UKH

I was so certain that there'd be a thread running about the World Cup that I almost didn't bother with this but, unless I've missed something, there doesn't seem to be. 

So, the World Cup: who's going to win, who's going to surprise us and just how flaccid will England's performance be?  Post your thoughts, your reactions, your opinions, arguments, notes on how much beer you've drank and all the rest that both makes for a good footie thread and keeps the rest of the site free of it.

I'm torn between Germany and Brazil to win it and England to get out of their group but lose the next match.

T.

Annoying distraction for the next month. Not even the pinnacle of world football in terms of entertainment and skill levels, the Champions league knock-out games are much better.

France to win, or maybe Germany or Brazil. England will be better than previous and will comfortably get to the quarters when a proper team will knock them out.

I'm really looking forward to it. Not sure why, but I still find the World Cup much more special than any other football comp, regardless of the quality. Ancient memories of when it was the only time you got to see the world stars; Brazil and Italy in 1982, Denmark and Maradona in 86 etc.

I'm hoping for England to perform well and just create some good memories, a great goal or two, and get out of the group obviously. Think we have a 50:50 chance against Poland/Colombia and a 40:60 chance against Belgium. I don't think we'll be super exciting, but at least we have a bit of a plan. I like Southgate, but I do wish that he'd signed up a coaching genius just to help him for the next three months.

In my work prediction comp, I have ended up with a Brazil v Argentina final. It would be good if one of the finalists wasn't one of the big five though.

Why?

It would only likely lead to a boring one-sided game.

That's one heck of an assumption.

Belgium have more than enough good players for an exciting game, maybe Croatia do too. Colombia could come good, or Uruguay. Portugal have some great players, though tend to play a fairly dull game. Then there's England...

Edit:

And what was the last great world cup final between two established teams? 1986? 1998 was a great final but that was France's first ever final.

2014 was good drama!

CB

footie world cup is in Japan next year is it not?

Aren't they every four years?

England are 12-1 to win the WC. For those of you unfamiliar with gambling, this means if you bet £100 on England, you will lose £100.

they are, and it's in that famous footy nation....Qatar

I never understood the interest in football, I fi D it one of the most boring games in the world. My only interest in this is our work sweepstake and with the teams I have drawn I don't stand a snowballs of winning. 

Small boys.  Jumpers for goalposts.  Isn't it?  Marvellous.

T.

England will scrape out of their group, win their next match, raising the hopes, and then lose to Germany or Brazil.

With England it's not a question of whether they will win, we know they won't, but there is always some level of novelty to the defeat. OK last time it was just quick and painless, in fact I was too busy cycling round Yorkshire to notice it had started before they were out. But on other occasions we've had the hand of god or the goal that never was, Seaman beaten from the halfway line or a hero sent off after cheating by a swarthy foreigner. Actually we've had at least two of those. Will England play brilliantly yet lose in a penalty shoot-out, or being utterly terrible and lose in a penalty shoot-out ? 

The best thing about being a climber and the world cup is that the roads are deserted when England are playing, really useful if they are playing at the weekend. 

I'm interested in the football but don't expect much from England, hoping that someone new wins it this time, would be great if some team from Africa won, though I can't see that happening.

Think 5 Live are asking;

1. winner 2. surprise package  3. golden boot'

So, 1. Germany (coz they always do) 2.  Uruguay (good team plus Suarez), 3. Suarez (he will get a netfull against Saudi Arabia) and they Uruguay will progress (otherwise Mo Salah))

Think England could fluke to the semi's.....and Vardy will be the surprise hero when we start lobbing it long and they cant handle his speed coz not used to this style.  Most pundits (Linekar, Waddle specifically) used to go and on about 'England wont win until we start playing 5 in the mid field etc etc etc.  But we havent got the quality of player for this continental style (only Scholes ever good enough) so we should play to our strengths - route 1 after 70 minutes !!

Even better for road cycling! I cycled almost 40 km on a normally busy road near the Czech border during the quarter finals of the 2014 WC, with only one or two cars passing me in total!

CB

After having seen Saudi Arabia and Egypt play I'm really looking forward to 2026, when there'll be an additional 16 theoretically even worse teams taking part. My highlight for this week is Argentina-Iceland tomorrow!

Because I've got an alpine start tomorrow to catch an early flight I'll be in bed for tonight's Spain - Portugal match, which promises to be a decent game of football.  As compensation, I'm currently not watching the game between Morocco and Iran, which isn't.

The world cup may be a feast of football, but that doesn't mean you'll enjoy every course.

T.

I'm sure why - because the results matter to far more people than any other football games (or probably any other game of any sort). Almost entire nations care who win games, not just supporters of mercenary club sides.

It's the World Cup! Nothing else comes close (except maybe the Olympics).

England could do ok.

i wouldn’t be shocked if we made the quarters.

You never know. There’s no super dominant team this year so it’s pretty open. I’d love for Messi to show how good he is but if he doesn’t play well Argentina will struggle.

Germany are Germany so you have to fancy them.

I’m just hoping England play without fear. They’ve a group they should get out of and s good path to the quarters.

uraguay didn’t start too well today but they’ve got good players up top. I’d love to see a good upset and one of the smaller teams to get a long way.

England have a 43.7% chance of reaching the quarters according to this analysis: https://www.theengineer.co.uk/world-cup/

..but don't expect the Scots to be cheering you on: https://yougov.co.uk/news/2018/06/14/third-scots-actively-want-english-foot...

Well this is a genuinely extraordinary game.

Crickey, maybe not all football is dull. 

To quote SAF, "football, bloody hell!"

Ronaldo is force of nature

I'm enjoying it all particularly tonight's match - absolutely fantastic footie! 

I have £1 on Brazil to win at 60-1 (Corals) and an outside punt on Portugal. Sadly I don't see England going beyond the quarters so I decided not to put any money on them.

Hoping to watch the Panama match somewhere in North Wales - will the Royal Victoria be showing it do you think? 

It was an absolutely fantastic game of football. Sorry...

Spain-Portugal more than made up for the other two games today!

