Russia World Cup 2018
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- colin_s0
I'm in Croatia right now and these games have been fucking nuts to watch downtown. Really hoping they beat England.
- shapesalad2
- comedy timing gold.shapesalad
- Amazingscruffics
- The guy with the shirt around his neck is a prick.detritus
- Joe Hart would have dropped themChimp
- I thought it was green screenedantonyjwhite
- smells fake, and currysted
- cuz they're brown?pango
- cuz i farted.sted
- shapesalad0
^ the guy carefully carries those 3 pints to his mates - probably queued 15mins to get those. Then England score and his mate throws the pint immediately over his head/crowd. Ha ha. Love it.
- needs to be a gif that. hilarious.shapesalad
- @1:39:14scruffics
- Black Guys, Asian Guys, White Guys, Women, Children. Heart warming.Hayzilla
- chukkaphob3
- nap time?chukkaphob
- bye byed_gitale
- What a nobChimp
- good brazil is outnudes
- brazil nut.notype
- Decent but mostly arrogant, self-centered drama queen.MrT
- made me lose so much respect for this team. hope they changejaylarson
- flopping soccer helmet...no wonder that this sport is fake.utopian
- oh give it a rest.MrT
- Salarrue0
Final : France - Croatia
- The Belgians will annihilate all remaining teamsCalderone2000
- Fax_Benson0
The Southgate-as-saviour thing was starting to go overboard but this post, below a Barney Ronay piece in the Guardian, very nicely sums up the last few weeks as an England watcher.
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So sick of the endlessly shifting goalposts according to which some will always find spurious grounds to judge this England team deficient.Especially sick of those deficiencies being presented as somehow proof that those doing the judging have some unique insight into football that escapes everyone else when they are in fact common knowledge. I know of no one who is blind to this team‘s limitations or who was thoughtlessly convinced of their superiority to their competitors.
And what a joyless attitude it is! This team has exceeded expectations in so many ways above and beyond their already wonderful achievements on the pitch. And I say that as someone who finds reasons to be dour at a unicorn‘s gymkhana.
Gareth Southgate deserves so, so much credit. He has harnessed that elusive magic only World Cups generate, and regardless of what happens he may just have effected changes in the England team as seismic as Klinsmann with Germany in 2006, something that has never happened for England given Robson, Venables and Hoddle all got told to do one after their best tournament performances. This team could stay together for one, in some cases two, World Cups, with an identity being forged in the present.
He makes it look easy but if you think about it, Southgate has made so many decisions that were by no means a given. 3 at the back - and then making Walker at CB, Maguire a key player; nurturing the qualities of Lingard; Young and Trippier as WBs, and their prowess at set pieces (as well as the superbly drilled set piece routines that have been so effective); easing out underperforming older players (remember what Big Sam had to say about Rooney playing wherever he wished?); making Pickford his first choice keeper and cutting the egotistical, potentially disruptive Joe Hart from the squad entirely; cultivating and empowering the team to build from the back for the first time perhaps in living memory; harnessing the intelligence as well as goal scoring of Harry Kane...the list goes on.
And those are the strictly on-pitch decisions. He has also succeeded for the first time in creating a proper team, including squad players, with solidarity and without the neuroses that before seemed to be absorbed by osmosis by incoming players until it seemed that a disposition to stolidity and negativity was the only constant regardless of the teamA‘s compositions.
And he has done it all with an intuitive affinity for the actual experience of watching England play, supporting them without that meaning bleak jingoism but a force for unifying people from whatever background, something that has been like a rite of passage ushering millions of boys and girls into childhood, a shared experience between children and parents...In short, an immense source for unforgettable experiences that successive teams, and managers, appeared to have soured forever.
So there‘s all that, plus exceeding in absolutely objective terms every team since 1990, or there is carping about the strength of opposition. I know which one I prefer - although what attraction there is in such carping I’m quite happy to remain unable to comprehend.
