2018 World Cup Thread

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

And here I thought the British flag was the Union Jack

The British flag is the Union Jack although some say it’s only called the Union Jack when it’s on a boat but the Union Flag when it’s not. The flag of England is the flag of St George which is a Red Cross on a white background.

[Cobra Mgr]

I forgot England & Britain is somehow different.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

I forgot England & Britain is somehow different.

The English flag is part of the Union Jack, which also has elements of the flags of Scotland and Ireland. Also note that the Union Jack is not used to represent England in football tournaments, because there is no football association of all of the UK. The separate parts of the country all have - for historical reasons - their own associations, and they all compete individually in football, despite being parts of the same country, which I think is unique in the sport.

Also, the Serbs go for the bones. What a surprise.

[Westheim]

Or just watch this during halftime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10

[rudel.dietrich]

Super disappointing but unlike many fans I am not really going to call this tournament by Germany 'shameful' or 'a disaster'
Yes these only happen every four years so you have to make them count and we have never failed to get out of the group stage and we played in a group that by ELO ranking was in the bottom 40% of difficulty.
But when you have a standard of excellence for so long it is bound to end at some point.
The national team at the moment is a bit of an odd mixture of a few older players in their 30s who first got experience in 2006 when the tournament was held in their homeland or most in 2010.
And then many in their mid to young 20s who many are excellent but not some of the generational talents we have had in the past.
Especially in front of goal.

You won't hear the words 'golden generation' because we have had so many golden generations but we did have a very top level group for over a decade from around 2005-to somewhere around now.

And even this current group looking stunning in qualifying and won the Confederations Cup.
And any team in any sport is going to have a run of three poor games in a row.

So yes, let the investigations and autopsies begin as anything can be improved upon and there is about 12 months to experiment with teens and some other players in their 20s before important qualifying games for Euro 2020 need to be played.

[Ragnar]

So am I to expect a friendly between England and Belgium tomorrow?

[pilight]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

So am I to expect a friendly between England and Belgium tomorrow?

Unless they're concerned about where they'll be in the bracket. If so, it could be an entertaining bit of trying to get lots of red and yellow cards.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

So am I to expect a friendly between England and Belgium tomorrow?

Worse. There might be some real intention to finish second in that group.

If you finish second, you first get to someone from Group H that was something of a joke to begin with, and then the winner between Sweden and Switzerland, in other words: free cruisin' to the semis, where there will be some old, lame Spaniards or the Croatians.

So, the Croatians.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

So am I to expect a friendly between England and Belgium tomorrow?

You could see that, mainly due to players being rested or players not wanting to get injured. However imo a player brought in should be giving 100% to prove he’s worth a place in the starting 11, also your more likely to get injured by holding back.

I can guarantee England will NOT take a dive to finish second, unlike other nations in past World Cups England have NEVER fixed a match to benefit them or anybody else anyone insinuating that is talking out their ass.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

So yes, let the investigations and autopsies begin as anything can be improved upon and there is about 12 months to experiment with teens and some other players in their 20s before important qualifying games for Euro 2020 need to be played.

Firstly agree with everything else you said, which is a shock

However don’t you think they should have blooded more youngsters in there qualifying group? It wasn’t the hardest of groups 10 wins out of 10 and I bet they qualified with 2 or 3 games left. England fans have been screaming out for years to blood the youngsters in during easy qualifying groups and for the first time we finally get a manager who does it, it helped he was the under 21 manager but least he had the stones to do it.

[Ragnar]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

You could see that, mainly due to players being rested or players not wanting to get injured. However imo a player brought in should be giving 100% to prove he’s worth a place in the starting 11, also your more likely to get injured by holding back.

I can guarantee England will NOT take a dive to finish second, unlike other nations in past World Cups England have NEVER fixed a match to benefit them or anybody else anyone insinuating that is talking out their ass.

Since they have both advanced, I'm suggesting that they might both just kick it around like France and Denmark did. No sense in risking a 2nd yellow in a meaningless game.


Excuse my ignorance on this, but I have a question in regards to cards. I know two yellows in a game gets you a red. But what about a yellow in one game and a yellow in the next? How do they work that? You don't get immediately tossed, right? No red comes out? Do you still miss the next game?

[TheMaus2]

yes, you miss the next game with consecutive yellows

[ukhotstove]

Yellow cards are cleared after the quarter finals (last 8) meaning only players sent off in a semi final will miss the final, so anyone booked in 2 of the group games misses the last 16 game, anyone booked in a group game then the last 16 game misses the quarter final game.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by TheMaus2

yes, you miss the next game with consecutive yellows

You miss the next game with any two yellows. It does not have to be in consecutive games.

The sole exception is the Ballack rule: single yellow cards are erased after the quarterfinals, so nobody can be suspended on yellows for the finale. (cough) 2002 (cough)

[ukhotstove]

Bit of an addition to clarify, if you were given a yellow in the 1st & 2nd group game you missed the 3rd group game, if you got booked in the 1st & 3rd or 2nd & 3rd group game you miss the last 16 game.

[ukhotstove]

Japan threw on fewer yellow cards, stays the same we'll get rid of this nonsense of Belgium or England taking a dive.

[ukhotstove]

Senegal only themselves to blame, soon as the news came through that Poland had scored Senegal took their foot off, think they felt that Colombia would kick the ball around and settle for a draw while it was 0-0.

[Griever20]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

So am I to expect a friendly between England and Belgium tomorrow?

If so, at least let England win and Raheem Sterling get a couple of goals so that my FIFA 18 card of him gets upgraded(first world problems)

[Griever20]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

Senegal only themselves to blame, soon as the news came through that Poland had scored Senegal took their foot off, think they felt that Colombia would kick the ball around and settle for a draw while it was 0-0.

Agreed, and that is never a good thing. They got punished by Mina with that header, World Cup style :>

Speaking of the England - Belgium game, the runner up in that group lands in the side of the bracket with Spain, Russia, Croatia, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and would play Senegal in the Ro16...

Compare that with the other side Portugal, France - Argentina(what a Ro16 game), and Brazil while playing Japan in the Ro16...

[TheMaus2]

disappointed that Senegal didn't go through