FIFA World Cup 2018 (Russia) Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

Still think Brazil wins it all.

I'm more interested right now in if the North American bid or the Moroccan bid gets the 2026 World Cup.

Given Trump's unpopularity, I'd bet on Morocco, but... that North American bid is so much stronger.

[NewYorkExpress]

The US didn’t even make it this year. Who am I suppose to cheer for? My eagle senses are not tingling.

Mexico?

[NewYorkExpress]

GOATnaldo.

What a performance! Ele é um jogador maravilhoso!

Looks like Portugal is going to win the group.

[NewYorkExpress]

Saudi Arabia is more proof that the World Cup has too many teams. Imagine how much worse things will be in 2022 when it's expanded to 48.

By my back-of-the-napkin calculations, here are the additional teams that would be playing if this year's tournament had 48. Really it probably wouldn't be exactly like this, since qualifying would be structured differently if each confederation knew they had more slots, but this is an approximation of who else would be there:

Burkina Faso
Chile
Congo (DR)
Honduras
Italy
Ivory Coast
New Zealand
Northern Ireland
Syria
Trinidad & Tobago
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan

Also, 2 out of (China, Greece, Guatemala, Paraguay, Solomon Islands, Zambia) after a playoff

The Syrian players literally would only be allowed in if the Cup was in Russia, because otherwise, the host country wouldn't let them in the country.

[NewYorkExpress]

Calling it now: Mexico wins Group F.

[NewYorkExpress]

Most big teams seem to be in bad shape, or at least worse than they were four years ago.

Brazil will be fine. They have Neymar.

[NewYorkExpress]

So Sweden won, England escaped, and Belgium romped.

I think for tomorrow's matches, I'll take Colombia over Japan, Poland over Senegal, and a draw between Russia and Egypt.

[NewYorkExpress]

So, tomorrow, Uruguay, Portugal and Spain all should win easily, but the way this tournament has been going, all three could at least face a draw against Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Iran respectively.

What do you think is the most likely outcome?

[NewYorkExpress]

https://nypost.com/2018/06/19/journalist-groped-kissed-during-live-broadcast-at-world-cup/

So yeah, this happened...

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Meanwhile, tomorrow, I've got Denmark drawing Australia, France defeating Peru, and Argentina defeating Croatia (though that last one could also be a draw).

[NewYorkExpress]

I think it's safe to say Argentina will NOT be advancing from Group D (I think Iceland beats Croatia to secure their passage, eliminating Argentina, regardless of what Argentina does).

So for tomorrow, I'll take Brazil (I think they do much better against Costa Rica then they did against Switzerland), Iceland (as said, I think they beat Croatia to secure their passage to the second round with their win, and it essentially eliminates Argentina), and Serbia (I like Serbia's chances to pull an upset, irregardless of the Swiss's surprise draw against Brazil).

[NewYorkExpress]

I can't believe I was wrong about Iceland, again.

So, tomorrow I have Belgium flattening Tunisia, Mexico defeating South Korea, and Germany defeating Sweden (I like Sweden, but let's be honest, they aren't the same squad without Zlatan Ibrahimovic)

[NewYorkExpress]

I'm happy to be right about El Tri. I'd be happy to be wrong about Sweden too, as it fits the theme of the World Cup so far.

Tomorrow, I'm taking England over Panama, Senegal over Japan, and a draw between Poland and Colombia.

[NewYorkExpress]

Nice recovery by England. They clearly deserved to win this one.

Tomorrow, I'm taking, Egypt over Saudi Arabia (Neither team can advance, bur Egypt has been playing better than the Saudis), Russia over Uruguay (Normally, I'd pick Uruguay to win and finish atop the group, but there are perks to hosting a World Cup in Putin country, and winning matches like this is one of them), Portugal over Iran (Cristiano Ronaldo by himself is better than anyone on Iran's team), and Spain over Morocco (there is just too great a talent gap in this game between Spain and Morocco).

[NewYorkExpress]

So I was wrong about Russia...but they're through...but they'll face either Portugal or Spain next.

So, for tomorrow, I'll take Australia over Peru, France over Denmark (with just enough goal differential in both matches to allow Australia to advance in Denmark's place), I'm still taking Iceland over Croatia (that loss to Nigeria did not throw me off the Iceland victory train..and since Croatia advanced already, they have less incentive to win this game), and a draw between Argentina and Nigeria (which means Argentina is eliminated...sorry Messi fans).

[NewYorkExpress]

Morocco and Saudi Arabia today could play till the cows come home and still they wouldn't score a single goal.

Greece didn't even qualify for the World Cup and it's also a third world country, so their citizens can only try and criticize other third world countries to get some sort of high. No one cares.

Greece is NOT a Third World Country, by most standards.

I don't know which European Country you possibly could be thinking of...maybe the soon to be formerly named Macedonia?

[NewYorkExpress]

Is there any reason why they are now playing 2 games at the same time at 4pm and 8pm ?

It's highly annoying if 2 games are starting at the same time ...

What's wrong with starting the 4 games at 2pm, 4pm, 6pm and 8pm instead ?

That's so teams don't know what they need to do to advance...or know if they are eliminated before they enter the match.

In terms of on pitch action so far today, I'm a little surprised France didn't score a goal against Denmark....still think Iceland beats Croatia.

Looking at Tomorrow's games, I'll take Mexico over Sweden (Mexico clinches a spot in the round of sixteen...I'm surprised they haven' already), Germany over South Korea (Germany, as the far superior team, clinches a spot in the round of sixteen), Brazil over Serbia and Switzerland over Costa Rica.

[NewYorkExpress]

Argentina/France should be a very good match.

[NewYorkExpress]

Unless for some reason, Brazil doesn't win Group E, Mexico will get a tough match in the Round of Sixteen.

Looking ahead to tomorrow (I don't know why I keep doing this, as I've been wrong with about half the matches thus far), I'll take Japan over Poland (Japan has something to play for and Poland doesn't), Colombia over Senegal (With the win Colombia advances to the Round of Sixteen), Belgium over England (If this were a later round game, I'd be betting on a penalty shootout), and Tunisia over Panama.

[NewYorkExpress]

My picks for the Round of Sixteen:

France 2, Argentina 1

Portugal 1, Uruguay 1 (Portugal wins in shootout)

Spain 1, Russia 0

Croatia 3, Denmark 0

Brazil 2, Mexico 1

Belgium 3, Japan 0

Sweden 2, Switzerland 0

England 1, Colombia 0

[NewYorkExpress]

Further evidence great teams > great players.

Uruguay vs. France is going to be really good. 2 of the 5 teams I think have a realistic shot to win this.

Uruguay/France should be as good as Argentina/France was, if not better. And then the winner probably faces one of Brazil, Mexico or Belgium, which would make a very good match as well in the semis.

[NewYorkExpress]

So one of Russia, Croatia, and Denmark will be in the last 4. Not what I would have expected.

It'll probably be Croatia, but at this point, who knows?

It'll be Russia.

The elimination of Spain is proof positive that Putin is rigging the competition.