Who's the favorite to win this group ?

Discussion in 'GROUP H: Poland, Colombia, Senegal, Japan' started by Flipmode2000, Dec 1, 2017.

  1. Kamtedrejt

    Kamtedrejt Member+

    Internazionale Milano
    Albania
    Mar 14, 2017
    Hamburg
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Albania
    What makes you saying that Poland will top the group? I have it the other way round. Just asking out of couriosity.
     
  2. Smoga

    Smoga Member

    Jan 28, 2002
    Brooklyn, NYC
    ?
    thanks, thought police
     
    Froboy69 and HomietheClown repped this.
  3. Italy-Azzurri-Fan

    Nov 15, 2014
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    Well Poland do have quality players. I wouldn't be surprised if they do manage to top the group.
     
  4. Froboy69

    Froboy69 Member+

    Inter Milan
    Colombia
    Mar 25, 2011
    San Diego
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Colombia
    They've lost to Mexico. Nigeria, Denmark and barely beat South Korea 3-2 (the only team recently played that is in the world cup they've beaten). The only thing they have to show is drawing 0-0 with Uruguay which isn't a pushover in South America (if both teams were using their starters), all of these friendlies since September to test their strength and they've had no challenge during the qualifiers.

    For recent times, how much have they actually experimented/used a squad similar to their starting XI?

    They're going to face Chile for their next friendly which is a wonderful test despite them not qualifying for the world cup.

    Poland needs to make a statement and yes, I myself know that friendlies can mislead but it depends how much of your best players are actually used and the shape fo the national team.
     
  5. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    To me Poland is this year's Switzerland. They found a way to get a seed but the veteran team in their Group was/is the real favorite. France put the swiss in their place last time around. Colombia is going to have to do that to Poland to make people stop hyping them up.
     
    Pipiolo and Kamtedrejt repped this.
  6. HomokHarcos

    HomokHarcos Member+

    Jul 2, 2014
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I know Colombia is the favorite but the fans seem overconfident, like topping the group is guaranteed.
     
  7. Froboy69

    Froboy69 Member+

    Inter Milan
    Colombia
    Mar 25, 2011
    San Diego
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Colombia
    Well I don't think that they're going to be push overs; if we take them seriously we can win without issue yeah, but at the world cup they'll be driving to defeat us as we're the favorites.
     
  8. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    I don't know of any fans who are saying it is a guarantee.
     
  9. Kamtedrejt

    Kamtedrejt Member+

    Internazionale Milano
    Albania
    Mar 14, 2017
    Hamburg
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Albania
    Well this group is the "most International one" as we have four teams of four confederations. In the World Cup history we had a group with a team each of CONMEBOL, UEFA, CAF and AFC on four occasions. CONMEBOL teams dominated proceedings in those groups pretty much with a record of 11-1-0. Argentina twice, Brazil once and Colombia once were the group winners. These statistics would be more telling of course if we had also teams like Uruguay and Chile in such groups as Argentina and Brazil are powerhouses and expected to dominate in group stages anyway. For 2018 I will back the trend and expect Uruguay in Group A and Colombia in Group H to carry on these statistics and finish top of the table of their groups.

    2010

    1) Argentina 9pts
    2) South Korea 4pts
    3) Greece 3pts
    4) Nigeria 1pt

    1) Brazil 7pts
    2) Portugal 5pts
    3) Ivory Coast 4pts
    4) North Korea 0pts

    2014

    1) Colombia 9pts
    2) Greece 4pts
    3) Ivory Coast 3pts
    4) Japan 1pt

    1) Argentina 9pts
    2) Nigeria 4pts
    3) Bosnia-Herzegowina 3pts
    4) Iran 1pt
     
  10. HomietheClown

    HomietheClown Member+

    Dusselheim FC 1971
    Sep 4, 2010
    Club:
    --other--
    And just looking at it without the historical precedent you have a veteran team that made a run 4 years ago. A good nucleus of that team is back including the previous Golden boot winner. And this time around there is a hungry tiger in Falcao who is ready to show how good he is.

    You look at the Defense & Colombia is always one of the best in Qualifying. There were two very good young CBs who have very good potential. One at BArcelona and the other at Spurs.
    At Midfield you have vets who played in last World Cup who know how to impose a good rhythm and control the tempo with toque-toque-toque (tiki-taka).
    In attack in addition to Falcao you have some players who are playing well for their clubs and can be good complements to his #9 style.

    And most importantly Colombia has the best manager in the Group and one of the best in the tournament.

    So you can obviously see why some of us fans are very, very confident.
    But we who are Colombian have had heartbreak before as favorites. We know that things can get problematic with injuries, bad form or just the plain and simple fact the other teams in this group are not pushovers.

    Things just look pretty good on paper right now
     
    Kamtedrejt repped this.
  11. Kamtedrejt

    Kamtedrejt Member+

    Internazionale Milano
    Albania
    Mar 14, 2017
    Hamburg
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Albania
    #461 Kamtedrejt, Apr 21, 2018
    Last edited: Apr 21, 2018
    I agree things are looking good for Colombia. The core of the team is still the same as four years ago. Basically It's now minus Yepes but plus Falcao. Additionaly there are other young promising players in Sanchez and Mina or a good Cardona. Colombia has an incredible depth on good forwards. It's impressive indeed. Colombia has a very good team play. When I watch them play I see that they are well attuned. You won't see many bad passes or misunderstandings when you watch them as they have some very good passers like James and more importantly they know each other very well. (running paths of the teamnates etc...)