I fell asleep at the Iran - Morocco game, only for the goal to wake me up again, and then had to work through most of the good game, only running to the TV when the commentator started shouting...

Interestingly, Iranians probably enjoyed beating Morocco, 12 years after beating the US, with Morocco being one of the few countries that cut diplomatic ties and imposed economic sanctions at the behest of the Saudis (who I would like to see stuffed two more times) and the US.

CB

Just as a small point of order, please can we not call it footie, that is nearly as annoying as rugger. Possibly less annoying than soccer, at least the colonials don't know any better. Football is just fine.

They might struggle to beat the US Team, given that they didn't qualify!

Surely you mean Association football?

youtube.com/watch?v=45NOP1OA-EQ&

Yes, but that was their last win at the WC. The US also managed to lose against Yugoslavia (which tells you how long ago that was, France 1998!) and Germany, scoring no goal at all.

CB

No, football is just fine. Just got to maintain some basic standards.

There's an Italian ice cream kiosk here in Berlin with a notice up: "World Cup Special! One free scoop for every goal scored by Italy!"

Wow, what a game! Germany beaten by Mexico.

The Germans have never done very well in Russia have they!!!!

Poor from Germany. Looked like they could have played for 900 minutes and still not have scored. Müller looks like the version that turns up at Euros rather than previous World Cups. I think they’ll struggle to get out of the group now (probably means they’ll go on and win it now I’ve said that..)

Association Football is a latecomer to the football family, it does not get to be THE football game, just A football game.

Enjoyed the Germany v Mexico game though, I thought they were going to need oxygen and a five minute sit down for the Mexicans, they were really flagging and yet they still held the Germans off. 

The only German players really making an effort were those who'd missed out in 2014 - Reus, Draxler, Brandt, Werner. Ok, also Müller, Kroos and Neuer - otherwise a sorry bunch compared to four years ago.

Really chuffed now cos my tip for BRA-SWI was 1:1 and I'm now in =1st place! Considering putting a tenner on Iceland to win the Cup, at 350 to 1 ... :-D

My prediction is England 0 Tunisia 0

The stadiums look great. Really liked the Belgium-Panama one, and this one looks good. Good atmosphere, crowd up close to the ground, steep sides, plus vaulting, gravity-defying roofs. Like it!

Come on Ingerland!

My Coral bet was 2-0 but it's looking like it's going to be more!

A good goal followed by the most homo-erotic group hug spectacle I've ever had the misfortune to witness. 11 men lying on top of each other stroking each other's hair etc...

Harry K's hair has an amazing amount of product......he was upside down and that quiff never moved

Oops

Unfortunately they’re missing a lot of quality and inspiration.

No Beardsley, Waddle, Gascogne, Lineker, Platt. 1996 was the last time we had a side capable of winning it and Baddiel and Skinners song no longer rhymes.

Steady on... they’ve played some of the best football of any team so far, and they’re a young side. Given how limited Germany, Brazil, Argentina and France looked, I think they’re not badly placed here...

There we are.... Kane is a good player. With him in the side, they’ll be a threat to anyone 

You’ll win nowt with kids!

Yes, but he will get injured.

Regarding Kane I can feel a metatarsal coming. Then again serious shoulder dislocation in the penalty box!

But compared to the Spain v Portugal game, tonight looked like Sunday pub league. 

Was impressed with Tunisia's obstinacy. Most impressive Volgograd defence since Georgy Zhukov was lacing up his boots.

Well there was f*ck all else to be impressed with!

Fair enough- but they’ve been easily the best 2 sides. 

I’d be much more concerned if I was a Germany fan. 

Belgium game will be the real test- if England  can live with them, then they could do alright...

Or a damaged quiff from heading the  ball! There’s no guile in that team, or any team we’ve had for 20 odd years. Bunch of overvalued twunts. 

Maybe we will win it by stealth?

Perhaps. The likes of Spain and Portugal are mature sides, England's only hope is it grows into the game through the initial rounds otherwise they'll getting a hiding later on. 

I thought the VAR was lacking with the penalties. Strange.

.........and Pickford looks a little small, but otherwise they played well. Probably won't win it, but then only one team out of 32 can do that.

Passion, drive, guts etc.... rarer qualities these days, but in abundance in many GB Olympic athletes. Wonder what it is that makes footie so different. 

Sense of entitlement? Look at Iceland’s display. They have no chance of winning it but set out a stall, stuck to the plan and got a great result. Population the size of where I’m from and hold one of the favourites! That’s team spirit. 

Oh, I can think of about 200,000 reasons - per week.

Maybe because football is the number one sport in over 100 countries, and rowing and track cycling are minor sports in about 15 countries. 

And anyway, English footballers don’t lack for passion, drive and guts. If they could win just by trying harder they would; it’s the skill, guile and composure they’re lacking. 

but hopefully we’ll have qualified by then. Could even be a game we want to lose 

I thought they were quite skilful and composed tonight. They maybe lacked a bit of guile.  They need to to sharpen up the finishing a bit and maybe a little more luck with some of the refereeing decisions.

Lol.

Yes I thought there was some great running tonight, not sure about composes,  but also a lack of precision passing or shooting.

The penalty decisions were bizarre. After the Brazil game and this one, the refs might start getting tougher on tussles in the box. 

1996 wasn't a world cup..

We were good in patches but pretty poor in other games. Scotland and Spain especially and that Germany team wasn't great.

Similar in 1990, we were lucky against Cameroon especially.

This was pretty good. Walker looks a liability but has pace. But he does switch off and takes gambles, lets balls run that a center half shouldn't. He still plays like he's a wing back. I thought the penalty was harsh but see why it was given but then so should the one on Kane. But holding is inconsistently dealt with, hence why defenders still do it. With VAR this should be cut out.

Loftus Cheek looked dangerous, Sterling had a poor game. Lingard missed chances but gets into good areas. Rashford was more direct than any of them. 

I don't know how Stones didn't connect with that chance. 1 game in, and a big win in terms of qualification. We should have won comfortably but they created lots of chances and played decent football.

