Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
FIFA World Cup - Qatar 2022
- Thread starter yaxomoxay
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
He is such a nice guy and has been having a great year at Benfica.
But all deserve all the praise. A great team effort.
Against better teams the defence seems to shake a bit, let's see what comes next.
I say it here: if Morocco gets to the final, beer is on me.
Croatia: as always, utterly mediocre yet somehow mange to progress. Unimpressive in 2 of their 3 group games. Totally outplayed by Japan in this week's match.
In the last World Cup too they kept scraping through round after round after extra time/penalties, while never playing entertaining, positive or dynamic football.
Really hoping they get demolished by Brazil in the QF.
In the last World Cup too they kept scraping through round after round after extra time/penalties, while never playing entertaining, positive or dynamic football.
Really hoping they get demolished by Brazil in the QF.
I'm fully expecting we (England) will lose against France.
In a way I'll be glad for it. Anyone who lives here knows there's a stupid amount of hype around 'bringing it home' when in reality we haven't fielded a male team good enough to do that within most peoples' lifetime. We have some of the best Club teams in Europe: at Club level, even in the few years where none of our teams have won any of the League trophies, we've had teams in the finals or not far from them. But when we play as England, our Clubs' best players go home. Yet every time we under achieve, we blame the manager, like it's his fault for failing to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Now, if we actually paid the players based on what they achieved...things might start to look up.
In a way I'll be glad for it. Anyone who lives here knows there's a stupid amount of hype around 'bringing it home' when in reality we haven't fielded a male team good enough to do that within most peoples' lifetime. We have some of the best Club teams in Europe: at Club level, even in the few years where none of our teams have won any of the League trophies, we've had teams in the finals or not far from them. But when we play as England, our Clubs' best players go home. Yet every time we under achieve, we blame the manager, like it's his fault for failing to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Now, if we actually paid the players based on what they achieved...things might start to look up.
I have to agree with this, even if we all prefer the match to be one in regulation or extra time rather than "golden goal" - and I can see why most dislike it I do take your point on letting the other team come back. Penalties need to be part of the practice.
Clearly, those 1,000 practice penalties were not enough for Spain.
Croatia proving that experience on the big stage really counts for something, whereas Spain is still in the midst of rebuilding.
Portugal look pretty unstoppable, but will be interesting to see how their defense fares against a top level attack. A Portugal / Argentina final would be totally wild, though the irony would be that Ronaldo should not see the pitch if Portugal wants to have a legit shot at winning.
Last edited:
Sickened by news of the knee injury (a lot more serious than initially thought) to Gabriel Jesus.
We forget who brutal sports can be - athletes are considered to be at the top physical form of humanity but in fact pushing the limits of your body can lead to a lot of health issues. Not just for the "rough" sports like football, rugby boxing but even artistic endeavours like ballet or figure skating (imagine ballet dancers doing acrobatics in high heels on a slippery surface...well the high heels are well designed and fitted skates but the analogy fits for figure skating). I hope for Gabby's full recovery.
Well, to be honest, I'm less concerned about Brazil than about Arsenal, as I have supported the latter since I was a child.
Yeah, that's a bad beat for Arsenal. They were looking really good going into the WC break.
As much as I've enjoyed this year's tournament, the timing (and its impact on the various leagues) is really questionable.
I read an article about this in general where we will never touch other countries in certain sport because they arent ingrained into our culture. I don't remember if it mentioned soccer. I think it was some winter sports.
France vs England is the obvious main event for this round. France has the clear advantage, but England is certainly capable of hurting them. Nobody really expects England to win, so they're free of the pressure of expectations.
Netherland vs Argentina is the sleeper match of the round. I can see LVG packing the Oranje in and really frustrating Argentina — they have a decent chance of pulling off an upset.
From a strictly footballing pov certainly France-England closely followed by Netherlands-Argentina.
Brazil Croatia should be a more one sided affair and Portugal Morocco also considering that we will probably be having a double decker bus on that one.
Very good point of view, I am not overly excited for Brazil v Croatia or Netherlands v Argentina, my brain already decided who will be winning (Brazil & Argentina) for obvious reasons, call it being conceited, but hey ho... 🤷♂️
I wouldn't be so sure about Brazil eff'd, Croatia on other hand...
Guessing eff'd means what I think it is...
I am somewhat confident on Brazil going through, they seem to have a lot of options and they have played two competent Euro teams coming out on top. Even the Cameroon game they were always looking OKish even with their B side and ended up loosing on a random late action. Croatia just doesn't look that capable. Brazil is obviously not Japan, they will press forward with a lot more than just fighting spirit, determination and organization.
Regarding Argentina I am not so certain, of course they have very good players, but they could have been surprised by Australia (probably could win on extra time but still...), they lost to Saudi Arabia on a regular game with the A team. OK, they beat Poland but they certainly didn't look good. And they are facing The Netherlands which are a whole different league from what they have faced so far.
I still can't get over Saudi winning against Argentina, however, I think Argentina was holding back to this stage, and will possibly see different gameplay, if I am wrong, well it's a shame and I am massively discontented.