Today's first game brought back some memories. About 30 yrs. ago I had deps. in Brussels that ended a day early and we had an afternoon to kill. Some of the attys. I was with went to Paris but I went to London. Had a cabbie drive me around to all the must see sites. When his tour ended he asked me if I wanted to see anything else in London. I told him I wanted to see Wembley Stadium. He asked me why and I told him I was a football coach and certified referee. He tole me I was in luck, that there was a World Cup game that night against Sweden and that because the English team wasn't very good I could probably find a tout and get a ticket outside the stadium. He was right. Sat in the Swedish section. about half an hour out the guy next to me asks "are you Swedish?" I tell him I'm not. He asks me "are you English" and again I tell him no. So he asks me what I am and I tell him I'm an American and he looks really puzzled. (There were a lot of pretty blonds with blue and yellow face paint.) The game was really boring, a nil-nil tie with few good scoring chances. Today's game was a lot better.
Great story Gip!! I saw a funny tweet from a buddy earlier today after Raheem Sterling missed another great scoring chance for England that read "Raheem Sterling could kick for Alabama." Full disclosure, he's an Alabama fan with a podcast and he's part of the EDSBS/SBNation crew... so it's not like he was hating on the Tide
And Alabama has had a run of so-so kickers so I get it. Also, I hear all of the snide comments about the College Football Playoffs which I'm sure will go away when someone other than Alabama wins a championship, which will happen. All of these things run in cycles. 8)
Corey, I thought the game was lost at least 3 different times in the match. After the grueling games against Denmark and Russia, not sure how much gas Croatia has left. Brutal loss for Russia but they had a great run and, in contrast to what nearly every pundit in this country predicted, have been pretty good hosts for this tournament. They really clamped down on the hooligans, and from the reports I have read, the only major complaint from visiting fans was that bars were running out of beer which is something Wisconsin fans complained about during their visits to the Rose Bowl. Terry, re college football comparisons, Croatia, with its small size, would sort of be like Boise State playing for the NC. Their fan base, however, is probably similar to LSU's.
Bobda... The way I see the two sides of the remaining bracket is such: 1. Who is prettier, France or Belgium? 2. Who is tougher, England or Croatia? Aside from a few 200 level courses I took in the arts back in the day, I know **** about the subject so I'll just live with whoever comes out of that side. The Croatia-England matchup is far more interesting too me. The Croats have the determination and grit of Bruce Willis in the Die Hard franchise. They may be just scrapping by, but they are still doing it with a bit of flare. The Brits are one of the last great stories (to me) left in the tourney. (Croatia and Belgium have 'golden generation' narratives) This England team is the long asked question "Hey, what if we tell the old codgers to take a piss and gives the keys to the Aston Martin to some fresh blood?" He broke some traditions. He cut some national heroes and gave not one **** in the process. He's stocked a team full of scrappy talented kids who are oft middle class, humble kids who are just there to do their best to represent England. God help us all if this winds up England vs France. We've fought that war enough times. My hats off to Russia. They've really done a crack job running this whole thing.
That was a wonderful game and Croatia really has a lot of guts to go through what they've done and still come out on top. Croatia vs France to take it all!
Croatia v France...I wonder what you'd have won if Vegas making this pick to be the WC final before it all started. I hope Croatia wins.
Before the World Cup, Croatia was 33/1 odds on winning the Cup. France was 13/2. To reach the final, France was 11/4 and Croatia was 14/1.
:!: :!: :!: This may be the greatest WC ever and I've been following them since 1966. A tip O' the cap to Russia. I didn't believe they could pull it off. Croatia is Cinderella now and has a grand chance to pull the wabbit out of the hat... 8)
I agree entirely. This World Cup has just been wonderful. France looks to be the better side, but I am pulling for Croatia. Mostly because I hate Les Blues.
This Russian husband ( for now) has taken the concept of fandom to a whole new level: http://smokeroom.com/2018/07/12/soccer-fan-messi-divorce/
I only caught the 1st half of the 3rd place game today between Belgium and England. I spent the night before fighting a losing battle until 4am with a 3 year old who was determined to play Mario Kart on Daddy's new Nintendo Switch, which if you are unfamiliar, has an 'on the go' feature. Meaning, when Daddy busts you playing on the TV and sends you back to bed, you can pick up the handheld tablet of the device and take it with you on the go while never missing a beat in your game. I loved the feature until I saw how the 3 year old could put it easily behind her back...but I digress. England was one of the youngest teams in the tournament and I thought it showed early on, for what I saw of the match. This will mark the probable end of "Belgium's Golden Generation."
:idea: France has the most talent, but the most talented teams were sent home long ago: Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Spain, Portugal etc. Croatia has some very good players, but they play well as a team too. Miracles have been easy to come by in this WC and the Croats just might have a little fairy dust left...
That will be a loss for Croatia that will sting for years. They controlled play for most of the game but were crippled by a French set piece goal based on a dubious foul call and a penalty goal on a handball foul that also seemed questionable. Those calls put Croatia in a hole out of which they could not climb. But, they had an incredible run and played agressively and bravely the entire tournament and will return home as heroes.
Pogba's strike was incredible. I agree that the officiating was suspect. If Brazil had that official, they'd still be playing. Still, France looked to have more talent but man Croatia would just not give up. What an incredible World Cup this was. I see the next one will be played in the winter so the players won't die in the heat. I wonder how that will impact the regular seasons and championship seasons of the clubs?