We saw one given in the Nigeria Croatia game. It's just very random when given which with VAR should not happen.

Thing is with one of the Kane corner tussles, just before that disgraceful rugby tackle, Stones, also waiting for the corner to swing in, pushed a Tunisian in the back and he fell to the ground. So if the VAR were to give it to Kane, they'd have had to have given the Stones foul moments prior to it. So they left it all well alone. Wise.

Not sure about the other one.

Sterling was poor, Loftus Cheek looked good for the limited time he was on against a tired team.

Thought Trippier was the best player on the park - apart from his two goals (which is why he is in the team) thought Kane was invisible, especially in the second half.

One question - can Vardy and Kane play in the same team? Know that Vardy is good in counter attack, which wasn't required against Tunisia, just wondering if teh two can play together?

I wouldn’t play Vardy with Kane and Lingard, Rashford and Sterling are more fluid and dynamic. They can play outside or as a number 10.

i agree Kane doesn’t offer much but goals. He can be an outlet and play the target man but he score. That wasn’t an easy second goal. 

Re the use of arms. It’s still random. England deserved to win. They ran, they created chances. It’s the first team in a one time which has an identity, a style of play not just big names, square pegs in round holes.

im a big fan of 3-5-2 at international level, it’s a gamble as we don’t play as a back 3 much domestically but it lets us dominate the midfield.

My wife likes football, so ended up watching some of the England match last night.

Can anyone explain to me what's going on with the players pulling their socks up over their knees?

Obvious innit? Nobody wants cold knees...

Keep their knees warm?

But weren't the pundits were commenting on how warm it was out on the pitch...?

Obviously not at knee level. Heat rises so maybe it was only warm at waist and above.

England, if they qualify, play either 1st or 2nd in this group which looked likely to be Columbia or Poland.. much less likely now.

Hides embarrassing tattoos.

Biting insects, I think.

Less skin exposed for the midges!

After alice bands and leggings maybe the long socks are going to see the introduction of fusspenders?

My favourite World Cup story to date:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-44492611

I haven't visited Japan although it's an early objective for my forthcoming retirement. I'm looking forward to the opportunity all the more now.

Here's an interesting conundrum for you all to consider

England and Belgium win their next games and so both qualify before the final game, which merely becomes a question of who tops the group. Brazil and Germany improve on initial matches and qualify, but the latter is second to Mexico and so play Brazil in the last 16.  This is known before the Eng-Bel match, whilst the winners of Group H (Japan, Poland, Senegal, Columbia) isn't known but isn't exactly terrifying.

Now then the winners of Eng-Bel, if they win their R2 match, will face Germany or Brazil. The losers, again if they win in R2, would face someone like Mexico or Switzerland.

Will either side try to win ? 

England need to win the group, finishing runner-up means playing the round of 16 on 3rd July, the night of my clubs 10k. It would be frowned upon if the club’s new Chairman (me) didn’t turn up.

Its football - who cares?

Football fans. 

I spent a month in Japan, more than a decade ago. My experience was that city centres were pristine, places like Narita where the main airport for Tokyo is, much less so, but not bad by British standards. However, the amount of rubbish on sone of the mountains was pretty bad. We explored the mountains above Nikko.

I would suggest only the English and Belgium football fans - so not even a large % of football fans the world over

I imagine neither side would really want to win, but is it against the rules to deliberately try to lose by scoring loads of own goals? Or would they have to pretend to not be trying to lose?

I don't care who tries to win as long as we don't have the constant droning in the background. The Iran-Spain match sounds like a secondary school bagpipe club tuning up in a traffic jam caused by a truck full of bees colliding with a shipment of kazoos.

Remember the vuvuzela?

Senegal goal against Poland - comedy gold.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44539007

Unfortunately I do, I made a couple of games at the 2010 World Cup.

Worst World Cup ever that, ruined by jollity.

I am not surprised. I was at the recent Climbing World Cup in Hajiochi (Tokyo) as an officia, and it was very noticeable that the public areas were virtually spotless, unlike the reserved competitors area which were, well how can I say, less than spotless.

In Japan you notice litter (very much) but here and in most paces you only notice a total lack of litter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados_4%E2%80%932_Grenada_(1994_Caribbean_...

I caught about 15 seconds of that match as I was flipping through the channels. During that brief time, Diego Costa managed to be a cock. Who would have thought it. 

That's brilliant, we need more rules like that to liven things up.

Argentina 0 - Croatia 3

the end of an era? Argentina were terrible. Lethargic, sloppy, lacking imagination, unable to string two passes together, crosses going clear over the head of everyone. Messi was peripheral, and infected by the same sloppiness as the rest of them. 

It will take a miracle for them to get out of the group now, so we are probably looking at the final international games in the career of one of the greatest players ever. A sad end, the brilliance of his Barcelona performances never replicated on the biggest stages of all.

I’m not sure, right now there’s a good chance that a 1-0 win in there last game will get them second place. 

That would need both them scoring, and preventing Nigeria from scoring. On tonight’s performance, neither looks particularly likely. 

I wonder if something will come out about problems behind the scenes; the Argentina players didn’t really look like they wanted to be there.

Yeah, they looked poor, especially their attitude, but they lost to a very strong team. 

I agree. Croatia is the class act in that group. Iceland are tough opponents but may not get a result tomorrow.

As for Messi. He is exceptionally talented and the statistics do not lie. But they also bear witness to the exceptional Barcelona team, possibly the best club side ever, raising him on their shoulders. But I question his character.

Maradona lifted poor sides (Napoli as well as Argentina) to Scudetto and World Cup glory. And he did so as if singlehandedly with display after display of indomitable character. We see the same determination in Ronaldo. He may have played a small part in the final game, but his play and goals took Portugal to the decider two years ago. Messi’s skills rival both, but, when it comes to the crunch, Messi falls short of either.

Argentina certainly can still qualify though it would probably be into a last 16 tie with France. Croatia likely to get Denmark.

How are England doing?

England are still in!

