Fifa World Cup Football 2018 Official Discussion Thread

[Caliburn]

Portugal won't have this kind of luck all the time. Really Spain just messed up, Portugal did not made one goal by combination or with a well performed attack in which they out played the other team.

Foolish penalty , fault made by world class defender
Foolish fault right outside the box, again made by a world class defender
And lastly , a foolish mistake by a world class goalkeeper (this was probably the worst since the ball came right at him.)
And Spain were on the top favorite list since the beginning , last match they lost was in 2016. Just look at their line up. They simply have the best team on paper. Better than Germany , Better than Brazil. I know, since I play FIFA.

They became European champion like that. They had three draws in the group stage and the only reason they went through to the next round, was because it was the first time they played with 24 teams. As a result several lucky losers could continue. The first match Portugal was able to win during the regular period, was the semi final. With other words they had 5 consecutive draws.

Now they were being flattened by Spain, but against all logic Ronalde scored three times due to ridiculous luck. How big are the odds that Nacho, who trained on a weekly basis with Ronaldo, would cause a penalty for making a juvenile fault? How big are the odds that de Gea, one of the best keepers in the world, makes a juvenile keeping error? How big are the odds that Pique, who has played countless of times against Ronaldo, would make a juvenile mistake all the way at the end of the match? And how big are the odds that all of this would happen during the exact same match?

Yet it all of this happened. I would like to believe this doesn't last, but reality has proven differently.

Ronaldo was knackered after carrying his team, see him at the end? He needs to stay fit throughout if Portugal want ANY chance of getting near the final.



Ronaldo taunted Nacho's defending, see that massive grin he gave him? Lmao. Harsh.

All in all however, such a great match of Football I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and it's gonna be hard to top definitely.

It's not like that they have to play each day a match.

 

[Never]

They became European champion like that. They had three draws in the group stage and the only reason they went through to the next round, was because it was the first time they played with 24 teams. As a result several lucky losers could continue. The first match Portugal was able to win during the regular period, was the semi final. With other words they had 5 consecutive draws.

Now they were being flattened by Spain, but against all logic Ronalde scored three times due to ridiculous luck. How big are the odds that Nacho, who trained on a weekly basis with Ronaldo, would cause a penalty for making a juvenile fault? How big are the odds that de Gea, one of the best keepers in the world, makes a juvenile keeping error? How big are the odds that Pique, who has played countless of times against Ronaldo, would make a juvenile mistake all the way at the end of the match? And how big are the odds that all of this would happen during the exact same match?

Yet it all of this happened. I would like to believe this doesn't last, but reality has proven differently.



It's not like that they have to play each day a match.

Ronaldo the Master Chief of Football Confirmed?

"Like the others, you were strong and swift and brave. A natural leader. But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw... but me. Can you guess? Luck. Was I wrong?"

 

[Michael92]

Maybe the pressure is piling on, just in time for Ronaldo to shine.

Nuff said, lol

But seriously, WHAT... A... Game...

I was prepared to come here thinking that my predictions for today's matches were pretty spot on so far until this game happened. The odds of Ronaldo claiming the Golden boot just dropped to the lowest of all in the entire World Cup after today's preformance, lmao. Good thing I place my bet beforehand!

I'll try to summarize something more meaningful to say because this is hardly enough, lol...

 

[Michael92]

Final afterthoughts on Portugal - Spain;

Spain seemed uneffected by everything that happened. Good, because if Portugal can't take it home, Spain better do it. Also Hierro seemed like a nice fit at the sideline there where he stood, the team played well like we knew them back in 08-12. So yeah, I'd still count them as favorites now together with Brazil and Germany, which certainly wasn't the case after they fired their coach.

As for Portugal, they seemed to put up a better preformance today than they did the entirety of the Euro, lol. At least if you take the charisma of their display tonight into account. Which is a good thing I suppose, but at the same time their defense seemed weaker this time around although that might be circumstantial with how this game played out as the same thing could be said about Spain (albeit more on the unlucky side). With the news of Ronaldo's tax sentence breaking today I was no longer certain on either side winning, in fact I thought the Julen missery with Spain and now this with Ronaldo would really effect the game but I'm glad I was mistaken. All in all I see no other result than both teams going through, and I suppose it will boil down to Goal Difference in the end for whom takes 1st and 2nd and gets the "easy" route moving forward. My gut tells me Portugal will outscore Spain though simply because they have Ronaldo but we shall see.

