England doesn't like team that outmuscle them. England has a good record against Africa, but this is the team to counter England. Having Kouyate back is pivotal though. He's the midfield battering ram.
Argentina played well. Scaloni used Messi in the right way: a center forward (false nine), with several players running around him, giving passing options and Messi with little defensive concern. But Poland put the lines very far back. We don't know how Argentina will react with other opponents that push the line, as Mexico and Saudi Arabia did. Luckily for them, Australia and Netherlands don't usually play like this.
You can literally get a yellow for celebrating too hard. Or For causing a career ending injury There is no consistency, that's why I'd rather a PK shootout or even draw of lots.
Yeah, Argentina v Poland was a huge match because the winner would get placed in that relatively easy quadrant of the brackets and have a very good chance of getting to the semis.
I dunno. That was a completely feeble display that Poland put on tonight. Plus they already had 9 toes in the knockout stage before today, so I don't think its a case of a team getting that monkey off their back. Poland just aren't very good, plain and simple. France will advance comfortably, especially since they rested their entire first team today while Poland spent 90 minutes chasing shadows.
But at least it is promoting sportsmanship and fair play. I cannot bash that. But I respect your point and can see why you do not like the rule.
Yea, Poland is not good. They were not going to beat Argentina, unfortunately, and they're not going to beat France.
In my rewatch after the madness i realize how well Argentina played. Yeah, Poland was specially null today, but the final score doesnt do the game justice. It was all Argentinas, from start to finish, and that Julian Alvarez goal with 28 touchs remind me of the serbia and montenegro one in 2006. Just beautiful collective play in both goals actually.
I am actually very surprised he's just the 1st player in history to do that I figured there would be at least dozen or so before him
Poland is very lucky team. Their goalkeeper is great. But their entire team plays pretty boring, hard to watch. Poland has good players as individuals. Glik, Milik, Lewandowski, Zielinski... Piatek is in decline. Milan - Salernitana.
Historically the poor group teams that barely make it out often give a great effort in the 1/8. Remember Ukraine some years back? I expect either Australia or Poland to put up a surprising fight. Just final word: What bugged me most about this match is that Poland never even tried. At 0:0 they could have at least tried to score a goal. They did nothing. I can even forgive them parking the bus at 2:0 down, but they put no effort whatsoever to win the group / try to equalize after going a goal down. 90 minutes of desperate defending.