So, I thought I would make a thread were we will discuss ongoing event and results between team in the World Cup.

Let's start with what happened last, Russia won 5-0 against Saudi Arabia in the opener. I personally thought Russia didn't seemed so good at first, their first goal wasn't very impressive but at the end of the day, I feel they did a really good job. Golovin was motm in that first game imo. Also, it seem to me like Saudi Arabia are nearly officialy out of the World Cup. What about you guys, what do you think of the resutls and what it mean?

Round of 16:

@tiki XD Nice!

Belgium was unlucky to loose. It was 50/50 objectively but I still think Belgium has a better team just manager didn’t execute his plan well. It was obvious that they would concede that defense conceded in every match And if I am not wrong set pieces is where they conceded the most.

@Marcus2011 Courtois said "they knew it would be from corner". You can't go into a match expecting to take a goal and hoping to outscore your opponent. As you said, it was unlucky as well because France scored first, and when that happen, obviously they will defend with number and from that moment, its nearly impossible to score a goal... Your also right about the manager not executing the plan well, De Bruyne behing Chadli instead of above him? Fellaini ending up on the wing? I still think you should be happy to a certain level since Kante and Hazard (and even Courtois) really showed they were worldclass in that game (not that we didn't knew that but it was a good reminder).

Emo :p.

Emotions aside, Thomas Meunier was a big loss for Belgium, their LB had no replacements on the bench, obliged Martinez to plaay 3-4-3 and having Vertonghen doing defensive duties VS Mbappe one of the fastest players of the tournment... luckily for them it didnt pay but Mbappe created many chances from there and had a pretty comfortable game. there was a plan anti-Grizzy he touched 9 balls in first half and it worked pretty well.

I dont know if playing Dembele CDM - with Fellaini chadli and Getting KDB pretty much higher on the flank with Lukaku and Hazard was a good idea. actually frence plan is to deny Hazard and KDB the ball, Pavard went high on Hazard and Monster Kante intercepted in the midle. If you close the wings and get Kante in the midle you get few chances to concede. I dont know about all this if Belgium scored fist they would qualify reason why i wont criticize Belgium Tactics.

Mertens entry on the wing replacing KDB going to the middle gave more lead to Belgium but then DD made Tolisso-Nzonzi replacement which leaded to park a big bus for last 10 minutes...

I never thought we could do it but after Spain-Germany-Brazil choke, it was obvious for me we would go far...

Our Neighboors did a wonderful game, details won us the game, now no matter who we face Belgium was stronger....

What a mistake from stones... 10 mins to go.

Goodness gracious... really scared of that Croatian team, you can't finish off the beast, they come back harder every time. Well done to them anyway, amazing fighting spirit.

They got Modric, we got Kante... Don’t worry expert, it’s going home this WC :)

Croatia put everything into that game. 3 back to back extra times and still out ran England. Lack of focus from Stones and Walker lead to the two goals. In the end Croatia did more.

It's gonna be a good final.

@Tiki how much are you betting? Lol

@Raimondo I mean, whoever been betting on France until now must have had a good time. XD

It is the same mistakes these players make in their respective clubs. We literally shoot ourselves in the foot. Russia played better football against Croatia than we did and they were closer to beating them than we did. I am content with our advancement but I felt like England always doesn't have that extra edge of motivation and not fcking it all up. Like that back pass by Trappier .. wtf was the guy thinking!!! He saw the croat player and still decided to pass into the danger zone.. It is like we have brain freezes during the game.

Croatia deserved this so much and I hope they win the final and pay back for 1998 ;)

@rai a Big Mac, i stopped betting to minimize the loss. World Cup was bookmakers fest lol.

In another note rai, we all agree on Stones blatant marking sleep, he got robbed his starting place from Laporte not even an international player...

But in the first goal, Perisic effort was unreal but it’s Trippier who is more responsible. Both Walker and Trippier looked to who was behind them before Vrsalko cross, Walker has no one and it’s Trippier who should have never let perisic get past him that easily.
Walker almost cleared but Perisic had a divin inspiration.

@Marcus I have a lot of respect to Croatia, But the real final was Belgium-France ;)

Two goals came from nothing. Literally nothing.

I like to disagree. Final was England vs Croatia. Modric is in superb form and easy contender for a player of the tournament and Balon Dor.

If Croatia wins the World Cup it will be beyond an amazing achievement.

Comparable to Leicester achievement, of course it’s always awesome to see a new nation getting their first star in the shirt.
Hope we get a second star.

In the last 6 World Cups France has been in 3 Finals, best football talent nation hands down and this WC looked like a walk in the park it didn't feel like they had to leave their hearts on the pitch it was mostly routine wins this far.

The amazing thing is that I said a long time ago that if they don't win this one, in 4 years they will because so many of their key players are still very young.

my views prior to final:

Dissappointing team of the tournament: Brazil and Germany
Surprising team of the tournament: England
Dissappointing player of the tournament: Neymar and Isco
Golden generation team : France, Belgium, Croatia

I hope to see players like eden hazard, antoine griezmann, kylian mbappe and luka modric to be considered highly for ballon d'or.

Rakitić played 70 matches this season, a record, and he also had fever (and temperature of 39 Celsius) night before match... Brozović ran almost 17000 meters (that is almost surely record I think?)... and we managed to outrun England after three back-to-back matches with extra time, unbeliveable. Also called for Perišić, and he showed up with MOTM perfomance.

@the_bald_genius,

Dissappointing player of the tournament: Neymar and Isco

I wouldn't say Isco was disappointing, IMO he was best Spanish player but their system was failure.

Isco had the hype of being Spain's star but did absolutely nothing except the first game. I'd rather say that he was the failure. I don't get why he was the main person in the first place though, he's good but not good enough to lead a side. I'd rather have Silva, Iniesta or Thiago fill that role instead.

@Golazzo111 I dont think that this final game will be so easy for France, but Croatia played 3 last matches for 120 mins, and its really hard to play this way on same high level, so maybe it will be 2-1 or 1-0 or smth like that. Because every final game is playing in defensive style.

@Tomson You are completely right, to add to that, we can note that France will have another day to rest that Croatia won't have. Will be extra hard on Croatia and they will have to dig deep inside of them to find the energy needed to win.