FIFA World Cup

@mariner4life said in FIFA World Cup:

nil-all snore this morning as ghana stuck 11 men in the box and dared England to shoot through them, which they couldn't. England proved they lack a true creator in the middle to unlock these teams. arguably worst game of the whole tournament.

I thought Ghana played it perfectly, and had a good chance to win it at the end.
Ghana wasn't going to win if the poms got in front.
Cos then it'd be the poms who'd shut the game down.

It's the f'n euros that are f'n boring.
The Euros can shut games down better than the rest.
Ultra organised and ultra disciplined, yaaaaawn.

Spain FFS!!!
3000 passes between goals!!!!
Now they're an effin snooze.

Fuck I hope a euro team doesn't win.

Most games have been good; canada/qatar was a dog, and Saudi/Spain, and Portugal/Uzbek; were yawns.

@westie_boy said in FIFA World Cup:

Yeah, take Messi out and they are less than ordinary.
The 10 other guys hit the jackpot by being in the same team as him.

Not really
the argentine national team has been built around messi for two decades now
and it'll stay that way while he's still doin it
and the way he's pacing himself, he might have a couple more WCs in him yet

@mariner4life said in FIFA World Cup:

a little 3-minute break at quarter time is helping too, just limits the fatigue factor.

not just the cup of tea every 20 minutes, but the fact that 5 subs are allowed, and you can swap half your team out, if they're feeling a bit "puffed"

Because of that, I think a team could do a full field defensive press for the whole 90 minutes if they wanted to.

And a good chance we see a team try it in the knock-outs.

@MiketheSnow said in FIFA World Cup:

100%

haha
if konsa laid on a tackle like that in a game of rugby he'd have been suspended for the rest of the season, at the very least

I note VAR disallowed a vinicius goal today for the slightest of touches on the ankle of a defender
maybe VAR got woken up

Ecuador deliver again

Great win over Germany

The Ecuador coach is insufferable.

ME ME ME

Equador were flying around like lunatics, really entertaining game.

The more i watch of Wirz the more i wonder what the fuck made Liverpool pay that much for him.

That closes the window for a draw for us to qualify, it's now win or go home.

Am looking forward to the Aussie Paraguay game. Heaps of Aussies there.

Hopefully they know the words to their anthem ... saw one of the guys singing ' ... we are young and free .. before their last game whereas it was changed awhile back to 'we are one and free' out of respect for Aboriginal people. Maybe it was nerves.

Turkey just beat USA! They'll rue that loss to Paraguay.

@antipodean said in FIFA World Cup:

Turkey just beat USA! They'll rue that loss to Paraguay.

A cracking match

@mohikamo said in FIFA World Cup:

@mariner4life said in FIFA World Cup:

nil-all snore this morning as ghana stuck 11 men in the box and dared England to shoot through them, which they couldn't. England proved they lack a true creator in the middle to unlock these teams. arguably worst game of the whole tournament.

I thought Ghana played it perfectly, and had a good chance to win it at the end.
Ghana wasn't going to win if the poms got in front.
Cos then it'd be the poms who'd shut the game down.

It's the f'n euros that are f'n boring.
The Euros can shut games down better than the rest.
Ultra organised and ultra disciplined, yaaaaawn.

I’ve seen people contradict themselves from post to post, but rarely so clearly in the same post…

All Whites just barely hanging on.

Embarassing goal concede by the all whites. Just awful.

We conceded from a cross vs Iran and haven't improved since then

We might be lucky if this isn't 5 - 0.

All Whites making a good case today for the World Cup to go back to 32 teams....

How the hell are we in the WC and Italy isn't? They really need to rethink the qualifying process.

Belgium comfortably the better side. The All Whites are being overrun.

Don't think it's been completely embarrassing.

Yet.

All Whites get one back!

Stoked to see us get one back.

Woohoo

Just has been the NZ player of the tournament. Deserves a move to a big Premier League or European club.

