2018 FIFA World Cup Finals

[Akmuq]

I'm more shocked at Argentina omitting Mauro Icardi, top scorer in Serie A this season.

Alleged rumour is that he and Messi don't see eye to eye but there's nothing to substantiate it.

The thinking is that Icardi doesn't contribute much to the play other than goals whereas Aguero is more involved in build-up.

That being said, Icardi should be in ahead of Higuain in my opinion.

 

[mustafur]

How does Argentina have such bad Goal Keeping stocks, even Australia has better options at the moment and we are nobodies.

 

[88GTA]

I was just looking through some of the World Cup teams and I think Denmark has a really good squad. This is the article I read, which had the preliminary team as:

Goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester), Jonas Lossl (Huddersfield), Frederik Ronow (Brondby), Jesper Hansen (FC Midtjylland)

Defenders: Simon Kjaer (Sevilla), Andreas Christensen (Chelsea), Mathias Jorgensen (Huddersfield), Jannik Vestergaard (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Andreas Bjelland (Brentford), Henrik Dalsgaard (Brentford), Peter Ankersen (FC Copenhagen), Jens Stryger (Udinese), Riza Durmisi (Real Betis), Jonas Knudsen (Ipswich), Nicolai Boilesen (FC Copenhagen)

Midfielders: William Kvist (FC Copenhagen), Thomas Delaney (Werder Bremen), Lukas Lerager (Bordeaux), Lasse Schone (Ajax), Mike Jensen (Rosenborg), Christian Eriksen (Tottenham), Daniel Wass (Celta Vigo), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Southampton), Mathias Jensen (FC Nordsjaelland), Michael Krohn-Dehli (Deportivo La Coruna), Robert Skov (FC Copenhagen)

Strikers: Pione Sisto (Celta Vigo), Martin Braithwaite (Bordeaux), Andreas Cornelius (Atalanta), Viktor Fischer (FC Copenhagen), Yussuf Poulsen (RB Leipzig), Nicolai Jorgensen (Feyenoord), Nicklas Bendtner (Rosenborg), Kasper Dolberg (Ajax), Kenneth Zohore (Cardiff)

They are in a really tough group (C) with France, Peru and Australia but I think they could make it pretty far. Round of 16 maybe?

 

[Liquid]

Sterling.

Click and see the others.

 

[Dennisch]

Click and see the others.

The absolute sewer of the media.

I can not understand people who buy and read rags like that.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Rather than slag off arguably one of the best players in the squad over next to nothing, why don't they.....I don't know....support him and the rest of the squad ahead of the World Cup?....

 

[88GTA]

Because that's not news and nobody wants to pay to read that. Drama = $$$

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

All world cup slogans. One of my favorite parts of the world cup.

I'll grade them on an A-F scale.

Argentina: Together for a dream

D - Vanilla
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Australia: BE BRAVE, BE BOLD, SOCCEROOS IN GREEN AND GOLD

C+ It's at least a little evocative
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Belgium: Red Devils on a mission

B- Not bad but a little low effort
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Brazil: MORE THAN 5 STARS, 200 MILLION HEARTS

C- Almost clever, but still mundane
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Colombia: HERE GOES 1 DREAM, 3 COLORS AND 50 MILLION HEARTS

D Population figures and generic descriptions. Boring.
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Costa Rica: THERE IS NO IMPOSSIBLE WHEN A WHOLE COUNTRY PLAYS

D The whole country isn't playing
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Croatia: Small country, big dreams

C Unremarkable but it sounds at least aspirational.
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Denmark: Together we make history

D+ Low effort
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Egypt: When you say Pharaohs, the world must get up and listen

A- I'm not sure I agree with the sentiment, but it definitely sounds cool and is uniquely Egyptian.
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England: SEND US VICTORIOUS

A- So very British. Sounds regal, stately, and shouty all at the same time, as it should.
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France: Your strength, our passion! Come on Les Bleus!

