R16 July 1 Russia v. Spain [R]

Uruguay arent bigger historically though. I understand your point about colombia having more experience but that doesnt make them a bigger football nation

 

Uruguay has won 4 World Championships (Two World Cups and two Olympics) and they have won the most Copa Americas in the history of the tournament.
Do you know your history?

 

Uruguay 2 WCups > England 1 WC cup.btw.

 

Man of the Match: Igor Akinfeev. #RUS pic.twitter.com/w8eW83Diq0

— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) July 1, 2018

 

this draw is more lopsided than the last Euro

 

wow... butthurt much? Spain played with NO urgency. You can't claim to be a world-beater if you only create 1 chance of goal in 120+ minutes of football... no matter how huge that parked bus is.

Spain doesn't have a plan B if that tiki taka bs doesn't work. Russia played ugly, but fair. What did you expect? They deserve the win, please stop whinning, you're making yourself look silly with those types of posts.

 

2016: Cheryshev is treated like a *hero* in Barcelona.
2018: Cheryshev is treated like a national hero in Moscow.

Nice turn of events.

 

Actually, neither team deserved to win. Same thing in the Denmark-Croatia match. Probably the worst day of football in the World Cup so far, with all four teams looking very poor. Four goals....three of which came via defensive errors, and one on a PK.

Tonight's highlight package should be Schmiechel's save on Modric's PK in the Croatia-Denmark match and 59 minutes of dead air. I fell asleep during the second halves of both games for about twenty minutes and didn't miss a thing.

 

Hey Spain, will you ever take a shot outside the box? You are going home because you won't.

 

I hope this WC signals the end of tiki taka football.
Can you imagine the dawn of a new era of defense minded, bunkering play as a response? And Italy having nothing to do with it?

 

The match was ... well boring with a hint of suspense. The suspense came from wondering if Spain would make a forward pass in the final third or if Russia would possess the ball longer than 20 seconds.

It was the clueless vs the terrified.

This sets up an even worse match next Croatia vs Russia I cannot think of a worse match based on performance anywhere in this round of 16 or in an upcoming match.

The only reason we are seeing this horrible matchup is that Denmark can't shoot and Spain won't shoot.

 

Not sure about Italy having nothing to do with it. What about all the Serie A clubs that are starting to get back on track. The rise of Juventus was big, and also Di Francesco's Roma last season, and just Serie A clubs in general minus Napoli.

 

I expected more from Spain. Spain is a much more talented team and let's admit it, a lot more experienced. I'm not sure why Spain's passes were mostly lateral; granted, the Russians bunkered, but at some point, the Spaniards needed to simply advance.

I wonder now what will be the ramifications of Lopetegui's departure at the eve of the competition.

Some names, which graced fans with amazing displays from 2008 to 2012, will be gone after this World Cup. Except for the butcher Sergio Ramos, I wanted Spain to advance.

Rebuild well, Spain; you've established you can be successful, and with effort and wise decisions, you can come back strong.

 

Tiki-taka without shots is just bunkering in the rival's area.

 

Die tie-taka, die

 

Actually they are or at least they are on the same level.
Uruguay 2 World Cups, 5 semifinals played, 2 olympics when they were considered the most important tournament and are the country with the most Copa America.

England on the contrary just 1 World Cup at home and 1 semifinal. Not even an Euro championship final.
They've been a bit more regular at the World cup maybe but even that is dubious given that England only has won 4 matches more than Uruguay at the history of the competition (28 to 24)

Also they've played 3 times at the World Cup with 2 victories for Uruguay and one draw.
Actually I think it's a clear win for Uruguay historically until now.
Even if we compare current squads there's not much difference and even Uruguay has a slight advantage with Suarez- Cavani- Godin.

 

I mentioned earlier, before this game got underway, that I will be more curious than certain when it comes to how Spain will perform. I had seen Spain against Iran and what I had seen had not convinced me that they can use their tiki taka to unlock stubborn defenses given their unwillingness to risk passes that could expose a defense but also leave them vulnerable on the counter if those passes are intercepted. Essentially, Spain mostly passed the ball aimlessly sideways and backwards. This was particularly true for the first 80 minutes of the match. They raised their level a bit as regulation was nearing an end, creating a couple of moments and one great chance. They again did the same towards the latter part of extra time period, again creating moments and a good chance to score. But in between these period, it was the same thing over and over again. Mostly the kind of passing that accomplishes little except boosting a side's possession stats.

