@pipinogol I like it that you are picking against your own team. That shows a certain sense of maturity. I hope you didn't do it just to have something to "cheer for" in case Argentina exits relatively prematurely. Thank you for being so honest.
I guess just like in the group stage my fate is it to come from behind and seal a decent position in the end. The knockout stage however gives little to no room for error. The only tie where I'm uncertain yet is England - France. If I pick England in that case I'm backing all my pre-tournament semi-finalists which would be testament of consistency. But in my predictions there was no England - France quarterfinal but an England - Denmark one.
Netherlands. A no-brainer for me. I never rated Argentina highly and I think they faced only supbar teams so far. Netherlands will be a step up and that's where Argentina's road will end. In 2014 we had Argentina - Netherlands as well. This time the Dutch squad has on average more individual quality whereas Argentina are not better than in 2014. Back then they had Messi at his peak. That's not the case anymore.
That's fine. But there is someone called Lionel Messi who, if in form is equivalent to 4 opposition players put together. So, you never know
Hope my prediction about Portugal is wrong though, I have nothing against Portuguese but would like Morocco’s fairy tale to last a little longer xD (just a little hahaha) I could definitely see them almost making it but losing on pens quite like a Costa Rica against the Netherlands 8 years ago.
No Guts, no Glory: Holland N over Argentina Croatia PK over Brazil England N over France Morocco PK over Portugal
Seems there are 80,000 Argentinians in the stadium. What will happen if the Orange Squad sends Messi home
We havenot got a Brasil-Orange Squad Final yet. So it's about time it happens. The world is waiting for it
I actually would love a Bra x Arg semi-final, but I have this feeling that Noppert will become a Dutch national hero this Friday.
That's also what Van Gaal critisized. Very few Dutch fans made the trip this time. The Dutch fans were outmatched by the other team's fans in every match. Argentina and Brazil sent both a very large contingent of fans to this World Cup. Essentially the Netherlands are looking at the prospect of having two away games upcoming.
We can't have it this world cup though. That would be a potential semifinal. The final will be Netherlands/Argentina/Brazil/Croatia v Portugal/Morocco/England/France
If we beat the Argentinas, we did beat Brasil in their own soil in 2014 3-0. So that happened before. We first need a revenge for the 1978 final against Argentina. No sweeter one than doing it in front of 80,000 of them But we still have to do it first.
The world has fantasies about a final between the two jogo bonito teams, while both have abandoned that for along time now.
Ya it's because in 2014 in the 3rd place match we didn't have anything to play for. No excuses here but still I think Brazil never plays for 2nd or 3rd place in a WC . It's everything or nothing for us
Why are we talking about Netherlands vs Brazil right now? We have Netherland vs Argentina and Brazil vs Croatia. Don't take anything for granted. These are not even easy teams and both games are 50-50. Don't take Croatia for granted. They're a lot better than you think. How do we even know that Netherlands vs Brazil will even be a matchup?
Let go of what your heart tells you. Let go of anything you really want to believe, take a step back, take a deep breath and exhale. Do you still really believe Brazil v Croatia is 50/50? I'd say it's more 75/25 in favor of Brazil and for the other game I'd say 55/45 Netherlands.
Most people would never admit to being wrong or more accurately admit to not knowing too much about a team. I have to give you credit, that shows good character.