FIFA Football World Cup 2018 Russia Thread

[Oleks 1,983]

So, the first finalist is France. I'm OK with that. They were better today. Kante and Mbappe are tireless beasts - they have so much energy after an exhausting season. And it's ironic that the goalscorer is Umtiti - the guy who some "experts" called the weakest link in French defence. 

Belgium were fun to watch throughout the World Cup, and I hope they will continue making history during Euro 2020.

[Laurel Crown 111]

18 hours ago, Oleks said:

Kante and Mbappe are tireless beasts - they have so much energy after an exhausting season.

Sucks Kylian had to be a jerk and receive a very avoidable yellow card if he didn't act so obviously

Edited July 11, 2018 by Laurel Crown

[Nightfall Thunder 1,937]

Just now, Laurel Crown said:

Sucks Kylian had to be a jerk and receive a very avoidable yellow card if he didn't act so obviously

Time wasting is a part of the game. The yellow card was never going to matter, so he may as well have done it. 

On another note, he does seem to be adopting some of Neymar's acting when it comes to being "fouled", and as good as Mbappe seems to be, he shouldn't be adopting that part of neymar's game. They are both too good to dive, but they do so anyway, making a fool out of themselves.

In my opinion, Kante and Mbappe are the two best players currently in the world cup, and I can't see anyone but France winning the tournament. 

[Divine plywood 1,232]

So it's France -Croatia.  Not the teams I would have guessed to make it to the finals. In last games I rooted for their opponents. But, both France and Croatia have played at least decent tournament and their playing have been ascending and they deserved their victory against Belgium and England

Edited July 11, 2018 by Divine plywood

[Nightfall Thunder 1,937]

5 minutes ago, Divine plywood said:

So it's France -Croatia.  Not the teams I would have guessed to make it to the finals. In last games I rooted for their opponents. But, both France and Croatia have played at least decent tournament and their playing have been ascending and they deserved their victory against Belgium and England

I mean, I could understand not having Croatia in the final (I don't think many people did), but you really didn't guess that France would at least have a good chance? That's honestly surprising considering the overwhelming quality of that side. Honestly, if Croatia were to win this world cup, it'd be an upset on a bigger scale than when Leicester won the Premier league!

1 minute ago, Harper said:

RIP England, going to be lots of angry drunken fights in my country tonight  

      

[Oleks 1,983]

Great job, Croatia! I wish them the best of luck in the final. They are going to need it. Today they outplayed England, especially after the first half. But they already look drained, especially Modric, and France will have more rest before the big game. But in any case, the Croatian footballers are already the national heroes.

To all the England fans, you have an amazing young team with great potential! I'm sure football will come home soon, if they keep it up.

@RiseofSpectrum, you predicted the finalists, well done!

 

[Nightfall Thunder 1,937]

3 minutes ago, Oleks said:

But they already look drained, especially Modric

I don't think Modric knows what the word drained even means, the man never stops.  

[Divine plywood 1,232]

@Nightfall Thunder I thought (and hoped ) that my favorites would have been stronger and would have squeezed France out of the game much earlier. Little did I knew that Germany would be an absolute disaster and that Spain would be this toothless. England and Belgium had strong teams in paper and I knew that they would go far, but still their succes came as little surprise for me. When the semifinal pair were clear I however thought that red devils would be more hungry and would be able to beat France.

Still, I'm not too sad for poor 'ol Belgium and England, they did well and it's always the next time. This is going to be interesting final to be sure. Go Croatia!

[Nightfall Thunder 1,937]

Just now, Divine plywood said:

@Nightfall Thunder I thought (and hoped ) that my favorites would have been stronger and would have squeezed France out of the game much earlier. Little did I knew that Germany would be an absolute disaster and that Spain would be this toothless. England and Belgium had strong teams in paper and I knew that they would go far, but still their succes came as little surprise for me. When the semifinal pair were clear I however thought that red devils would be more hungry and would be able to beat France.

Still, I'm not too sad for poor 'ol Belgium and England, they did well and it's always the next time. This is going to be interesting final to be sure. Go Croatia!

Yeah, there were some real shocks in this tournament. I actually thought from before the tournament that France would make the final and be playing against Belgium, but unfortunately Belgium were on the same side as France. Varane is a rock at the back, Kante is a rock in midfield, and Mbappe is a rock upfront. I believe France's team is too solid for Croatia, but at the same time, Modric is a beast that just never stops running. I personally don't think it will be close, but if it does end up being close, I believe that that'll be down to Modric.  

[Laurel Crown 111]

Expecting lots of Italians rooting for Croatia since the majority bear a grudge for the french... but eh, if I have to pick a side for the finals it'll be the latter because I like them more than the croatians as a team and players.

