FIFA WORLD CUP 2018?

[Initscri]

I didn't expect that this topic is still discussed on the forum. I thought all discussions ended together with the cup. The thing I wander about is how the cup truly passed and were there any incidents about which Russia is trying to stay silent. All the month while the cup was going the presentation of the invent was so positive and successful that it is even hard to believe. Does any of you have a source for any independed reports from the cup? Thanks.

Lol no, discussions go on months past the cup, and then eventually fade off into shade thrown between countries based on the cup on social media.

Either way, I know what you mean. Last time they hosted the olympics, it got a bit iffy, so I'm surprised (or maybe I should unsurprised) that I haven't heard much since FIFA WC.

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[dado7]

A country of just 4 million people winning the world cup? That would have been historic... BTW.... around 20% of the world population reside in my country and we were not able to qualify for the tournament. On the other hand, Iceland (with a population of just 300,000) managed to qualify.

How did Iceland do that, its not even the size of a large city in population so they must have some amazing strategy or training in place there.  Or was it purely lucky and poor performance by the opponents along the way ?

Iceland team has a great dedication. They don't have many strong players, but are all great runners and rather tall and good at jumping. Hence they organized their game basing it on the strong defense, semi counter attacks and set pieces. They don't deviate from that strategy in any circumstances!

They created a fantastic ambient which provides a great moral support for them. Their team manager started having a routine of hanging out with supporters a few years ago.
They are a team - that is what is so strong about them. They cannot beat a well-organized top team, but they will take out opponents exploiting every weakness they show, o matter how strong they are. That is why Argentina wasn't able to beat them. They are 100 times stronger but were not very well organized..... and obviously not with a right mind (missed penalty).

[Netnox]

Ozil and Gundogan took a controversial photo together with the Turkish president Erdogan which sparked quite the debate in Germany and ultimately angered a lot of people. They have never taken a photo with the German chancellor Angela Merkel for example and yet they did so with Erdogan despite the unstable political situation in Turkey. Then after the scandal broke and Germany was eliminated from the World Cup in Russia Ozil said he was tired of being the scapegoat and was fed up with the 'racism and disrespect' in the German national football team and he finally quit the team as expected.

Always playing the victim card. Quite shameful, I would say. If he is playing for the German team, then he should be 100% German. You can't play for Germany and then show loyalty towards Turkey.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Franch was my favourite team for winning the greatest show on earth. That team was fully balanced and was capable to beat any strong opponent and they showed how to play in any situation. I loved their game. Especially, Pogba and Mbappe were outstanding. I think these two was the difference between their opposition. I hope this squad will dominate another four or five years undoubtedly.

The French played well, but hardly 15% of the team was composed of indigenous French players. They won the world cup with African and other expatriate players. It would have been much better if Croatia had won it. They had 100% indigenous lineup.

[Initscri]

Franch was my favourite team for winning the greatest show on earth. That team was fully balanced and was capable to beat any strong opponent and they showed how to play in any situation. I loved their game. Especially, Pogba and Mbappe were outstanding. I think these two was the difference between their opposition. I hope this squad will dominate another four or five years undoubtedly.

The French played well, but hardly 15% of the team was composed of indigenous French players. They won the world cup with African and other expatriate players. It would have been much better if Croatia had won it. They had 100% indigenous lineup.

Yeah, but then there was a bunch of drama after the fact. I think Trevor Noah made a joke about that, and the French ambassador got a bit iffy about that.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/trevor-noah-and-the-french-ambassador-both-missed-the-mark-in-their-argument-over-the-world-cup-teams-africanness.html

[Sithara007]

Franch was my favourite team for winning the greatest show on earth. That team was fully balanced and was capable to beat any strong opponent and they showed how to play in any situation. I loved their game. Especially, Pogba and Mbappe were outstanding. I think these two was the difference between their opposition. I hope this squad will dominate another four or five years undoubtedly.

The French played well, but hardly 15% of the team was composed of indigenous French players. They won the world cup with African and other expatriate players. It would have been much better if Croatia had won it. They had 100% indigenous lineup.

Yeah, but then there was a bunch of drama after the fact. I think Trevor Noah made a joke about that, and the French ambassador got a bit iffy about that.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/trevor-noah-and-the-french-ambassador-both-missed-the-mark-in-their-argument-over-the-world-cup-teams-africanness.html

I don't have any problem with the French fielding so many African players. But they need to compensate these African nations for stealing their best players. Either in hard cash, or by providing training facilities.

