So Russia is through now it will just be a matter of who they play on what side of the draw but at the moment they top the group with a +7 goal difference, meaning they would meet the runner up of Group B.
Knockout Stage - Final | Vive la France
Russia is still not technically through, but realistically they are.
So Russia and Uruguay are confirmed now from Group A, will just be a matter of who finishes first and who they play in Group B which currently sees Spain and Portugal in 1st and 2nd with four points but Iran is 3rd with 3 points and plays Portugal in the last group game.
More teams through overnight, In Group C France have qualified and it will come to down to the last two games of the group to see if Australia or Denmark will join them. In Group D, Croatia have finished in 1st place and it will be down to Iceland and Argentina to see who goes through with them
More teams through overnight, In Group C France have qualified and it will come to down to the last two games of the group to see if Australia or Denmark will join them. In Group D, Croatia have finished in 1st place and it will be down to Iceland and Argentina to see who goes through with them
Croatia is not assured of 1st place in the group yet. And all other three teams in Group D can still qualify for the next round.
More teams through overnight, In Group C France have qualified and it will come to down to the last two games of the group to see if Australia or Denmark will join them. In Group D, Croatia have finished in 1st place and it will be down to Iceland and Argentina to see who goes through with them
Croatia is not assured of 1st place in the group yet. And all other three teams in Group D can still qualify for the next round.
I'm blaming that on tired brain, was just looking at the table forgetting that Iceland and Nigeria are playing overnight tonight
More teams through overnight, In Group C France have qualified and it will come to down to the last two games of the group to see if Australia or Denmark will join them. In Group D, Croatia have finished in 1st place and it will be down to Iceland and Argentina to see who goes through with them
Croatia is not assured of 1st place in the group yet. And all other three teams in Group D can still qualify for the next round.
I'm blaming that on tired brain, was just looking at the table forgetting that Iceland and Nigeria are playing overnight tonight
And now all the predictions have gone to the dogs. I really did not expect Iceland to succumb to this rampaging Nigerian team. Have to wait till the last round of group matches to see what happens. Nigeria will throw everything at Argentina in the last game as they will fancy a chance to win and progress.
Ok lets try this again.
Group A: Russia and Uruguay are both through and its just who will be top. Egypt and Saudis are out
Group B: Spain, Portugal and Iran all still in it, Morocco are out
Group C: France are through it will just be if Denmark or Australia are through with them, Peru is out.
Group D: Croatia through but Nigeria, Iceland and Argentina all still in it to go through with them.
Group E: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia can all still qualify or be knocked out with only Costa Rica out.
Group F: All still to play for in this group, Mexico leading with 6 points but could still possibly end up third, South Korea most likely out but if they beat Germany and Mexico beat Sweden then they could actually still sneak in.
Group G: England and Belgium through and its just who is first, Tunisia and Panama out.
Group H: Japan, Senegal and Colombia playing for the two spots and Poland out.
Exciting week of games coming up
It will be interesting to see to what extent the teams that have already been knocked out will impact on the final standings in their respective groups. I think that some will be more motivated/willing to do so than others.
So we see Uruguay v Portugal and Spain v Russia as first games confirmed for Round of 16
No that's it guaranteed to happy, but there is a good chance we'll have Uruguay, Portugal, France, Argentina, Brazil. Germany, England/Belgium on one side of the draw.
France, Denmark, Croatia and Argentina (just) through now. Setting up France v Argentina and Croatia v Denmark in the Round of 16.
Percentages for 1H are sublime.
Thought be happoer about the ones for 2E
If Brazil end up second it will be interesting to see what Mexico does in that final game if they want to avoid them. A draw and a big German win might suit them nicely.
If Brazil end up second it will be interesting to see what Mexico does in that final game if they want to avoid them. A draw and a big German win might suit them nicely.
Group F plays the early games tomorrow, so Mexico won't know where Brazil will be ending up in their group until after Group F is done and dusted.
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
Now the Round of 16 is all confirmed, Japan is the first team to make the knock out rounds using the fair play tiebreaker after finishing on equal points, goal difference, number of goals scored in all group matches, and the game between them and Senegal finishing in a 2-2 draw. They go through on 4 yellow cards to Senegals 6.
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
How would that be? France and Argentina have been rubbish so far. Brazil haven't looked that great either. Some teams may have a bigger reputation but every WC shows us anything can happen, especially in the KO rounds. On the supposed weak side you still have Spain plus Croatia (3 wins out of 3 and playing as well as anyone).
