**** 2018 WORLD CUP THREAD ***

FWIW, it’s mathematically incorrect to say that Argentina has to beat Croatia to control their destiny. If they draw Croatia and beat Nigeria by 3 they are through to the next round regardless of what happens in the games they are not a party to.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Coevett wrote:

It's odd how a country of 300,000 whites can play better than (for example England) a country of 60 million who half their team are drawn from the 3 million or so black English people.

Man, bro. This is the world cup, a place of diversity. There is no room for your prejudice/racist comment. I'm not sure if it is intentional or unintentional.

Coevett is so racist that it's not even entertaining anymore. Seriously needs to be banned.

mathsman wrote:

FWIW, it’s mathematically incorrect to say that Argentina has to beat Croatia to control their destiny. If they draw Croatia and beat Nigeria by 3 they are through to the next round regardless of what happens in the games they are not a party to.

Not if Croatia and Iceland tie and both have the better goal differential.... ties will be based on goal differential first. All three teams would be tied with 5, considering Iceland beats Nigeria, and argentina ties with croatia and then goes on to beat Nigeria .....based your scenario.

as I stated, with a win they will control their own destiny. So it is a must win, so THAT THEY CAN CONTROL THEIR PATH AND NOT DEPEND ON THE RESULTS OF OTHERS.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

mathsman wrote:

FWIW, it’s mathematically incorrect to say that Argentina has to beat Croatia to control their destiny. If they draw Croatia and beat Nigeria by 3 they are through to the next round regardless of what happens in the games they are not a party to.

Not if Croatia and Iceland tie and both have the better goal differential.... ties will be based on goal differential first. All three teams would be tied with 5, considering Iceland beats Nigeria, and argentina ties with croatia and then goes on to beat Nigeria .....based your scenario.

as I stated, with a win they will control their own destiny. So it is a must win, so THAT THEY CAN CONTROL THEIR PATH AND NOT DEPEND ON THE RESULTS OF OTHERS.

Yeah I agree LeBron will stay in Cleveland

Scorpion_runner wrote:

mathsman wrote:

FWIW, it’s mathematically incorrect to say that Argentina has to beat Croatia to control their destiny. If they draw Croatia and beat Nigeria by 3 they are through to the next round regardless of what happens in the games they are not a party to.

Not if Croatia and Iceland tie and both have the better goal differential.... ties will be based on goal differential first. All three teams would be tied with 5, considering Iceland beats Nigeria, and argentina ties with croatia and then goes on to beat Nigeria .....based your scenario.

as I stated, with a win they will control their own destiny. So it is a must win, so THAT THEY CAN CONTROL THEIR PATH AND NOT DEPEND ON THE RESULTS OF OTHERS.

You’re wrong again here. This guy you’re quoting is right.

The only scenario in which Argentina don’t go through on 5 points is one where Croatia draw both their remaining games. If this happens we already know that their goal difference will be +2 cause it won’t change after yesterday’s match. This means a 3 goal or higher victory vs Nigeria will be enough to go ahead of Croatia regardless of what happens in the Iceland vs Nigeria match.

Messi was lousy today but he can only improve, Renaldo was unreal but if he has one bad day Portugal is kaput. Now Sergio Agüero he might be really underrated.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

mathsman wrote:

FWIW, it’s mathematically incorrect to say that Argentina has to beat Croatia to control their destiny. If they draw Croatia and beat Nigeria by 3 they are through to the next round regardless of what happens in the games they are not a party to.

Not if Croatia and Iceland tie and both have the better goal differential.... ties will be based on goal differential first. All three teams would be tied with 5, considering Iceland beats Nigeria, and argentina ties with croatia and then goes on to beat Nigeria .....based your scenario.

as I stated, with a win they will control their own destiny. So it is a must win, so THAT THEY CAN CONTROL THEIR PATH AND NOT DEPEND ON THE RESULTS OF OTHERS.

Croatia couldn’t have a better goal differential if they end with 5 points. Think it through. If they tie their next two games then their goal differential wouldn’t change. That’s what a tie is.

A draw and a win over Nigeria by three guarantees Argentina moving on. They can control their destiny even with a draw against Croatia. Math.

Good lord. That is the same thing! Lol.

Let me help you. So Follow

Right now:

Croatia has 3 points

Argentina has 1

Iceland has 1

If Argentina and Croatia tie that is one point a piece: so that would be Croatia 4 points. Argentina 2 points.

If Iceland beats Nigeria, that would be 4 points for Iceland, because they already had 1 point and get 3 points for the victory.

So the listing would be :

Croatia 4 points

Iceland 4 points

Argentina 2 points

Now if Croatia ties with Iceland, they would get a point a piece, both would have 5 points . And if Argentina beats Nigeria, they would get three points from the victory, giving them a total of 5 points.

So the listing would be :

Croatia 5 points

Iceland. 5 points

Argentina 5 points

Now, listen closely, if Croatia and Iceland have a better goal differential than Argentina, then Argentina would not go through.

This is why to avoid all that and control their own destiny, they need to win against Croatia.

