2018 World Cup

He was lights out against Bolivia, for sure. But the Bolivians are pretty weak at the moment, so we'll see how things play out in Russia. The Serbs are in a group with Brazil, Switzerland and Costa Rica. I hope he does well, but the competition is about to get a lot stiffer. I'm optimistic that Shad won't let us get outbid unless someone really overpays for him. Let's see what happens over the next two and a half weeks. The price may go down...or it may go up. But I think we'll end up with him.

 

Spain sacks their manager a couple days before the tourney after he agreed to become Real Madrid’s next gaffer. That’s not what’s shocking, what is stunning however is Gerard Pique referencing the University of Michigan’s 1989 basketball championship team.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.espn...asketball-after-spain-fire-coach?platform=amp

 

Come now, Joseph.
Do you suspect Senor Pique's affinity for American college hoops? I'll bet he even knows the words to "The Victors."

 

The opening match was, well, a mismatch. But get this. FIFA has the Russians ranked 70th in the world, the Saudis 67th.
Next up for them in their group? 14th ranked Uruguay (hello Luis Suarez and Edison Cavani), then #45 Egypt (some wanker who led the PL in scoring). This is KSA's 5th WC appearance. They have never won a World Cup match.
Shall we proceed with the arguments about who should and should not be included in this tournament?

 

Nah. Let's save those arguments until 2026 when they expand the field to 48 teams...

 

Spain v Portugal had it all: controversy (Ronaldo’s blatant dive to set up the tying goal), breath taking tallies (his free kick to make it 3-3 and Nacho’s 3rd goal for Spain were crackers), a howler by arguably the best GK in the world De Gea. Great entertainment for the neutral. It’s going to take a lot to have a better first game then that.

 

My first match yesterday was Peru-Denmark. My son-in-law has relatives from Peru and he dropped by while the match was playing. I thought Peru was the better squad but soccer is a fickle mistress.

 

I've watched most of the highlights, most of the Egypt-Uruguay, Morocco-Iran and Peru-Denmark, parts of Portugal-Spain, Costa Rica-Serbia and Germany-Mexico and all of Argentina-Iceland and Croatia-Nigeria. Currently watching Brazil-Switzerland. I agree with Barry, I also thought Peru was better than the Danes, but this game, like so many others, isn't always fair. El Tri beating the Germans was pretty much unexpected, but they'll probably get well against the Zlatan-less Swedes. Was noticing that Pajtim Kasami wasn't on the Swiss roster. He appears to have had a mixed season at FC Scion in the Swiss Super League. Before that, it was an unsuccessful loan at Notts Forest. I don't know much about the rest of their squad, but I'd be surprised if they have that many midfielders better than Kasami.
Even though he didn't score, Mitro appeared to have a strong match against the Ticos, like Don said. He's got other skills besides goal scoring, most of which more than make up for his lack of quickness and speed.
Everybody went goo goo over CR7's hat trick against Spain, but DeGea should have had the second. Thought the penalty was 50-50, but if you let that one go, it becomes "no autopsy, no foul." The free kick was ridiculous. Not sure why Egypt didn't use Salah against Uruguay. Either he's hurt more than they admit, or they're trying to "save" him for Russia and the Saudis. That's more risky if he's not gonna be 100% before the group stage ends, so we'll see. If he can run and kick, they need him.
Messi looked a mess against Iceland. A penalty kick saved and three direct free kicks off target? Everybody has a bad day now and then, but his was catastrophic. I've never thought he was as good with his international teammates as with Barca. Is his effectiveness more dependent upon his club teammates' quality than we think? I know he got them to the final in Brazil, but he just doesn't seem as good for his country. I still like him better than Ronaldo Jr., but he, and his mates, have some work to do against Croatia. They're capable, but anything but a win against checkerboards might make the last group match against Nigeria moot. And that might be the last we see of Leo in a World Cup.

 

Who would have thought going into this that Spain, Germany, Brazil, and Argentina would come out of the first round of group play without a win between them? In our house we'd love to see someone new win the World Cup and this was an encouraging start for that kind of dream. Uruguay and France came away with wins, and England could still, but no one except Russia looked particularly dominant (and playing Saudi Arabia on your home turf is hardly representative of future results).

My goalkeeper son has been telling me for months that De Gea has poor form, something about dropping to one knee at the wrong time. I'm always like "Whatever you say kid." As soon as that shot went in he exclaimed "THAT'S why you don't drop to one knee!"

I've been enjoying the commentary too. But I've been watching Telemundo. And I don't understand Spanish.

 

25 minutes into the England/Tunisia match and I'm left thinking "Sessegnon would have had a hat-trick by now!"

 

Wow. Never thought about it before. The kid's right. And DeGea is considered one of the world's best.
Go figure. "And a child shall lead them..." Seems like I've seen this happen at the WC before................

 

• Finally a truly good American play by play announcer who grew up calling soccer (historically it's been the square peg in round holes guys who cross-over from other sports). John Strong and Stu Holden should be Fox's #1 team (if they aren't already).

• The lack of respect Germany showed Mexico w/their defensive set-up got them what they deserved.

• Besides the Saudis the 2 worst teams I saw were Panama & Costa Rica. To think the US couldn't finish ahead of those teams is sickening.

• France's talent is better then everyone elses; The attack of Greizmann, Giroud, Mbappe, Kante, & Pogba (played in his proper spot) is re-donkulous. That said they seem to missing something, Peru was cruelly denied a result for the second time against the French.

• Argentina....HAHAHAHAHA!!! Sorry, seeing Maradonna slumped and bummed out makes me very happy. Croatia after thrashing Nigeria & Argentina (3-0) have the look capable of a very deep run.

 

Not only do I strongly agree, I offer this proof on Stu. He's amazingly better than many of his peers with far more experience behind the mic (typed while listening to Warren Barton).

https://www.foxsports.com/soccer/video/1256928835830

 

Sometimes you just shake your head and wonder what the ref is seeing. Great game between the Swiss and Serbia is blemished by Mitrovic not getting a penalty call. Mitro's early goal put Serbia one step into the knockout stage, but the Swiss tied it on a cracker by Xhaka. Later a cross was on target for Mitro and 2 Swiss defenders literally wrapped 4 arms around him and took him down and the ref (staring right at it called a foul on Mitro ). I would liken it to a QB getting sacked by 2 linebackers and getting flagged for a personal foul. To make matters worse there was no VAR review of it. The Serbs pressed for the win (knowing they play Brazil next), but gave up a Shaqiri breakaway in extra-time for a gut-wrenching 2-1 loss. If the proper called was made and the Serbs converted the PK, they play totally different the rest of the way.

 

Me trying to listing to Jorge Perez-Navarro's commentary on Fox:

 

England vs Panama was just a painful reminder.

 

Russia, Croatia, France, Belgium, Uruguay and England have already advanced to the knockout stage. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Peru, Costa Rica, Tunisia, Panama and Poland are leaving mother Russia after their 3rd match sometime this week.
Who will join them?
Agree that the Serbs got jobbed against the Swiss, to the point where you've got to ask: did politics play a role? You'd hope not but, man, that was bad.
The most impressive squad for me? Croatia. They've looked very strong to me.
I'm glad the English are excited about their start, but there's a lot of soccer left, and they haven't exactly played the better teams in the tournament yet.