Jeez he's had a good World Cup

That's the fourth for Belgium.

Lukaku doing what he does.

Great tournament for Just.

Amateur hour in the All Whites defence tho. .

Think it will be a long time until another NZ player scores 3 goals in a WC

Score reflects the game in the end

I was expecting a 3 or 4 goal margin. Despite his late mistake I think Surman along with Just have put themselves in the shop window for moves to bigger clubs.

Cabo Verde through

Amazing

@MajorPom said in FIFA World Cup:

I’ve seen people contradict themselves from post to post, but rarely so clearly in the same post…

They shut the game down in a different ways.

One does it without the ball (Ghana), by setting up an effective defensive screen

The other does it with the ball (Spain); denying the other team possession.

Completely different strategies with the same end result, making it very difficult for the opponent to score.
Both could be considered boring, depending on your POV

Neither Ghana or Spain have conceded a goal in tournament yet.
Both going about it in totally different ways
And both still in the tournament.

NZ conceded 10 goals and are going home.
Their game plan didn't work.
They should probably take a look at what Ghana did.

@mohikamo

Keep going. One day you’ll figure out the one thing makes the other.

If the All Whites were parking the bus yesterday and hoping to snatch a goal, they were really bad at parking. It isn't just about putting men behind the ball, you have to work really hard to pressure the player on the ball and cut out their passing options. We gave Belgium so much time, they passed through us like we were traffic cones.

Ultimately we just need to get more players following the Eli Just path and playing at a higher level. Just is the only one who has enhanced their reputation I reckon - not sure he will make it to the biggest leagues but might be snapped up by Celtic or Rangers

@KiwiPie said in FIFA World Cup:

If the All Whites were parking the bus yesterday and hoping to snatch a goal, they were really bad at parking. It isn't just about putting men behind the ball, you have to work really hard to pressure the player on the ball and cut out their passing options. We gave Belgium so much time, they passed through us like we were traffic cones.

Ultimately we just need to get more players following the Eli Just path and playing at a higher level. Just is the only one who has enhanced their reputation I reckon - not sure he will make it to the biggest leagues but might be snapped up by Celtic or Rangers

Our defence of crosses and corners was so poor. I agree about Just, if he could get a move to one of the old firm teams that would be considered a great result

The Group Stage has lacked jeopardy this time.

Only Italy (14, who didn't qualify for the tournament) and Uruguay (18) of the world's top 20 ranked teams failed to make the round of 32 and the start of the knockouts.

Cape Verde are the only big surprise to be still in there.

Turkiye not qualifying was a surprise

Some very interesting match ups in the Round of 32

England need to go out to score goals or will be going home

@MajorPom said in FIFA World Cup:

Keep going. One day you’ll figure out the one thing makes the other.

Nope

Two completely different methods to achieve the same result (no goals)
And I think both provide a boring on field spectacle
But, it's the WC, and you do play to win the game, so you do what you can do.

The passing/possession style is worse IMO, because it's a double whamy.
Not only ensuring only one side can score; but also making it impossible for the other (you cant score without the ball).

Where as the defensive type set-up gives away the ball, and basically says to the opposition, show us what you got.
Which is a little better philosophically, IMO.

the interest being provided by the close margin on the scoreboard
goin down early against a euro big shot, is usually game over, and then everything is boring . . . change the channel

Paraguay style; completed only 8 passes in a half of football, but scored a goal and went on and won the game.

The All Whites aint the All Blacks so they should have played a Paraguay type style, more defensive.
They actually led a couple of games (I think), and had a pair of quite sharp strikers
If they'd played a style better suited to their skill set, they'd have had a better outcome.
Instead they were a bit naive, and leaked goals constantly
With the logical result, an early trip home

prefer the sub-saharan style (critiqued by Schweinsteiger recently) myself
But play like that against the euros, and there is usually only going to be one result
Only the South Americans seem to able to deal with the euros