You should be able to understand that. If you don’t, I can’t help you any further.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Now, listen closely, if Croatia and Iceland have a better goal differential than Argentina, then Argentina would not go through.

This is why to avoid all that and control their own destiny, they need to win against Croatia.

You should be able to understand that. If you don’t, I can’t help you any further.

But if Argentina beat Nigeria by 3 goals, they are guaranteed to be ahead of Croatia, if they draw both matches,

That's what the smart people are trying to explain to you.

Soccer question..

I remember goaltenders punting the ball like in American football. Not so anymore.

Rule change?

mathsman wrote:

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Not if Croatia and Iceland tie and both have the better goal differential.... ties will be based on goal differential first. All three teams would be tied with 5, considering Iceland beats Nigeria, and argentina ties with croatia and then goes on to beat Nigeria .....based your scenario.

as I stated, with a win they will control their own destiny. So it is a must win, so THAT THEY CAN CONTROL THEIR PATH AND NOT DEPEND ON THE RESULTS OF OTHERS.

Croatia couldn’t have a better goal differential if they end with 5 points. Think it through. If they tie their next two games then their goal differential wouldn’t change. That’s what a tie is.

A draw and a win over Nigeria by three guarantees Argentina moving on. They can control their destiny even with a draw against Croatia. Math.

Yes they can have a better goal differential than Argentina because they already have 2 goals. Argentina has 1 goal.

So if they tie with Argentina they will leave that game with 1 more goal than Argentina. Period.

So let’s say they tie. 1-1. Argentina would have 2 goals . And Croatia would have 3 goals.

And let’s say Croatia and Iceland ( with iceland getting a victory against Nigeria 2-1) tie 2-2. Both teams would have 5 goals. And let’s say Argentina beats Nigeria 1-0 or even 2-0 . That would give them 4 goals.

Argentinia would lose out by 1 point on goal differential in a three way tie.

Simply put , a win puts them in the driver’s seat. You want to get Points from games and not depend on goal differential.

Zob wrote:

Soccer question..

I remember goaltenders punting the ball like in American football. Not so anymore.

Rule change?

They still kick the ball from their box. That ball distribution still takes place.

However more emphasis is being placed on playing the ball out the back with their feet or hands to get the offense going quickly.

Wtf is this VAR red card review in the Costa Rica-Serbia game? This is awful for the flow of play. I can understand for goals, but this is just stupid for red cards.

vivalarepublica wrote:

Wtf is this VAR red card review in the Costa Rica-Serbia game? This is awful for the flow of play. I can understand for goals, but this is just stupid for red cards.

Yeah, It does interrupt the flow. But they are reviewing all questionable situations to make sure they get it right. As long as they get the call right, I'm cool with it.

Americas teams are not getting results. Now mexico is up against Germany. Getting a draw would be huge for them, but germany is very surgical. I feel Mexico needs to keep it tight, and attack hard on the counter. But they are talking about playing aggressive and attacking straight up. That could get ugly.

You're overthinking this too much! Just play the match and win for everything to work out. Very simple and gets rid of all the "what ifs".

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Yes they can have a better goal differential than Argentina because they already have 2 goals. Argentina has 1 goal.

So if they tie with Argentina they will leave that game with 1 more goal than Argentina. Period.

So let’s say they tie. 1-1. Argentina would have 2 goals . And Croatia would have 3 goals.

And let’s say Croatia and Iceland ( with iceland getting a victory against Nigeria 2-1) tie 2-2. Both teams would have 5 goals. And let’s say Argentina beats Nigeria 1-0 or even 2-0 . That would give them 4 goals.

Argentinia would lose out by 1 point on goal differential in a three way tie.

Simply put , a win puts them in the driver’s seat. You want to get Points from games and not depend on goal differential.

I get where you're coming from now.

You simply don't understand what 'goal difference' is. It's not how many goals you've scored, it's the difference between how many you've scored and how many you've conceded.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

vivalarepublica wrote:

Wtf is this VAR red card review in the Costa Rica-Serbia game? This is awful for the flow of play. I can understand for goals, but this is just stupid for red cards.

Yeah, It does interrupt the flow. But they are reviewing all questionable situations to make sure they get it right. As long as they get the call right, I'm cool with it.

Yea, but what happened in the Costa Rica-Serbia game was a bit of a quagmire. The stoppage time was extended twice because of VAR. The tail end of a game is of magnified importance because both teams are tired and are prone to making mistakes leading to goals, or they are extra aggressive in going for goal. And then the game is continually delayed because of VAR for red cards, which are not even goal scoring events. It totally ruined the flow of play at the end of the game.

Obviously, I understand that VAR can help with grave errors or reduce potential corruption among referees, but the outcome of the game is being partly decided by some dudes in a room hundreds of miles away. In addition, I think part of the legend and lore and appeal of football is the botched plays and calls. Now that potential has been eliminated from the World Cup. Boo.

Mexico-Germany is hot early. Both goal keepers getting plenty of action. Mexico is getting plenty of opportunities, probably more than expected. They look lively and hungry. Full disclosure, I'm on the Mexico bandwagon because of USA's absence.

And how the heck is Ozil still starting for Germany? He does next to nothing for Arsenal.