World Cup 2018: Russia - General Chat

[Dr. Gonzo]

4 minutes ago, Spike said:

You are being culturally insensitive

The world was being culturally insensitive when it wouldn't let Pablo Guerrero do coke and play football.

[Spike]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The world was being culturally insensitive when it wouldn't let Pablo Guerrero do coke and play football.

WRONG. FIFA was being insensitive, everyone else wanted to join in on the party.

[Azeem]

3 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The world was being culturally insensitive when it wouldn't let Pablo Guerrero do coke and play football.

Does coke lifts stamina ?

[Dr. Gonzo]

Just now, Devon Von Devon said:

Does coke lifts stamina ?

For a bit, then you have a comedown and you feel like shit.

[Azeem]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

For a bit, then you have a comedown and you feel like shit.

Means Peruvian's don't even know how to dope properly just like their finishing.

[Bluewolf]

4 hours ago, Devon Von Devon said:

Does coke lifts stamina ?

Depends which one you go for.. The original Coke is pretty good, but stay away from the Diet stuff and obviously the Coke Zero as the name suggests it gives you bugger all.. Vanilla and Cherry are just taste gimmicks so avoid them.. 

[Eco]

With the shit we all got yesterday, today is actually a decent lineup of matches. 

[Samuel Eto'o]

Just redid this. Have Spain in the Final against either France/Brazil. (Have absolutely no idea who'd win that semifinal. )

If I were to guess it'd be Spain vs France in the Final, simply because South American teams never do well in Europe.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/world-cup-2018-wallchart-predictor/

[Spike]

1. France suck. Their defence is made up of four 'attacking' centre-backs, their midfield has no transition, Lloris is prone to bouts of retardation, and the most creative player is Giroud playing as a target-man. If they didn't have moments of individual brilliance, they'd have lost twice already. Once a well organised team play against them, they'll be blitzed.

2. Portugal are one of the best teams in the tournament. Their entire squad plays for the country with passion, their manager knows when to be conservative and adventurous, and they have an inspiring captain. Potential winners for me. The only way they'll be let down is their weakness at CB but even then they have Pepe and Fonte who always go hard. Severely underrated players as well, people talk like Guerrero, Moutinho, B.Silva, Guedes, and Fernandes are chopped liver.

3. Argentina are horrible. Why do people expect Messi to excel when they have the worst team spirit of any nation? I've posted on here a dozen times but Argentina's quality is overshadowed by players that have never met expectations for the NT, a manager out of his depth, a corrupt FA, and an incredibly amount of pressure on their star, who unlike Ronaldo doesn't excel with the spotlight. They barely qualified and for a significant portion of qualifying they weren't looking like they would. They scraped through, and a team doesn't gel overnight when things are that rough. People mention names like Higuian, Dybala, and Aguero as if they have a career of success with Argentina. Higuian and Aguero are the faces of failure of several Copa Americas and World Cups. This shouldn't' be a surprise. 

4. Spain are great but I feel like Ramos is the wrong choice for captain, as he is just as likely to do something incredibly stupid like Diego Costa. Busquets should be the skipper as his cool demeanor is tantamount to keeping hot heads like Aspas, Costa, Ramos, and Alba under control. They are potential winners for me, the only hanging cloud is if Hierro can have the tactical or motivating skills to turn it around when the chips are down.

5. If Australia had a halfway decent centreforward like Paolo Guerrero, they'd have already qualified. 

[Samuel Eto'o]

6 minutes ago, Spike said:

1. France suck. Their defence is made up of four 'attacking' centre-backs, their midfield has no transition, Lloris is prone to bouts of retardation, and the most creative player is Giroud playing as a target-man. If they didn't have moments of individual brilliance, they'd have lost twice already. Once a well organised team play against them, they'll be blitzed.

2. Portugal are one of the best teams in the tournament. Their entire squad plays for the country with passion, their manager knows when to be conservative and adventurous, and they have an inspiring captain. Potential winners for me. The only way they'll be let down is their weakness at CB but even then they have Pepe and Fonte who always go hard. Severely underrated players as well, people talk like Guerrero, Moutinho, B.Silva, Guedes, and Fernandes are chopped liver.

