NP's 2018 World Cup Thread, Predictions, News and Fun

GILSAN said:

The World Cup started with 32 teams...

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In fact ....there are much more, if you count the matches for qualification before the actual tournament in Russia.

Still 2 matches left to play 1/ for 1st place => (sunday) for gold => and 2/ (saterday) for 3rd place or bronze .

GILSAN said:

Lucky that Ikea has a 60-day return policy...

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LOL

What you get when you keep yelling "It's coming home"

" i am NOT coming home mama " (Croatia ) vs (England )

Was hoping for a France England final because of the rivalry and history. But Croatia wanted the win more than England. The game can't be just technical, which England was superior at, but it also needs a healthy mix of intensity, which Croatia had more of. But the next 2 matches will be fun to watch. Bulgaria was awesome too. EDIT: Sorry, I meant Belgium, LOL.

England vs Croatia was a fantastic match,
England missed their chances in the first half,
Croatia fought until the last minute, they will need a good rest before the final
if they play at their best, they have it in the bag

the way they beat Russia & England show their mental strength

the 2 best team will close the show this sunday

Domainstore said:

In fact ....there are much more, if you count the matches for qualification before the actual tournament in Russia.

Still 2 matches left to play 1/ for 1st place => (sunday) for gold => and 2/ (saterday) for 3rd place or bronze .

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Lots of people, players and coaches feel that the game for 3rd place should be removed from the tournament, as there is little motivation left in the players or even in many fans...

CROATIA it is!

domainventure said:

Yeah, all the big teams are going out. Perhaps, we are seeing history in the making????

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domainventure said:

CROATIA it is!

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they played great matches from the start,
now people realize that when they beat Argentina 3-0 it was no fluke

lots of soccer lover are cheering for Croatia

GILSAN said:

Lots of people, players and coaches feel that the game for 3rd place should be removed from the tournament, as there is little motivation left in the players or even in many fans...

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Yes, I've heard similar things, but also heard the following :
In situations like Belgium and England -teams that already are placed to go to the quarterfinals but still have to play 1 match in their pool-, the last match they play in the pool isn't so nice anymore.
There was talked about in a roundtable in Brussels.

And "the little final"
The television is on and I hear that the coach of England is very motivated for saterday.
The same can be said of the Belgians, as I heard yeasterday.
Certainly because they feel that they've lost against a country who played "antifootbal", (meaning France), with the most little difference, and are not amused about the big fault against Eden Hazard that the referree didn't whistle. He didn't even consult the VAR.

And the earlier match against from the Belgians against England earlier in the tournament, were 2 "B-teams", (8 or 9 different players then in the matches before inthe tournament) as both teams were already placed for the quarterfinal. Now these teams will play with their A-teams. So I think, they'll fight for that 3rd place.
In many competitions 4th place doesn't mean anything, but 3rd place is still 3rd place. (cycling, Olympics, etc...).
I saw on TV and heard Meunier saying that they don't want to come home to Brussels and get much applause, for their beautiful result, "but having lost their 2 last matches (meaning half-final and the little final for 3rd place)." No : They wanna win on saterday. So they can come home say they only lost 1 match in the whole tournament and became 3rd.

I'll look in any case tomorrow mid European time (Germany, France, etc..)
at 4 PM or 16.00 h the match will be played for 3rd place England-Belgium (that's 5 PM Russian Time) in Saint-Petersburg.
It is also called the "little final."
At the roundtable we can watch between experts on television here, they talked about it
and showed a bit of the training of the Belgians of today, and the interviewer in St. Petersburg had a little talk with Roberto Martínez (Montoliú) who'se becoming 45 years old today, and he said that we surely know what present he would like for that birthday.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Martínez

In any case congrats to Roberto Martínez, becoming 45 today (I mean 13th of july ).

Domainstore said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Martínez

In any case congrats to Roberto Martínez, becoming 45 today (I mean 13th of july ).

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45 on a FRIDAY the 13th... for some it's a lucky day (like me) For others, not so much...

There were 13 Thai kids trapped in a cave. The number 13 is missing in Thailand where it is regarded as bad luck. In elevators this number is replaced by number 12A.

But the 13 trapped in the cave had luck on their side...

I remember when I lived in California, the buildings didn't have a 13th floor. They jumped from 12th to 14th.

So for me on this Friday the 13th, my prediction will bring good luck to Belgium...

GILSAN said:

45 on a FRIDAY the 13th... for some it's a lucky day (like me) For others, not so much...

There were 13 Thai kids trapped in a cave. The number 13 is missing in Thailand where it is regarded as bad luck. In elevators this number is replaced by number 12A.

But the 13 trapped in the cave had luck on their side...

I remember when I lived in California, the buildings didn't have a 13th floor. They jumped from 12th to 14th.

So for me on this Friday the 13th, my prediction will bring good luck to Belgium...

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I hope this will come true.
I have family in the far east and the Chinese and Taiwanese don't like the nr. 4 and indeed there are some things similar.(like floors that don't exist, etc....)

Here you have more information, from an interesting site =>
A LOT of information on this site ! WAAW www.defaultlogic.com , if your enter "Belgium" in the searchbar, you find a lot of information. a.o. info about the national team and coach.
If you enter "England", you get also a lot of information including the national coach and national team. It's a kinda Wikipedia. You can also in the links I give here scroll down and find the current players, and click on them and info of all the players.

Career of Roberto Martínez (coach Belgium) =>
http://www.defaultlogic.com/learn?s=Roberto_Martínez

Career of the Belgian Team :=>
http://www.defaultlogic.com/learn?s=Belgium_national_football_team
Do scroll down, to see statistics etc. In 1986 they reached 4th place. So if they win against England they would do better then in 1986.

