England have a massive opportunity to advance against a less than great Argentina side.
Spain haven’t shown the kind of killer instinct that the French team have, but they will try to strangle France. I can’t stand Argentina’s mastery of the dark arts, I’m hoping for a France vs England final
Jayden Adams, 25, died after playing for South Africa at the World Cup.
South Africa's players' union described his passing as "an immeasurable loss" for the country.
Adams started two of South Africa's group stage matches despite the death of his grandmother the day before the 1-1 draw with Czechia.
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haha
love south american teams
they've got absolutely no respect for anyone, especially european teams
possibly only argentina can beat france
they can play like paraguay if they need to
the difference is, that unlike paraguay, they can score
paraguay are the only team to cause france any sort of trouble so far
if england want to win it; they are guna have to step it up a bit more yet
and show some composure
the rich kids are going home
was ok with all the var today
really like the way colina seems to have cleaned up all the nonsense in the penalty area at corner time
var even made me laugh with the simulation send off
very silly by the swiss player; and he knew it; completely f'd it up for his side
his first yellow would have been a straight send off in rugby league (running thru the kicking leg of an opponent)
England in the Semis - again.
Against Argentina - again.
I feel a recurring nightmare coming on all over again
@Victor-Meldrew said in FIFA World Cup:
England in the Semis - again.
Against Argentina - again.I feel a recurring nightmare coming on all over again
England won the last meeting. But that was 22 years ago. And it wasn't a SF
I just recall Gascoigne breaking down in tears when he got the YC that would mean he'd miss out on the Final. (1990 SF apparently.)
I dont know how it works but part of me wants a win for Gazza.
Messi is a freak and doesn’t dive as much as some of his more annoying team mates.
I like this England side and want them to beat this crop of Argentinian divers.
I see Antonio Rattin died today.
He did more for the Argie-Eng rivalry than even Diegos hand-of-god
the anticipation of another eng/Arg match up might have got him overexcited!
They were doing a lot more than just diving when Antonio took the poms on.
Whilst I’m willing this England team to win, jeez they make it hard sometimes, and the cynic in me feels they’ll be found out by the likes of Argentina/France/Spain. They play some pretty uninspiring stuff, far too flat and defensive, lacking pace and reliant on flashes of individual brilliance.
@ACT-Crusader said in FIFA World Cup:
Messi is a freak and doesn’t dive as much as some of his more annoying team mates.
I like this England side and want them to beat this crop of Argentinian divers.
I don't see Argentina as any worse than the other teams for diving - and Embolo is the worst of all for diving before the contact, most divers wait until after the contact.
It is hard to work out if Argentina is any good though, but they are on an extraordinary tournament winning streak having won the last World Cup and the last 2 Copa Americas. And in this tournament, they have rarely looked assured and seem to take long time-outs when they let the other side play. Messi plays like a man who has 8 games to play and wants to make sure he can still run at the end of the 8th i.e. most of his time is spent walking around near the half-way line.
The change to 5 subs has really helped the teams with more depth. Norway were probably the better team over 90 minutes and dominated long stretches of the second half - but England could keep bringing on top class players to change the game (Rogers) and quick athletes (Spence) and Norway couldn't and once the keeper made that mistake early in extra time, the game was effectively over.
@KiwiPie said in FIFA World Cup:
I don't see Argentina as any worse than the other teams for diving - and Embolo is the worst of all for diving before the contact, most divers wait until after the contact.
slight correction, not just diving before but swinging his leg to make contact rather than just receiving contact.
glad he got pulled up for it
I would never underestimate Argentina. Messi is basically barely playing, and England should try to pressure him when attacking in an attempt to get the Argies off balance. But if given an opportunity in front of goal he has proven he is still dangerous
I don’t really like his solution, but I don’t like extra time and a penalty shootout. What about a touch rugby style drop off? No result at full time? Go to extra time, and every two minutes someone from each team leaves the field. The order players are withdrawn has to be submitted prior to the start of ET, so there is some strategy involved. First team to score wins
Not sure about the idea in the article, but I also don’t like the idea of a game being decided by penalties.
I like the idea of a sudden death shootout after 90mins, then play extra time.
If still level after extra time then the result of the shootout stands.
Basically if you win the shootout you get a half goal (like an away goal) and it’s up to the other team to score.
@westie_boy or just start with penalties!
When I played under 12’s etc the decider was the number of corners.
Shots on target would be difficult to judge, what constitutes a shot, if it’s blocked immediately in the tackle how do you judge if it was on target.
Let’s just go the whole hog and have sealed bids in brown envelopes handed over to fifa prior to the match, in case of a tie, highest bid goes through.
The drama of penalty shootouts is second to none on a sporting level.
I can’t see it changing. Some stats on goals scored / games won in extra time would be interesting to see if XT is worth it though.
I love the drama of the shootout but also feel like it's a bit of shit way to decide a game when 120 mins + stoppage couldn't separate two teams. Also, it ends up with some of the lesser players taking the spot kicks because of subs. Feels like luck plays too much of a deciding factor in the shootout.
