Great job Belgium! England had a good run but clearly Belgium was the better team today. Not sure how much England cared about this third place medal though. I can’t believe the World Cup is over. I thought I wouldn’t get into it but even though the USA and Italy weren’t playing , it was still an exciting tournament with many upsets. Most of all though, I’ve become quite fond of Kelly Smith. I think I’m going to miss her the most! Good job Kelly! Back to watching our crappy Quakes!
My favorite team was/is USMNT. Other than a bias for Japan, i was pretty much a third party observer.
My loyalties are equally split, USA/England. Last WC was more fun based on US being in it, watching them practice at Stanford, getting a great pic with Timmy, the viewing parties down at Hermosa Beach and Timmy's ridiculous 15 save heroics vs Belgium, brutal Wondo whiff not withstanding. This year really brought out my love for England, it was a fun run, proud of those guys.
Are any BigSoccer readers going to be at Avaya Sunday AM for the final? Merryl & I will probably attend.
What were you more "proud" of from England, that they had an easier path to the finals than any team ever will again and blew it (ended up losing 3 games), or that until the meaningless third place game in which they were thoroughly outplayed they had fewer shots on target from open play per 90 minutes than *every other team at the World Cup * (pause for just a second and consider some of the awful teams in this tournament like Panama and Saudi Arabia) except Iran, with 6 total through their loss to Croatia... watching Harry Kane score penalty kicks against the likes of Panama and Tunisia, now that's what exciting soccer is all about!
Uh, maybe he appreciates the fact they had their best run in 50 years and looked like they enjoyed playing for each other?
Harry Kane's penalties were outstanding, for sure, but anytime you make it to the final four you have to feel pretty good about that. I liked their performance against Sweden, winning a PK shootout against Colombia was, of course, massive. even the stoppage time winner against Tunisia, pretty exciting. so yeah, if your team ever makes it to the final four, I hope you feel great about that, you should.
That makes sense, since it looks like Modric might need a couple of good lawyers! https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/07/13/luka-modric-croatia-world-cup-final-ballon-dor-perjury-charges
FWIW I thought Croatia looked like the better team today. Oh well, France made the best of their chances. It happens in soccer. But Croatia didn't allow them to get their counter going like they had in previous games. Have to say, though, France's back line is very good, and the GK too except for that one horrible play.
Every time I read about an uncivilized city devolving into violence while celebrating a sports championship, I'm ever more proud to be from Buffalo -- where 25,000 people peacefully packed a civic square to cheer on their placekicker, who a day before missed a title-winning kick. "We Want Scott [Norwood]" they chanted, and when he came to the podium he told the assembled crowd, "I've never felt more loved."
For your refereeing pleasure, a RefSix analysis of all the VAR decisions at WC 2018 https://refsix.com/news/2018/7/18/every-var-on-field-review-at-the-fifa-world-cup-2018