World Cup 2018

Started by kishnevi, December 01, 2017, 06:10:52 PM

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Jo498

The most remarkable news concerning the WC is already old news, namely that neither Italy nor the Netherlands managed to qualify.

Russia, the host, got a fairly easy group and has good chances to qualify for the next round. Groups B, C and D are not too easy but all of the respective favorites should be able to get through. With E and F the interesting thing is that if either Brazil or Germany finish second in their group, they could meet in the first k.o. round, making for an early "finale" for two favorites.
England should manage to hold Tunisia and Panama at bay, so there is some hope they will be a little more successful than last time. :D
Group H is only underdogs with no clear favorite.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

vandermolen

England has an 'easy group' but I admired Gareth Southgate for saying that England have often written off 'easy teams' and then ended up being beaten by them. Anyway I look forward to the massively over-confident expectations followed by a humiliating early exit. I enjoyed the prophetic Private Eye cartoon, last time round showing the England team emerging from their aircraft whilst a speech bubble from the cockpit asked 'shall we keep the engines running?'
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Jo498

The positive is that England performed so bad the last time so expectations are rather low and it should not be too hard to exceed them. ;)
Whereas anything short of the finale will be a disappointment for Germany; Brazil certainly will want to make amends for their 2014 failure on home soil and so does France for the last European CS.

(Admittedly, I am hardly following soccer except for the large international events. My personal highlight in sports 2018 will probably be the Athletics European CS in Berlin with a fairly promising German team (massive talent appeared in the last few years from mostly young women in sprint/relays and distance running in addition to our traditonal strengths in the throwing and dec/heptathlon events) who will be supermotivated at home.)
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

nodogen

Quote from: Jo498 on December 02, 2017, 01:11:24 AM

England should manage to hold Tunisia and Panama at bay, so there is some hope they will be a little more successful than last time. :D


You should try decaf. Panama will be particularly testing - sometimes they have as many as 11 players on at the same time. 🙃

bwv 1080

The fact that this is in Russia and the next in Qatar just underscores how corrupt FIFA is and makes me have no interest in it, despite watching quite a bit of the last one

Jo498

True, but FIFA has been extraordinarily corrupt since a very long time, only it was not rubbed in one's face with the Cup taking place in France, Japan, Germany etc.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

GioCar

Quote from: Jo498 on December 02, 2017, 01:11:24 AM
The most remarkable news concerning the WC is already old news, namely that neither Italy nor the Netherlands managed to qualify.


I'll be rooting for the Icelandic team. Really.

Jo498

Agreed, the participation of Iceland is also more noteworthy than the sorting into groups. They have a chance to preceed beyond the group stage but it will not be easy (Croatia once (98 or 94) famously kicked out Germany in the k.o. phase and Nigeria is unstable but when they are good they can be formidable.)
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

arkiv


arkiv

My team, in a congregation of indurated teams: Germany, Sweden and S. Sorea.
Germany, the tabbed troupe to not abdicate in this kingdom.

bwv 1080

Quote from: Jo498 on December 02, 2017, 11:11:25 PM
True, but FIFA has been extraordinarily corrupt since a very long time, only it was not rubbed in one's face with the Cup taking place in France, Japan, Germany etc.

Yes it's like football, when I was ignorant that it destroys the brains of the players I enjoyed it, now I can't. 

Jo498

At least in soccer it is not obvious if or how the corrupt institutions seriously harm the sport; it's doing very well.
My favorit sport, Athletics/Running, has similar dubious institutions (I think all large international sports institutions have their fair share of corruption) and has been haunted by doping problems for decades. But it still fascinates me and I will support it by watching, hoping (against data) that the controls and honest athletes prevail.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

mc ukrneal

Spanish fire coach two days before the start of the World Cup. I think they are in possibly in trouble...what a distraction. You can read about it here...https://www.yahoo.com/sports/spain-sacks-manager-julen-lopetegui-eve-world-cup-amid-real-madrid-controversy-101319421.html.

Be kind to your fellow posters!!

vandermolen

There was a funny and no doubt prophetic cartoon in the paper today showing the England Team coach parked in the 'Short Stay' car park at Heathrow Airport.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

eljr

Mexico wins, Ronaldo scores 3, Messi plays terrible seems to be the story so far...
"You practice and you get better. It's very simple."
Philip Glass

Marc

Quote from: eljr on June 18, 2018, 03:54:09 AM
Mexico wins, Ronaldo scores 3, Messi plays terrible seems to be the story so far...

Nah.
No Team NL / Hup Holland Hup / Oranje Boven this year.

That's the story. Period.

;)

mc ukrneal

Pretty exciting so far for just the first games. The Spain-Portugal game was a delight to watch - not perfect, but some amazing skill on both sides. England just pulled off a small miracle, so maybe they will be in the mix after all. Or have I jinxed it?! :) I loved seeing Mexico beat Germany. Brazil was lucky to get out of there with a point. Will be interesting to see if they adjust or if other teams try to replicate what Switzerland did.
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

vandermolen

Can't believe that England won their opening game! However they can't afford to waste so many chances in their future games.
Thank goodness for Harry Kane.
:)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

DaveF

Quote from: GioCar on December 02, 2017, 11:25:18 PM
I'll be rooting for the Icelandic team. Really.

They're much loved here in Wales too, partly because we have Aron Gunnarsson at Cardiff City and partly for some other reason I forget.
"All the world is birthday cake" - George Harrison