Yes, I had a really sinking feeling in my stomach when Dani Alves went down. Yes, our chances got significantly lowered without him, and yes, Neymar needs to stop throwing tantrums and collecting silly yellow cards. Sometimes he is quite the punk.
Matt, Buddy don't listen to him!! There's nothing to worry about!! Group F will be all even at 4pts!! Mexico will surely lose to Korea 2-1!! And we both know that Germany is one of 3 of the Elite 8 who have won the World Cup after losing the 1st game!! In fact Germany did it TWICE!! Also Germany will put its 2nd game tournament 'curse' to rest as they will make Swedish meatballs out of Sweden 3-0!! That's why I picked Germany TO WIN THE WORLD CUP!!!
I like this Belgium team, hopefully they trash England next week. I'd love to see a Brazil-Belgium game late in the KO stage.
Belgium hasn’t played anybody worthy though . But s stressless group can help save energy for te KO rounds .
I have that eerie feeling that if Argentina escapes the group it will go a long way....That man named messi will be desperate as hell to cement his GOAT status. Lady luck is also with them i guess ( in the form of Nigeria )
And it gives them confidence/belief. Celito, I don't know my man. True, their opposition weren't expected to do major things but Belgium was comprehensively better in both games from minute 1. They have an idea of how they want to play, attack equally well from both wings and through the middle, have strong performers in every line, a deep bench, and DeBruyne, Hazard and Lukaku are on form at the same time. If Kompany can get back on the field they will be even better defensively and gain additional leadership. When filling out my bracket I had them as Brazil's biggest test in the quarters, and assumed the winner of that game won the tournament. Granted, teams that start off hot don't necessarily win, but I'm not so sure we've seen the best of these guys either. As an aside, Brazil could conceivably have a knockout path of Germany (Rnd of 16) - Belgium (Qtr) - France (Semi) - Spain (Fin). Wow.
Who should we root for in this game? If Mexico wins, they go to the drivers seat for winning the group. That could mean Germany for us in the R16. On the other hand, a Mexico win puts even more pressure on Germany later today, for only 3 points would likely save them from elimination. If Mexico loses, the group will be wide open again, opening the door for germany to reestablish control and winning the group, which would put us on a collision course to Mexico likely. All of this assuming we’ll win the group, which is far from guaranteed. In short, I really don’t know who to cheer for, there are many permutations.
If they make it out, wouldn't they have to play France in the next round? It just gets uglier for Argentina if they make it out.
Yep. I am not discounting them, but I have to see what happens when they face some better opponents. England should be a first test. Basically see it to believe it. In 2014 they were touted as a dark horse and it's OK for them to lose vs Argentina, but they looked completely toothless. Same thing with Euro 2016 getting knocked out vs Wales. They have absolutely no record of beating a good team. Now, it's true DeBruyne has emerged out of his shell since then, so that could be a major difference to push them over the hump.
Firmino looked much more impressive with whatever playing minutes he got. Will be interesting to see what tite's ploy will be. Jesus is off color it seems
And there's a report saying that Douglas Costa got injured in yesterday's game so I guess Willian will start again vs Serbia
Report said Douglas Costa suffered thigh injury in 84 min of match . He can play good after got injury. I think he can come back soon.
@MatthausSammer ...mark my words!! Germany will score within the 1st 10 mins of the game!! Defense is solid and Werner and Muller with 2 goals will score!!
True. But every team eventually has a breakthrough. We don't view Spain the same way as we did going into 2010. This group has been together for a bit, and have suffered the humiliation of 2014. They still may not get to the final, but I think they believe in themselves now. All I know is that I will not be rooting for Germany to be eliminated. Brazil may have to face them early in R16...but so be it. Poor guy seems snake bitten for major tournaments. More than once he's been the last squad cut due to injury. Hopefully he come back because he brings a different dimension on this squad.
They actually reviewed it but didn't tell the ref he needed to look at it. This is a travesty. There are no excuses here.