CITIZEN_2015 Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 We will be in the most watched sporting event in the next few weeks, happening once every 4 years. Who do you think will win the World Cup Soccer in 2018? My bet goes to Brazil. And yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kactus Posted June 16, 2018 Report Share Posted June 16, 2018 Inclined to say Germany due to their technical abilities and perseverance in delivering in every game. Also fancy Spain as second favorites for playing exciting games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankyMcFarland Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 For decades, the Big Four were Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Italy. In recent years, France and then Spain made it to the top table and, of course, Italy aren't even there this time. Germany are always hard to beat even without a superstar striker and Brazil are looking pretty good. Of the dark horses, I would tip Belgium and Portugal for a good run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OftenWrong Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 Probably Germany but I don't care, as long as it's a good competition. It would be nice to see a new team come to the foreground. I think Iceland had some chances against Argentina, but they did not finish them. Meanwhile Messi's easy-looking penalty kick was blocked. Goalie Halldorsson was pretty hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankyMcFarland Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 A shock defeat for Germany today. They were unlucky with their shots but gave a poor display for defending champions. Now they have a big struggle to qualify. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 17, 2018 Report Share Posted June 17, 2018 Always good to see Germany lose. The day would have been perfect had Switzerland managed a winner against Brazil. England play tomorrow. God have mercy on us... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hal 9000 Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 I think it'll be a Spanish victory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OftenWrong Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 1 hour ago, bcsapper said: Always good to see Germany lose. The day would have been perfect had Switzerland managed a winner against Brazil. England play tomorrow. God have mercy on us... Always good to see England lose. As usual... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 1 minute ago, OftenWrong said: Always good to see England lose. As usual... Ah, OftenWrong Von something or other, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CITIZEN_2015 Posted June 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 Who can predict today's results? I will do Sweden 2 South Korea 0 Belgium 1 Panama 0 Tunesia 1 England 1 Lets see who can predict closest to the results..................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kactus Posted June 18, 2018 Report Share Posted June 18, 2018 Well have to admit I was quite surprised to see the Germans defeated by Mexico!! Apparently, there were reports of mini earthquake in Mexico after the match! Was pretty impressed by the belgians today playing Panama. Last I heard was that the russian authorities will stop sales of alcohol during this match (quite rightly so) With all due respect to english football supporters but some of their football fans have a terrible record of turning into animals after a few pints of beer... Prediction: England may just pull a win against Tunisia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CITIZEN_2015 Posted June 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 (edited) Underdogs African Senegal and Asian Japan created an upset by beating the European Poland and South American Colombia today. Lets see if Asian Champion Iran can defeat 2010 World Champion Spain tomorrow or if Morocco can beat Portugal. Edited June 20, 2018 by CITIZEN_2015 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OftenWrong Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 Thanks for the updates, because I don't get to watch these games during the day. I watched a highlight of England vs. Tunisia, looked like a pretty close game. Seems England has some new players, hopefully some of them know how to kick a ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kactus Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 To be honest there is nothing special about polish football. They have always been a second/ third class football team in Europe.... Good luck to Iran and team e Meli. As much as I favour underdogs in the world cup, playing top level European/ South American teams is a different level playing fields. This world cup has brought in many surprises so far. For me the introduction of VAR has been very useful in helping referees making the right decision. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CITIZEN_2015 Posted June 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 (edited) 12 hours ago, kactus said: Good luck to Iran and team e Meli. Team e Meli was a better team in the second half against the 2010 world champion, Spain. It lost the game very unfairly. Iran has the strongest defense of all teams which reminds me of Italy in 1970 world cup. It has issues scoring and when they score they disallow the goal. Iran achived all these in spite of all external and internal pressures on them like sanctions and anti-Iran islamic regime opposition to the victory by Team e Meli as they hate celebrations and gatherings which bring out the sense of nationalism and proud. Iran will reach semi final in 2022 and will be among the top 3 teams in 2026. Edited June 20, 2018 by CITIZEN_2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kactus Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 4 minutes ago, CITIZEN_2015 said: Team e Meli was a better team in the second half against the 2010 world champion, Spain. It lost the game very unfairly. Iran has the strongest defense of all teams which reminds me of Italy in 1970 world cup. It has issues scoring