Career of Gareth Southgate (coach England) =>
http://www.defaultlogic.com/learn?s=Gareth_Southgate

Career of English Team =>
http://www.defaultlogic.com/learn?s=England_national_football_team
(won in 1966, and in 1990, reached 4th place) If they win, they will do better then in 1990.

ALSO =>
DO CLICK ON ALL THESE PAGES "VIDEO" (on top, of the articles, right of the word "INFO"). You"ll find videos like interviews with the coaches, and video's about the teams a.o.

You can take from a specific video also the URL and post it somewhere. Like this video =>

http://www.defaultlogic.com/video?id=x2tzfx4_tv_DMO&wid=Belgium_national_football_team&ttl=Belgium National Football Team : The New Spain ? [Part 1]&s=

But if you click on the video right, you can open in a new window and find the source of the video. Doing that I found alsothe following videos =>

15 day ago interview with Roberto Martinez, or better 15 days ago published online,
interview could be actually done earlier.

Somebody overviews 10 amazing players of the last week.

What's important is also that the "little final-goals" also count for the
competition for the golden boot of this tournament (most goals I guess ; golden boot) (if it's even -I heard- the penalties are deducted to decide the winner).
So Lukaku is 2nd, with 4, and for the moment with 6 is Kane from England, before the match. (and before the match of France and Croatia). Of course Kane has the most chance. But you never know.

BTW (The "coming home" we heard, referred to the fact that England invented soccer-football. If that's really true,I don't know : DO give information if you find info about it )

The match Belgium-England started and after 4 minutes, a goal for Belgium,
by Thomas Meunier. 1-0 for the moment.
Meunier is the one that wasn't in the semi-finals from Belgium against France because he had 2 yellow cards, from previous matches.
And it shows they are motivated ! There's a full house, as I can see. Nothing about "no intrest".

This might as well be the WC final. Belgium are better than Croatia. France will be the champs. IMO.

Name Options said:

This might as well be the WC final. Belgium are better than Croatia. France will be the champs. IMO.

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We'll see, I'm for Belgium as people know. The commentator has said just now here on television, that the last "little finals" (for 3rd place (and 4th)), everytime there were 10 times in a row 3 goals minimum. So in a period of 40 years.
Let's hope we see a lot of goals !
And in 2010 Müeller became even topscoarer of the tournament due to a goal (or more (?)) in the little final for 3rd place.

What would the match of France-Belgium have been if Meunier (who walks kilometers or for the english 'miles' during a match), could have played along ?

1-0 by the break for Belgium, now 2nd half begins.
2 new players come in for England in the beginning of the 2nd half.

Wow. Belgium rocks. Amazing passes and attacking plays. Reminds me of Germany in their prime. But then again, England looks like they don't want to be there (playing for 3rd).

Dyer from England made a very good shot to the goal of the Belgians in the 2nd half, and Courtois didn't take the ball, BUT Toby Alderweireld, could kick the ball away just before the goalline.
Later on some good shots from the Belgians, like Meunier nearly making his 2nd.
But Eden Hazard a bit later (of before) made the 2nd goal for Belgium ! And there's 1 phase that if it would have been a goal, would be the best of the tournament again Meunier but 5 players were involved with terrific passes).

End of the game 2-0 for Belgium. BTW : Also this was a kinda "derby" just like the match against the French was a derby (Note there's only 30 km or so of northsea between Belgium and England).

Now a little "cérémonie protoculaire." there will come in St.-Petersburh.with the reaching out of the medals for 3 rd place BRONZE => worldcup2018 ! And won 6 on 7 matches in the whole tournament, only lost from France. I saw the "cérémonie protocolaire", and first the referees got a medal, and coach Roberto Martínez, then the Belgian players and the staff (including the famous Thierry Henry, who played for France (yes, France), some years ago in 4 Worldcups, and in all the wordcupmatches (also before the actual tournaments) he played 54 matches, the most of everybody in French history). On French television, before the match against France, there was some criticism against that. But of course Martínez, just had been clever by taking him as T3 in the staff. He was very important according to several players, and certainly Martínez.

(The english ones will also get a kinda medal (what colour/metal I don't know ?), but that will probably happen later somewhere after the match, on fthe field (but I didn't see that) or at their hotel or in the catacombes of the stadium. .

The Belgians will be tomorrow probably in Belgium Brussels on the big beautiful market, showing their medals on the balconny of the townhall and furthermore and before a PARADE through Brussels ! With a lot of fans present probably ! And of course will be in the townhall King Phillie and Matchilde.and probably their children.

It's the first time in history they reach 3rd place. So they did it better then the generation 1986 (who became 4th then in Mexico). Although the current team was very close to playing the final. Yet they showed to have played from the beginning to the end of the tournament that they did everything to win.
16 goals ! (A Televisionbrand in may promised that all buyers of a specific type before the tournament began in Russia, would get their money back if the Belgian Team would scoar 15 times...so they will have to pay ).

Belgium's counter attacks are pure eye candy

All in all, I think the final 4 teams plus Brazil were the best 5 by far in this WC.

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Asfas1000 said:

Belgium's counter attacks are pure eye candy

All in all, I think the final 4 teams plus Brazil were the best 5 by far in this WC.

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Agreed, plus Uruguay, good team.

but tomorrow's winners are the Champions..

DomainChap said:

they played great matches from the start,
now people realize that when they beat Argentina 3-0 it was no fluke

lots of soccer lover are cheering for Croatia

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Its a tough one, because

Croatia, those guys do not give up. Played well, clearly the want it, would mean a lot to them & their fans.

France, young team, not as much experience, many weren't expecting much from them.

i'd be happy for either.

hope we see a really good final..

good luck to both

Belgium 2-0 England... the Red Devils win the 3rd place.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to see the game because I had to go to a wedding. Congrats Belgium...