3. Argentina are horrible. Why do people expect Messi to excel when they have the worst team spirit of any nation? I've posted on here a dozen times but Argentina's quality is overshadowed by players that have never met expectations for the NT, a manager out of his depth, a corrupt FA, and an incredibly amount of pressure on their star, who unlike Ronaldo doesn't excel with the spotlight. They barely qualified and for a significant portion of qualifying they weren't looking like they would. They scraped through, and a team doesn't gel overnight when things are that rough. People mention names like Higuian, Dybala, and Aguero as if they have a career of success with Argentina. Higuian and Aguero are the faces of failure of several Copa Americas and World Cups. This shouldn't' be a surprise. 

4. Spain are great but I feel like Ramos is the wrong choice for captain, as he is just as likely to do something incredibly stupid like Diego Costa. Busquets should be the skipper as his cool demeanor is tantamount to keeping hot heads like Aspas, Costa, Ramos, and Alba under control. They are potential winners for me, the only hanging cloud is if Hierro can have the tactical or motivating skills to turn it around when the chips are down.

5. If Australia had a halfway decent centreforward like Paolo Guerrero, they'd have already qualified. 

Good analysis. How about Germany and Brazil? The next couple matches will tell us a lot.

I was not impressed by Germany even when they topped their group in the qualifiers (didn't they win all their matches?). This is not the Germany of 2014 or even 2010. The Germany that manhandled England in 2010, now that was a scary ass team. Muller a monster. Schweinsteiger was colossal.

That said, the Germans have always found a way to get it done. We'll see if that trait continues.

[Spike]

4 minutes ago, Paulo Dybala said:

Good analysis. How about Germany and Brazil? The next couple matches will tell us a lot.

I was not impressed by Germany even when they topped their group in the qualifiers (didn't they win all their matches?). This is not the Germany of 2014 or even 2010. The Germany that manhandled England in 2010, now that was a scary ass team. Muller a monster. Schweinsteiger was colossal.

That said, the Germans have always found a way to get it done. We'll see if that trait continues.

I haven't had a chance to watch them play yet.

On another note

Uruguay are playing how I think Argentina should be playing. Shitty, mediocre football, that strangles the opponent to death. I know it is Uruguayan football culture to play murderball but they play to their strengths and covering their weaknesses. They have a lot of strong hardworking midfielders like Vecino, Sanchez, Bentacur, Torreira, that are great at winning the ball back but aren't the type to retain possession or split a team opening with a killer pass, I feel like they overcompensate their midfield because their fullbacks are weak. Dominating a football match requires smart, atheltic, and hardworking FBs and when a teams lacks that, they lose an important part of transition from defence to attack. It's ironically both the most important least important positions on the pitch. Important for attacking teams, unimportant for defending teams because the CBs usually just bail them out. I feel like they could win the World Cup but not at the rate they conced possession and how wasteful they are on the counterattack. If they were more incisive, which they could be, they are a contender.

[Azeem]

In the age of 24/7 media (& social media providing fans access to them), the pressure on the best players is greater than ever. Messi before the game day, Neymar today after the game, the French as a whole - fear & pressure have been the dominant emotions of this WC.

[SirBalon]

2 minutes ago, Devon Von Devon said:

In the age of 24/7 media (& social media providing fans access to them), the pressure on the best players is greater than ever. Messi before the game day, Neymar today after the game, the French as a whole - fear & pressure have been the dominant emotions of this WC.

The presure on Messi from the media and fans in Argentina has been going on since the first day he wore the national team jersey. It’s understandable upto a certain point but if you actually follow the Argentinian based media day to day you would sit back and wonder how anyone can handle that. 

Neymar is going down a similar route in his home nation although with Neymar you have a more vociferous character that doesn’t just sit back and take it.  

[Rick]

12 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Which games have you been watching? There's been some absolute crackers.

Most of them. There's been the odd moment but overall I think it's been wank.

[Spike]

8 hours ago, Cannabis said:

The constant Messi vs. Ronaldo wankfest on Sky Sports is starting to give me AIDS. The constant need to pull up a graph whenever one of them is being spoken about is truly embarrassing.

No, it was me that gave you AIDS. I'm sure you can figure out the middle man.

[Azeem]

Been fasincating how many of the best players have stepped up in the dying stages of games where their team needs them the most. Ronaldo, Kane, Coutinho, Shaqiri and now Kroos - the best player stepping up, regardless of what came before.

 

Apart from Messi 

[Stan]

Sol Campbell  

 

[Machado]

 

[Stan]

Excellent. 

 

 

[Stan]

 

[Carnivore Chris]

"Don't cry 4-3  Argentina"