As I've mentioned, I think England will win the World Cup. They have a very clear and easy (relatively speaking) road to the final, and I think they roll in this matchup, 3-1.
Not many here likes ice hockey I presume but England might do the same thing as Sweden did there many years ago. First they lost against much lower ranked competition and are really low after that tournament. (England lost to Iceland in EC two years ago, Sweden lost to Belarus in icehockey) Then the next big tournament they play a match that either gives them a really hard road to victory or a much easier road. They take the easier road and win the whole thing ... (sweden won both the olympics in ice hockey and the world championships 2006) I also see resemblances in the world cup 2006 where Italy won after France had played the best football and eliminated all other competition on the harder half, they barely squeezed a win and won. Italy had two easier games in Australia and Ucraine while France had to face Spain and Brazil) My guess is England will win it on penalties this year after being thoroughly outplayed by Brasil or France in the final ... I have previously insured myself against this disasterous scenario by betting on England as the new champions If England don't win it now they will probably never win the WC again because everything has gone their way... The guy that tatooed "England world champions 2018" on his belly will be called a genius (I guess he is already a genius by English pub standards ) But first they will of course have to win over Sweden and Croatia and I think England are like 60/40 in those two games ...
I believe the statistics show, that only 1 out of 4 teams that progress after extra time also manage to progress from the next match, and so Sweden do have an advantage, statistically speaking ... but I also think this tactically clever, physically and defensively solid Sweden team do have a weakness, which is lack of speed ... this weakness won't really show against good teams that rely more on individual skills than a high pace, but if England are able too keep up an English PL level pace, then the Swedish defense wil be in big trouble ...
Be a tough game..probably a sneaky 1-0 win to england...but a fair game with no diving..intimidating or fouling like the colombians do..sweden are a tough but fair side. Our greater quality will probably show through in the end..whatever happens i wish the swedes well
I fancy Sweden to sneak a win, possibly on penalties. The last minute Colombia goal was a blessing for the Swedes. I see similarities with the 1958 World Cup. Perhaps a final for the Swedes is beckoning.
I didn't hear about this tattoo guy. ITV have clips either side of the adverts with a guy sending up supposed English arrogance by having a similar tattoo on his arm. My favourite is when his young daughter asks if she can have a tattoo too and after thinking he says "no, you'll have to wait until 2030". They're actors though. An actual tattoo would be stupid. Unless there was some cunning plan where it was designed to be covered or altered by some other tattoo when we lose. Even then its stupid. I'm not predicting this one. Can't predict our games.
Eriksen never managed to reach his usual level for Denmark .. perhaps due to being tired after a long English PL season ... or perhaps because he became a father for the first time just 9 days before the WC, which perhaps made him lose focus ... or perhaps a bit of both .... but I have noticed that most of the players from the big leagues have been kind of tired looking, not really playing at their usual level ... in fact, the whole German team looked kind of tired ...
I would say that 11 goals and 4 assists in 12 WC-18 qualifiers should tell you differently .. he is usually brilliant for Denmark that btw was on an undefeated streak of18 games in a row before the Croatia game which they did also not lose AET, inspite of a poorly playing Eriksen ... He did score a goal and made an assist in the 3 group games, but besides that his set pieces, corners and his finishing was quite terrible and way off the mark in this WC, just as he had trouble just keeping hold on the ball, losing it quite often when not even really being under pressure, which is all highly unusual ... and you can't blame his team-mates for that ... or for missing a penalty.. you wont find a single soccer pundit in Denmark who do not think that Eriksen performed quite terrible and way below his normal NT standard at this WC .. and non of them blame the rest of the team for it ...
I feel Sweden has already peaked and will find hard to maintain their level of game, I did not expected England to be good but they did level up. I see this as a 50/50 game. I will support Sweden as I do like their style + Go Europe !
Do you mean go EU! Either team can win this match and I never predict England games. It is exciting though.
So mildly criticizing another team ("not very good") equals arrogance. I'm struggling to think of anyone of this site that has never done that. Ergo, we are all arrogant. I suggest you develop a thicker skin, my friend.
The World Cup has been going on for three weeks, and it's the first post I've seen from this guy in the World Cup forum, and right off the bat he is has to take a gratuitous shot at a team that hasn't lost in almost two years. I see BTW, that he already has a yellow card. Terrific. "Ergo, we are all arrogant." Speak for yourself. Plenty of us can post without resorting to comments like that, and particularly right out of the gate, like he did, without any substance to back up the slur. "I suggest you develop a thicker skin, my friend." Yeah, I'll be sure to give that serious consideration.
Up on your high horse there. I believe you were the one goading the Colombians on how their country's name was spelled. How honorable of you. I can see you are only interested in personal sniping, tired stereotypes and passive-aggressive smilies. Good day.
I have hundreds of posts here. But go ahead and cherry pick one exchange, in which I asked a good faith question about why the misspelling was an issue with Colombians, and someone decided to call it a "dumb question", so I explained further why I asked the question. There was no "goading".
It would be foolish to think that England will have an easy task breaking Sweden's 4-4-2 down. Sweden have already shown they can soak up much pressure and cause fits for others. England have only scored 2 goals from open play and also won't have it easy relying on set pieces. Sweden will also flood the box on their set peices and challenge England in thei air.