C- Maybe something is lost in translation, but this is unremarkable to me
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Germany: LET'S WRITE HISTORY TOGETHER

C Entirely plausible, but not very inspirational nor unique sounding
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Iceland: LET'S MAKE OUR DREAM COME TRUE

B It's their first world cup, right? Kinda works for them based on that.
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Iran: 80 MILLION PEOPLE , 1 NATION , 1 HEART BEAT

D- Compared to their 2014 motto (Honor of Persia) this one falls about 80 million heartbeats short.
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Japan: Fighting Now　Samurai Blue！

B Evocative but not quite as good or inspirational as their 2014 Motto (Samurai, The Time Has Come To Fight!)
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Korea: Tigers of Asia, Conquer the world

A This one is just cool
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Mexico: MADE IN MEXICO, MADE FOR VICTORY

A- A little cheeky and self deprecating all while being patriotic. Great.
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Morocco: The atlas lions, pride of Morocco

A I love the animal references. This one sounds very cool.
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Nigeria: THE WINGS OF AFRICAN PRIDE

B+ Simple and strong
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Panama: PANAMA THE FORCE OF TWO SEAS

A+ Really love the sense of strength this one conveys. Probably my favorite.
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Peru: We are back! 30 Million Peruvian are travelling here

D Meh
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Poland: Go Poland!

F Unless I am missing some nuanced cultural reference, this is default-choice level effort.
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Portugal: THE PAST IS GLORY, THE PRESENT IS HISTORY

B- The word glory is a strong one, but this seems obtuse
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Russia: Play with an open heart.

B+ Is this trolling? I think it's trolling. Perfect then.
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Saudi Arabia: Desert Knights

B+ Great description, but not exactly motivational
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Senegal: IMPOSSIBLE IS NOT SENEGALESE

C- Wasn't this a French saying? You can't just steal another country's motto!
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Serbia: ONE TEAM, ONE DREAM - SERBIA!

D Boilerplate boring
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Spain: TOGETHER WE ARE INVINCIBLE

C+ They are a strong team so it works, but isn't very original
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Sweden: Together for Sweden!

D Uninspired
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Switzerland: FOUR LANGUAGES, ONE NATION

C Cool. Will that help on the field?
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Tunisia: Russia here comes the eagles hand in hand players and fans

B+ I'm sure this is better in Arabic, but it's still pretty good translated
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Uruguay: The sun shines in Russia, the sky is all light blue

F I get that the flag is light blue....but so is the sky. Other than the flag...this actually sounds supportive of Russia!
​

 

[girabyt3]

PAOLO GUERRERO IS GONNA PLAY THE WORLD CUP!!! JUSTICE HAS BEEN MADE!!!

Spoiler

Llegamos los peruanos llegamos al mundial llegamos los peruanos ahora quien nos va a parar!!

 

[MUSC4EVER]

England v Nigeria on at 5.15 today, warm up match.

Been several warm up matches this week, France beat Italy 3-1 last night.

 

[88GTA]

Sane left out of the Germany squad. Jeez.

 

[Liquid]

Sane left out of the Germany squad. Jeez.

It's Insanéty.

Especially considering Marco Reus is in the team despite having played just 11 games this season; 15 if you count cup competitions.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

14 goals and 15 assists in 49 games, part of the team that got a record 100 points in the League, won the League Cup and was PFA Young Player Of The Year.

Not enough to get into the German squad.

 

[Michelin]

Brazil's 23 for the FIFA WC '18.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

One...week...to go....

 

[MUSC4EVER]

The World rankings were updated this past week (on the 7th)

This is the final rankings before the World Cup

Top 20.

1. Germany
2. Brazil
3. Belgium
4. Portugal
5. Argentina
6. Switzerland
7. France
8. Poland
9. Chile
10. Spain
11. Peru
12= Denmark
12= England
14. Uruguay
15. Mexico
16. Colombia
17. Netherlands
18. Wales
19. Italy
20. Croatia

-------------------------------

21. Tunisia
22. Iceland
23. Costa Rica
24. Sweden
27. Senegal
34. Serbia
36. Australia
37. Iran
41. Morocco
45. Egypt
48. Nigeria
55. Panama
57. South Korea
61. Japan
67. Saudi Arabia
70. Russia

Switzerland perhaps surprisingly above two tournament favourites in France and Spain.

