FIFA World Cup 2018

Thank goodness the English commentary has finally switched on in the 5th minute. Whew.

And England make the penalty kick within 30 seconds! 1-0

Toxic masculinity and toxic nationalism.

I find it hilarious that it takes 3 big ass countries to host this game.

“Toxic nationalism” now? What’s next? Let’s ruin everything fun by labeling it toxic.

Don’t give them ideas!

England going home.
Came up short against better opposition.

Come on Hvrats beat the Frenchies!

That game was great

In the end the lack of England goals from open play cost us. 8 of 11 from set pieces. Plus I think Kane was carrying an injury, definitely slow around the park last night. Thought Croatia really came back into the game well.

Now go Croatia, hope they’ll win it all. It’s basically always the same 3/4 European teams or Brazil -_-

But they won on the way to the locker room…

No, that was England in the past. I think they should be very content with this WC. Achieved more than everyone expected. Problem still remains that the five big teams in the Premier League have mostly foreign players and English players find it really hard to find playing time. A better youth program might change that in the near future and if they are smart they will build on this positive run, continue with Southgate and his approach and hopefully find some good midfield players who can compete on the highest level. They just lacked quality and experience. Everything else was right on.

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Our youth program is the best in the world. The performance of the U18 and U20 teams has been outstanding and we are current U20 world champions. The problem of course as you say is that too many of these players end up as benchwarmers in the EPL. The FA either needs to get a commitment from the top five clubs to play these guys or else have them loaned to clubs that will give them playing time. I expect neither to happen.

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I was half joking but the extreme demonstration of national pride is quite annoying during World Cup. Not to mention borderline tragic.

Besides, it is true that the only reason why the World Cup attracts so much attention is that it’s country vs country. Take that away this game loses more than 50% of the viewership.

It’s a mega event, people like mega events. Cultural exchange, people of different nationalities come together. Better than going to war. Haven’t heard of any fan violence this time around, which is quite surprising, considering how many fans were disappointed by their teams.

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I think 60 or so Brits were arrested for hooliganism after England-Columbia. I doubt Britain is alone (could be wrong, not following that aspect at all closely). Certainly fan violence hasn’t been prevalent enough to dominate WC news, agreed.

I love the tournament format. I am interested in team dynamics, and I love that about WC teams. You have players that are united by soccer and their passports, true enough, but they only play together every 4 years (usually) and so must find a way to gel while under the gun. So you have superstars around whom teams gel and perform, and you have teams with no superstars which must also gel and perform if they’re to advance: I love the interpersonal, organizational dynamics around that.

And like you wrote, it’s a mega event held in the summer, the perfect time for mega events. Cultural exchange is def a highlight. It’s just a great tournament.

By the way, congratulations to England and the fans for its side. Only four teams advanced as far as England, that is nothing to sneeze at. Tremendous accomplishment by any standard.

In the final analysis, Croatia were more driven than England to win.

Croatia have now overcome tremendous odds in 3 straight games (Denmark/Russia/England). France has faced similar, strong adversity in their last two (Uruguay/Belgium). Both Croatia and France are well-hardened now. It should be a terrific final match.

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About the Third Place Game. The positive thing is that the second-tier players of the two teams get a chance to play. That’s nice for them after they have done all the training without getting the chance to shine. To make the game more interesting, perhaps it would be worth a thought rewarding the winning team with an automatic entry into the next World Cup. That would also mean of course that the two finalists would automatically qualify for the next tournament as well. Think they deserve it too. Once the tournament will have 48 teams, qualification will be kind of pointless anyway.

Btw, will the Qatar national team play in the next cup, then? They are currently ranked a whopping 98th in the world. Let’s see, that is lower than Curaçao, Luxembourg, and the Faroe Islands.

What cultural exchange?

People of different cultures meet, they exchange.

As in body fluid exchange? :rofl:

Like this cultural exchange:

Isn’t that pathetic lol