FIFA World Cup 2022 Discussion Thread

[Slow death]

Yesterday's games gave me many surprises

morocco - spain

honestly i even thought that morocco could already win this game within the 90 minutes, they wasted so many opportunities that even i was already irritated with them, it was just strange how morocco wasted opportunities to score a goal, now spain didn't even seem like that there are so many good players, they played so badly that honestly this spain coach has to be fired, about penalties, it was a great shame to see many spain players missing penalties

Portugal - Switzerland

portugal won overwhelmingly, and this also raised another controversy: cristiano ronaldo was not in the starting 11, so here is the question: will portugal play better without cristiano ronaldo? in manchester they only won without cristiano ronaldo

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[MoonOfLife]

Portugal - Switzerland

portugal won overwhelmingly, and this also raised another controversy: cristiano ronaldo was not in the starting 11, so here is the question: will portugal play better without cristiano ronaldo? in manchester they only won without cristiano ronaldo

They proved that Portugal can play well without Ronaldo. Portugal scored 6 goals without Ronaldo's contribution against Switzerland. They played very well. But if Ronaldo is fully fit then I don't think it is wise to leave him out of the squad. Because if Ronaldo is with the squad, the opponent's defenders will monitor Ronaldo more. This will make it easier for other players to score.

[rahmad2nd]

~snip~

~snip~

Now we already completed round of 16 with one big upset as Morocco beats Spain on penalties and going to face Portugal into quarterfinal where we have few toughest challenges like England vs France and Argentina vs Netherlands for me these two matches are having significant competition.

To be honest, I wasn't surprised by the outcome of this match. because after all, if Spain wins over Maroco, they will have a hard time against Portugal. I don't expect much from Luis Enrique, will bring his troops to the next rounds with the formation and tactics he applies. even during the Spain vs Germany match, there were many weaknesses shown by the Spanish squad. likewise, against Japan.

I don't really understand what this Spanish coach is planning with his players. in fact, Enrique has several more deserving options as the main Strating line-up. and in the end, Spain was stopped by Marocco on penalties. and currently, Marocco is one of the dark horse teams that at first was not taken into account at all in this championship. in the end, Marocco will meet Portugal in the quarter-finals. a similar case, could be repeated if Portugal underestimates Marocco.
we'll see, whether Marocco will surprise again. England vs France, Netherlands vs Argentina, I have predicted it in a few posts ago.

[piebeyb]

Yesterday's games gave me many surprises

morocco - spain

honestly i even thought that morocco could already win this game within the 90 minutes, they wasted so many opportunities that even i was already irritated with them, it was just strange how morocco wasted opportunities to score a goal, now spain didn't even seem like that there are so many good players, they played so badly that honestly this spain coach has to be fired, about penalties, it was a great shame to see many spain players missing penalties

Portugal - Switzerland

portugal won overwhelmingly, and this also raised another controversy: cristiano ronaldo was not in the starting 11, so here is the question: will portugal play better without cristiano ronaldo? in manchester they only won without cristiano ronaldo

I haven't watched Spain since the world cup group match, last night I watched it didn't look like they have a quality squad team. They were lucky to meet a team that was not so seeded in the previous group, even though they lost to a penalty shoot-out, Spain needs to learn from yesterday's mistakes, that's really not satisfying the audience, but it's different when you see Portugal they play, keep attacking and keep scoring more goals than people think and their game is really satisfying

[LittleBitFunny]

Yesterday's games gave me many surprises

morocco - spain

honestly i even thought that morocco could already win this game within the 90 minutes, they wasted so many opportunities that even i was already irritated with them, it was just strange how morocco wasted opportunities to score a goal, now spain didn't even seem like that there are so many good players, they played so badly that honestly this spain coach has to be fired, about penalties, it was a great shame to see many spain players missing penalties

Portugal - Switzerland

portugal won overwhelmingly, and this also raised another controversy: cristiano ronaldo was not in the starting 11, so here is the question: will portugal play better without cristiano ronaldo? in manchester they only won without cristiano ronaldo

I haven't watched Spain since the world cup group match, last night I watched it didn't look like they have a quality squad team. They were lucky to meet a team that was not so seeded in the previous group, even though they lost to a penalty shoot-out, Spain needs to learn from yesterday's mistakes, that's really not satisfying the audience, but it's different when you see Portugal they play, keep attacking and keep scoring more goals than people think and their game is really satisfying

Spain got off to a great start with a 7-0 win over Costa Rica in the first match. But soon their performance started to deteriorate. They did not win against Germany and Japan. They were lucky enough to qualify for the round of 16. But I am not satisfied with Spain's performance against Morocco. Spain's players felt helpless against Morocco's defenders. We predicted that Morocco will play defensive strategy. Spain coach Enrique should have chosen his match strategy correctly. He was defeated by Morocco's defensive tactics.

[snipie]

Portugal - Switzerland

portugal won overwhelmingly, and this also raised another controversy: cristiano ronaldo was not in the starting 11, so here is the question: will portugal play better without cristiano ronaldo? in manchester they only won without cristiano ronaldo

They proved that Portugal can play well without Ronaldo. Portugal scored 6 goals without Ronaldo's contribution against Switzerland. They played very well. But if Ronaldo is fully fit then I don't think it is wise to leave him out of the squad. Because if Ronaldo is with the squad, the opponent's defenders will monitor Ronaldo more. This will make it easier for other players to score.

Portugal didn't feel CR7 absence at all in yesterday's game and that was an important message to send to their opponents!
I am quite shocked by Switzerland performance yesterday.. That was one of the worst matches played by them and one of the worst defeats in the actual World Cup.

[Zanab247]

England VS France game is a type of game that will make one to loose, no matter how the two teams strong one must drop out for the other to move forward which it will be difficult for France to allow England to lock them out at this stage. I predict for the favour of France to beat England 6:1 like the way Portugal beat Switzerland 6:1 yesterday to move to the high stage that will make the whole world to believe that France players are doing a good work.

[Gozie51]

Portugal didn't feel CR7 absence at all in yesterday's game and that was an important message to send to their opponents!
I am quite shocked by Switzerland performance yesterday.. That was one of the worst matches played by them and one of the worst defeats in the actual World Cup.

It is not a matter of the CR7 not being in the match and the Portuguese scoring that high number of goals, rather I think Switzerland is not a better side at yesterday's match and they Portuguese capitalized on that. They barely had shots on target at the first half, Portugal did all the attacking and of course the reason for the goals. Well whatever was the reason for not playing Ronaldo worked for them.

[fachant]

I have no confidence that England will be able to beat France, although there is no confidence in the victory of France, which, for example, won seven of the last nine matches with England, of course you can't compare the game at the WC with other matches, but I would bet on the French national team, however, odds are 3.05 against 2.44.

for now England and France have squads and also the quality of players that are not much different, this is a match that is very difficult to predict because everything is still possible to happen.
However, as for betting options, I personally choose to bet on England because in my opinion England at the Qatar world cup is much better and growing than before and therefore it is possible for them to get past the French hurdle and advance to the next round.

We will treat England and France like a final. Because England and France are both very strong and promising teams. The attack and defense of both teams are performing well in this World Cup. I am sure this match will be very competitive.

[fachant]

I can't wait for Brazil to play Croatia because I know my players will make me proud of them. Brazil is very good, and I don't believe Croatia has the courage to defeat Brazil. The games are getting more exciting.

I have no doubts about Brazil's victory against Croatia in the next match, but let's learn from what happened to Spain, which many people predict will be one of the candidates for the grand final in the Qatar world cup this time, that's because they slaughtered Costa Rica with 7- 0 without reply at the start of the group qualifying match, but what happened, they were sent home by Morocco, which basically, many doubted that Morocco would beat Spain.
I think so with Croatia, Zlatko Dalić will not stay silent and ponder his doubts, I think he will prepare the best strategy he can to beat Brazil.

It is really difficult to say who will win the match between Brazil and Croatia. Because we have seen a lot of surprising matches in this year's World Cup in Qatar, good teams have been beaten by lesser teams. As the match between Brazil and Croatia is a quarter-final, neither team should be taken lightly in this match.

[lulumiya]

To be realistic, Croatia have a too low chance to eliminate Brazil. Especially after watching how ambitious and passionate Brazil players were, it would be a huge surprise if Croatia somehow advance to semi finals. Croatia had a big difficulty against even Japan. I don't want to underestimate Japan of course. I just want to compare them to Brazil as an opponent for Croatia.