---

As for tomorrow, the first day with 4 matches and the first day where I have the day off. I'll at least watch 3 out of 4 matches tomorrow and I'll see if I can be bothered with Croatia's game at the end of the day or not. Will be fun to see how strong Argentina really is as something tells me Iceland is going to play better against them than the bookies thinks. Denmark will also be interesting to watch since I'm Scandinavian, and let's not forget France. I'll try to be more productive with comments tomorrow as well since quite frankly I've been off to a slow start, hah! That is if my Beverage doesn't go too fast and too early down in the day, lol.

Predictions;

France 3-0 Australia (2x griezmann).

Argentina 0-1 Iceland (it's a longshot for sure as I'm more inclined towards a draw unless Messi brings the A-game).

Peru 1-2 Denmark (because why not).

Croatia 2-0 Nigeria.

 

[Ansatsuken]

France vs Australia:

Small talking point,

Penalty or not penalty?

-France's penalty
-Australia's penalty

Give me your opinion.

 

[Michael92]

France vs Australia:

Small talking point,

Penalty or not penalty?

-France's penalty
-Australia's penalty

Give me your opinion.

More entertaining than I thought it would be. France underperforming or Australia playing better than expected? Both penalties were okay for sure and the Var decision went smoother than I thought it would.

Messi vs Iceland up next

 

[Ansatsuken]

More entertaining than I thought it would be. France underperforming or Australia playing better than expected? Both penalties were okay for sure and the Var decision went smoother than I thought it would.

Messi vs Iceland up next

Both Spain vs Portugal and France vs Australia are very entertaining.

Pogba's goal reminds me to Lampard's disallowed goal against Germany 2010. Thanks GLT but feels sorry for Lampard haha...

 

[Michael92]

Both Spain vs Portugal and France vs Australia are very entertaining.

Pogba's goal reminds me to Lampard's disallowed goal against Germany 2010. Thanks GLT but feels sorry for Lampard haha...

For sure. Argentina - Iceland has been playing out just like I thought so far although Iceland has been living dangerously in the last part of the 1st half. I'll settle on 1-1 as the end result as per my pre-game predictions, but I have a strong feeling that more goals will come.

Now that you mention it xd

 

[Ansatsuken]

I didnt see Messi????

 

[Cooh]

So, Portugal were pretty lucky yesterday. Great freekick by Ronaldo but the other two goals were gifts pure and simple.

Uruguay weren't that impressive but they deserved to win imo. They were pretty unlucky a couple of times.

Didn't watch the france game but I heard they struggled a bit but grinded out the victory.

I'm dissapointed by Argentina but in the same time Im impressed with Iceland, I hope they can pull off a good tournament again.

 

[Michael92]

I didnt see Messi????

Lol. Well it seems like I nailed another prediction of mine, haha.
Denmark - Peru will be interesting for sure, can't wait.

So, Portugal were pretty lucky yesterday. Great freekick by Ronaldo but the other two goals were gifts pure and simple.

Uruguay weren't that impressive but they deserved to win imo. They were pretty unlucky a couple of times.

Didn't watch the france game but I heard they struggled a bit but grinded out the victory.

I'm dissapointed by Argentina but in the same time Im impressed with Iceland, I hope they can pull off a good tournament again.

Iceland defended well and Argentina didn't really seem like they knew what to do at times. At this rate they might end up going home early. As for Messi... xd At least he tried.

 

[Michael92]

Where is everyone?? xd

Anyways I think Peru were very unlucky and would have deserved the win. They scuffled away as many huge chances as Uruguay did yesterday, perhaps even more, but at the same time, they seemed more dangerous and closer to getting a goal than Argentina ever did in their match today, even when they got one. 3-2 would have been deserved but Denmark played well enough at times that it would be wrong to call it a robbery. This is the World Cup after all and anything can happen. You simply can't afford to miss your chances at this stage. So fair play to Denmark for winning this one

Now for Croatia to win and my pre-match bet for today's matches will go in, fingers crossed!

