Putin's umbrella; is it poison tipped?
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WHAT THE JEFF JUST HAPPENED: CRO-FRA Final
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Originally posted by Incandenza View PostCruel to make Croatia wait so long on the field for the ceremony to start.
No gentlemen on the podium, Croatia's president was the last to get a brolly. Putin first, of course. They got the trophy handover all wrong as well. No dignity in it at all.
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Originally posted by Steve GNR View PostI thought Croatia were robbed. They played all the football in the first half and went in a goal down due to some awful refereeing. They still took the game to France but were always going to be susceptible to quick breaks forward. First half totally conditioned what happened subsequently.
Beat Uruguay with set piece and keeper o.g.
Let Belgium play all the football and beat them with corner.
Let Croatia play all the football and beat them with set piece off a schwalbe that led to an o.g. And a dodgy penno.
The shiteist world champion I can remember in my lifetime anyway.
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Originally posted by anton pulisov View PostYep.
Beat Uruguay with set piece and keeper o.g.
Let Belgium play all the football and beat them with corner.
Let Croatia play all the football and beat them with set piece off a schwalbe that led to an o.g. And a dodgy penno.
The shiteist world champion I can remember in my lifetime anyway.
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You have to do what you have to do to win. I wouldn't begrudge Greece their Euro victory, for example. But Greece played canny football to get the most out of their squad. The frustration I have with France is they have all these star players and yet they revert to caveman football.
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A League 2 team would have a decent chance of scoring goals against Argentina. I wasn't impressed by France going forward, but they were durable and did what they had to do. Very much in their manager's mould. But then, the best footballing teams often don't win the World Cup.
The already-excessive Mbappe hype is already irritating me. Give it a year and I'll probably be utterly sick of him.
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I think France had a spare gear they never had to use. They won all their KO games without needing extra time. Their finishing was more clinical than Croatia's despite creating less pressure around the box.
OTOH as in the 2016 Euros final, they might have shit the bed if Croatia had been more disciplined at the back.
It was a bit disappointing that so many of their goals were from set-pieces. France were a superior version of England in that respect, but with better better personnel in the roles (e.g. Mbappe > Sterling, Griezmann > Kane). However, I think Pogba was the playmaker England lacked, and England would not have been good enough to score those 3rd and 4th goals, or withstand the pressure Croatia created.
I'd also agree that I can't think of a weaker World Cup winner in modern times, although it's possible that the team will peak later, as France did in Euro 2000.
Dominant team of the 21st century is still Germany: nobody comes close to their count of semi-finals and finals in major tournaments since their nadir of Euro 2004. But if France can convert this win into two or three more in the next decade, the conversation changes.
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Originally posted by bix80Good thing France won. Otherwise it would devalue the title. I mean, I love Croatia, great school pound for pound, but let it stay with the big dogs.Originally posted by Бога Нет View PostThis is a pisstake, yes?Originally posted by ad hoc View PostOne hopes so
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Originally posted by SouthdownRebel View PostSomeone I work with expressed the same opinion to me a week or so back, entirely seriously. His view was that having another team on one World Cup would devalue England's one World Cup.
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