and when they score international poliitics may play a role and they disallow the goal. Iran achived all these in spite of all external and internal pressures on them like sanctions and anti-Iran islamic regime opposition to the victory by Team e Meli as they hate celebrations and gatherings which bring out the sense of nationalism and proud. Iran will reach semi final in 2022 and will be among the top 3 teams in 2026. To be fair watching the Iran goal against Spain was an offside. Good lord I may have to retract my comment about VAR as this goal would have been allowed in previous world cups. It was clear from the moment the game started that the strategy for Iranians was to defend and keep the game going for as long as possible. There is a shortfall with this strategy. But in the second half the players believed in their abilities and took a more attacking approach on Soains’s goal post which presented Iran with a number of opportunities for scoring goals. Kudos to the Iranian players....despite the sanction and psychological mind games by media to underplay their efforts they came against all odds and nearly equalised with the world champions Spain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CITIZEN_2015 Posted June 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 18 minutes ago, kactus said: To be fair watching the Iran goal against Spain was an offside. Good lord I may have to retract my comment about VAR as this goal would have been allowed in previous world cups. It was clear from the moment the game started that the strategy for Iranians was to defend and keep the game going for as long as possible. There is a shortfall with this strategy. But in the second half the players believed in their abilities and took a more attacking approach on Soains’s goal post which presented Iran with a number of opportunities for scoring goals. Kudos to the Iranian players....despite the sanction and psychological mind games by media to underplay their efforts they came against all odds and nearly equalised with the world champions Spain. Yes I agree that they were there for a 0-0 draw. However, what comes out of it now is that they now have to play against Portugal the same way they played against Spain in second half as a 0-0 draw against the European champion would eliminate them. They will only go up to the next level only if they defeat Portugal. They have to do it now. So the next game would be a very exciting game and likely we will see Iran at its best as Iran (the Asian Champion) will come out for blood against Portugal (the European Champion). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankyMcFarland Posted June 21, 2018 Report Share Posted June 21, 2018 Iran should have gone for the win from the start. They had some excellent chances when they went one down. Spain’s big stars still look tired. Must say I was rooting for Morocco in the other Iberian match. Ronaldo excepted, Portugal are a dreary, negative team and a poor ad for soccer esp. after winning the European Championship. I hope they don’t make the last four. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kactus Posted June 22, 2018 Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 (edited) On 6/21/2018 at 4:33 AM, SpankyMcFarland said: Iran should have gone for the win from the start. They had some excellent chances when they went one down. I think given that they were playing world champions the Iranian players had to overcome psychological pressure by playing defensively to mitigate risks od conceding goals against Spain from the start. As the game progressed and specially when they went a goal down they realised they had nothing to lose and everything to gain by takibg a stab at it and attack at the spaniard’s goalpost and so they did. One of my spanish friends tells me he was very impressed with the Iran’s game in second half and admitted that there were times he thought Spain was going to lose... It is all about self belief and conviction that they can do it. The game with Spain gave Iranians the opportunity to gain that confidence and prove themselves, which probably matters as much as winning a game... Edited June 22, 2018 by kactus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CITIZEN_2015 Posted June 22, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2018 (edited) The two shocks past 24 hours: Argentina was defeated 3 - 0 by Croatia!!!!! and today Nigeria defeated Iceland 2 -- 0!!!! Edited June 22, 2018 by CITIZEN_2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CITIZEN_2015 Posted June 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 Germany versus Sweden - What a game!!!! Germany almost eliminated!!!! Germany's world cup games are always exciting especially those games that they have to win to survive and this one was no exception. There is a pattern. They concede a goal and they come back from behind after many attacks and failed chances and eventually they win in extra time. In one occasion (Germany versus Italy in 1970) in spite of coming back they lost in extra time. Incredible!!!!. Germany 2 Sweden 1 - Well deserved win for Germany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 23, 2018 Report Share Posted June 23, 2018 That goal by Kroos in the 95th minute was heartbreaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CITIZEN_2015 Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 4 hours ago, bcsapper said: That goal by Kroos in the 95th minute was heartbreaking. Not heartbreaking for Germans. I may be biased but I think Germany deserved to win. They played better. For sure Germany deserves to be among the qualifying 16. It would have been heartbreaking if Germany so strong had been eliminated so soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OftenWrong Posted June 24, 2018 Report Share Posted June 24, 2018 On 6/20/2018 at 11:33 PM, SpankyMcFarland said: Iran should have gone for the win from the start. Really, against Spain??? Don't be ridiculous. They never had a chance, but they played very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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