Completely agreed. Fitness has always been the greatest equalizer. Pace, energy. These nations are trotting out players who what they lack in technical ability in certain cases from the opposition will give you everything in terms of work rate. Australia gets one moment early in the game with a beautiful played ball and goal by Irankunda --- the game is completely flipped on its head. You need to be able to keep up with these type of talents and defend them with speed of your own. Not Politano, DiMarco type players fighting for their lives on the wing to keep up or giving acres of space because they are worried about getting cooked.
Look at the NY mayor. Maybe taking away funding from the police wasn't such a great idea, then declaring that NY needs state subsidies. What a disaster.
To those saying Italian football is dead because of the missed world cup when Sweden who finished with 2 draws open up with a 5-1 win, just highlights that once you get to the tournament, anything is possible and a few one-off games don't tell the big picture.
According to reports Tunisia have fired their Manager after yesterday's disaster-class. Sabri Lamouchi (ex Parma player).
Iran vs New Zealand Iran came out strong. NZ score completely against the run of play then dominate. Iran score, right after the hydration break and they dominate right to HT.
Fox in a nutshellCameraman: on wow shit there’s Roberto Baggio (frames Baggio dead center)JP Dellacamera “there’s Jill Ellis, former US Women’s coach” pic.twitter.com/46arU4KZad— microplasticonoband (@CinemathequeBK) June 15, 2026
World cup is rewarding the teams who can strike a deadly shot from outside the box. Love seeing it. F the teams who want to swing side to side and try to walk it in.
Al Owais plays the GK position the way it was meant to be played. Doesn't conform to the Neuer clown starman style. He gets major credit also for the classic one piece long sleeve GK jersey. A major breath of fresh air for this GK enthusiast.
Great game. Both teams went for it and played vertically. of all the teams it was Spain side to side walk in merchants that ruined the world cup so far.
Mikel Oyarzabal is the first player on record since 1966 to play the first half an hour of a World Cup match without touching the ball once
So much hype for Chris Wood for NZ but to me their other Attacker, Elijah Justn is superior. Incredible work rate, he's got thay dog in him.
Spain's tactics we're laughable at best. They need to adjust or I can't believe I'm saying this, they'll eventually get destroyed.
That game is a case of how hard it is to break down a strong and organized defensive effort with a keeper that is on his game, without a proper #9. This is the system everyone wants to copy? The movements all seem orchestrated and robotic.
I've been mainly wrong but here goes for today. I think France Senegal draw 1-1. I think Norway wins by one goal, otherwise we get a draw that no one sees coming against Iraq. I think Algeria and Argentina is either a high scoring draw (2-2 or more), or a 3-2 Argentina win. At most Austria wins by one goal, but rather I predict a draw against Jordan.
You can breakdown the low block by purposefully stretching the game the other direction, Spain and Turkey's insistence not to do that led to some of the most clown tactics I have ever seen. Side to side, stand around, back to the side, stand around, back to the side, stand around.
They've been doing that for a long time. Let's be honest about Cabo Verde, their keeper was out of this world. They defended low. Spain tried to dribble into the box. No target meant no party for them. As for their tactics, I don't see a lot of change. They're fast and technical and if you give them space, sure, they can do damage. So teams line up appropriately. I just find the movements very orchestrated and robotic. Can they recover and go deep? Well sure, they're talented. Again, do we (teams of the world) want to copy that? Brazil has specifically lost their flair because they're no longer developing players with creativity that can dictate play in the middle. Good quality technical players can slow the play down when necessary. It doesn't always have to be played at a sprinters pace.
I agree Spain is robotic and orchestrated. They should have allowed Cape Verde more of the ball, trusted their own defense and keeper a bit more, just to get Cape Verde further down the field so they could burst forward more and be more creative. They played right into it, just like Turkey! During EURO 2024 Spain did a better job giving up some possession so that their attacks could be more meaningful. I'm not sure what they were thinking yesterday. Vozinha was alright, but didn't exactly have the hardest saves to make unlike Al Owais or even Muslera for that matter. Even Courtois and Suzuki had harder saves to make so far. Vozinha is getting hyped up but let's be real, at least 5 if not even 6 of his seven saves were saves any keeper in this tournament is making (or any professional keeper should make). most of his saves I would expect myself to make without breaking a sweat.
Such a frustrating watch. That first half was so ugly. Fair play to them that they can convert their chances, but man Deschamps and co. love playing ugly games.