FIFA World Cup 2018

[Puupi]

He can't continue the game until EVERY englich player has returned to his half.

As I said, referees fault.

[Zelk]

Your back must be sore from all the pats you're giving yourself.

to be fair he's done well there predicting that England would beat uhh... Tunisia and Panama

[RobertoCarlos]

to be fair he's done well there predicting that England would beat uhh... Tunisia and Panama

thats why I said belgium vs england will be very telling in the first sentence

Use ya brain lad

[Henx]

Lewandowski is considered one of the very best strikers in the world (though he's completely out of shape now), Zieliński is a prodigy and one of the top in Italy, Milik was as well before the injuries, Glik is one of the best defenders as well, Krychowiak was (though he isn't anymore) an absolute beast in Sevilla and is still pretty good, Piszczek is a legend of Borussia, Szczęsny is going to be the first GK of Juventus. Are these not stars? Let's be honest here. Poland may very well have more stars in the team than Colombia does. It's just that they didn't work as a team at all and didn't show the will to win in either matches.

The blame goes on the coach for being completely unable to get the potential out of his players.

Lewa out of shape? I guess you mean out of form, if there is a player in this world cup (except Ronaldo) that is in shape it's Lewa. He was in good form before the WC but it was against weaker teams. But I have the feeling that Lewa is in the same position as Messi, everything is on them. Messi runs deep to start an attack since it suits his playing style but it won't suit Lewa's so that's why he is alone all the time with almost no service (he did try to get more balls in a midfield position later in the game). The best service he got was that long pass which he controlled well but other than that almost nothing.

Poland did really under-perform. Well now Lewa has a chance to find his new club early I wouldn't want to lose him but if he wants to leave and we get a lot of money and then a good replacement I'm fine with it.

[XDurionX]

As I said, referees fault.

Except it wasn't? HE couldn't have continued the game at that point under any circumstances. Clearly Panamas players didn't know the rules, which is embarassing for a pro.

[Zelk]

I only meant the players, not the team as a whole. We just saw who is and who isn't a legit top 10 team, there is no discussing the facts. But if we put the individual players next to each other, it may turn out Poland had more potential. But they didn't function as a team, which Colombia did. Just as Japan, Morocco, Senegal, Iceland... Well, basically every other team in the WC, really.

Nope, Colombia have better players individually too

[Slant]

Football literally just requires a ball and something to mark where a goal is. That's it. That's why street kids play it around the world, barefoot, with a bunch of plastic bags rolled up into a vague ball shape.

No other sport requires less equipment.

School bags as posts, and an empty coke can will do for a ball, in a pinch. :P

[eschatological]

School bags as posts, and an empty coke can will do for a ball, in a pinch. :P

Your street kids have Coke? Must be nice.

I was born in India. My cousins would go around begging for enough plastic bags to make a big enough ball.

[Slant]

Your street kids have Coke? Must be nice.

I was born in India. My cousins would go around begging for enough plastic bags to make a big enough ball.

Yes, well. Plastics bags would never do in privileged Europe. A can it is, because we're posh like that.

[Hypasonic]

Really happy with the performace by england, especially in the first half yeah "only panama" but belgium couldn't break the dead lock until the 2nd half and its a world cup game, regardless of who you play. I am honestly just really annoyed with the officiating thus far, we have a VAR system in place to help the ref in situations like a free kick or a corner where a lot is going on and he just honesstly misses something, so why doesn't VAR then call him and say "an england player was being held, you should take a look". I just don't get it.

We were 4-0 up when the ref finally decided to penalise the offending team but by that point the game is already over, if this happens in a knockout game it's going to be so frustrating. I just don't get it, as soon as "we" do something remotely like that its an instant penalty (tunisia) and you can't compare it. Glad we won by a large margin today but can the officials PLEASE wake up.

[MCMLXXXII]

So with the complaining about teams like Panama and such competing and the planned expansion to 48 teams, I wondered which continents are underperforming. I took 98 as a starting point since that was the first tournament with 32 teams. So I came with the following numbers:

France 98	teams	%	out 1st round	remaining	% remaining	%remaining continent
UEFA	15	46,88	5	10	62,5	66,67
CAF	5	15,63	4	1	6,25	20,00
AFC	4	12,50	4	0	0	0,00
CONCACAF	3	9,38	2	1	6,25	33,33
CONMEBOL	5	15,63	1	4	25	80,00
OFC	0	0,00	0	0	0	0,00
Japan SK 02	teams	%	out 1st round	remaining	% remaining	%remaining continent
UEFA	15	46,88	6	9	56,25	60,00
CAF	5	15,63	4	1	6,25	20,00
AFC	4	12,50	2	2	12,5	50,00
CONCACAF	3	9,38	1	2	12,5	66,67
CONMEBOL	5	15,63	3	2	12,5	40,00
OFC	0	0,00	0	0	0	0,00
Germany 06	teams	%	out 1st round	remaining	% remaining	%remaining continent
UEFA	14	43,75	4	10	62,5	71,43
CAF	5	15,63	4	1	6,25	20,00
AFC	4	12,50	4	0	0	0,00
CONCACAF	4	12,50	3	1	6,25	25,00
CONMEBOL	4	12,50	1	3	18,75	75,00
OFC	1	3,13	0	1	6,25	100,00
S. Africa 10	teams	%	out 1st round	remaining	% remaining	%remaining continent
UEFA	13	40,63	7	6	37,5	46,15
CAF	6	18,75	5	1	6,25	16,67
AFC	4	12,50	2	2	12,5	50,00
CONCACAF	3	9,38	1	2	12,5	66,67
CONMEBOL	5	15,63	0	5	31,25	100,00
OFC	1	3,13	1	0	0	0,00
Brasil 14	teams	%	out 1st round	remaining	% remaining	%remaining continent
UEFA	13	40,63	7	6	37,5	46,15
CAF	5	15,63	3	2	12,5	40,00
AFC	4	12,50	4	0	0	0,00
CONCACAF	4	12,50	1	3	18,75	75,00
CONMEBOL	6	18,75	1	5	31,25	83,33
OFC	0	0,00	0	0	0	0,00

[Video Games]

I'm only popping into say I'm proud of my japan for not losing.

[Kyphael]

I'm only popping into say I'm proud of my japan for not losing.

Ditto, pulling for Japan as well. Senegal played surprisingly well so it was an exciting match, especially second half.

Also... fuck Germany. Normally I root for them but those fuckers got steamrolled by Mexico and come back to give Sweden a hard time. I'm disappointed with Sweden too, they showed today they don't have what it takes to win the whole thing like I hoped, but fuck Germany for playing like scrubs against Mexico and then coming from behind on Sweden.

[lockybalboa]

Hoping that both Japan and Senegal go through to the next round.

[eschatological]

It's weird, it looks like Africa just take every other World Cup off. This is an on-year, at least, according to those stats.

[RobertoCarlos]

Spain are gonna spank Morocco, manager mess and all.

@Jessicka thoughts on lukaku stats this world cup - 5 shots on goal, 4 goals

[Jessicka]

Spain are gonna spank Morocco, manager mess and all.

@Jessicka thoughts on lukaku stats this world cup - 5 shots on goal, 4 goals

I mean, we're talking about a group where John Stones can get more goals than Messi. It's not bad, but context is important.

[sheffield]

nice finish by Salah

[XDurionX]

Aaaand russia is stopped in its tracks by the first decent opponent.

[sheffield]

Torreira corner leads to a goal. nice.