The 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia Thread

[Tigranes]

The England team didn't let up and made it the best game I've seen so far this
Cup. Now the English can now concentrate on winning Brexit.
.

Never understood the need for 3rd place match. Other than some monetary intensives -- on emotional level who really cares? Even 2nd feels a terrible world cup loss when you get this far and lose.

 

[Takhisis]

Hahaha. You are a worse predictor than I am, and I used a photo of the "Hello
Kitty Bullet Train" to choose a result.

You totally bet on Croatia, didn't you?

Well the time wasting is easy to deal with. Just have the refs tell the players that time-wasting will be dealt with by adding disproportionately more time to the game, and have them follow through.

Which is the point, as you tire out the other team even more.

What a resistance from Croatia! This team deserves to win! 4.3 mln people -- and all Slavic team to rival Brits with all their Primer League.

I'm beginning to think that CONMEBOL are right not to have extra time in their knockout competitions.

I started out rooting for Croatia, and I still want them to win first place, but they played a bit dirty and it seemed like the referee was on their side. Far too forgiving.
Still a very good game. During the first half the English were so well organized that it looked like they had more players on the field, but in the second half Croatia's offense was relentless.
I hope they didn't tire themselves out too much for the match against France.

Seriously? Croatia didn't get a penalty just before half-time and again in the first half of extra time.

 

[Takhisis]

I'm backing Belgium and Croatia.

Belgium - England
Belgium: 4 - England 1
France - Croatia
France: 3 - Croatia 2​

Never understood the need for 3rd place match. Other than some monetary intensives -- on emotional level who really cares? Even 2nd feels a terrible world cup loss when you get this far and lose.

You do get on the podium. Croatia's basketball team actually made a point of walking off the podium when FR Yugoslavia won first place in the 1995 European championship.

 

[Sofista]

Oh, people, just two quick questions you might just have the anwer to:

1) has anybody seen the VAR these last few games? Seriously, no ref is using it anymore, is it just that's there's no episodes calling for it any longer?

2) what's the rationale for the last two games being played in the afternoon hours? I just don't get it.

 

[Takhisis]

1) no, FIFA is too scared that VAR will expose their shoddy standards and they get flak from their announcers because playing stops. Of course, Mbappé, Neymar, 3rd-best Ronaldo and so on diving and then clutching various uninjured body parts is not the same so it's allowed.

2) larger viewerships. That way it's a late-night game for large markets (Japan, Korea, Viet Nam, Australia) rather than on early Sunday/Monday morning.

 

[BirraImperial]

Oh, people, just two quick questions you might just have the anwer to:

1) has anybody seen the VAR these last few games? Seriously, no ref is using it anymore, is it just that's there's no episodes calling for it any longer?

2) what's the rationale for the last two games being played in the afternoon hours? I just don't get it.

1-Yeah, I don't know why they aren't using it anymore and there have been a few instances that I feel it was needed...There was a possible penalty not signaled for Croatia in the first half of extra time and it wasn't even reviewed...
2- Agreed, the matches should be played at night and not in the afternoon...

 

[BirraImperial]

Croatia has really impressed me. The strength and determination of this team is incredible. They played 3 extra times in a row, and still managed to finish strong against an England side that after the first Croatian goal looked clueless on the pitch...I think France are going to be champions, but they are going to be challenged by this courageous Croatian team...

My final picks:

Belgium vs England
France vs Croatia

 

[Takhisis]

Belgium - England
Belgium: 5 - England 1
France - Croatia
France: 4 - Croatia 2

I've always bet on Croatia and they've never failed me. I've always bet against France and, even with a bit of lucking out (Argentina managed not to tie the game due to confusion among their strikers and France had taken Griezmann off the pitch already, Uruguay got Cavani injured in a separate match) they've still ‘failed’ me each time.

 

[Ozbenno]

Belgium - England
France - Croatia

 

[Zelig]

Which is the point, as you tire out the other team even more.

