I switched back to the old box, that one still works. The new box gives me some error code that the cables are badly connected. So I'll have to get back to the shop.


But hey, I missed a goal. Uruguay leads !!!! Let's keep it that way :D

I've no stake in this (or the last game) from a ff pov, but I'd love Uruguay to knock portugal out

Is Ronaldo actually on the pitch?

However far Uruguay get in this they look the most complete team I've seen so far. Suarez and Cavani up front is a given but their defence is also a rock.

oh damn

Fuck yes! Cavani. Beautiful <3

cavani ON FIRE

wow i think im on a big delay here

Swear with that defence they can go all the way. Bus parking wankers. Also, I thought I'd left Ronaldo in the FF. Big relief when I realised I hadn't.

wankers??? they’re the mozart of bus parking!

they’re like the ryan gosling on “drive” of bus parking

good thing i do not have a heart condition this was a mega-thriller

Ok, Mozart bus parking wankers then.

Come on. We both support teams that've recently been managed by Allardyce. We've seen what parking the bus looks like. That wasn't it. That was a seriously good defence doing a seriously good job.

Better than Spain v Portugal for me. Epicus maximus.

i know you are but what are they :D

now seriously (but seriously now) that was not mere bus parking. they defended *everywhere* , not just in their area, but upfront as well, and the way they shut out your boy cronaldo during the first half was masterful, basically by not allowing any balls to reach him, it was hilarious. demonyo called it correctly, “where is ronaldo?” (answer: on the other side of the uruguayan... dragnet).

2nd half portugal switched play and did better and after all the hacking the ref allowed, including that cynical challenge on laxalt, and cavani’s demolition, uruguay did get boxed in.

but they are fantastic.

pity i lost my clean sheets: i have muslera, godin, suarez on my fantasquad

(yes, i got “romantic” and pulled out the more logical harry kane to bring suarez in. im stupid i know)

Spot on.

They're a complete team. They may not have the most lethal frontline but it functions (hopefully Cavani isn't seriously injured). France will test them, maybe even enough to beat them, but they'll have to work a sight harder to do it than they did against Argentina. Uruguay don't park the bus; they just take defence seriously. There's a huge difference.

yep yep. alexi lalas the other day predicted uruguay would win this one “because they are a team”

i edited my post from “wall” to “dragnet” because i think the image is more fitting. it’s not that it was a static thing. instead it was a kind of web that moved to keep him out. missile defense kind of. i don’t recall any fouls on cr7, maybe there was one, but that is not how they shut him down at all. instead it was portugal who resorted more to fouls, and the ref helped them.

france had an easier day today for sure and uruguay goes forth wounded. but does france lose anyone essential on cards? matuidi i think? still without matuidi they have kanté, who is amazing.

france does not have an essential player really. everyone is replaceable i think. e.g. mbappé sure is great but griezmann can do the same job if you put démbélé on the wing for example.

whereas you take out cavani and stuani is nowhere near the caliber.

im worried about uruguay going forward like this. tough bracket! but how they played today was great. love that team.

one more corny thing to add: i thought they would win cuz when they played their national anthem several of them were crying. no joke. i wonder what tabárez told them in the dressing room.

ps-love that old man. has survived dont know how many conditions and gets up to celebrate on crutches. do not go gentle, etc.

You're probably right but we may be in danger of over-inflating France based on one good performance against a pretty hopeless Argentina, who still managed to score 3 goals against them despite not even have a proper forward for most of the game.

That aside, big respect to Ronaldo for helping Cavani off

Ranaldo helped him off to avoid any further delays.

Cavani said after the match that he believes to play in next match.
Lukaku is also fully recovered btw

ha ha ha i think so too and didn’t wanna be the only cynic to say so. but still nice gesture, better than yelling. makes a nice photo. chivalry in war.


i read that cavani said it’s a hamstring injury? those can last a long time... fingers crossed for him

still thin bench...


they may not have gelled as a team quite yet but they have ooooooooodles of talent in every position not just one or two great ones

the other day i was looking at pavard thinking “this guy, i don’t know if he’s up to snuff” and today he scores that beauty. of course he’s a defender so he must defend, but...

