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 Whirlwind wrote:

 Mozzyfuzzy wrote:
A mediocre team that did literal anything and everything to slow the game down, players taking every opportunity to go to ground, taking forever to back off 10 yards for free kicks etc etc.

Tunisia deserved nothing from this game and I am glad they got that.

They played to a certain strategy. You can't criticise them for this. If they tried a free flowing passing game they wouldn't have stood a chance. It's a competition and they play to their strengths. It's up to England to beat that and realistically they got lucky because it was one of the few times they pressed in the second half. The other point to note is that you have to take your chances. They had lots in the first 20 minutes and could have put the game to bed. Instead they gave the opposition a chance and they almost paid for it. They *will* pay for it against a decent team. If they play like that against Belgium they are going to get a right spanking.

There's a difference between playing defensively and that shameful display. I'll give up watching international football if a decent team played liked that. It was a cynical display in poor sportsmanship, the only other recent moment that has annoyed me as such was Sergio Ramos "fouling" Mo Salah in the champions league final.

 ingtaer wrote:
Way to do it the hard way England! Who would have thought... The refing in that game was shocking though, I guess Stalingrad doesn't have the capability for VAR.

Pretty sure they do, but a lot of referees still seem a bit reluctant to actually make use of it. AFAIK, this is the first time they have it at a world cup, so I guess that explains a lot of the reluctance.

Happy to see England survive though. Next up is Panama right? That should probably be another win. Belgium on the other hand... I think England will lose that one. But second place will be good enough to advance to the knockouts.

I'm completely uninterested in football, but I hope Brasil wins it this year for my wife's sake (and hence, my marital happiness), even if their first match was a bit of a wash. Hopefully they'll grow into their own during the tournament.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
Happy to see England survive though. Next up is Panama right? That should probably be another win. Belgium on the other hand... I think England will lose that one. But second place will be good enough to advance to the knockouts.

Yeah, that group looks like there's not going to be any surprises and it's going to turn out as the FIFA ranking suggests.
Belgium
England
Tunisia
Panama

I would like to see Belgium make a decent attempt at it this year, but that's just because I have a man-crush on De Bruyne.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 ingtaer wrote:
Way to do it the hard way England! Who would have thought... The refing in that game was shocking though, I guess Stalingrad doesn't have the capability for VAR.

Pretty sure they do, but a lot of referees still seem a bit reluctant to actually make use of it. AFAIK, this is the first time they have it at a world cup, so I guess that explains a lot of the reluctance.

Happy to see England survive though. Next up is Panama right? That should probably be another win. Belgium on the other hand... I think England will lose that one. But second place will be good enough to advance to the knockouts.

I was just being snarky. I hate the VAR with a passion, it was trialed in the A-League (the Australian domestic league that NZs only professional team play in) and it has been an absolute disaster, slowing games down and getting things wrong.


Yep Panama next which one would hope be a cakewalk but Belgium should be a really tough ask for them. As first and second place play against second or first in Group H (Japan, Poland, Columbia or Senegal) I am holding my breath on them advancing further. The Japanese especially play some really lovely football.

 Henry wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
Happy to see England survive though. Next up is Panama right? That should probably be another win. Belgium on the other hand... I think England will lose that one. But second place will be good enough to advance to the knockouts.

Yeah, that group looks like there's not going to be any surprises and it's going to turn out as the FIFA ranking suggests.
Belgium
England
Tunisia
Panama

I would like to see Belgium make a decent attempt at it this year, but that's just because I have a man-crush on De Bruyne.

Which will probably mean that we meet Poland/Colombia in the next round and then meeting the plane home.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mozzyfuzzy wrote:


There's a difference between playing defensively and that shameful display. I'll give up watching international football if a decent team played liked that. It was a cynical display in poor sportsmanship, the only other recent moment that has annoyed me as such was Sergio Ramos "fouling" Mo Salah in the champions league final.

If it's not illegal then it is a fair strategy (although I will accept that the rugby tackles are questionable). However if the ref doesn't think it is a foul then you are entitled to play that way. There's no such thing as sportsmanship as there is too much money involved. How many players in all teams will throw themselves to the ground, try and fake an injury etc to get a favourable reaction? It's not like only Tunisia do this. There are plenty of top teams (Man Utd, Spain etc) that 'play' the system as much as possible to get that advantage.

 Whirlwind wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mozzyfuzzy wrote:


There's a difference between playing defensively and that shameful display. I'll give up watching international football if a decent team played liked that. It was a cynical display in poor sportsmanship, the only other recent moment that has annoyed me as such was Sergio Ramos "fouling" Mo Salah in the champions league final.

If it's not illegal then it is a fair strategy (although I will accept that the rugby tackles are questionable). However if the ref doesn't think it is a foul then you are entitled to play that way. There's no such thing as sportsmanship as there is too much money involved. How many players in all teams will throw themselves to the ground, try and fake an injury etc to get a favourable reaction? It's not like only Tunisia do this. There are plenty of top teams (Man Utd, Spain etc) that 'play' the system as much as possible to get that advantage.