    Despite their very good team play James was, is and will be the key for them. Clearly their most influential player. And he hit a very good form in Bayern thanks to Heynckes. Bayern is the right team for James at the moment. He didn't have adjustment problems in Bayern. I think the fact that Heynckes and many players speak Spanish was certainly not a disadvantage. James was always an excellent player but he arrived with some confidence issues. But now he is performing well and this is very good news for Colombia.
     
    Pipiolo repped this.
  12. Froboy69

    Froboy69 Member+

    Inter Milan
    Colombia
    Mar 25, 2011
    San Diego
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Colombia
    Actually, our entire defense is different: we don't use the same fullbacks/CBs with us having like Arias as the only more recent callup. Same could be said with a bit of our midfielders and a lot of our strikers since we're moving on with new younger talent.

    The advantage that we had with our last team was experience, so youth can play against us.
     
  13. Kamtedrejt

    Kamtedrejt Member+

    Internazionale Milano
    Albania
    Mar 14, 2017
    Hamburg
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Albania
    Yeah you are right. There are a few changes. But the team is playing well together. An indication that they have a very good coach.
     
  14. Froboy69

    Froboy69 Member+

    Inter Milan
    Colombia
    Mar 25, 2011
    San Diego
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Colombia
    It's sad when you consider how promising Japan were before the 2014 world cup with their excellent usage of Tiki-Taka (especially in friendlies against tough teams). I was honestly shocked that they placed last. If anything I thought that they were the favorites who could edge out Ivory Coast and Greece.
     
  15. HomokHarcos

    HomokHarcos Member+

    Jul 2, 2014
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I remember those days for Japan. They were being called possibly the best Asian team ever at a World Cup and a potential darkhorse. Now they look to be at their weakest in their World Cup history (except maybe their World Cup debut in 1998).
     
    Chiyakkutan and Froboy69 repped this.
  16. Noahgghhujjjnbb

    Chelsea
    Jan 14, 2018
    Is not senegal suppose to be best African team don't they have the best players on European leagues their the most valued African team on transfermarket..This senegal remind me of ivory coast in 2014.I hate teams who don't play to their full potential.Poland reminds me of greece in 2014.
     
  17. Noahgghhujjjnbb

    Chelsea
    Jan 14, 2018
    Colombia will get 9 points in this group.Pekernan is a good manager that gets teams to at least the quater finals.Colombia will at least get to quarter finals again they are better than in 2014 . I believe colombia will knock out engand in the round of 16. I think they might even get to see finals should they face Germany.Pekerman team has advanced in at least 1st position in every group he has faced an African team ivory coast 2006 and 2014.
     
  18. Noahgghhujjjnbb

    Chelsea
    Jan 14, 2018
    I meant semi finals Colombia can get there they were unlucky last time.They can be the Uruguay of 2010.
     
  19. HomokHarcos

    HomokHarcos Member+

    Jul 2, 2014
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah what happened to the Senegal hype? They were being called the best African team the previous few years but now I haven't heard much of them.
     
  20. Salas033

    Salas033 Member

    Juventus
    Dec 15, 2017
    United States
    Nat'l Team:
    Morocco
    They probably have the best group of players in Africa but I think that Nigeria and Morocco are better teams. Senegal need a more experienced coach. Aliou Cissé has no experience whatsoever outside of coaching the Senegal under 23 team for two years. I still hope that they will reach the second round.
     
  21. Hayaka

    Hayaka Member+

    Jun 21, 2009
    San Francisco North Bay, Bel Marin Keys
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Denmark
    They had a mediocre couple of friendlys, so many have written them off.

    It is always amazing to me how much friendlys can affect people's opinion of a team, despite the veritable mountain of evidence that friendly results are essentially worthless in predicting World Cup performance.
     
    Kamtedrejt repped this.
  22. Froboy69

    Froboy69 Member+

    Inter Milan
    Colombia
    Mar 25, 2011
    San Diego
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Colombia
    Not just because I don't like to undermine a team but I believe that Senegal can surprise a few people.
     
    TheHitman47 repped this.
  23. HomokHarcos

    HomokHarcos Member+

    Jul 2, 2014
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Me too. I still have them making it out of this group.
     
    TheHitman47 repped this.
  24. Froboy69

    Froboy69 Member+

    Inter Milan
    Colombia
    Mar 25, 2011
    San Diego
    Club:
    FC Internazionale Milano
    Nat'l Team:
    Colombia
    Well Idk about that but hey, anything can happen in the beautiful game~
     
  25. vancity eagle

    vancity eagle Member+

    Apr 6, 2006
    Denmark thrashed them, and Mexico, and Nigeria beat them in front of their home crowd.

    I think Poland is a decent side, but probably the most overrated team this year.
     
    TheHitman47 and Pipiolo repped this.

Share This Page