FIFA WORLD CUP 2018 - RUSSIA

[DenizESC]

No idea what happened with Croatia there a couple of nights ago, aside from the fact that they played behind closed doors. But not even 2 months ago they could have trashed Turkey 10-0 in France and now they draw at home 1-1?

Strange. At least for someone who hasn't watched the match.

For sure it is an interesting group but I'd rule Kosovo out. Drawing with Finland isn't that much of an achievement, despite being first match and all. Having followed Finnish football for over 10 years...it is simply stalled since then. It's like the country doesn't care. Even Iceland went places recently. But Finland resists developing their football. Wouldn't be surprised with a last place for them but hope not, hope that they can come through with a few surprises. But damn, it's more than time for Finland to awake football-wise.

It's like as long as if things are ok with Leijonat in ice hockey other sports don't really matter then X-OI

Well those were completely different teams anyway so I don't see what's so strange.

 

[ShoeFlo]

Correct me, but didn't Croatia hit the post three times only in first half?
Seems like they were veeery unlucky. They were probably as dominant as they were in the Euro but this time the result is bad

 

[DenizESC]

Correct me, but didn't Croatia hit the post three times only in first half?
Seems like they were veeery unlucky. They were probably as dominant as they were in the Euro but this time the result is bad

They were not really dominating until the last 10 minutes. But it's true that they were very unlucky because they had so many chances which could have gone in. It could have been 5-1. Instead they only managed to score with a penalty and they could not even keep that score for a few minutes. So not really dominant. But anyway I hope this Turkey does not qualify. This is not Turkey anymore but more like FC Erdogan. It seems like only players who support him have been picked + Emre Mor.

 

[daniels1000]

Correct me, but didn't Croatia hit the post three times only in first half?
Seems like they were veeery unlucky. They were probably as dominant as they were in the Euro but this time the result is bad

Yes, it did. And Croatia was dominant most of the time (possession 56 - 44%; attempts 17 - 6 etc.). But most of the Croatian players were far from their level from Euro/clubs, like usual in qualification games. Ivan Rakitić was especially unnoticeable. However, it's not really the only problem (despite being dominant, playing pretty good etc.). You can't be unlucky forever. There are some things that have to be solved. First of all, fire the coach which is obviously still an amateur and has no whatsoever idea what is he doing. Technically, he still hasn't lost any game except Portugal so he surely won't get fired easily or quit but it's mostly thanks to the amazing players Croatia has. A serious coach really can't always find something as an excuse of why the result didn't go the right way... the "fans", weather, empty stadium (I really don't know how much effect it has, but imo minimal), referees, unluck. Because 3 points here for Croatia were pretty much obvious, but why doing it the simple way? The only problem is that who knows who would be the next one Croatian corrupted organization would bring... Another problem is that Croatia constantly lacks of a good left back player. The one who is playing it currently is Ivan Strinić who was the weakest point of the team in all the last matches. He's not that bad but when you have 10 other great players in the field, he usually comes out as the weakest one. Also, Mandžukić has nothing to do in the first team anymore (this was obvious during Euro already and should have already been solved). It's absolutely obvious the goal doesn't really love him at this moment and there are great strikers who will gladly play instead of him.

All in all, it was a pretty boring match where Turkey couldn't really score a goal (except in first 10 minutes) and Croatia was either hitting posts now and then or trying to do something without too much strength or motivation. In the end, both goals were scored from penalty/free kick.

1 point against Turkey is not the end of the world, even if this group is very tough and mistakes should really be avoided. After all, we could see what did France and Portugal do. Well, it doesn't surprise me about Portugal to be honest.

 

[DenizESC]

It was definitely a boring match... VERY BORING

 

[Edward]

I'd be more surprised with France really. After all what is Belarus when it comes to football? Let's not compare it to Switzerland. Team which I feared back in the knockout phase of the Euro and (luckily then for us) didn't go through thanks to an unfair penalty shooutout vs. an inferior Poland squad.

Luck works both ways however and had the Spanish referee of our match signaled the more than obvious penalty (Lichtsteiner kicked the ball against Djorou with his arms wide open) 5 minutes into the match then it would have been a completely different story. Not to be forgotten that we were missing a couple of key players. And for those who haven't watched the match, Switzerland deserved the win for what they did on the first half. But on the 2nd half they barely did anything at all. Nani still sent a ball to the post. Portugal clearly dominated then. They blatantly decided to park their bus from the 46th minute onwards.
So all things considered (overlooked penalty, 2nd half dominance) a more fair result would have been 1-1. This was always going to be the toughest match of the quali phase for us. No alarms were triggered at the end of this defeat anyway...we're all very aware that most people are in favor of our demise after the way we conquered the Euro championship (hey, Greece didn't play pretty either in our own soil 12 years ago but for some reason I remember a lot less negative reactions...maybe a sign of the times we're living in) but mentality within the national team is that we are starting all over from the beginning again.

Yes, winning the Euro was fantastic and being able to say until 2020 that we are the reigning champions of Europe in football is a great sensation. But that's it. Life is made of cycles and the one for Russia 2018 WC is already under away. Let's not confuse things.

About Croatia, wasn't critical at all...just surprised in a negative way considering how much I love the football played by the national team. Yes, perhaps Cacic is not the man for the job but so wasn't Bilic so I wonder if the solution could be external? Time will tell but given the track record it seems unlikely. With a Croatian manager or not I really hope to see them in Russia in 2 years because if that doesn't happen it's a loss to all fans of attractive football.

As for Turkey...unfortunately I think it will be a long time to see a decent squad such as the entertaining one from 2002. The Euro 2016 one was dreadful and now with all the turmoil going in on the country following the failed/staged/whatever coup I think even the harder it gets to obtain success since without a climate of peace running in the country itself since it makes it twice as hard to achive the path of success (though there are exceptions...Iraq 2007 comes to mind now).

