World Cup 2018 Thread

[subzero]

Holy ****, semi-final!!! :shock:

Good game today too they played really well, Stirling needs to be sacked though, he's ****ing ****, we could lose a game here because of him, 2 or 3 goals he should have landed but his brain just turns into mashed potato when he reaches the box, abhurrrr! :|

Anyway....

https://www.facebook.com/sean.salmon.31asd/videos/1989243324443136/ :lol:

Agreed, although my biggest problem with him is that he never, EVER passes if someone else is in a better position than him. One of his several **** ups today saw Kane to his left completely unmarked, but like the selfish talentless little **** that he is for England, it never even crossed Stirling's tiny mind to pass the ball to a proven goal scorer... GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can he be so good for City, yet so **** for England?... Play Rashford instead!

Anyway, roll on Croatia or Russia... OK then, Croatia ;-)!

That missed opportunity made me well angry, he even looked at Kane when he got trapped with the ball but then thought "nah **** it I want this" and tried to dazzle 3 players, with his uncontrollable 'rubber arms' flapping around all over the place... little wanker! :lol:

I love Rashford he's a quality player, grinded my gears a little bit when he came on to replace Stirling in added mins, I was hoping he'd replace him way earlier, my heart actually sinks when I see Stirling get hold of the ball when we're closing into the box.

 

[Snaketibe]

I disagree on today's evidence. He may have squandered a few chances but he struck fear into the Swedish defence every time he went forward, and created space for the other forwards. After Pickford, Maguire and Trippier he was England's best player.

Great result and well deserved, great Team effort

Agree on Sterling, I know he can't hit a barn door but today showed exactly why Southgate is playing him, I'm a massive Rashford fan though and hope we get to see something of him as well.

The dream rolls on

Sterling absolutely has pace, and he leaves his opponents standing, but he also consistently has zero end product when wearing an England shirt. He refuses to pass to players in better positions to score than him, and instead selfishly goes for glory himself and consistently fails. I really wish that wasn't true, but it simply is, and for that reason I'd love to see Rashford tried in his place from the start in a full strength team (unlike the Belgium kick-about, which he did start, but that game was not exactly competitive ;-)). He may not be quite as quick as Sterling, but he's certainly no slouch either, and I definitely feel he deserves a try, especially when Sterling keeps squandering golden opportunities in every England game he plays.

I must also say that I wouldn't be saying any of this if Sterling played for England like he does for City, where he often scores for fun. I don't know whether he's got some sort of mental block when wearing an England shirt, but he's like a different player.

Anyway, regardless of that, well done to the Team!... Semi-finals of the World Cup! Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming! :-D

 

[Grant_C]

Amazing! I'd love it if England beat Croatia. I believe they can.

 

[theforceuk]

We need perspective here, England have done well to reach the semifinals. But Croatia are on another level to anyone we have played so far. We can beat them, but whether we do or not England can leave with their heads held high, which is something that has not happened for a while in a World Cup.

I feel if we do beat Croatia then just being involved in the final would be amazing and something that I never expected going into the tournament. This is England's 6th consecutive World Cup and we deserve some luck.

What a great thing to look forward to on Wednesday.

 

[subzero]

True, I even said in the first knockout game if England get to the quarter final i'll be happy because in a way we'd still be some kind of finalists, but it's gone even further than that.

Whatever happens now i'm not gonna be disappointed at all, they've played what is the best world cup iv'e ever seen England play since the 90's. I have a weirdly good feeling about the semi, but yes it has all of a sudden gotten much more difficult now and it may come as a shock to them, if we're gonna win on Wed it will be a close one I reckon.

England in the ****ing final though, imagine that...... :shock:

 

[Snaketibe]

I really believe England will beat Croatia. We mustn't underestimate them as they have some great players and can play really well as a team, but so can we. Croatia are absolutely beatable if we play as well as we can. Also, after 2 consecutive games that went to extra time and penalties, hopefully the Croatians may be feeling the strain a little more than England.

Come on England! :-D

 

[theforceuk]

One thing for me is sure, it's going to end in tears no matter what. I was as emotional yesterday as I was when Han Solo died. :lol:

 

[Michael Sith]

As the Bard put it...

