World Cup 2018 - Official Red Devils in Russia Thread

Aiming for the runners-up spot in our group might be a good idea.

Group winner's path ... Colombia (R16) => Brazil/Germany (QF) => France? (SF) => Spain? (final)
Runners-up ................ Japan (R16) => Mexico/Switzerland (QF) => Spain? (SF) => France? (final)

Ahead of the World Cup I was betting on a Spain v. France final but so far they have yet to impress ... Belgium going all the way would be simply lovely though ... let's see what happens.

 

Heavy game, heavy legs? Doubtful. Belgium had both the lowest sprint distance and the least distance covered (of all teams). Not much effort, a comfortable win in the end.
Sochi heat and humidity, the flight, ... OK, yet that also applies to Portugal who flew from Moscow to Sochi and had to face Spain (instead of Panama).
Martinez was blasted by Koeman that (Everton) players were out of shape and didn't train hard. Maybe he changed? Reportedly a KU Leuven professor is in charge of the training regime (and workload concerns). The first phase is supposed to be the hard one, to adequately prepare them, and now the sessions should be a lot lighter, to reserve plenty of energy for matchdays.

Physically they should be fine. More likely they're getting the day off to be mentally refreshed. They already had more time (off) as we were one of the last teams to start (and two of the training camp friendlies weren't exactly high-intensity affairs), only the one low-profile friendly with S.Arabia to give players, especially the ones from the PL, a (March) break, the China trip was cancelled, ... IMO they should be in excellent shape now, both physically and mentally, no excuses.

 

Lots of changes expected against #eng⁠ ⁠ if #eng⁠ ⁠ win tomorrow:

🚑 Lukaku (ankle injury)
🚑 Hazard (calf injury)
🚑 Mertens (knock ankle)

Bobby M: “There will be major changes against England.”

Friendly game? #bel⁠ ⁠ #threelions⁠ ⁠ #worldcup⁠ ⁠ pic.twitter.com/TBkRI1DxiX

— Kristof Terreur (@kristofterreur) June 23, 2018

 

So our next game will be in the furnace of Rostov, where temperatures have gone into the 40s, instead of the low 20s in Moscow. Japan are used to those conditions and it wouldn't be a surprise when they'll try their best to make it a high intensity game. Luckily it's in the evening so temperatures will probably have dropped below 30. No excuses though, it's an opponent we should (and must) beat. That we sidestep a James-less (?) Colombia who have an extra day to recover is a silver lining of sorts.

"Thanks" to the win against England we'll also be forced to travel all around Russia, well at least IF we can beat the likes of Brazil, and only IF (that's another massive if) we reach the final will we play one more game in Moscow. As runners-up we would have only had to make one trip (possible QF v. the Swiss or the Swedes) and every other game would have been played near our basecamp, starting in the stadium where we had beaten Tunisia quite comfortably and, reportedly, feel at home in. Hey-ho, the dice are cast, beat Japan and then Brazil, momentum will be soaring and we'll need it as we'll have to keep punching above our weight to stand a chance.

Southgate before the game emphasized how important it was to maintain a winning mentality, how important momentum was, blahblahblah. His body language and his excuses in the post-game interview, lmao, must have been a proud feeling for the England fans that were at the game and that wasted their time and money. OTOH Martinez even went as far as resting all our starters and admitted before the game that a win was not a priority. IDK about England fans but hearing that from an opponent's manager and then England still loses the game, fvck me.

TL;DR ... the level of opposition we faced in the three group games ... easy, easier, england ... especially that last one was a farce ... Perfidious Albion again.

 

No player left in the World Cup has ever won it, or even played in the final.
Brazil have a few that played in the 2014 semis ... Marcelo, Paulinho, Fernandinho and Willian ... but they lost 7-1.
Uruguay also have a few that played in the 2010 semis ... Cavani, Muslera, Godin, M.Pereira and Caceras ... they needed a Suarez handball to even get there.

The excellent Darren Cann has provided me with this :

The last 3 countries to win The #WorldCup are out.

Every single player left in has never won it...& amazingly, none of the players left in the competition have ever played in a World Cup Final.

— Sam Matterface (@sammatterface) July 1, 2018

 

I'm really looking forward to our QF game against Brazil, could be a mouth-watering clash. OK a soft path is important, e.g. Portugal in 2016, a poor Holland side (except for Robben) reaching a podium place in 2014 and so on. Still players aren't exactly dreaming of facing Sweden in the quarters. Brazil OTOH, can't wait for that one. Our much harder path really feels like a World Cup should, so I had a change of heart. Besides there's plenty of time to complain about the path in case we don't punch above our weight against Brazil but winning against the odds, football does have its moments.

Expecting Tite to play cautiously again and focus on stability. Brazil have faced only 5 shots on target in all their games combined, yet could face more in our game. Maybe Martinez will take a more defensive approach, well for his standards. Pressing them aggressively, particularly in transition, could prove to be the best way to beat Brazil.

This time no Prendergast nonsense, please. Serbian ref Mazic has been assigned. He reffed the CL final this year.