4 teams are already eliminated... Morocco had the dubious honour of being the first.

That's my view.. France Argentina and Brazil Germany..

It means by the quarters we have lost 3 of them, plus Italy and Holland. 

I think Argentina will qualify but france will win.

France has tremendous strength in depth. What a bench they had last night! Commentators are complaining about their lack of fluency but two wins, two clean sheets will please Deschamps.

The performances so far rather reflect the manager as a player. Efficiency before flair.

I think the operative word there is SINGLEHANDEDLY.

One thing I will never do is express any admiration for a cheating, lying, blasphemous drug dealer.

Oh dear - Maradona was the most gifted player of his generation, won lots through his talent, lifted others through his drive and succeeded at both domestic and international stages

AND he happen to score ONE goal with his hand against Engerland - get over it FFS.

His second goal in that game was fantastic, not many have scored a better goal.

Now, as for dodgy handball incidents Thierry Henry v Ireland?

Yeah, apart from a drugs ban in 1991 for cocaine, being sent home from the 1994 world cup for doping, shooting journalists with an air rifle (got a suspended sentence)...

Legend.

He is a very bad man, obviously. However, it’s his footballing ability we need to consider. I did find it funny that amongst his crimes Fred lists blasphemy.

Messi and Ronaldo are both convicted criminals of course, both receiving big fines and suspended sentences for tax evasion.

Quite.

Never mind, Neymar is still in the World Cup - just!

Having seen all the supposed fancied teams, none have really impressed. Could this be the World Cup of mediocrity?  

I've only just spotted this. For probably half an hour England played the best football in the tournament to that time. As entertaining as Spain v Portugal was, the overall standard of play was nothing special, great going forward at times, but pretty woeful in defence.

Great, Bergkamp-esque finish from Musa.

Neymar was brilliant yesterday. 

Serbia were robbed......how that wasn't a penalty when their forward was wrestled to the floor by two defenders was even more baffling than the penalty that never was against Harry Kane.

Nigeria finally showed what African Football is capable of in this World Cup.  As good as Iceland were in the first half Nigeria were superb and I hope they qualify from the group.

A great day for the World Cup.

Lots of quality in that team. 

At the back, in the middle and up front.

Big 45 minutes for Germany!

Well Germany left it late, but quality when it came.

The Germans are coming. They'll be in the final I reckon. Sad but true.  

The Swedish team should be embarrassed, poor passing, failed to engage, looked slow and unfit, even with a one player advantage failed to take control. Germany got the result they deserved, despite some suspect refereeing. 

Yeah, stupid decisions late on. That shot was silly, no chance of scoring and gave away possession then a stupid tackle to give the foul. Germany aren’t great but got the win. Sweden didn’t seem to know what to do at 1-1 with a man extra, get the win or play for a draw. 

Good start.

good run by lingard, he does so much running between the lines. Not the most talented player but clever runner and works very hard. This England team is much more fluid than past ones.

It’s only Panama but in two games we’ve created lots of chances.

Erm. I think my eyes arent working. 5-0 at half time against a bunch of wrestlers.

i don’t think the ref wanted to give that penalty at 4-0 but he had no choice, there were 2 at it. 

Since I've been on my holidays*, today's England game was the first one I've sat down and watched properly.  Rather good, I thought.

T.

* County Antrim, since you ask.  Never been before, and I have rather fallen for the place.  I'll definitely be going back.

Meanwhile, having at one point been four wickets down for barely more runs than the football side had scored goals, the other England side now need 20 runs from 7 overs for a whitewash. Just two wickets remaining, however. 

Amazing weekend for England football, rugby and cricket. Three victories achieved in different styles. Football always ahead, rugby was pretty neck and neck for most of the match while the cricketers snatch the win from a point of seeming hopelessness.

You forgot Lewis Hamilton and F1! Can it get any better?

Yes, Germany could have lost  

But he drives a German car.

Mostly made in, err, Woking...

Brixworth , Northamptonshire I think......but only until Brexit kicks in and I guess Mercedes will be off like others in the high tech manufacturing sector. ( Just to conflate this thread with most others which revolve around EU issues.)

Even the Jocks could have beaten Panama.

I think...?

history lesson time;

Many moons ago ,Scotland tried to colonise Panama.

but we never did very well in South America.

He did refer to his OWN HAND as the "Hand of God", so presumably inferred that he was himself God.

Not that I personally think blasphemy has a place in the 21st century (or even 20th as it was then). However he does come from a supposedly God-fearing Catholic country.

I quite enjoyed yesterday’s game, obviously having stuffed possibly the weakest team in the competition (I’m not sure just how bad Saudi Arabia are), I can confidently say we are going to win the World Cup!

Seriously though, great to see a young team playing with confidence and plenty of ability. Lingard’s goal was wonderful. Stones first goal was the first England goal by a Manchester City player in about 35 years apparently, which says a lot about Stirling’s contribution to England.

I enjoyed it too and have the same good feeling about our youth and lets not forget that until the senior age is reached, England have been the best team in the world recently.  I wonder how well that will ultimately translate to the senior squads.  

Sterling is confounding.  He has great skill and is super fast and slippery but when wearing the three lions has not performed.  I wonder if he can continue to bother the players with his running and make space for Kane to get close to the goal then this combo might work.  

Perhaps its time to try Vardy.  Another super fast runner and skilful operator, who is also deadly in front of the net.  If Kane gets injured we will struggle without another good striker and so we need to see if Vardy or someone else can act as a credible deputy so that the other teams dont think we are a one trick pony.  I know Lingard and Stones scored yesterday but I dont think  they would have had the space that they did with a better opposition.

Or that his God acted through his hand, which is more likely.

Two things have struck me so far. The first is probably not surprising. The foreign pundits like Fabregas and Zabaleta can speak in a more grammatically correct manner than most of the native English speaking ones. Secondly, I am amazed at the numbers of fans from supposedly poor countries who are able to afford a trip to Russia. I know that Colombia has a flourishing export sector but still.........

When Ronaldo takes a Free Kick, he always rolls up his shorts past the thigh. How does this help?

Oh! Spain have gone one down. Lots of surprises at the WC!

How do you apply for the job of scouring the stands looking for the attractive young ladies for the crowd shots? 

And then manage to get the Sweden games....... 

Great save by the Iranian keeper!

What a mental night of football this is!! 

VAR proving a shambles tonight. 

Makes for brilliant comedy viewing though, once you get past the screaming “get up, you f*cking soft cheating wanker” stage.

Couldn't get past that stage tonight. I was hoping just before Ronaldo got booked the ref was going to book the Iranian player for "simulation" (aka total onanism) but no.

All day has been pretty good. The goals just keep coming!

I think the group stages usually produce the best football. Everyone seems to close down a bit and get cautious once knockout arrives. 

Very true. I hope the defenders sort themselves out though. Defending has been awful up to now and as a result there have been far too many penalties awarded. 

First 0-0 draw of the tournament today, glad I didn't watch it, sounds like what I was doing (writing funding applications) was far more exciting and that really is saying something!

Glad I did watch the Argentina Nigeria game....fantastic match. Felt a bit sorry for Nigeria, they play some great football.

How embarrassing is the cheating Argentinian Gazza? Unveils a flag of himself, swears at opposing fans, falls asleep then gets led away by doctors...probably a bit too late but the man needs help!

Some interesting games today..Brazil Serbia and Germany S. Korea , would be amazing if Brazil and Germany failed to qualify

Loving this WC

It is turning into a fascinating World Cup (France/Denmark aside).  There is a quarter of the draw that now contains France, Uruguay, Portugal and Argentina!

As for Maradonna - an utter embarrassment.  I think the BBC will be a little more circumspect about using his images during the games now, after having to cut away last night during the idiot's one-fingered salutes.

Saw the last 20 minutes. Including two watches, one finger!

Host broadcaster, I don’t think either BBC or ITV have much choice about the pictures they get. I suppose they could cut to the studio, but would probably require showing the game with a few seconds delay.

I always look forward to the World Cup but I'm starting to think that football has become a non-contact sport.

Get near the competition and they seem to fall over without any difficulty.  I wonder if any of these big strong men would fall on the floor like a big girls blouse if they were hit in the street.  <footballer gets slight tap on shoulder, rolls on the flow holding his face/back of head as though has has been hit by Joshua>

My 10 year old daughter can take more punishment than these bunch of embarrassments.  Managers need to stamp it out and threaten to withdraw their place in the next game of they continue to cheat this way or better still, FIFA disqualifies the game against the cheat retrospectively.

Why is diving or feigning injury to get an unfair advantage any better than taking steroids, blood doping or roughing up a cricket ball with sandpaper?  It drives me nuts to see these so called professionals behave in this way with the tacit encouragement from the manager who, in almost every case, will defend the player?

What about all the attackers being literally wrestled to the ground at set pieces? At least the referees appear to have been instructed to take a more severe view.

I agree that should be stamped out too and given the introduction of VAR and a 3rd ref I was hoping that this could be dealt with during the game.  I agree that there has been lot of this going on (with the striker sometimes going down a little too easily) but Im talking about the stuff which isnt that easily identified where diving or acting are being used as tools to cheat the ref and ultimately the watching public out of a fair result.  

I would rather England lose fairly than win unfairly.

This World Cup has been helped but also hindered by VAR.  Now we have players screaming at the ref to review every little thing.  Injuries are exaggerated even more as an attempt to get VAR to look at things and hopefully get a decision.

While there have been some things that VAR has helped with, there are many other behaviours that it seems to be encouraging.

I do like the fact that Gareth Southgate seems to be drumming into the England players that they should do their damnedest to avoid getting hold of anyone in the penalty area and risking a penalty.  The Tunisia one went against them - good reason to make sure they keep their discipline.

Copy cricket and tennis. Each team can request 2 vars per half. Or similar.

As it stands, only Spain and Uruguay have better disciplinary records than England (of teams not eliminated), and Mexico are the same.  So England are currently one of the cleanest teams at the World Cup.

VAR is in its infancy in football.  I't'll take a while for it to sort itself out but it can only be good in the long run.

I’ve only seen highlights of Uruguay’s matches, but they have never struck me as team of good disciple and Sunday school morality. I don’t just mean gnasher either!

That one is a surprise, I have to admit.  But they have played 3 matches and only 1 yellow!

Edit - Mexico had a yellow card inside 10 seconds in their Sweden game, so England is currently 3rd best team for discipline in the World Cup!

And with one yellow card less than Belgium, would go through as group winners if the match on Thursday ends in a draw. So which fringe player will be sent on in the last 5 minutes to pick up a needless booking ?

As we play someone from Group H we won't know who we are playing until the next day so we should just play to win the group and not mess around

Agree entirely; go into the Belgium game not caring whether you win or lose, and I can virtually guarantee a loss, and also a loss of the momentum England seem to be building. 

When we are getting the results, why stop? Go into the match with a winning mentality, and then let whoever we meet in the last 16 worry about how to stop England rather than how to beat them. Make a nice change......

I would argue the officials need to stamp it out. It still goes largely unpunished.

If you very rarely get booked for diving but you often win a free kick, you're going to dive, aren't you?

Refs need to get better at giving free kicks where the fouled player *doesn't* fall over, and also give more yellows/reds for simulation.

Group H games are in the afternoon before the England game (yes, I know, it's wrong, but don't blame me), so they will know who they would play in the next round.

But yes it is inevitable that if they avoid Brazil in the quarters, they will render it academic by going out to Japan in the second round.

I should have read the schedule more carefully. I guess TV dictated that England would play in the evening, if not half the country would shut down.

Stop press : youtube.com/watch?v=sRW2lo-xcik&

Just to say, the last time England did better than Germany in a World Cup was 52 years ago. 

2-0 down, need 3 goals in about 90 seconds

Can we write them off now ?

well, thats been coming for a while- Kroos' goal at the death in the Sweden game let them off the hook, but Germany have been poor in all three matches. Lots of possession, not many chances, and the few good ones they create, they waste. 

looked like the end of the road for a lot of that team- they really missed Lahm and Schweinsteiger, and also Mueller, even though he was technically on the pitch...