We know what we are, but not what we may be

Come on England

 

[edd_jedi]

I really enjoyed the game against Sweden, it was mostly comfortably to watch apart from Sterling's meltdowns, and I think we deserved to win. The one thing that worries me though is that Sweden have no World Class players. Every time somebody was on the ball the commentator was saying this guy plays for Celtic, this one for Hull, this one for Sunderland etc. As above the only world class team we've played so far is Belgium, and they beat us. BUT we have a chance, football is 50% luck and we are well overdue some. Really looking forward to Wednesday, it will be tougher but we can beat them.

Oh and it's also nice how many Spurs or ex Spurs players are playing not only for England, but all the other teams still in it

 

[Grant_C]

So exciting...

 

[theforceuk]

France will able iterate us! 99 out of a hundred times. :wink: :lol:

 

[Grant_C]

So far my unqualified predictions have been wrong.

Makes me worried about predicting an England win. :?

Just imagine if they do..........

 

[subzero]

Cummon boys!, got a good feeling today!

:lol:

 

[Grant_C]

At the end of the day, England managed to get pubs in the Welsh valleys cheering England.

A far more difficult achievement than winning a World Cup.

A great future for this team.

 

[subzero]

................

Ah well, at least this is the very first world cup iv'e ever personally watched where I haven't been feeling annoyed at England's **** footballing and half slagging them off, these lads have done well and they've been bloody exciting to watch, they got much further than I anticipated and played with complete passion.

Looking forward to 2022

 

[Lindo]

................

1.gif

Ah well, at least this is the very first world cup iv'e ever personally watched where I haven't been feeling annoyed at England's **** footballing and half slagging them off, these lads have done well and they've been bloody exciting to watch, they got much further than I anticipated and played with complete passion.

Looking forward to 2022

lol mate I think you've been watching a different team, pickford had more touches than Kane, I gave up counting the back passes at 110

 

[theforceuk]

We were pretty good, but did not beet any other team better than us and its same old story. Just stop and think, England beat Tunisia, Panama, Colombia and Sweden. Croatia knocked us out.

 

[Snaketibe]

....bugger.

 

[subzero]

................

1.gif

Ah well, at least this is the very first world cup iv'e ever personally watched where I haven't been feeling annoyed at England's **** footballing and half slagging them off, these lads have done well and they've been bloody exciting to watch, they got much further than I anticipated and played with complete passion.

Looking forward to 2022

lol mate I think you've been watching a different team, pickford had more touches than Kane, I gave up counting the back passes at 110

Yeah to be fair the teams we played against were comfortable wins apart from Belgium and Croatia, it's still the best world cup iv'e ever seen England play but you're right it's because the teams were much easier to beat. Last night we actually played very well for the first half but it all just went to pot in the 2nd half, maybe it was pressure or fatigue I don't know but they crumbled as soon as Croatia got more confident which is a shame because if England kept their heads together they could have beaten them last night, you could see they still had passion but just couldn't do anything with it, they can still leave with their heads held high they still did really well in this world cup.

But a huge opportunity has been missed here, I actually do think it will never happen now but, they are getting better as a new team and I still look forward to the future.

 

[peekaygee73]

For me it's not been about the results or how far we've progressed, it's about the complete overhaul of how the team are coached and managed and how they approach games. The England team have come a long way in a short period of time, and although they've still a long way to go I can see so much potential. Before the tournament started I was sceptical about us getting past the last 16 and wouldn't have been surprised if we'd failed to get out of the group stages. To see England playing without fear is so refreshing.

That said... I thought Alli and Kane were disappointing last night, and once Sterling had been taken off it was clear we weren't going to create chances in open play. In fact Alli's been disappointing all tournament; it completely baffles me that Sterling's been getting all the abuse and Alli's got away with it.

The inexperience of the team at that level showed, and with the top international teams you only need to give them one chance and they'll take it. Croatia pulled it out of nowhere in the second half, and Modric in particular was immense.

Roll on 2020, but can we please have another song instead of Three Lions. Even as an England fan it's been doing my head in! :lol: