It's been epic so far. Enough upsets to make it interesting but not so many that it feels too random. Germany going out already makes it classic but also the fact so many less fancied sides have a genuine chance this time. Also while I was dubious about VAR at 1st, overall I'd say it's been a success.

I'm soooo nervous ahead of the Colombia game, though. I'm gonna be a wreck by Tuesday.

im actually enjoying the break. even if i’m on vacation, games every day from 6am can get tiresome haa haaa haaa.

e.g. went out on a nice hike this morning instead of being glued to the teevee in my pajamas.

today i’m catching up on accounts, budgets, paperwork, etc., that had fallen by the wayside. feels good to get organized.


and it’s the best cup ever maybe if you’re english, or belgian, or croatian, since you have a real team with a decent chance.

if you’re african? forget about it, you’re shut out now. if you’re from the americas? too many doubts to quell the nerves just yet.

You lose the points if you sub them out unless you play bench boost.

Oh! So that's what that does. Ok, thanks man.

dammit, i wanted to do max cap + bench boost (saw no rules against it)

pressed max cap.... and it neutered bench boost

but see, bench boost was more important for me today, because my team pick was a massive crapshoot that needed sorting

NOW I CAN’T REVERSE IT

ah, the bitter taste of failure...

I meant as a neutral a d viewing it in pure entertainment terms

btw the rule against using both boosts together is there, just it’s mentioned in the paragraph about wildcards. and since i had already played wildcard i didn’t read it.

Same. I can see it all going to pot. Why we let ourselves get like this given the history is beyond me.

There was a bit of a panic as I'm seeing Roger Waters on Monday so I'd have missed the 2nd half if England came 2nd in the group.

So you'd only be able to use it in the next round?

oh! that...

i can’t tell yet

you sure germany’s exit isn’t coloring your perspective? :D

yes but by then my teams would be more defined and not so scattered as now

this round was me casting a big net and i fucked it up royally

the bench boost was the key. i only hit max cap first cuz it was on the left and that’s the direction we read in english :o

It's certainly coloured mine, but why wouldn't it? Spain's collapse added something to the previous WC just as Germany's has added to this one. Not great then if you happened to be Spanish or now if you're German, but for the rest of us ...

Stones injury appears to be healing fine, he should be able to play again against Colombia. So I'm keeping my team as it is. With the bench boost option.
Still having a doubt about Badelj, he scored 10 points so far, but only played the third match. So how are the chances that he's playing next match?


I won't get any points today though, I've got no players of these four countries.

I've got a no-Belgian team for this round, when Japan is looked as much weaker team. Whatever.


I hope France scores early on this afternoon.

Feel like Lukaku is the perfect player to score against them.

I've got Lukaku in. Given the options, there can't be many better fixttures for him than Japan. Pretty much nailed on and, at 6'3, bound to be a human-skyscraper relative to their defence.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...player-height/

My team:

GK: ALLISON, OLSEN
DF: ALBA, SILVA, LOVREN, BOYATA, AKANJI
MF: COUTINHO, MODRIC, INUI, CLAERSSON, ISCO
FW: LUKAKU, COSTA, KANE

Bench Boost active

yep! thats what i meant. hard to have a “neutral viewing”, as much as one can try.

my highlight so far is still spain portugal—had no dog in that fight and it was a great spectacle.

mexico germany bittersweet for me. mexico’s achievement now seems diminished in my eyes—it’s not so much that they were good but the other side was terrible.

and i might have enjoyed croatia’s destruction of argentina more had i not felt bad for messi or poor old mascherano. i keep wanting to rewatch more detachedly...

—

i dont wanna post my team. it’s a doomed team. after this round im gonna need 20 transfers

Aguero not starting and looks like Messi playing a false 9 .. something he's apprently never done for Argentina. HUGE risk for Sampaoli

France: Lloris; Pavard, Umtiti, Varane, Hernandez; Kante, Pogba; Mbappe, Griezmann, Matuidi; Giroud.

Argentina: Armani; Mercado, Otamendi, Rojo, Tagliafico; Mascherano, Perez, Banega; Messi, Pavon, Di Maria.

i think this is where argentina ends

having said that, i have zero frenchies in my squad

someone shoot me

I really want Argentina to win this

ta gueule!

Argentina can't cope with Mbappe at all!

France should be out of sight. Totally dominant. But that DiMaria goal was something else.

pavard of all people!

aaaaand mbappé finally gets his due

argentina has tried with some balls and luck but france has youth, power, pace, skill.... this is the future vs the past

—

ok we have a little massacre in progress now

One way now...

Mad mad game. Mbappe was different class. France deserve it.

by far!

sad to see argentina go but mascherano is 34...

last world cup was their big chance and now they need a new “project”

Messi too will surely retire from international football now. For Mascherano this looked like one tournament too far. So yeah, feels like the end. But as you say, this was about a big Mbappe-shaped future. Fantastic performance.

mbappé is 19
griezmann 27
démbélé 19 or 20? (did not play today but he is brilliant i swear)
kanté 27

etc

Again :rolleyes:

But Mbappe

he was already tremendous with monaco at the 16-17 champions league

Not sure if that's directed at me or not

in general since we’re all talking about mbappé

i remember his forward runs destroying dortmund and man city

he was a holy terror

Yeah, that was the mental 2 leg between City

yes!

he did the exact same today and it brought on memories for me

As much as I admire everything Messi and Ronaldo have achieved, it feels right that someone young is coming along besides Neymar who we can look forward with, rather than back on. Salah, Mbappe, aren't there yet but they're going in the right direction.

HELP!
I picked up a new mediabox today for the TV reception, so that I can record stuff onto the mediabox and watch later. Of course there was no installation manual included at all, so I thought it would be plug and play, but apparently it takes like 60 minutes to install. And it looks like it's not doing much over the past 15-20 minutes ...


Hopefully I will have it sorted out when the next match starts ...


puffff :(

dude

is there no app where you can watch? “cable login” whatever

your provider’s website?