I know he always looked a bit rubbish, but maybe the guy they missed was Miroslav Klose; 16 goals in 4 world cups when they never finished lower than 3rd.

And Germany leave Russia in disarray...not for the first time.

Today's word is Schadenfreude.

Can't think why...

T.

Yes. None of the current team seem to know where the net is...

I am pretty sure they knew where it was because they went to great effort to avoid it!

F*cking Neymar. What a prancing petulant, diving bstard.

I;m just so pleased that whatever happens we;re not going out to Germany on penalties. 

youtube.com/watch?v=z4uivPpzCGo&

I'm not sure why all the gloating over Germany's exit.  Borne out of jealousy for a country with a much better structured football set up which almost always out performs ingurland, maybe ?  I doubt whether our humiliation to Iceland two years ago hardly registered in Germany.

I take it you weren’t enjoying Australia getting a pasting in the cricket!

Australia being pasted by us ? yes I certainly was.  But we had nothing to do with Germany's exit at this world cup.  If we had I might understand the reaction a bit more. 

So much can happen in 5 days..

Its partly our national obsession with the underdog and being jolly good sports. 

I heard on the radio that in German schools sport is taught that winning is all that matters at all costs whereas we know that here we have a thing about the taking part, best efforts and everyone's a winner etc. which is a bit rubbish but deeply ingrained in the culture.  

I'm generalising of course, but you get my drift. 

The fact that it wasn’t us doesn’t matter, we have outperformed the old enemy (purely football, no war references) for the first time in 52 years.

You mean we beat Panama ?

Martin o'Neill got it right

https://www.balls.ie/football/martin-oneill-panama-needless-391629

I'm just happy to see them out after the way their coaches teased the Swedish bench at the end of last week's game. With a bit of luck the coaches will be sacked too. 

O’Neill has got a point, but considering how poor some of the teams have been in this World Cup, it would be pretty terrible to be the manager of a team that didn’t qualify.

That was quite ugly.

So far, we have achieved very little. But it is already the most enjoyable major football tournament for at least 12 years. (edit: for England fans. Welsh and neutral fans have had some good tournaments)

If we lose our last 16 game against Japan, we probably won't remember it fondly, and Southgate will be replaced by Neil Warnock, but for once the journey has been fun.

Don't mention the VAR.

Well, I was looking forward to the Belgium v England game but its now become a bit on an anticlimax, talk is of both teams trying to lose - which is rather disappointing.

Never mind, it all gets real from now on - lets hope the referee's also get real and waken up to the criticism they are getting - lets play football!

To be fair, both teams have shown themselves to be pretty good at losing in recent years so could be tight game 

Belgium ahead already after the anthems. Billy Connolly springs to mind.

Ir was a nothing game. Why risk bookings or injuries.

no side wants to lose but there was no real advantage to winning. It was a chance for squad players to make an case and they didn’t. I don’t buy the momentum argument as it was a different team out there.

it all starts again now. Columbia are a decent team but play well and we will beat them especially without James if he’s out.

The only hazard with Columbia is being injured. They play full contact hope the ref is distracted football, plus the risk of players being drawn into a scuffle and being banned from later games. 

The path to the semi final now opens up. 

So says everyone in Colombia, Sweden, Switzerland and maybe England.

Exactly! This was always about prolonging England's stay in Russia, and Southgate has done just that with this result.

Now England will get knocked out next Tuesday instead of Monday. Mission accomplished.

You are a pessimist aren't you?

Selfishly I'm partly pleased it's Tuesday as I'm due to be in a remote Romanian mountain hut on Monday night with no chance of watching anything. 

Seems fair. He keeps his job. In a culture where the manager takes the blame and £300m of players waltz back to their day job as though they had no part in the teams defeat. 

Whereas I will be at Old Trafford trying to watch the England game and the T20 game between England and India!

Trying to win is name of the game tactics be damned. 

On my watching England were very much trying to win, they just couldn't. 

lol, it was firmly tongue in cheek, lifted from somewhere else and made me laugh.

I'm pretty excited about our prospects, why not? Stranger things have happened...Leicester winning the Prem?

They did but both managers selected much weakened teams.. I don’t think either manager was that bothered.

Strange emotions on this game.

suarez vs Ronaldo

who would you rather see crying? Who don’t you want to see celebrating ?

Two knockout games

10 goals

a new star arrives, two fading ones depart

One of the great days of World Cup football...?

Mbappe wasn’t even born when France won the World Cup.....

mind you, I wasn’t born when England won it !

I was 3 months old!....its been a lifetime's wait

A terrific day. I’ve been watching Cavani closely at the tournament as I believe he’s unjustly underrated. He works in selfless support of Suarez, and yesterday his performance was every bit as good as Mbappe’s electric impact. With the ball coming across him awkwardly, his body control and ball strike for the second goal was my moment of the tournament so far. 

It’s time to start ramping up how good England are and how their chances of winning it have improved with all these big sides knocked out.

Then and only then will we feel suitably disgruntled at our sides shiteness.

Ive never known the quarter finals minus Germany, Italy, Argentina, Holland, Spain or Portugal. Surely this year? Then we can say we didn’t play the big boys 

Unusual for all those sides to be poor at the same time- and they were poor, none of the results are a shock when current form taken into account. 

Brazil, France, Uruguay and Belgium all still in though. But all in the other half of the draw. Losing to Belgium looking like a very good move now...

I love the fact there's a Denmark player with Braithwaite on his back. 

Not even Braithwaiteson

Can't beat a good penalty shootout.......unless you are English!

Russia, Columbia, Croatia, Sweden, Switzerland, England.

One of those teams will be in the WC final!

It’s incredible how the draw has put two very different sides of the bracket.

our side is so open.

im going for a Mexico shock today.

I was going to say that the psychic octopus is doing better on predictions but I just discovered that he has been eaten!

