Qatar 2022 World Cup Finals

[Debian]

DANCER

[fringo]

Actually enjoying last 20-30 mins of SSN 😄

 

[mcguffin]

22 minutes ago, Hertsscot said:

England could have won, some diabolical defending from the French letting England back into the game.

Speaking of poor defending, the attempt to cut out Griezmann's cross was pretty half-hearted I thought? But what a cross it was, picking out Giroud amongst a crowd of white shirts. One of France's few good moments in the second half:

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by mcguffin

[aaid]

4 minutes ago, Clyde1998 said:

Part of their high rank is down to their qualifying record and favourable paths in recent tournaments (see the earlier discussion for their record against good teams in tournaments).

• 2018: 2nd in a group containing Belgium, Tunisia and Panama; R16: penalty win over Colombia; QF: 2-0 win over Sweden; SF: lost 2-1 to Croatia in extra time.
• 2021: 1st in a group containing Croatia, Czech Republic and us; R16: 2-0 home win over a poor Germany side; QF: 4-0 win over a poor Ukraine; SF: 2-1 extra time win at home to Denmark; Final: lose on penalties at home to Italy.
• 2022: 1st in a group containing the USA, Iran and Wales; R16: 3-0 over Senegal; QF: lost 2-1 to France.

It's not been the most difficult path up to their recent exits. With our current squad, assuming everyone is fully fit and available, you'd be disappointed if we didn't at least compete against most of the sides England have beaten in their last three tournaments.

TBF, someone said to me during the week that in the World Cup, a par performance for England would be the QFs.  I’d generally put them a one of the top 8-10 teams in the world, but certainly not in the top 4.  Obviously, once you get to the QFs in knockout football, things can for you or they can go against you, but generally they go for the better teams.   In 2018, they had a bit of good fortune as the draw opened up for them.   This time, they didn’t have the same luck but in both cases they fell short when they came up with a really decent side.

[ceudmilefailte]

25 minutes ago, Hertsscot said:

England could have won, some diabolical defending from the French letting England back into the game.

French defence is a massive worry for anyone with bet on them winning it. 

[Toepoke]

34 minutes ago, mcguffin said:

Wouldn't mind seeing a Croatia vs Morocco final to be honest.

Argentina v Morocco would be the first final not to feature a European team since the first one in 1930.

 

[fringo]

SSN coming out with 100s of excuses now.

Its' NOT fair !!!! 😆

[bonzo]

2 minutes ago, fringo said:

SSN coming out with 100s of excuses now.

Its' NOT fair !!!! 😆

But,but,but....we were the best😭😄

[KirkieRobRoy]

Ref's fault apparently.

Bit Trumpesque from Johnny England.

[fringo]

Highlights on bbc1 one now . 😀

[Hertsscot]

45 minutes ago, ParisInAKilt said:

Not having that this is somehow a golden generation of players either. Very few of them are genuinely world class, if any.

I'm not sure, most of the players will be around for the next Euros, Foden, Saka and Bellingham will be round for a while. England have been fairly fortunate with injuries but Reece James is a decent player and is young. Not sure that Morocco have any world class players but they're through to the semi finals, so maybe there's some hope for us!

[stocky]

28 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

Argentina v Morocco would be the first final not to feature a European team since the first one in 1930.

 

Did Uruguay not play Brazil in 1950.🤔

[ceudmilefailte]

9 minutes ago, KirkieRobRoy said:

Ref's fault apparently.

Bit Trumpesque from Johnny England.

Wasn't a penalty in the first half but very easy to were they get that from. 

Not sure if it's part of a negative nature to want something to happen and feel lucky every single time a decision goes in your favour to make it happen. 

[ceudmilefailte]

3 minutes ago, stocky said:

Did Uruguay not play Brazil in 1950.🤔

Sort of, but was a four team group that happened to end with a winner takes all tie

[ParisInAKilt]

8 minutes ago, Hertsscot said:

I'm not sure, most of the players will be around for the next Euros, Foden, Saka and Bellingham will be round for a while. England have been fairly fortunate with injuries but Reece James is a decent player and is young. Not sure that Morocco have any world class players but they're through to the semi finals, so maybe there's some hope for us!

