Great Patriotic Victory by the Defenders of Moscow!

[Freycinet]

After 120 minutes of heroic resistance to the Spanish attacks... After goalkeeper Akinfeev fends off the final bombardment from the Legión Azul...

 

Russia is through to the quarter finals of the World Cup!

 

Let us decree a national holiday for Russia on Monday, so this famous victory can be celebrated as if there was no tomorrow!

 

Congratulations from a Dane (wish us luck tonight, we will need it!)

[Finkeren]

2 hours ago, Freycinet said:

 

Congratulations from a Dane (wish us luck tonight, we will need it!)

 

Ugh! Søren, I’m watching it right now. I usually don’t care about sports, but this is intense. This match is a much better analogy for the desperate fighting of the GPW.

Edited July 1, 2018 by Finkeren

[Freycinet]

Well, Finkeren, det lykkedes ikke denne gang... 

[rolikiraly]

The russians were very lucky, i think it was the weakest performance by Spain i've witnessed in the last 10 years.

 

On the other hand, Denmark's performance yesterday was a pleasant surprise (I've only watched second half and ET). I'm glad the Croatians made it to the 8, but Denmark really kept them on their toes through the game.

[Trooper117]

Probably the most boring match so far.... Spain keeping possession and in no hurry to attack, and Russia playing a defensive game throughout.

Obviously as the hosts they did not want to be knocked out at this stage, but their penalty taking was spot on.

Russia will have to up their game if they want to proceed further though.

[MiloMorai]

Big game starts in a couple of hours, Sweden vs England.

 

Trooper, if Spain can't beat Russia, how do you expect Croatia to do so?

 

This was on the TV news the other night,

 

[Trooper117]

Spain was more than capable of beating Russia, but they squandered their chance by the type of game they played against them.

Russia got through on their good penalty taking ability (did you actually watch the game?)

Let's face it, at this stage of the competition, any of the remaining teams have a chance of winning.

As to Croatia, on a good day they can take on anyone... but we shall see 

Part of me would like to see Russia (as the hosts) win the competition outright... but then again, I of course have to support England.

 

 

[rolikiraly]

Finally, the Russians are knocked out. I won't miss them at all .

Congrats to the Croatians. But they will have to up their game, Modric alone won't be enough.

[Trooper117]

Yes, Modric was everywhere 

[dkoor]

Will be interesting match, Croatia vs England... I really doubt that any team will opt to play mostly defence.

Who knows, those two games on tuesday and wednesday may just end in regular 90.mins.

[MiloMorai]

11 hours ago, Trooper117 said:

Spain was more than capable of beating Russia, but they squandered their chance by the type of game they played against them.

Russia got through on their good penalty taking ability (did you actually watch the game?)

Let's face it, at this stage of the competition, any of the remaining teams have a chance of winning.

As to Croatia, on a good day they can take on anyone... but we shall see 

Part of me would like to see Russia (as the hosts) win the competition outright... but then again, I of course have to support England.

 

 

 

And their defense. Yes I have watched every game. 

[unreasonable]

12 hours ago, rolikiraly said:

Finally, the Russians are knocked out. I won't miss them at all .

Congrats to the Croatians. But they will have to up their game, Modric alone won't be enough.

 

Although I am more an oval ball person, I regret that England will not be invading  playing Russia in the semis. Always good for the hosts to hang in there as long as possible, makes for the best atmosphere. Judging from how much writhing around on the ground and frothing at the mouth has been going on by various players, the stocks of novichok must be all used up by now, so it would have been a clean, fair contest.    

 

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2018 by unreasonable

[Finkeren]

10 hours ago, dkoor said:

Will be interesting match, Croatia vs England... I really doubt that any team will opt to play mostly defence.

Who knows, those two games on tuesday and wednesday may just end in regular 90.mins.

 

Ehh, Belgium is obviously gonna win the whole thing.

[dkoor]

 

1 hour ago, Finkeren said:

 

Ehh, Belgium is obviously gonna win the whole thing.

I hope Croatia will be the one to lift up the trophy, however from what I saw so far I see France as having best chances for that (slight ahead ofc). They have well balanced team and absolute killers up front.