On the whole, while Russia didn't show much, and was reluctant to take any risks itself, seldom pushing even on the counter, this game didn't deserve either side winning from the run of play. In that sense, the winner was properly decided on penalties. The fact that it was the hosts has its benefits and the fact that the team that got eliminated was Spain, not Russia, has its drawbacks too.

For now, football is going through a phase where tactical approaches to frustrating an opponent that has superior pedigree and talent seem to be working. On the other hand, useless possession is being shown to be a liability not an advantage. A truly good football team, it seems to me, is one that can play different styles depending on the circumstances. It should be able to counter quickly and effectively. It should be able to play a bit of tiki taka when that helps control the game. It should be able to move from the flanks and deliver good crosses when that is required to stretch a side and it should be able to go through the middle when the middle is exposed. What it should not be is a side that begins to look like a one trick pony. My criticism in this regard is not just directed at Spain but my own team as well. In this World Cup, we didn't show enough of the offensive capabilities of our team. Those capabilities are just much better than anyone will know. The same way Russia didn't show its best offensive capabilities against Spain, too timid to take the necessary risks.

When being timid pays off in its returns, I think fans who want to see more courage and daring, and a lot more excitement from the game, also have reasons to worry. We didn't really see that from Russia, but I doubt they will run the same script (despite its success) against Croatia or anyone else they meet not called Brazil. In some ways, Spain is sui generis and was simply too inviting for this script for Russia not to follow it.

 

Agree on most except they dont have a lingard or ali to back up their strikers

 

Russia played a bit of a risky match holding their lines so deep, taking the space for Diego Costa to operate in away. They closed lanes to his feet and anything toward goal had to be inch perfect otherwise it was to the keeper or out of play.

 

this match has Putin bribe money written all over it

 

It was not risky because the Spanish were too cowardly to attack with any conviction. If they (The Spanish) did not see this going in to the match then they were not cowardly they were just stupid.

Stupid or cowardly does not really matter as Spain proved that they are VERY capable of playing to lose and they executed that game plan to perfection and therefor get to return home.

 

When South Americans look at the old Olympic football tournaments do they ignore the ones that weren't won by South American teams? Which, in the era when they mattered, was all but the two Uruguay wins. The 1900, 1908 and 1912 Great Britain wins were English sides.

Personally I don't think much of any football tournament prior to World War 2. I know that is an arbitrary cut off date but travel was just so much of a barrier and there were so few entrants.

Uruguay certainly deserve a lot of respect for what they have achieved for such a small country..

 

The plans to create a soccer World Cup started in the 20s.

Until the 1920 Olympics, soccer had been a niche sport, with teams going from Europe only: 13 European teams plus Egypt, that at the time was an English protectorate.

It was only in 1922 that the fledgling FIFA had the clout to wrestle control of the international game from the national FAs (the scandal in the 1920 final helped, Belgium's win at home in Antwerp was marred by officiating so lopsided in favor of the home team, the other finalist, the Czechs, walked out after 40 minutes and the locals were given the gold by default).

So for all purposes, the first real international competition with the sport beyond a bunch of friends under iffy control was the one in Paris, with 22 teams participating, including for the first time teams from the Americas (until then it was only Europe + colonies): USA, and the South American champs, Uruguay.

It's only with the entry of the first South American country (and Uruguay totally dominated that tournament, the only teams to give them a game were the USA, who went full catenaccio against them long before formal catenaccio was invented, and the best Euro team, the Dutch) that football can be said to assume a worldwide importance.

The 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games saw more countries disputing the football gold than any of the early World Cups. As a matter of fact, the number of entrants in 1924, 22, was not matched (and increased) until 1982, in Spain.

In short, Uruguay deserves the four stars. After all, some of the early World Cups (I'm looking at you, 1938) were won under much less clear circumstances.

 

Tiki-taka will continue strong, Barcelona is still an elite club playing this tactic, they continue to own Real Madrid in their confrontations, plus teams like Bayern Munich and Sevilla deploy it successfully.

Hierro did a good job given the circumstances, but he is not at the level of Lopetegui as a manager. Spain ends the tournament with only one win and three draws, obviously they lost their form with Lopetegui’s dismissal. Still, they have a great generation of young players and should still be seen as strong contenders for the next Euro and WC.