Soccer 2017-2018

Well we are at that point, who do you think will lift the trophy? As an England fan, I would love to see a world cup in my lifetime but don't think it's possible just now. Hoping for a good game this evening for sure, everyone thinks we should stay with our foot on the gas and I firmly believe that too.

the bookies top 10 betting looks like this - can't be arsed with odds (fav is top).

Brasil
Spain
Belgium
England
France
Croatia
Argentina
Uruguay
Portugal
Colombia

They'll probably crash and burn at some point while currently dubious "big teams" will get better, but I'll put a little coin on Croatia.

Szlia said:

They'll probably crash and burn at some point while currently dubious "big teams" will get better, but I'll put a little coin on Croatia.

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I'll bet on Croatia as well, there's a "German" feeling to them.

This is the weirdest world cup ever. It's great, the field is so open.

dizzie said:

This is the weirdest world cup ever. It's great, the field is so open.

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Yeah there aren't any team that make you go like "woa, it's going to take massive luck to beat them" you're got 8-10 teams that have a relatively even chance of winning it seems

Gurgeh said:

Yeah there aren't any team that make you go like "woa, it's going to take massive luck to beat them" you're got 8-10 teams that have a relatively even chance of winning it seems

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Yeah its definitely missing that 2-4 team dominance we have seen previously. It's pretty great and I was thinking man there will be trouble in Russia - but they have done a fantastic job hosting so far, looks electric out there.

dizzie said:

Yeah its definitely missing that 2-4 team dominance we have seen previously. It's pretty great and I was thinking man there will be trouble in Russia - but they have done a fantastic job hosting so far, looks electric out there.

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Definitely flawless hosting so far, indeed, I was also expecting to hear about drunk russians brawling, but I guess Russian's pride took over vodka.

Chanur said:

I am still hoping for Denmark.

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We're the the slightly darker, dark horse.

Why was James subbed out so early? Didn't seem injured and genuinely pissed he had to leave

Quineloe said:

Why was James subbed out so early? Didn't seem injured and genuinely pissed he had to leave

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He didn't start Colombia's first game due to injury, him being mad could be due to it flaring up and making him leave the game.

Japan through on fair play (least amount of yellow cards). That's a bitter pill for Senegal..

Would I have been the ref of the Poland-Japan match I would have given some yellows to the japanese team for lack of sportsmanship as they stopped playing at the 85th minute.

I am not sure what was in their mind too because they fielded a b team when not qualified and instead of trying to tie in the end they just hoped Senegal would not be able to draw their match....

Tonight's match might also be a lot of 'fun' because the two halves of the draw are very unbalanced as far as big name teams are concerned and it's the loser of tonight's match that will end in the supposedly favorable half. The only hope for an actual contest to happen is if Lukaku and Kane want to gun for top scorer of the World Cup.

Brando said:

85th minute? More like the 70th minute, they barely passed it beyond the halfway line and Poland didnt care. What a farce.

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The climax of the absurd was reached in stoppage time when the polsih team wanted to sub a player in (just for the honor / stat line), but since play was not going to ever stop with the japanese defenders meekly passing the ball while the polish players were just standing there, a polish player just feigned an injury so that the ref' would stop the game, but the ref' wanted none of it and gestured the japanese to play on....

That being said, I remember refs stopping matches before the end of stoppage time if it was obvious no one was interested in continuing to play, but maybe it was before the official stoppage time announcement and now they have to go through it even if it is for 3 glorious minutes of guys standing around passing the ball?

Brando said:

Lukaku isn’t even playing, they ruled him out yesterday. Not like that matters as Harry claims all the goals anyway

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Who was it quoted in British press before the tourney that said all the Tottenham players will be the downfall of England due to their lack of winning attitude (no trophies)?

Man I was excited for England/Belgium. Didn't realize it was a mostly meaningless game.