**** 2018 WORLD CUP THREAD ***

I only caught the OT but Croatia was clearly a cut above England there.

How is a tiny country with an unstable recent history so much better at soccer than England?

also worth pointing out Croatia is the only team to beat Russia, so if they win the final, Russia ties for 2nd.

We final get a true Belgium vs England game, third place game.....so that will be a a serious game!

Great game. England could have won if they had pushed harder for a second goal in the first half. That might have finished CRO by half time. Instead they fell asleep until about 75min and just were not the same team after the equalizer.

Ref was anti-England I thought, but overall a fair result.

England will get walloped by Belgium.

orctapus wrote:

Great game. England could have won if they had pushed harder for a second goal in the first half. That might have finished CRO by half time. Instead they fell asleep until about 75min and just were not the same team after the equalizer.

Ref was anti-England I thought, but overall a fair result.

anti-england my arse. He was no call on both sides. Dude Manzudic took a karate kick to the nuts, no call on pickford. that would have been a reckless foul anywhere else. Also, Manzudic went down hard while england had the ball. Ref never stopped the game, so Croatia was forced to play with 10 men for that play.

Dude just let them play. period. Just an old school football match. Told all players to get up while they were crying for fouls. He wasn't having it.

Bad Wigins wrote:

I only caught the OT but Croatia was clearly a cut above England there.

How is a tiny country with an unstable recent history so much better at soccer than England?

also worth pointing out Croatia is the only team to beat Russia, so if they win the final, Russia ties for 2nd.

Croatia have had quite a bit of quality. Shuker, Simic, Boban and Bilic from 1998 were pretty good. I must say, the current squad has more quality. What do you mean Russia ties for second??

Bad Wigins wrote:

I only caught the OT but Croatia was clearly a cut above England there.

How is a tiny country with an unstable recent history so much better at soccer than England?

also worth pointing out Croatia is the only team to beat Russia, so if they win the final, Russia ties for 2nd.

England absolutely controlled the first half but in the end the Croatian midfield took over when England started to tire.

3 overtime wins in a row for Croatia. I heard FIFA was going to allow them to raise their hct levels above 52% for the France game - in the name of fair play.

The final will come down to who can create more offense between Griezmann and Modric. I've got France winning 4-1 (2 counter attack goals for France).

See username above.

They still have to play the match, however.

Bad Wigins wrote:

I only caught the OT but Croatia was clearly a cut above England there.

How is a tiny country with an unstable recent history so much better at soccer than England?

also worth pointing out Croatia is the only team to beat Russia, so if they win the final, Russia ties for 2nd.

Not only Croatia, technically did not beat Russia, as FIFA counts penalty shoutout as draws, but Russia lost to Uruguay in the group stage

Coevett wrote:

The new opium of the masses was doing its thing, but then the reality of the life in 21st century France suddenly decided to break in. Damn.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5940501/Thirty-football-fans-hurt-stampede-firecracker-explosions-spark-panic.html

Even more victims of Islam!

Bad Wigins wrote:

I only caught the OT but Croatia was clearly a cut above England there.

How is a tiny country with an unstable recent history so much better at soccer than England?

Because their players are Croatians, they didn't fill their team with African mercenaries like England did.

These players are proud to play for their country.

The final will be a mirror of 98. Giroud with two headers after having not scored the entire tournament a la Zidane. Griezmann with last minute tap in. 3-0.

Pogba and Kanté have been big. Can't see Croatia finding a solution for that.

Go to YouTube equipe de France page. They have training and other videos on there. This group has a good team spirit. Their Instagram is also good.

fdf wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

I only caught the OT but Croatia was clearly a cut above England there.

How is a tiny country with an unstable recent history so much better at soccer than England?

Because their players are Croatians, they didn't fill their team with African mercenaries like England did.

These players are proud to play for their country.

Born in England, brah.

Take solace, England supporters. England didn't time waste when they had the lead ;-)

Croatia again!!!

I feel bad for England though, I think a lot of calls didn't go their way later in the game. Disappointed that Croatia's Evan Jager lookalike didn't make any sweet plays today either.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

MurderDub wrote:

I love France.

fock'em bad sportsmanship and they play ugly football.

BS. Have you really watched France this tournament? They've been playing relatively clean and they've been dominant. They move the ball really well. There have been a good number of heel flick passes for flashiness.

Belgium had much harsher challenges than France yesterday. Croatia, was basically doing the same thing as France with the time wasting. The guy was injured and came off. Rakitic was trying to start a fight with Ali.

France fully deserve to win this. They haven't needed goals in stoppage time or extra time or penalties. Strong team.

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

This is the beauty and the ugliness of the World Cup. A team like England goes on a great, unexpected run yet bows out in the semis and people are disappointed.

England beat two part time teams (Panama and Tunisia) and two average teams Colombia (without James) and Sweden (the international equivalent of mighty Burnley).

If a moderately successful team were ever gifted a run to a world cup final, this was it. And England couldn't even take advantage of this great gift.

Ok.... wrote:

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

This is the beauty and the ugliness of the World Cup. A team like England goes on a great, unexpected run yet bows out in the semis and people are disappointed.

England beat two part time teams (Panama and Tunisia) and two average teams Colombia (without James) and Sweden (the international equivalent of mighty Burnley).

If a moderately successful team were ever gifted a run to a world cup final, this was it. And England couldn't even take advantage of this great gift.

Sometimes the truth is painful.

Agreed. They were on the weak side of the bracket. Belgium, Brazil are better teams. Also England should have been fresher after the Sweden win. Croatia had to go to OT and penalties for their quarter final win. And England still couldn't bring it home.