WORLD CUP: Russia 2018 Commentary Thread

[athanaric]

If no one is following me... consider New Zeland in rugby and cricket.

NZ has ten times the population of Iceland. And a similar age structure IIRC. Also, those two sports are not as hugely popular worldwide as football is.

Russia is suspected of doping

To be fair though, doping controls in football have been laughable in the past. For all we know, they're all doping.

[Ludicus]

Germany playing Turkish style today.

A Turkish style?
Germany is a great team.Gary Lineker was right, again : "Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win".

Brazil is not a serious team though.

Let's wait and see. Well, with their childish names Brazil won the World Cup 5 times the most for any nation.

I feel sorry for Island. Sometimes it feels like I have Viking blood or something.

The Vikings are nice guys, good athletes and very bad footballers.
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Belgium is one of the best teams, Morocco and Mexico are good teams. In my opinion, Spain seems to be the best team...but Germany will win the W. Cup again.
Well, who knows.Sometimes football defies logic and miracles can happen.

[athanaric]

A Turkish style?

Scoring last-minute goals during overtime. Used to be a trademark of the Turkish national team during the last few championships.

Let's wait and see. Well, with their childish names Brazil won the World Cup 5 times the most for any nation.

Oh, if they get their act together, they could very well start winning again. Might take a while though; probably not this time around.
The names just sound very silly to foreigners; for example, it's very hard for German-speakers to take someone called "Kaka" seriously (because it's a kids' word for human faeces, derived from Latin, incidentally).

[Pinarius]

Belgium was leuk, but their two opponents so far were pretty weak.

[PikeStance]

NZ has ten times the population of Iceland. And a similar age structure IIRC. Also, those two sports are not as hugely popular worldwide as football is.

Again with the population thing.

Germany is a great team.Gary Lineker was right, again : "Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win".

I would not call the German team great; Sweden looked hopeless. hey never close down on the Germans... odds are in your favor if you keep serving up the ball you are bound to score eventually. I knew Germany was scoring before they took the kick.

Belgium is one of the best teams, Morocco and Mexico are good teams. In my opinion, Spain seems to be the best team...but Germany will win the W. Cup again.
Well, who knows.Sometimes football defies logic and miracles can happen.

Morocco couldn't score, Mexico can. Moreover, they made the Germans look ordinary.

[Knight of Heaven]

The names just sound very silly to foreigners; for example, it's very hard for German-speakers to take someone called "Kaka" seriously (because it's a kids' word for human faeces, derived from Latin, incidentally).

Not pronounced the same way though ( not written the same way as well at least in Portuguese. And his real name is Ricardo.

Anyway i dont see much if any nicknames in this national team though. however in brazil they have the odd habit of borrowing foreign names.. Like William and Anderson and what not.

[Basil II the B.S]

Russia is suspected of doping

You were saying?

[athanaric]

Wait, KSA beat Egypt?

Again with the population thing.

Again with the reading comprehension.

[PikeStance]

Again with the population thing. .

Again with the reading comprehension.

Hardly

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Hardly surprising though - Iceland vs Nigeria is the most demographically imbalanced matchup of the series. Even taking into account poor organization etc., it would have been a disgrace for Nigeria to lose that one, given the difference in the respective sizes of talent pools.

Again with the population thing. .

NZ has ten times the population of Iceland. And a similar age structure IIRC. Also, those two sports are not as hugely popular worldwide as football is.

This is wasting time, ...

[Knight of Heaven]

Aaaahhh ... thank you Quaresma for your Magic.

[Basil II the B.S]

Wait, KSA beat Egypt?

Egypt threw it.

They could have ended the first half 3-0 with 2 Salah and Trezeguet, they wasted, then they even stopped a penalty and finally threw the game for no particular reason. I expected a lot more from Egypt tbh, but so be it.

edit:

There are plenty of ways of going out, Iran made both Portugal and Spain their pants to the very last minute of the last games. That's an acceptable way.

[Knight of Heaven]

Ludicrous referee on Iran - Portugal.

Appalling player attitudes in the second half. And Appalling second half as well.

[Basil II the B.S]

To be fair, the only teams that haven't struggled so far are Belgium and France. Germany almost committed suicide, England won the first game at the last minute, Brazil is still struggling, Argentina might be out tomorrow, so it's not just Spain and Portugal being unconvincing.

Looking forward Portugal-Uruguay anyway, it should be a fun game.

[Muizer]

Ludicrous referee on Iran - Portugal.

I think in the VAR room they were taking bets on who could get the ref to take the most ridiculous decision!

[lolIsuck]

The referee in the Spain-Morocco match was pretty terrible as well.

Scoring last-minute goals during overtime. Used to be a trademark of the Turkish national team during the last few championships.

That's what people here consider typically German actually.

[Basil II the B.S]

It may be just be me, but Argentina is by far the weakest of those who qualify as second. Individually, great players, the team is complete garbage. France is going to trounce them.

[PikeStance]

I would agree Argentina has not looked at all like a cohesive unit. I wouldn't say France have played great either. There were times when they didn't look like they were of the same mind on the field, though better than Argentina. I suspect France will win, but it will be a struggle.

Other matches thus far...Spain/ Russia. Uruguay exposed them a little. However, Spain is unconvincing. If Spain gets an early goal, I would think they will cruise to a victory. If however, Russia frustrates them and score on a counter, then anything can happen.

I suspect that Croatia would nervously beat Denmark who has a knack for hanging around.

Uruguay has not looked great, but Solid. Ronaldo is proving to be a "trump card," so who knows.

I would say most referees are doing well. The Iran/ Portugal match got out of hand. Some of it has to do with the players themselves.

[Knight of Heaven]

Uruguay has not looked great, but Solid. Ronaldo is proving to be a "trump card," so who knows.

I think Portugal will probably play better against Uruguay then it did with Iran.
More Space to work with, and Portugal seems to play better in transition then in build up plays.
Then again Cavani and Suarez together can trash that very slow defense atm.

I like the Central backs of Uruguay as well. World class.

I would say most referees are doing well. The Iran/ Portugal match got out of hand. Some of it has to do with the players themselves.

Im not sure, there is a lot of teams with reasons to complaint about referees so far.

[Basil II the B.S]

I'd personally like to welcome Germany to the club of defending world champions who get kicked out at the first turn.

Members so far: France, Italy, Spain. You are in good company.

[Big War Bird]

Germany comes up just short in Russia. Where have I heard that before?