World Cup 2018

[Panthera Tigris]

Two very different semi finals coming up.

Belgium and France play a very similar style to each other, so comes down to who can do it better. Although, arguably, France seem a bit more solid in defense, Belgium a bit more attacking flair.

Croatia and England though, very different teams. On form, you'd have to give it to England. But it's a funny game. It's a bit like the old 'rock, paper, scissors' game where certain styles match up well on others.

 

[waiting]

Belgium tried ( side I had tipped ) hard but in the end France won.

1-0

France through.

Now for Croatia vs England

 

[tigerman]

England score after 5 minutes, Croatia equalise in the 68th and then hit the upright a couple of minutes later. Croatia looking the more threatening at the moment, 1-1 after 75.

 

[waiting]

Congratulations to Croatia.

In

2-1 in extra time

Will be going for Croatia vs France

 

[tigerman]

Congratulations to Croatia.

In

2-1 in extra time

Will be going for Croatia vs France

Yes it was a good game, Croatia were too good.

 

[mrposhman]

Well and truly a game of 2 halves (and a bit with ET). England better in the 1st half but couldn't get that 2nd goal. Croatia were much better after half time, controlled the game after then and England couldn't control the ball / game.

Once it got to ET it seemed clear to me it was either going to penalties or Croatia would win.

Well done to Croatia, I'm used to England disappointing me, but this wasn't one of those times. We played well, just didn't have that guile to open up teams in normal play.

 

[MD Jazz]

England didn't really try and score until Croatia got the 2nd. Never understand why teams who go one nil up early stop attacking and allow the opposition free reign to dominate territory. Croatia deserved the win.

 

[bigwow]

Can the Croats beat the Cheese eating surrender monkeys?
I'll be supporting the Croats, partly for Ivan Maric, and partly as I have more Croat friends than French friends.

 

[mrposhman]

England didn't really try and score until Croatia got the 2nd. Never understand why teams who go one nil up early stop attacking and allow the opposition free reign to dominate territory. Croatia deserved the win.

They did in the 1st half and then for some reason went quite defensive. Part of that was the Croats, they controlled the ball better, they set up well and there was a clear lack of cohesion through the midfield in the 2nd half which allowed Modric, and Rakitic get on top of them and get the ball wide.

I agree they were the better side and deserved to win ultimately as they played the game on their terms for longer than England did. This feels very different to the other games, disappointed to miss the final but I'm not disappointed in the players or anything like that, just beaten by a better team. We'll move on and be better in 2 years time for the Euros I reckon. We have some really inexperienced players at this level who will improve a lot over the next couple of years.

 

[mrposhman]

its also nice to be able to say we didn't manage to find a way to lose in this tournament. Sure you can blame stones for ball watching or whatever but that sort of stuff happens in every game, sometimes you get punished, sometimes you don't.

 

[Harry]

Croatia were the better team. That little Modric is a gun

 

[mrposhman]

Englands chance was really in the first half when they were clearly the better team. If we could have snatched a 2nd I reckon we'd have gone on to win, but half time worked well for Croatia they reset, changed a few things around, got the ball wider and really controlled the game after half time up until the final whistle.

No shame in being beaten by the better side on the day.

Modric is a great player and seems like a great guy from interviews I've seen, doesn't have that arrogance of some exceptional players. I wouldn't mind seeing him win the world cup.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

Much admiration for Croatia and the way they go about the game. A country of 4.3-4.4mil, consistently ranked in the top 10-15 in the world. I've often felt the only reason they never quite achieved the absolute pinnacle of the sport was that perhaps they were handicapped by their smaller population (and hence, talent pool) compared to the absolute giants of the sport. But gee wizz they are close now.

From a football observer's perspective, I often wonder "what if" Yugoslavia was still in existence. Imagine the gun of a team they would put on the park . The stars of Croatia combined with Serbia would be scary enough. Then when you look at the handful of guns each Slovenia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro continually manage to produce, which would top this team up.......wow, just wow! An absolute hot spot of Europe for producing elite footballing talent. And even then, the combined population of the former Yugoslav republics is around 23mil (about the same as Australia). So certainly not the kind of size of Germany, France or Italy. And further, France is relying heavily on migrants (or children of migrants) from their former colonies, to produce a great team - so the pool they are drawing on is even wider than just France's 66mil population. Conversely, the former Yugoslav Republics teams are all pretty much home grown.

 

[22nd Man]

Much admiration for Croatia and the way they go about the game. A country of 4.3-4.4mil, consistently ranked in the top 10-15 in the world. I've often felt the only reason they never quite achieved the absolute pinnacle of the sport was that perhaps they were handicapped by their smaller population (and hence, talent pool) compared to the absolute giants of the sport. But gee wizz they are close now.

