Board 8 > World Cup Discussion Topic 5

(+) Yeah! (+)

Fuck
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@The_Mana_Sword

Our guy has finally done it.

Praise Kevin Anderson, over a decade of supporting his rise!
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Oh shit Raonic has a path to the finals now.
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oh is this a tennis topic now

too bad tennis is dead
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For the next 90 minutes at least.
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Vomit-inducing, paralyzing nervousness
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tell me about it

theres a real chance Nadal gets within two slam wins of Federer now !
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XIII_rocks posted...

Vomit-inducing, paralyzing nervousness

How sick would you be if England made it to the final, scored a 1 - 0 but then Kane got injured/sent off?
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I could live with it but it'd be shitty
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England unchanged. Thought he might put Dier in to solidify the midfield against Modric and Rakitic but he's going for it.
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The Mana Sword posted...

tell me about it

theres a real chance Nadal gets within two slam wins of Federer now !

This would be worse than Portugal's Euro win and Real Madrid winning 3 CLs in a row. It would even be worse than a hypothetical Portugal World Cup win in the future with a 37 year old C. Ronaldo.

So glad I stopped watching tennis after Federer won his 8th Wimbledon. That was the perfect ending for a sport I absolutely loved watching but was becoming increasingly toxic with Nadal guaranteed at least a Slam and 2 Masters a year because of that disgusting red surface.

XIII_rocks posted...

England unchanged. Thought he might put Dier in to solidify the midfield against Modric and Rakitic but he's going for it.

I felt Dier was poor against us and when he came on against Colombia, so I think you guys are better off tbh.
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Nadal would need like 3 or 4 non-French slams more than Federer to even be in the conversation anyway. Nadal essentially stat-padding on clay once a year has inflated his stats and given the impression he's a greater all-court threat than he actually is. He's not currently a GOAT threat, because his record across all surfaces is really good, but not in Fed's league (he has 12 if you take away his best surface). 6 grand slams on the other two surfaces is amazing but really not spectacular. Nobody really says Djokovic is a GOAT compared to Nadal or Fed but Djokovic is as good an all-rounder as Nadal in terms of slams won. The tiebreaker is apparently Nadal's clay wins, which only really says he's...good on clay
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Also it's not just slams won, but Nadal's succession of embarrassing losses - at Wimbledon especially, but the other two as well - compared to the remarkable consistency of Federer, that closes the book on it. Not an all-time great all-court threat
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Surprisingly I'm not as nervous about this game as I have been about other games in the past despite it being the biggest game we've had since 96. I'm sure that will change once kick-off comes

Based on the games I've seen Croatia play and what I've seen them do individually in Serie A and the Champion's League.....Croatia ain't got SHIT on England man.

Modric and Rakitic best midfield duo in the world my ass.

Modric works so well because he plays with Casemiro and Kroos, perfect trio that complements each other.

Rakitic looks godly at Barcelona because he plays with Busquets and Iniesta in a system that got the most out of all three.

Who the fuck is gonna be the third amazing banana these two are used to? My mate's a huge inter fan who forces me to watch em on occasion. Perisic makes Di Maria look consistent, Brozovic is basically a turd that England shouldn't fear.

Harry Kane looks at Lovren and all he sees is a liability to exploit. There's no way Trippier isn't going to look like a star tonight.

Croatia lacks that 3rd midfielder their two stars are used to, changing their whole approach. The defense isn't all that good and isn't near as good on the ball or disciplined like their teammates in Varane/Umtiti for their clubs. The options from the bench are for the most part inconsistent. Kovacic isn't getting much game time for Madrid because he's not good enough to play ahead of the actual world class talent.

England's got a lot more depth on the bench and are such a threat on set pieces, this is the defense to do it against. The only way Croatia wins, is if the overrated players somehow manage to perform against an England team that has been good at making star players underperform.
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They're testing the fire alarms and sprinklers in every apartment in my complex starting now. Meaning the fire alarm is going to be going off for the next few hours.

Why are you doing this to me?!

Fucking get in there!

Set piecessss
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fuck
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OH MY God
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A team playing for set pieces against a bad team. Where have I seen this before :P

just beat France and I'll toast crumpets with you
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They weren't being called a bad side when they smashed Argentina 3-0 and topped their group with 3 wins

*thumping, chanting*

ENGLAND!

*airhorn*
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I've said it many times now, but those 3 group wins were always better on paper than in practice. Argentina's goalkeeper threw the first goal and then the whole team threw it from there. Nigeria game was fine. Iceland game wasn't too convincing, butthey had a lot of subs playing, doesn't really say anything. Then they drew a Denmark that was better than them. Drew a Russia they were a little bit better than, but not too much. Subasic was a good keeper both times but he also cheats a lot more than any other keeper does.

Croatia in top 4 is almost like when Turkey made it there in 02.
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Actually got to watch the match today. It was 1-0 already when I turned it on. COME ON!
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I mean, England played two of the easiest teams in the tournament, threw and lost the game against Belgium, played Colombia without their most important player and played Sweden, a side they should also be expected to beat. You can diminish every team's performance that way.
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I love the revisionist history about England's tournament thus far, ignoring how they've been far superior to every team they've played with the exception of Belgium.
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Right. If you want to go that route then France also looked like complete shit in most of their wins.

Everyone wants to see us fail,

Yanks, Jocks, Paddies, etc!
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I'm actually surprised by the number of anti-england comments we've had through these topics given how many England fans we have in the football topics year round. People always seem to hate us even when we haven't been a threat for years.

oh Harry no
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Not sure how that is offside. I mean he didn't score anyway but it wasn't offside and the flag was ridiculously late

Damn, England!

Stop that Year 9-level defending!
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Sterling looks better this match so far. If I had the ability I'd have bet on him to score.
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France vs England final

Status: happening
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We're vulnerable on the break. We need to D up and FAST!
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Lord that was a great last ditch tackle

You can yeah, but that's not the point. Everyone was taking like they could take it all after the group stage and that was never the case. Though them being a bad side was never the case.
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Ashley Young making heroic last ditch tackles in the year of our lord 2018
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Of course they could have taken it all. They are literally playing in a semi-final right now. Not sure how you can say that isn't the case

Fucking Jesse Lingard, man.
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The trouble is everyone wants to be superstars as soon as they get in the final 1/3, looking at *you*, Lingard!
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That's how he plays for us in the premier league too tbf

But fuck it, he won us the FA cup in 2016 in a game we frankly shoulda lost!
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I like his movement and all but too many chances have fallen to him in good areas and he just isn't ready.
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Also what a difference not having a dodgy keeper makes. How many times in recent memory has our keeper made a critical blunder. Seems like it has happened to us lots

Fuckton of booing toward Croatia
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Born and raised in America and England has always been my #1 when it comes to the World Cup. No hate over here.
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Well don't take it so literally, any team can win. But it would require them to gear up a lot unless France and England do the opposite. Point being they were never the top team the group result made them look to be.

Anyway, game is really good so far. Hopefully it doesn't end up being like France/Belgium did.
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