Author Topic: World Cup 2018 topic (Read 96128 times)

Edible · « **on:** June 09, 2018, 06:18:25 PM »

Futbol!

My local team (US), my backup team (Netherlands), and my backup backup team (Chile) are all out this year, so I have no idea who to root for. But who cares, it's world cup time.

Hello Purvis · « **Reply #1 on:** June 09, 2018, 06:50:21 PM »

Is this the one with the hundreds of dead slaves, or is that the next one?

Kilgamayan · « **Reply #2 on:** June 10, 2018, 03:50:31 AM »

That's the next one, though it's entirely possible it's true of this one too and Russia is just better at hiding it than Qatar.

nav' · « **Reply #3 on:** June 10, 2018, 10:28:50 AM »

My team struggled to a draw against Chile's reserve squad just a couple days ago. Poland will face Lithuania in another friendly before taking on Senegal, Colombia and Japan in the group. An extremely difficult task awaits. Our defence is lacking and lately we typically expend most of our stamina in the first half, then cling on for dear life in the second (only one 2nd half goal in the last five friendlies, against decent opponents; also losing plenty in the second half). Expect hilarity if Jędrzejczyk is ever fielded as wing back. Pazdan also has a tendency to make stupid mistakes in some games, and Bednarek (the expected substitute for Glik should injury prevent the latter from playing) is very inexperienced. Expect us to try and use our formidable offensive quality (Zieliński, Grosicki, Błaszczykowski, Lewandowski, Milik; although the last one is likely to be a substitute after the formation change earlier this year) to force our way to victory early, hopefully scoring a couple goals in the first half and avoiding defensive blunders to retain the lead.

I'm not actually expecting Poland to go through, so once we're eliminated I will mostly be rooting for Germany (since they're damn good and fun to watch) and Iceland (everyone loves them; sadly their group is extremely difficult this time around). Also can't wait for England getting knocked out in round of 16.

BT · « **Reply #4 on:** June 11, 2018, 10:58:58 AM »

Maan, I remember the last thread. Good times.

I'll be rooting for Egypt, lesse how far they get.

Edible · « **Reply #5 on:** June 11, 2018, 02:18:35 PM »

Quote from: BT on June 11, 2018, 10:58:58 AM

Maan, I remember the last thread. Good times.

I'll be rooting for Egypt, lesse how far they get.

:bzzz:

Gpop · « **Reply #6 on:** June 11, 2018, 03:01:17 PM »

My home team Peru is finally in this world cup after failing to qualify for 36 years! I'm really happy for them and I'll be cheering them on the entire way.

I'll also be cheering for my other latin brethren if they go far as well, especially Argentina as I'd like to my favourite, Messi, take one home hopefully.

:bzzz:

Hieda no Mukyu · « **Reply #7 on:** June 11, 2018, 05:28:03 PM »

Let me declare that I am not doing this without reading what you guys have written so far... I just cannot resist.

Let?s Get This Over and Done With!

BT · « **Reply #8 on:** June 11, 2018, 10:07:37 PM »

Brain4Breakfast made a WC video. :moogy:

Hainiryuun · « **Reply #9 on:** June 12, 2018, 12:00:52 AM »

I'll probably be pulling for Iceland or Japan, but without the US in it, I don't know if I'll even watch any.

Hello Purvis · « **Reply #10 on:** June 12, 2018, 02:38:10 AM »

Are we boycotting the world cup now? Or did we just suck too bad to qualify?

Edible · « **Reply #11 on:** June 12, 2018, 04:34:01 AM »

The latter.

Helepolis · « **Reply #12 on:** June 12, 2018, 08:15:54 AM »

I need to consider who to support this year. lolNetherlands failed to quality. lolTurkey as well.

Gpop · « **Reply #13 on:** June 12, 2018, 01:30:02 PM »

This year will be interesting considering what countries has missed out on the World Cup this year. Italy, Netherlands, US, Chile, etc.

Actually, Chile's case is probably one of the more unfortunate ones (which was also really fortunate for us Peruvians) because in the end Chile were the ones that shot themselves in the foot without knowing until the end. If you want to know more about it, this article is a good tl;dr of what happened. A mix of both Chile's snitching and Peru's comeback motivation from the result of Chile's appeal is what costed Chile from getting the 5th spot instead.

Edible · « **Reply #14 on:** June 12, 2018, 02:01:04 PM »

Yeah, it's a really unfortunate situation. Can't blame Peru for it, of course.

nav' · « **Reply #15 on:** June 12, 2018, 03:05:42 PM »

For anyone looking for sympathetic teams to support: eyes on Panama. This World Cup is their first ever. They ousted United States and Honduras to claim their place. They will be hard pressed to earn many points against England, Belgium and Tunisia, but I wouldn't mind Panama going through.

