SF: July 10 France vs Belgium [R]

They are celebrating here in Moscow.. despite having the worst sounding chant ever "Allez -la - bluch!"

 

All in ET. France should have wrapped it up in the first 90, if not for misses and Patricio, but that's all part of the game.

 

Courtois complaining about France playing “anti-football” and saying “no one would want to win this way”. Sour grapes mate.
I understand his frustration at being knocked out, but football, especially in a tournament setting, is also about knowing your opponent well, making necessary tactical adjustments, and playing to your strengths.

I never understand why people complain about opponents not playing exactly how they would like to see it, which ideally is convenient for them or the team they support. Do you think Greece cares about how you think they played when they won the Euro Cup? It wasn’t pretty, but they played to their strengths and won, kudos to them. If you define yourself as the superior footballing team, like Courtois does Belgium, than you need to be creative enough to break down a defensive setup. It’s just a clash of opposing styles. With that being said I don’t even agree that France played antifootball, they created plenty of chances and especially Mbappe was a joy to watch in attack. More so than the Belgian attack, bar the first 25 minutes, which was stifled by a very disciplined French defense. In the last phase of the game, if you are leading, no team in their right mind would go end to end with a team like Belgium in order to try and score another goal.

Belgium have a very talented quad, and I do understand that maybe they felt this was a great chance to make their first ever WC final and maybe even win the darn thing. Reality is though, that “Football” doesn’t always win, or at least not what you defintion of football is.

 

Griezmann, Pogba and Kante are simply, individually, on another level. And of course there's Mbappe. If they had a better striker, they could've sunk a couple more.

 

I feel bad for Belgium. Well done France.

 

I think the country should become world champion, where the title is most important to the people. And I think that will not be France. Even now it's hard to find a pub where football is on.

 

There were a lot of people writing off France before the tournament. I wrote them off until the Semi final. They may win or you may be right. We don't know but I think this France team has surprised me throughout the tournament. They didn't play convincing in the group stage but they have improved in every phase of the tournament.

 

You've described the game well. And people constantly complain about how "the other team plays". If they are organized and defensive then they are bunkered in...if they are free-wheeling then they lack discipline. As we all know, soccer/football is the sport where there is more inter-league and international play. There are many players, suspensions and injuries that require alteration of intent and force alteration of response. Additionally, managers impart so much of their personal style, strategy and tactics just before they get fired or leave for another spot.

This creates the constant match ups of different styles and even if two teams played a week apart the game could look very different.

As such, managers prepare individual game plans to win that game and the good ones do what is necessary to win, even if it means going from "undisciplined", as many described France prior to yesterday, to "anti-football" as some would describe them today.

The best team can win multiple types of games. In basketball they don't criticize the smaller team for either slowing the game down or speeding it up...it is a game of tempo and everyone agrees the team who controls tempo and forces their opponent to play their style did the right thing. In soccer, well, not everyone agrees.

 

I said France before world cup started.

damn, the emptiness when world cup is over.

 

Eden Hazard was incredible last night. Every time he got on the ball you knew he was going past someone with it. A joy to watch. France just couldn’t handle him on a personal level. Fouling him most of the time. It was mad to see the ref wave away Giroud’s foul on him at the edge of the box near the end.

The BBC commentary team were creaming their pants over Mbappé’s performance. He looked like a rocket on speed.

 

Hazard is player of the tournament for me. He combines great skill on the ball with strength to stay upright when challenged.

 

Unfortunately, I have to say to the Belgians.
You would have played the same way.

It's always easier to defend well and then quickly counter or wait for the opportunity. To attack a standing defense is always harder. If France had had to play like that, the French would have had more ideas than the Belgians. The difference in quality is not so high in France within the team. France does not play very attractive. If the French want, then they can play really nice football.
That's the style of Deschamps. Deschamps was a calf biter among the filigree technicians.

 

Yup Hazard was amazing so was Mbappe

 

I'm not surprised to see France in the Final. They were my pick to win it all after Matchday 2 of the group stage. The Australia game was lame. The second game against Peru convinced me. There were a few moments of flashy brilliance from Mbappe in the first half and it was impressive how they kept a good Peruvian side at bay the whole game. I never understood how some came out and said France lacks cohesion. You just need to see how the bench players get up and celebrate when the team scores. It became evident to me that the team spirit is high. Although conceding three goals from Argentina the French defense especially with the high workrate Kante and Pogba put in in CDM looked very solid the throughout the tournament. The opponents didn't have too many clear cut chances. Loris needed only to do one big save in each the Uruguay and Belguim game. This team put a lot emphasize on sturdy defence and relied on Mbappe, Griezman and Giroud doing the job upfront. It paid off thus far. I think France can play a way more entertaining brand of football but they prefered to stick with "safety first."
When they are 1-2 behind against Argentina we saw that they can step up and adjust their tactics. This is what makes you a big team. The ability to react to specifc situations in a game. Overall I think France deserves to be in the final as they have the right balance between offence and defence and are just the most complete team in this tournament.

 

Is this a troll post?
Haven't you seen Paris and the whole of France yesterday night? It was totally crazy everywhere!!

 

And the height of hypocrisy, given how Belgium bunkered against Brazil. Did Courtois miss the fact that he was being besieged just last match?

Turns out Hazard is kind of a wanker-whiner also:

http://www.espn.com/soccer/belgium/...fer-to-lose-with-belgium-than-win-with-france

 

Only you think Belgium bunkered vs. Brazil. There is a reason why that thread is closed.

 

LOL, I pretty much did the same thing. However many people favored France though. I thought Argentina had a great chance, and they did play well, although their defense was in shambles which is why France won. Then I thought Uruguay had a great chance until it was confirmed that Cavani was out, and then I lost hope in Uruguay. Then I thought France vs Belgium would be 50-50 and it was pretty close actually.

France vs Croatia will be 50-50. Really could go either way. But I will predict this:

France will score the opener sometime in the 30th min. Croatia will equalize in the 70-80th min. Then Croatia will score the winner in extra time. France will have many chances that they will blow throughout the game.

 

Since this is France vs Belgium match discussion.



Fans in Youtube some said that this is funny, but I find what Mbappe did was downright immature. I hope he grow up and not do this again in the Final. He not even trying, he know exactly what he was doing and doesn't give a shit that he gets a yellow card, because he knows it will be wipe after the semi-finals.

 

I believe five thirty eight.com did an analysis that proved the ref never puts enough time back on the clock to offset wasting.

If it was me, if they waste 30 seconds I’d put 2 minutes on.

 

If I knew you were the ref I for sure would take with me a good supply of snacks and drinks...cause it's gonna be a looong sit

 

I like to be paid by the hour!

 

It's not about the time, though, it's about breaking up the momentum and frustrating an opponent that is already desperate. Even if the time is added back, the momentum is lost and the players become flustered (look how they attack Mbappe).