Board 8 > World Cup Discussion Topic 6

(+) Yeah! (+)

Meunier notes himself being back right away, such a shame he didn't play against France. Not as big a difference as Uruguay not having Cavani against them, but still a disadvantage.

Lukaku is so good. Cmon my Belgium, finish this WC looking great!
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In other news Djokovic literally just saved tennis.
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hooray for tennis
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Pokewars posted...

In other news Djokovic literally just saved tennis.

This so ****ing hard.

Nadal winning against Anderson on literal life support would have been disastrous.

Yeah they're clearly a much better team
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It's a shame Lukaku hasn't been able to get a propor finish up despite some close calls.

I like Kane and him getting the golden boot is cool and all, but I really wish it wasn't because of three PKs.
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Well, Belgium doesn't really care for that reward themselves it seems.
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Alderweireld so damn good.
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England has really upped themselves.
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ctesjbuvf posted...

Alderweireld so damn good.

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Once again Pickford is amazing!
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And so is Hazard, what goal!!
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So is Hazard!
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Yeah that's fair. They are clearly better. More than anything, I'm glad Lukaku didn't score
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Really glad Belgium gets medals for the first time ever. Very well deserved. It's a shame they met France in semis. They've been such a fantastic team to watch. I didn't care for them before the cup began, but they sure changed that. In an era where we see almost all teams play boring defensive play for most of the match, Belgium sure is inspiring. So many great names in the team and many of them are fairly young so we can probably get to witness more of this in four years, not to mention at UEFA in two years where they'll surely be among the favorites. If we had Golden Ball candidates revealed, I'm sure we'd see solid a Belgian representation.

I could go on praising them. Every year has had a team given me a positive surprise and that was Belgium this time.
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Legend:
QTF = Quarter Final
SMF = Semi Final
TPP = Third Place Playoff
FIN = Final

[A1] = [Uruguay 4W-0D-0L] - 2
[B2] = [Portugal 1W-2D-1L] - 1

QTF>[A1] = [Uruguay 4W-0D-1L] - 0
QTF>[C1] = [France 4W-1D-0L] - 2

[C1] = [France 3W-1D-0L] - 4
[D2] = [Argentina 1W-1D-2L] - 3

SMF>>>>>[C1] = [France 5W-1D-0L] - 1
SMF>>>>>[G1] = [Belgium 5W-0D-1L] - 0

[E1] = [Brazil 3W-1D-0L] - 2
[F2] = [Mexico 2W-0D-2L] - 0

QTF>[E1] = [Brazil 3W-1D-1L] - 1
QTF>[G1] = [Belgium 5W-0D-0L] - 2

[G1] = [Belgium 4W-0D-0L] - 3
[H2] = [Japan 1W-1D-2L] - 2

FIN>>>>>>>>>[C1] = [France 5W-1D-0L]
FIN>>>>>>>>>[D2] = [Croatia 4W-2D-0L]

TPP>>>>>>>>>[G1] = [Belgium 6W-0D-1L] - 2
TPP>>>>>>>>>[G2] = [England 3W-1D-3L] - 0

[B1] = [Spain 1W-3D-0L] - 1(3)
[A2] = [Russia 2W-1D-1L] - 1(4)

QTF>[A2] = [Russia 2W-2D-1L] - 2(3)
QTF>[D1] = [Croatia 3W-2D-0L] - 2(4)

[D1] = [Croatia 3W-1D-0L] - 1(3)
[C2] = [Denmark 1W-3D-0L] - 1(2)

SMF>>>>>[D1] = [Croatia 4W-2D-0L] - 2
SMF>>>>>[G2] = [England 3W-1D-2L] - 1

[F1] = [Sweden 3W-0D-1L] - 1
[E2] = [Switzerland 1W-2D-1L] - 0

QTF>[F1] = [Sweden 3W-0D-2L] - 0
QTF>[G2] = [England 3W-1D-1L] - 2

[H1] = [Colombia 2W-1D-1L] - 1(3)
[G2] = [England 2W-1D-1L] - 1(4)
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Yeah Belgium made me root for them in every match. To bad they lost to France.
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I think this was Belgium's best shot at the world cup, Euros they still have something of a chance.

A lot of their big name leaders will either be phased out or past their prime come next world cup.

