While many of the teams were deservly eliminated, some of them made a good impression and the feeling that they might ve qualified if they were in easier groups/had more luck/ referees/ finish their chances better. I think we can all agree that Morocco, Perú, Irán and Senegal made quite a good impression. Probably Nigeria too. Which team do you guys think was the best and more complete team of those eliminated?
Impressed by Morocco's dribbling and team cooperation, who could go far if they got a better striker...
On paper, obviously, the best would be Germany, who nonetheless deserved no better than being eliminated. They were incredibly poor and lackluster and despite usually rooting for Germany, they were poor enough for me not to miss them at all. In any case, my view of the most deserving (best) to the least deserving (worst) among the eliminated teams is as follows, leaving out Germany out of respect for their pedigree and the difficulty of putting them in such a list: 1- Senegal 2- Iran 3- Nigeria 4- Morocco 5- Peru 6- Serbia 7- Poland 8- South Korea 9- Iceland 10- Tunisia 11- Australia 12-1- Costa Rica 13- Saudi Arabia 14- Egypt 15- Panama
From points: Senegal Iran Peru South Korea Nigeria Serbia Germany Tunisia Poland Saudi Arabia Morocco Costa Rica Iceland Australia Egypt Panama
Objectively, the 'best' team eliminated is Germany. They are world champions for a couple more weeks, after all. But that is not the point of this thread... Morocco played with real heart in a difficult group and had a good balance in attack and defence. They also had awful bad luck, so I was very sorry to see them go out.
Morocco stands out as the best performer from Africa at this tournament, they did the best it can be that you can't blame them for anything, apart from a clinical finisher Morocco didn’t do much wrong. PLUS Morocco arguably the team who got screwed the worst by the referee and VAR at this World Cup so far. They lost in a late drama against Iran, the opposition snatched a late winner (an own goal) against the run of play in a game dominated possession by Morocco. Yet again Ronaldo single-handedly won the match for Portugal in which completely dominated throughout the game by Morocco from the start to finish. Morocco made pressure on Portugal in a way that didn't let them have a second to breathe, that saw the Portuguese players unable to string a pass together, afterwards Portugal just lay back and defend with numbers. Nonetheless one genius on the field just about enough, Cristiano Ronaldo the one who carried the whole team to winning the three points from a very difficult match. Morocco against greater opposition Spain, once again another incredible performance and should have won it but they did not have the last word however VAR did. Spain defence has looked shaky all night in Morocco's test. Morocco having largely the better of the play of all the teams from the Group B but they failed to advance (Peru by the way similar to Morocco but against lesser oppositions from Group C). Amrabat in particular was spectacular, the man was instrumental in every way and far more lively with his play, his crossing and his vital passes, he saw most of the ball than any player in that group, the best player alongside with Isco at the Group B.
Senegal came into the World Cup with high expectations, a group of exceptionally talented players obviously Mane, Gueye, Kouyate and Koulibaly immediately springs to the top of the mind, they have the best team, they had depth and they are the best African generation at the moment, what went wrong? They've played well and their overall game was also good but not outstanding as it should be. Senegal was impressive in the first game against Poland, especially on physical strength and pace meant that they were more athletic and faster technique than their opponent. They drew 2-2 with Japan and quite frankly against the run of play. Senegal control of midfield at the first but bit of a slump in the second half while they had dropped deep to protect their lead their opponent created chances more than they. Again against Colombia, Senegal dominate the first half and played very well in a much more consistent manner at winning this but at the end they lost. Colombia deserved their advance but I'm not sure one more yellow card can rightfully separate whatever the two teams. It's outrageous reason, it's silly. Congratulations to Japan, they advance eventually and therefore they deserve it. However, Japan's time-wasting in the last minutes match against Poland was a disgrace of the game. I've heard a lot of wasting time in Asian football but as long as out of sight and on lower standard of football as in Asia it's ok, then to bring this to the global stage it's quite disgusting. Its so frustrating to watch teams time waste. And this is a second time Japan done this, the first was against Denmark in 2010, falling to the ground to waste time and acting as if they just broke their leg it's comical show and to be honest actually I find it funny.
Obviously it’s Germany. They still created a lot of decent scoring chances . Even with their bad transition defense , if they had scored some of those chances they would easily still be in the competition . I can think of at least 3 easy headers for example that that they uncharacteristically missed. Had they not been named Germany, I think most people would pick them. They probably created the most legit scoring chances out of all those teams. Leaving them aside, I’d say Peru , Morocco and Senegal.
very true, Germany, had no luck whatsoever in front of goal. I saw some statistic toward the end of the Group stage stating that Germany had taken more shots than any other team in the tournament. But they were lucky on defense, a bit more composure by Mexico on offense and we a looking at a 3-0 game to start that group. Also a couple of "could be" penalties were not called against them. And after watching that first round, I would love to see some combination of Senegal, Peru, and Morocco playing each other. That would be some lovely futbol.
If you wanna see a guy that really danced with the ball this world cup check out Andre Carrillo. Guy was special. Him and Advincula really played great. Too bad they couldn't get through. Fukn Penalty miss!
We are talking about this tournament, not the one 4 years ago. Germany were not very good. Objectively, they are NOT the best eliminated team. Not even close.
Portugal, Senegal and Egypt I think were the three besides Germany I thought were best(Germany was not terrible). Argentina kind of, think that team was awful when you take out Messi though, while Egypt played well against Uruguay without Salah. Senegal is better than lots of teams still in the tournament including Japan who topped their group IMO.
Heheh, my mistake for saying 'objectively'. Let's drop that concept. Football is all opinions. Of course Germany had a bad 3 group games. The way I thought about the question was overall quality of the team. If another tournament happened next week, who would you tip to win out of the eliminated sides. For me that would be Germany. Other posters seem to have a similar line of thinking. You have interpreted the question differently, fair enough. Who is your choice? Argentina?
I don't necessarily agree with the Guardian's choices in all cases, but this how they ranked the teams in the tournament after the group stage. Since those teams that are eliminated will get to play more matches, the Guardian's choices can be shown faulty with regard to those who haven't been eliminated yet. But for the eliminated sides, I guess their opinion is as valid as any one else's and more credible than some I have read here. https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ower-rankings-brazil-and-croatia-lead-the-way 1- Brazil 2- Croatia 3- Belgium 4- Uruguay 5- Colombia 6- Mexico 7- Spain 8- France 9- Sweden 10-England 11- Switzerland 12- Argentina 13- Portugal 14- Denmark 15- Russia 16- Japan 17- Iran 18- Senegal 19- Peru 20- Nigeria 21- Morocco 22- South Korea 23- Serbia 24- Iceland 25- Germany 26- Poland 27- Tunisia 28- Australia 29- Costa Rica 30- Saudi Arabia 30- Egypt 32- Panama Here is how Fox Sports Asia graded the Asian continent. Since Japan is still in thick of things, it might be a bit premature. But I guess no one is giving them much of a chance against Belgium anyway. http://www.foxsportsasia.com/football/world-cup/907483/asian-teams-2018-world-cup-graded/ Asian teams at the 2018 World Cup graded 1- IRAN B+ 2- Japan B 3- South Korea C+ 4- Australia C 5- Saud Arabia C-
I don't see why Brazil is being ranked #1 based on performances. They couldn't beat Switzerland and had a hard time dealing with difficult matches against Costa Rica and Serbia. Denmark is ranked too low in Guardian's ranking. They whould easily be a top 8 side based on performances. Denmark is well organised and has very strong team play. I am surprised how well they defended in this tournament against three good teams in their group. I am picking Denmark to beat Croatia, simply because I think they will outwork the Croatian team, and Erikssen will show his quality. Peru greatly impressed me. They lack a bit of incisiveness and final product, but their ball control was outstanding. Seldom saw a bad touch and their close control and linkup play were outstanding. They could improve vastly with an improved conditioning programme. Russia deserves to be ranked above Portugal. The last group match was largely a result of their decision to rest key players like Golovin and Fernandes, which resulted in their backup right back getting beaten and forced into conceding a red card. They then had to pull their best player Cheryshev. The second goal was a very lucky goal by Uruguay as it came off a deflection that gave the keeper no chance. But even when Russia were down to ten men against Uruguay, they were the better side and could have gotten something from the match. I think Russia wil upset Spain tomorrow. Golovin, Cheryshev, and Fernandes will make problems for Spain's brittle defense.
Iceland deserves a much higher ranking. It baffles me how they are ranked only one spot above Germany. Iceland's team play was fantastic, and they nearly got a result against Croatia. They lack the athleticism to deal with the likes of Musa, so they would always have a hard time against Nigeria. If Gylfi Siggurdson hadn't been injured, we could easily have seen Iceland in the knockout rounds. Iceland are easily among the top half of the teams in this tournament.
Australia deserves to be ranked above Germany, Poland and Tunisia. They fought very hard and should have gotten a draw had it not been a questionable VAR decision - it seemed to be a good tackle. Disappointing last match, but this seemed to be largely due to losing Nabbout, who was their workhorse.
For me the most audacious teams were Peru and Morocco. Both teams played fearlessly and were able to put top sides on the back foot. Senegal also played some really good football and scored a really well worked goal against Japan. Other teams like Iceland, Iran, and South Korea impressed because they were able to do pretty well considering their limitations and stunned some big opponents who were expected to roll them over. It's almost unthinkable that Iceland would draw Argentina, Iran would draw Portugal, and South Korea would beat Germany. The South Korea win was without a doubt the biggest shock of the tournament, bigger than Mexico's win over Germany.
@ragnars, For those teams that haven't been eliminated, they will get their chance to prove themselves better or worse still. I will let what transpires to illuminate further with regard to them. But I can't agree with you regarding Iceland. When all is said and done, they got a point against a disappointing Argentina side and then got schooled by Nigeria and lost to a Croatian team that rested some players and didn't have much to play for. I wouldn't rate them much higher than the Guardian has.