[More news from Belgium: some store have started a promotion. If you now buy a TV and Belgium scores more than 15 goals, the store will refund you. So Mertens said in press conference that he wants to score a lot because all his friends bought the TV

Always with the cheapshots.....

Don't get me wrong, I'm not that dim to not realise how incredible they are a shutting down every team that's come against them. The partnership between Godin and Giminez (why does everyone forget he's at Madrid too?) is something else. It precisely the reason why I picked them both for my FF. However, they're the team that are gonna get you on the break.

You guys seem to mis-understand me. I've no problem with a team sitting back and catching a team on the break. If it's done well and shuts down a team like they have done all tournament then let them do it. The central defence brought what they know from Madrid and continue to do it to as high a standard as you're ever go back see. It's going to take a pretty special team to break them down .

One thing I said to my friend after Portugal equalised was that they should play Uruguay at their own game. Play out the draw til pens and try and catch a win that way. That's as negative as you're gonna get but it would have worked I think.

Bilic said it perfectly last night. "It's not a game for kids to watch" and he was right. The damn mozart bus parking wankers.

i guess the only part i misunderstand is your use of the term “wanker”...

what exactly do you mean by it? that word has so many senses some precision would be helpful. i gotta assume now you dont mean “ineffectual” since you just described them as highly effective... i think.

:confused:

ps i also don’t understand the “not for kids”. was he referring to ronaldos pants? :D

but srsly, shared meaning is a difficult thing to arrive to. do you not enjoy their skill?

Haha lost in translation here. Nah, I just mean it in an endearing term about them. Like when an Aussie calls someone a cunt. It ain't said with malice.

As for not for the kids. He meant in the sense this wasn't a game like the France/Argentina or Spain/Portugal. Meaning goals, goals, goals. I should expand and that he said "it's not one for the kids. It's one for the managers, the coaches" and he was right. On here I'd like the think our understanding of football is deep enough to enjoy a game like that at a deeper level. In someways watching a wel drilled team shut down another one is just as good as a free flowing all-out attacking game.

Kids (and far more adults than I care to realise) would just be disappointed that Ronaldo didn't score and that's it.

One thing that no one seemed to notice is that the ref pointed to Cavani asking Ronaldo to help him off.

Haha. This reminds me of Phil Collins being told he couldn't say shithead on Miami Vice because it might cause offence, so he said wanker instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGgLDUfaTJM

nice own goal by ramos!

i mean...

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goal aside, dull game for me so far. not a real contest is it?

I'm banking on a Spanish goal-fest so the more the merrier for me (but no more ogs please)

ok i saw a momentary run there by silva where i thought “oh! that’s what they mean” but then he tripped lol

yes outside the fantasy game little interest here for me

they might get a clean sheet... but their defenders were so expensive i did not pick

So that's my 1st clean sheet gone

lol piqué’s hand it’s almost like someone paid him to do that on purpose. maybe putin threatened to kill shakira.

i hope this is the caffeine jolt this game needed though. what a snoozefest.

well kicked penalty but otherwise russia harmless.

This game is dreadful!

a liiiiiitle better on this 2nd half but still have trouble tuning in to it

i saw your new profile pic. it’s awesome.

while faffing around the internet with that theme in mind i found this one



everyone’s probably seen it already but it’s a great photo

something to do with his “wine binge” or some shit.

old elvis?

well thanks costa for the 0 goals and wasted money

should have dumped you instead of kane

Haha, I'd love a velvet-elvis style Diego picture!

Can't believe how flat Spain are. This has pens written all over it

Good. Spain were bullshit. Awesome end to a terrible game.

yeah ha ha ha. the portugal-spain game had given me a very different impression.

i wonder if they were bribed to suck? no joke. say: polonium in the gazpacho.

anyway great save by akinfeev. that was the best moment of the whooooooooole damn game. maybe the only good one, lol.

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Place reserved here for Neymar

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Hahaha! That'd be amazing big Brazil didn't get through.

Well neither team looking particularly great in this game. In fact at points I'd say pretty poor.