[Initscri]

Franch was my favourite team for winning the greatest show on earth. That team was fully balanced and was capable to beat any strong opponent and they showed how to play in any situation. I loved their game. Especially, Pogba and Mbappe were outstanding. I think these two was the difference between their opposition. I hope this squad will dominate another four or five years undoubtedly.

The French played well, but hardly 15% of the team was composed of indigenous French players. They won the world cup with African and other expatriate players. It would have been much better if Croatia had won it. They had 100% indigenous lineup.

Yeah, but then there was a bunch of drama after the fact. I think Trevor Noah made a joke about that, and the French ambassador got a bit iffy about that.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/trevor-noah-and-the-french-ambassador-both-missed-the-mark-in-their-argument-over-the-world-cup-teams-africanness.html

I don't have any problem with the French fielding so many African players. But they need to compensate these African nations for stealing their best players. Either in hard cash, or by providing training facilities.

Well AFAIK the players are French born & raised for the most part, even though their heritage may be from other countries.

I guess it wouldn't be much different for countries of high immigration, such as The Unites States, or Canada (which has the opposite end of this, good Canadian players leaving & playing for heritage countries).

[kenziefried]

Man Croatia fans saw their team get lucky on multiple occasions and thought they would go on to win the World Cup lol. Talk about delusions of grandeur   I even had some Croatia fan in my World Cup thread telling me that my predictions were shit and they were going to bet on Croatia in the final. Well I am not the one who lost money betting on the inferior team Yes there are better teams than Croatia that deserved to be in the final that's a fact. Sometimes people need to look objectively and not be so cocky...

Which are the better teams you are talking about, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, maybe England or Russia ? Croatia is fully deserved to play in final, and if FIFA have better referee for this final maybe France would not win. Your problem is to think Croatia is inferior team, so best player of World Cup Luka Modric is also inferior player, together with some of the currently best players from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool.

Really objective thinking, from the perspective of a French fan maybe...

You know what the good thing is? people will remember how Croatia gave the big surprise in this World Cup by reaching the finals since everyone saw them as the underdogs. No one's going to remember how, according to you, the ref helped France in the final, as only a minority of people (really, a handful of people) actually believe that France won the WC thanks to Pitana. Croatia will be remembered as the best underdog in the history of this competition.

Croatia played very well and amazed all the football supporters with their spirit and love for football which led them to the finals but it does not matter if they did not win that as both played well. France showed its dominancy over other teams and Croatia too and had a grasp on every match in this event. So whatever the system or decisions may be we all should accept that France is the winner.

[Initscri]

Man Croatia fans saw their team get lucky on multiple occasions and thought they would go on to win the World Cup lol. Talk about delusions of grandeur  I even had some Croatia fan in my World Cup thread telling me that my predictions were shit and they were going to bet on Croatia in the final. Well I am not the one who lost money betting on the inferior team Yes there are better teams than Croatia that deserved to be in the final that's a fact. Sometimes people need to look objectively and not be so cocky...

Which are the better teams you are talking about, Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, maybe England or Russia ? Croatia is fully deserved to play in final, and if FIFA have better referee for this final maybe France would not win. Your problem is to think Croatia is inferior team, so best player of World Cup Luka Modric is also inferior player, together with some of the currently best players from Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool.

Really objective thinking, from the perspective of a French fan maybe...

You know what the good thing is? people will remember how Croatia gave the big surprise in this World Cup by reaching the finals since everyone saw them as the underdogs. No one's going to remember how, according to you, the ref helped France in the final, as only a minority of people (really, a handful of people) actually believe that France won the WC thanks to Pitana. Croatia will be remembered as the best underdog in the history of this competition.

Croatia played very well and amazed all the football supporters with their spirit and love for football which led them to the finals but it does not matter if they did not win that as both played well. France showed its dominancy over other teams and Croatia too and had a grasp on every match in this event. So whatever the system or decisions may be we all should accept that France is the winner.

France deserved to win that match no doubt, but I'm happy Croatia was in it. They definitely deserved #2 with their skill & effort.

[TopTort777]

So much politics involved and discussed in connection with World Cup, so we forget about sport. Thats sad...

[Initscri]

So much politics involved and discussed in connection with World Cup, so we forget about sport. Thats sad...

I agree, I've been saying it for a while: I think the sport should JUST be about the sport, nothing more.

[Matty96]

This year world cup was just a joke. So many paid actors and so many players seemed to get paid by others to make their teams lose.
I could tell after watching some games, some players just "walk", they didn't even run.

Croatia went that far was such a huge surprise, but also revealed such a weird fifa world cup.