BRAZIL - BELGIUM (Quarter-finals)

Referee: Milorad MAZIC (SRB)
Assistant Referee 1: Milovan RISTIC (SRB)
Assistant Referee 2: Dalibor DJURDJEVIC (SRB)
Fourth Official: Jair MARRUFO (USA)
Reserve Assistant: Corey ROCKWELL (USA)

 

https://globoesporte.globo.com/fute...s-tite-elogia-capacidade-criativa-magia.ghtml

------------------Alisson
Fagner - T. Silva - Miranda - Marcelo
----------------Fernandinho
Willian - Paulinho - Coutinho - Neymar
------------------G. Jesus


--------------Lukaku - Hazard
-------------------De Bruyne
Carrasco - Dembele - Witsel - Meunier
Vertonghen - Kompany - Alderweireld
-------------------Courtois

... probably will start in the usual 3-4-2-1 with Mertens though


Nainggolan would have been a great option, especially if you're looking to win the ball high up the pitch, but you could also use Dembele/Fellaini and get the ball to KDB (with as much space as we can open up for him). Brazil could try to shackle KDB but they wouldn't be the first to try it. We'll probably change our shape during the game anyway, if we start in our usual 3-4-2-1 or not. Also, Chadli did well and could take Carrasco's spot.

According to the article above Marcelo will play. Despite the constant criticism it isn't only Belgium's wingbacks that leave space in behind, the space Brazil's fullbacks leave on the flanks can be exploited as well. Down the right flank our play is very dynamic, with Hazard coming over to create an overload, and if Marcelo does indeed play we can expect plenty of space and opportunity. In case we don't press Brazil high, even though they've had a hard time coping with it, we can try to trap/isolate, spiderpressing (why not both and alternate our pressing). We struggle when we're pinned back for long stretches of the game so definitely don't want to spend too much time on the back foot. Tite could play less defensively than usual but I doubt he'll risk it at this stage. Besides he knows Belgium is one of, if not the most deadly team on the counter in the international game, and he saw a textbook example of it in the game against Japan.

In case Belgium score first, this game has the potential to turn into a real clash but it will probably be a cagey affair (despite both managers claiming it will be an open game). Not unusual the deeper you get into the tournament. Luckily, there's no Prendergast in sight but instead a top quality ref has been assigned. With Neymar rolling around on the pitch if you so much as give him a dirty look I hope the ref doesn't fall for it and OTOH it wouldn't be a surprise if our players receive lots of unwanted physical attention. Belgium have been screwed over enough in the past, about time that sort of nonsense stops, or better yet it balances out and we benefit in this game.

 

Turns out Belgium are a decent side.

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/packing-football-statistic-world-cup-england-v-sweden/

 

Brilliant performance. Courtois, so many saves. Our defence's stats, fvck me. Fellaini slotting in behind Meunier, at rightback. Chadli and Vertonghen nixing Willian. KDB as a false 9, scoring a worldie because why not. Lukaku, if Tite had watched that Everton 3 - Arsenal 0 game he would have remembered how Rom bossed it playing on the right. Hazard, there were many men of the match and he was one of them. Great team performance, everybody stepped up and how.

Martínez knew what he was doing all along. Big decisions. A bespoke tactical performance. The players bought into his plan and it's then nice to see it come together. Tite clearly lost the tactical battle. Brazil were top favourites but Tite was outclassed.

In be4, luck. You make your own luck. Kompany doesn't make that run, that ball gets cleared and we don't open the score. That second goal was sheer quality though. Could have conceded more, sure, we should have scored more too though. Still why look for negatives, by seeing the game out the guys aced another test of character, a massive positive to take away from a big game. Momentum keeps building. Brazilians fuming after the ref and VAR wave away their penalty claim, IIRC it feels awful when something like that happens, you can only hope it balances out. Hey-ho, Brazil usually benefit from ref bias and maybe the ball was out when Jesus thinks he has provoked the pen. He was looking for a decision and had no intent of doing anything with the ball (hard to feel sympathetic). Neymar was lucky not to get carded for a clear dive earlier in the game and his endless, over-the-top play-acting throughout the World Cup might have worked against Brazil. And of course ... in major tournaments sometimes you need the rub of the green.

 

So close. The guys did well and deserve lots of love. The two previous games, even though memorable, were physically and mentally demanding. France retreated in their trenches and eventually blocked the route to the final. This game has proven to be a bridge too far.

A shame about the other path. England have been walking towards the final, not even playing that well, and only now will have to face a decent side. Croatia look a bit drained but hey-ho.

In a possible 3rd place game against England there would be bragging rights for the PL players, teammates facing each other, and what we missed out on, because of the non-event that was our final group game, we might get to see after all. OTOH, playing Croatia in what could be an open 3rd place game would also be fine and maybe provides fireworks in our last game in Russia. In that case England and France can both dig in during the final.

 

WOW. Did you bottle up your frustration for all this time? Very unhealthy. Probably best to vent now.

PS we're returning home this weekend. I hope you've fed my cat and watered my plants while I was in Russia. It's not like you had anything else on.