2018 FIFA World Cup Finals

  • Thread starter Famine
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Touring Mars
But goals are kind of important in KO tournaments - Sterling, Lingard and Young didn't really do anything and forced England to rely on set pieces, which resulted in the vast majority of their goals. Steling and Lingard at least made a massive effort and deserve credit for that, but both lacked some vital contributions despite being given way more opportunities than other players that could have made a bigger contribution if they had been given the chance.
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Lingard scored one of England's three from open play. Young was playing wing back so judging his performances based on goals scored is a tad unfair. Sterling did miss a lot of chances but replacing him would probably mean a change of formation, not to mention he was causing problems for the opposition. Without Sterling England become one dimensional. If anything the anonymity of Alli was more problematic for England than Sterling's wastefulness.
 
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Kane was a ghost in this match.

It will be hilarious if he gets the golden boot of the WC with 6 goals:

2 goals + 3 penalties + 1 lucky rebound most of them against the weakest teams in the WC.

At least he didn't get a "no touch" goal. :D
 
Hearing Roy Keane slam every single pundit in the ITV studio was better than the match.

At the end of the day, Croatia was the proper challenge for England and they failed. It'll be interesting to see how the team develops.
 
PzR Slim
I'm not going to have a go at you but it really is one of the great problems with the world, especially in the social media age. People are so quick to poke fun and glory in the misery of others rather being positive about the joy of others. There already is a mental health crisis and that is only going to get worse in the future. As the father of an 11 year old it's something I really worry about.
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Don't worry about him. His team would rather kick everything into the opponents rather than win a final if they even bother to qualify. What goes around, comes around.
 
At the start of this World Cup if someone said England would reach the semifinals I’d have been thrilled with that. But to go up against a Croatia team who are not that special, take an early lead, then miss a load of chances and sit back from the start of the 2nd half and chuck it all away is gutting.

The first half wastefulness and tactics cost us the game tonight, we should have been 2 or 3 up at half time. Even at 1-0 going into half time I think we had the game, we just needed to keep the midfield which we lost pretty much immediately in the second half.

Added to that the Croatia players were more committed to the 50/50’s and the equaliser was inevitable. The ref made some blunders but I don’t think the result would have changed.

I can’t say Croatia didn’t deserve it, they took a beating in the first half but only conceded one and then capitalised on our defensive shift to sink us. They didnt give up and looked far more interested in attacking. Over the 120 mins they were the better team, but I think we should have done better in the second half.

Sterling IMO had His best game of the tournament tonight, I’d give him 6/10 as opposed to the 3/10 against Sweden. Ali was being carried later on in the game and the less said of Walker the better. He cost us massively by not being aware of his surroundings or committed enough when they equalised.

Some players are going to come home with their reputations boosted though, Pickford, Tripper and Maguire in particular.
 
Woodybobs
Lingard scored one of England's three from open play. Young was playing wing back so judging his performances based on goals scored is a tad unfair. Sterling did miss a lot of chances but replacing him would probably mean a change of formation, not to mention he was causing problems for the opposition. Without Sterling England become one dimensional. If anything the anonymity of Alli was more problematic for England than Sterling's wastefulness.
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I reckon Sterling added a fair amount because of the trouble he caused various defences, but at the end of the day he is not there just to cause problems - there needs to be end product and England had too few chances from open play in the whole tournament, and especially tonight. The same goes for Lingard, though I did admire his tenacity - and to be fair, they may have done worse without him. Alli was possibly the biggest disappointment, despite also scoring a goal - he seemed off-key throughout (albeit mainly through injury), but he was a shadow of what he could have been.

Still, despite that, England still exceeded expectation.
 
We haven't got the best players, we are not the best team, we didn't play fantastic football, we had a lucky route to the semi final, that's all true but what is also true and what matters most is that for the first time in a long time they looked like they wanted to be there and that it mattered to them. And the effect that has had on the country has been great. So once again, thanks very much.
 
Touring Mars
I reckon Sterling added a fair amount because of the trouble he caused various defences, but at the end of the day he is not there just to cause problems - there needs to be end product and England had too few chances from open play in the whole tournament, and especially tonight. The same goes for Lingard, though I did admire his tenacity - and to be fair, they may have done worse without him. Alli was possibly the biggest disappointment, despite also scoring a goal - he seemed off-key throughout (albeit mainly through injury), but he was a shadow of what he could have been.

Still, despite that, England still exceeded expectation.
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Yep, for this England team to get to a semi is a terrific achievement. With such a young squad they have the potential to push on from here.
 
Touring Mars
They are now.
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True, it’s a remarkable achievement for them but even though it is gutting to have gone out this way it’s still fantastic for England to reach the semis. It would really be something if Croatia beat France on Sunday. But man for man I don’t think they’re special, Perisic is their danger man and he’s the one who took them into extra time. People will be expecting a France win on Sunday but they would if they were playing England too.
 
Woodybobs
Yep, for this England team to get to a semi is a terrific achievement. With such a young squad they have the potential to push on from here.
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And if you look how well they have done in the younger age group competitions there is the potential for many more, even younger, players to progress and be available in four or eight years time. And after the disaster that was Fat Sam the FA have stumbled upon a manager who seems to have the right personality to get the best out of the players.
 