 

[aletem]

Switzerland plays well against the countries from the Iberian Peninsula, so that result wasn't a surprise. The Swiss team is good and they can win that group with Portugal breathing in their neck.

 

[PamSwynford]

So, no Modrić, no Lovren and no Rakitić against Kosovo and Finland. Suddenly, 6 points in both games seem unrealistic.

 

[EscGeek]

We are going without Berić and Kampl against and

Najebali smo X-OI

 

[PamSwynford]

So, no Modrić, no Lovren and no Rakitić against Kosovo and Finland. Suddenly, 6 points in both games seem unrealistic.

And no Pjaca. It's like they all got injured because they don't want to play against a fake country.

 

[PamSwynford]

Kosovo - Croatia 0:6 xlol xlol xlol xlol xlol xlol xlol xlol xlol xlol xlol

 

[cegs5]

3 2

Finland had three points in their hands, but Icelamd scored at 90' and 96' ... always like that! SOOC

 

[ShoeFlo]

What a dramatic match in Reykjavik between and tonight... thanks god my live stream didn't let me down this time.
Finland was very efficient and scored twice with the only two goal chances they had. Iceland was bad in first half, Not enough pace and no strategy to break the Finnish defense. Even the 1:1 equalizer was a nice present by Finlands keeper Hradecky who lost the orientation for a moment after a corner
Second half Iceland increased their efforts but they were quite unlucky... first Gylfi missed a penalty and a couple of minutes later he hit the post. Iceland had 2, 3 more chances but then around 85th minute they looked dead and I already started to accept the loss. Then however they proved great character and turned the match around during the extra time. Two headers by Alfred Finnbogason and Ragnar Sigurdsson Great stuff.. emotional moments. To be honest, I don't know if the ball crossed the line in case of the winning goal... sadly (or luckily?) they don't use the goal line technology in WC qualifying matches. Nevermind... of course this win was deserved and I hope this is another moral boost for the team. They need to improve to beat Turkey on sunday though.
Respect to Finland too, they truly know how to defend.

 

[Edward]

At least 6 minutes of compensation time? Dubious winning goal? Hm...seems like Iceland just had to win this match no matter what it took.

But respect to the Finnish national team at last. Or could have been demerit of the Icelandic team. After all they still have to deal with the pressure of their qualification campaign to the last Euro and their performance in the same competition.

 

[ShoeFlo]

At least 6 minutes of compensation time? Dubious winning goal? Hm...seems like Iceland just had to win this match no matter what it took.

Don't forget the referee was from Norway. He certainly wanted to help his Icelandic brothers to win this match, no doubt!

No seriously... the extra time was justified. First of all, 4 minutes of compensation time were awarded by the fourth official. However during the the extra time there were a little interruption cause a Finnish player was injured/had a cramp/simulated or whatsoever and this took I guess 40-45 seconds which of course has to be added to the 4 minutes. The free kick that lead to the winning goal was shot at around 4:30 minutes over the regular time so obviously the ref still allows this one free kick knowing that this would be the last chance for Iceland to score. After all, he was even generous to the Finnish team, as he continued the match after the winning goal and gave Finland a last chance. If I was referee I would have finished the match immediately after the winning goal. Anyway, Finland couldn't take advantage from it.

I watched the replay of the winning goal a few more times and now I think it might have been a regular goal: http://imgur.com/a/kwlcH It was a hectical situation and the scene happened very fast so it was a difficult decision for the refs. Tbh I wouldn't be mad on the referee if he didn't award this goal. In situations like this people should be more indulgent to the referees. They are just human being like me and you. I say this because I read awful comments of Finnish people on Facebook. We wouldn't have discussions like this if they simply introduce goal line technology in all international football competitions but well...

Moreover Nicklas Moisander should have got the red card after the goal as he physically attacked the referee. I like Moisander cause he plays for my favorite club but this went too far. After all nobody can say the referee favoured the Finland team

 

[cegs5]

I wouldn't blame anyone but the Finnish team, they don't know how to win a game.
Overall the match was mediocre between two mediocre teams, charismatic perhaps but quality wise was boring. Iceland had got lors of supporters after the Euro campaign but facing the reality it's a low quality team. I hate to admit that because I like underdogs.

 

[Edward]

I have watched a replay of the 3rd Icelandic goal a few times and it seems clear to me now. The ball does not go in at the last header, the Finnish goalie stops it right on top of the goal line. Then one of the Icelandic players does kick it in but by then I think that should already have been considered faul play against Iceland. If it was up to me I wouldn't have allowed the goal and I think that a draw would have been a more appropriate result for both nations.

The replay angles are far from the best however and I can understand the poor judgement from the referee considering he was outside the penalty area and a few players seem to be blocking his view. Still, a controversial decision benefiting the underdogs of the last Euro tournament. I fear this might have had some sort of impact on the referee when making his final decision.

But yes, goal line technology should be there for these games...it worked so well during the Euro so I don't understand why it isn't applied in these games as well. More important will be the day when "video referee" (or however it's called in English) will be implemented in the sport. Should be a rule of thumb already. Basketball and football are two completely different games but I have to give it to Americans and NBA...everytime I watch one of their games it is easily noticeable how scientific proof is irrefutable and leaves margin to little doubt. Same should happen in a sport such as football even though I understand a good share of people love the controversy and that old school fans are mostly against the implementation of such technologies. In the name of veracity however this is something that must be implemented sooner or later without a question.

 

[EscGeek]

1-0

Honestly,i'm surprised...

 

[revallsay]

WE WON

 

[lucian-crusher]

- 0 - 5
I am not that entusiasthic, because the match ended right at the begining when our opponents received a red card.