I just watched German TV (because both Dutch and Belgian TV hasn't started their football broadcast yet). They were showing interviews with the players after the match, and this was the background music. No joke :)


Anyway, I'm very curious what this afternoon's matches will bring. I hope Columbia and Japan will make it through, but I actually don't really care if they don't either

so i have to ask. a couple of days ago i read about this one-sided english rivalry against german football. how come?

is it the war? (“don’t talk about the war, basil!”)

is it that, as gary lineker is quoted, “they always win”? (clearly not today but for the last 1/2 century or so)

curious about all this. someone who is in it please explain

—

as for me i’m not sad for germany as a nation, but these people are my weekend buddies, i watch them (most of them anyway) play every weekend during the season and they’re more familiar to me than actors in a sitcom (i don’t watch many sitcoms i think, though i’ll rewatch father ted till the end of time, ha ha ha ha). but yeah, ufff, the failure in their faces was pitiful to look at.

still trying to make sense of what happened and why they played so terribly. loew apparently just renewed his contract and will stick around? lol.

wow, senegal fans

i had seen them before but not in detail

they look awesome

—

the stadium from above looks like a vinyl record

wow the var is bananas

nice and open/freewheeling game so far but lacking a bit in tactical intelligence maybe?

colombia’s midfield rather soft on defense

now james subbed out. injured? damn!

this is not good

-

speaking of tactical intelligence though, senegal does know to shut down cuadrado and do a great job at it

there's a Wikipedia page about it, and it's very very long:
England–Germany football rivalry

and then there's also links on that page to the Dutch - German rivalry and the Italy - German rivalry :D


I can't speak for the English, but for the Dutch the war definitely influenced it in the past, but not so much any more for the younger generations. But we still are always happy when Germany loses. Personally I'm more neutral, if Germany would win from Netherlands and they played a great match, it's totally fine for me. But as Lineker says, they always end up winning in a sneakily manner.
This is probably the most famous NL-DE clash. But he deserved it! Really! :D

^^ lolololololol. that’s hilarious. the video i mean.

i probably saw, i recognize the players, that but had no memory of such exchange of it at this point. where was i that day? no idea.

i think historically the 1974 world cup final should be your biggest beef. i mean not “unfair” or anything, but damn... the best team lost.

—

colombia i think in trouble in this game. first, they have to win, second, they’re struggling with both misfortune and... impotence, maybe? lol.

lots of running in this game though. the first one to tire out loses.

—

senegal now on a demolition campaign i think. if they make it through, their next rival should pick up some injuries.

...

and colombia retaliating? damn. i hate this shit.

...

mina golaaaaaaazo!

..

this 2nd half much better. actual danger from both sides!

—

soo..... colombia 1st... is it japan 2nd? im confused about this lol

senegal goes down on yellow cards?? or what?

...

whatever happens, this should be good for the latter match

It definitely started with the war and even now English supporters reference it in chants about 'Ten German Bombers', 'Two Word Wars and One World Cup .. dooh dah, doo dah', etc. But recently, a widely held perception that Germany effectively leads the EU has resulted in a lot of anti-Merkel/pro-Brexit chants. Although it's predicted they'll also chant variations of those at tonight's Belgium game (the Brussells connection). FIFA have even issued a warning to England fans not to do this.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...e-brexit-derby

There's actually a part of me wanting to see England lose. Wanker England supporters are the absolute worst of knuckle draggers

Given how the post-Group stage looks, a part of even the most wanky England supporter probably wants the same thing.

Anyway, lineups:

England: Pickford, Alexander-Arnold, Stones, Cahill, Jones, Rose, Dier, Delph, Loftus-Cheek, Rashford, Vardy.

Belgium: Courtois, Dendoncker, Boyata, Vermaelen, Chadli, Dembélé, Fellaini, Tielemans, T. Hazard, Januzaj, Batshuayi.

I guess that's 8 different players for England and 9 for Belgium. Vertonghen is still not in good enough shape otherwise he would be playing too tonight.


Let's hope for many goals, I don't want a boring 0-0

no maguire! no lukaku! no debruyne!



i am ON FIRE on this round of the fantasy league

and by “on fire” i mean GOING DOWN IN FLAMES

—

ty for the explanations

Fantasy league comeback: it doesn't work at all for me...
For next round, I picked Germans... ok, I've changed them... I picked James Rodriguez, he's off...
Marcelo had to leave yesterday...
Pfff...


England-Belgium... will it be worse than France-Denmark? Will there be tons of own goals to avoid the Brasilian side?


It's gonna be odd if they play poorly. How will your subs will feel if you ask them not to play too well?

I'm giving the English more chance right now, Belgians have substituted the defence, English still have Vardy and what more. But the same counts in other direction too so who knows?


Anyway, back to Rivalry. There's always a Belgian - Dutch rivalry too, but more friendly. So this is what we see when we cross the border from NL to BE:





it reads "here begins the world cup"
(the banner above not the graffiti) ;)

Apparently, if the game ends a draw England go top on the amount of cards they've received ... unless in the last minute a utility player for England comes on and gets a straight red. It'd be cynical but I'd personally have no problem with it.

Would be cool if one of the teams subs for the second goalie to make a hands ball outside the penalty box

Delph has confirmed he's going home after this game because his partner's had a baby. What are the odds on him going in two footed if it stays a draw in the last minute?

Januzaj goal.

Hmmm, this could be interesting

it’s finally watchable!