All in all, it would hardly be a surprise if any of the remaining teams emerges victorious, they all showed either resilience, killer instincts, concentration, survival instincts, great teamwork, superior physical ability or combination of those.

Edited July 8, 2018 by dkoor

[DD_Arthur]

13 hours ago, Finkeren said:

 

Ehh, Belgium is obviously gonna win the whole thing.

 

I think so too....I think they'll beat England in the final.  A pity

[MiloMorai]

If the final is France vs England will be the 2cd Battle of Waterloo. Maybe France will have revenge after 200 years.

[Trooper117]

They have been trying to get revenge since Crecy and Agincourt... didn't work out at Waterloo either.

Mind you, as our team won't be equipped with bowmen, and tactically, England will not be forming squares, I guess France might have a chance 

[SYN_Haashashin]

On 7/7/2018 at 1:45 PM, Trooper117 said:

Spain was more than capable of beating Russia, but they squandered their chance by the type of game they played against them.

Disagree Trooper. To me it wasnt the type of game, (Where I am from we have been playing tiki taka long before Spain national mainteam started using it, biased here ) it was the fact that they tried to do it almost walking!!! You need to move the ball with speed, and thats why you need players that are tecnically good (Iniesta, Silva, Isco, Asensio, etc) but if you play walking against a team with the 11 player behind the ball...its impossible, period be it Russia or any other pro team or not. We have big problems to beat Iran....that says a lot.

 

That said and out of my chest hehehe. I am with Croatia or Belgium.

 

All been Spanish myself.

 

Haash

[Trooper117]

Hash, Spain was playing a 'let's keep possession' type of game, and as you say, when done at an almost walking pace for a good deal of time, they squandered that time, instead of using their talent within their team to create a faster paced game, which would create more chances of shots on goal.

They paid the price, because when it comes to penalties to determine the outcome, it can go either way, regardless how much possession or dominance they displayed.

I still think they could have taken Russia if they had used different tactics... 

[rolikiraly]

Wow, the Russian fans are still really frustrated. Somehow i'm not even surprised by their behaviour.

[MiloMorai]

France vs Croatia for the Cup.

[dkoor]

Quite a big celebration over here, people are really pleased by the way our footballers play, they really give everything they have.

[CountZero]

nice win, congrats

 

saw this this morning, england players try to score while croatians were celebrating 2nd goal, only golakeper was on field for croatia

 

 

 

I think they would play on blue side in il-2 game, they  have right mentality for it  ?

[=TBAS=Sshadow14]

i think you got that wrong way around..

Is the red players who do sneaky things and exploits to win.
The blue players would just let them kick the goal while standing on top of the goal saying they cant reach the ball..

 

[edited]

 

15. Posting messages that are not relevant to the topic of discussion (off topic) except as specifically allowed in a section is prohibited.

Edited July 12, 2018 by SYN_Haashashin

[150GCT_Veltro]

12 hours ago, dkoor said:

Quite a big celebration over here, people are really pleased by the way our footballers play, they really give everything they have.

 

Congratulations really, great team and great players.

I really hope we could learn something from Croatian football, Italy first of all.

 

What a team! Bravi!

 

[Swing]

Greetings to all Croatians pilots…...The fight will be beautiful…...Allez les Bleus…!!!

[rolikiraly]

Congratulations Croatia, once again.

The English team, well, it's going home . (Practically, i know there is a match for the 3rd place but it has little value)

Edited July 12, 2018 by rolikiraly

[MiloMorai]

Mean while England (FA) get fined £53,000 for a couple of players wearing the wrong socks, they were Trusox and not made by Adidas who sponsor FIFA

[SYN_Haashashin]

20 hours ago, dkoor said:

Quite a big celebration over here, people are really pleased by the way our footballers play, they really give everything they have.

 

Congrats!!! Loved they gave everything they had. And they went thru 3 ET, impressive. You have my support to win this one, sorry France

 

By the way, I deleted the off topics post.

 

Haash

[rolikiraly]

It was painful to watch France win this WC, they didn't play good football at all throughout the whole tournament, in my opinion. Even Griezmann was totally disappointing.

I would even say they needed a massive amount of luck.

For me, Croatia is still the best team of this WC. 

[sniperton]

Let's rename Sturmovik to Sturmović! ?

[MiloMorai]

French finally got a victory in Moscow.