Overacting legitimate contact is not what I am talking about, I'm talking about running yourself into a defenders elbow, not looking at the ball and wrestling an opposing player to the ground, the amount of time spent not being the required distance away from a free kick. There's gamesmanship and then there's a cynical look at killing the game, how many attempts did Tunisia make to win that game?

It's why I brought up Sergio Ramos, they were holding each others arms, but you don't roll someone under you as you go over. It was a deliberate attempt to take Mo Salah out of that game, which he succeeded in doing.

It's just not cricket.

 Mozzyfuzzy wrote:


Overacting legitimate contact is not what I am talking about, I'm talking about running yourself into a defenders elbow, not looking at the ball and wrestling an opposing player to the ground, the amount of time spent not being the required distance away from a free kick. There's gamesmanship and then there's a cynical look at killing the game, how many attempts did Tunisia make to win that game?

Why was the defenders elbow up there. There would be plenty of people that would have taken the opportunity. There are plenty of players that would be happy to see an outstretched leg and run over it. The amount of time spent not being from a free kick is the referees responsibility not the players. A simple yellow card by the referee would have stopped that action. They also have the ability to mark where they should stand. However unless the referee stops it then they are entitled to stand where they want. England also took quick free kicks with players close to the ball and also didn't complain.

As for Tunisia's stats they had:-

39% of the possession
25% of the shots
11% of the shots on target
22% of the corners
63% of the fouls

That's not unrealistic for a team that is inferior to another. Yo could quite easily find premiership stats in the last year for similar types of games.

Russia looks ridiculous. I work out of my basement from home. Every Time I walk up stairs to let the dogs out, grab food, get a drink, or use bathroom. Russia is scoring...

Edit, After typing above, I immediately I went back to work for about 20 seconds and Ran back up stairs as I forgot my phone and.... Russia is Scoring again.

Remind me to stay in the basement If/when Russia plays Germany or Iceland.

Yeah...I walked from my bench to a co-workers to brag abou the first goal (he supports Egypt). By the time I get there they scored #2, and by the time I got back to my bench they scored again. It's a good year to be a Russian.

Surprise surprise, Russia are doing well and getting favourable decisions from the ref, while England concede one of the lightest penalties I have ever seen and get nothing as our players are literally thrown to the ground.

Fifa and the World Cup are a fething disgrace. Corrupt scum.

I don't think you can say either of the Russian games come down to refereeing decisions. Russia has played against two pretty bad teams. Saudi Arabia were a joke and Egypt were desperately lacking the one man who could have given them a chance - a fully fit Mo Salah.

So, Senegal, eh? It seems the random footy results generator has been working overtime.

There is also a free argument that Egypt is non-relevant team, and anybody could do that.

But the turth is - Egypt sucks this time , despite a dirty play from Russians at the end it wouldn't matter anyway.

They got rightfuly hammerd - statistics are clear.

Russia has played against two pretty bad teams.

Oh well - now all arguments used.

 Omega-soul wrote:

Russia has played against two pretty bad teams.

Oh well - now all arguments used.

Huh? All arguments for what?

 An Actual Englishman wrote:
Surprise surprise, Russia are doing well and getting favourable decisions from the ref, while England concede one of the lightest penalties I have ever seen and get nothing as our players are literally thrown to the ground.

Fifa and the World Cup are a fething disgrace. Corrupt scum.

Maybe England shouldn't have pissed all over FIFA during their effort to host the WC. England and Russia both deserve it.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 An Actual Englishman wrote:
Surprise surprise, Russia are doing well and getting favourable decisions from the ref, while England concede one of the lightest penalties I have ever seen and get nothing as our players are literally thrown to the ground.

Fifa and the World Cup are a fething disgrace. Corrupt scum.

Maybe England shouldn't have pissed all over FIFA during their effort to host the WC. England and Russia both deserve it.

Explain?

 An Actual Englishman wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 An Actual Englishman wrote:
Surprise surprise, Russia are doing well and getting favourable decisions from the ref, while England concede one of the lightest penalties I have ever seen and get nothing as our players are literally thrown to the ground.

Fifa and the World Cup are a fething disgrace. Corrupt scum.

Maybe England shouldn't have pissed all over FIFA during their effort to host the WC. England and Russia both deserve it.

Explain?

IIRC, England's papers were publishing stuff about FIFA corruption at the same time England was bidding to host the WC against Russia.

The Russians were much smarter and simply brought suitcases filled with money.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 An Actual Englishman wrote:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:

 An Actual Englishman wrote:
Surprise surprise, Russia are doing well and getting favourable decisions from the ref, while England concede one of the lightest penalties I have ever seen and get nothing as our players are literally thrown to the ground.

Fifa and the World Cup are a fething disgrace. Corrupt scum.

Maybe England shouldn't have pissed all over FIFA during their effort to host the WC. England and Russia both deserve it.

Explain?

IIRC, England's papers were publishing stuff about FIFA corruption at the same time England was bidding to host the WC against Russia.