What Belgium needs to avoid is what happened to Holland. Some of those Dutch teams were insanely stacked with talent but fell apart and ultimately achieved nothing.

Just one more match left, it's taken a long time to get back to this stage, erasing the disappointment of 06 and 16 is what matters most.
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ctesjbuvf posted...

many of them are fairly young so we can probably get to witness more of this in four years,

Unfortunately, in 2022 Alderweireld and Witsel will be 33, Kompany and Vermaelen will be 36, Vertonghen and Mertens will be 35, De Bruyne and Hazard will be 31, Fellaini and Dembele will be 34 and Chadli will be 32.

This squad can definitely compete at Euro 2020, but some of our players (Origi, Januzaj ,... ) need to get their shit together to keep us competitive next WC.
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Some of the best players this cup has been in their early 30s, which is always the case. Would surprise me to see Hazard and De Bruyne not have a dynamic above this come that time, especially since Lukaku and Meunier will still be around.

No all of them might not play by then, but some of them definitely will be as good as ever.
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And now, the end is upon us!

World Cup Final Break Down

France

Game 1 [1W-0D-0L]: France 2 - 1 Australia
Game 2 [2W-0D-0L]: France 1 - 0 Peru
Game 3 [2W-1D-0L]: France 0 - 0 Denmark
Game 4 [3W-1D-0L]: France 4 - 3 Argentina
Game 5 [4W-1D-0L]: France 2 - 0 Uruguay
Game 6 [5W-1D-0L]: France 1 - 0 Belgium

Total Points: 16
Goals For: 10
Goals Against: 4
Goal Differential: +6
Group C Stage Finish: 1st Place

Goals [7 Scored - 2 Penalty - 1 Own Goal]:
3 - Antoine Griezmann
Game 1: 1 (58' Penalty)
Game 4: 1 (13' Penalty)
Game 5: 1 (61')
3 - Kylian Mbapp
Game 2: 1 (34')
Game 4: 2 (64', 68')
1- Benjamin Pavard
Game 4: 1 (57')
1- Samuel Umtiti
Game 6: 1 (51')
1 - Raphal Varane
Game 5: 1 (40')
1 - Aziz Behich [Own Goal by Australia]
Game 1: 1 (61')

Croatia

Game 1 [1W-0D-0L]: Croatia 2 - 0 Nigeria
Game 2 [2W-0D-0L]: Croatia 3 - 0 Argentina
Game 3 [3W-0D-0L]: Croatia 2 - 1 Iceland
Game 4 [3W-1D-0L]: Croatia 1(3) - 1(2) Denmark
Game 5 [3W-2D-0L]: Croatia 2(4) - 2(3) Russia
Game 6 [4W-2D-0L]: Croatia 2 - 1 England

Total Points: 14
Goals For: 12
Goals Against: 5
Goal Differential: +7
Group D Stage Finish: 1st Place

Goals [10 Scored - 1 Penalty - 1 Own Goal]:
2 - Mario Mandukic
Game 4: 1 (4')
Game 6: 1 (109')
2 - Luka Modric
Game 1: 1 (71' Penalty)
Game 2: 1 (80')
2 - Ivan Periic
Game 3: 1 (90')
Game 6: 1 (68')
1 - Milan Badelj
Game 3: 1 (53')
1 - Andrej Kramaric
Game 5: 1 (39')
1 - Ivan Rakitic
Game 2: 1 (90+1')
1 - Ante Rebic
Game 2: 1 (53')
1 - Domagoj Vida
Game 5: 1 (101')
1 - Oghenekaro Etebo [Own Goal by Nigeria]
Game 1: 1 (32')

Penalty Shootout:
Game 4 [3 Scored - 2 Missed]:
N - Badelj
Y - Kramaric
Y - Modric
N - Pivaric
Y - Rakitic

Game 5 [4 Scored - 1 Missed]:
Y - Brozovic
N - Kovacic
Y - Modric
Y - Vida
Y - Rakitic
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It's kinda crazy that Argentina got three goals against France when the only other team to score against them was Australia on a penalty.
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It is, especially when 3 of France's games were shut outs + 1 goalless draw too.
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The_Ctes posted...

It's kinda crazy that Argentina got three goals against France when the only other team to score against them was Australia on a penalty.

