@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…
Just has been the NZ player of the tournament. Deserves a move to a big Premier League or European club.
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.
@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.
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.
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
@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.
yeah
and defense is an effort and organisational thing; something NZ could easily have put more work into, and been a lot better at
all 48 teams can attack well tho, even Curaçao!
@MiketheSnow said in FIFA World Cup:
Turkiye not qualifying was a surprise
They never recovered from losing to Australia
england may have to go thru mexico brazil and argentina to get to the final
great effort if they can do that
france and germany; portugal and spain early collisions, maybe
maybe
france/spain semi
argentina/england or brazil semi
@canefan said in FIFA World Cup:
@MiketheSnow said in FIFA World Cup:
Turkiye not qualifying was a surprise
They never recovered from losing to Australia
Agreed
But coming into the tournament you would have backed them to advance
@MiketheSnow said in FIFA World Cup:
@canefan said in FIFA World Cup:
@MiketheSnow said in FIFA World Cup:
Turkiye not qualifying was a surprise
They never recovered from losing to Australia
Agreed
But coming into the tournament you would have backed them to advance
I was surprised
Well we were ahead against Iran and Egypt for significant periods of the game but in the end only manged a draw and a loss from being in a winning position both games.
Our parking of the bus seemed to consist of letting the other team have the ball and come at us, which seemed to have an air of inevitability about it.
It's also fair to say that our qualifying path for the WC now in no way prepares us for the WC, and unless we can get a diet of high class international friendlies or involvement in some kind of competition higher than beating the likes of PNG and Vanawatu it's going to be hard for the All Whites to do much better than what they are doing now.