[dkoor]

Can't argue with luck, you either have it or you don't.

I knew it went horribly wrong the second when ref blow the whistle for penalty... there is no coming back from unlucky minus 2 in final against super strong side.

France is much better than they displayed in final, but I guess Deschamps went clinically for result.

[rolikiraly]

I didn't even mention the ref. It was an obvious dive before the first goal.

BTW i don't know how this guy got the final after what he had done on Mexico-Sweden.

[CountZero]

Congrats to Belgium on their historic 3rd place, they finally played tournament on level of their players skills, they can do more in future. ( if they draw ugenst england in group stages they would probably played final yesterday)

Congrats to France on secound star, but they left a lot to show, they were probably extra cearfule because of loss in final 2 years ago so they played it for win no mather how and not for beauty of the game in most games.

For Croatia also congratulations on historic 2nd place, they played good but theri luck run out in finals and they had to steap hill to climb this time.

All in all great world cup, lot of triling games, nice goals and well organaised by Russia. 

[sniperton]

7 hours ago, dkoor said:

France is much better than they displayed in final.

That's true, still I would have been more happy with a match not decided by sheer luck.

 

@CountZero: I fully agree, with the addition that this time Brazil would have deserved to be among the best four (instead of England).

[coconut]

37 minutes ago, sniperton said:

That's true, still I would have been more happy with a match not decided by sheer luck.

Luck always plays a role, but I think it's unfair to say that it decided it. The end result was 4-2, and one of these two goals for Croatia was a gift by Lloris. A clear win for France. If Croatia wants to win a major tournament, they need a sharper attack and a better defence.

 

Actually, it was Croatia that went through multiple penalty kick sessions in the tournament, and those are decided in large part by luck. In this final, they were the ones that got lucky to be there. France got there without a single extra-time, and their opponents were all potential World Cup winners.

 

The thing that surprised me is that Croatia had a slightly better passing and ball winning game, an area were France was good. Many big teams would have lost their patience, chased the ball, committed fouls and exposed themselves, but not France. They humbly let Croatia drive the game, staying organized and waiting patiently for chances to strike. Same kind of play they have used against other big or superior teams in the Euro and the World Cup.

[TWC_Ace]

57 minutes ago, coconut said:

 

The thing that surprised me is that Croatia had a slightly better passing and ball winning game an area were France was good. Many big teams would have lost their patience, chased the ball, committed fouls and exposed themselves, but not France. They humbly let Croatia drive the game, staying organized and waiting patiently for chances to strike. Same kind of play they have used against other big or superior teams in the Euro and the World Cup.

Why surprised? Rakitic, Modric, Mandzukic, Perisic, Kovacic, Brozovic, Lovren, Rebic, Vrsaljko, Subasic...where the f is a surprise when you have such team? Its a surprise for someone who never actually watch the best leagues in the world (champions league and italian, french, english, spanish and german league).

I dont know what french team was waiting patiently but only thing they got is two major referee errors which changed the fate of the game. First french goal was after they were given a free kick which never existed (Griezmann was faking a faul).. Second goal came from penalty which never existed. Perisic was clearly covered by one french player and thers no way he could see where te ball would go and he was in the air at that moment (he really couldnt control his arms). 3rd and 4th french goals were clean but at that time croatia was down...

And dont forget, almost the entire match croatia was a better team. I know, the winner takes it all....

Edited July 16, 2018 by blackram

[Trooper117]

Pity the French won it... I would love to have seen Croatia get the trophy, it would have been a really historic moment for them.

As it stands, France should never have had the first two goals... the first from a free kick that was so obviously a dive, and the second from a penalty that should never have been given.

Someone should have a word with that ref...

[TWC_Ace]

11 minutes ago, Trooper117 said:

Pity the French won it... I would love to have seen Croatia get the trophy, it would have been a really historic moment for them.

As it stands, France should never have had the first two goals... the first from a free kick that was so obviously a dive, and the second from a penalty that should never have been given.

Someone should have a word with that ref...

Yeah. Its not the first time FIFA decided to throw in a south american referee. Why on earth they dont use european judges (at least when 2 european countries are in finals) which are much better. Any decent referee who has experience from one of the major EU leagues (italian, german, english, spanish) would do much better.