That was the only time Deschamps played in an open, attacking way
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But none of the three goals happened because of that.
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You don't think a more compact France close down Di Maria for the first or Messi's pass for the third? Would Argentina have even won the corner from which they scored the first if Deschamps hadn't been so open?

It's naive to just look at the move that led to the goals. Deschamps allowed Argentina more space and backed his attackers to break down Argentina, especially with Mbappe's pace. What that led to is a more open game that led to the concession of 3 goals

Contrast France's tactics vs Argentina with their tactics vs Belgium or Uruguay. It's not a coincidence.
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No, I just don't think anybody expected Di Maria to shoot there. He had looked s*** all tournament and it didn't look at something that could be scored from. It was such a good shot out of the blue.

The third goal happened when France was leading 4-2 with minutes to go. They were there, if anything, they were just not going all in to prevent that one.

Argentina is a very strong offensive force that had things working for them that game, but fell due to their extremely exploitable defense.

It was three goals. That's not only due to a change of tactics.
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Exact same starting line ups from both teams as in the semis.
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ctesjbuvf posted...

No, I just don't think anybody expected Di Maria to shoot there. He had looked s*** all tournament and it didn't look at something that could be scored from. It was such a good shot out of the blue.

That doesn't matter. A tighter, more defensively compact team would have been out to Di Maria faster. Don't forget that he can't only shoot from there. It's a good position from which to spread the ball wide, chip a good ball into the box, and generally cause damage. He had space and time to line up a shot.

And no, it wasn't purely down to tactics - Argentina's second was fortunate, Di Maria could obviously have missed, etc. No result is ever purely down to tactics. In another universe France win that 6-0 with the exact same tactics. Anything can happen in any game.

But if you prepare your team in a certain way, that thing is more likely to happen. This time Deschamps played more offensively and less compact defensively, with the end result being that they scored 4 (they have only 6 in all of their other games put together) but conceded 3 (they have only conceded 1 in all of their other games put together). Are you saying this is a coincidence?

OT but pretty poor from Anderson to beat Federer and then deliver this. Proper Berdych situation.
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I'm not saying it's not, but it's still a big difference, the match with the most goals in the tournament along with England/Panama and Belgium/Tunesia, both because big teams played some of the worst.

In another universe, Argentina doesn't give the penalty and Mbappe doesn't reach the ball, Argentina's goalkeeper used legs and not arms to save the third etc. Could've gone the other way too.

We agree, but it's still a crazy high amount.
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Yes, ofc it could go the other way. I'm not saying it was a masterclass by Deschamps, he doesn't generally do them, but he risked conceding goals because he backed his team to score more.

I would rather France win today but the upside of them losing would be the exposure of Deschamps tbh
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For as good as they are France are so much more balanced and have such an array of threats. Nothing Croatia can do if France decide to go for it, but no, let's be defensive

There you go. Now they can defend their 1-0 lead forever!
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fuck france
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And here we go with France playing like babies the rest of the match after scoring. Booooring.
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Also fwiw Griezmann dived for the free-kick
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As much as Croatia doesn't deserve this imo, solid goal.
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much better game than i've expected so far
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That was accidental
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That was the right call, even if accidental.

But man a lame way for this match to move forward.
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Good to know that FIFA already decided France has to win. Don't need to watch this game anymore then.
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This is in line with their judgements the rest of the tournament.

And the hand prevented the ball going further.

This has absolutely nothing to do with who is playing, stop that.
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RyoCaliente posted...

Good to know that FIFA already decided France has to win. Don't need to watch this game anymore then.

What? Did FIFA also decide, as part of this plan, to book Kante and give the freekick from which Croatia scored? Did they also decide to make Mandzukic score an Own Goal?

That handball was a pretty split call. 50/50 imo. Certainly not indicative of a huge bias. Could have gone either way.
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2 silly French goals and 1 beautiful Croatian goal. Thunder and lightning. And the first half is already done.
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I loved how the referee told Subasic twice to stay on line before the penalty was taken.

Yet he still leaves it.

This is part of why I can't root for them.
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XIII_rocks posted...

Did they also decide to make Mandzukic score an Own Goal?

The foul that lead to it was questionable though.
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Well, that was unexpected lol
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