Who will win this group?

I actually saw that dream. Didn;t see the whole thing but did see: Nigeria - Argentina 5:1, Croatia - Nigeria 0:2. Didn't see who won the Iceland - Nigeria game, but both teams progressed while Argentina and Croatia were ousted.

 

D Block@DMar_22

Luka Modric is priceless

@junaidtheblur

Once again, Luka Modrić proves that he’s the best midfielder in the world

Gomolemo@KingGee24

I hate you @lm19official for making football look easy

Wombat Astronaut@diegomironesg

Yeah sex is good, but have you ever seen Luka Modric play?


Samuel Dieudonné@ddnnsm

The only thing more impressive than Luka Modric’s class is his consistency. It’s actually hard to remember the last time he had a horrible game.

Abdulrazaq Zailani@bilbaas

Luka modric is not from this planet......

Sith.Lord@_akhimien

Luka Modric is the definition of Maestro

 

4 years ago the croatian midfielders were not as experienced as they are now they were just starting to show themselves at the top of club level...and as said billion times if mexico had to play croatia after a brazil croatia played in normal conditions it might have not been the same. It is easy to make conclusions when a team can start a game in comfort zone while the opponent got to open the game due to the pressure of the win.

Anyway we will see in 4 months.

 

There was a long ball in euro 2012 that I instantly knew Modric was a pass god

 

Will Croatia's Slavic ties help them or hurt them in Russia? I mean they did break off from the USSR early on. Nigeria and a lot of African teams sent their players to the Russian league to play. I'm not sure Icelands's relationship with Russia. Argentina had the whole socialism thing going right?

 

U know what's funny about Modric looking at him I thought he'd have this high pitched voice. But then he talks and it's this deep Slavic voice lol.

 

Nothing like that will have even the slightest of influences at the world cup.

 

Croatia wasn't part of sovietic union.

 

Yugoslavia had close ties with the USSR immediately after WWII, with the Yugoslavs probably Stalin's most strident supporter at the First Cominform. However, Tito was too aggressive against the West (even for Stalin!), and a rift developed which eventually led to Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Second Cominform in 1948, and fairly poor relations between the two countries for the rest of the Cold War period.

Anyway, this is all ancient history for the Russians of today, who surely won't be packing the stands (either for or against Serbia) due to Tito and Stalin's intrigues back in the late-1940s.

 

Everybody knows Tito's Yugoslavia was independent of both Washington and Moscow.

 

Not sure what you mean by "independent". Certainly not with respect to foreign policy before 1948.

Anyway, we're getting way off topic. PM me if you want to discuss further.

 

Non-aligned would had been the correct term.

But nah. Hey you brought it up!

A little off topic discussion is not that bad anyway, in the middle of all the "what ifs" and "I dreamed we tied and then we..."

 

My comment was in response to a question about whether Croatia's "Slavic ties" would help them in Russia, so I didn't really bring it up.

Anyway, what is the general thinking in Argentina about playing the first match against Iceland? Is there a concern that an organized, defensive-minded squad like Iceland is not a good fit for a first match, when Messi and company are still trying to get the timing back? I read in the Danish press that Iceland is rather happy they get Argentina out of the way in the opening match, and not later when the Argentines will have had more of an opportunity to get the kinks out of their attack.

 

You've got to divide the general thinking between the people that think anything but a win against Iceland is a shame (they don't care about how they classified, them having knocked out England, style of play, anything... Argentina should win by a blowout) and the people that perhaps could see Iceland upsetting us but still wouldn't recognise any merit on the opposition but rather point exclusively to our own faults.

That would be most of the general/casual press and fans. And WC brings out casual fans like no other event. Of course, in a deeper analysis nearing the WC, Iceland will be measured by how the match up with us physically, their free-kicks (i mean, corners, fouls, and those chances they can get by beating us in the air) and their defense. I'm also betting there'll be a pretty big difference in possesion, but we'll have to transform that into danger and chances and ultimately, goals, which is another story. Ultimately, against any country, it all comes down to the fact that the responsibility is ours to impose the rhythm of the game and to make it our game whichever the rival style may be, and if we're able or not to make it.

