robsblubot

Agreed. It's easier to look at the names in a list and say who plays where and who should be the better side -- that's what the media does every time with Brazil. Like I said before, aside from defense (and Reece), England is also missing someone else in midfield for me, perhaps that someone could've been mount if the coach had tried that. 🤷‍♂️ This is the best England team I've seen in many WCs to be honest. I think it's at lot better than the one Brazil beat in 2002. When we talk about single-elimination WC games--and not long championships--this grit that the Argentines show can go a long way. They are not particularly powerful athletes, so they have to physically compete via aggression. Besides... there is Messi. Messi atm is the hardest player to handle with Mbappe a close second. Mbappe still requires some space to operate, while Messi does not. Brazil had a real problem high pressing. They could only do that for very short periods of time, which was a big problem against a possession team like Croatia. I think Brazil's inability to high press would've make Spain a nightmare for them. Now we only need France to do their job to get the dream final. All fair game to Morocco, they've done a brilliant job, but I know which team the Argentines would much rather face.

well we will see... I think (very likely) France will have an extremely hard time against Argentina. I hope you did not include Portugal in there. 😉

heh never thought it was even close tbh. Been warning about Argentina for a while here... heh just the way they beat Brazil in Brazilian soil was a big warning flag to me. Brazil play them again and my money is on them. Brazil was overrated by the media, as usual.

At this moment Southgate compared to Brazil's Tite is looking like a fucking genius tbh. (it's pronounced TchiChe just to be clear 🙂). Southgate wouldn't have gone with a midfield duo (with one being an adapted CAM) against a trio of Brozovic, Kovacic, and Modric. Or sub defenders (apparently tired) needing to hold to the lead... leaving Fabinho on the bench.... Having useless retiree D. Alves on the bench... I mean we can scrutinize every decision forever (Pedro for Rychrlison, Rodrygo too soon etc). Not to mention the callup which had too many attackers and not enough defenders made by Tite. In Brazil we have name for what Tite built: "um time faceiro." To be fair, coaches are never perfect esp at WC; they make concessions to hold to the group and being able to compete. It's all so very physical and demanding (as we've been seeing) that I suspect the "convincing" part is far more important than we fans deem it to be. Think I've posted before, but I've heard Neymar is genuinely a nice guy and super approachable esp with kids. Don't think he's as competitive as Brazil fans would like him to be, but we only work with what we got.

indeed saka was englands best for me. Btw as a regular critic I thought rice had a good game. France did not block him to be fair, so he had time on the ball other players weren’t allowed, but he did pick up nice passes and was good defensively. england did nullify mbappe which was one good thing the headcoach did tho.

The subs were very late indeed. Even when I thought England was playing well, there was a point where the subs should have been made to freshen up legs and push forward. I think mount was already warming up before the goal btw. not enough time for mount and sterling Tbf.

I think the ref effect was less than what you think, but I take your point. Some of England new stars are a bit young at this stage. They will become stronger players at euros and then next wc. Experience plays a huge part in WC finals … it’s very rare to see young sides in the final.

Thought Argentina and Netherlands was even more physical. Personally I dislike players who look for contact on every play—that’s not what mount did or does, but Kane does that a lot.

Yeah agree to disagree. Game is just like every other wc game so far… lots of contact allowed. just the way football should be played imo. But no, the ref isn’t great eh.

Bellingham tackle was a bad one should’ve been a yellow. Nowhere near the ball.

Pk was soft for me sorry. Thought the first half one was clearer. perhaps England could score a goal not from a pk?

This side of the bracket yes, but against Argentina? Not so sure. The difference between the favs vs no favs is getting smaller by the game. they are all teammates in the clubs they play for eh.

It’s hard to make changes when your team is playing well. No guarantees that whatever you do will improve the team.

England did wake up after the initial slumber. Good game now!

Kane such a good player… almost!

England needs to wake the fuck up for the sake of the match… that Giroud header earlier could’ve easily gone in.

Oh hell no, I don’t like this Portuguese team as I wrote before. They definitely need to find bigger athletes as well, as Ronaldo once was. A loss or win does not change favoritism tho. The odds are what they are. Perhaps they’d play 10 times and portugal wins 6 … who knows? Single elim games are a very unique thing esp in the World Cup with all the emotions and physicality.

Why do you think I lost? 😕 I was hoping folks here knew the difference between a wish and an opinion. Besides, I’ve calling Portugal overrated for a while here haven’t I? Slightly disappointing with the level of the semis esp if Morocco loses a couple of players — they have zero depth. I barely support my home country, Brazil. I like football in whichever form it is presented.

Yes, Morocco is a good team, but the semis got easier all the same. Like I said before, I think this Portuguese team is overrated (same for Brazil btw). They play with Pepe for example. portugal has a lot of good players, some too young and some too old. There are lots of good players at this level, but you need those special players to pull you through. I think Portugal is also a bit weak physically for these types of games—another thing in common with Brazil. Portugal has too many short players which can be a prob in these VERY physical games.

Do you really think it's easy to dance like that for the goal celebrations? It takes a lot of effort! hours and hours of rehearsing those moves. Tracking back is evidently unfun! Much better to try to score a second goal in the final minutes of extra time... 🙂

It's bad, yes, but that's not arrogance. It's how they compete. There was an altercation during the match. Brazil does not do that for example, and some think that's one of the things Brazil lack when it gets to the finals.

Argentina lost a few players w/ second yellow, but they are better than Brazil and will pose more of a challenge mentally to Croatia. This Brazil side wasn't very competitive in the end -- they can put on a show on their day, but that's not how you win WC. This Argentina grit + Messi genius will be hard to contain, IMO. Likely final is now Argentina vs France, but single-elim football, so 🤷‍♂️

Same here -- different matches offer different things Argentina will find themselves hard done if they don't go through -- outplayed the dutch for most of the game.

I don't know I was really impressed with that Kovacic fella. 😉

Croatia's midfield is simply a lot better than Brazil's. Don't think Brazil deserved the win... produced very little aside from Neymar's moment. PKs were very predictable. Their goalie is quick, agile, and is in great form. Alisson is a bit slow for PKs. Brazil pulled an England with 20yo Rodrygo taking the first PK. lol