World Cup Thread

Andyk

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Great result as I've now won the family sweep stake before the finals played....I have France and Croatia. And the next bonus is work will go back to normal and I will not have spend a shed load on overtime Saturday to get the alcohol to all the pubs. See silver lining.
 

zagatoes30

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Only saw the first half, wedding anniversary duties, and the result was disappointing.

But overall England did well, we had no expectations of reaching the Semis and Gareth and the team should hold their heads high. The tough bit is moving on from here, it is a young team and hopefully it will learn and go on to better things. Well done England
 

D Walker

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Greg, you must have missed the 2004 European championships, can't remember Greece having a tough route to the final but I know they beat Portugal 1.0.
 

outrun

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Perhaps my southern friends can take solace here from the definite fact that England's loss knocks the momentum out of any devious SNP plans to further divide the UK. For now anyway.

The better team won on the day but England did very well to get that far with a young team. France should walk the final but I guess people have underestimated Croatia all along......

It's been an exciting world cup but not because of it's quality of play.
 

Wack61

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Perhaps my southern friends can take solace here from the definite fact that England's loss knocks the momentum out of any devious SNP plans to further divide the UK. For now anyway.

The better team won on the day but England did very well to get that far with a young team. France should walk the final but I guess people have underestimated Croatia all along......

It's been an exciting world cup but not because of it's quality of play.

I think they underestimated how dirty they'd play , the ref left his cards in the dressing room because Kane getting taken out at the start of the game was a yellow possibly a red

They fouled their way through the 1st 45 minutes stopping us whenever we had a chance , 2nd half we just ran out of energy , I think Kane may have been feeling unwell , not injured just a bit rough because he wasn't the same player as he was at the start.

I usually can't stand football because of all of the overpaid primadonnas tripping over shadows then the agony subsides 5 seconds after they didn't get the free kick

Plenty of that going on with Croatia but through the tournament I thought England's conduct was exemplary, I for one am very proud of their achievement and sportsmanship

The naysayers can spout all the ******** they like , they played and won right up to the semi finals , 3rd or 4th out of 32 countries
 

Andyk

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As someone who is not a football fan is this observation right.....England only really met a decent team in the semi final...Before then they should have always beat the teams they were up against. Losing that one match gave them the easy option in the next round. So well I understand why everyone is so proud of them getting to the Semi ...... If they had come up against the top teams before the semi do you think they would have done so well ? Just a healthy debate by the way I am not having a go at England........
 

zagatoes30

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As someone who is not a football fan is this observation right.....England only really met a decent team in the semi final...Before then they should have always beat the teams they were up against. Losing that one match gave them the easy option in the next round. So well I understand why everyone is so proud of them getting to the Semi ...... If they had come up against the top teams before the semi do you think they would have done so well ? Just a healthy debate by the way I am not having a go at England........

Harsh summary, England played every game, bar Belgium, with a passion I have not seen in years, they played attacking football and had all their opponents struggling to stay with them - however they didn't finish off the chances they made and they seemed to run out of steam in the second half.

They also played as a team, inclduing the management, they generally plat=yed football and didn't resort to any unfair tactis, diving, fouls etc. etc. I think they held their heads high and showed most other teams a level or professionalism and pride that is missing from the modern game.

I hope they continue to play this way and I hope they can address those areas that need correction because they could become a great team in the next few years.
 

Contigo

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Spot on. Croatia was the proper true test but there is no easy team in the World Cup finals as we have seen with the likes of Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Spain all exiting way before us and being better by lesser teams.
 

D Walker

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Good fair summary, I honestly think that we are lacking is a player in the mould of Pirlo and Modric, the floating midfielder who just picks up and gives, Henderson is a good midfielder but mainly there to protect back 3, unfortunately in English football we don't seem to have this type of midfielder due to the way we have played for years,, I think we are improving technique wise, but, to be fair, so are a lot of the none "established" teams. It's only going to get harder and unless FIFA sort the cheating "win at any cost" attitude then it's really not the spectacle it should be b
 

Andyk

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Harsh summary, England played every game, bar Belgium, with a passion I have not seen in years, they played attacking football and had all their opponents struggling to stay with them - however they didn't finish off the chances they made and they seemed to run out of steam in the second half.

They also played as a team, inclduing the management, they generally plat=yed football and didn't resort to any unfair tactis, diving, fouls etc. etc. I think they held their heads high and showed most other teams a level or professionalism and pride that is missing from the modern game.

I hope they continue to play this way and I hope they can address those areas that need correction because they could become a great team in the next few years.


Thanks for that And...As said wasn't a dig as I know feck about football ........ They certainly seemed to play more as a team than England teams from the past.
 

Andyk

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So another question ....Why is it a footballer gets cramp if they have to play extra time. They get paid a bloody fortune to play the game yet can't cope with more than 90 mins......but......you never see the ref rolling around with cramp and he is running up and down the pitch constantly.
 
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highlander

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So another question ....Why is it a footballer gets cramp if they have to play extra time. They get paid a bloody fortune to play the game yet can't cope with more than 90 mins......but......you never see the ref rolling around with cramp and he is running up and down the pitch constantly.
Or a rugger player, or a Tour de France cyclist, or a marathon runner........need I go on? football players are just primadonna softies.
3rd place playoff today, usually a better watch than the final. Sticking to 3-1, was one away last time but rate Belgium higher than Croatia ;)
 

dem maser

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Greg, you must have missed the 2004 European championships, can't remember Greece having a tough route to the final but I know they beat Portugal 1.0.
Very hard!
Beat Spain and Portugal in the group stages then played Czech France and Portugal again to win it!
 

Andyk

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Or a rugger player, or a Tour de France cyclist, or a marathon runner........need I go on? football players are just primadonna softies.
3rd place playoff today, usually a better watch than the final. Sticking to 3-1, was one away last time but rate Belgium higher than Croatia ;)

Did some tennis players play for 6.5 hours last night.
 

D Walker

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You obviously have no idea of the fitness levels required to play 90 minutes of professional football. I played high level Amateur and semi pro and when we played guest games against League teams we struggled. I've also played rugby from teens and in Army, used to get loads of rest as a 2nd centre / winger. Primadonnas, some maybe, but fit ones,