World Cup 2018

Fear not Pat, if you (and millions of others) have had thoughts like this, then there's a half decent chance that Mr. Southgate and his squad have as well!
;)

FWIW, my predictions are:
1. England will beat Panama today, but lose to Belgium on Thursday. So, we'll qualify for the last sixteen as group G's runner-up.
2. We'll beat the winner of group H in the next round (Japan or Senegal???) to progress to the quarter finals (to face Brazil or Mexico???) and get knocked out on penalties at that stage.
3. The final will be between Belgium and France and the French will steal victory by a late goal.
Tim.

Some good reasoning imho Tim. But if Brazil all turn up on the day they in my opinion should win with your picks a close second.
We shall have to wait and see.
Have you any of your hard earned on yet ?
Oscar's a betting man and should have a wod on ??
 
. . .Have you any of your hard earned on yet ? . . .
No Pat, I'm not a betting man - not like that, anyway.

Just a thought about our game against Panama today . . . I'd love to see Panama score an early goal so that we have to come from behind. That would make for an exciting game. However, I suspect it'll be the other way around, and then England will go into defensive mode to protect their lead - and that'll make for a very dull match. As professionals, the job of the players is to win the game any way they can; entertaining millions of spectators who've given up a chunk of their Sunday to watch them comes a dim and distant second.
Tim.
 
Just watching even the better teams, their free kicks from near the opponents' box leaves a lot to be desired. Their usual is an uninspired kick straight into the wall who clear it - useless !

I would suggest 2 men line up with either one to take the kick. If possible a left footer and a right footer. Position a man wide on the left and another on the right so the option of a quick pass is on either way and a first time pass to the front of the goal to be headed in.
Now the team has the option of a curler either way or a quick pass either way.

Not rocket science but a lot better than the woeful efforts seen so far.

Hope I haven't bored you with my amateur musings.
 
Make a Call Mate.

Who Will Win the Final.

:LOL::LOL::LOL:We Wait the CV Call:LOL::LOL::LOL:

I agree with Pat in that anyone could win this world cup.

The only outstanding team so far has been Belgium but i'm beginning to wonder if they haven't shown too much too early. So with that in mind, i'm saying Belgium will go out. Also going out will be Argentina and Germany.

There have been flashes of brilliance from England, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, France and we cannot discount Russia, Uruguay and Mexico.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say England can win by teamwork. All they have to do is neutralise the superstars and treat every game as if it's the final. They have enough of a strike force to win any match. The winning formula has to be domination of the midfield.

As Rochdale proved in last yrs FA cup match against Tottenham. It's just 11 v 11 and the reason why predictions in football matches are pure folly! :LOL:
 
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Can you believe it, 5 goals in the first half !!

Mustn't feel sorry for them until after the game.

:clap::clap:

We should greeze our shirts so the " s0ds " can't hold so much ".

Better England performance than our usual pathetic effort.
 
im not even going to turn on the panama game -england will get stuffed-mark my words
FishingTroll.jpg

im off to get some new glasses but ive glanced at what pat said-see panama have 5 goals now
 
im not even going to turn on the panama game -england will get stuffed-mark my words
FishingTroll.jpg

im off to get some new glasses but ive glanced at what pat said-see panama have 5 goals now


Hate to disappoint you BUT England scored the 5 goals.


Woooo Hooooo

(y)
 
I agree with Pat in that anyone could win this world cup.

The only outstanding team so far has been Belgium but i'm beginning to wonder if they haven't shown too much too early. So with that in mind, i'm saying Belgium will go out. Also going out will be Argentina and Germany.

There have been flashes of brilliance from England, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, France and we cannot discount Russia, Uruguay and Mexico.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say England can win by teamwork. All they have to do is neutralise the superstars and treat every game as if it's the final. They have enough of a strike force to win any match. The winning formula has to be domination of the midfield.

As Rochdale proved in last yrs FA cup match against Tottenham. It's just 11 v 11 and the reason why predictions in football matches are pure folly! :LOL:

Thanks Counter

That call just stuffed England.:LOL:

Mind you they do look very good(y)

Not sure Tim would agree
 
were gunna have to start checking the dressing room door handles for novichok from now on..:whistling

As long as they have a policy of wiping down with baby wipes before touching anything, they'll be OK.
 
Mind you they do look very good(y)
Not sure Tim would agree
I agree with all the positives Oscar, but I think there's been a tendency among the pundits to gloss over the negatives. Defensively, England look vulnerable at times. Even Panama was able to punch through our back line on occasion - although they only managed to convert one opportunity into a goal. Against better opposition (Belgium on Thursday and, possibly, Columbia next week) - I think it'll be a different story. I'm afraid I'm a 'glass half empty' chap when it comes to our national footy team! Even Alan Shearer isn't getting overly excited about our prospects, sticking to his pre-tournament prediction that to get to the quarter finals would be a good result.
Tim.
 
Here are today's matches.
My pick for a bet are France.
 

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The safe bet today has to be Germany hasn't it ?
After watching the French-Denmark game I don't fancy the French very much. Lacklustre imho.
 

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Well I got that really wrong
 

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Don't want to jinx you-know-who
But toughest yet.
 

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Someone looking ahead of this game wrote this interesting piece.

Both teams are already in the best 16. But whoever loses this game gets a better pass to victory avoiding Brazil, etc. Also the loser has to travel way less later on than the winner.

So it is going to be interesting to see if they let the best players sit this game out. They want to win the war, not the battle...

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/28/football/england-belgium-world-cup-match-lose-int-spt/index.html

"While the winner will potentially have to face the likes of Brazil and France en route to the final, the losing team could make it all the way to Luzhniki Stadium on July 15 having only overcome Sweden and Denmark in the quarterfinals and last four."
 
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