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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 17:05:36 GMT 1
"Lost" World Cup semi-finals - how the semi-final line-ups would've looked if the losing quarter-finalists had all won:
1934: Sweden v Switzerland Hungary v Spain
1938: Switzerland v Cuba France v Czechoslovakia
1954: Yugoslavia v Switzerland Brazil v England
1958: Wales v Northern Ireland USSR v Yugoslavia
1962: England v USSR Hungary v West Germany
1966: Argentina v North Korea Uruguay v Hungary
1970: Peru v USSR Mexico v England
1986: England v Spain Brazil v Mexico
1990: Czechoslovakia v Cameroon Yugoslavia v Ireland
1994: Spain v Germany Netherlands v Romania
1998: Denmark v Argentina Italy v Germany
2002: England v Senegal USA v Spain
2006: Brazil v England Ukraine v Argentina
2010: Paraguay v Argentina Brazil v Ghana
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Jun 22, 2014 17:11:02 GMT 1
So basically you're saying our defence isn't good enough. i'm saying with the proper coaching (worse teams have kept suarez quiet this season) or the right players (terry for jagielka or cole for baines) our defence would be good enough to match a very poor italy and an even poorer uruguay, hell costa rica look likely to top the group ahead of them, we had neither the right players or adequate coaching, both the responsibility of the manager, even iran have shown us up with their quality and fight! and we didn't do much better than australia.
maybe the negative attitude hodgson had went unnoticed over here but the interviews and coverage in greece he kept going on how he fears suarez, he is their best player, he can hurt us, "we are not good enough to stop him", a past it gerrard laying on a perfect assist didn't help matters but I haven't seen such a self fulfilling prophecy
calling up youngsters is all well and fine, i'm all for that but baines is 30 this year, not exactly one for the long term, I said all this before the tournament and was shot down
we can't even use the excuse it was to hot because it was 16 degrees or that the premiership is too fast and everyones sooo tired because for me the stand out players so far are van persie, robben, suarez, muller, two from the premiership and two from germany and ironically england played ok in both games and didn't seem out of their depth, they just lack the edge and direction other teams have, we are less technically gifted then iran so why are we trying to play like holland?
wellbeck starting every game? really? an injured oxlade chamberlain taking a squad place? ok, lambert being given 38 seconds to salvage a draw, makes sense! not even contacting our best cb to play only for his replacement to cost us a point against uruguay, dropping our best player who has 107 caps, won everything, played in world cups, champions league finals, euro championships and ended the season in fine form for a guy a few years younger who has never played a top level football match and is almost 30! madness, sheer madness, then baines goes and costs us a point against italy and didn't do much better against uruguay.
ofcourse there are positives, but most of them were on the bench
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rewardman
Member
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Posts: 33,541
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Post by rewardman on Jun 22, 2014 17:13:40 GMT 1
Russia are wearing their rather awesome Yuri Gagarin-inspired away kit today... I'm not getting a cosmonaut vibe!