[Initscri]

This year world cup was just a joke. So many paid actors and so many players seemed to get paid by others to make their teams lose.
I could tell after watching some games, some players just "walk", they didn't even run.

Croatia went that far was such a huge surprise, but also revealed such a weird fifa world cup.

It was most definitely the season of upsets. Yeah, tbh, I'm not a huge of conspiracy theories, but for this world cup, I'd believe it.

[dado7]

This year world cup was just a joke. So many paid actors and so many players seemed to get paid by others to make their teams lose.
I could tell after watching some games, some players just "walk", they didn't even run.

You obviously haven't been paying attention.

[greeklogos]

So much politics involved and discussed in connection with World Cup, so we forget about sport. Thats sad...

What did you expect?! Today we can watch the informative War or mass media war as I love to call it. The TV is making full from us and we will never know the truly situation about almost every event of the modern world.

[BitcoinMarshal]

This year world cup was just a joke. So many paid actors and so many players seemed to get paid by others to make their teams lose.
I could tell after watching some games, some players just "walk", they didn't even run.

Croatia went that far was such a huge surprise, but also revealed such a weird fifa world cup.

It was most definitely the season of upsets. Yeah, tbh, I'm not a huge of conspiracy theories, but for this world cup, I'd believe it.

Now its not new because its happening in many other sports as well and soccer is game of universe so its attacked too much by these things so we have to understand and Croatia is good side they done very good in all cup but France was more good for win and they take this year

[Wendigo]

Neymar was the best paid actor. He spent 14 minutes lying on the pitch 



I honestly don't think any of the Fifa World Cup matches were fixed. Some key players were just very tired after the long schedules of the local & UEFA championships and couldn't show their best, namely the German national team. The VAR refereeing wasn't ideal and some of the main referees looked very sketchy though so there is definitely still room for improvement in the next iteration. And Fifa should start banning players on the spot for any provocative political behaviour or they will never learn.

[Juggy777]

This year world cup was just a joke. So many paid actors and so many players seemed to get paid by others to make their teams lose.
I could tell after watching some games, some players just "walk", they didn't even run.

Croatia went that far was such a huge surprise, but also revealed such a weird fifa world cup.

It was most definitely the season of upsets. Yeah, tbh, I'm not a huge of conspiracy theories, but for this world cup, I'd believe it.

Now its not new because its happening in many other sports as well and soccer is game of universe so its attacked too much by these things so we have to understand and Croatia is good side they done very good in all cup but France was more good for win and they take this year

I do understand your frustration on your favourite team not winning but I do not get it how you or other people even dare question Croatia journey. They played like lions beat all odds and came up to almost winning it. Like I keep telling France may have won the cup but Croatia stole my heart. Even down the line when people will discuss this Cup Croatia will be spoken in high manner so stop questioning them.

[Lionidas]

Neymar was the best paid actor. He spent 14 minutes lying on the pitch 



I honestly don't think any of the Fifa World Cup matches were fixed. Some key players were just very tired after the long schedules of the local & UEFA championships and couldn't show their best, namely the German national team. The VAR refereeing wasn't ideal and some of the main referees looked very sketchy though so there is definitely still room for improvement in the next iteration. And Fifa should start banning players on the spot for any provocative political behaviour or they will never learn.

There were so many memes and things on twitter regarding neymar's antics during this years world cup.
His roll even ended up being the main part of a fast food commercial where the customers just rolled in like he did on the pitch exaggerating being tackled to get attention from the referees.

[Initscri]

This year world cup was just a joke. So many paid actors and so many players seemed to get paid by others to make their teams lose.
I could tell after watching some games, some players just "walk", they didn't even run.

Croatia went that far was such a huge surprise, but also revealed such a weird fifa world cup.

It was most definitely the season of upsets. Yeah, tbh, I'm not a huge of conspiracy theories, but for this world cup, I'd believe it.

Now its not new because its happening in many other sports as well and soccer is game of universe so its attacked too much by these things so we have to understand and Croatia is good side they done very good in all cup but France was more good for win and they take this year

I do understand your frustration on your favourite team not winning but I do not get it how you or other people even dare question Croatia journey. They played like lions beat all odds and came up to almost winning it. Like I keep telling France may have won the cup but Croatia stole my heart. Even down the line when people will discuss this Cup Croatia will be spoken in high manner so stop questioning them.

I think this tournament universally (not just Croatia), made a lot of people question the skill and power of the "elite" teams. I wouldn't be surprised if more people are rooting for underdogs in years to come.