Neymar is back in the team which is another good news of course. They have a very strong midfield and attacking lines and Croatia defense will have a very hard time defending those fast attacks by Brazil.

[3meek]

I have no confidence that England will be able to beat France, although there is no confidence in the victory of France, which, for example, won seven of the last nine matches with England, of course you can't compare the game at the WC with other matches, but I would bet on the French national team, however, odds are 3.05 against 2.44.

for now England and France have squads and also the quality of players that are not much different, this is a match that is very difficult to predict because everything is still possible to happen.
However, as for betting options, I personally choose to bet on England because in my opinion England at the Qatar world cup is much better and growing than before and therefore it is possible for them to get past the French hurdle and advance to the next round.

On the contrary it seems to me that betting on France winning in the main time with odds of 2.5 is just a gift from bookmakers... But as the play-offs often have extra time and penalty shootouts, especially in this game where England will probably play the bus, you can bet that France won't lose... England played well in my opinion, but France had stronger opponents...

[Velvet78]

Morocco won't be as comfortable as they were against Spain this time. Spain had a big percentage of ball possession maybe but Morocco were still able to keep things in favour of themselves until the penalty shootouts. However Morocco's job is going to be much more difficult against Portugal. Because they will face a team which have newly destroyed Switzerland by a huge score.

Besides Portugal have a much different game plan than Spain. They don't aim to keep the ball in their feet too much. They are just looking for fast attacks by great passes from the ground or the air. I don't think Morocco have the strength to keep up with this.

[$crypto$]

Morocco won't be as comfortable as they were against Spain this time. Spain had a big percentage of ball possession maybe but Morocco were still able to keep things in favour of themselves until the penalty shootouts. However Morocco's job is going to be much more difficult against Portugal. Because they will face a team which have newly destroyed Switzerland by a huge score.

Besides Portugal have a much different game plan than Spain. They don't aim to keep the ball in their feet too much. They are just looking for fast attacks by great passes from the ground or the air. I don't think Morocco have the strength to keep up with this.

Morocco's task will remain the same as defending their position against Spain because it is unlikely that they will be too aggressive in terms of attack but rather their defense so that there are no more goals, while Portugal will have more control in their game. I admit that all lines of Portugal are very adequate for mastery the ball and attack will be much scarier than Spain, that's what I imagined.
Morocco will definitely look for opportunities when the Portuguese players are off guard, maybe that's what they should take advantage of, but regardless of all that, Morocco will definitely have a better strategy, although I don't believe the results will be the same as the previous game.

[Zilon]

Morocco won't be as comfortable as they were against Spain this time. Spain had a big percentage of ball possession maybe but Morocco were still able to keep things in favour of themselves until the penalty shootouts. However Morocco's job is going to be much more difficult against Portugal. Because they will face a team which have newly destroyed Switzerland by a huge score.

Besides Portugal have a much different game plan than Spain. They don't aim to keep the ball in their feet too much. They are just looking for fast attacks by great passes from the ground or the air. I don't think Morocco have the strength to keep up with this.

Morocco can be said to have a solid defense. In the group stage they only conceded 1 goal and so far in the world cup they have one of the best defensive record, winning their last three matches including the knock-out stage. Portugal has a good attacking formation and will win the possession against Morocco but if they fail to penetrate Morocco's defense it might end in another penalty shoot out or a lucky goal could separate the two teams

[erep]

Morocco will definitely look for opportunities when the Portuguese players are off guard, maybe that's what they should take advantage of, but regardless of all that, Morocco will definitely have a better strategy, although I don't believe the results will be the same as the previous game.

From the analysis when Morocco played against Spain before, in the 2 main halves there was very little hard attack on target and they played more defensively to prevent goals from Spain. So if Morocco doesn't improve the team's play for positional possession and not a lot of attacks on target then they will play the same style to defend the bottom line. Portugal's performance in the last match was very impressive, so Morocco must complete the big task of planning a strategy for the chance to win against Portugal.

[Die_empty]

Morocco's task will remain the same as defending their position against Spain because it is unlikely that they will be too aggressive in terms of attack but rather their defense so that there are no more goals, while Portugal will have more control in their game. I admit that all lines of Portugal are very adequate for mastery the ball and attack will be much scarier than Spain, that's what I imagined.
Morocco will definitely look for opportunities when the Portuguese players are off guard, maybe that's what they should take advantage of, but regardless of all that, Morocco will definitely have a better strategy, although I don't believe the results will be the same as the previous game.