PzR Slim
We haven't got the best players, we are not the best team, we didn't play fantastic football, we had a lucky route to the semi final, that's all true but what is also true and what matters most is that for the first time in a long time they looked like they wanted to be there and that it mattered to them. And the effect that has had on the country has been great. So once again, thanks very much.
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You have a squad that's on average 26, 3rd youngest at this WC. This squad made it to the semi finals of a world cup. Imagine the experience gained this last couple of weeks. That experience goes a long way for those young players. And if I am not mistaken, pretty much all of them play in the strongest competition on the planet.

I can imagine them doing a Spain in 2 years by winning back to back tournaments. 2020. 2022. 2024. They have left their mark. The world now knows the English are a squad to be reckoned with. I know that at this moment, and perhaps the next couple of days that will mean absolutely diddly squat, and that the game against Belgium will be ass, as that loser final isn't worth anything.
 
Dennisch
You have a squad that's on average 26, 3rd youngest at this WC. This squad made it to the semi finals of a world cup. Imagine the experience gained this last couple of weeks. That experience goes a long way for those young players. And if I am not mistaken, pretty much all of them play in the strongest competition on the planet.

I can imagine them doing a Spain in 2 years by winning back to back tournaments. 2020. 2022. 2024. They have left their mark. The world now knows the English are a squad to be reckoned with. I know that at this moment, and perhaps the next couple of days that will mean absolutely diddly squat, and that the game against Belgium will be ass, as that loser final isn't worth anything.
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Think you might be getting a bit more optimistic than us!

Anyway it's done now. Got the final to look forward to. I fear for Croatia, they are going to be absolutely wasted after a third ET match in a row and with one days rest less than France it's going to be really tough for them. To be honest I think France will blow them away. I'm hope I'm wrong but I've got a feeling it will be a bit of a rout.
 
Happy for Croatia, but the final will now be an even more difficult task considering the advantages France will have in both talent and (now) rest. Modric and Rakitic have been Croatia's major advantage so far this tournament, but that probably won't be the case against Pogba, Matuidi and co.

England Trippiered at the penultimate hurdle, not a Sterling effort. This Young team Kane reclaim some honour in the 3rd place match, but I expect that match to be fairly Dier with neither team wanting to be there.
 
SagarisGTB
England Trippiered at the penultimate hurdle, not a Sterling effort. This Young team Kane reclaim some honour in the 3rd place match, but I expect that match to be fairly Dier with neither team wanting to be there.
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TOMORROW'S HEADLINE:
Sterling Conversion Rate Plummets

Not mine but had to use it.
 
Theres always one... :lol:

upload_2018-7-12_2-3-43.png
 
Well played Croatia :cheers: World Cup Final! ..Your experience and determination broke the young inexperienced players down in the final half. You deserve to be in the Final getting through all these hard games.

England are a super young team with rising talent coming through with many sitting on the bench or waiting to come through from the under 21's. I hope they do not get too arrogant in the future and all carry on playing as team (which under Southgate should remain).

Kane on the last few pressurised games kept running back deep to help out (very much like Rooney used to in an England Shirt) which was worrying as he then stays in midfield not to be seen up front and wasn't in the box when required from Trippiers crosses, but I am sure they will look at the games in detail and he will back to form. Great Semi Finals all round. Nice Clean play not much VAR required at all.👍
 
Touring Mars
I was checking the official FIFA player stats (available here: https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/players/browser/#player-by-team) to see which players had covered the most distance per minute they have played - not a very scientific test since playing 120 minutes would mean a lower average than a 90 minute game etc., but as a rough guide to see which individuals had run the most. So far, the two top players are both Russian (Golovin and Smolov on 136.32 and 134.70 m/min), with Denmark's Eriksen close behind (132.82 m/min). If I could find the data in an easier access format I'd like to see all the players ratio of distance/time played, but alas the FIFA website requires you to browse each player separately and so I've only checked a few of the most likely candidates. Some Belgium players must be up there too, but so far it is the Russians that hold top spot.
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The result of the top meters/minutes players depends of where we put the minimum played minutes treshold value. I found 65 players above Golovin, most of them having less than 70 minutes of play.
Four are above 100 min, top two being:
England's Eric Dier has 158 minutes across 5 games for a 139 m/min average speed.
France's Nzonzi, 106 minutes across 4 games reaches 142 m/min.
 
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Milouse
The result of the top meters/minutes players depends of where we put the minimum played minutes treshold value. I found 65 players above Golovin, most of them having less than 70 minutes of play.
Four are above 100 min, top two being:
England's Eric Dier has 158 minutes across 5 games for a 139 m/min average speed.
France's Nzonzi, 106 minutes across 4 games reach 142 m/min.
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Yeh, I noticed that would be an issue - players who come on as subs late in the game will spend a greater proportion of their time running than someone who played the full 90 minutes... but, if anything, it makes Golovin's stats look even more suspect i.e. he managed 136.3 meters per minute for over 400 minutes of play!
 

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