Also expecting a great match for Belgium-England too.

[Sovereign Leader Rarity 12,000]

England are out, which I admittedly saw coming.

My mother was shouting so loudly that our neighbors called round asking if everything was alright.

Many congratulations to Croatia! They played brilliantly tonight, and I wish them good luck on Sunday!

[RiseofSpectrum 359]

3 hours ago, Oleks said:

Great job, Croatia! I wish them the best of luck in the final. They are going to need it. Today they outplayed England, especially after the first half. But they already look drained, especially Modric, and France will have more rest before the big game. But in any case, the Croatian footballers are already the national heroes.

To all the England fans, you have an amazing young team with great potential! I'm sure football will come home soon, if they keep it up.

@RiseofSpectrum, you predicted the finalists, well done!

 

It's what I do.

Seriously though, the past few years, since 2008, to be more precise, I've correctly predicted the winner of every Euro and World Cup. The only exception is 2016 (but, seriously, no one could predict that).

I would really like it if Croatia would win it, but honestly, only the football gods can screw with France's odds now.

Oh, and Belgium's gonna wreck England.

Edited July 12, 2018 by RiseofSpectrum

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

It's unfortunate that England didn't make it to the final game despite having gotten a lot further than anyone expected. At least they did way better than they did in the previous World Cup--anything at this point could easily top that performance--but it's clear that the three lions had problems ranging from being too complacent to relying too much on one or two players without the others stepping up. The third place game on the other hand... I don't think it's needed as all it does is stir up negativity from the teams who have to play it.

[Divine plywood 1,232]

Well done Belgium! Congrats for your very first world cup bronze!

This calls for celebrational waffles!

[Oleks 1,983]

Belgium were the most entertaining team during this World Cup. I'm glad they won the bronze medals. And I hope England will have an even stonger team in two years for the next major tournament.

33 minutes ago, Divine plywood said:

This calls for celebrational waffles!

I'm not a fan of waffles, so I bought some Belgian beer instead. 

 

[Laurel Crown 111]

Sooo... France won the World Cup with two lucky goals (autogoal from Mandzukic and a PK from Griezmann by hand touch also by Mandzukic) with a first half completely dominated by Croatia and then, by the second half, they played much better thanks to Pogba making the decisive goal and Mbappé who further makes the distance and then Lloris happened to botch for trying to play cool and dribbling Mandzukic, making the second goal and ending the result in a 4-2.
I did rooted for France here but I have to say: half of their score was just a fluke so yeah... I have mixed feelings about the result.
Nonetheless, Italy is gonna rage a lot for this but hey... At least I keep it cool XD

Anyway... Kylian Mbappé wins the Young Player Award which is earned.
Luka Modric gets the consolation prize with the Golden Ball.
And Thibaut Courtois, Belgium's GK, wins the Golden Glove. Also earned thanks to his incredible saves.

EDIT: The hand touch was from Perisic, not Mandzukic. My bad.

Edited July 16, 2018 by Laurel Crown

[Oleks 1,983]

The final summed up this World Cup pretty well: an own goal, a penalty after a controversial video-assisted decision, a really stupid goal alongside with a couple of brilliant ones, and the team who were statistically better lost.

I supported Croatia in this match, and I think they were a bit unlucky today, but they are still heroes.

Congratulations to all France supporters! Your team was truly the best in this World Cup.

[ChB 18,532]

I liked that 2nd goal from Croatia, where the goalie didn’t kick off the ball on time.

[Divine plywood 1,232]

Congratulations France! Also, well done Croatia

Good and entertaining final and for the most parts, good tournament overall.

[Laurel Crown 111]

4 hours ago, Oleks said:

I supported Croatia in this match, and I think they were a bit unlucky today, but they are still heroes.

Spot on quote. The first half was all croatian possession with over 60% and 7 shots while France made only one. The match got better with the second half.

[Hachiroku 127]

Well that was lousy final, Croatia got refballed. At least I still got baseball and real football is just around the corner along with basketball.

[Frostgage 7,972]

A day late but that was a fantastic final for a thrilling World Cup! Croatia gave it everything they had, but they surely were exhausted following the previous three extra time wins. France on the other hand didn't have too many opportunities but took them brilliantly. Congratulations to them - the best team won.

[Oleks 1,983]

Not that anyone cares, but here's my (very subjective) team of the tournament:

Courtois - Maguire, Mina, Varane - Trippier, Modric, Kante, Rakitic, Hazard - Griezmann, Mbappe
Manager: Dalic 

Also, do we have a thread on this site where we can discuss football when the new season starts?