WC 2018 Group B: Spain Portugal Iran Morocco

no, you should not continue, because your argument has more holes than a beehive.

costa rica topped a group with italy, uruguay and england in 2014. speaking of england, where do british players play? which leagues and clubs? and when was the last time the english national team did anything of note? yet you are taking it as a given that morocco is going to do better than Iran.

 

it is strange that one would say that morocco and portugal will battle for 2nd. it is more like: spain is a lock at 1. then portugal will likely be 2nd but there is a chance that morocco or iran will take 2nd. and that 3rd and 4rth will probably be morocco/iran in no particular order. even if we finish 4rth, at least we wont lose by more than 2 goals, unlike certain teams that always lose 4-0 or 8-0. nobody needs falcon vision to see this. it is clear as daylight.

 

To add more clarification to my previous post, Saudi Arabia’s world famous 0-8 and 0-4 scorelines in their last two World Cup appearances, would be clear examples of a result which is the literal definition of getting “thrashed”.

 

there is something about this country and the number 4. it, and its multiple, keep appearing. this is some da vinci code shit.

 

Who will do honours this time though? Will it be Uruguay or will it be Russia? My money is on Russia by 4 in the opening match.

 

this is a weak russian side. i say uruguay courtesy of suarez and cavani, similar to what they did against jordan in 2014 playoffs.

 

I'd even give a bigger chance to Egypt if Salah is close to his normal self than Russia.

 

Don’t underestimate Russia at home. The Russian bear will wake up in time, and devour the falcon. The Saudis have no answer to Russia’s physicality. I have a feeling it will get ugly in Moscow.

 

If the refs help, maybe. They should beat SA but only by 1-0 or 2-0. Similar to how they did last year against New Zealand.

 

how when we have some shity mods working at big soccer

 

Russia’s strengths are their physciality and set pieces. New Zealand can match Russia physically and in the air, Saudis can’t do that. Keep in mind that Saudi Arabia is the smallest/shortest team in this World Cup. Russia is one of the tallest, and a clear mismatch for the Saudis.

 

Tbh this is terrible and quite pathetic on FIFAs part. I might give Iran some stick, but it's a competitive team that deserves to be at the big stage. Countries like UAE, China and so forth should be no where near a WC.

 

You don't understand that we don't make predictions based on exceptions and surprises? Costa Rica 2014 is an exception, Costa rica 2002 and 2006 being the rule. And I surely bet that no costa rican fan was predicting that his team would qualify or even finish third in this group. Cool that they did that surprise, now it gives them a bit more faith on their team every time they'll play a world cup.

You have never done anything, you always finish last, yet you manage to predict you'll finish at least third lol you're kids.

 

To be honest, I dont agree with it either but teams like T &T and Panama are even worse.

 

We wont know til the game starts. Obviously I'll be in Konnushennaya square rooting for Russia but its not like Saudi doesnt have tall strong CBs.

Russias CBs are rather slow as well.

 

of course costa rica 2014 was an exception, but nobody here is saying Iran will top the group. we are just saying we roughly have the same chances as morocco.

we were in the world cup 4 times, 3rd once and three times 4rth.

morocco were in the world cup 4 times, 3rd once, once 2nd, and two times 4rth. your record is not much better.

 

Well Saudi advanced 1994!

 

Easier when 3rd place in the group got you through. They beat Morocco ironically enough.

 

I am watching Portugal v Belgium. Portugal has been the better side, while Belgium look a lot less than the sum of their parts.

 

i think sweden beat them in 1/16?
they beat us 2-1 and belgium 1-0
i watched that game , although morocco dominate the game but they deserved i think because they know how to finish there chances .
i'm somehow like the style of saudis because they dont park the bus like many other teams . and its very risky to play open games and thats why they lost 8-0 against germany i think .
my team morocco too always play open games ( 3-0 1998 against brazil ).
but i think still better than parking the bus because will never get you out of the group stages .

 

Yepp Sweden won with 3-1.
1994 in USA imo Saudi scored the finest goal too!
Ye and i think the biggest reason was quality

 

IMO Beiranvand is not even among our top four keepers and should not be even in the squad. IMO Hosseini is our most talented keeper. I prefer Mazaheri over both Beiranvand and Abedzadeh in the current squad.

IMO Cheshmi is good as DM but not as CB.

I still think It is a big mistake to not take Ghafouri to the WC. I was sad only for him out of all players that did not make the current squad.

CQ has a soft feeling on Khanzadeh which is weird!!!!!!!

Azmoun and Gucci are our top two choices in central forward position. Ansarifard should be used only as third choice for central forward position. He is useless in other positions. TBH he is my least favorite offensive player in the squad. I take Kaveh Rezaei over him at any day.

Before announcing the squad, I also thought Jalal Hosseini should be dropped from the squad due to his age and pace as long as CQ used Majid Hosseini in the starting line up against Turkey which could prepare him for the WC but he used Cheshmi as CB in that game.

IMO Shojaei should be used only as second choice for CAM position. Ebrahimi and Cheshmi can both play as DM.

 

Portugal 0 - 0 Belgium

 

Belgium on paper is just as much of a challenge as Spain will be for Portugal.. the level of talent individually is unmatched across the globe.

Portugal played well. I am happy with this result as they showed their 'aging' defence is capable of containing the likes of Lukaku,Carrasco,Hazard,etc and solidified my confidence in Portugal heading into the WC (which was already rather high)

In truth, i am shocked at the performance Fonte put in today.. i didnt expect it.. didnt believe he still had it in him and was a little curious when Dias was not listed in the starting 11...

The fact Fonte got the 2nd game, and played well against a team like Belgium makes me believe Santos will start with Pepe/Fonte v Spain.

 

Beiro is so bad he's been giving me Mirzapour flashbacks... His only redeeming quality is his world class 75m sharp throws for counters but even if CQ had the foresight to utilize that as a tactic - which he doesn't - Beiro's dumbass footwork with the ball and silly positioning is enough to be left out of the squad.

Cheshmi hasn't been the same since his injury.

Totally agree with you about Ansarifard. Even when he was playing as a poacher in TM he lacked finishing quality. Club performer not TM performer just like JB, but still hope JB proves me wrong.

Disagree on both Shojai - most technically gifted player in our team that was single handedly behind all of our atks in '14 (including the Argentina match). And Hosseini is the backbone of our defense. I don't care how you feel about his age. I only care about his incredible stats and clean sheets we've had with him as a starer vs without him. Excluding him is absolutely indefensible!

Overall, I can't wait though. This is going to be a very interesting WC for us. High risk, high tempo, horrid defense, quality forwards, improved possession, etc. Just way too many untested variables to predict anything.