- Whatever happens from here on in, England have been transformed into a team worthy of following again. Which I think he was saying, albeit more eruditely : )Eighty
- Remember when, having lost, Rooney was mouthing off into the cameras about the fans? None of that cuntery with these lads.Eighty
- indeed eightyfadein11
- Krassy2
6 European teams left.
W̶o̶r̶l̶d Euro Cup 2018
- African-Euro Cup 2018 if I may.maquito
- ?Krassy
- France: https://dj0j0ofql4ht…maquito
- well, thanks for clearing that up :-skingsteven
- Maquito you are a cunt. Those guys are French. My wife her dad is from Congo, that does not make her African.tank02
- I was saying the same to a few friends. France consist of like 99% guys from AfricaHAMT
- @maquito are you effin' serious? this is 2018, dude. Lame.Krassy
- @HAMT don't be so ignorant. Can't believe in 2018 we have people judging people by skin color. Disturbing.Krassy
- @tank - I suppose that depends upon your preference and perspective. Black Americans refer to themselves as 'African Americans' - are they all wrong?detritus
- Tank -of course it does having a dad from the Congo means you have Congolese descent aka African descent, what’s wrong with that?_niko
- Panama’s black population is 9%. their football team is 99% black, the government is .5% black is this ok or should there be some kind of parity?_niko
- England looks like a pretty good representation of the country’s demographics but Sweden could use a splash of colour lol_niko
- Nooo! Krassy, tank, please: I have absolutely not intended to make a discriminative judgement. No way. I feel horrible for being understood as a fucking racistmaquito
- I feel it’s remarkable that france has several players with african roots, connection, surnames.. fuck I feel horrible :(maquito
- Its OK Maquito.tank02
- If Nigeria had 9 of 11 white players, you'd comment and call it a European team and no one would have an issue. They're French, but they're Africans. So what.set
- It's like the people that jump to get offended by maquito's comment are implying that somehow being African is a bad thing...set
- Otherwise why is his comment offensive?set
- if their parents were Dutch or German you would never here about it. Identity politicsDillinger
- i don't think the comment is racist, but it the context of a reply to a post stating that all the remaining teams are European it appears to suggest that thekingsteven
- French team is less French because of it's ethnic diversity when they've actually opposed racial quotas on the national team on the basis of them beingkingsteven
- constitutionally very un-french.kingsteven
- Sarkozy said "setting quotas would be the end of the Republic" etc. As daft as national football is, the diversity of their team is IMO a better reflection onkingsteven
- France than how well they kick a ball around a pitch... To make a jump from 'European teams' to 'European ethnicity' is a bit short sighted right?kingsteven
- Given that it's also a frequent jumping off point for racist cuntery, without the context of maquito's later reply, tank was just right to call it out.kingsteven
- D'accord @king.maquito
- +1 @kingfadein11
- Chimp4
- He’s really grown into that magic chin.Wolfboy
- Looks like a right little chav ;)Chimp
- the girl to the left, who's been cut out of this pic, is now Kanes GF/wife.cruddlebub
- shapesalad0
Russia vs Croatia turning out to be an entertaining game.
- damn! what a game!oey
- A couple of the Russian players will be losing some relatives tomorrow and possibly a limb.shapesalad
- Helluva gameRamanisky2
- DRAMAnudes
- chukkaphob2
- Putin dictating goals with the new gesture recognition system developed by Roscosmos.sted
- https://www.youtube.…OBBTKN
- @OBBTKN !!Krassy
- dance monkeys, dance!jaylarson
- synth legendfuturefood
- WASDtrooperbill
- Wolfboy1
Predictions... having predicted the right winner in the last world cup (Germany), this time I'm gonna say...
Winner: Belgium
- haha nope!tank02
- I know, but I Argentina was already taken. I will say this though, the Belgians are wasting a good group of players on an average manager.Wolfboy
- Also, you just got rid of one of the best away kits in football. That classic cycling kit as a football shirt was nice.Wolfboy
- I think Argentina will do badly this year. They lost 7-1 to Espain.Chimp
- Yeah, I’ve seen the run up to the tournament they’ve had; but it'll be Messi's last WC and they have a tough group which might spur them on to bigger things...Wolfboy
- ...if they can come through it.Wolfboy
- Ok I’d like to take back my Argentina guess in the notes and get fully behind my original post. Belgium all the way.Wolfboy
- nudes4
Waffle vs Crepe
- Who do you think will win Belgium v Francenudes
- the other two games seem so unimportant. i'd like to see belgium in the finals but france are really good.renderedred
- my dream final is croatia - belgium. still can happen.renderedred
- The other games are not unimportant.MrT
- Salarrue0
:(
- chukkaphob6
- An interesting and familiar choice of glove: http://www.thekeep.o…Wolfboy
- I'm amazed at how the goalies (goal keepers? I come from a hockey country), can fly and land on their rib cage without cracking.BustySaintClaire
- LOLL@ mr flibble ^^futurefood
- chukkaphob2
- he's praying to his god, and his god, being a gracious god answers. https://www.log.com.…_niko
- looks possessed !Krassy
- @_niko LOLKrassy