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shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1171New Post! May 21, 2018 @ 16:50:23
A dramatic win for Inter over Lazio will see them return to the ECL next season.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1172New Post! May 21, 2018 @ 16:51:42
Fantastic win by Eintracht Frankfurt over Bayern in the German cup final.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1173New Post! May 24, 2018 @ 16:17:03
Been really impressed by the job Tite has done with Brazil. They look strong and well balanced all over the park and are probably the ones to beat. At the moment I would reckon we will have a Germany v Brazil final.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1174New Post! Jun 12, 2018 @ 18:18:37
The 2018 FIFA World Cup is nearly upon us. This is how I see the group stages playing out...

Group A
1. Uruguay
2. Russia
3. Egypt
4. Saudi Arabia

Uruguay are the standouts whilst Saudi Arabia look to be out of their depth. It will be a real toss up between hosts Russia and Egypt as to who takes second spot. For Egypt much will depend on the fitness of Salah.

Group B
1. Spain
2. Portugal
3. Morocco
4. Iran

Spain and Portugal look to be the standouts with very little separating Morocco and Iran.

Group C
1. France
2. Denmark
3. Peru
4. Australia

France are the obvious standouts. On paper little separates Denmark and Peru whilst Australia under Bert Van Marwijk looms as a bit of a dark horse. In truth the battle for second spot seems fairly open.

Group D
1. Argentina
2. Iceland
3. Croatia
4. Nigeria

Group D is not dissimilar to group c with one standout and then three other fairly evenly matched teams. Argentina are obviously the strong favourites and it would be a real shock id they didnt finish top. Iceland are competing in their first ever world cup and are the smallest nation to ever qualify for the tournament. They rode the crest of a wave at the last Euros and I think they can make it through the the round of 16.

Group E
1. Brazil
2. Switzerland
3. Serbia
4. Costa Rica

Brazil are the obvious standouts whilst I think the Swiss are the best of the rest. That said Serbia and Costa Rica are both not without a chance of sneaking into 2nd spot.

Group F
1. Germany
2. Mexico
3. Sweden
4. South Korea

Another group with one standout and three other evenly matched teams. Germany's form leading up to the world cup hasn't been especially inspiring but the Germans have a habit of turning it up when it counts. They should have little trouble topping this group. Mexico and Sweden seem to be the best chances of securing 2nd spot with the nod going to the former. The Koreans should be competitive against Mexico and Sweden but I reckon they will fall short.

Group G
1. Belgium
2. England
3. Tunisia
4. Panama

Time is ticking for Belgium's 'golden' generation. For England, the failure to reach the knockout stages four years ago won't be repeated. In truth very little separates Belgium from England with each side a good chance to go onto make the quarter finals. In the quarter finals however await (in all likelihood) Brazil for the group winners and Germany for the runners-up. Tunisia should give an honest performance whilst Panama look like the weakest team in this group.

Group H
1. Colombia
2. Poland
3. Senegal
4. Japan

This looks to be the most open group of the world cup. I think Colombia and Poland should have enough to get them through to the knockout stages but Senegal and Japan will provide them with a strong challenge.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1175New Post! Jun 14, 2018 @ 15:30:09
Somewhat surprised to learn that Spain have sacked their coach - Julen Lopetegui - just a day out from their opening match with Portugal. Fernando Hierro will now be the teams manager for the duration of the tournament.

Obviously sacking Logetegui was a big call but from what I have read I can understand why they did it.

For me Spain had the best chance of winning the World cup after Germany and Russia so it will be interesting to see how the players react, and of course how the team itself performs.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1176New Post! Jun 14, 2018 @ 16:02:35
Thought the opening ceremony was pretty good. Fairly short and relatively simple which is as it should be. And if the opening ceremony is anything to go by then Russian sheilas are pretty fit.

Ps - was nice to hear a bit of Acca Dacca being belted out.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1177New Post! Jun 14, 2018 @ 16:07:08
Half time in the opening match and Russia lead Saudi Arabia 2-0. In truth it could easily have been 3 or even 4-0.

I was really surprised by just how poor the Saudis were. They never really looked like testing Russia's aging defence and whilst they had a fair amount of possession they did sweet FA with it. They also left a lot of room in the middle of the park and they pushed their two centre backs up pretty high. This made them very vulnerable to Russian counter attacks. Will be interested to see if they fix this in the 2nd half. They also need to move the ball quicker to try and expose the hosts defence.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1178New Post! Jun 14, 2018 @ 16:11:39
This is the first world cup to use VAR so will look forward to how that works. Personally I reckon VAR should have been introduced no later than 2010...
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1179New Post! Jun 14, 2018 @ 17:28:52
Russia 5 - 0 Saudi Arabia.

Going into this game Russia hadnt won a match since October and were winless in their last 7 outings. They also had a few players missing through injury. For Saudi Arabia their last outing was a 2-1 loss to Germany. So there was nothing to suggest a 5-0 scoreline.

There would be players from many teams who failed to qualify for the world cup shaking their heads over the Saudi display. They didnt show near the same intent as the hosts and they always looked highly vulnerable to the Russian counter attacks. Indeed the 5-0 scoreline said as much about how poor the Saudis were as it said about how good Russia was. The Saudis for instance didn't manage a single shot on target for the entire match.

