2018 FIFA World Cup Russia

[madhat]

The tournament starts on June 14, 2018.

Let's share your thoughts about it.

Are you planning to watch the games? What's your favorite team?

Anybody going to Russia maybe? Might be also a bit of a mongering trip as well

[Ron Rat]

I, a an Aussieand would them to win but it is a million to one chance. I hope anyone who doesn't cheat (eg dive etc) loses badly. Fun to watch.

[jocky king]

Belgium for me , they have all stars ready to challenge for the World glory ,  Hazard , De bruyne ,  Courtois , Alderwiereld , Lukaku .... would put my house on them to win it . 

[vimto66]

It will be the usual suspects in the latter stages with the proverbial `surprise package`....maybe England.

 

[Peter o connor]

I think it’ll be between Brazil, Germany and Spain. No real surprises there but then world cups rarely have surprise winners. Spain and Brazil are back to showing some very good form and Germany are always Germany when it comes to world cups! I’ll be in Thailand June 16th, so I’ll be watching the first 2 rounds in LOS, I’ll be home for the quarter finals. I’ll be watching the games in pattaya for the last week of my holiday, samui before that. Ireland didn’t make it(up yours denmark!) so I’ve no real favorite although I kind of have a thing for Spain , if they play the type of football they played from 2008-12 when they won 3 tournaments, I’d love to see them win it. I want the most entertaining team to win it. Spain at their best should be that but we’ll see. All in all, really looking forward to it, especially as I’ll be in Thailand for most of it!

[rope-a-dope]

 

[LOTTELLEE WINNA]

On 5/18/2018 at 07:08, jocky king said:

Belgium for me , they have all stars ready to challenge for the World glory ,  Hazard , De bruyne ,  Courtois , Alderwiereld , Lukaku .... would put my house on them to win it . 

Got to say i too will be having a wee wager on Belgium. To that superstar list I will add Captain Marvel...Vinnie Kompany.

[jocky king]

22 minutes ago, LOTTELLEE WINNA said:

Got to say i too will be having a wee wager on Belgium. To that superstar list I will add Captain Marvel...Vinnie Kompany.

Absolutely, I can’t see any teams except Brazil to beat Belgium.  Will definitely put a few pounds on Belgium to win their first ever World Cup .   Guaranteed to be in the semi final . 

[vimto66]

1 hour ago, jocky king said:

Absolutely, I can’t see any teams except Brazil to beat Belgium.  Will definitely put a few pounds on Belgium to win their first ever World Cup .   Guaranteed to be in the semi final . 

Im not so sure myself, they were fancied in the Euros but failed miserably, they remind me of  Spain  in the 80`s, plenty of quality but never delivered when it mattered!

[Mick Pattaya]

46 minutes ago, vimto66 said:

Im not so sure myself, they were fancied in the Euros but failed miserably, they remind me of  Spain  in the 80`s, plenty of quality but never delivered when it mattered!

^^ this, golden generations often fail to deliver.

[Peter o connor]

44 minutes ago, vimto66 said:

Im not so sure myself, they were fancied in the Euros but failed miserably, they remind me of  Spain  in the 80`s, plenty of quality but never delivered when it mattered!

Yeah Belgium failed miserably at the euros. A lot of great individual players but they didn’t gel well as a team at the euros. Wales are average and they comfortably beat them. They’d need a massive improvement to impress at the World Cup and even if they did massively improve, I don’t see them as potential winners. A good tournament for Belgium would be to make the semi finals, that’s as far as I could see them going.

[mogli33]

I would like to see a team that has never won the world cup before being crowned champions like what France did in 1998 and Spain did in 2010.

Being a Goan which is a former Portuguese colony My favorite is definitely Portugal and im hoping they do a repeat of Euro 2016 and emerge champions.

Im also have a few other favorites too who I would like to see progress to the semis. I hope Iceland too repeat their giant killing act they did in euro 2016. I hope Group H both Poland and Colombia go a long way too..and ofcourse I have a gut feeling Russia the home team could do something similar to what France did in 1998 and I wont be surprised at all if that happens....

I wish I was in Pattaya watching the world cup after a tiring day of multiple short times but instead  I'll be watching the world cup at home with my cat for company...

