13. Denmark Ladies and gentlemen, I think we finally found 2 teams worse than England and penalties: Croatia and Denmark! Some of those penalties were so bad, you'd have thought Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were taking them. It would have been a fairy-tale written by Hans Cristian Anderson had Denmark progressed, but in the end Croatia had too many "ićs" for Denmark to scratch. A missed penalty by Luca Modrić, he may want to go into the next game playing in Real Madrids white attire to escape his checkered past....
13. Denmark. IMO Croatia wasn't all that good today, and Denmark was the better team overall, although neither side created too many good opportunities. That being said, it would have felt a little farcical if Denmark advanced after fouling a player who was about to put the ball in an empty net and Croatia missed the penalty. Not sure how that's not a straight red for Mathias Jorgensen. I was beginning to feel shades of Suarez and Uruguay v Ghana, 2010, if not quite as extreme. Thankfully, Croatia advanced, although I'm getting behind the hosts in their next match.
Some very interesting scenarios after today's matches. Here's some trivia: Russia v Croatia in the quarterfinals means that we are guaranteed an Eastern European team in the semifinals for the first time since 1998 (Croatia on that occasion, interestingly enough), or 2002, if you count Turkey as an Eastern European team. If Croatia reaches the semifinals, it will be their first in two decades. If Russia makes it, it will be their first semi in 52 years (they last made it as the USSR in 1966). Russia has already made some history by 1) reaching the Round of 16 for the first time since 1986, and 2) making the top 8 for the first time since 1982 (there were no quarterfinals in 1982, but the USSR finished second in its second round group, and was ranked seventh overall in the tournament). Croatia has made the Round of 16, and now the quarterfinals, for the first time since 1998. The only (surviving) teams in the bottom half of the bracket that have previously reached a World Cup final are England and Sweden. If any of the other four teams that are still alive on that side of the bracket emerges from the semifinals, we will have a first-time finalist. If Switzerland and Colombia win on Tuesday, we are guaranteed a first-time semifinalist. If Colombia beats England, it will mark their second consecutive quarterfinal appearance. If Switzerland beats Sweden, it will mark their first World Cup quarterfinal appearance (or in any major tournament, for that matter) since 1954.
Both Denmark and Croatia played very conservatively, especially Denmark. The Croatians did create chances, but it looked like an off day for them. They seemed really gassed out, well Denmark did eventually as well. The goalkeepers both were really good, except that terrible mistake from Subasic that led to the Denmark opener, but otherwise they did so well with penalties. Many people will say that those penalties were terribly taken, but I actually feel that the goalkeepers deserve a lot of credit. Schmeichel is known to be a penalty genius, and Subasic has saved quite a few penalties in key situations previously. If you have a great game IQ, you can kind of read where the ball is going and guess the right way. Some of those penalties were not easy to save. Both goalies deserve a lot of credit. However, Kramaric should have continued instead of going down. He could of put the ball in an empty net if he just was a little faster. That would have been game. Anyway Croatia is through and thats what matters. Hopefully this was just an off game for them. Also Denmark had a huge height advantage which helped them a lot, especially defending set pieces.
Only Ney-sayers would not consider Neymar + Brazil favorites now.... If we lost Japan tonight then it's bye-bye rest of the world from a UEFA / CONMEBOL standpoint...
I always thought Brazil were one of the favorites. However assuming Belgium wins this afternoon, their tie vs Belgium will be extremely exciting. Brazil has a good defense, but haven't faced a side with a proper attack yet. Belgium will be a great test.
Yes, that's going to be one helluva of a game. Problem with Belgium is for all their hype, they haven't really beaten a big team in a major competition in decades now. The win over England notwithstanding as even that was a glorified friendly. That will be the ultimate test of their mettle.
Agree 100%. I don't buy the hype Belgium gets. Let's face it, they do have a great attack on paper, but I am still puzzled be the decision to leave Nainggolan out of the squad. For Goodness Sake, he looks like one of the most promising midfielders in the world right now, and you leave him out? Also I don't think that Belgium has as good chemistry as they could. They have definitely improved since Martinez took over from Wilmonts but I still see problems in the team. It will be a hell of a match. In fact since the 2014 World Cup, I always rated Croatia higher than Belgium, and believe that they are managed better and their teams on paper are very comparable actually, well maybe Belgium is inferior a little without Nainggolan. The problem with many people and the media is that they give so much hype in the attack and forget about the defense and the midfield.
lol at the end of the game the commentators were like now u have to consider Brazil to be the favorite. They were always the or one of the favorites lol
Switzerland was a finalist in the first world championship, not the first world cup. A world championship is a tournament played by national teams from different parts of the world. A cup is an object, a trophy, and a medal is also a trophy. https://web.archive.org/web/2014042...fifafacts/mcwc/ip-201_02s_fwc-origin_8819.pdf
It can mean several things, depending on context. It is even a trademark: https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/marketing/brand-protection/intellectual-property.html The widely used convention is to call the tournament/championship: "FIFA World Cup".
Huge missed opportunity in a very open half of the bracket. Colombia simply didn't show enough in this tournament, apart from that battering of Poland. Poor match from them today. England will like their chances of making the final now. Only Sweden and Russia/Croatia are in their way now... Very good opportunity for England to make a deep run after some time.
Never really rated Colombia highly. Always thought they were way overrated. They were good in 2014, but that was really a one time thing. Their group was not too hard to win, and even that group they did not win convincingly. Poland has players in terrible form which is why the Colombians beat them convincingly but other than that, they have not been that impressive. I expected England to win in regular time actually. Anyway I think you are getting ahead of yourself a bit. Sweden is a team that can be really tough to break down, and watching England needing a penalty to break down the Colombian defense makes me doubt that they will have an easy time breaking down Sweden. Sweden might win tactically, although the game is 50-50. If they do manage to get past Sweden, it will probably be over in the semis against Croatia (unless Russia upsets the Croatians). I do not see them putting up a match with Croatia honestly. If Russia upsets Croatia, then England has a better chance, but with the form Russia are in at home, I would not guarantee that either, and the British might just play into the Russian hands.
Yeah but England have a surprisingly notorious history of losing to Scandanavian teams. Denmark, Sweden, Norway even Iceland all have recorded multiple historic wins against them... especially Sweden.. Scandanavian sides have England's number for some reason.