FIFA World Cup

@mariner4life said in FIFA World Cup:

@sparky said in FIFA World Cup:

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.

England are much the same as France, big and fast. I can't see how they can beat this Spanish team.

They will need to get past Argentina first and I don't think they will.

But I can see England beating Spain if they take their chances and defend strongly. And show tactical adaptability across 90 or 120 minutes, as they did impressively against Mexico and Norway. Tuchel looks an upgrade on Southgate in his ability to see Plan A isn't working and implement Plan B, C or D in a match.

A big problem for England is that their Arsenal players (Rice, Saka, Madueke) looked flogged.

Looking ahead to tonight, I think Messi will the difference in a tight game. His record against Premier League defences is phenomenal. 27 goals in 35 matches. 9 of those against Arsenal.

@Jet The Rodri-Ruiz-Olmo midfield trio was superb for Spain last night.

Thierry Henry hits the nail on the head in terms of France's performance yesterday:

“That wasn’t a World Cup semi-final performance it was an embarrassment. With the quality in that dressing room, there is absolutely no excuse for playing with so little intensity, so little courage and so little pride.”

“I’m tired of hearing about talent. Talent means nothing if you don’t fight. Spain wanted every second ball, every duel and every attack more than France did. That’s unacceptable for a team that claims it wants to be world champions.”

“Too many players hid when the game became difficult. Where were the leaders? Where was the personality? Wearing the France shirt comes with responsibility, and tonight too many of them failed that responsibility completely.”

“You cannot walk around, lose simple passes, refuse to press and expect to beat a team like Spain. They made France look slow, confused and completely out of ideas. It was painful to watch.”

“If you don’t have the courage to compete in a World Cup semi-final, then you don’t deserve to be in the final. Simple. Spain didn’t just outplay France they outworked them, outthought them and outclassed them.”

“Every player in that dressing room needs to look in the mirror because this performance was nowhere near the standard of France. Reputation won’t save you. Medals aren’t given for big names they’re earned by players willing to fight for every single ball, and tonight Spain wanted it far more."

Probably a very tall order, but I really hope England can win the whole thing.

@sparky said in FIFA World Cup:

@KiwiPie What were the French team expecting? Spain to stand off them?

Cape Verde gave Spain more of a match than that.

The same Cape Verde that were extremely unlucky to not beat Argentina in the R32. Not sure that’s a great comparison.

France just looked like a team of superstars being outworked by a champion team. I know DD has the record for wins in world cups but he has come up short tactically the last few tournaments. Opting for a midfield two against Spain's midfield was just conceding the the entire middle of the pitch before the game had been played. Feel like he should have done more with this golden generation of French players. 1 World Cup win out of 4 tournaments is great by most standards, but not for the talent he has had at his disposal. The only time he got it tactically right was in 2018 when he came in with a more conservative gameplan (Matuidi playing on the wing and putting in massive defensive shifts) and looked to catch teams in transition. These last two cups its looked kind of like the early Fozzie All Blacks years. Beat the other team solely through talent.

@Frank said in FIFA World Cup:

Probably a very tall order, but I really hope England can win the whole thing.

I hope so too. Would be nice see them end their 60 year drought.

@ACT-Crusader Now compare the weekly wages of the French team and the Cape Verde team.

Huge credit to Cape Verde for working so hard. France were off it last night, partly because of Spanish brilliance but partly because they were off it and got their game plan and approach to the game wrong.

Quality of chances Spain have faced (xG) this tournament

Cape Verde, 0.2
Saudi, 0.14
Uruguay, 0.2
Austria, 0.32
Portugal, 0.63
Belgium, 0.34
France, 0.3

One goal conceded, and it's as much about their midfield as defence.

Spain are most vulnerable to a clinical team like Argentina or England. It should be a fascinating final.

