Very bad news for Tunisia. He already missed the last two friendlies for Tunisia because of his knee problems. The injury aggravated in the last league game of the seasson. They were already crowned champions. So it was maybe a mistake to play him in this meaningless game.
Tough luck for the Tunisians,IMO,its England ,Belgium ,they're just too deep for Tunisia and Panama.I like Bolillo Gomez ,Panamas's coach,coaching 3 squads Friday m different countries is no easy feat,much respect to him.As an Ecuadorian,I will root for the Panama squad,but haven seen them in some friendlies,they will not have enough material to handle the Europeans or Tunisia.I suspect that Gomez will put up a defensive wall in first game and try to hold on to a tie,with a couple of counter attacks here there.The weight of their first WC is real,as I can attest with Ecuador's first WC against Italy,Mexico and Croatia,we didn't do too bad a 2-0 loss vs Italy(shittin our pants 1st game)2-1 loss vs Mex(almost took a point)to a Win 1-0 against Croatia in last game.just like Gomez said (which he was criticized for)"to learn",but come on ,facing WC winner Italy in first game,will make you have diarrhea.good Luck Panama. Also ,to correct the info at the start of this tread,there's no such thing as Panama Hats,they're are ,andhave always been made in Ecuador,Panama hats are The worlds most incorrect branding mistake.
England and Penalties: https://talksport.com/football/worl...nalties-real-madrid-star-cristiano-ronaldo-fa
Belgium should top this group due to their insane amount of quality and squad depth. Even the most pessimistic of England fans wouldn’t be able to say that they believe that The Three Lions won’t progress past the group stage. Tunisia and Panama should be heading home but we expect them both to score at least one goal each throughout their three matches.
A little piece I wrote for These Football Times may be of interest in this thread... https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/...een-despair-and-glory-and-made-the-world-cup/
I do indeed, fairly sporadically but I'm trying to do so more frequently. Most of my articles are international football related, but the site has a real mix of all sorts of interesting and well written articles. And the magazines they produce are absolutely terrific. As for this Panama article, I still don't give them much hope for the group, but it's great to get a bit of an understanding of the back story and how it means so much after the pain of four years ago.
TUNISIA 29 player provisional squad. GOALKEEPERS Aymen Mathlouthi ................... Al-Batin (KSA) Mouez Hassen ........................ Châteauroux (FRA) Farouk Ben Mustapha ............. Al-Shabab (KSA) Moez Ben Cherifia ................... Espérance DEFENDERS Syam Ben Youssef ................... Kasımpaşa (TUR) Yohan Benalouane ................... Leicester City (ENG) Yassine Meriah ......................... CS Sfaxien Bilel Mohsni .............................. Dundee United (SCO) Rami Bedoui ............................. Étoile du Sahel Hamdi Nagguez ....................... Zamalek (EGY) Ali Maâloul ................................ Al Ahly (EGY) Khalil Chemmam ..................... Espérance Oussama Haddadi ................... Dijon (FRA) Dylan Bronn .............................. Gent (BEL) MIDFIELDERS Ellyes Skhiri ............................... Montpellier (FRA) Ferjani Sassi .............................. Al-Nassr (KSA) Karim Laribi ............................... Cesena (ITA) Ahmed Khalil ............................. Club Africain Mohamed Amine Ben Amor ..... Al-Ahli (KSA) Ghailene Chaalali ...................... ES Tunis Mohamed Larbi ......................... Tours (FRA) Saîf-Eddine Khaoui .................... Troyes (FRA) Naïm Sliti .................................... Dijon (FRA) Wahbi Khazri .............................. Rennes (FRA) Bassem Srarfi ............................ Nice (FRA) FORWARDS Anice Badri ................................. Espérance Saber Khalifa .............................. Club Africain Fakhreddine Ben Youssef .......... Al-Ettifaq (KSA) Ahmed Akaïchi ........................... Al-Ittihad (KSA)
PANAMA 35 player provisional squad GOALKEEPERS Jose Calderon ......................... Chorrillo Jaime Penedo ......................... Dinamo Bucharest Alex Rodríguez ........................ San Francisco FC DEFENDERS Azmahar Ariano ....................... Patriotas FC Felipe Baloy ............................. CSD Municipal Harold Cummings ................... San Jose Earthquakes Eric Davis ................................. Dunajska Streda Fidel Escobar ........................... New York Red Bulls Adolfo Machado ...................... Houston Dynamo Michael Murillo ........................ New York Red Bulls Luis Ovalle ................................ CD Olimpia Francisco Palacios .................. San Francisco FC Richard Peralta ........................ Alianza Roman Torres .......................... Seattle Sounders MIDFIELDERS Ricardo Avila ............................. KAA Gent Edgar Barcenas ........................ Cafetaleros de Tapachula Ricardo Buitrago ....................... Municipal Miguel Camargo ....................... Universidad San Martín de Porres Adalberto Carrasquilla ............. Tauro FC Armando Cooper ...................... Club Universidad de Chile Anibal Godoy ............................ San Jose Earthquakes Gabriel Gomez .......................... Bucaramanga Jose Gonzalez .......................... Union Comercio Cristian Martínez ...................... Columbus Crew Valentin Pimentel ...................... Plaza Amador Alberto Quintero ........................ Universitario de Lima Jose Luis Rodríguez ................. KAA Gent FORWARDS Abdiel Arroyo ........................... LD Alajuelense Rolando Blackburn .................. Chorrillo Ismael Diaz .............................. Deportivo La Coruna Jose Fajardo ............................ CA Independiente Roberto Nurse ......................... Mineros Zacatecas Blas Perez ............................... Municipal Luis Tejada .............................. Sports Boys Gabriel Torres ......................... CD Huachipato
I think the most negative England fans are the one's who say "we're shite" and will be lucky to get a point, but don't actually know who we're playing. FYI, I won't care if we beat Tunisia and Panama 1-0 because we should be beat them, but because England have struggled in the past two tournaments in the group stage makes me want to take it one game at a time.
Panama is trash Belgium beat stronger teams than Panama in last year with 5,6,7 or 8 goals difference I expect Belgium to advance 1/8 from 1st place. Due to weak opp. Lukaku will probably score 4 or 5 goals in group (Kane also)
Panama is the oldest team in the tournament. They just can't keep up with the speed and talent of Belgium and England back -to-back games. Maybe they can shock the world and get a 0-0 in the first match but I think they will be physically and mentally drained and that would benefit England in the second match. If I had to predict scores I say they lose 2-0 to Belgium, then 2--0 to England then maybe 1-0 in the final match.
Belgium squad: Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois, Simon Mignolet, Matz Sels, Koen Casteels Defenders: Toby Alderweireld, Dedryck Boyata, Leander Dendoncker, Laurent Ciman, Christian Kabasele, Vincent Kompany, Jordan Lukaku, Thomas Meunier, Thomas Vermaelen, Jan Vertonghen Midfielders: Yannick Carrasco, Kevin De Bruyne, Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembele, Marouane Fellaini, Eden Hazard, Thorgan Hazard, Adnan Januzaj, Dries Mertens, Youri Tielemans, Axel Witsel Forwards: Michy Batshuayi, Christian Benteke, Romelu Lukaku
You're probably right that they'll be involved in fairly close matches, as I expect them to play quite defensively in order to remain competitive. I think recent heavy friendly losses will harden their resolve for this approach. A shame for the watching neutral, but understandable for them.
It probably means Martinez has way way way too many midfielders to choose from and somebody really good had to be left off the squad.
Leaving out Nainngolan is a mistake. I guess the real reason of his omission is that Martinez don't get on well with him. Especially when things don't go well in the game it would have been useful to have a leader like Nainngolan.
Maybe but some of these guys . . . Chadli, Januzaj, Fellaini. Even Axel Witsel, who I like, and has been a contributor to the NT, is playing in China these days. Hard to believe there was no room for a Serie A star like Nainngolan, unless it's personal.