so a new winner of the World Cup will be crowned next Sunday.

I think Croatia have been soooo bad in the last two matches but have still scraped through and, football being football - and England being England - they will finally start playing to their full potential just when they face England....

As for Belgium, they just needed belief and a bit of confidence. Beating Brazil will have given them that and will be just too strong for France.

I'll go out on a limb and call for France to face off with Belgium in the finals.

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

I'll go out on a limb and call for France to face off with Belgium in the finals.

warspite1

Good call.

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy




Ah. I heard that it was all about certain usual suspect European teams against other European teams. You know, a regional soccer tourney. Hardly representative of the world, mate. [:'(]

warspite1

Not sure on your sources but you may wish to have a word

a) Many of the usual European teams are gone - Italy and Holland never made it and Germany are out

b) Please tell your source that Japan, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Egypt, Mexico etc. etc. etc. are not in Europe. Almost every country in the world attempted to qualify for the tournament and every continent (except Antarctica) was represented (albeit Australia got there via Asia [:)]). The second round of games saw representatives from Asia, Central and South America involved (unusually there was no African presence this time) although - very unusually - all South American presence was extinguished at the quarter final stage.

Representative of the world? Oh yes indeed.

Pfft...ancient history. I wasn't observing who attempted to qualify for the tournament or who was eliminated before this point. I'm just opining on the current status of the tourney. I'm also not saying that *all* of the usual European suspects are out.

I bet that if you ask representatives of every continent (save Europe) if the World Cup finals are representative of the world, a majority would say 'no'. [:'(]

But...I don't want to rain on your English parade. Congratulations on your victory in the quarter finals and advancement into the semifinals. [8D]

I don't think that Soccer (Football) is worse than other sports are. In fact I can come up with two very biased world championships that don't even allow teams from outside of one country access to it. I am talking about Baseball and Football (NFL).

ORIGINAL: ernieschwitz
I don't think that Soccer (Football) is worse than other sports are. In fact I can come up with two very biased world championships that don't even allow teams from outside of one country access to it. I am talking about Baseball and Football (NFL).

I think that a World Series of baseball would be really cool. The Venezuelans, Colombians, Mexicans, Dominicans, Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese, Cubans and a smattering of other countries could put together considerably talented teams. Kind of like the Little League World Series, which is very well received and a truly international sport.

Obviously my Danish friend is unfamiliar with the former Montreal Expos or former and current Toronto Blue Jays in MLB. They've (particularly the Blue Jays) given a good accounting of themselves over the years. Neither Toronto nor Montreal is in the same country that the remaining MLB teams are in. Canada is an independent nation-has been for years. [;)]

I see. So I was a little off point, by one sport, but not by the other, which you didn't comment on. The main point however was that there are sports out there that are very much not a world-thing, but who claim to be world champions. Oh, and baseball is pretty popular in Japan.

The Lords of The Diabolical Ziggurats strike again.

ORIGINAL: ernieschwitz

I see. So I was a little off point, by one sport, but not by the other, which you didn't comment on. The main point however was that there are sports out there that are very much not a world-thing, but who claim to be world champions. Oh, and baseball is pretty popular in Japan.

My point was that baseball *is* a global sport. Hence my mention of all of the independent countries in that laundry list in my first post. In the United States and Canada, the premier association is "MLB" (Major League Baseball). In Japan, it's NPB (Nippon Yakyu Kiko) with slightly different rules and gameplay. In Venezuela it's LVBP (Liga Venezolana de Beisbol Profesional). I don't know the rules differences with them, if any.

Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela compete annually in the "Carribean Series". This series is broadcast on ESPN networks and MLB networks in the United States and elsewhere. Puerto Rico is the most recent title holder (their 5th time).

The difference isn't popularity of sport, it's adherence to a common league and rule book. I'm sure there are other soccer leagues out there like FIFA, just not as popular / imbedded as they are. So, to be accurate, you are really espousing the FIFA 'brand' of soccer and it's international / global flavor, rules and so forth. OK. That's great. Other sports are popular globally just with less of a stranglehold on international competition.

Sorry. I can't see your point.

On one hand it is ok to have sports that say they have a World Championship that exclude other countries, cause they are bad, on the other hand it is not ok for the Soccer world cup to have the semifinals to have only countries from Europe..

I think you proved my point actually.

I invested a lot in this thread because I thought we will talk about football, the real, mine.[:)]
I did not think we'll talk about sports that half of the world does not want to play.[:D]

Baseball
When i was a kid we called it "rounders"
And it was played in the UK for a very long time and has never took off in any way at all

Well after that detour its good to get back to the beautiful game. So tonight its the first semi-final:

France vs Belgium

As said previously, I think Belgium will kick-on from beating Brazil and will make the final. Man for man I'm not really sure which team is better but will go with Belgium....

0-0 at half time. Another great game though.

.....Well some call the Belgian 'Golden Generation' England's Golden Generation MkII.... and now you know why.

I really thought that coming back from 2-0 vs Japan and then beating Brazil would allow them to blossom but when push comes to shove they blow it again. Dembele was poor, Lukaku does what Lukaku does against the big teams and disappears, De Bruyne was hit and miss and Chadli was...er the Nacer Chadli we knew at Tottenham. Hazard was effective but not in the right areas (should have had a free kick though on the edge of the area). France were very strong though and defended well - with great pace to inflict damage on the counter. As it was they won from a set-piece.

...and then there were three. Belgium are one of those that will play the game no one wants to play..

The first Semi-Final sees:

France 1 Belgium 0. So a functional and disciplined France are the first team to get though to the final. The nerves got to Belgium particularly De Bruyne and with Courtois beaten at his near post from a fairly bog-standard header from Umtiti. Belgium chances few and far between and French chances the same. Not a classic but very watchable nevertheless. France will fancy themselves against either Croatia or England.

The second Semi-Final is tomorrow night.

Best wishes,
Steve

I'd like to amend my previous pick if I may?

I don't know my European geography very well, but in the match between France and "TBD" (wherever that is?), I'll pick the latter. TBD is due for a victory, having been eliminated every step of the way along the playoff chart line.