The Russians were much smarter and simply brought suitcases filled with money.

I guess that's what we get for having integrity in our reporting I suppose. Still, at least we don't suffer from Fake News.

Tsilber wrote:
Russia looks ridiculous. I work out of my basement from home. Every Time I walk up stairs to let the dogs out, grab food, get a drink, or use bathroom. Russia is scoring...

Edit, After typing above, I immediately I went back to work for about 20 seconds and Ran back up stairs as I forgot my phone and.... Russia is Scoring again.

Remind me to stay in the basement If/when Russia plays Germany or Iceland.

Comrade. I have received word that the Russian government is very interested in hiring you and your basement for the position of assistant coach to the national football team.

I so expected the Russian team to be total crap like usual. Help me guys, I am afraid I start feeling hope and excitement. That is bad. Hope and excitement are bad. Now I will inevitably feel bad when our team inevitably gets knocked out in the first round...

Just wait until Russia play Uruguay and then we will see their true quality... Neither SA or Egypt have been that great and the fact that SA qualified at all is down to how the confederation is split, even the Syrian team looked better when they played against OZ. Makes one wonder how Qatar are going to do when they host as their national team are pathetic.

Good result for Senegal, surprised Poland lost though I was expecting them to do better.

 ingtaer wrote:
Just wait until Russia play Uruguay

But why wait?
For those who can't accept the reality - there is always be arguments for everything except the simple and reasonable ones.
Russia wins Uruguay? They bribed/ They use doping/They cheat/ Putin threatend whole Uruguay/Used secret KGB magic .

It's just can't be truth that they simply win because they were better prepared for a game. Bollocks!
It's totally not an option.

You only alowed to win big teams if you are Mexico, and draw if you are Iceland or Switzerland.

Yeah it seems that style of argument is used by some people just to denigrate a side, personally I just want to see good football (and if I make some money by betting then so much the better!).
With Russia, their recent history before this tournament has been pretty poor, they beat NZ and Dynamo and drew with Turkey, every other result for the last year has been a loss. So their last two results have been great but the question is can they keep it up or are they just going to fold in the round of 16?

 ingtaer wrote:
Yeah it seems that style of argument is used by some people just to denigrate a side, personally I just want to see good football (and if I make some money by betting then so much the better!).
With Russia, their recent history before this tournament has been pretty poor, they beat NZ and Dynamo and drew with Turkey, every other result for the last year has been a loss. So their last two results have been great but the question is can they keep it up or are they just going to fold in the round of 16?

As do Mexico - they lost some games to major teams and beat the mediocre ones - but that means nothing when you defeat Germany - basicly Champions.
And then Russia got tie game with Spain in november (3:3) - does that mean we're like Portugal now?

But it's just the statistics - it shows how it was - it doesn't give you a detailed plan of future.

but the question is can they keep it up

That's an intresting question - but the answer will be given only in 30th of june
As for now - the most frequent questions I met (not here) - Did russians used drugs.
Because, you know, drugs can make you a skilled player and great strategist.

I wonder - what drug could make me play warhammer better...

I am not sure why you have decided to argue with me rather than those posters above who actually made such stupid claims, but fair enough.

Thanks for the heads up on that Spain game, I hadn't seen it before and it was one hell of a performance by Smolov who I remember being pretty good against NZ in the Confeds cup.

As for stats, yes they don't predict the future but they do offer a glimpse into how a team is progressing and thus give some small insight into how one can expect a team to do (even more so when their setup, roster and tactics remain constant). Which ties into your next point, yes we wont know how well they do until the game is played, but I am looking forward to finding out and hope they play well even though I don't care about the result.

Performance enhancing Warhammer drugs, I guess judging by the comments thrown around you just need to turn up with a suitcase full of money... Or maybe the Orks have the right idea and mushrooms are the way to go.

 Omega-soul wrote:


I wonder - what drug could make me play warhammer better...

Cocaine. It's a heck of a drug.



In all seriousness, I'm glad this cup is shaking things up. I want to see Russia move on, and I have no doubt in my mind about Germany beating Sweden and South Korea to move on either.
Though my co-worker is pouting in the corner over the Morocco.Portugal game going on right now though. I should go comfort him...

Portugal were very lucky to get through that game without conceding. After that I'd imagine the next decent team with any pace to demolish them.

I'm happy for Portugal. Spain in the evening... should put something in the fridge.

France vs Peru and Argentina vs Croatia for tomorrow, if time permits.

Who do you think will win this World Cup?

My guess is Germany (despite their rough start, it will only help them put more will into it) as it's always a pretty solid competitor.

I still think Brazil have a lot of good players and the Swiss were lucky to get anything against them.

If someone wondering "Do we really need VAR?" ask Spain team - they luckly made it 1:0.
Without video assistance it could be 1:1 (which actually would be a pretty fair score - Iran played so fierce in 2nd time)

I like how this Cup going - most of the matches are toe to toe (well except obvious recent events...) and Spain proven to be good but not invincible.