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Jun 22, 2014 17:14:27 GMT 1
on a positive note, england and greece games aside I have enjoyed almost every game so far! the quality has shown us up when 3rd world countries and nations with national leagues equivalent to our league 2 are outperforming us, their best player wouldn't get in out C team so its not all about being good enough
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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 17:14:28 GMT 1
"Lost" quarter-finals - how the quarter-final line-ups would've looked if the teams losing in the last 16 had all won:
1986: Poland v Italy Morocco v Bulgaria USSR v Denmark Uruguay v Paraguay
1990: Brazil v Spain Uruguay v Romania Netherlands v Costa Rica Belgium v Colombia
1994: USA v Ireland Saudi Arabia v Argentina Nigeria v Switzerland Mexico v Belgium
1998: Paraguay v Norway Romania v Mexico Chile v Nigeria Yugoslavia v England
2002: Belgium v Denmark Japan v Sweden Paraguay v Mexico Italy v Ireland
2006: Australia v Switzerland Sweden v Mexico Spain v Ghana Netherlands v Ecuador
2010: Portugal v Japan England v Mexico Slovakia v Chile South Korea v USA
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Post by Earl Purple on Jun 22, 2014 17:16:46 GMT 1
So basically you're saying our defence isn't good enough. Conceding 2 goals in both our games does kind of lead to that conclusion. In 1982 we played 5 games and conceded 1 goal the whole tournament. We weren't lethal enough up front, particularly against Spain which cost us. We'd beaten them 2-1 a couple of years earlier, if we'd done the same we'd have been equal with Germany in our group. (I think it would have meant lots). In 1986 we only conceded 2 goals in our final game and one of those was scored illegally. In 1990 we conceded 2 goals just once again, in a short spell against Cameroon, in a tournament where we played 6 games. In 1998 we conceded 2 goals twice in 4 games, the other two were clean sheets, and of course we lost one of those games and the other we lost on penalties. In 2002 we conceded 2 goals only in the game where we went out against the best team in the tournament. And yes Seamon should probably have saved that free kick but that Brazil team is probably the best one I have seen in any world cup in the last 40 years. In 2006 we conceded 2 goals against Sweden when already through and didn't concede any other in the whole tournament. In 2010 we conceded 4 in the final game as we crumbled, but we were tight in our group, only conceding one due to Robert Green's error against the USA.
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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 17:17:16 GMT 1
maybe the negative attitude hodgson had went unnoticed over here but the interviews and coverage in greece... The Greek press criticising another team's perceived negativity? Laughable.
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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 17:18:06 GMT 1
So basically you're saying our defence isn't good enough. Conceding 2 goals in both our games does kind of lead to that conclusion. You've clearly missed the point of my post.
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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 17:22:25 GMT 1
Russia are wearing their rather awesome Yuri Gagarin-inspired away kit today... I'm not getting a cosmonaut vibe! Yeah, the effect isn't really coming across on TV. It's supposed to be an edge of space/horizon type thing.
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rewardman
Member
*rock n roll juvenile*
Posts: 33,541
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Post by rewardman on Jun 22, 2014 17:25:21 GMT 1
Belgium looking the much better side so far.
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rewardman
Member
*rock n roll juvenile*
Posts: 33,541
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Post by rewardman on Jun 22, 2014 18:03:45 GMT 1
Russia did come right back into it.
A tie at half time was probably correct.
Here's to an exciting second 45 minutes.
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rewardman
Member
*rock n roll juvenile*
Posts: 33,541
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Post by rewardman on Jun 22, 2014 18:35:43 GMT 1
Lacklustre second half.
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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 18:36:26 GMT 1
Belgium not living up to their trendy dark horse pick status in this tournament, at least in terms of quality of performance.
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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 18:44:56 GMT 1
Finally!
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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 18:53:37 GMT 1
1st round, Group H: | 1-0 | |
Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts | Q | | 2 | +2 | 6 | 2 | | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | | 2 | -1 | 1 | 4 | | 1 | -1 | 0 |
Belgium qualify for the last 16. Algeria will be eliminated if they lose to South Korea tonight.
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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 18:59:16 GMT 1
2nd round line-up as things stand:
Brazil v Chile Colombia v Italy France v Nigeria Germany v South Korea Netherlands v Mexico Costa Rica v Ivory Coast Argentina v Ecuador Belgium v USA
As things currently stand, 8 of the 13 European teams are going out in the 1st round.
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Post by Mart!n on Jun 22, 2014 19:07:01 GMT 1
Looks like I didn't miss anything, glad Belgium easily qualified to the last 16, second place is really up for grabs still
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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 20:38:21 GMT 1
Algeria absolutely dominating South Korea.
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Post by Maximo Mark on Jun 22, 2014 20:47:10 GMT 1
Glad I went for this at 2/1, thought it was good odds, Algeria an underrated team. They've run Korea ragged.
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Post by Panda on Jun 22, 2014 21:07:56 GMT 1
Uh-oh...
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