If Morocco still adopts defensive strategy in the match against Portugal, they might not be able to withstand the attacking pressure of the later. I am suggesting the come out and play the game like the Ghanaian side. Defending should be their major focus, but they should also focus on the attack using counter attacks and the flanks. If the Portuguese observe that the Moroccan pose a threat up front, the pressure on the Moroccan defense would reduce because they would want to be very careful defensively. But if there is no pressure on the Portuguese defense, all Portugal players, including defenders would forcefully open the Moroccan defense.   

It is not a matter of the CR7 not being in the match and the Portuguese scoring that high number of goals, rather I think Switzerland is not a better side at yesterday's match and they Portuguese capitalized on that. They barely had shots on target at the first half, Portugal did all the attacking and of course the reason for the goals. Well whatever was the reason for not playing Ronaldo worked for them.

Setting  aside sentiment, Goncalo Ramos performed far better than Ronaldo in the match against Switzerland. Ronaldo is in that team because of his experience and the respect the country has for him and not because of his performance. It is true that the Swiss team defended very poorly but Ronaldo's absence was not felt at all.

There are speculations that Ronaldo was benched because of his wrong gesture when he was substituted. Portugal coach Fernando Santos is very matured and experience, hence he cannot be intimidated by Ronaldo's achievement.  I am even suggesting that he should still remain in the bench against Morocco. He needs to learn humility and selflessness.    

[darewaller]

how is it possible for Croatia to give good resistance to Brazil while against Japan it was held in a draw, lucky Croatia was able to win on penalties, don't expect to beat Brazil either because we see that the squad teams from the two are very different, of course Brazil is very superior here, Croatia will stop at next quarter-final

Because as we all are aware of the fact that in football, we never know what's going to happen. I do agree that it's not going to be that easy for them to end up with a good result, and 90% chance that Brazil will have an easy win, there is no argument there.

But that small 10% chance tells me that Croatio could play badly against Japan because they underestimated them and that was the result, barely got out of it, whereas they would end up playing much better against Brazil and could end up with a win if they play hard. Not saying that is what we will see, as I said before that is the small chance, but it is also not impossible neither and we should not see this game as piece of cake.

[lalabotax]

If Morocco still adopts defensive strategy in the match against Portugal, they might not be able to withstand the attacking pressure of the later. I am suggesting the come out and play the game like the Ghanaian side. Defending should be their major focus, but they should also focus on the attack using counter attacks and the flanks.    

Exactly, Portugal has strong attacking lines, so, there is not enough to only focus on the defense. This will harm them when Portugal players will attack their defense lines strongly. They also cannot expect penalty kicks. We all know some players of Portugal are experienced and strong enough for penalty kicks. I believe that in this match, Marocco will use a different tactic to face Portugal. They need more than defense.

Because as we all are aware of the fact that in football, we never know what's going to happen. I do agree that it's not going to be that easy for them to end up with a good result, and 90% chance that Brazil will have an easy win, there is no argument there.

We have seen so many surprises during these football matches in World Cup. There is not impossible that Croatia also has a chance to win, for, Croatia was also one of the teams in the final of the last World Cup, right? But, to this day, Brazil is also strong in any element. They have strong attacking lines, midfielders, and also defenders. However, their goalkeeper is experienced enough. So, this will be quite difficult for Croatia to face. But once more, nothing is impossible in this football match. 

[blue Snow]

We have seen so many surprises during these football matches in World Cup. There is not impossible that Croatia also has a chance to win, for, Croatia was also one of the teams in the final of the last World Cup, right? But, to this day, Brazil is also strong in any element. They have strong attacking lines, midfielders, and also defenders. However, their goalkeeper is experienced enough. So, this will be quite difficult for Croatia to face. But once more, nothing is impossible in this football match. 

Yes exactly, we have to not forget that Croatia as the runner up the world cup 2018 in Russia. He was able to beat 3-0 Argentina on the group stage, then won a penalty shoot versus Denmark (16 round) and Russia (8 round), then won versus England 2-1 in Semi-Final. So I think even they have the old squad, Croatia is still worth it as a tough opponent of Brazil. And if Brazil Underestimate them, we can see croatia will hold the match to be draw to make a strategy - Penalty shoot - like in 2018.