Russia were afforded a lot of time and space but to their credit they made good use of both. Denis Cheryshev and Aleksandr Golovin were particularly good.

For the Saudis their next match is against Uruguay and they will need to improve dramatically if they wish to avoid another drubbing. For Russia, they next play Egypt in a match that could decide who joins the South Americans in the knockout stages.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1180New Post! Jun 16, 2018 @ 18:18:19
Australia a little unlucky not to have come away with a draw against a star studded French side. The French started well and looked dangerous in the opening 8 mins or so before Australia settled. After that the match was pretty much a stalemate until around the hour mark when the VAR awarded France a penalty. Replays were inconclusive but the benefit was given to the attacking team. Griezmann stepped up and scored from the spot. Just 4 mins later Australia were awarded a clear cut penalty after Umtiti's impression of someone playing volleyball. France became increasingly frustrated and didn't really threaten for the next 20 mins or so. Giroud came on and made an impact. He held the ball up well and fed Pogba whose shot on goal took a deflection and looped over the top of Matt Ryan.

The final score of 2-1 probably flattered the French who found little room to work with in their attacking half. The Australian defence was well organised and proved to be very difficult to break down.

I rate the French team very highly but they will need to improve noticeably if they are to go deep into this tournament.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1181New Post! Jun 16, 2018 @ 18:22:58
The Iberian derby was one of the most highly anticipated games of the group stages of the world cup and it didnt disappoint. In the end a late Ronaldo goal levelled the scores at 3-3 with the Real Madrid star completing a hat trick for Portugal.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1182New Post! Jun 16, 2018 @ 18:24:17
Whilst Ronaldo scored a hat trick his great rival Messi missed a penalty as Argentina were held to a 1-1 draw by the smallest nation ever to qualify for the world cup.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1183New Post! Jun 16, 2018 @ 18:26:10
Just on Ronaldo, he is now only the fourth player to score in four different World Cup tournaments (2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018). The other three are Pele, Uwe Seeler and Miroslav Klose.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1184New Post! Jun 17, 2018 @ 13:41:30
Personally I am a fan of VAR but the way it has been implemented so far has been very inconsistent. The first use of VAR resulted in a penalty being awarded to France. I thought it must have been awarded as the VAR and then the match ref (on review) didn't think that the defender Risdon had touched the ball before there was contact with Griezmann. I thought the replays showed Risdon had touched the ball first, but it wasn't outrageous IMO that the VAR thought otherwise. But today we learn that the officials all thought that Risdon had touched the ball first. Their explanation for the penalty though is a shocker. David Elleray, the technical director of the International Football Association Board and the chief architect of VAR explained the decision thus:

“The defender makes a challenge, gets a touch on the ball and then, as Griezmann goes forward with the ball, the defender lifts his leg and trips him. That’s effectively a second incident. That’s a clear-and-obvious error not to have seen that trip.”

Well Mr Elleray the only clear and obvious error is your explanation for the 'trip'. Every replay I have seen shows Risdon make contact with the ball just before Griezmann arrives. Risdon then slides along the ground as Griezmann goes past. Risdon's leg is on the way down when the back of Griezmann's lower leg makes contact with it and so forces the defenders leg up. This is the contact that saw Griezmann go (rather easily) to ground. Risdon clearly doesn't raise his leg, his leg is raised by the contact made with the back of Griezmann's leg. The contact is incidental and came directly after a legal tackle so the referees original call of play on was very much the right one. The decision to intervene via VAR and then overturn the original decision was a clear and obvious error. They need to get better.
shadowen On March 22, 2024




Bunyip Bend, Australia
#1185New Post! Jun 17, 2018 @ 18:26:39
Germany 0-1 Mexico

A simply stunning result. From very early on Germany looked vulnerable to the counter attack. In the opening half Germany was constantly over run in the midfield with Kroos and Sami Khedira largely ineffective whilst Özil had a shocker and provided little cover to a defence that too often found themselves out numbered 3-2. The Mexicans were also finding plenty of space down the Germans right flank. In truth it seemed like just a matter of time before the Mexicans made a disjointed Germany pay and they did so just after the half hour mark.

Germany improved in the second half but struggled to break down a disciplined Mexican defence. The longer the game went the more desperate the Germans became. In the end they huffed and puffed but to no avail.

Leading up to the world cup the Germans had seemed a little flat and at times unorganised, but few people paid much attention as the Germans have a long history of turning it on when it counted. Their performance against Mexico however was most un-German like and they will need to improve significantly just to get out of their group. The Germans have infact never failed to advance beyond the group stage and the pressure going into their next 2 matches will be intense.

Note - This is the oldest side Germany has fielded in years, full of players who tasted success in 2014. The question is have they still got the fire in the belly? Time will tell.

A bit of trivia:
- Germany's last defeat in their opening game of a world cup was to Algeria in 1982
- Mexico went into the match having only ever beaten Germany once in 11 attempts. Their last match against Germany ended in a 4-1 loss.
- This was Germany's first defeat in a world cup since their semi final loss to Spain in 2010.
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