YES YES YESSSSSS CROATIA come oooon

goals aside, sleepy at halftime

I had expected more of Croatia, based on their previous matches. Hopefully they will wake up in time.

did you see the russian GRAVITY GUNS kicking that ball out of the goal???

also:


i was thinking maybe we overrated them from argentina sucking so much

also: maybe putin threatened everyone’s family

—

whatever happens i hope this doesn’t go to extra time.

england the most entertaining team of this whole bracket so far so here’s hoping they make the final.

belgium probably the one from the other— those lightning counters were just glorious

—

poison dart on subasic. clearly. and fsb telekinetic hitmen.

—

o man

this is insane

poor game but thrilling score

yeah, pure drama though.

And this is all good for England. Both teams look totally hammered

Gowan sexy Luca, put Putin in his place

England would be more likely to beat Russia, but I'd like to see Putin's subjects get hoofed out

yeeeeeeeeessssssssss

England - Croatia. Can we beat Croatia? Absolutely

We'll get absolutely minced by the French if we face them in the final, we might have a shot against the Belgians.

Absolutely is right. People talk about Kane looking tired, Croatia were out on their feet at the end of that.

Agree. Belgium are better but it'll be almost like a Prem derby. Very very hard to call. France will be too much though.

well yeah you just had come out of an extra time game

but come wednesday croatia will have played 2 extra times in a row while you relatively rested

injuries will pile up

I felt the talk about Kane looking knackered was overblown, he looked as tired as Lukaku did. And Kane is a better player overall than Lukaku

er... i dont know that this is correct

see: lukaku’s counters

but it’s a no-brainer that the one who played extra time would be more tired.

didn’t mean kane was falling with exhaustion—he just was not his usual speed (and maybe he didn’t even need to).

you know who’s gonna be knackered wednesday though?

all of croatia. two extra times in a row. the keeper cramping up even.

i’d send them all to the massage table for the next 3 days and skip training.

modric though— impressive shape. the way he ran until the end was insane.

Modric doesnt get knackered, he drinks from the fountain of youth

I reckon England can pressure him though, we've got the second best mifield unit around with Henderson Alli and Lingaard

The French will mince us though, and they will mince Croatia if its them too

wat da fuc! i’m on top of the fantasy league???

this can’t be.

the computer is fucking broken!

Harry Maguire ... like a boss

ha ha ha ha

he’s having a very nice day

—

as for pressuring modric: sure. and thus free up rakitic.

i love this sort of chess ha ha ha

did you guys read latest zm/cox? much praise for martinez while recognizing things could have gone either way. a great dissection of tactics as usual.

also curious: what sort of paper is this “independent”? im running into it a lot lately

The Independent is similar to the Guardian, prefer the Guardian's football coverage but both are credible.

Good article. Still think the best team in the tournament went out, but Belgium were brilliant at times, and Brazil just never got any of the breaks.

Ive been looking for analysis in the guardian but i see mostly live blog stuff. the independent has cox and some other dude that seem to have the best post-match articles right now.

At least from what ive googled

Henderson v Modric will be key but England won't adjust anything. Yes, pressing Modric only releases Rakitic but so pressing Kane only releases Sterling and Alli (both of whom I'm sure will start).

yes!

never an easy solution and so many surprises and imponderables ha ha ha

one thing causes another causes another causes another, etc

like martinez said, he’s never lost a tactical battle “on paper”

anyway i need to pick a cheap english midfielder for the fantsquad i think

who’s got more chance? loftus cheek or dier?

—

AS FOR THE BRAZIL GOODBYE:

this is to show that tactical decisions count, yellow cards count, everything counts

sure the yellow card rule that happened to bench casemiro is a shit rule very reliant on subjectivity and not (i think) var-checked, but little things accumulate and add up to big ones

dumbfuck tite keeping jesus in does count. not using douglas costa until late counts. everything counts. and so “on paper” brazil was great and it had a good record beating everyone else in south america but pigheadedly insisting on what doesn’t work... also counts.

and props again to martinez because he changed and won. even with the help of luck and a stupid counterpart on the other side. everything everything everything.

oh and of course, neymar simulation counted. remember what i said about the “devaluing the game” etc etc and the market incorporating all information? well, shit, his bullshit came back to biting him HARD. that serbian ref was predisposed against him and thus brazil paid dearly for his shitshow.

what makes a team better is... everything.

Dier could get minutes but offers minimal goal threat. Lingard looks a sure starter and goes forward.

yeah

im not sure i got the money for him tho. thanks!

It's tough at the top, ah? ;)

Besides Modric there isn't much value left in that midfield bracket. Some great players but not really in terms of FF. Too many attacking midfielders being classified as forwards. Wingbacks have probably offered more attacking threat this WC than what they're categorising as midfielders.

Think you're a bit harsh on Brazil. They could've won that, and on balance of play over the 90 they maybe should've. On another day those go in. The margin was really too fine to attack Brazil while praising Belgium for a match they could've just as easily lost.

coming into the game i was truly agnostic about what would happen, but hell yeah i wanted brazil to go through. as much as i dislike neymar’s weasely antics, i wanted to see south america go farther.

i accept their fate, but i’m a little angry at tite’s stubbornly bad choices.

sure, luck and a magnificent adversary played a partin their defeat, but you can’t waste 3 chances in front of the goal and expect them to return later when you’re good and ready.

they had already been rescued once from a similar mess at the last minute by firmino.

and what does tite do?

i... can’t be cool about that hahaha. i’d like to, but i can’t.

ps also ive never liked willian.

I've fallen behind quite a lot. And it will be even worse (I had too many players on the team that are already out, such as Swedes or Brazilians)
Fuck that shit.

as cronaldo said once in a postmatch interview, “hay que saber sufrir”. (i never took him for a sage so he surprised me with that).

you still havent played bench boost or wild card have you?

at least i’m not as harsh as this!

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features...up-return-home

damn...

looks like Ronaldo to Juve is pretty much a done deal

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...rumours-gossip

I reckon France-Belgium tomorrow is going to be a classic match, I'm properly excited.

i got 9/15 “pretty decent” in this game ha ha ha

https://www.theguardian.com/football...rs-footballers

what’s your score?

latest news from Belgium:

a bridge on the Belgium-French border will be closed for the day to avoid riots during and after the match


also, Mbappe wasn't on the the training yesterday, so he could be injured?


yeas indeed, very much looking forward to this match tonight

to make this on-topic for the SY forum:
This bridge is in a town called Merwik, the next town is called Menen. That is where Lee played about a year ago and held an exposition. And before the show, inthe afternoon, there was a walk through the town under the title ‘Shibuya Displacement’. And we actually walked over a bridge to France, and then back again. And while doing that we made a lot of noise :D