2018 Football World Cup News and Prediction Tournament

[Big Boy]

DM - this is probably as good as it will get. The last round was the best I've seen him play in this tournament. Outside of scoring goals, it was the first time I'd noticed him playing football. Far from outstanding, but it was nice to see him getting a little bit involved.

[PeteC]

I'm placing a copy of this man's post here in the event it's not seen in "After Dark". Have any of you been watching the late matches outside your homes and if so, where? Pete

I will arrive to Thailand and Hua Hin on Wednesday, and really want to watch the semifinal in the WC. Is there any bar showing the games from the WC, even though the match start is at 1 am?

[barrys]

DM - this is probably as good as it will get. The last round was the best I've seen him play in this tournament. Outside of scoring goals, it was the first time I'd noticed him playing football. Far from outstanding, but it was nice to see him getting a little bit involved.

He can't be all bad BB - at least his dad's from Connemara

[Big Boy]

Actually, I did stick up for him the other day. Somebody (not English, of course) sent me the picture below. I defended him, saying if the picture were true, he wouldn't have missed one.

36578782_10216793791776351_1969714943028625408_n.jpg (49.9 KiB) Viewed 176 times

[JWWhite]

Not sure where the mods will want this posted?

FIFA invites the 12 young soccer players and their coach, presently trapped in a cave, to attend the World Cup 2018 final as their guests

[PeteC]

That gives them a week to get out. Probably best not to tell the boys as they well may run, swim and dig themselves to get out and onto the plane! Very nice gesture by FIFA and I hope it comes true! Pete

[fabman]

I see only 1 person on here has precdited France will win it. That's really surprising.

I think it will be a France v Croatia final, with France the winners.

I hope I am wrong and it's England who are victorious :-)

It's been a long wait

[Dannie Boy]

I see only 1 person on here has precdited France will win it. That's really surprising.

I think it will be a France v Croatia final, with France the winners.

I hope I am wrong and it's England who are victorious :-)

It's been a long wait

It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that England could meet Belgium in the final - it would be great to see how the two “A” teams would fare against each other, still two very difficult games to navigate before that becomes a possibility - Keep dreaming!!



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[Big Boy]

France, Russia and England left in our poll. The big guns are falling fast.

[PeteC]

I got lazy yesterday and didn't follow up to see if Cavalli was playing or not. I didn't think his injury was that severe not to play. If, If, If...I had known I would have changed my pick. Pete

[Big Boy]

One thing that has surprised me during this tournament is the number of England fans being well outnumbered at every stadium. For years, the travelling England contingent has been huge - I just wonder what has happened this time.

It's good to see the Latin American teams gone, along with their cheating and play acting. Hopefully an important lesson to the new generation that their crap doesn't work. I still maintain Colombia were more than capable of sending England home if they'd simply played football.

Why did they feel it necessary to wrestle Captain Harry to the ground at every corner? The Colombians were more than capable of dealing with his threat legally - it bemuses me.

[PeteC]

When I was coaching AYSO 10-14 boys in the 1980's we played some Mexican neighborhood teams in the SF Bay Area. Believe me, the theatrics and questionable tactics was alive and well even then, and with that age player! Pete

[oakdale160]

BB --The Ref in the England/Columbia game took some critisism, I thought that he was faced with a team of childish actors and felt sorry for him. I do think that refs should not argue with protesters and wave them away, card them if they persist. The Brazil/ Belgium game was relatively free from dramatics.

[Big Boy]

I didn't watch the Brazil/Belgium game, but I saw Neymar in his previous game. Such action prompted the likes of KFC to cash in:



There are quite a few photoshopped pictures suggesting ways of keeping him on his feet going around. So much footballing talent, but wasted with poor play acting. How many of today's youth worship him?

It is not football. However, the Latin Americans seem to think it is an injustice when some of their crap gets punished. The Colombian made 3 determined attempts to wrestle Captain Harry to the ground, and then protested that they'd been penalised for cheating. Former mega star Maradona also went overboard in trying to defend the cheating. Some may have noticed that I'm not Captain Harry's biggest fan, but credit where it's due - he did try to stay on his feet. The final blow by the Colombian was vicious.

[caller]

I didn't watch the Brazil/Belgium game

Game of the tournament so far!

Neymar was relatively constrained when fouled. A couple of times, it looked like he was going to do the usual charade, but then thought better of it. He also did a blatant dive for a penalty, that was exposed by the cameras and VAR and the referee had words, but he should have been cautioned. Half the time he went down, the referee just waved him to get up.

Based on what we saw from the French and Belgiums yesterday, I would make the Belgiums favourite in the semi-final. But each game is different.