@canefan said in FIFA World Cup:
I don’t really like his solution, but I don’t like extra time and a penalty shootout. What about a touch rugby style drop off? No result at full time? Go to extra time, and every two minutes someone from each team leaves the field. The order players are withdrawn has to be submitted prior to the start of ET, so there is some strategy involved. First team to score wins
I think extra time and then golden point time. Golden point time is where the game continues indefinitely until one side scores. Whoever scores first wins.
@brodean said in FIFA World Cup:
@canefan said in FIFA World Cup:
I don’t really like his solution, but I don’t like extra time and a penalty shootout. What about a touch rugby style drop off? No result at full time? Go to extra time, and every two minutes someone from each team leaves the field. The order players are withdrawn has to be submitted prior to the start of ET, so there is some strategy involved. First team to score wins
I think extra time and then golden point time. Golden point time is where the game continues indefinitely until one side scores. Whoever scores first wins.
That could result in some very, very long games and you'd probably run into TV scheduling issues.
They tried with the golden goal idea but that didn't work in soccer as teams were too scared to concede so played even more conservative in extra time so it achieved the reverse of what they were after.
I think penalties is fine, its great theartre.
@MajorStokes said in FIFA World Cup:
The drama of penalty shootouts is second to none on a sporting level.
I can’t see it changing. Some stats on goals scored / games won in extra time would be interesting to see if XT is worth it though.
yeah
i think the casters love the penalty shoot out
from most of the chat from players/coaches/commentators i'd say the majority are in inclined towards going directly to penalties after the 90
and i think i agree
in a tournament like this, a draining extra time might start to have an impact on the performance of the winning team in their next match
dont like that
@MajorStokes said in FIFA World Cup:
The drama of penalty shootouts is second to none on a sporting level.
I can’t see it changing. Some stats on goals scored / games won in extra time would be interesting to see if XT is worth it though.
I actually find penalty shootouts tedious…
But I appear to be in the minority.
@brodean said in FIFA World Cup:
@canefan said in FIFA World Cup:
I don’t really like his solution, but I don’t like extra time and a penalty shootout. What about a touch rugby style drop off? No result at full time? Go to extra time, and every two minutes someone from each team leaves the field. The order players are withdrawn has to be submitted prior to the start of ET, so there is some strategy involved. First team to score wins
I think extra time and then golden point time. Golden point time is where the game continues indefinitely until one side scores. Whoever scores first wins.
Don't mind the idea of XT, then GG, then penalties.
Messi stats at this WC:
8.2k distance covered per game (least of all Arg players)
Walked 47% of that distance
Made 2.7 sprints per match
Has had 33 shots at goal and created 21 chances (the most of any player at a WC since Maradona in 86)
Has an assist or goal in his last 15 WC games (16 goals and 7 assists)
Pretty amazing really
seems more like adapting, than declining.
@Windows97 said in FIFA World Cup:
@brodean said in FIFA World Cup:
@canefan said in FIFA World Cup:
I don’t really like his solution, but I don’t like extra time and a penalty shootout. What about a touch rugby style drop off? No result at full time? Go to extra time, and every two minutes someone from each team leaves the field. The order players are withdrawn has to be submitted prior to the start of ET, so there is some strategy involved. First team to score wins
I think extra time and then golden point time. Golden point time is where the game continues indefinitely until one side scores. Whoever scores first wins.
That could result in some very, very long games and you'd probably run into TV scheduling issues.
They tried with the golden goal idea but that didn't work in soccer as teams were too scared to concede so played even more conservative in extra time so it achieved the reverse of what they were after.
I think penalties is fine, its great theartre.
That is because they always had the fallback of penalties - remove penalties and teams might have more of a go, especially early on in extra time knowing that the longer it goes the likelier fatigue is to play a factor
Chatted at work about this today. We all didn’t mind the idea but can’t see it happening. Main reason is the 22 Final. Epic game, epic drama all the way to the final penalty.
Why would FIFA change?
This is playing out exactly how I thought it would. Spain dominating possession and playing defensively sound football. They are strangling France's vertical attack and funneling all their play to the wings where their lack of a 9 is showing up. France always have that ability to score in a flash but it might take something special to win this one.
@MajorStokes Didn't mean to sound negative. Just typical of what Spain do. They are the best tactical team in world football. Their players work so hard on and off the ball.
@allblacksfan2 Credit goes to Spain's defence. They strangled the French attack. France were never able to play through the middle in this game.
What a terrible performance by France. Le choke. Totally went to pieces on the big stage.
Hats off to Spain for taking advantage of France never waking up.
Parisian glazers will make a fortune tomorrow. When Algeria, Morocco or France or PSG Win, Lose or Draw the city of eternal light gets smashed up.
That was a totally dominant performance by Spain - just controlled the game and always looked like they could grab another goal if they needed it. Exposed that France effectively play (or want to play) a 4-2-4 and bossed the midfield. Penalty was a strange one and that seemed to deflate France.
