Topic: 2018 FIFA World Cup

Never mind Alli, time to get Kane off.

On second thoughts, get Alli off as well.

Thank you Croatia!! Yes yes yes!!

Very well played 2nd half and in extra time.. happy Scotland fan tonight

I pity you. Bottom of the barrel to get your kicks from another home nation's misfortune.

But of course, free country and all that.

Naturally, gutted for the lads but they did come up short in that game. Croatia could be beaten or at least matched all the way to pens. Didn't happen. This England team have over-achieved to get this far but they've let a team we could have beaten, knock them out tonight.

My last sweepstake side is France and I now hope they win the tournament.

I was about 12 minutes away from nailing a 1-1 prediction. Now my chances in the prediction cup are dead.

Unless Sterling had fitness issues I think it was a mistake to sub him. He was very effective in the first half.

Harry Kane barely touched the ball again, apart from his 3 misses. His lack of mobility and general contribution stood out like a sore thumb and I'd have liked to see Welbeck come on in his place. Kane is in danger of turning into the next Wayne Rooney for England, in the side due to reputation and penalties rather than for optimum team balance. With Sterling running behind him Kane's place can still kinda be justified, but otherwise... no. He was virtually a passenger in the second halves of both the Croatia and Colombia games.

Rashford came on and seemed to just jog about, not putting the Croatian defence under enough pressure. Disappointed cos I hoped he might have a good tournament, but it didn't happen for him and his work rate tonight seemed a bit lacking.

And Dele Alli... I mean... apart from the header that someone else put on a plate for him, what was his contribution in this World Cup?

Generally Southgate has had a a very good tournament, but his failure to do something about Kane and Ali's sub-par contributions is the one black mark against him, and quite a big one in my book.

Feel sorry for John Stones, possibly England's player of the tournament, but that winning goal will haunt him.

@kobashi100 and wheres your jimmy krankie run country in all this? Oh yeah, you didnt qualify.... 😂😂😂

Over achieved!! You didn't beat one single team above you in the rankings. Had the easiest route ever to get to the semi. You played two decent teams and got beat both times.

@kobashi100 You can only play the teams in front of you. England can't control who they are drawn against. However, I take your point onboard but I'd also say FIFA rankings don't necessarily equate to an accurate representation of who the best teams are in tournament football. In any case, surely you wouldn't begrudge your own nation having similar success? I mean, if Scotland had managed to be at this World Cup and got to the semi-final, regardless of the teams they faced, you'd feel some satisfaction I would of thought?

Anyway, probably best I say no more as from your past comments I can see we have totally contrasting attitudes to supporting our national sides and our neighboring teams. Hopefully, when the Euros come round we'll get to see Scotland qualify along with Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. Or more likely, these teams will end up locking horns in the same qualifying group.

@Lroy I would be over the moon yes. We are garbage though and worse is we have a garbage manager

Don't get me wrong England getting to semi finals is an achievement. Just trying to put some perspective on things. The route they had couldn't have been any easier. Could argue the best result they had was losing to Belgium.

Regarding supporting the home nations. Nah England are closest rivals. Just no way I could ever wanna see them win.

Wales no problem, NI not a damn chance. Republic of Ireland (not a home nation) definitely yes.

Fenian alert!

Congrats Belgium, something to remember from this tournament too : )

Fantastic Belgium team !

They have made an awesome World Cup ! I'm really happy that they take the 3rd place, they really deserve it !

Damn, I was really hoping Croatia would win it.

Country of only 4 million people that's only existed for 25 years. Extraordinary how well they've done.

@Dezzy

Yep ! You forgot to say how their fighting spirit was impressive.

An awesome team with a lot of talent.

Baguette 2018

@6ch6ris6

You mean BAGUETTE 2018 !

not to mention, they are a force to be reckoned with in most other sports - volley, basket, water polo, handball. They dominate the european scene in all these sports.
How come Rome has roughly the same population but I can't even set up a 5-a-side game on a Friday night?? However, their music and cuisine have to be sh!te so...you know, you can't possibly be good at everything.

By the way, weirdest world cup I've seen in a while - and, beside a few exceptions, I don't think I've ever really seen "great" football being played on the pitch this tournament. France managed to score the first two goals in the final game without ever shooting on goal once - that's quite an accomplishment.
Also, I've seen most matches and I can't think of many stand-out goals this year - at least, nothing as memorable as Van Persie's header or that gem James Rodriguez scored in the previous WC.

Also sad to see France winning the world cup being turned into political propaganda pro or against immigration. I'm going to state the obvious here, but if you're born and raised in a country, you have the right to play for that country. I mean, what other country could you play for??
If a guy has to play for another country just because his ancestors are from there, then the french, spanish and portuguese should all be playing for Italy and brits, germans, icelanders and danes should all be playing for Sweden (spoiler - you would still lose!). And if we go further back in time, god only knows how we would mix up.

@Solea no, I never tried. I like to keep my hobbies, you know...separate. But I think the kids I pick up are more into drugs than football. Otherwise they wouldn't get in my van so easily, you know.

BTW I always wondered - are you actually ethiopian or just living in Ethiopia?! I always wanted to visit the country.