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World Cup 2018

mattitouk

Life President
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Messages
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I thought I would start this World Cup (Pre-Match Thread) to discuss all things related to the build up towards the competition next year, where we can share our opinions on any news, rumours, info on any up coming international friendly matches & results etc, for ALL of the the teams that have qualified for the World Cup.


Anyway......The Groups have been confirmed, and they are as follows:

dd73bf4dec94826de2a22b4e600dc4a1
 
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There are some tasty group there, which England are well out of ; - B, C, D, E, F will all have a scrap for 2nd place finish.
Russia, (any one thing is is a bit smelly?) have the easiest group.

But NO Italia!:sad::facepalm:
 
Spain V Portugal will be a feisty affair.

Excluding Group A. I think France have the easiest group.

Assuming we either finish top or 2nd place, we would probably face either Poland or Colombia in the 2nd round.
 
Group E the stand out for me there.

Brazil should walk it and leave three good teams fighting for second place, but this current era have struggled to produce when it matters and up against the defensively strong sides like the three of them are they haven't always found a way through.
 
For people that work office hours, the England fixtures have been kind, with two 7pm kick off's during the weekdays & a 1pm kick off at the weekend.

Also regardless of whether we finish 1st or 2nd in the group table, the 2nd round match will also kick off at 7pm.


Monday 18th June - V Tunisia @ 7pm

Sunday 24th June - V Panama @ 1pm

Thursday 28th June - V Belgium @ 7pm
 
Players and fans will travel just over 4,000 miles in the group stages. Slightly less than they did in Brazil.
 
For the football fan that loves the World Cup and likes to watch as many games as possible, regardless of who is playing...You might want to clear your diary on Saturday 16th June, as your day will probably go like this:

Wake up......switch on telly.....sit on sofa......

11:00 - France V Australia

14:00 - Argentina V Iceland

17:00 - Peru V Denmark

20:00 - Croatia V Nigeria


So basically from 10:30am to 10:30pm wall to wall football.

Sunday doesn't look to shabby either with Costa Rica V Serbia / Germany V Mexico / Brazil V Switzerland.

I can't see many chores getting done that weekend :smile:
 
For the football fan that loves the World Cup and likes to watch as many games as possible, regardless of who is playing...You might want to clear your diary on Saturday 16th June, as your day will probably go like this:

Wake up......switch on telly.....sit on sofa......

11:00 - France V Australia

14:00 - Argentina V Iceland

17:00 - Peru V Denmark

20:00 - Croatia V Nigeria


So basically from 10:30am to 10:30pm wall to wall football.

Sunday doesn't look to shabby either with Costa Rica V Serbia / Germany V Mexico / Brazil V Switzerland.

I can't see many chores getting done that weekend :smile:

I know what teams I will be supporting for Saturday.

Largely I will surprised if my "favs" achieve more collectively than 2 draws,:sad:
 
Who were your supported teams Massimo?

For me, i Would like

Australia to beat France (based on the fact i'm English & we generally don't like the frogs, and my brother lives in Australia).

Iceland to beat Argentina (based on if it actually happened, it would look slightly less embarrassing for us when we lost to them).

Denmark to beat Peru (Only because I have a Danish friend)

Croatia V Nigeria.....The jury's still out on that one.
 
Who were your supported teams Massimo?

For me, i Would like

Australia to beat France (based on the fact i'm English & we generally don't like the frogs, and my brother lives in Australia).

Iceland to beat Argentina (based on if it actually happened, it would look slightly less embarrassing for us when we lost to them).

Denmark to beat Peru (Only because I have a Danish friend)

Croatia V Nigeria.....The jury's still out on that one.
The same teams plus Croatia ( their fans are fanatical!).
unlikely IMO that too much in the way of wins will go our way.
 
BBC will broadcast England's first two games of the World Cup (which is a relief as I much prefer their commentators to ITV's).
 
Will any sane England fans (not the rich prawn sandwich types) be going over there? I doubt it.
Will there be aggro a plenty? for sure.
Will the Security let it kick off and then, after a few heads are smashed, wade in and smash the fans of what ever country are being "done" by the Russians; most likely.
Will FIFA make the BIG correct noises and warnings? Yes. Will they do anything punitive about it? NO!

My post is S A D, but the whole situation of a World Cup being held in Russia at the present is poor AND the idea of 5 years time being in Qatar is worse.:sad:
 
Gotto agree with you Massimo, world cup should never have been awarded to either Russia or Qatar, and even after it was it should have been taken away from them both.England and Australia are the two countries they should have been awarded too .
 
Peru captain (& joint top scorer in qualifying) Paolo Guerrero has tested positive for Cocaine and will miss out on the World Cup after receiving a One Year Ban.

His claim / excuse is a new one on me, he claims he had a cup of tea and it must have still been in the cup from the person who drank from the same cup before him.

What ever cafe this International footballer was drinking in, I would have imagined it was an establishment that at least washed their cups before serving their next customer.

Well, i'm no Kerry Katona on the subject of Cocaine, but I didn't know you could put it in a cuppa. I would have thought boiling water would numb the effect or something. Hence it normally going straight up the trumpet.
 
Another strange one this week regarding the World Cup.

Nigeria's original 1-1 World Cup Qualifier result with Algeria last month, has been over turned by FIFA, and handed to Algeria as a 3-0 Victory. As Nigeria fielded an eligable player ( Shehu Abullahi) that should have been serving a ban. Nigeria also lose their un-beaten record.

Yes of course these things happen every now and then (remember that kid that Bury forgot to register to the FA when he came on for us on the last match of the season).... But this is an international Qualifier to compete at the World Cup Finals!!.. Surely himself knew he was banned, as well as the manger and coaches, and there must have been millions of people sitting on the sofa watching the game on TV that must have shared the same opinion. How on earth did they think they were going to get away with it, in this modern age?? :smile:

Maybe it was a betting scam?...The ironic thing is, it was their last game & they didn't need to do it, as even with the 3 points deduction, they still finished top of the group and automatically qualified for the World Cup.
 
Not sure if it's been mentioned elsewhere, but England have announced that they will play two more friendlies ahead of the World Cup, one will be against Nigeria at Wembley, the other side hasn't been announced yet, but expected to be a South American team.

Edit:

V Nigeria - 2nd June @ Wembley
V Costa Rica - 7th June @ Elland Road
 
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