Raikaria · « **Reply #16 on:** June 12, 2018, 09:07:52 PM »

Quote from: nav' on June 12, 2018, 03:05:42 PM

For anyone looking for sympathetic teams to support: eyes on Panama. This World Cup is their first ever. They ousted United States and Honduras to claim their place. They will be hard pressed to earn many points against England, Belgium and Tunisia, but I wouldn't mind Panama going through.

England managed to lose to Iceland in the Euros. Don't write England losing to Panama out.

nav' · « **Reply #17 on:** June 13, 2018, 10:33:18 AM »

Quote from: Raikaria on June 12, 2018, 09:07:52 PM

England managed to lose to Iceland in the Euros. Don't write England losing to Panama out.

Don't worry, I'm fully aware of England's true power level.

In other relevant news, Spain just fired their manager. What the hell. I did not think they would actually make such a risky move because Lopetegui negotiating with Real hurt their feelings.

Raikaria · « **Reply #18 on:** June 13, 2018, 06:43:18 PM »

I find this article mildly amusing:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44431262

Using Historical patterns; the BBC is predicting Belgium to win the whole thing.

Tengukami · « **Reply #19 on:** June 14, 2018, 02:31:59 PM »

>2018
>Not putting your entire life savings on Iceland going all the way

Suwako Moriya · « **Reply #20 on:** June 14, 2018, 02:55:56 PM »

John Rogers back at on the Twitter machine, I see.

nav' · « **Reply #21 on:** June 14, 2018, 03:05:18 PM »

And so the adventure begins!

I liked Russia all the way back in Euro 2008 and their current manager (Cherchesov) was at Legia Warszawa for a while. The Russian squad consists of mostly domestic players , or so I heard. Should be interesting to see if they can deliver the goods.

Tengukami · « **Reply #22 on:** June 14, 2018, 03:17:05 PM »

Quote from: Suwako Moriya on June 14, 2018, 02:55:56 PM

John Rogers back at on the Twitter machine, I see.

He is indeed. He's in fact putting in the final proofreading touches to the World Cup feature that comes out tomorrow.

Your trusty tengu reporter caught this candid pic:

nav' · « **Reply #23 on:** June 14, 2018, 03:47:40 PM »

Easy going for Russia so far. More skill, better chances, excellent goal by Cheryshev. The Saudis are completely helpless despite their possession advantage and their silly mistakes may well cost them even more goals in the end.

Tengukami · « **Reply #24 on:** June 14, 2018, 03:56:52 PM »

Yeah Russia is going to destroy Saudi Arabia it seems. My Russian friends are decidedly underwhelmed, though; they don't consider this a challenge or a very exciting match.

nav' · « **Reply #25 on:** June 14, 2018, 04:01:56 PM »

Quote from: Tengukami on June 14, 2018, 03:56:52 PM

Yeah Russia is going to destroy Saudi Arabia it seems. My Russian friends are decidedly underwhelmed, though; they don't consider this a challenge or a very exciting match.

Ha, don't they worry. Uruguay and probably Spain/Portugal are coming up soon.

Gpop · « **Reply #26 on:** June 14, 2018, 04:27:55 PM »

Quote from: nav' on June 13, 2018, 10:33:18 AM

In other relevant news, Spain just fired their manager. What the hell. I did not think they would actually make such a risky move because Lopetegui negotiating with Real hurt their feelings.

Yeah I read up on this actually and thought it was dumb at first, but then I found out it was because the Spain manager already signed a contract agreeing that he cannot be a manager for another team for the duration of the World Cup, but then he signed a contract to msnage for Real Madrid. This forced them to fire him for breaching the original World Cup contract.

So it was more Lopetegui being an idiot or unaware of this.

nav' · « **Reply #27 on:** June 14, 2018, 05:32:25 PM »

So, good to see a fun opener game once in a while. The two final goals were a pure pleasure to watch. Russia completely defied expectations and might ride their new confidence boost all the way to the playoff phase. A weaker team like Saudi Arabia really should be relying on counter attacks and free kicks, but Russia simply wouldn't let them. Being forced into positional play unveiled all their weak spots: poor passing and positioning, easily losing the ball under pressure.

Quote from: Gpop on June 14, 2018, 04:27:55 PM

So it was more Lopetegui being an idiot or unaware of this.

That would actually make the decision understandable. Could you link an article about it?

nav' · « **Reply #28 on:** June 15, 2018, 03:33:27 PM »

Day 2!

I've had a terrible day and missed Egypt - Uruguay due to random events, but the final scoreline suggests I didn't miss much. Watching Morocco - Iran now. Both team are rather awkward in offense, but they're also quite ambitious and that alone makes for a good show. Decent game thus far.

Jimmy · « **Reply #29 on:** June 15, 2018, 04:55:40 PM »

I see that late-game goals are a thing again, at least now :derp: