Right on! We may not have another golden generation for a while, so I just hope that KNVB and coaching staff can build a team with role players, good tactics, strong mentality and see how far we can go. France and England are 2 of the youngest teams so they will be up there for a while. Belgium will be there. Spain and Germany and Italy will rebound so let's hope that Netherlands can rebound too after missing 2 major tournnaments. France - England final is the favourite but if you bet Croatia - Belgium will win more money. TV coverage and media and FIFA probably prefers the former one due to popularity. Kane probably will win the Golden Boot (6). Lukaku has 4 with Griezmann and Mbappe 3 each. I enjoy 3 matches so far: Spain - Portugal, France - Argentina, and Belgium - Japan.
Tuning into France - Belgium now. I like the Belgians, but I think Mbappe and France might be a bit too much for them. 2-1 France
Game won on a corner kick. The US match announcers just said that 43% of the goals scored in this tournament came from free kicks. Don't know if this is high or low for a tournament but an interesting stat. Another "golden generation" club goes down to defeat. I don't want anyone on this forum using that term; it's a jinx.
in order to be a golden generation you got to win gold so I guess you can say Belgium had a "bronze" generation
I'm afraid this will be the peak. Some of the defenders are on the old side. Also some of the water carrying midfielders are getting on (Dembele, Witsel, Naingolan too).
The term 'golden generation' was first regularly used when Portugal entered the scene in the 1990s. They had won the Youth World Cup in both 1989 and 1991, and also played great football at euro 1996. Before that it was never frequently used for any team. The idea is not so much that they are destined to win, merely that the footballers and football are so outstanding compared to their baseline. Later the English press morphed it into some entitlement for winning the world cup.
We now have in our Dutch midst the "bling bling" generation. Who knows what it will bring as we had the infamous Beenhakker's "patatgeneratie"!
If you count set piece (free kicks, corner kicks or PK) this tournament probably set all the records. France Belgium was not a good SF. Belgian coach did a good job against Japan, ok job against Brazil but starting a not so good midfield today. They will be around the next Nation League but may be on the way down. Did anyone see the Uruguay's shirts in this tournament? Apparently they have 4 stars, 2 for winning the joined FIFA-Olympic in 1924 and 1928? How about that? They are tied with Germany.
Entertaining match, the difference was slim - I thought both teams could have won it. Tough pill to swallow for Belgium. France is dangerous when they click. Simply too much individual talents. The scary thing is that they have the second youngest squad in the tourney - so they have nowhere but up. Mbappe will someday be the best player in the world, he's really good and is only scratching the surface.
So happy for Croatia. Played with big hearts. I thought Modric had a pretty quiet day, but it didn't matter, their collective effort was commendable. Conceding an early goal was probably the best thing happened to them.. it made them coming out with bold intents. England, on the other hand, was cocky and played too safely. Would be interesting to see how much the Croatia players have left in their tanks. Three straight matches in overtime, the fatigue must have accumulated. I hope the final won't be their anti-climax. I am cheering for them in the final... it would be an epic underdog story of the World Cup to date! It will also comfort me knowing that a small country can indeed lift a WC trophy... *wink Holland