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World Cup 2018 thread


jackhasler23

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15 minutes ago, Highgate said:

Absolutely, it was seriously underhand behaviour by both Lopetegui and Real Madrid.  But I wonder if the Spanish FA would have been better just letting him remain on as coach until after the World Cup, they have time to find a successor afterwards.  I don't see how they have benefited by sacking him.  And I don't see how Real Madrid have been damaged by Lopetigui's removal, everyone already knows they simply do as they please.  They got what they wanted from this, and Spain's World Cup's mess is not going to bother Real Madrid much. 

I think allowing him to stay on would have sent the wrong message. By firing him, this close to the WC, it’s a clear sign they condemn Lopetegui’s actions and Real Madrid’s behaviour in all this.

Allowing him to stay on and just saying what Madrid have done is bad would be like giving them a slap on the wrist whereby any other club would have been grilled.

I’m glad they’ve treated it lile they would for any other club. And now from a publicity point of view, Madrid have just taken on a sacked manager after failing to persuade Pochettino and Klopp to join them.

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32 minutes ago, Highgate said:

Absolutely, it was seriously underhand behaviour by both Lopetegui and Real Madrid.  But I wonder if the Spanish FA would have been better just letting him remain on as coach until after the World Cup, they have time to find a successor afterwards.  I don't see how they have benefited by sacking him.  And I don't see how Real Madrid have been damaged by Lopetigui's removal, everyone already knows they simply do as they please.  They got what they wanted from this, and Spain's World Cup's mess is not going to bother Real Madrid much. 

briefly scanned the comments made by S FA and they recognise that whichever decision they made would be criticised so they went with what they felt was right and well done for that

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8 minutes ago, Spanish said:

briefly scanned the comments made by S FA and they recognise that whichever decision they made would be criticised so they went with what they felt was right and well done for that

It's totally understandable, but I wonder if Spain's chances at the World Cup have been damaged as a result of their decision. That ultimately should be their primary concern, rather than sending a message to Lopetegui or Real Madrid. The Spanish FA's prestige right now should be a secondary concern. Maximising their chances of bringing home the World Cup should be really be all that matters at the moment in my opinion.  Sacking a manager on the eve of a World Cup damages those considerably, you would think.  But hey, who knows, if they go on to win it, maybe everyone will sack their manager the day before the 2020 World Cup. 

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17 minutes ago, Highgate said:

It's totally understandable, but I wonder if Spain's chances at the World Cup have been damaged as a result of their decision. That ultimately should be their primary concern, rather than sending a message to Lopetegui or Real Madrid. The Spanish FA's prestige right now should be a secondary concern. Maximising their chances of bringing home the World Cup should be really be all that matters at the moment in my opinion.  Sacking a manager on the eve of a World Cup damages those considerably, you would think.  But hey, who knows, if they go on to win it, maybe everyone will sack their manager the day before the 2020 World Cup. 

Either way, if they fail, the S FA would be blamed whatever decision they made, keep him on and the barca players get the hump, sack him and the RM play poorly?  Really a no win for them unless they win the Cup

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5 hours ago, Highgate said:

I wonder if Spain's chances at the World Cup have been damaged as a result of their decision.

Their chances were damaged as soon as the news broke he'd took the job. How did the Barcelona and Athletico players react when they found out? They probably needed to sack him to placate the squad.

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Winner: Germany to beat France in the final

Top goalscorer: Harry Kane

Surprise packages: Croatia and England to reach the semi-finals; Morocco to reach the quarter finals

Flops: Spain not to advance to the knockout stage

England: Semi finals

Russia: Last 16

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Winners: Brazil to get revenge on Germany 2-1 in the final! 

Surprise packages: Serbia, Croatia and Columbia! 

England: decent tournament, knocked out at QF stage! Good going into the 2020 Euros

Flops Uruguay, Argentina 

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5 minutes into ITV's commentary the token female reporter turns to Ryan Giggs and says "How will the teams feel waiting to go out there and kick off the world cup finals"

How would he know? The prat's never even played in the Euros.

The analysts are decent though - I like Ian Wright's enthusiasm, Neville knows his stuff and Dixon is bland but okay,   Bilic is the icing on the cake though - adds a bit of life to proceedings and always likely to drop the f bomb again.

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1 minute ago, McLovin said:

Look out for the player Golovin for Russia. He’s playing on the left side of the midfield 3. He destroyed Arsenal in the Europa league and he is close to signing for Juventus. Proper talent.

Shuttle runner or zone 8/10 driftwood?

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So, how can we show off Russia in our own World Cup, arguably the biggest sporting event in the world?

We could always get Robbie Williams to sing a couple songs on a stage that looks like a football? 

Da! Great idea!

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1 minute ago, Carnero said:

Shuttle runner or zone 8/10 driftwood?

All rounder. Can play every role in midfield but is best as a link man between the midfield and front 3. Shame the rest of the Russian team is rubbish. Smolov is ok and so is dzagoev but is past it but the rest are meh.

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4 hours ago, Carnero said:

All this media build up and excitement to the world cup and we start with Russia v Saudi Arabia, Egypt v Uruguay & Morocco v Iran... what a damp squib.

Bring on Portugal v Spain.

When did it change from the current holders opening the tournament? France opened it in 2002, can't remember after that.

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1 minute ago, SuperFrankieLampard said:

When did it change from the current holders opening the tournament? France opened it in 2002, can't remember after that.

I did wonder that. Brazil opened up against Scotland in 98 too if I remember correctly. 

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