Topic: 2018 FIFA World Cup

@Lroy There's an app for it as well. I've downloaded it and it's great. You can set it to send you reminders too.

Superb! I've signed up too! (..and set a prediction for the opening match - a non-committal 1-1 draw! )

Thanks for setting that up - nice to have a bit of fun with it!

@NaviAndMii @Oorwullie Cool, hopefully a few more folks will sign-up and take part @gcunit @agent721 @fafounet et. al.

Got a link to the App mate.

@Lroy This is for Android ,I don't know about iOS

Superbru it's called.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=properties.supe...

It's possible to chat within the app too.

@NaviAndMii Nice one ,it'll be good fun. I went for a 2v0 win for the Russians but I haven't locked it in yet. I'm leaning more towards it being an edgy 1v0 win. Russians have been pretty poor in the build up though and I won't be surprised if they fail to make it out the group.

@OorWullie Cool, found it on App Store. Should be fun this.

I went for 2-0 RUSSIA win as well although I also have a team from each group in my family sweepstake. My team for Group A is SAUDI ARABIA, ha! ha! So felt bad to predict against them.

Not expecting much from either side in this Group but would be very disappointing for the hosts if they fail to navigate the group stage. RUSSIA and USSR before it have often underperformed on the big stage. Surely they can muster something in front of their own fans.

aye count me in for the prediction game - my team won't be playing so I need something that keeps me excited for the tournament. DLing the app just now

Prize for the winner? eShop credit or some such? No worries if not. Happy to reward winner or just play for fun.

Yeah, should be good fun! I always find the opening matches difficult to judge - who could forget Senegal's famous win over France in 2002, or South Africa kicking things off with a first day shock to really get the party started in 2010! ..just got a feeling that the Saudi's could provide some drama in the curtain raiser (especially as Russia seem ripe for the picking on current form!) ..not quite sure that they'll beat them in their own back yard, but I'm hoping that they'll at least give them a run for their money!

@NaviAndMii Cameroon beating the then World Champions Argentina in Italia '90. I could hardly contain my utter glee at seeing Maradona & co. shell-shocked by the physicality and sheer power of the Africans.

Maradona sobbing at the end of the Final having lost to West Germany was also a small but appreciated consolation for England's narrow exit to the eventual winners on pens in the previous match.

Yeah, that quarter-final in '86 still hurts.

I had to go back just now and look up a summary of the 1986 world cup, which was the last (and only 2nd time) that Mexico made it to the quarterfinals. My parents tell me that we were in attendance for some of those games in that world cup, but being too young at the time I don't remember anything! So I did not know that the quarterfinal you (@Lroy) referred to that year was that game against Argentina. They've eliminated Mexico in 2 of the last 3 world cups so I share your dislike for them!

@Meesh I have a love/hate relationship with Argentina and this is epitomised by Maradona. He was without doubt the single greatest player when I was first getting into the sport and I did marvel at what he achieved at both Napoli and the Argentine national side. I even owned an Argentina shirt with his name on! I was still very young when the whole 'hand of God' incident happened in '86 but it did shape my first exposure to the World Cup and football in general.

At that innocent age, I couldn't reconcile the peerless talent Maradona possessed with the outright arrogant cheating and later abuse of the sport which had given him everything. Referring here to drugs and other nefarious elements he became embroiled with.

Anyhow, I don't really hate any player or national team. But as a fan of England, I am of course aware of and in a sense bound by the rivalries we have had with nations such as Argentina, Germany, Portugal etc. Again, those three sides are among my faves just a real shame subjectively speaking they all put us to the sword, often by the closest of margins, in major international tournaments.

Anyway, Mexico are present in Russia and often make it to the 2nd round at least. I'll be rooting for you 👍

@Lroy @NaviAndMii

Cool, I’m down for some WC prediction fun. I just signed up and will be filling out my brackets shortly.

Being French, I hope the Germans don’t win! I like Les Bleus’ chances and expect a place in the semis at the very least.

Interesting tournament will come say the least

I don't really have any keen insights for predictions at this World Cup. Which actually makes for a refreshing change. Will cheer for England and any of my sweepstake teams of which I have 8, randomly assigned to me, sides. One per group.

Not really been into football for a number of years, aside from watching the Euros or the WC, I had actually tuned-out of club football all together for nearly a decade. So a lot of the players and squads are actually relatively unknown to me.

I used to be a full-on football fanatic but the combination of England's depressingly predictable decline, I think the 2010 WC capitulation to Germany on the back of some of the most uninspired performances in living memory in the prior Group matches was the main culprit and the birth of my son - cue endless sleepless nights and 24/7 responsibility - meant I just sort of fell out of the habit of following the sport. Plus, I had a growing and longstanding disillusionment with the rise of the Champions League and the erosion of the mystic of international football.

Once even the average side in any given major European nation had well over half of its outfield players from overseas, it all just became a bit of a disconnect for me. Too much of a good thing can be bad and all the money which became involved and the rush for foreign signings seemingly blighted the allure and significance of the international game, to my eyes at the time at least.

Fewer and fewer home grown players seemed to be coming through and able to command a place in the first-team of their clubs and even fewer managers seemed to get to lead top flight clubs. Plus, even mediocre players had sort of become 'rock stars' to the press, seemingly lacking any connection to the man on the street. Again, this was purely an English perspective from a long-time fan of the game, ready to give it a rest for awhile.

Wow, I'll stop as I seem to have gone on a largely non-sensical rant.

Anyhow, glad to be getting back into football and the World Cup has always been my favourite sporting event.

Hell, I might even bother to support a local club come the new season. I've been a plastic fan of a more illustrious club my whole life out of chance more than anything and then as an adult having moved pretty much yearly for last 15 years or so, I never put down roots. Now might be the time to do so, in case my boy ever shows an interest. He hasn't up to now.

Sorry, I'll stop talking, ha! ha!

Here's to some great football and lots of surprises and a dark horse to lift the cup. Hell, England must qualify as a rank outsider having done very little since Sven's reign, which in itself was only Quarter-Finals.

@Lroy

I hope it’s a good WC so you can get back into it. I’m a huge fan and have been watching the sport as far as I can remember. First cup was the 86 one you guys have talked about and I’ve watched everyone of them since. I also went to a few games at the ‘94 Cup when it hit the US.

Hopefully England will do better than expected! Expectations seem low so perhaps with less pressure to perform, they will pull a few surprises.

@Agent721 Yeah, Mexico '86 was my first World Cup although Italia '90 is probably the tournament I remember most vividly. Also Euro '96 for obvious reasons, we were hosts. I really enjoyed USA '94 despite our abject failure to qualify for the finals. Seen every World Cup and Euro tournament since '86, often managing to orchestrate my domestic circumstances to mean I get to see virtually all the games, not just England.

@Lroy.

Euro 96 sticks out in my head very well. I was vacationing/working out of Germany during the tourney, so I got to see the Germans win it all while in the Deutschland.

France lost out to the Czech Republic on penalties in the semis, similar to England with the Germans. I have bitter memories of that final game!