World Cup 2018

If I was picking a 4-3-3 and leaving out Inui, then yeah would be similar to your choice indeed Puck I think. Pogba challenging or maybe ahead of Modric at this point.....

 

That's brilliant PDG. Fantastic outline. As I said to you VI has now also made a top 50 NLD players (one year after their top 100) and will get to it after the World Cup. As with their top 100, it's better if they get placed in the right time brackets.

Either way, well done and good independent thinking.

 

Thanks, you too.

I wouldn't say others wouldn't potentially do a better job, or be more informed at least, especially if concentrating fully on every detail of every match, but yeah I think preferably people should go with their own impressions.

It seems like this time there are some arguable decisions, but on the other hand maybe people's selections would not vary hugely in the end. We would be coming to a similar conclusion in the end we can see for example evidently; not to say we don't on various other topics at times. Maybe in any consensus attempt the main thing would be deciding 3 in midfield or not, a bit like in the FM draft lol maybe! But yeah Inui getting a place might seem reasonable to me and he was particularly good vs Belgium I felt; could be similar to another Japanese case, Inamoto from 2002, where I put him in my XI but while various other sources would rate him high, he'd not necessarily be a choice in other people's final XIs.

 

Returning to this:

Watching Dutch and Belgian TV, it seems that they think that #ItsComingHome is serious and we really expect to win the World Cup.

I stick to what I said last week before the second round. Everyone I know expects England to go out in the next match.

— Simon Gleave (@SimonGleave) July 9, 2018

It is indeed frequently interpreted as a God's right for the trophy, or the inflexible belief in success.

Or to put it in a different way

 

I see some England matches (not so much) and I'm not so convinced about Trippier. At least, about the high grades.

Personally, for RB spot, I like Fernandes (Rus) and Pavard (Fra)

 

This is the first time I see him but actually interesting to hear what he thinks (sadly for a dubious television channel)



"This was not a particularly good football match", he says as an actual coach.

 

Final thing, also this is fairly good
https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/07/10/belgium-france-world-cup-semifinal-golden-generation-window

 

Good call or foresight for Perisic. He was also good four years ago I remember (and thinking he slipped under the radar). WhoScored shows him as head and shoulders man of the match.

The Sterling substitution and then playing two up top (without the industry and/or pace) was a disastrous decision.

This Spielverlagerung guy:

Fitness levels is an underrated advantage some teams have. It has a huge impact on whether a team wins or not, imo. France has an advantage in this case.

— Adin Osmanbašić (@AdinOsmanbasic) July 11, 2018

Although some energy was spent in the first half, they also tested Croatia well in this regard with Croatia their midfield stretched. After the subs started (Rashford, Dier etc.) this vanished, while also holes appeared for Croatia (Modric, later Rakitic too) to operate in (= worst of both worlds: no stretch and no defensive cover between the lines). Just my honest view.

 

Yeah, I didn't have a crystal ball lol, or any particular feeling about how he'd do in these games, but it seemed a feasible change based on his credentials and an 'ok' tournament from him while often playing from the right prior to last night. At this point I'm not putting him in my second XI though, but the striker position does become very questionable for team A now (not sure whether I feel Kane/Lukaku are letting Cavani and/or Musa back into the equation or not - depends on the 3rd place game maybe even!).

Yeah, fair to praise Southgate for some things like positive approach/style from start of game 1 (I don't mean continued throughout every game necessarily, but specifically the way the team started out playing), and team spirit/morale related things, plus possibly tactical/homework related details in some instances such as set pieces; but although player quality limitations and fatigue might mitigate it maybe he didn't always make the best calls (as debateable and outcome-related as these things can be) if thinking of this game re: the progression of tactics/formation as well as I'd say the latter part of the Colombia game (playing a significant/crucial part of the game with quite a defensive midfield as well as 3 defenders and two wing-backs; but England managers have often done that sort of thing, even Keegan, when it came to big tournament games, and maybe it's not an unusual 'coaches mentality' to for example stiffen the midfield when a team has a narrow lead, now that available subs allow it easily).

 

Yes I see what you mean on the strikers.

Do you think Modric was good enough yesterday? (wouldn't surprise me if he gets a golden/silver/bronze ball)


https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1...rnational-FIFA-World-Cup-2018-Croatia-England

His best phase was in the 2nd half and after 1-1 in particular (when Sterling got off). In extra time he was spent (tiredness showed in his technical execution, most notably the scene at 6:57) and eventually subbed off.

Brozovic was a good addition. Interestingly Modric is apparently not that popular among Croatia's own fans.

Would like to hear what your impressions are. Can sort of see that Pogba had the more impressive semi final game (did more defense + more danger - maybe outshined by Kante though).

 

Quite good I'd say (as Croatia took over the game 2nd half as you say, but yes Brozovic had some good moments), but not as much as vs Argentina.

Sort of understanding how primarily Mbappe but then Modric lead the way in betting odds for Golden Ball. Not that I always think the best player award should go to a finalist/winning team player, but they each have a very good and important display (both vs Argentina) and then you can add semi-finals that were good to very good (moreso Mbappe maybe) and no particularly bad form in other games. But on an aggregate basis I guess I still have Hazard in the mix, maybe even ahead of Mbappe (not sure, and last games would decide it with the Final obviously counting for a bit more if great performances occur in it), but can see why it's likely he won't be given the Golden Ball now (any chances must depend on a 'poor' Final including performance wise from main players including Kante/Pogba/Griezmann etc... as well as his own 3rd place game I suppose).