All talented players and should get better but was thinking of the here and now. 

[mcguffin]

2 minutes ago, Hertsscot said:

I'm not sure, most of the players will be around for the next Euros, Foden, Saka and Bellingham will be round for a while. England have been fairly fortunate with injuries but Reece James is a decent player and is young. Not sure that Morocco have any world class players but they're through to the semi finals, so maybe there's some hope for us!

I honestly think Morocco, on their current form, would easily beat us. I'd wager they would beat England too. As would Croatia. I think this World Cup is showing that being a 'world class player' isn't all it's cracked up to be?

[ParisInAKilt]

6 minutes ago, mcguffin said:

I honestly think Morocco, on their current form, would easily beat us. I'd wager they would beat England too. As would Croatia. I think this World Cup is showing that being a 'world class player' isn't all it's cracked up to be?

Depends how you define it, it’s a term probably overused these days 

[Toepoke]

33 minutes ago, fringo said:

Highlights on bbc1 one now . 😀

Nice of them to use Biffy Clyro as the preview music 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

 

[mcguffin]

8 minutes ago, ParisInAKilt said:

Depends how you define it, it’s a term probably overused these days 

Yes you are right. I was meaning that teams like Croatia and Morocco, who have very good, but not so famous players (with the exception of maybe an aging Modric?) can beat a team stuffed full with megastars (e.g. Brazil and Portugal)

[daviebee]

They beat an Iran side distracted by political protests and who lost their goalie 10 minutes in.

They couldn't get the ball off the USA, Jude "best player the world has ever seen" Bellingham included.

They beat a honking Wales side already on the way down.

They beat a Senegal side missing their best player and talisman.

They got beat by a French side missing 5 first team regulars despite getting 2 penalties.

They have one tactic - run along the edge of the box and hope for the chance to fall over and fkin hell that French defence didn't half oblige them.  They still bottled it though. 😁

[The Black Bra]

Am I right in saying England have never beaten a ‘top’ nation in a knockout game, apart from when they’ve been the home team?

The ITV pundits were on typical form after the game, talking about how England had missed their chance as it was Morocco in the semi, as if taking it for granted that England would’ve beaten them. Doesn’t matter that Morocco knocked out Spain and Portugal. They never change, or learn.

[Ally Bongo]

1 hour ago, mcguffin said:

I honestly think Morocco, on their current form, would easily beat us. I'd wager they would beat England too. As would Croatia. I think this World Cup is showing that being a 'world class player' isn't all it's cracked up to be?

With the exception of Wales and Qatar every team in the tournament is streets ahead of us and it is all down to youth coaching

Remember when all the World's top coaches came to Largs to "learn how it's done" ?

Clearly what they learned was how not to do it

And lack of facilities doesnt seem to have hindered Croatia

We are being led down a road to nowhere by the SFA

[daviebee]

Morocco - it'd be some story if they won it.

Croatia - great as a fitting end to Modric's international career but they're punchless up front.

Argentina - it'd be amazing to see Messi finally get a WC winners' medal and also be brilliant for that huge travelling support, must be about 60,000 of them there.

It'll most likely be France though and that should give some comedy gold from the commentators as we hear about the numerous penalties England were cheated out of.

[Philip N Williams]

where were the inventors of football?

[Och Aye]

18 minutes ago, The Black Bra said:

Am I right in saying England have never beaten a ‘top’ nation in a knockout game, apart from when they’ve been the home team?

The ITV pundits were on typical form after the game, talking about how England had missed their chance as it was Morocco in the semi, as if taking it for granted that England would’ve beaten them. Doesn’t matter that Morocco knocked out Spain and Portugal. They never change, or learn.

Correct and only beaten one higher ranked team at a World Cup since 1966. They beat Argentina in a group match in 2002.