2018 World Cup

ENDSIEG

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The co-commentator on the BBC is hilarious, his name is Mark Lawrenson, former player with Liverpool back in their 80s heyday.

He's paid a lot of money to fly around the world and watch football, but all he does carp and moan about the players, lol. He is very funny though, probably a British humour thing, tbh...
 

ENDSIEG

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Argentina just missed an absolute sitter! Messi is totally anonymous at the moment...
 

ENDSIEG

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Great set-up for Rebic!

Messi looks like a ghost, the pressure is too much for him. It's affecting the rest of the Argentina team...
 

Charles Martel

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The officiating is very pro-Argentina.

Penalty is called when an Argentinian player takes a dive with the Croatian not touching him, but multiple fouls against Croatian players are being ignored.
 

ENDSIEG

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It looks like Argentina are going out in the first round. They've been very poor indeed, Ronaldo's performances seem to have psyched out Messi...
 

Charles Martel

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A very talented athlete: Luka Modrić

https://www.rt.com/sport/430487-argentina-croatia-3-0-world-cup/

5b2c01bdfc7e932c1d8b4606.jpg
 

Matra2

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Caballero's mistake had been coming since about the 5th minute against Iceland when he gave them a scoring opportunity on one of his first touches of the ball. He nearly gave the ball to Croatia in the first half of tonight's game too. He's just not good on the ball.
 

Thrashen

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Great win for Croatia against an Argentina squad that only has 4-5 actual whites and numerous mestizo mystery meats.

Hopefully Croatia and the highly-inspirational Iceland team can both manage advance from the group. Unlike previous years, this Nigerian unit has team some talent. I’ll be rooting hard for the Men of Ice tomorrow!
 

Matra2

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Yeah are they even going to make it out of group with this goal differential?

If Iceland beat Nigeria tomorrow then Argentina will have to hammer Nigeria and they'll need Croatia to beat Iceland. It doesn't look good. But then, they don't look good.
 

CrazyFinn

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Impressive victory by Croatia, total domination especially in the 2nd half. The announcers kept mentioning the semi-final run of 1998 and given how poor some of the traditional powerhouses have looked so far, they can certainly make another deep run.

I have no idea why Argentina has been so poor, but I agree that when your best player is more or less invisible, it can certainly impact the rest of your team. The opposite is also true, when a great player like Ronaldo can lift an entire team with his incredible play.

I guess we'll be hoping for Iceland to join Croatia to come out of this group, two 100% white teams.
 

ENDSIEG

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Modric looks like he's really upped his game. He could be player of the tournament if keeps playing like that. Croatia could go very far, possibly to the final if they get a bit of luck as well!

Is it possible that they could play Serbia anytime soon?!
 

ENDSIEG

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I'm really looking forward to Iceland's match tomorrow, I'm sure they'll do Europe proud...
 

Matra2

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I'm really looking forward to Iceland's match tomorrow, I'm sure they'll do Europe proud...

With Croatia likely to win their group they would play 2nd place from Group c - probably Denmark, possibly Australia. Then it would likely be either Spain/Portugal or Uruguay/Russia in the QFs. The winner of Serbia's Group E will be on the the other side of the draw so they couldn't meet until the final. However, if Serbia come 2nd - quite possible - then they could potentially play Croatia in the semi-final of their end of the draw. It's a long shot, but stranger things have happened.
 

ENDSIEG

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With Croatia likely to win their group they would play 2nd place from Group c - probably Denmark, possibly Australia. Then it would likely be either Spain/Portugal or Uruguay/Russia in the QFs. The winner of Serbia's Group E will be on the the other side of the draw so they couldn't meet until the final. However, if Serbia come 2nd - quite possible - then they could potentially play Croatia in the semi-final of their end of the draw. It's a long shot, but stranger things have happened.
Nice one for the info! Croatia's odds to win have tumbled from 66/1 to 16/1 in just a few days!
 

Shadowlight

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The hipster dumbass Argentina coach said before the match that they will utilize a different game plan hinting Messi will be more of a factor. So they go from listless against Iceland to double listless against Croatia.