But still general public and press are much more focused on how Sampaoli's list of players is setting up and the surprises there could be, than any of the group rivals.

PS: That of course is a broad overview and generalisation, there are many that don't take anything for granted and remember that Bosnia and Irán should've been blowouts in the past WC, and were anything but that. I choose to not take anything for granted too, but also understand that we are favourites to get out of the group and to make it out in the 1st position.

 

There are two big groups of journalists, the ones that only cover argentine league and the ones that cover european football too. The latter are worried about Iceland, the former say it should be easy 3 points.

Now about the fans opinions, in general they don't rate Iceland but also don't trust our own players...

 

Tito was not a supporter of Sovietic Union at all...he threatened them...he said to Stalin that one guy from former yugoslavia is worth ten russians and that they can come whenever they want to make war if they don't get it. But they did not come.
My grand parents lived there as kids by the time and have seen the stop of relations. For a little time they had to spare some of their crops for sovietics...they were pissed off.

Anyway Croatia don't care much about playing in Russia or not..while Serbia consider Russia as brothers...

one of my best friend is the youngest lady in russian embassy from slovenia. She worked 2 years for the russian embassy in croatia and her father was russian ambassador at sarajevo. The russians diplomats from balkanic countries use to meet regularly....Russia got much more influence in Serbia than in Croatia...


It will be more a boost for Serbia to play there than a worry for Croatia in fact.

 

Thanks Nico that's some good knowledge

 

I have just watched Argentina's November friendlies against Russia and Nigeria.
Against Russia I saw pressing game à la Sampaoli at its best. Argentina made a decent side like Russia looking completely toothless, especially in the first half. I thought Argentina played well throughout the whole 90 minutes and deserved to win by a bigger margin.

They were also good against Nigeria for one half. But Argentina wasn't pressing the Nigerian players that resolutely like the Russian players a few days prior. Also the technical capabilities of the Nigerian players were much better compared to the Russian players. In the second half they made Argentina looking really bad and helpless with their quick passing. Argentina had a collective collapse for 20 minutes. It was really a weird game with two completely different halves.

 

I have to see more of this Nigerian team. I found some semi-decent footage of the home games in Qualfying against Algeria and Cameroon and the away game against Zambia. It is really hard to find the full games of African qualfying online.

Maybe one member can find the full games of the Zambia home and Cameroon away clashes? Would really appreciate it.

 

Except that he is wrong, lol, with respect to the first three years after the war. Tito was willing to go along with Stalin's objectives and Yugoslavia was aligned with the USSR up to that point.

"The Yugoslavs initially decided to subordinate their foreign policy objectives to Moscow by seeking Soviet approval and support for Belgrade’s expansionist objectives toward Albania."

This alliance ended with Yugoslavia's ouster from the Second Cominform in 1948.

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/vie...&httpsredir=1&article=1090&context=lib_fsdocs

 

We were playing a 352 for the first time ever in this match.

I think the first half we were figuring things out.

Not to mention Argentina only took the lead when our goalkeeper(not our first choice) made a horrendous mistake and gifted them a goal.

 

Croatia has no allegiance with Russia while Serbia always has. Orthodox brothers.

 

As i said in my previous post, for a little time after the world war, people there had to work a little more for sovietics. Tito started to argue with Staline especially to stop the soviet domination in yugoslav economy.
There was no way they would walk hand in hand when Soviet Union could not have the edge over Yugoslavian union anymore...then they found several other reasons to break the ties this is all...

 

This is a competive group. I think Argentina and Croatia advance.

But Nigeria could suprise they are big, fast and skillful. They had a problem at the keeper position, but I don’t really know if it is still a problem.

 

I think Iceland and Nigeria will advance. What a shock that would be.