I find it a very strange mentality that says "I want my team to win but I don't want them to play any hard teams". At what point is it ok to start playing "big" teams? Because if you get to a quarter final and you're trying to pick and choose your opposition it's not exactly sending a positive message is it.
I'm sure Germany were very happy to be playing Korea in a must win game....
I still reckon Croatia is a serious contender.
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
How would that be? France and Argentina have been rubbish so far. Brazil haven't looked that great either. Some teams may have a bigger reputation but every WC shows us anything can happen, especially in the KO rounds. On the supposed weak side you still have Spain plus Croatia (3 wins out of 3 and playing as well as anyone).
I find it a very strange mentality that says "I want my team to win but I don't want them to play any hard teams". At what point is it ok to start playing "big" teams? Because if you get to a quarter final and you're trying to pick and choose your opposition it's not exactly sending a positive message is it.
I'm sure Germany were very happy to be playing Korea in a must win game....
Because for anyone outside of the top 5 or 6, by far their best shot of winning the cup involves a couple of easier games and a couple of games where they play out of their skins and cause an upset. That's a hell of a lot easier than consecutive games against world class opposition (which the likes of Mexico are now facing if they want to get any further).
Well the ‘big names’ are on one side of the draw...but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the form teams.
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
How would that be? France and Argentina have been rubbish so far. Brazil haven't looked that great either. Some teams may have a bigger reputation but every WC shows us anything can happen, especially in the KO rounds. On the supposed weak side you still have Spain plus Croatia (3 wins out of 3 and playing as well as anyone).
I find it a very strange mentality that says "I want my team to win but I don't want them to play any hard teams". At what point is it ok to start playing "big" teams? Because if you get to a quarter final and you're trying to pick and choose your opposition it's not exactly sending a positive message is it.
I'm sure Germany were very happy to be playing Korea in a must win game....
Because for anyone outside of the top 5 or 6, by far their best shot of winning the cup involves a couple of easier games and a couple of games where they play out of their skins and cause an upset. That's a hell of a lot easier than consecutive games against world class opposition (which the likes of Mexico are now facing if they want to get any further).
When will there be an easy game in a round of 16?
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
How would that be? France and Argentina have been rubbish so far. Brazil haven't looked that great either. Some teams may have a bigger reputation but every WC shows us anything can happen, especially in the KO rounds. On the supposed weak side you still have Spain plus Croatia (3 wins out of 3 and playing as well as anyone).
I find it a very strange mentality that says "I want my team to win but I don't want them to play any hard teams". At what point is it ok to start playing "big" teams? Because if you get to a quarter final and you're trying to pick and choose your opposition it's not exactly sending a positive message is it.
I'm sure Germany were very happy to be playing Korea in a must win game....
Because the potential fixtures on the bottom half are more likely to be easier games. Of course anything can happen, but more often than not it's the sides with better players and better long-term records that progress.
It's okay to play "big teams" at any point and you don't get to pick your opposition at the quarterfinal stage so I'm not sure what you mean by sending a positive message.
I guarantee Germany were happier playing Korea in that game than the majority of teams in the competition.
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
How would that be? France and Argentina have been rubbish so far. Brazil haven't looked that great either. Some teams may have a bigger reputation but every WC shows us anything can happen, especially in the KO rounds. On the supposed weak side you still have Spain plus Croatia (3 wins out of 3 and playing as well as anyone).
I find it a very strange mentality that says "I want my team to win but I don't want them to play any hard teams". At what point is it ok to start playing "big" teams? Because if you get to a quarter final and you're trying to pick and choose your opposition it's not exactly sending a positive message is it.
I'm sure Germany were very happy to be playing Korea in a must win game....
Because for anyone outside of the top 5 or 6, by far their best shot of winning the cup involves a couple of easier games and a couple of games where they play out of their skins and cause an upset. That's a hell of a lot easier than consecutive games against world class opposition (which the likes of Mexico are now facing if they want to get any further).
When will there be an easy game in a round of 16?
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
How would that be? France and Argentina have been rubbish so far. Brazil haven't looked that great either. Some teams may have a bigger reputation but every WC shows us anything can happen, especially in the KO rounds. On the supposed weak side you still have Spain plus Croatia (3 wins out of 3 and playing as well as anyone).
I find it a very strange mentality that says "I want my team to win but I don't want them to play any hard teams". At what point is it ok to start playing "big" teams? Because if you get to a quarter final and you're trying to pick and choose your opposition it's not exactly sending a positive message is it.