No Mexico shock, but Japan now 2 up against Belgium, a well fancied team. Lots of favourites going out!

Now that header livens things up!

Edit follows

Now that header livens things up!

Edit follows

That was cruel.

Wow. Great game. Glad it didn’t go to penalties but I would have liked another 30 mins.

I wanted Japan to win but Belgium deserved that. Incredible turn around.

Neymar - what a complete and utter tw*t!

Utterly. A horrendous example for the kids. Rio F went down in my estimations earlier too when he condoned diving in the box.

https://t.co/ndcyym7JSM?ssr=true

Fat miserable Belgian bastards

I just watched his writhing about like a salmon on the riverbank routine.

embarassing.

and infantile

Just watched the Belgium v Japan highlights. This world cup just goes on getting better and better - I almost wish I wasn't going off on a climbing trip with a near perfect weather weather forecast for the next two weeks!

One of the R5 pundits commented "How can somebody with so many tattoos, have such a low pain threshold?"

Destiny awaits - roll on this evenings game!

Looks like we'll be playing Sweden then

One game at a time. I think we can beat anyone in this competition, I also think we can lose to anyone in this competition.

No a lot of quality in that game, can’t see Sweden getting to the semis 

Humbug!

Plenty of quality in the England team! It just needs...err....drawing out

Where are the goals going to come from?
Might need to send out for more beer for the extra 45 minutes ...

Spiky first half.... honours even I reckon 

the clash with the head but though- a red card, I don’t understand how that can be a yellow; but I also don’t understand why Henderson went down holding the front of his face when he was struck underneath the chin.

who does he think he is? Neymar...?

What’s the score in the Scotland game?

England 2 (Charlton, Hurst) 

Scotland 3 (Law, Lennox, McCalliog)

Ooof. Another foul...

Odds on Colombia finishing with 11 men...?

PENALTY!!!!

(spoiler alert...)

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

colombia look a beaten team- totally lost composure.

The Ref is getting great value for his whistle mind. Every 30 seconds he seems to be blowing it.

He shoots!

he misses!

adios, Colombia...

Wow! It ain't over under the larger set lady starts singing...

Crap. 

Even as a scotland fan, that was hard to take. Colombia did nothing (other than collect bookings) for 92 mins, should have only had 10 men on the pitch, then that...?

edit: it’s just like watching Scotland (except at a stage of a tournament we never get to...)

Value for money innit, extra time for free!

Yup, Welsh fan here and I was gutted. Colombia seem to be massively putting on the pressure now though.

Yep, Colombia are making all the chances now, England need to be in the other half. Penalties! Again? 

What has happened to England in the last 20 minutes. I’ve not seen this many backward passes since Liam O’Brien was playing for Tranmere 

Yes, England look rattled. Penalties look like the best option now. Only consolation is that Colombia, for all their pressure, aren’t creating clear-cut chances. All the more bizarre that they got a goal, because they look pretty toothless overall. So do England though

Obviously didn't watch the Spain match

In the entire second half they seemed less aggressive and leaving more holes. Penalties it is then!

Who has the squeakiest bum?

urggg. I didn't think I would get this into football. Last time I watched a match there was a bunch of rolling on the floor when no one was within 3ft of them

Well, well, well... England win a penalty shootout! 

Could see that coming- last two Colombians were clearly bricking themselves as they walked up to take the pens...  

I lost count of the number of times I died! Thank god it wasn't the Germans!!

That was not good for my blood pressure.

If that was a Rugby match there would have been a few red cards - I've no idea how the ref put up with that amount of abuse.

Oddly good finish to a penalty shoot out. Trippier’s was brilliant when needed, then Pickford’s save amazing. Dier got lucky there but they lost their nerve I think. Really happy for Southgate.

Alan

England 1 - Thugs lost!

Can’t say I was very impressed by Columbia, they only started playing in the last 5 minutes of normal time. But I was convinced they would win the shoot out. Great save by Pickford

I was just driving back from Horseshoe and thinking the roads seemed really quiet. I don't think I'm a very good Englishmen... hmmm. Anyway, came in to find my Finnish wife watching the match and very excited. Saw the penalties, so maybe I saw the most important bit after all!

It was always going to be different than playing the Japaneessieze, but fair play to England, they weathered the cheating s—m well.

Southgate "so much work has gone into owning the process" - sounds like the sports psychologists have been at work

Brazil will sort you out

Can he now remove that paper bag?

Like the first swallow of summer, you know that a football tournament hasn't started in earnest until Scots console themselves, about their own team's absence, at the expense of England.

... Be patient. Only 4 more years to wait until you get another chance to compete. 

Can't help thinking Columbia might have done better if they'd had a proper manager; Charlie Watts is a great drummer but I'm not sure he knows a lot about international football.

Amidst all the well earned pats on the back for winning a penalty shoot out let's not lose sight of the fact that England were awful up front. I cant remember Ospina having to make any saves. Deli Alli and Sterling were useless and Loftus Cheek has to start the next game. I would drop Ashley Young as well and bring in Danny Rose. 

Having said that I thought Trippier and McGuire were excellent as was Walker.

Do you honestly think England didn’t need psychologists (and an actual plan)  for penalty shoot outs?

I hope they get the chance to try 

more chance of England getting to the final than Brazil, given who they have to play to get there...

I reckon England Brasil final. Brasil passing and possession too good.  But then again the French looked good. 

I wonder whether Rattin was assisting Pekerman ? Worst cheating I’ve seen so far in Russia

The sight of the Colombian player deliberately scuffing up the penalty spot sums it all up for me.  If that is in your "playbook" of tactics to try to get through to the next round of a football tournament then you deserve to go home.

Typical approach of those Johnny foreigners!

You say that like it's a bad thing. Jumpers for goalposts are all well and good but you can bet the other teams are taking every aspect seriously - and the atmosphere in the stadium was certainly hostile to the England players - combine that with the pretty appalling attitude of the Colombian players, and our history in knockouts (not to mention) penalties and I'm pretty glad that somebody of Southgate's attitude is in charge.

