World Cup - Spain vs Portugal

 

What a game..

Go Poland lol

 

 

who won? Last i saw it was 1-1

Draw 3-3

What a goal (last one), what a player

Spain lost because of their own mistakes. Stupid challenges by Nacho (though he redeemed himself with that superb goal) and Pique, and wtf goalkeeping error from De Gea. You just dont concede free kicks in that area when your opponent has Cristiano Ronaldo in their team.

Spain lost because of their own mistakes. Stupid challenges by Nacho (though he redeemed himself with that superb goal) and Pique, and wtf goalkeeping error from De Gea. You just dont concede free kicks in that area when your opponent has Cristiano Ronaldo in their team.

Bit harsh on Spain though and not enough credit for Portugal

 

Because first of all, they didn't lose. A draw was a very reasonable outcome of this match, especially if you take in consideration that the whole Spain camp is on high tilt since they fired the coach like a day before the tournament started. Second of all Ronaldo hasn't been a prolific free kick specialist for a while now so conceding that free kick there was always better than giving a 100% chance to anyone else. I agree though with the fact that Nacho, Pique and De Gea made some stupid mistakes, but punishing those mistakes is part of the sport and it's no coincidence that Ronaldo is the one punishing them

Our commentators thruw some statistics at it, mainly for Ronaldo.

- Scored in 4 world cups

- scored in 8 nations league cups (so world and europe)

- first time scoring more then once in a world cup (yes he just want from 3 to 6 goals on a world cup!)

- first time after 83 attempts to score from a free kick at a nations league cup

- Third hattrick for Portugal in history (1 of the previous ones was a 4 against South Korea in 1966 )

 

For Spain:

after 6 previous consequative losses while playing in white at a world cup, they didn't lose >_>

 

 

but most surprising, Iran tops group B!

@@Samus Can you change the title to WC 2018 so we can discuss the WC as a whole, not just the Spain - Portugal match. Would love to hear some people's opinions on other matches as well

 

Spain lost because of their own mistakes. Stupid challenges by Nacho (though he redeemed himself with that superb goal) and Pique, and wtf goalkeeping error from De Gea. You just dont concede free kicks in that area when your opponent has Cristiano Ronaldo in their team.

Bit harsh on Spain though and not enough credit for Portugal

 

Because first of all, they didn't lose. A draw was a very reasonable outcome of this match, especially if you take in consideration that the whole Spain camp is on high tilt since they fired the coach like a day before the tournament started. Second of all Ronaldo hasn't been a prolific free kick specialist for a while now so conceding that free kick there was always better than giving a 100% chance to anyone else. I agree though with the fact that Nacho, Pique and De Gea made some stupid mistakes, but punishing those mistakes is part of the sport and it's no coincidence that Ronaldo is the one punishing them

 

Yeah I know it was a draw but for me Spain failed to bag their deserving 3 points. Taking nothing away from Portugal and Ronaldo but Spain clearly were the better team. But all in all a fantastic game to watch. I am glad they both went hard at it instead of playing out a dull draw. Ronaldo is always a treat to watch when he is in his element, even though I cant stand him

@@Samus Can you change the title to WC 2018 so we can discuss the WC as a whole, not just the Spain - Portugal match. Would love to hear some people's opinions on other matches as well

sure

Let's discuss the games!

 

Is anyone betting here?

 

I'm going for the £10k challenge

Let's discuss the games!

 

Is anyone betting here?

 

I'm going for the £10k challenge

What's that?

 

Also: BELGIUM!!

 

And how bad have Argentina and Brazil been. And Germany at this very moment... :o

Next statistic that keeps being valid: Spain can't win from a WC organizing nation.

Spain has been failing since 2012, I never understood the hype around them. They don't have the striker to facilitate their play style and don't have the players to facilitate their striker

Bah, poor Japan

Bah, poor Japan

 

They had the momentum but couldn't hold on.