 

[Caliburn]

France vs Australia:

Small talking point,

Penalty or not penalty?

-France's penalty
-Australia's penalty

Give me your opinion.

Australia: 100% penalty. There is no doubt here.

France: a bit more tricky. Originally I thought that the defender was able to slightly deviate the ball, which would make this not a penalty as hist tackle was legit. Hence I think the referee didn't whistle at first. Now in the replay it seemed he barely missed the ball by a small margin, however that means he tackled Griezmann while he was running at full speed. So yeah it's pretty correct.

Currently the VAR is doing its job properly. They have been testing the VAR the past season in my country and it was an absolute disaster.

More entertaining than I thought it would be. France underperforming or Australia playing better than expected? Both penalties were okay for sure and the Var decision went smoother than I thought it would.

Messi vs Iceland up next

France underperformed, but Australia really wasn't playing well either. The issue here is that France has a world-class team, but it's still too young and inexperienced when it comes to tournaments like these. Two years ago they played the final of the Eurocup, now not even halve of the team that was playing today was present in that final.

For sure. Argentina - Iceland has been playing out just like I thought so far although Iceland has been living dangerously in the last part of the 1st half. I'll settle on 1-1 as the end result as per my pre-game predictions, but I have a strong feeling that more goals will come.

Now that you mention it xd

If those Icelanders were even more packed in their box, I probably was thinking I was watching a GoT episode where the Wildlings are trying to pass the Wall.

 

[WoldOfFingo]

I'm dissapointed Argentina didn't win. I don't understand why Dybala isn't on the pitch together with Messi. He is good in small spaces, comes back to defend the ball, he is good at keeping the ball. He can play as an attacking midfielder. Argentina's defense isn't very good so at the very least I would try to maximize the offense.

 

[Never]

Nigeria not doing well at all, that dude wrapping his hands around the Croatian not expecting a penalty to be given or something?

 

[Caliburn]

Croatia best team so far after Spain.

 

[David1996]

The GOAT!

Spoiler

You must be registered for see images

 

[Cooh]

Wait for monday boys, we gonna show you how to destory an opponent. Up until now it's all been mediocre

 

[Michael92]

Great day for football indeed. Most of the matches were entertaining for sure, and had more spunk than I thought beforehand. Croatia 2-0 Nigeria the only result I've predicted 100 percent correctly so far but most of the other matches have been close to what I expected as well so not too shabby. 5 penalties in 4 matches and it could perhaps have been at least two more, I find that fact to be kind of crazy, especially considering 2 of those 5 were missed (Messi's included). That Peru penalty gave me flashback to Zaza's penalty for Italy in the Euro two years ago, lol.

For tomorrow I'll probably be skipping Costa Rica - Serbia while I'm at work for Germany and Brazil's matches, sigh, but I expect the two latter to be complete thrashings in any case.

Match Predictions;

Costa Rica 0-0 Serbia.

Germany 3-1 Mexico

Brazil 3-0 Switzerland.

 

[Ansatsuken]

Great day for football indeed. Most of the matches were entertaining for sure, and had more spunk than I thought beforehand. Croatia 2-0 Nigeria the only result I've predicted 100 percent correctly so far but most of the other matches have been close to what I expected as well so not too shabby. 5 penalties in 4 matches and it could perhaps have been at least two more, I find that fact to be kind of crazy, especially considering 2 of those 5 were missed (Messi's included). That Peru penalty gave me flashback to Zaza's penalty for Italy in the Euro two years ago, lol.

For tomorrow I'll probably be skipping Costa Rica - Serbia while I'm at work for Germany and Brazil's matches, sigh, but I expect the two latter to be complete thrashings in any case.

Match Predictions;

Costa Rica 0-0 Serbia.

Germany 3-1 Mexico

Brazil 3-0 Switzerland.

Germany should be 5-0 Mexico

Brazil 4-1 Switzerland