Russia are now the lowest ranked team in the tournament and the opening game will be between the two lowest ranked teams.

 

[88GTA]

France didn't look so good yesterday.

 

[Liquid]

I had the pleasure of watching Austria vs Brasil yesterday.

A comfortable 3-0 win for Brasil and they never left second gear to achieve it. Having seen them in person, I think they do have what it takes to go all the way;

Unbeaten in 10 games
16 clean sheets in 21 since Tite took over

And, for what it's worth, Gabriel Jesus has scored 10 goals in just 17 games and Neymar scored his 55th yesterday.

 

[SestoScudo]

Usually in a world cup I support both Australia and Turkey. Since Turkey is not in its Australia only.

But to be honest I either think France, Germany or maybe Spain might win it.

Perhaps Brazil could maybe forget the 7-1 humilation maybe win the cup. Perhaps as they have a good squad.

All I know is France is going to thump Australia. Just look at France's squad depth and quality!!

 

[88GTA]

Did you see France draw the US on Saturday? They looked shaky against a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds.

Tony Adams fears England can't win the World Cup because they have 5 players from Tottenham.

 

[dacc10]

I'm curious to see how this WC unfolds. Lots of new players, some groups seem really interesting and intriguing. I wouldn't bet on which team to win the World Cup.

 

[Famine]

Spain sack manager Julen Lopetegui after he, without consulting the Spanish football federation, signed a contract to become Real Madrid manager after the World Cup.

He'd just (May 22) agreed a contract extension to be Spain's manager until 2020... And Spain were unbeaten (W14 D6) under Lopetegui.

 

[Liquid]

he, without consulting the Spanish football federation, signed a contract to become Real Madrid manager

This is exactly what I thought had happened. What an idiot! That's my draw in the pub sweepstake ruined.

I wonder if they will get a full-time appointment in mid-tournament. Sam Allerdyce has a 100% record in international management...

 

[88GTA]

I wonder if Zidane is free?

 

[lancia delta hf]

First world cup I'm coming into with no butterflys when I think about it. Thanks Ventura and Tavecchio. Muppets.

Did you see France draw the US on Saturday? They looked shaky against a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds.

Tony Adams fears England can't win the World Cup because they have 5 players from Tottenham.

England had all the things in the past that he says they don't have now. A lot of good that did them. Humility ( which England players have lacked in the past), unity, and belief are just as important if not more. The world cup is the time for players make legends of themselves.

 

[Famine]

And Spain have appointed Fernando Hierro, ex-Spain and Real Madrid player, and one time manager of Segunda division team Real Oviedo, as their manager for this World Cup...


As for England, I've gone over their main issue before and it still applies. Three of the squad play for their hometown clubs. Three...

Still, there's a load of them from South Yorkshire (and surrounds), so perhaps that'll help

 

[Liquid]

Does the joint Canada-USA-Mexico bid mean that 3 of the 48 qualifying slots for 2026 are already gone?

 

[88GTA]

I believe so. Good thing they expanded it from 32 teams.

60 of the 80 games will be held in the US including all games starting from the quarter final. The final game will be right around the corner from me at Metlife Stadium.

 

[Liquid]

60 of the 80 games will be held in the US including all games starting from the quarter final

So what's the point of having Mexico and Canada then? That makes it seem like a token 'joint effort'.

 

[88GTA]

I guess they came to the conclusion that the only way Canada or Mexico could ever host a World Cup was if they combined with the US. And the US probably offered to foot most of the bill for the majority of games.

The article mentions that the World Cup in 2026 is estimated to generate over $14 billion in revenue with most of the stadiums and requirements already in place. US Politics (Trump) was the biggest hurdle.