In some ways (although doesn't really matter I guess for an all-star team anyway) it'd make sense if I pick a 4-2-3-1 that eventually Coutinho was replaced by Modric or Pogba, and would match Brazil's formation better if he was put in a 4-3-3 (with one of those plus Kante, or even both without Kante if he doesn't play very well in the Final). But maybe I wouldn't change from 4-2-3-1 including Coutinho if Modric/Pogba didn't shine and/or influence the Final very much.

 

I think now, after yesterday's game, that whether settling on 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-2-1, De Bruyne will be making my second XI in an advanced midfield position (if Griezmann does very well generally, or makes great/good and important contributions then De Bruyne could reasonably be moved to the right I guess).

Potentially for a main XI, quite a few places would be still up for grabs though, mostly to French players, but obviously Modric has been mentioned already too.

I think I probably would be putting Cavani as striker now, with Kane in the back-up XI instead.

I'm probably going to have Mbappe or Hazard down as the tournament's best player myself.

 

De Bruyne was sub-standard in a few matches, including the France game (i.e. 5/6 by kicker, 5/10 by FF - with some reasoning at that) but to be fair so was Griezmann, and KDB his best match probably surpasses Griezmann his best display. I'm really not that impressed by the technical mastery of the French team.

Hazard was playing as good as anyone, I agree, and also about as good as the James/Messi/Robben trio of 2014. Typically and predictably, this doesn't register that much in large sections of the global media. The Croatians have the German sphere and media to create a tipping point and critical mass.

 

Yeah, it has been mixed from KDB, but with quality high points/moments and I think without an excellent match by Griezmann today I'd not feel the need to make room in any second XI for him (but like I say I'd leave KDB in now regardless anyway).

Yeah, agree about Hazard (or I might throw in Iniesta 2010 if I think James's tournament might be better on average and/or slightly incomparable due to less games). I guess Kicker haven't updated ratings yet (Sky gave him 8 and KDB too - the latter as MOTM) but it's feasible that German source will have him top for their average ratings (maybe a 2 rating would do it I suspect, as his average the last time I checked was not much above that and close to the top of the list). But I had noticed the YouTube videos with Hitler 'supporting' them vs England (and 'predicting' the game quite well to be honest - or rather the video maker did!):

 

I see now Kicker gave Hazard a 2.5 vs England actually (KDB on 1.5) so he ends on 2.25, level with Ospina in terms of average rating from them, and very slightly behind Mina and then Coutinho (Kante would be behind Hazard slightly even with a 1 which I assume is Kicker's highest rating rather than 0.5)

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...meisterschaft/2018/topspieler-der-saison.html

Looking at the ratings for the other players mentioned: Iniesta 2010 - 2.42, James 2014 - 1.80, Messi 2014 - 2.86, Robben 2014 - 2.07.

 

The by nepotism assigned referee is doing his job expertly (sarcasm).

Was never a free kick and Pogba pushed the defense from an offside position.

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/match-64-fra-cro-pitana-arg.2085048/

 

France so far has been completely outplayed , but referee still gave them the edge , football can be so unfair.

 

... and the 2nd half was used to maintain credibility. Jack Taylor 2.0 this guy.

Typical FIFA to give the final to a federation that's one of the most corrupt of the planet (and they had already the final referee in 2006), with them officially investigated and warned by FIFA itself!!! (including the independent position of the referees)

This referee also whistled the Uruguay vs France match (where he wasn't bad for the French). Previously they used many times that argument to not give a (great) referee another match again.

What they should have done - and I'm trying to switch off my own bias here - is Kuipers (or Faghani as non-UEFA) as final referee, rather than 4th official (with his assistant as 3rd VAR) for two matches in a row as a polite nod (CRO-ENG and CRO-FRA). Has more experience with the VAR system than anyone else there, and all reputable sources have him as the best rated referee of this World Cup (with Faghani as next best, or equally good, and he was tipped as a candidate too). As ever, the fact that NLD 'invented' the VAR gets erased from the history books.

Instead, two Italians (the two with the highest rank in the committee) assign an Argentine, with two Italians as the first two VAR guys. We've seen that Italian-Argentine ball-passing previously. Shades of 1978 there.

 

The World Championship is over. Here I leave my proposal of the ideal team of the tournament. I also propose a team "B" and another "C". I'm sure I forgot someone.

TEAM A:
Courtois; Trippier, Varane, Umtiti, Lucas Hernández; De Bruyne, Pogba, Modric, Hazard; Griezmann, Mbappé.

TEAM B:
Lloris; Meunier, Stones, Grandqvist, Ricardo Rodríguez; Rakitic, Kanté, Kroos; Lukaku, Cavani, Neymar.

TEAM C:
Pickford; Pavard, Thiago Silva, Godín, Laxalt; Isco, Casemiro, Coutinho; Messi, Mandzukic, Cristiano Ronaldo.

 

A 4-4-2 lead by Roberto Martínez
1 Akinfeev
2 Fernandes
3 Laxalt
4 Mina
5 Umtiti
6 Ndidi
7 Trippier
8 Rakitic
9 Griezmann
10 Hazard
11 Neymar

Subs: Kane, Mbappé, de Bruyne/Modric, Witsel, Hernández/Rodríguez, Granqvist, Schmeichel

 

Nice to see your idea

 

Just like the 1990 final was decided by a corrupt official, this final as well.

 

And Pitana from Italian origin... go figure. But with FIFA nothing surprises me anymore.