2018 FIFA World Cup

[Smokey Stover]

I've never been so happy to see England win a game so i could say this without being accused of sour grapes or being a bad loser. But Columbia have been a disgrace to this tournament from start to finish and it would have been a travesty of justice for them to have won it.
At least Sweden will play the game like it supposed to be played. The 3 lions go marching on......

 

[Marcel]

I've never been so happy to see England win a game so i could say this without being accused of sour grapes or being a bad loser. But Columbia have been a disgrace to this tournament from start to finish and it would have been a travesty of justice for them to have won it.
At least Sweden will play the game like it supposed to be played. The 3 lions go marching on......

Still a bad performance of England. Hopefully they play better against Sweden.

 

[pbehn]

Ah if only that was true

Theoretically possible......as my wife says.....lets just see what happens, how can men discuss it all day.

 

[The Basket]

That's a few hours of my life wasted.
Awful game. But I praised Japan but Colombia were appalling. Disgusting.
Oddly if they actually played football they could have won. Can't blame England but they win a penalty shootout and move on.
Job done.

 

[pbehn]

England have played four matches, they have one of the youngest squads and two teams have turned the game into all in wrestling and lost. The only team to play football against England have won.

 

[Gnomey]

Didn't watch the whole game because of work but definitely was another case of anti football which is awful to see and ruins the World Cup. However nervy game as expected and they had to tough it out but that can only do a young team good. Added bonus to win the shoot out too! Good preparation for what could come even if they played awful. Then again that wasn't helped by the anti football from the opposition.

In addition the jostling and surrounding of the referee by the Colombians was terrible to see at every small thing. If he'd had some balls one of those times he could of easily sent one of them off for pushing him around.

 

[parsifal]

Well done to England IMO, even though the result was very close. On to the giant killers Sweden in the Quarters.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

England have played four matches, they have one of the youngest squads and two teams have turned the game into all in wrestling and lost. The only team to play football against England have won.

To be honest both teams were pretty undisciplined, and sloppy. Columbia was just worse.

England actually has a good shot of making it to the final (I personally think Croatia will though), simply because of the bracket they are in. That's not a knock on England (Don't get your panties in a wad Smokey.), but let's just be honest, the other side of the bracket has arguably (at least on paper and from potential) the 4 toughest team left, whereas England's bracket is the weakest. Brazil and Belgium on the other side are arguably the two favorites left.

It will certainly be interesting how this plays out. Very interesting World Cup to say the least.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Well done to England IMO, even though the result was very close. On to the giant killers Sweden in the Quarters.

Sweden is playing with a lot of heart. Upset potential is certainly there.

 

[The Basket]

The draw is what it is. If England gets an easy draw then that's just fluke. Not that impressed by Sweden so rather play them than France or Brazil.
The mystery to me is why didn't Colombia play football? They obviously had the goods and the players and certainly the skills. But they only started to play very late. It just seem they went wrestling early and they have only themselves to blame.
England are actually lucky that they didn't play against a disciplined side.

 

[pbehn]

To be honest both teams were pretty undisciplined, and sloppy. Columbia was just worse.

England actually has a good shot of making it to the final (I personally think Croatia will though), simply because of the bracket they are in. That's not a knock on England (Don't get your panties in a wad Smokey.), but let's just be honest, the other side of the bracket has arguably (at least on paper and from potential) the 4 toughest team left, whereas England's bracket is the weakest. Brazil and Belgium on the other side are arguably the two favorites left.

It will certainly be interesting how this plays out. Very interesting World Cup to say the least.

All matches are in a way "a life of their own". England were doing well when 1-0 but the crowd the occasion and the pressure got to them. It also got to the officials, the head butt on Jordan Henderson is a red card every time, disrupting the flow of the game is part of football, the England team did well to get through it and were possibly the better of the two in extra time.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

The draw is what it is. If England gets an easy draw then that's just fluke. Not that impressed by Sweden so rather play them than France or Brazil.
The mystery to me is why didn't Colombia play football? They obviously had the goods and the players and certainly the skills. But they only started to play very late. It just seem they went wrestling early and they have only themselves to blame.
England are actually lucky that they didn't play against a disciplined side.

Absolutely, it's the luck of the draw. Just pointing out how it increases their odds.

 

[pbehn]

Absolutely, it's the luck of the draw. Just pointing out how it increases their odds.

The problem with the draw is it is based on performances over the last two years. There were many fading lights on show, good enough to qualify against Gibraltar and the Faroe Isles but when past thirty years a players legs can "go" at any time.

 

[The Basket]

I find it odd to base England's future chances on this game. It wasnt even football! So not sure what's the future.
England have played 2 hopeless diamonds, a dead rubber and a bag of lunatics so playing the Swedes would be a nice change! So I have absolutely no idea where England are at.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I find it odd to base England's future chances on this game. It wasnt even football! So not sure what's the future.
England have played 2 hopeless diamonds, a dead rubber and a bag of lunatics so playing the Swedes would be a nice change! So I have absolutely no idea where England are at.

I don't think they are all that bad. Just a young team. Sweden will be an interesting game.

Here have a Belgian waffle...

 

[pbehn]

My dear boy, one is indulging in a Yorkshire high tea.

 

[The Basket]

Rather have a full English breakfast.

Good guys win, bad guys lose, and as always, England prevails!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Rather have a full English breakfast.

Good guys win, bad guys lose, and as always, England prevails!

As long as there is an Irish Guiness involved I am down...

 

[Smokey Stover]

Still a bad performance of England. Hopefully they play better against Sweden.

I wouldnt say it was bad, not least because Columbia had a gameplan to rattle and provoke England players into an all out brawl. And with just a couple of exceptions i think the Eng players performed cool and collected never loosing faith or belief. As for the pens, i was very pleased with English players attitudes and clinical finishing. Trippier pen brought a great belief back into the team and Pickford's strong hand to deny the last Columbia pen i thought was a huge hand/save. Im quietly confident we can progress at least to the semi's if not further.

The pressure is back on you Belgy....

 

[Marcel]

I'm not from Belgium

To be fair, I don't think Belgium will make it against Brazil, although I really hope they do.
England has the ready route, so they'll make a great chance to reach the finals.