 

[lazyswede]

1 hour ago, mogli33 said:

my cat for company.

Your cat does look like a fine companion for some good football though :).

My money's on Spain. Been hearing good things from their camp. German football is over the hill, just look at their teams this year in Champions League.

Messi might be able to bring the gold to Argentina. I have reservations about Brazil, since Neymar has been out for most of the fall. France could do it as well, but i don't know how much of a team they are. And it takes a team effort to win. 

Will be fun for sure! I can't wait. 

[MFKS]

Argies

 

Last time they were not far off winning it and had to deal with losing Di Maria and Aguero during the tournament

2 huge stars sitting in the stand and to be the stand just says luck wasnt favouring them

 

Little bit of lady luck this time and they get thge job done with Messi bringing it home

[Peter o connor]

@MFKS @lazyswede I’m a big fan of Messi too and would like to see them do well. But they struggled through the qualifiers, only finishing 5th amongst the South Americans. In fact, they very nearly missed out and went into a potentially very tricky final game needing a win in peru to scrape into the finals. They got the job done with a 3-1 win but it suggests all is not well in their camp. Brazil comfortably won the group and were consistent all the way so I’d expect them to do better than Argentina. @mogli33 we all like to see the underdogs do well but if we get a new name on the cup, I just hope it’s because they play good entertaining football and deserve to win it. France 98 and Spain in 2010, yes both were deserved winners of them tournaments and entertained us all with great football. Not sure if the same could be said about Portugal at the euros 2 years ago or do you remember Greece won euro 2004 by boring us all to death? Great to see these teams pull off surprises but I don’t want to see a team get to the final if their whole game plan is just to stop the other team playing! I can’t see Russia getting anywhere near the final. Being the host country, they might spring a surprise or 2 together but can’t see them being good enough to go that far. For me the winners have to be one of the big three of Brazil, Spain or Germany. I know I’m being boring but I just can’t see it being a surprise winner.

[Eskorteprinsen]

Actually,not a big soccer fan, but always watched and enjoyed the world cup.My money and heart is on Brazil,my favourite team.(since 1986) If they wont make it,I believe Germany will at least be in the top fours the almost always do.Spain,Argentina and maybe France will be up there as well.Would love to see an African nation going to the quarter-finals,or even further! Last chance for Messi,to get the only trophy he is missing, so dearly......

[MFKS]

On 27/05/2018 at 20:30, Peter o connor said:

@MFKS @lazyswede I’m a big fan of Messi too and would like to see them do well. But they struggled through the qualifiers, only finishing 5th amongst the South Americans. In fact, they very nearly missed out and went into a potentially very tricky final game needing a win in peru to scrape into the finals. They got the job done with a 3-1 win but it suggests all is not well in their camp. Brazil comfortably won the group and were consistent all the way so I’d expect them to do better than Argentina. @mogli33 we all like to see the underdogs do well but if we get a new name on the cup, I just hope it’s because they play good entertaining football and deserve to win it. France 98 and Spain in 2010, yes both were deserved winners of them tournaments and entertained us all with great football. Not sure if the same could be said about Portugal at the euros 2 years ago or do you remember Greece won euro 2004 by boring us all to death? Great to see these teams pull off surprises but I don’t want to see a team get to the final if their whole game plan is just to stop the other team playing! I can’t see Russia getting anywhere near the final. Being the host country, they might spring a surprise or 2 together but can’t see them being good enough to go that far. For me the winners have to be one of the big three of Brazil, Spain or Germany. I know I’m being boring but I just can’t see it being a surprise winner.

I believe you can throw qualifying form out the window come the tournament

 

Having struggles on the way will build the Argies belief that when their backs are against the wall that they will persevere and triumph

Because they did

 

Contrast that with say England. Cruised through qualifying comfortably. Will get to Russia thinking they in a good place. When they find themselves in a spot What then??

They havent learned to dig their way out of it and at a WC aint the place to start

 

Brazil are always tough to beat but it only takes 1 game and they are out and it a big call to say that the depths of despair due to their failings  they were in at Belo Horizante in 2014 have been adequately fixed.

 

Very little has changed in Brazil since then so it hard to see them win it 4 years later.

