By curse here I mean not winning the world cup/not going far in general. Not necessarily getting out of group stages. It is a motivational thing. It is hard to have the motivation to win back to back titles after you already won it. Psychologically it is an anomaly.
I can see this being a World Cup with no real standout team. I still sort of expect one of the big names to win it in the end though.
On paper Denmark is not really worse than Netherlands 2014. Remember it was coached by Van Gaal and performed much better than expected. I don’t think Chile 2014 is that much better than Tunisia now. Tunisia even beat them in a friendly recently. Although this Chile is not Chile 2014, but also Australia 2014 was way superior to Australia now.
You can repeat your nonsense, doesn't make it more true. Motivation can have different sources, to "love" an administration that shoots your own citizens and maybe your own family is.. can't find nice words. It's also unimportant as f*** how old an anthem is, if it suits the current regime. Let me tell you, that as a German I know what I am talking about in this regard. It's quite astonishing which conclusion you read out of not singing players. As if they would have a disadvantage because of it. As if it is some magical source of energy which would be even true if it goes hand in hand with the killing of your beloved people. I got that you think, that patriotism is done kind of objective truth or improvement and that an individual is unable to fulfill his destiny if not for some greater good (which means total capitulation in this case).
True, but the fun fact is some of these have to kill each other to get to us. So that's not a stumbling stone.
I'll give you Denmark vs Netherlands 2014, but Chile 2014 was class. Not comparable to Tunisia at all. Anyway, I think it's quite possible France finishes second in the group if Denmark returns to the form they displayed at the Euros last year, but I still lean towards France sneaking through with 5-6 points in the worst case scenario.
This can't be real. Argentina have won only one of their last 6 World Cup games: 🇦🇷🇩🇪 Germany, loss🇮🇸 Iceland, draw🇭🇷 Croatia, loss🇳🇬 Nigeria, win🇫🇷 France, loss🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia, loss— Mundo Albiceleste ⭐🌟⭐🇦🇷 (@MundoAlbicelest) November 22, 2022
Honestly my man, I'm actually contemplating sending you some money if you could consider not sharing your thoughts anymore. My brain suffers from some sort of a fatigue or numbness feeling when I read your posts.
I mean no disrespect to Denmark as I think they're a pretty good team, but Netherlands 2014 was stronger on paper.
French could have scored another 3-4 goals in the second half alone. They are amazing team and I can see them easily reaching finals again, if not taking the whole thing.
Argentina's been brilliant for 2+ years. It's impossible for them to get old or low quality overnight. They'll absolutely come back, it's just a matter of how. France looking scary good. I also thought they'd be on a downswing because of the injuries and their recent form but they look like they're hitting on all cylinders.
I do agree in terms of the names on the squad, but I can see the argument that they were already somewhat in decline by that point and just overperformed in that cup.
Tournament football also requires managing your forces and exhaustion and it is not necessarily helpful to show all your cards too early. The Netherlands were not very good against Senegal, but I never felt the game was out of their control. They beat a good Senegalese team 2-0 and didn't allow any real big chances. However it is clear that there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Who on Netherlands 2014 was world class besides Robben? Van Persie and Sneijder maybe but they are in decline. Eriksen is better than Sneijder was then. Denmark doesn't have a player like Robben, but all around their team players are better than Netherlands 2014 besides Robben. At least on paper. Now when you transfer it to the field, that is a different story though. Chile 2014 was a great team. But I also think this Tunisian team is underrated. Still I wouldn't say they are on the level of Chile 2014 quite but they are not far behind. But also Spain 2014 was better than this France. Australia 2014 was much better than Australia now.
If we are to look at the past, then Denmark will top their group, simply because they have never won a friendly game vs. France, but always had a solid grip on France when something is at stake in tournaments WC/Euros/Nations League, the stats say that France have won 2 games vs. Denmark in the Euros (1984 in France when they became Champions and 2000 when France also became Champions) and 1 in the WC (1998 in France when they became Champions), while Denmark has won 4 games vs. France, 1 in the following WC 2002 that got France eliminated in the last decisive game in group stage and 1 in the Euro 1992 (in the last decisive game in the group stage, when Denmark became European Champions), and then both home and away this year in the UEFA Nations League. France and Denmark drew 0-0 in the last WC in Russia when France once more became Champions. As for Denmark vs. South American teams in tournaments, then Denmark has only lost once, 2-3 against Brazil in the WC-98 Quarter Finals (in France, when France also beat Denmark 2-1 in their group and became Champions by beating Brazil 3-0 in the Final), Denmark has beaten and eliminated Uruguay twice in the group stage at the WC, by 6-1 in 1986 and by 2-1 in 2002, in the last WC in Russia a, in compare to now, rather low-quality Denmark team beat Peru, as for Argentina then Denmark has never faced them in a WC but beat them 2-0 in the FIFA Confederations Cup Final in 1995.