The goalie was pathetic. His muffed kick resulting in Croatia's first goal.

And Messi? When does an all time great cease to be great? How about now. Looking forlorn and moody ( maybe Ronaldo spooked him?) Messi couldn't muster anything more than a whimper. And his useless teammates were no help whatsoever. An embarrassing display here at the WC for Argentina and all sorts of things will have to fall in place in order for them to move on see commentary above.

Four years ago Messi almost gave Argentina the championship. A huge let down from one of the greatest white athletes in the past quarter century. Not to let him off the hook but bad coaching and clueless teammates can hinder a great player and I think those were key factors here.

I know France rearranged their line up a bit by inserting Giroud but I cannot root for them. I can't stand them. They have turned their basketball and soccer arenas into iron clad caste warehouses and England looks to be following suit.
 

ENDSIEG

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The hipster dumbass Argentina coach said before the match that they will utilize a different game plan hinting Messi will be more of a factor. So they go from listless against Iceland to double listless against Croatia.

The goalie was pathetic. His muffed kick resulting in Croatia's first goal.

And Messi? When does an all time great cease to be great? How about now. Looking forlorn and moody ( maybe Ronaldo spooked him?) Messi couldn't muster anything more than a whimper. And his useless teammates were no help whatsoever. An embarrassing display here at the WC for Argentina and all sorts of things will have to fall in place in order for them to move on see commentary above.

Four years ago Messi almost gave Argentina the championship. A huge let down from one of the greatest white athletes in the past quarter century. Not to let him off the hook but bad coaching and clueless teammates can hinder a great player and I think those were key factors here.

I know France rearranged their line up a bit by inserting Giroud but I cannot root for them. I can't stand them. They have turned their basketball and soccer arenas into iron clad caste warehouses and England looks to be following suit.


Sad but true, it's a shame that I can no longer cheer on my beloved England, I'd love to support the Three Lions, like I did back in the 90s.

But those days are gone and will never return.

Alas, alas...
 

Jack Lambert

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Wow!! What a great performance by Croatia. That's the second great match in a row by Croatia. They are finally putting their great individual talent into a team unit. That's the difference for them so far in this World Cup; it's been a joy to watch them thus far. Subasic and the defense have also been more consistent; Vida and Lovren were both good in the middle, making a lot of timely tackles today. Modric, Rakitic, and the rest of the Croatian midfield dominated as well. Speaking of him, what a goal by Modric to seal the deal!! An absolute beauty of a strike. I look forward to seeing how far this team can go; they've looked like one of the best teams in Russia so far.
Conversely, it is mind-blowing to me how a team with as much talent as Argentina can struggle so bad. They've looked very lethargic and out-of-sorts this tournament. Shadowlight summed this team up perfectly: listless. Messi barely got a touch of the ball in the second half. For how much talent this team has, they looked terrible, although Croatia had something to do with that. As others have said, Cabellero was horrible for Argentina, especially on that first goal. This is the 2nd game in a row he's looked bad.
Hopefully Iceland will be able to beat Nigeria tomorrow; it'd be nice to see two %100 white teams get out of the group. What a story it would be if Iceland are able to win!
Christian Eriksen had a GREAT goal for Denmark this morning too! Although after that goal, Denmark didn't look very good; Australia took the majority of the play after the goal, from what I saw. The Danes had a couple more good chances to score, but they didn't take them. Poulsen is suspended next match after stupidly giving away a penalty, so maybe we'll see an actual Dane come in. If Croatia end up getting Denmark or Australia, I'd like that match up for Croatia.
France started five of their six white players today. I was still rooting for Peru, though.

Here's Modric's goal:

Here's Ericksen's goal:
 
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ENDSIEG

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Brazil aren't looking particularly good, Neymar has declined markedly since the last WC...
 

Fortitude

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Fox commentators are auditioning to be Neymar's half time fluffers.

He literally jumped backwards into an opposing player who didn't move and as soon as he felt contact threw us feet backwards and rolled his ankle. The fox commentators acted like it should have been a red a card.
 
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