Knockout stage - Round of 32 Games

144 replies · 2,587 views
about 17 hours ago
Where was teletubby guy when they needed him?
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about 17 hours ago
Yep, freaking pathetic for strikers to spend their entire career in front of goal and not have the courage to take them at the end.

Straight out shying away from responsibility.
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Endorsed by
LeggyPK
about 17 hours ago
Awful penalty 1 kicked into the crowd by Australia. I thought they were doomed already when that happened.
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about 17 hours ago
ESPN FC guys are pissed off Harrington was allowed to take a penalty. I have to agree. The coach and senior players should have protected him from himself. 

When strikers back out of taking a penalty you got to just shake your head. Soft!
 
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Endorsed by
Leggy
about 16 hours ago
Yakcall wrote:
 Buffon II wrote:
 martinb wrote:
Who can stand up to France? The favourites by some distance currently…
 
Spain definitely can. Haven't conceded yet. I think Morocco will test them as well should that be the Quarter Final.

From the other side of the draw Argentina can match them. You don't win three tournaments in a row by chance. Brazil and England would be firm outsiders.
So new record for longest time at World Cup with a clean sheet goes to Spain keeper Unai Simón at 519mins for this World Cup. Just over took Italy's Walter Zenga record of 518mins from 1990 World Cup
Quite impressive given Spain's best goalkeeper is on the bench.

Three for me, and two for them.

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about 16 hours ago
He is inevitable
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about 16 hours ago
Makes everything look so so easy.

We won't ever see anything like him ever again.

Three for me, and two for them.

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Endorsed by
kwlap
about 15 hours ago
Buffon II wrote:
Makes everything look so so easy.

We won't ever see anything like him ever again.
It would be great if they got knocked out. Could happen if CV score again

If you are old and wise you were probably young and stupid

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about 15 hours ago · edited about 15 hours ago · History
Banzai!...AIEEE!!! wrote:
 Rusty Dunks wrote:
Thats what happens when you rely on defenders to take penalties.

That being said, Aussie are much better than us. Maybe Wood would make their starting XI based solely on this WC. Maaaaaaaybe Just. 
NZ four genuine World Cup goals.   Australia two.  NZ led Egypt 🇪🇬 for 45 minutes plus.  OZ zero.  😘
But they conceded only 2 goals in pool play to make the R32

We conceded 10 goals and weren't even close to making the playoffs.

Not even 1982 peak Brazil could get away with having a leaky defence.
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Endorsed by
Leggy
about 14 hours ago
Fantastic defensive effort from CV. But the Argies are partially to blame for not putting enough pressure on them. The way they passed the ball round at the back for the last five minutes of the first half shows they assumed they already had the game won.
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Endorsed by
Banzai!...AIEEE!!!Buffon IIHattyCWkwlap+1
about 14 hours ago · edited about 14 hours ago · History
Whatever Cape Verde 🇨🇻 has done from Eden Park in March, to the now the World Cup, should be analyzed deeply by NZ Football.  

Edit: Even more so now.

Actually I’m being serious for once.
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Endorsed by
kwlapSouthernixWanderingSheep
about 14 hours ago
Heartbreak for Cabo Verde, but a special moment that their players and fans will never forget. Taking the WC and the GOAT to extra time and equalising twice in their first WC.
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Endorsed by
Banzai!...AIEEE!!!brcoochieekwlap+2
about 13 hours ago
If I ever hear “we’re too small to compete in football etc etc”…i will puke.  We have roughly in registered players=1/3 of Cape Verde’s total population!

NZ Football.  Time for some hard nose analysis plz.
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about 13 hours ago
I’d never even heard of Cape Verde 🇨🇻 until March Eden Park.  And I know my geography…
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about 11 hours ago
Banzai!...AIEEE!!! wrote:
If I ever hear “we’re too small to compete in football etc etc”…i will puke.  We have roughly in registered players=1/3 of Cape Verde’s total population!

NZ Football.  Time for some hard nose analysis plz.
But there are also over 1 million Cape Verdeans living abroad, and 15 of their 26 man squad were born overseas. 13 of them spread over France, Netherlands plus Portugal - 3 European countries with excellent talent ID and development pathways.

Do get your point it's a great story about a minnow nation doing well at the WC. 

Still the AWs exit at the same stage as Iran (popn 92 million), Turkey (88 million), Sth Korea (52 million), Iraq (46 million) & Uzbekistan (38 million).
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Endorsed by
kwlapobSouthernixtheprof
about 11 hours ago
That 2nd goal CV scored to equalise in ET, must be close to goal of the tourney so far.
They were really good in attacking transition, some of their passing proper high quality stuff. Could easily have forced it to pens.

Their midfielder Monteiro who plays with Thomas at Zwolle, I thought was good coming off the pine.
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Endorsed by
Banzai!...AIEEE!!!SouthernixWanderingSheep
about 8 hours ago
Cape Verde is the only country not represented on African maps.

Football greatness has nothing to do with population size, but it definitely helps. Netherlands has a small population and never forget Iceland
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about 5 hours ago · edited about 5 hours ago · History
coochiee wrote:
 Banzai!...AIEEE!!! wrote:
If I ever hear “we’re too small to compete in football etc etc”…i will puke.  We have roughly in registered players=1/3 of Cape Verde’s total population!

NZ Football.  Time for some hard nose analysis plz.
But there are also over 1 million Cape Verdeans living abroad, and 15 of their 26 man squad were born overseas. 13 of them spread over France, Netherlands plus Portugal - 3 European countries with excellent talent ID and development pathways.

Do get your point it's a great story about a minnow nation doing well at the WC. 

Still the AWs exit at the same stage as Iran (popn 92 million), Turkey (88 million), Sth Korea (52 million), Iraq (46 million) & Uzbekistan (38 million).
100% agree, I reckon most African/NA (not the big 3) will try find players born in e.g. France and Netherlands, who are eligible and try convince them to change nationality. 

They know they will not play for France or Netherlands even though they are good enough to play in the top leagues.

Still funnily enough, if NZ did this a bit more for the 2010 WC, we could have capped Ricki Lambert.
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about 1 hour ago
Saffa wrote:
ESPN FC guys are pissed off Harrington was allowed to take a penalty. I have to agree. The coach and senior players should have protected him from himself. 

When strikers back out of taking a penalty you got to just shake your head. Soft!
 
Popovic has done some weird stuff in this tournament. But putting in  a 18 yo centre back to take a key penalty in a WC knock out game is just BS.
I thought Australia were terrible again. Parking the bus and roughing up the opposition is dumb. Especially when you are up against a team who have only won once in WC history and that was last week against NZ. If they had been a bit more adventurous they might have gone through
They are a shadow of the Australian sides of former WCs. They are bunch of no names with little technical abilities. Less even than NZ. But they can defend.
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about 1 hour ago · edited about 1 hour ago · History
Poppa getting alot of flak for some strange decisions - subbing on Ryan for Beach, two CBs in the early pen takers - plus a generally highly conservative game plan.

But he has credit in the bank securing WC qualifying, after Arnie was struggling and got sacked. Then that highly meritorous 2-0 win over Turkey and getting through a toughest group to the R32.

But at the Asian Cup next January the expectation will be the Socceroos need to be far more attacking, and exciting to watch. If not yeah, he'll likely be looking for a new job.
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