World Cup 2018

Very solid 1-1 draw by Australia against World #12 Denmark. Were down 0-1 after 7 minutes but equalised through their 2nd penalty of the WC (all Aus's goals have been from penalties, all by the same player) at the 38th minute.

There are some very encouraging signs for Australia, and the miracle of advancing could come true! A heartbreaking 1-2 loss to title contenders France was a great effort, and this 1-1 draw to Denmark is another step forward. It was also the first time in 530 minutes a team scored against Denmark. Now they just need to continue improving each game and net a win against Peru. If they achieve this, Denmark will be ahead on goal difference narrowly, but will have to face France. If their GD is level, Australia should have the edge on goals scored since currently both sides have scored twice.
Eg:
France 2-0 Peru
Australia 2-1 Peru
France 1-0 Denmark

9 France (7:1)
4 Australia (4:4)
4 Denmark (2:2)
1 Peru (1:5)

Yeah, so many own-goals. Poor Morocco scored an own-goal at 90+5 against Iran to lose 0-1...

Yeah well done to Aus for the draw. Its a pretty close group really. Even France haven't been as dominant as i would have expected, although they have done enough to be on top.

Argentina - Croatia on now.. should be an inteesting match

Haha, Argentina lost 0-3 to Croatia! Croatia are now guaranteed a place in R16. Argentina essentially must beat Nigeria and hope that Iceland lose to Croatia. Iceland should be able to see off Nigeria for a win. Argentina are not finishing top of that group.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jun 21st 2018 »

Lol, Matt you're dreaming, Australia are playing well but they are there just to make the numbers up. If Australia get through to the next round they will have achieved more than what anybody realistically thought they would. I think everyone has penciled France winning group C with Denmark being the second team to go through from it.

Looking at the standings, correct me if I'm wrong but if France beat Denmark by more than two goals, and Australia beat Peru doesn't that mean the Aussies go through? The problem with Australia is they insist on not playing Tim Cahill they do not have a prolific goal scorer which would be a major problem against the big boys of world soccer if they advanced to the next stage. Love to see Australia get to the last eight, that would be some achievement.

Exactly. I thought before the WC they had no chance and were the laughing stock of the WC, but look now & they've had 2 very encouraging results & have an outside chance of progressing. And remember what I said; Australia will very likely own all tiebreakers over Denmark.

In their last match a player got taken off injured for Australia in the 75th minute, and the coach refused to play Cahill. Unfortunately he has next to no chance of playing. Millwall in the Championship would occasionally play him as a late sub, but the rest of the time he'd sit on the bench. Mile Jedinak has scored all of Australia's goals, all through penalties, and he's the captain. Outside of him they have no-one, except possibly Aaron Mooy who plays for Huddersfield in the EPL. It's tough to do well when only 3 of your players are playing regular soccer.

One saving grace is we have a pretty good goalkeeper Mat Ryan who starts every week for Brighton. Some of his stats are pretty good. Brighton faced the most shots in the EPL & 3rd most on-target shots, yet had the 9th-best defense and easily survived relegation.

That said, if somehow Australia advance they are screwed in the R16

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jun 22nd 2018 »

With some of the patchy performances so far io think anyone who gets through the the last 16 will have a chance of progressing.

Lucky finish for Brazil today. They deserved the win but Costa Rica were good too and held them to 0-0 for so long. If that game had finished at 90 minutes then it would have thrown a spanner in the works.

Oh god...it's 5-0 England over Panama...AT HALF TIME!

Matt, it's PANAMA!!!! They are probably the weakest team in the competition, if England were up 5-0 against Belgium I'd be impressed. I'm not even sure the Panamanians know the rules of the game the way they were climbing all over the England players inside the box giving away penalties and the way they were celebrating as if they'd won the game when they were 6-1 down. To be fair Panama did look good in the warm up and I had to laugh when the commentator told us one of the players was a nutritionist for McDonalds. All the England players play top flight football in the Premiership so you would expect them to win easily.

Lets see what happens on Thursday when England go against Belgium and Romelu, Lukaku, Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Dries Mertens, Marouane Feliani, and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco. Belgium in my opinion could win the tournament, they have some great players who are in form unlike those playing for Germany, Argentina, and Brasil.

So what happens if we draw against belgium? Looks like we would then both have equal records. Who wins the group?

It's decided by the 'Fair Play' rule, the team that has the least disciplinary action against them in the competition goes through as the winner of the group. If that is also equal I have no idea, I assume it would have to be a coin toss by the FIFA president to separate them. It won't come down to this anyway as Belgium will beat Engalnd 2-1 and stop this nonsense of England winning the World Cup because they beat Panama 6-1. Let's be honest, Panama isn't good enough to compete in the English Vauxhall Conference.