@sparky
so did uruguay

uruguay conceded a really dumb goal
got a man sent off
and were still going hard at the end

if argentina make it, they'll be playing spain just like that (without the dumb goal, but maybe some send-offs)
a lot different to what the french put out there

Reading your own press in L'Equipe doesn't equip you to win a SF

Bereft of effort and ideas

Shameful and embarrassing from the Argentine Vice President going the English "usurping pirates" and "invaders" ahead of today's game, although lots of British lefties will agree with her:

@sparky said in FIFA World Cup:

Shameful and embarrassing from the Argentine Vice President going the English "usurping pirates" and "invaders" ahead of today's game, although lots of British lefties will agree with her:

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The English need to rise to that level of intensity or they will lose. Beckham can give them a team talk about how he got sent off, and the way the Argentinian team celebrated afterwards. They won't necessarily fight fair, and won't give it a second thought in their quest to win

@canefan said in FIFA World Cup:

@Jet said in FIFA World Cup:

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This is the match in a nutshell.

That Spanish bank of 4 had carte blanche while Mbappe and the other sunshine boys seagulled up front.

Perspiration beat inspiration.

So seagulling doesn't work?

Luis Enrique launched Mbappe out of PSG and won two Champions Leagues back to back.

Mbappe is great at knocking over the minnows, but at the business end when you meet a team as technical as you , you need all 11 players running their socks off. Yes all 11. Even the Spain keeper was playing as a sweeper.

It’s the same with every team that indulges latter day Ronaldo. He is like a siege gun that needs to be wheeled into position.

Portugal will be exponentially better once he fucks off.

@canefan said in FIFA World Cup:

@sparky said in FIFA World Cup:

Shameful and embarrassing from the Argentine Vice President going the English "usurping pirates" and "invaders" ahead of today's game, although lots of British lefties will agree with her:

View image

The English need to rise to that level of intensity or they will lose. Beckham can give them a team talk about how he got sent off, and the way the Argentinian team celebrated afterwards. They won't necessarily fight fair, and won't give it a second thought in their quest to win

It’s going to be pure and utter skullduggery tonight.

@MiketheSnow said in FIFA World Cup:

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Judging by that poster 2026 world cup winners should be the All Whites!

@nostrildamus said in FIFA World Cup:

@MiketheSnow said in FIFA World Cup:

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Judging by that poster 2026 world cup winners should be the All Whites!

Except that Darren Bazeley is a Pom!

@Higgins said in FIFA World Cup:

Except that Darren Bazeley is a Pom!

Nobody's perfect!

(Especially if they are English)..

Maybe his job was to wave a white flag?

@sparky The British left (of the twitter variety anyway) are fucking insufferable. Tuchel needed to print this off 50 times, slap it on the dressing room walls and get the lads firing.

C’mon lads, play with passion, play with pride. Please for the love of sweet Jesus keep the pace up, go for the press and make space. This is gonna be spicy!

2 minutes in and the spice had commenced…

Dog shit game

How simeone doesn't have a card yet is beyond me

The fuck has it taken this long for the first card. Both teams guilty of shithousery, very little fluidity as both keen to mark their territory

1 a piece now for bookings

First World Cup since record of these things were made (1966) not to have a shot in the first half hour.

No shots on goal in the first half.

A combined total of 0.08 XG so far.

Where is this man when football needs him?

That’s the first half. No doubt a heated occasion, but very little football played as both teams preventing each other from finding flow. England need to stay motivated otherwise they’ll revert to staying back and creating little. Kane has been anonymous.

It's a pity Elliot Anderson was booked. He has been excellent so far but you have to wonder how long Tuchel is willing to risk having him out there. A lot of baiting by both teams. It's a terrible game.

Djed Spence skinned twice by Alvarez at the start of the second half.

@sparky Very different Spence from the first half.

BOOM

Tony Gordon in with the first

take it back

What an assist by Morgan Rogers!

@sparky said in FIFA World Cup:

What an assist by Morgan Rogers!

Justs play the Villa players more.

Shades of play from the Southgate era. England hanging back, passive defence, zero press. Argentina all over them.

They won’t win like this
Riding their luck
Ball watching

So fucking frustrating, it’s just all to predictable from England.

I just hope England can hit them on the counter when the chance comes