Yes they have some good players in Jesus Coutinhio to go with Neymar now that will help but Neymar aside they dont have great players yet

 

 

[Peter o connor]

6 hours ago, MFKS said:

I believe you can throw qualifying form out the window come the tournament

 

Having struggles on the way will build the Argies belief that when their backs are against the wall that they will persevere and triumph

Because they did

 

Contrast that with say England. Cruised through qualifying comfortably. Will get to Russia thinking they in a good place. When they find themselves in a spot What then??

They havent learned to dig their way out of it and at a WC aint the place to start

 

Brazil are always tough to beat but it only takes 1 game and they are out and it a big call to say that the depths of despair due to their failings  they were in at Belo Horizante in 2014 have been adequately fixed.

 

Very little has changed in Brazil since then so it hard to see them win it 4 years later.

Yes they have some good players in Jesus Coutinhio to go with Neymar now that will help but Neymar aside they dont have great players yet

 

 

I don’t agree with that at all. You can’t just throw qualifying out of the window because that’s their current form and current form is everything. If it’ll only take one game to knock Brazil out, then the same could be said about Argentina. I don’t see England doing anything great though either. They came through a relatively easy group. I know I said Brazil could win it but I’d be even more inclined to say a European team will win it. The South Americans don’t usually win it in Europe, Spain would be my favorites and I’d never write Germany off.

[MFKS]

On 01/06/2018 at 15:27, Peter o connor said:

I don’t agree with that at all. You can’t just throw qualifying out of the window because that’s their current form and current form is everything. If it’ll only take one game to knock Brazil out, then the same could be said about Argentina. I don’t see England doing anything great though either. They came through a relatively easy group. I know I said Brazil could win it but I’d be even more inclined to say a European team will win it. The South Americans don’t usually win it in Europe, Spain would be my favorites and I’d never write Germany off.

Spain before they started winning used to dominate in qualifying

Then do stuff all at major tournaments

 

This theory that Argentina is out of form based on their qualification campaign results means very little.

 

It was 12 months to 24 months ago this form your referring to

 

12 months ago Chelsea were the dominant team in EPL

24 months ago Leicester were the dominant tea in the EPL

Neither of them are in the top 4 in the EPL now

Time changes

 

Coaches also develop squads through Qualifying campaigns with the intent of having them peak for Tournaments

 

There are only 5 teams capable of winning this World Cup

France

Spain

Germany

Brazil

Argentina

The one that wins it will be the one who finds top form and gets the luck in the next 6 weeks

The rest are making up the numbers

What has happened before hand means little

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mcfish]

Keep an eye out for the socceroos. They thrashed the Chek Republic last night. They may advance to the late stages

[Peter o connor]

1 hour ago, MFKS said:

Spain before they started winning used to dominate in qualifying

Then do stuff all at major tournaments

 

This theory that Argentina is out of form based on their qualification campaign results means very little.

 

It was 12 months to 24 months ago this form your referring to

 

12 months ago Chelsea were the dominant team in EPL

24 months ago Leicester were the dominant tea in the EPL

Neither of them are in the top 4 in the EPL now

Time changes

 

Coaches also develop squads through Qualifying campaigns with the intent of having them peak for Tournaments

 

There are only 5 teams capable of winning this World Cup

France

Spain

Germany

Brazil

Argentina

The one that wins it will be the one who finds top form and gets the luck in the next 6 weeks

The rest are making up the numbers

What has happened before hand means little

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Europe most of the European qualifiers come through relatively easy groups because of the seeding system. So not too much can be looked into the form. But I would certainly take the South Americans current form into consideration as they go into one big qualifying group and play out a league. And for me Brazil are the only South American team in with a chance of winning the tournament but I’m more inclined to lean towards a European team. If I was to pick out 5 teams though, I’d pick the same 5 as you so at least we agree on something

[gimmesum]

Brazil, Argentina or France are my guesses but I think it goes to South America this time.  But hey what do I know I only watch around world cup time lol.  Always exciting.

[vimto66]

In any major tournament theres always a surprise team, be interesting to see who this year.

[Mick Pattaya]

3 hours ago, vimto66 said:

In any major tournament theres always a surprise team, be interesting to see who this year.

Like last time it was Costa Rica?

[Peter o connor]

Nobody is talking about Portugal, they could surprise people, nobody gave them much of a chance at The euros.