I will take winning for now, hopefully England can get over their mental hurdles and start competing at most competitions.
But it is an entertainment business, I don't want them just grinding out results every match, sooner or later I want to see them turn on the style.
.
I assume Putin has fixed it from the outset for Russia to win.
you think he paid off the spanish to miss penalties and has now paid off the croatians?
hahhahhaa, c'mon the Ruskies! 😆
Well this isn’t going to script, is it?
I’ve had a punt on Russia winning tonight. They’re juiced up to the eyeballs, clearly
Well well well, don't know who I would rather face in the next round.
That came from nowhere, looked like Croatia were cracking under the pressure before that goal.
Booo! 😆
Defo Russia MSP, national belief will only get ye so far. Got a soft spot for the underdog though, so kinda hope they do it here, can't see it though.
In Moscow against Russia in a semi could throw up all sorts of weirdness mind you!
Think Croatia in the last 2 games have shown they can have a certain fragility about them though.
Please let it go to extra time & pens ..just to take a little more out of whoever we end up playing ..
From what we have seen so far, England should be fairly confident against either of these teams.
you think he paid off the spanish to miss penalties and has now paid off the croatians?
If I were Putin I'd pay the drug testing authorities to accidentally lose the Russian team's samples.
sore yin!
That Croatian scorer has nowhere near enough tats.
Back of the net !
15 more minutes to go.
😀
hahahahahaha! 😆
It looks it will go to penalty shoot out ... 🙁
If Russia wins the penalty shoot out then England will have hope.
😀
Just brilliant, got to hand it to the Russians they are playing waaay above their pay grade
This is ace! Love a penalty shoot out that we’re not involved in 😀
terrible penalty, bye bye russia!
maybe not! 😆
oh dear indeed ally!
Croatia 2 (4) - 2 (3) Russia
Woohoooo!
Croatia won!
Back of the net!
😀
-------------------------------------
My forecast for next rounds:
Quarter-final stage:
Uruguay will beat France by 2 goals. (France won 2 nil instead 🙁 )
Belgium will beat Brazil by 1 goal. (Spot on! 😀 )
England will beat Sweden by 1 goal. (Almost spot on England won by 2 goals instead. 😀 )
Croatia will beat Russia by 1 or 2 goals max.(2 - 2 Full time, Croatia won on penalty 4-3 😀 )
Semi-final stage:
Belgium will beat France by 1 goal or maximum 2 goals.
Croatia will beat England by 2 goals. (who knows England might win by 1 nil)
Final will be …
Belgium Vs Croatia …
Croatia it is, England well favourites, Croats will be exhausted after that!.
They have until Wednesday to recover, surely that's plenty of time for them to get back fighting fit?
Didn’t watch it, wasn’t really that fussed who went through but slightly biased for the home side...
Penalties are cruel, but it’s the way games like his are won.
Tough match.
They have until Wednesday to recover, surely that’s plenty of time for them to get back fighting fit?
Nope
http://www.aspetar.com/journal/viewarticle.aspx?id=180#.W0FLks_TU0M
Have reread this thread through match time now, and what are some of you lot on. You must be a chuffing joy to be around. You remind me of the week before the 2012 Olympics and you were wrong about that too!
We're in the WC semi final for Christ's sake. With a team of kids, many of whom haven't been to a major tournament before, only age group ones (where we did quite well IIRC) We should be dancing in the street already yet the glass half empty merchants are really pissing me off.
So we haven't had to play the top top sides. So what? So we didn't destroy Colombia - hang on we recovered from a devastating last minute equalizer to win on penalties (after going behind in them too)
I rewatched the game last night (sad, i know but was at a barbecue so didn't get the chance to really watch it this afternoon) and apart from a nervous, shaky first 15 we pretty well bossed the game against Sweden. The disappointment that we didn't score 3 more - and we had chances especially late on when instead of attacking we went for the corner flag - which is smart but doesn't please the moaners, and it is also still concerning that despite bossing the game JP made 3 great saves and was our MoM. Yet as an ex GK no-one ever moans when a striker has a great day and says we only one because so-and-so scored two world class goals.