In fact looking at the Belgium team they are a lot better than I initially thought, they have quality all across the field and the experience to go with it. I really wouldn't be surprised if they are in the final four along with France and Spain. Everyone raves about Germany, Brazil, and Argentina but from what I've seen so far they are nowhere near as talented as some of the teams those nations have put forward in the past so England may sneak it to the semi's if they don't encounter one of the three teams I have penciled in the final four along the way.

The same thing could happen to Australia and Denmark if Australia win by a goal and Denmark lose by a goal. And they're currently equal on yellow/red cards! If this happens and all is equal, a draw from the hat actually decides who advances!

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jun 25th 2018 »

I'd be a bit upset today if I was a Moroccan, that last goal Spain scored against them looked clearly offside to me. I thought the offside rule was that there had to be TWO players, in the replay it clearly showed only one yet even after god knows how many people checking it the goal was given. You get the feeling the organisers prefered Spain the more glamourous of the two teams to remain in the competition. I was surprised to see Portugal only drawing with Iran.

This is turning into a strange World Cup, the teams you expect to dominate are struggling and at this point it looks like any team that can get in form and put together four winning games will win the tournament.

England and Belgium have been told if they don't try and win their game they will have points deducted. Apparently the runner up of that group gets to play Japan or Senegal, a couple of teams on the same kind of level as Panama and then in the next stage probably Mexico before facing Spain in the semi-final. If however they win the group they have to face Brazil and then France before Spain in the semi-final. If I were the England players I know what route I would prefer. England would struggle against Brazil and France would beat them.

At the moment you'd have to say France are looking the likely winners of the competition, I still think Belgium is the dark horse that will make the final four though.

Yesterdays group b games definitely seemed to be a bit of a shambles. Shame, but it didn't seem to change the group outcome fortunately.

In the next round England will face either japan or senegal or colombia. (group H teams) If we win that then we play the top team from the group E/F deciders. I think anyway.

Big day for Aus then Matt. I wish them luck.

Thanks. It's unlikely we make it, but still possible. France should beat Denmark, so it's up to whether Australia beat an already-eliminated Peru.

Belgium and England shouldn't play silly games & try finish 2nd. You always want to finish 1st. Colombia could still finish top of their group, so they both need to play to win.

England face either japan or senegal or colombia in the next round IF they are runner up of their group. If they beat Belgium on Thursday they'll probably be facing Brazil next. That's why FIFA will be monitoring the England Vs Belgium game very carefully on Thursday to make sure both teams are trying to win.

I agree with you Matt, England need to keep the momentum going and believe they are the best team in the tournament and can beat anyone put in front of them. If England were to miraculously win the World Cup and there was a feeling they didn't perform against Belgium so they could get an easier route to the final it would take the shine off of their accomplishment.

Anyway, Brazil aren't all that in this tournament, they are probably the worst Brazil team I've ever seen at a World Cup. Who have they got? Neymar's not bad but he's no Pele, Ronaldo, Garrincha, Romario, Zico, or Rivaldo.

According to the BBC. G winners will play H runner up and G runner up will play H winner.
Then in the next round the G/H winner will face the E/F winner. That could be Brazil, but as you said they are not on top form either.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport...ut-stage

I personally would like England to beat Belgium and then face Brazil, if they then beat Brazil who are not playing well their confidence would be sky high for the Spain game. Basically I'd like to see England get to the final full of confidence rather than manipulated their way there by opting to take on inferior oppositon. Whoever wins the World Cup is going to have to go through France.

Yeah, in the 89th minute Brazil were 0-0 against Costa Rica, before scoring twice within 10 minutes.

I have a bad feeling Germany are winning this world cup. They were on the cusp of being in an awful position (and prior to that were facing elimination) but got super lucky at 90+5. Now they're destined to finish top of their group.

Yeah I know what you mean about Germany Matt, they did the exact same thing in the last World Cup. They started good with a 4-0 win against Portugal and then went through a bad patch were they drew with Ghana 2-2 and just beat the USA 1-0 to narrowly get through the group stages. Then they scrapped past Algera 2-1 and France 1-0. Then in their next game which was the semi-final they exploded and demolished Brazil 7-1 before in typical German fashion they methodically dismantled Argentina in a boring final which they won 1-0.

I'm going to stick Germany in my final four, they are always there or thereabouts when it gets to crunchtime. I haven't seen them lose a penalty shootout yet. I'd like to put England there but I have a feeling the next World Cup when the team has matured a bit and has experience will be theirs for the taking. England are definately the best young team in this tournament and they are going to get better. Harry Kane will leave this World Cup as an elite player if he wasn't one already.

My final four for 2018 then are France, Belgium, Spain and Germany.