2018 World Cup

[nevets88]

Aaaaand we have parity. 

[colin007]

Double wow

[Vinsk]

What a match! 

[colin007]

Great game, what a finish

[Golfingdad]

5 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Great game, what a finish

That was awesome! (Although I was rooting for japan at the end, and then I was rooting for the clock as well so we’d get extra time lol)

[NCGolfer]

Great match.  The better team won but I thought Japan was going to win going away for a while.  They were very good keeping control of the ball and played like a poor-man's Spain.  Never looked stressed.

When Fellani came in you knew exactly what was going to happen...throw up some crosses with him and Lukaku in the middle.  They both had a huge size advantage in there.

Give Lukaku a lot of credit for laying off the cross and letting it go through.  He knew exactly where Chadli was.

[colin007]

21 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

That was awesome! (Although I was rooting for japan at the end, and then I was rooting for the clock as well so we’d get extra time lol)

I'm not sure my heart will take watching Colombia tomorrow

[Big_in_Belgium]

33 minutes ago, NCGolfer said:

Great match.  The better team won but I thought Japan was going to win going away for a while.  They were very good keeping control of the ball and played like a poor-man's Spain.  Never looked stressed.

When Fellani came in you knew exactly what was going to happen...throw up some crosses with him and Lukaku in the middle.  They both had a huge size advantage in there.

Give Lukaku a lot of credit for laying off the cross and letting it go through.  He knew exactly where Chadli was.

Exciting game to watch but it cost me a year of my life
Japan played solidly in the second half and took maximum advantage of their chances.

But we'll have to play a lot better against Brazil if we want to advance to the next round.

 

[Golfingdad]

1 hour ago, NCGolfer said:

Give Lukaku a lot of credit for laying off the cross and letting it go through.  He knew exactly where Chadli was.

Phenomenal, but it's even more than that.  I saw a replay highlighting the entire run of that play and he made it happen from well before that.  He was out wide to the right at midfield while their midfielder (DeBruyne??  not sure) had the ball on their half still, and he cut hard to the middle, taking the left back with him and leaving that side of the field wide open for the winger to get the ball, then he looped around and made that final "non" play for the easy goal.

Great play the whole way, but he was the star of that goal and he never touched the ball.

[nevets88]

 

[nevets88]

 

[Moxley]

14 hours ago, Vinsk said:

It’s a shame because my 7yr old is just getting into soccer..and his mom as well (watching) and as they’ve watched they’ve both been like, “what’s this nonsense with faking an injury....or are these pros all just a bunch of pansies?” So yeah, from another post when someone said how awful it is when Tiger curses...I couldn’t care less...just a chuckle...but watching professional athletes act like this is ridiculous. 

I agree it's a problem, but it's just the nature of the game. Like most global sports, football began in the UK, but unlike many of our other sports (Golf, Cricket etc) , football was mainly (and at times almost exclusively) played by the working classes. The only equipment you need for football is the ball, so it's been largely played in an unregulated manner - no club that you need to respect, for instance. To put it bluntly, this has never been a gentleman's game, etiquette , spirit of the game etc don't really exist, it's just a matter of what you can away with. 

 It ought to have got better as the sport professionalised, but then it also globalised and we had players from other parts of the world, such as South America, join the big leagues. This is when simulation (diving etc) seemed to really take off. To start with a lot of us just found it funny, and the authorities didn't do anything about it, and before long everybody was doing it. I suspect the amount of corruption in the game hasn't helped here, because the broadcasters benefit the most from this sort of cheating (something to talk about, replay etc) , and I can't help but wonder whether there has been an unspoken agreement to let this continue. They've now started with a degree of retrospective action in the premier league, but it's too little, too late. Zero tolerance is needed to stamp it out. 

But despite this , it's a great game, and I hope you and your son persevere - eventually this will be sorted out. 

 

[Zeph]

 

[Golfingdad]

9 hours ago, Zeph said:

 

Players too ...

[Zeph]

Ah, that's the tweet I was trying to post @Golfingdad 😁

Love Japan. 

This Colombia vs England match is terrible. Half the match is spent arguing, lots of yellow cards and dirty play.

[Moxley]

GOOAALLLL!

[nevets88]

[nevets88]