Belgian coach didn't cheer :p
Michy will get teased a lot for kicking the ball to his head via the post, he better score now

England doing a great impression of Arsenal right now: some nice interplay but crucially no real goal threat. So all going to plan, then.

if the plan is to avoid brazil—what if colombia kills you before getting there?

james injured is not a good thing but they’ve shown they can cope with his absence

and... merci thibault pour les points fantastiques lolololo

my french needs practice but i picked up *some* points

—

btw

realized today belgium has a solid deep bench

i hope batshuayi stays at dortmund

That's obviously a risk but if you were England or Belgium manager, who would you rather face, from:

Japan Uruguay Portugal France Argentina Mexico Brazil?

or

Colombia Switzerland Sweden Denmark Croatia Russia Spain?

i’d rather face japan first than colombia and live to fight another day— potentially it could be a 2nd rest day.

but you’re right that later could get easier. IF you live (big if).

before this the talk was “let’s place 2nd to avoid colombia”

now it’s “let’s place 2nd to avoid ... someone”. not sure it’s such a solid plan due to the big dependency upfont.

im soooooo looking forward to saturday!

—

eta: one big thing i learned today was what a deep solid bench the belgians have

e.g. sure batshuayi is no lukaku but it’s a very viable substitution.

same w/ others. nobody really “indispensable” in that team i think. except courtois maybe? hmmmm

I don't think Colombia are all that. Better than Japan maybe but I'd make England favourites to beat them. I'd actually say, after Spain, the toughest test in that group is Croatia.

But I know it could all go wrong, whoever we draw. Beating Colombia certainly isn't a formality, even if they lose James.

Anyway, tonight's game was one to cast aside as an odd situation.

From now it's simply one game at a time.

favorite.... yes....

one big advantage you have is that colombia was spent today whereas you rested

senegal was (literally) a bruising adversary. e.g. the way they crushed falcao between 2 players reminded me of a pack of wolves taking down... a tiny fucking deer lol. he held his head after but i saw all kinds of parts crushed. maybe the head was just what hurt the most.

but there’s also an extra day of rest for that game so maybe colombia recovers?

here’s to an epic match

Meanwhile H8kurdt jumps to the top with a very well played Maximum Captain.

Mexico and South Korea have become best friends. This is the South Korean consul general to Mexico celebrating with Mexican fans in Mexico City









and in Washington the Korean embassy got a present in the form of cases of beer

It's a knockout. Anything can happen on the day. I'm not expecting England to lift the trophy or even reach the final but this is the 1st time, maybe since 1990, where I think we could.

I've changed my team, it's now like this:


Offence:
D. Costa (ESP), D. Mertens (BEL), R. Lukaku (BEL)


Midfield:
J. Lingard (ENG), L. Modric (KRO), M. Badelj (KRO), Paulinho (BRA)
and as sub:
S. Busquets (ESP)


Defence:
D. Boyata (BEL), J. Stones (ENG), T. Silva (BRA)
and as sub:
Fagner (BRA), Alderweireld (BEL)


Goalie:
J. Pickford (ENG)
and as sub:
D. Subasic (KRO)





There's still a day left for any possible changes, so it's not yet final. Especially Stones is a question mark depending on the severity of his injury. And I'm also worried that some teams may leave out the players that are now in my selection. For instance there are many options for the defence of Belgium. The substitutes did a pretty good job yesterday after all.
I took al the Mexicans, Uruguayans and Colombians out of my team, and no Argentinians either. And no French as well, je suis désolé

Round 3 has been bad for me, so I shuffled my team around a bit.

GK: Ochoa (MEX)
DEF: Granquist (SWE), Godin (URU), Mina (COL)
MID: Eriksen (DEN), Isco (ESP), Modric (CRO), Coutinho (BRA),
ATT: Costa (ESP), Cavani (URU), Lukaku (BEL)

Sub: Ospina (COL), Caleta-Car (CRO), Cheryshev (RUS), Mojica (COL)

what? you had 31 points, I had 18! what are you complaining about? :D

compared to previous dates he tanked a bit

and after ochoa disappointed he sat out ospina the next day who scored high

he’s still kicking our asses

ps also thanks for hilarious banner

so im trying to sort out a bracket before picking players

theres a logic to it i swear lol

first round:
uruguay
france
brazil
belgium
spain
croatia
dont know
england


eventually:
france v belgium > belgium?
croatia v england > not sure

i really dont know. if mandzu keeps his cool and does not get thrown out....

( see this video: https://youtu.be/uSxMdO1Ifws begins stupid gets very funny about halfway)

other thing i was thinking about totally unrelated: poor little pulisic should have declared for croatia

he went with the usa instead and he’s in the wilderness for how long one doesnt know

hm.... could croatia be champions? they have some great players. dont know about the bench?

ps looks like croatia has a sweet bench

i wanna rewatch their argentinian beatdown

—


anyway reason i want to pick a bracket first is to minimize costly extra transfers as the game progresses. only 3 free transfers each step.

plus i dont know if valuation will change too. if it does, having a winning team increases your capital. buy low/sell high.

Team-

Subasic (Cro)

Godin (Uru), Granqvist (Swe), T, Silva (Bra)

Eriksen (Den), Modric (Cro), Paulinho (Bra), Coutinho (Bra), Busquets (Spa)

Lukaku (Bel), Costa (Spa)

T. Silva and Costa are the risks for me I think.

Why is T. Silva a risk? Do you mean in terms of maybe not playing?

God this is nuts. I'm suffering bad WC withdrawal today.

No as in keeping a clean sheet! :D

Tell me about it. I'm lying here in front of a fan bored and overthinking my team. To make it worse my friends are all busy so no beer garden for me. Need my football fix. Everyone agreed that this is possibly the best world cup already?

So it turns out I've money left over nd able to actually have a couple of decent subs. If I sub them after they've played for another player who is playing the next day do the points still count?