I was at the ENG-IND 20/20 cricket last night. 

We managed to watch most of the 1st innings then headed outside the ground to watch the game on the big screen. About 20 mins into the match I turned around to realise that nearly the whole ground had emptied out to watch the game. There were a few India fans still watching the cricket mind.

A great atmosphere and many a beer flying when Dier put that penalty away.

At least last night it showed that Vardy and Kane cannot operate within the same team - changed the whole dynami of the team changed when Vardy came on, changed the tempo of the game - lets hope Rashford or Loftus Cheek gets the nod ahead of Vardy in future.

We did rather better in the Football than the cricket, though !  sounds like a right hiding.

I disagree - many of the teams have been outstanding in their approach and all but 1 of them are Johnny Foreigners!

My poor phrasing, most definitely not a bad thing.

He does have a great attitude of calm positivity avoiding the histrionics.

that phrase sounded pure GB cycling.

I'm not sure you can blame Vardy for that. Dier came on first and I'd say he had a bigger impact on the tempo of the game, Vardy didn't get on until the very end of normal time. Also, Kane was struggling by that point (though still played very well) so Vardy looked quite isolated, the midfield seemed to have disappeared and the team seemed to adopt a hoof it long strategy from a bygone era so I think you are selling Vardy short.

I was also there and did exactly the same. Great atmosphere at the end when all the Indian fans joined in supporting England.

Not convinced, Vardy and Kane operated in similar areas/channels so when Vardy came on Kane dropped deep, team lost shape and had to resort to long balls.

But potatoe potato, through to the next round - fingers crossed everyone fit and available to play (through yellow card counts as well)

It was a great night and as you say, brilliant to have the Indian fans join us all at the end!

I'm glad I didn't miss a decent game of cricket though

Exactly! I do find it interesting that so many people can watch the same game and come to different conclusions. I would like to see Rashord and Loftus Cheek on at some point though and think they will be good against the Swedish defense, maybe at 65 minutes if the starting line up (same as this game) are struggling to penetrate.

I'm a little concerned about us managing to score against a decent Sweedish defense as our "goals form open play" count isn't exactly stellar......

One of the problems that Southgate has is keeping his penalty takers on the pitch when they are completely knackered. Really Kane should have been subbed yesterday but he is so key to the penalties that he had to stay on.

Alan

Sorry, you are taking my flippant comment too seriously.

However, the antics of Neymar and Pepe have been noteworthy in their level of patheticness.

Obviously Sterling is going through a bad patch, about three years! It's about time he was dropped!

Nah - I forgot my smiley face.

Some antics have really been ridiculous.  An utter embarrassment.  Playing up for VAR?

And if sweden play cleanly and don't give any away, England might not score.

Was I the only one assuming that Vardy had been brought on purely for penalties, then he didn't take one? 

If you look at penalty stats from the Prem Kane and Vardy are far and away the most experienced. So why wasn't Vardy used? 

Was Southgate saving him for no 6 assuming that Colombia would be scraping the barrel and we would have a better chance? Seems a risky strategy to me..

He had a groin strain I believe. 

Why he wasnt sent off I dont know. Whats the difference between that and scuffing a cricket ball with sandpaper? He should also be retrospectively punished with a lengthy ban. The worst kind of sportsmanship.

Among a lot of scummy behaviour by the Colombians, that was right up there. 

I’ve largely given up on Football over the last few years, but i’m feeling a bit bereft tonight. How will I cope until the next game on Friday afternoon?

Presumably Henderson was the volunteer to take Vardy's place. Less well prepared, would explain why his penalty was telegraphed so much. Not a regular penalty taker for Liverpool either. 

Edit - apparently Dier was the replacement. Another theory bites the dust...

Well I hope we've got it slicker for the next 3 games.....

Apparently you can now bring a 4th sub on purely for penalties so Vardy can rest his groin on the bench for 120 minutes

I'm not allowed within 500m of a sports ground for doing that

The penalty shoot-out win was just what we needed – shows they can do it and emphasizes all games should be tough (first two games were against easy competition).  Kane got too tired because he did too much because we have little creativity in midfiled.  He was brilliant nonetheless.  Sterling hasn’t cut the mustard but plays well for Man City when he has class players to help him out, Ali doesn’t look as good as normal (injury not helping?),  Henderson solid but not creative.  Interestingly, Martin Keown reckoned Sterling played well because he dropped back a lot – this should not be his role.

Rashford and Loftus Cheek might be better options than Sterling and Ali, but they are not radically different in terms of their creativity.  The Swedish style may help Sterling (he’s lightweight so suffered against Columbian bully boys) and my gut feeling is that one moment of excellence from Sterling maybe all he needs to come good.

As a Wigan Latics fan I know only too well the levelling effect of knock out cup games (sorry to Man City fans for bringing it up again (not!)), and the importance of organisation and team spirit which Southgate has been excellent at.  So, I don’t think it makes that much difference who plays in the Sterling/Ali/Rashford/Cheek debate.  And whilst Sweden will be organized etc, so will England.

1-0 England because Kane is world class but there wont be many chances (secretly hoping for 3-1 tho!!!)

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/world-cup-drinking-game-neymar...

Belgian fans are planning a drinking game to finish their beers every time Neymar falls over.

Blooming heck, Belgium are looking good!!

What on earth is a false number 9?

Someone who operates between the midfield and backs. Messi in a barca shirt 

Lukaku is great to watch. 

Agreed. First touch generally awful

Well I was not expecting that result! What a great match! I kind of hoped Brazil might equalize and we'd get another half an hour to watch

It was rather fun, wasn't it? I'm not sorry to be seeing the last of Neymar.

So one of France or Belgium will play one of Russia, Croatia, Sweden or England in the final. Exciting times.

T.

I'm looking forward to having the hills to myself(almost) tomorrow

Yes. Neymar can roll all the way home now.

And England are now the only non-European team left !

If you mean geographically, err, we are European.

If you mean in the EU, err, Russia... ?

Come on Ingerland!

Yes!

Sterling... Good grief.