All the Sterling moaners. If he could finish he'd be player of the tournament. The work he did against a much bigger, stronger opponent was amazing. Plus his runs off the ball into spaces to create space for team mates. Poor bloke was on fumes at the end. Listen to the pundits, who were glowing and will know far more about the job he's doing, and the player who play in teams with him. Same with Lingard ...... so much of what they do is pure unselfish hard running, that only catches the eye of people that really know. No we don't have glory boys like Ronaldo or Messi or Neymer, but when they're watching the semi in their posh house on Wednesday, they'll know too, what great shifts many of these lads are putting in.
Get behind them FFS. It really might be happening, that thing I thought I'd never see.
Get behind them FFS. It really might be happening, that thing I thought I’d never see.
Rough nights sleep ?
🤦♀️
I thought sterling had his best match tonight, maybe playing against a 442 team suited him like a premiership game? I wasn't a fan at first but I'm changing my mind
Rough nights sleep ?
I'm at 6 year old on Christmas Eve levels of can't sleep-ness right now !!
may have been mentioned - but Chris Waddle on 5 live coverage with Kelly Cates was brilliant. The emotion in his voice - with his previous miss 1990.
I’d like to Ban the use of the term “it’s coming home” on 5L.
Every other sentence contained the analogy, sometimes quoted twice in the same sentence.
I do wonder if the presenters are subconsciously falling into the same mindset as the fans they interview.
Give it a break, talk about the game(s) left and interview some of the other squads and fans.
All the Sterling moaners. If he could finish he’d be player of the tournament. The work he did against a much bigger, stronger opponent was amazing. Plus his runs off the ball into spaces to create space for team mates. Poor bloke was on fumes at the end. Listen to the pundits, who were glowing and will know far more about the job he’s doing, and the player who play in teams with him. Same with Lingard …… so much of what they do is pure unselfish hard running, that only catches the eye of people that really know. No we don’t have glory boys like Ronaldo or Messi or Neymer, but when they’re watching the semi in their posh house on Wednesday, they’ll know too, what great shifts many of these lads are putting in.
Agree JV about Sterling - if he had composure he would be in the world XI, not joking. As it stands he's still a great player, one of the more valuable England players this tournament.
Henderson against Modric will be a tragic sight (as we have recently seen) - two men, on the same pitch, playing a different sport. Croatia aint Real Madrid, though, and he (LM) doesn't have anything like the supporting cast to capitalise on his influence. Croatia looked poor yesterday, England are probably better 1 through 11, slight favourite to win sounds right.
Sooner or later it's all going to come together for Sterling and he's going to stick away a couple of world class goals. If he could possibly arrange that for Wednesday (or even better, next Sunday), that would be great 🙂
He's a starter for England because he creates significant problems for defences, and through that, space for his colleagues.
Even I'm starting to get the goosebumps now.
Glad it's not going to be Russia though, the intensity of that might have been too much.
I just realised, we will get Ally McCoist commentating on the semi final now, god help us he is awful as a commentator.
but Chris Waddle on 5 live coverage with Kelly Cates was brilliant
Chris Waddle is the best pundit out there by a country mile. Some of his rants in previous tournaments after England have gone out are legendary. Has he got over his 'pelanty' problem yet?
I think it’s on BBC and ITV.
RM.
just realised, we will get Ally McCoistcommentating on the semi final now, god help us he is awful as a commentator.
At least we're spared Martin Keown.
Chris Waddle is the best pundit out there by a country mile
Eth eth eth eth eth?
Buono Estente
Sooner or later it’s all going to come together for Sterling and he’s going to stick away a couple of world class goals. If he could possibly arrange that for Wednesday (or even better, next Sunday), that would be great
Sterling just seems to dither with that final finish.. almost like he lacks a bit of confidence to either really go at goal or just really run at the last defender.
Sterling just seems to dither with that final finish
yep, that ball from Henderson (note, the doubters above, that was Modric-class) that he brought down from over his shoulder with one touch....if his second had been to slide it past the keeper we'd still be purring now. But it will come for him....it will.
Was away at the weekend, watched some of the England game on a mobile phone, in my mates van. Cannot believe we're in a semi final of a world cup. The last time this happened was 28 years ago. I was 13... who knows when it might happen again?
I was 21 - just finished my Univ finals and watched the whole world cup with my Uni mates. Best 4 weeks ever - I'd convinced myself it wouldn't happen again in my lifetime*.
Now with this crop of inexperienced youngsters, this tournament is just a stepping stone, who knows how good they could be in 2/4 years time.
* just my luck, I'll probably get run over between now and tomorrow night.
