On paper Belgium and Brazil had the only solid teams left in the cup.
Shit on paper doesn't smell I guess.
Incredibly boring games today.
Spain vs Russia highlights what is broken in soccer. Too easy to defend with 10 players, and then its a coin flip (penalty kicks). Defending is more about discipline and fitness, not necessarily skills with the ball, so mediocre teams can defend effectively against good teams.
It also doesn't help that Russian players are likely high on EPO.
I really hope Russia keep doing this crap and win the world cup on coin flips to troll soccer fans
It's not unusual for a soccer team to go 10 or even 20 matches without a loss, that's something that simply wouldn't happen if odds were close to 50/50. France for example has 26W/6D/8L in its last 40 matches, Brazil is at 27/8/5, Belgium 29/7/4. The likelyhood of a "bad" team winning the WC or the Euro, is close to 0. Now soccer isn't just about who's got the most talent of the field. Now luck is of course a factor, but is it even larger one than in other sports ? I don't know, see how RM can win 3 CL in a row, half of the CL being knockouts, how likely would that be if luck was the deciding factor? How do 4 clubs win 30 out of 60 champions league if luck is the deciding factor ?
From a game design perspective, I feel one of the main appeal of soccer is that domination is not always converted into score. In basketball, the team that dominates is getting stops and is scoring baskets: the domination is materialized on the score board. In soccer, domination is materialized by ball possession and scoring opportunities, but not necessarily goals. It allows for the dominated team to "bend but not break" and, as a consequence, it allows for weaker teams to beat stronger ones.