From a football observer's perspective, I often wonder "what if" Yugoslavia was still in existence. Imagine the gun of a team they would put on the park . The stars of Croatia combined with Serbia would be scary enough. Then when you look at the handful of guns each Slovenia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro continually manage to produce, which would top this team up.......wow, just wow! An absolute hot spot of Europe for producing elite footballing talent. And even then, the combined population of the former Yugoslav republics is around 23mil (about the same as Australia). So certainly not the kind of size of Germany, France or Italy. And further, France is relying heavily on migrants (or children of migrants) from their former colonies, to produce a great team - so the pool they are drawing on is even wider than just France's 66mil population. Conversely, the former Yugoslav Republics teams are all pretty much home grown.

Think the population of that region opted for independence over A World Cup. But it is an interesting thought project to imagine. That region also very productive for tennis and basketball.
Do France give out passports to elite soccer people like we do in Olympic sports?

 

[Panthera Tigris]

Think the population of that region opted for independence over A World Cup. But it is an interesting thought project to imagine. That region also very productive for tennis and basketball.
Do France give out passports to elite soccer people like we do in Olympic sports?

:hihi

One thing I did fail to mention related to your last line. Croatia has actually been guilty of similar, but weirdly kind of in reverse (with Australia oddly being the victim of talent drain). In the 2006 World Cup, Croatia had four Australian born players in their squad. Two of whom even attended the AIS. So only defected quite late. Would have been five had they successfully convinced Mark Viduka to also defect - and Croat authorities tried very hard for that occur early in his career. So they have been very active recruiting talented footballing offspring of Croatian emigrants from Australia and Germany in the relatively recent past. Not so much anymore though.

A bit off topic, but on Yugoslavia, you’d be surprised how divergent views are among the population. Many actually detest the ethnic nationalism that caused the breakup of Yugoslavia and definitely weren’t in favour of the break up and independence. Obviously there are extremely passionate views the other way too.

I’ll give you an example, I have an old friend i’ve known for 15 years. He’s from Sarejevo and migrated to Aust in the aftermath of the horrible early 90s Bosnian war. Being interested in the history and politics of the region, I once, early in our friendship, asked him which ethnic group he notionally belonged to: Serb, Croat or Bosniak. His response to me. “I don’t have any time for that *smile*! I was born Yugoslav, represented Yugoslavia in sports (although he did represent Bosnia in internal comp, like Aussies represent their state) and still consider myself Yugoslavian.” He really detests the tribal identity politics that drove such a wedge between people, that they were prepared to murder each other over it. I think he felt (and still feels) that southern Slavic people of the region were better served as a larger, stronger united group, rather than magnifying and focusing on the minor practical differences between the 'tribal' groups.

To this day I still don’t know which ethnic group he technically belongs to. And as time has gone on, he pretty much self identifies as 100% Australian (given that his nation of birth - the only nation he identified with - no longer exists). Interestingly i’ve never observed him have a connection with Serb, Croat or Bosniak expat communities in Aust. He’s not a religious person, so no indications from that perspective. And all his friends and associates tend to be Anglo Aussies. Although I think it still breaks his heart that the country he so believed in tore itself apart and is no more.

 

[tigerman]

Fiat Chrysler workers have gone on strike because of the recruitment of Ronaldo by Juventus.
Juventus and the carmaker are owned by the same family and the workers are sick of getting paid peanuts while the club pays obscene amounts to their players.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44807281

 

[Willo]

Fiat Chrysler workers have gone on strike because of the recruitment of Ronaldo by Juventus.
Juventus and the carmaker are owned by the same family and the workers are sick of getting paid peanuts while the club pays obscene amounts to their players.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44807281

They should buy them all a house

 

[Panthera Tigris]

Fiat Chrysler workers have gone on strike because of the recruitment of Ronaldo by Juventus.
Juventus and the carmaker are owned by the same family and the workers are sick of getting paid peanuts while the club pays obscene amounts to their players.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44807281

I'm certainly no socialist. But seriously, I think professional sports salaries have got to obscene levels and is just making a complete nonsense of the reason for sport even being. Most large English, Spanish and Italian football clubs are all technically insolvent. How nonsensical is that?

I much prefer the German and Dutch model where clubs refuse to pay ridiculously inflated salaries.

In Germany, the ownership structure is often that clubs are owned by the fans/members - a bit like a mutual financial institution. And it must be run as a financially sustainable enterprise, not able to run up massive debts. And sure, they don't pay the enormous salaries of England, Italy and Spain, to attract heaps of the absolute biggest named foreigners, but I don't think anyone would scoff at the quality of the German Bundesliga. And it's not like their players are struggling for a crust. It's also meant that majority of players in the league are home grown, competing week in week out. The fact that the ownership structure means the clubs are obliged to be run for the benefit of the members and that a large portion of their players come through the local ranks of that club, it keeps the local community attached and feeling part of the fabric of that club.

https://liamsmithlaw.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/the-bundesliga-business-model-an-analysis-of-its-success-and-how-other-leagues-can-take-lessons/

 

[tigerman]

I'd love to see Croatia win for big Ivan, a great player and even better person.

 

[mad_tiggy911]

Go France.