I don't really follow how wasting time will, if you're leading, disproportionately tire out the other team more than yours. Especially since everyone's mostly standing around and not doing anything while time is being wasted.

 

[Ferocitus]

Belgium - England
France - Croatia (I have a French sister-in-law and France has Le Bullet TGV.)

 

[Rakkoon]

Never understood the need for 3rd place match. Other than some monetary intensives -- on emotional level who really cares? Even 2nd feels a terrible world cup loss when you get this far and lose.

We could still have the bronze medal and have the highest place we've ever had. This makes it emotionally important for us.

 

[raen]

Belgium vs England
France vs Croatia

 

[Marla_Singer]

Never understood the need for 3rd place match. Other than some monetary intensives -- on emotional level who really cares? Even 2nd feels a terrible world cup loss when you get this far and lose.

That comes from the origins of the World Cup. It all started in 1924 during the Paris Olympic games. Uruguay won the football tournaments and called themselves "World Champions". However, the tournament was supposedly "amateur", not all countries brought their best players, yet some countries disguised their professional players as "amateurs", in inventing them fictitious professions.

That's how Jules Rimet, the President of FIFA who organized the football tournament at the Olympics, got convinced we couldn't do without a global tournament open to professional players. The Olympics won't just do it. He'll spend all his energy during the 6 next years to make it become a reality.

As such, the world cup was initially directly inspired by the Olympics, which distribute gold, silver and bronze medals. That's the reason why there's been a 3rd-place playoff for the first world cup in 1930. Then world cup has grown over time, and the 3rd-place playoff became a tradition. Some minor nations which were already glad to have reached the semis, like Croatia in 1998 or Turkey in 2002, actually played the game very seriously, because they really considered bronze as an achievement. This has been the case as well for France in 1958, and probably others. However, it's obvious that the most desappointed losers are devastated and don't want to play it. Very often, it is played by substitutes who are just glad to play a world cup game.

Personally, I'm a bit of a traditionalist so I don't really mind it. Furthermore, I have the feeling it gives more importance to qualifying for the semis. You know after the quarter-finals that, no matter what, you'll stay untill the end.

 

[red_elk]

2) what's the rationale for the last two games being played in the afternoon hours? I just don't get it.

But it's usual evening time, 5 and 6 PM. Many games were played at this time.

 

[EnglishEdward]

I was driving last night and so I missed the full time play. I had hoped England might
win through to the final and I was dissappointed last night, but not at all surprised.

It is hats off to Croatia!

The reason I did not participate in the predictions in this thread is that I thought
that the England team was over-hyped and the weaker of the four semi-finalists;
and I regard it as rather poor form to talk one's country down in this forum.

the neverending obnoxiousness of "it's coming home" everywhere just made me feel near-hatred against them

I am not sure why you are suffering that tune where you live.
It seems that the song's only merit is that it also annoys foreigners.


As for the play off against Belgium for third place, I can remenber watching Ireland's
amazing in the air play in 1990 and sadly England losing to Italy in the play off back then.

 

[Uberfrog]

Personally, I'm a bit of a traditionalist so I don't really mind it. Furthermore, I have the feeling it gives more importance to qualifying for the semis. You know after the quarter-finals that, no matter what, you'll stay untill the end.

I agree, it’s a nice thing to recognise a really good achievement. Once the disappointment of losing a semi-final has worn off, I think you can look back on a bronze medal with pride.

 

[Arwon]

Thinking I'll probably be going for fun multiethnic France in the final. Croatian football seems a bit too fash.

 

[Rakkoon]

Selfish point 1: I want France to win so that we beat everyone except the champion
Selfish point 2: I want Croatia to win so that we can prove England made the wrong decision by losing on purpose

Normal point: they both did very well. Slight preference for Croatia because they had to fight this hard.

 

[Yeekim]

Selfish point - I want Croatia to win, because Estonia beat them 3-0 last March.

http://hns-cff.hr/en/matches/8651974/estonia-croatia-3-0/
The team we beat only included like 5 of those guys who played yesterday, but who remembers that?