Vive_La_Villa Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 France or Uruguay it doesn’t matter because Brazil will deal with them in the semi final after they are done with Belgium. It will be a Brazil England final. The nerds have spoken. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A'Villan Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said: France or Uruguay it doesn’t matter because Brazil will deal with them in the semi final after they are done with Belgium. It will be a Brazil England final. The nerds have spoken. I think Brazil are the best team in the tournament and are favourites to win. Then again who saw Germany beating them like they did. Tournament football can throw in some curveballs, Can't see Sweden beating England unless it goes to penalties. Same with Russia. Croatia maybe. Point is Southgate is spot on when he says seize the moment, as they dodged a bullet in avoiding Brazil, France and Belgium en route to the final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 6, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted July 6, 2018 The only team I'd actually be surprised to see make it to the final from England's side of the draw are Russia, and even they have the obvious advantage of being hosts. A case can be made for any of the others. I think from a gambling perspective it's Croatia's place to lose, but England in particular have a few big game players who, on their day, could win the game on their own. Get the ball in the general vicinity of Harold Kane and it seems to end up in the net. He doesn't even have to know about it at the time. Lingard seems to be maturing into a big game player under the radar. Quietly becoming undroppable in a side full of more heralded stars. We're still waiting for Sterling to have a properly impressive world cup game. No time like the present. Sure would be funny watching the Daily Heil spinning it into something negative. Maybe something like "Sterling (quarter-) finally turns up"? Over in the other half of the draw, especially if Cavani is out, I see Uruguay as massively over-matched against everyone else. Although with Belgium, their problem is sitting on the bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 6, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted July 6, 2018 Half hour 'til first team sheets 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 Cavani doesnt start according to BBC France without Matuidi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 6, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted July 6, 2018 Yep, Cavani missing. That's them done. But fingers crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 5 hours ago, A'Villan said: England have above average talent in each position, I know success has been few and far between for England but I look at the quality in the squad and think they can beat anyone with a good showing and a bit of luck. I would say on England's day they're a Neymar, De Bruyne or Mbappe away from being as good as it gets. Midfield is pretty lightweight IMO. I think we're best out wide and upfront. Kane is obviously world-class, but Trippier and Young are pretty key to any success we may have. Henderson/Lingard/Dier/Loftus-Cheek/whoever is a pretty decent-standard midfield, but not as good as anything that Croatia/Brazil/France/Belgium and arguably Uruguay/Russia have. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 4 minutes ago, BOF said: Yep, Cavani missing. That's them done. But fingers crossed. not really. Stuani got over 20 goals in La Liga last season and the back up Gomez was just under 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted July 6, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted July 6, 2018 1 minute ago, Zatman said: not really. Stuani got over 20 goals in La Liga last season and the back up Gomez was just under 20 We'll see. I hope you're right. I suspect you're not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 Just now, BOF said: We'll see. I hope you're right. I suspect you're not. Try be super positive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 Meh, I'd quite like France to go through. As solid as Uruguay are, I'd like to see an attacking lineup of Griezmann, Mbappe and Giroud/Fekir/Dembele be further in the competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 Uruguayans not happy with the ref being Argentine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 At least there's some footie to help ease the wait a little bit. Always the worst bit of the tournament if it's a good one when the amount of games on every day goes from "sorry my love, the game's on" to "Ok then I suppose I have no real reason not to mow/clean/tidy/be interested in shoes my darling" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A'Villan Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 22 minutes ago, bobzy said: Midfield is pretty lightweight IMO. I think we're best out wide and upfront. Kane is obviously world-class, but Trippier and Young are pretty key to any success we may have. Henderson/Lingard/Dier/Loftus-Cheek/whoever is a pretty decent-standard midfield, but not as good as anything that Croatia/Brazil/France/Belgium and arguably Uruguay/Russia have. I haven't actually seen England play or how they set up for some time. I was under the assumption it would be something along the lines of: Dier Henderson Young Alli Sterling Kane Surely more potent than Russia, perhaps not as compact. Agree with rest of your post regarding midfield but not sure that they're so far off the teams mentioned. You look at club form and these players aren't too far apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted July 6, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted July 6, 2018 2 minutes ago, A'Villan said: I haven't actually seen England play or how they set up for some time. I was under the assumption it would be something along the lines of: Dier Henderson Young Alli Sterling Kane Surely more potent than Russia, perhaps not as compact. Agree with rest of your post regarding midfield but not sure that they're so far off the teams mentioned. You look at club form and these players aren't too far apart. More like: Trippier Young Henderson Alli Lingard Sterling Kane 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A'Villan Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 (edited) 3 minutes ago, mjmooney said: More like: Trippier Young Henderson Alli Lingard Sterling Kane Playing 3 at the back? I though Walker and Rose would be the full backs in a 4-2-3-1!? Goes to show how much I've seen of England. Edited July 6, 2018 by A'Villan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 45 minutes ago, Zatman said: not really. Stuani got over 20 goals in La Liga last season and the back up Gomez was just under 20 i think its more the defence, if godin and gimenez play a blinder and keep france out then suarez can snatch a goal at the other end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted July 6, 2018 Share Posted July 6, 2018 Don't really care who wins this one, just happy one of them is going out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted July 6, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted July 6, 2018 “Dark Arts” already - 2 mins in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted July 6, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted July 6, 2018 Loving the ref’s combover - proper throwback to the past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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