World Cup 2018: Russia

[VillaChris]

14 hours ago, villa4europe said:

to be fair he kind of has to doesnt he?

I'd prefer him to say....we haven't won a knock out game at major tournament since 2006 so we'll aim to do that getting to quarters playing excellent, exciting football and with youth in our squad build for future tournament.

All of that is much realistic than just blindly wanting to win the World cup when there's about 10 teams in the tournament with better prospects than England.

[HanoiVillan]

8 hours ago, VillaChris said:

I'd prefer him to say....we haven't won a knock out game at major tournament since 2006 so we'll aim to do that getting to quarters playing excellent, exciting football and with youth in our squad build for future tournament.

All of that is much realistic than just blindly wanting to win the World cup when there's about 10 teams in the tournament with better prospects than England.

He'd be endlessly criticised by red-top journalists for saying that. He has to play the media game too. 

[Stevo985]

8 hours ago, VillaChris said:

I'd prefer him to say....we haven't won a knock out game at major tournament since 2006 so we'll aim to do that getting to quarters playing excellent, exciting football and with youth in our squad build for future tournament.

All of that is much realistic than just blindly wanting to win the World cup when there's about 10 teams in the tournament with better prospects than England.

I'd wager the majority, if not all, the captains going to this world cup will have stated "we can win the world cup". It's what everyone does.

[Hornso]

Any better leaders in the starting XI?

[bobzy]

22 hours ago, Zatman said:

Its easy group but media seem to think England are a certainty for quarter final and Colombia/Poland be easy win in 2nd round 

....or Senegal or Japan?  Group H is wide open as ****.

[BOF]

I'd be surprised if Poland and Colombia don't come out of Group H.  Senegal aren't what they used to be and Japan are too soft a touch to cope with the other 2.  For me the group that's wide open is Group E.  Brazil will win it, but Switzerland, Serbia and Costa Rica can all lay legitimate claim to 2nd place.  That'll be one tough bastard of a group.

[Zatman]

Argentina group as well wide open.  3 teams can all cause trouble to  Argentina shitty defence

[BOF]

34 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Argentina group as well wide open.  3 teams can all cause trouble to  Argentina shitty defence

I can't see Iceland or Nigeria getting anywhere near coming out of that group.  For me that one's a lock.  Actually, Croatia would be my dark horse from the non-footballing superpowers.

[Zatman]

5 minutes ago, BOF said:

I can't see Iceland or Nigeria getting anywhere near coming out of that group.  For me that one's a lock.  Actually, Croatia would be my dark horse from the non-footballing superpowers.

Croatia are sadly an old team, Nigeria have pace and power and Iceland organised and dangerous on set-pieces

Argentina will be too reliant on Messi, with Rojoe and Otamendi at back with Romero they are looking biggest team to flop

[villa4europe]

romero is out

[Rodders]

The official slogans for the team coaches:

Argentina: UNIDOS POR UNA ILUSIÓN (Together for a dream)
Australia: BE BRAVE, BE BOLD, SOCCEROOS IN GREEN AND GOLD
Belgium: RED DEVILS ON A MISSION
Brazil: MAIS QUE 5 ESTRELAS 200 MILHÕES DE CORAÇÕES (More than 5 stars, 200 million hearts)
Colombia: AQUÍ VAN 1 SUEÑO, 3 COLORES Y 50 MILLONES DE CORAZONES (Here goes 1 dream, 3 colors and 50 million hearts)
Costa Rica: NO HAY IMPOSIBLE CUANDO JUEGA TODO UN PAÍS (Nothing is impossible when a whole country plays)
Croatia: MALA ZEMLJA. VELIKI SNOVI (Small country, big dreams)
Denmark: SAMMEN SKABER VI HISTORIE (Together we make history)
England: SEND US VICTORIOUS
Egypt: لما نقول الفراعنة الدنيا تقوم تسمعنا (When you say Pharaohs, the world must get up and listen)
France: VOTRE FORCE, NOTRE PASSION. ALLEZ LES BLEUS !!! (Your strength, our passion! Come on Les Bleus!)
Germany: ZUSAMMEN. GESCHICHTE SCHREIBEN (Let's write history together)
Iceland: Látum drauminn verða að veruleika (LET'S MAKE OUR DREAM COME TRUE)
Iran: 80 MILLION PEOPLE , 1 NATION , 1 HEART BEAT
Japan: いざ「闘え」、サムライブルー！(IT’S TIME TO BATTLE, SAMURAI BLUE!)
Korea Republic: 아시아의 호랑이, 세계를 삼켜라 (TIGERS OF ASIA, CONQUER THE WORLD)
Mexico: ¡HECHOS EN MÉXICO!, ¡HECHOS PARA LA VICTORIA! (MADE IN MEXICO, MADE FOR VICTORY)
Morocco: اسود الاطلس فخر المغرب (The Atlas Lions, pride of Morocco)
Nigeria: THE WINGS OF AFRICAN PRIDE
Panama: ¡PANAMÁ! LA FUERZA DE DOS MARES (PANAMA THE FORCE OF TWO SEAS)
Peru: ¡ESTAMOS DE VUELTA! ACÁ VIAJAN MÁS DE 30 MILLONES DE PERUANOS! (We are back! 30 Million Peruvians are travelling here)
Poland: POLSKA DAWAJ! (GO POLAND!)
Portugal: O PASSADO É GLÓRIA, O PRESENTE É HISTÓRIA (THE PAST IS GLORY, THE PRESENT IS HISTORY)
Russia: ИГРАЙ С ОТКРЫТЫМ СЕРДЦЕМ (PLAY WITH AN OPEN HEART)
Saudi Arabia: فرسان الصحراء (DESERT KNIGHTS)
Senegal: IMPOSSIBLE N'EST PAS SÉNÉGALAIS (IMPOSSIBLE IS NOT SENEGALESE)
Serbia: Jedan tim, jedan san - Srbija! (ONE TEAM, ONE DREAM - SERBIA!)
Spain: JUNTOS SOMOS INVENCIBLES (TOGETHER WE ARE INVINCIBLE)
Sweden: TILLSAMMANS FÖR SVERIGE! (TOGETHER FOR SWEDEN!)
Switzerland: FOUR LANGUAGES, ONE NATION
Tunisia: يا روسيا جاوك النسور. يد وحدة ملاعبية و جمهور (Russia here comes the eagles hand in hand players and fans)
Uruguay: BRILLA EL SOL EN RUSIA, EL CIELO ES TODO CELESTE (The sun shines in Russia, the sky is all light blue)

 

 

Switzerland: advertising their multinational unity through the medium of a language that is native to neither of them. 

[Dr_Pangloss]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

Croatia are sadly an old team, Nigeria have pace and power and Iceland organised and dangerous on set-pieces

Argentina will be too reliant on Messi, with Rojoe and Otamendi at back with Romero they are looking biggest team to flop

Messi will probably bail them out of the group stages and then disappear again

[BOF]

2 hours ago, Rodders said:

The official slogans for the team coaches:

Poland didn't really put their all into it.

[villa4europe]

beats "london for £1"

[TheAuthority]

44 minutes ago, BOF said:

Poland didn't really put their all into it.

The Tunisians might want to rethink theirs too given Russia's history on LGBT issues.

[a m ole]

there’s a lot of counting in there. 1 BUS! 23 PLAYERS! 20 BACKROOM STAFF AND ASSITANTS! 1 NATION! 17 MILLION HEARTS! 46 BOOTS! 100 TRAINING CONES! 

[Genie]

9 hours ago, Hornso said:

Any better leaders in the starting XI?

Cahill, Henderson? Both seem to be able to speak which is a good start and gives then the edge over Kane.

For me it’s the first real mistake by Southgate, yes Kane is our best player but certainly not our best leader.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Genie

[Tomaszk]

4 minutes ago, Genie said:

Cahill, Henderson? Both seem to be able to speak which is a good start.

Barring injury Cahill won't start, and Hendo is in competition with Dier for that holding mid role. He'll probably win that battle mind.

The only absolute certainties to start are Kane, Sterling and Walker.

I like Kane. I like Southgate. I like the 3-5-2 we're trying.

[HanoiVillan]

3 hours ago, BOF said:

Poland didn't really put their all into it.

Poland have literally the only one that didn't make me cringe. 

[VillaChris]

12 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

He'd be endlessly criticised by red-top journalists for saying that. He has to play the media game too. 

Depends what sort of interview he gave. If it was a quick press conference soundbite one then yes I can understand that comment coming out.

If it was a 1 hour sit down interview with say a Henry Winter then to me the quarter final comment would be more logical. It's no good to me saying England can win the World cup without saying how they'll do it e.g. context. Does he believe the style of play will nulify the likes of France, Germany and Brazil?

I honestly believe people wouldn't give Kane stick if he just said quarters as most now know the England team is pretty mediocre as the last 10 years have shown with the performances at major finals.