I'm sure Germany were very happy to be playing Korea in a must win game....
Because the potential fixtures on the bottom half are more likely to be easier games.
I would be a lot more comfortable playing Argentina atm than Croatia.
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
How would that be? France and Argentina have been rubbish so far. Brazil haven't looked that great either. Some teams may have a bigger reputation but every WC shows us anything can happen, especially in the KO rounds. On the supposed weak side you still have Spain plus Croatia (3 wins out of 3 and playing as well as anyone).
I find it a very strange mentality that says "I want my team to win but I don't want them to play any hard teams". At what point is it ok to start playing "big" teams? Because if you get to a quarter final and you're trying to pick and choose your opposition it's not exactly sending a positive message is it.
I'm sure Germany were very happy to be playing Korea in a must win game....
Because the potential fixtures on the bottom half are more likely to be easier games. Of course anything can happen, but more often than not it's the sides with better players and better long-term records that progress.
It's okay to play "big teams" at any point and you don't get to pick your opposition at the quarterfinal stage so I'm not sure what you mean by sending a positive message.
I guarantee Germany were happier playing Korea in that game than the majority of teams in the competition.
Germany losing kind of proves the point though doesn't it. They might have been happy playing them, but not so much now. This is what I mean by positive message
"Falsely engineering any negative result is a risk; it sends a message of fear to the squad. ‘We’re doing this so we don’t have to face them,’ is an admission of weakness, as if Brazil are a dreaded bogeyman. The nature of a knockout competition is that you will eventually have to beat one of the opposition you initially avoided. The psychological disadvantage at that point should be obvious.
‘But you can sell that same problem the other way. If England opted to finish second and faced, say, Colombia, it is hardly a leap to suggest that Jose Pekerman’s side would have added psychological motivation. Thought we were an easy touch, did you? Let’s see about that.’"
But those things aren't mutually exclusive. You can send a positive message and not engineer a negative result and still end up on an easier side of the draw.
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
How would that be? France and Argentina have been rubbish so far. Brazil haven't looked that great either. Some teams may have a bigger reputation but every WC shows us anything can happen, especially in the KO rounds. On the supposed weak side you still have Spain plus Croatia (3 wins out of 3 and playing as well as anyone).
I find it a very strange mentality that says "I want my team to win but I don't want them to play any hard teams". At what point is it ok to start playing "big" teams? Because if you get to a quarter final and you're trying to pick and choose your opposition it's not exactly sending a positive message is it.
I'm sure Germany were very happy to be playing Korea in a must win game....
Because the potential fixtures on the bottom half are more likely to be easier games.
I would be a lot more comfortable playing Argentina atm than Croatia.
Both sides of the draw are tricky. The one game with two average sides is Switzerland vs Sweden, but they showed they can be effective in getting there.
It does seem the group winners have tough games in the top half, with Uruguay, France, and Brazil having a tough opponent, but then in bottom half, only Spain have a potentially tricky opponent in Russia, with Croatia & Colombia having seemingly easy roads through, and toss up with Switzerland & Sweden.
i enjoyed that one, plenty of goals. glad i stayed up to watch.
Try a two handed bird now Diego !! Twit.
Oh dear, how sad, good bye. Still a coke should keep you "happy".
shame that one of France or Uruguay has to go next round..both would have been worthy of a final spot
In some ways good to see Messi & Ronaldo out, the media hyping everything up solely about them has been over the top. Sad to see no more Maradona Cam though.
Before anyone suggests it, there is NO EASY SIDE OF THE DRAW!
How would that be? France and Argentina have been rubbish so far. Brazil haven't looked that great either. Some teams may have a bigger reputation but every WC shows us anything can happen, especially in the KO rounds. On the supposed weak side you still have Spain plus Croatia (3 wins out of 3 and playing as well as anyone).
I find it a very strange mentality that says "I want my team to win but I don't want them to play any hard teams". At what point is it ok to start playing "big" teams? Because if you get to a quarter final and you're trying to pick and choose your opposition it's not exactly sending a positive message is it.
I'm sure Germany were very happy to be playing Korea in a must win game....
Your take is that you only want your team to win if they play the hardest opposition?
Winning is pretty much all that matters at the WC - there ain't no prize for 'tried the hardest but lost'. No one celebrates the losers
#VAR #CRODEN
#VAR #CRODEN
Someone might have needed to tell Kaspars to stop moving before the ball was kicked. Glad they are out for that alone.
Solid defensding from Pique leadign to the penalty.