World Cup Schedule

[reinko]

Y'all are sleeping on France.

That run by Mbappe was electric.

[reinko]

Y'all are sleeping on France.

That run by Mbappe was electric.

👀👀👀

[Its DJOver]

As for De Gea, I agree "disaster" is a bit harsh and excessive, but when your team isn't scoring goals, I think its fair for a critic to expect your keeper to stop shots he had in front of him/got his body on which was the difference between 9 points and 5 in the group stage, and maybe makes him a more confident keeper in the penalties.  Akinfeev was FEELING it heading into that, De Gea not so much.

De Gea isn't looking so bad right now.  At least his gaffe was in the group stage when his team has 2 more full games to make up for it.  The Rob Green, Loris Karius, David De Gea support group gains another member.

All in all, it hasn't been a great tournament for keepers in general.  Some nice saves, but nothing as world class as you'd come to expect from some.

[Its DJOver]

Y'all are sleeping on France.

That run by Mbappe was electric.

Mbappe has world class potential no doubt, but he also disappears at times. He's only 19, so he has plenty of time to get there, but he is not yet in the Ronaldo, Messi class.  I would only put him as the third best attacking option at his current club.

[GGGG]

Remember when everyone was fawning over Origi in 2014?  Let's see if Mbappe takes the next step that Origi never did.

[Its DJOver]

Remember when everyone was fawning over Origi in 2014?  Let's see if Mbappe takes the next step that Origi never did.

In defense of Divock, he's still only 23.  He needs to leave Liverpool because he's fallen out of favor under Klopp, but he still has more than enough time to revitalize his career.  He'll never be the superstar some dubbed him as, but just look at Balotelli as evidence that you can still have a productive career after flaming out in the premier league. 

[GGGG]

In defense of Divock, he's still only 23.  He needs to leave Liverpool because he's fallen out of favor under Klopp, but he still has more than enough time to revitalize his career.  He'll never be the superstar some dubbed him as, but just look at Balotelli as evidence that you can still have a productive career after flaming out in the premier league. 

Right. In France. Regardless I'm just saying that looking at how players perform in the World Cup isn't necessarily indicative of how they are going to perform at the club level.

[Its DJOver]

Right. In France. Regardless I'm just saying that looking at how players perform in the World Cup isn't necessarily indicative of how they are going to perform at the club level.

33 goals in 2 years is impressive in almost any league, but I agree with your underlying point that form for country does not necessarily represent form for club.  I think Renato Sanches is a better example than Divock (although they're both still young), going from breaking international records previously held by Ronaldo, then not being able to get into the starting 11 of a team that got relegated from the Premier League in less than 2 years. 

[brewcity77]

That Uruguay/France match felt really dull. Lloris came up huge, but other than the one great chance he didn't seem to be overly tested. Hope the rest of the quarters are more entertaining.

[Its DJOver]

Kevin De Bruyne might be the most dangerous person in the world leading a counter attack.  His ability to both shoot with pace and accuracy, along with ability to play a perfect through or square ball is second to none IMO.  He isn't the fastest player in the world (although he would blow all of us away), but man he's got the best right foot I've seen in a very long time.

[Cooby Snacks]

Kevin De Bruyne might be the most dangerous person in the world leading a counter attack.  His ability to both shoot with pace and accuracy, along with ability to play a perfect through or square ball is second to none IMO.  He isn't the fastest player in the world (although he would blow all of us away), but man he's got the best right foot I've seen in a very long time.

The real losers here are Chelsea.

[mu03eng]

Neymar, man, talk about representing the best and worst about soccer all in one person.

[JWags85]

Right. In France. Regardless I'm just saying that looking at how players perform in the World Cup isn't necessarily indicative of how they are going to perform at the club level.

I think the other interesting difference is Mbappe is proven at a club level before any national team success.  15 goals with Monaco, and then another 13 for PSG after making the move.  Origi only had a handful in a few years as a striker with Lille.  His whole reputation was built on great pace and one massive game winner in the 2014 WC.  He never fit great with Liverpool, and didn't score goals in bunches on loan.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Neymar, man, talk about representing the best and worst about soccer all in one person.

Absolute disgrace

[Its DJOver]

I will say that the stupidest rule of the WC is that yellow's don't get wiped until after the quarterfinals.  If you make a professional foul in your first group stage game, you then have to go the next 4 games without getting another yellow to avoid suspension.  It hasn't been a big problem this WC yet (Croatia has a lot of players sitting on one yellow), but it does cause some of the worlds best to unfairly miss games.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

I will say that the stupidest rule of the WC is that yellow's don't get wiped until after the quarterfinals.  If you make a professional foul in your first group stage game, you then have to go the next 4 games without getting another yellow to avoid suspension.  It hasn't been a big problem this WC yet (Croatia has a lot of players sitting on one yellow), but it does cause some of the worlds best to unfairly miss games.

Agree, they need to adjust it I just don't know how. I think the two yellow card rule is dumb in general and would like to scrap it completely but that'll never happen.

[Its DJOver]

Agree, they need to adjust it I just don't know how. I think the two yellow card rule is dumb in general and would like to scrap it completely but that'll never happen.

They'll get a chance when they re-work it for expansion, along with quite a few other rules, tiebreakers for examples.  I just have very little confidence that they'll get it right.

[brewcity77]

I think they should wipe single cards after the group and after the semis. Or increase it to 2 yellows in consecutive matches or 3 in non-consecutive matches.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Coming home status: It's

[Its DJOver]

The amount of bad penalties in this WC is truly shocking.

[MUEng92]

Coming home status: It's

Ok, I obviously missed something because I've been seeing this all day and don't know the context.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Ok, I obviously missed something because I've been seeing this all day and don't know the context.

Back in the day England would put out a song for every new tournament they were in. When Euros were in England in 1996, the song they put out was called Three Lions, better known as Football's coming home. Timing happened to be perfect since they missed out qualifying for the World Cup in 94.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqimlFcJsM

That one happened to stick and they even did an updated version for the 1998 World Cup. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsrGajtU8tw&t=138s)

Since then, they haven't put out many official World Cup songs, and if they did they were terrible so "football's coming home" has kinda been the England rally cry in every major tournament since 1996.

Now this year, it's pretty much just become a meme since they're actually doing well and have a legitimate shot to win it.

[brewcity77]

Ok, I obviously missed something because I've been seeing this all day and don't know the context.

It goes back to this 1996 song by the Lightning Seeds: https://youtu.be/RJqimlFcJsM

England has had a nice tournament and winning the World Cup would mean more to their fans than anyone. That said, if they get by Croatia, I think France or Belgium batter them.

Football might make it up the walk, might even knock on the door, but she ain't coming home.

[brewcity77]

To elaborate, football was invented in England, so in 1966 when England both hosted and subsequently won the World Cup, it was dubbed "football coming home." The song was written in 1996 when England hosted the European Championship.

It references many pieces of English football lore centered on 1966. Geoff Hurst, Bobby Charlton, and Nobby Styles dancing with the Jules Rimet trophy.

England lost in the semifinals in 1996 to Germany on penalties, a manner in which they are all too familiar with losing to a team that beats them regularly. So football never quite made it home.

Could this be the year football comes home? Maybe. But I think the other side of the draw is a bit tougher and as soon as England lost to Belgium, I felt the World Cup went through Belgium.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Three Lions just topped the British charts today 22 years after originally becoming number one.

Wonder if this is the biggest gap between number one appearances.