Pp The guys in front of him didn't really do him any favors either. Rojo in particular looked like an amateur out there at CB. Disastrous lineup. Hopefully Sampaoli figured out who doesn't deserve to go. Argentina actually looked pretty good in attack in the first half before the wheels fell off with all the gifts for Spain.
Given the events of the Russia v France friendly yesterday, I'm kind of glad in a way we won't be in Russia this summer.
You talking about what happened to Dembélé? Sadly, that's par for the course in much of Europe - just ask Jozy.
I'm talking about the racist chanting after Pogba scored. It's an embarrassment to sport that that kind of crap is happening in 2018, and I guarantee it'll happen in June. It's a joke.
I was interested to watch Peru. Their coach is crazy like a fox and they qualied out of the worlds hardest region - Concacaf fields and refs but Euro quality players. Anyway, they started out in a 3-3-3-1 of sorts. Officially they play a 4-2-1-3. I like it. They are going to find some teams out with mismatches on the pitch. However, their goal keeper probably couldn't make a high school varsity team in the states, at least based on this match.
I think Gareca has the team believing they can pull it off. They are currently playing with an aging winger as CF until their true CF completes his ban which should be right before the WC. Peru was second to last place at the mid-way point and then they pretty much ran the table with only one loss on the back 10 games, don't quote me but I think it was that ridiculous of a comeback.
This was kind of an audition to find their #3 keeper, since their #2 Butron is much too old now. So their #1 Gallese (#3 keeper in one of the worst clubs in Liga MX) and their #2 (former #3, Penny, local league) were not called for these friendlies. Frankly, none of their keepers looks decent.
He's got the team playing some fearless passing and attacking. If he can get some GK their going to be a heck of a lot of fun. World cups are all about the qualies now. Strange players and teams getting hot and making runs, then in the break-out rounds everyone gets conservative and bores the hell out of everyone.
The most serious trouble during these friendlies happened early, last week, when the English played the Dutch in Amsterdam, and the famous "hooligans" went around throwing bikes into the dykes and breaking tables outside bistros. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/wor...ans-ahead-of-amsterdam-friendly-a3798166.html Hopefully they don't try anything funny in Russia, the Russian hooligans have a reputation and they're going to outnumber the English.
That's true if you count the New Zealand games. They lost 2 of their last 9 CONMEBOL qualifiers, at Chile and hosting Brazil.
Yeah I'm actually going to England vs Tunisia in Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad of all places.... not nervous, but just sort of "watching this space" if you get what I mean... maybe I'll wear my US jersey with Ukraine scarf just to look neutral...