Yay, Belgium!

I've always said that France was my pick as the winner before the tournament started, England has been very solid this entire tournament, same goes for Belgium. Croatia is the underdog, but absolutely not without a chance, however playing 120 minutes and penalties twice already is pretty straining on a team. France > England > Belgium > Croatia for me

Would be funny if it became Belgium - England, would atleast mean either side's A-team would actually be fielded

Would be funny if it became Belgium - England, would atleast mean either side's A-team would actually be fielded

or not, yay we lost!

 

Would be funny if it became Belgium - England, would atleast mean either side's A-team would actually be fielded

or not, yay we lost!

 

or yes, yay croatia!

Damn they actually pulled it off. England played so bad that game, unbelievable. Especially against a side that has so much more match time in their legs. France have played a full match in match time less than the Croatians. It's going to be an interesting finals for sure. 

France are very well deserved champions, but nothing can be taken away from Croatia who have played their hearts and feet out. Mark my words, this isn't going to be Mbappe's last World Cup. This France team has some a great future ahead

Bleh, France got VERY lucky with that penalty... It could've been a very different game, if the VAR didn't intervene (and they shouldn't have   )

Same with the 1st goal, Griezman already started falling before the contact. They did what they had to do to win, but they lost my respect with playing this anti-football and 'unsportsmanslike' time wasting. I hope the FIFA changes the time thingie and let's them play 60-70 minutes effectively and stops the clock every time the ball isn't in play, so we can get rid of all this time wasting and flopping.

Bleh, France got VERY lucky with that penalty... It could've been a very different game, if the VAR didn't intervene (and they shouldn't have   )

 

That was a penalty for me, hand in a unnatural position, the ball would have gone another route if the hand wasn't there, it's a penalty. You can argue about intention all you want, but intention doesn't cover everything

 

 

 

Same with the 1st goal, Griezman already started falling before the contact.

Can't argue with that, but to be fair another mistake takes place for that goal to go in. Mandzukic didn't help the cause by heading it like that

 

 

 

They did what they had to do to win, but they lost my respect with playing this anti-football

The 'Dutch' is rubbing off on the Belgians I see, or at least a good tournament has the Belgians pick up some Dutch tendencies. What is exactly anti-football. Defending is absolutely an aspect in the game, as much as attacking. You can say all you like about France, the players that they have and the football that they are supposedly obliged to play, but that is the most non-argument I've heard and it's always the Dutch that say it, because quite frankly we are so hellbent on 'totaalvoetbal', tiki-taka, offensive football, whatever, that everything besides that is basically 'anti-football'. Do you play this game to win or for the show. First and for most you compete to win and France have done that. How they do it is irrelevant to me. During EURO 2016 the Dutch broadcast could not shut up about the fact that the Dutch team should never win a tournament like the Portuguese did. Newsflash, we haven't won shit in years, so it's basically a non discussion if you can't even compete in the same tournament and the same goes for this one. We need to get our heads out of our mighty totaalvoetbal asses and start playing some actual football before we comment on other countries play styles. I'm afraid this mentality is starting to rub off on the Belgians, because it's basically the same if you see the comments that Courtois made about France. Kevin de Bruyne's comments were much more levelheaded in that regard

 

 

 

'unsportsmanslike' time wasting. I hope the FIFA changes the time thingie and let's them play 60-70 minutes effectively and stops the clock every time the ball isn't in play, so we can get rid of all this time wasting and flopping.

100% agree with this part though. If we want to see this sport move forward, like we did with goal line technology and the VAR, we need to start playing the game in actual time. Stop the clock as soon as the ball is out of play. No more time wasting shenanigans with players seemingly forgetting how to throw a ball, no more time wasting with players faking injuries, no more goalkeepers that take ages to restart play again, no more time wasting by substituting players who for some reason never know when they need to go off. More importantly also no more bitching about extra time being unfair because we don't need extra time anymore