Football World Cup - Russia 2018

[Reynard]

Right, second half. Would love to see a goal or two.

 

[Reynard]

2-0 to Peru in the other game.

Yet another deflected goal - we've had a fair few of these so far this tournament. And looks like the two qualifiers from this group will be France & Denmark. Hard to see the Aussies come back from a two goal deficit.

 

[Reynard]

Banging free kick by Ericsson. Mandanda spills it, but gathers it up before a Danish player can get to it.

 

[AndyRM]

[QUOTE 5291187, member: 259"]Nice little article in the Grauniad in praise of Ally McCoist and Jon Champion's commentating (in contrast to the BBC ).[/QUOTE]

Thought McCoist was an absolute wazzock during his time as Rangers "manager", but he's won me back round. Particularly with his truthful claim that Archie Gemmill's goal against Holland is the best in World Cup history.

 

[AndyRM]

 

[Reynard]

Fekir has only been on the pitch for a minute or two and he's already contributed to the game more than Antoine Griezmann.

 

[Reynard]

Now that both teams seem to know that they're both through, this game has slowed right down.

I think I'll retract my earlier statement about this one *not* finishing 0-0...

 

[Bollo]

That's not Neymar, he took to long to go down. I call fake.

If we can no longer trust twitter, then the world’s gone to hell, Crax. To hell.

 

[Reynard]

And that, ladies and gents, is that.

Our first 0-0 of the tournament.

France win group C, with Denmark in second place. Despite a few bright moments, France were unconvincing yet again, and I think Denmark really missed a trick not really pressing as much for the win as they could have done, since there's a live chance they'll end up playing Croatia, who look set, barring a disaster, to win group D.

 

[Reynard]

Right, group D is about to be decided: Argentina v Nigeria, Croatia v Iceland.

I can't see Iceland getting the better of Croatia. Reckon this one will either be a draw or a Croatia win; Croatia have IMHO been the best side in the tournament so far.

Argentina v Nigeria is a different kettle of fish - if Argentina don't beat Nigeria, they go home. The pressure on Lionel Messi et al to perform is massive, and they're going to have to up their game significantly. The coach has made five changes from the Croatia game, including dropping keeper Willy Caballero. Nigeria though, have been something of an enigma. They were woeful in their warm-up game against England, and were really poor against Croatia, but then they went and beat a disciplined Iceland side 2-0 and played some nice football.

None of the african sides in the tournament have played that well yet - it's about time one of them stepped up to the plate.

 

[Bollo]

Aguero dropped. He's not done much, but like Messi he's not really had the service. At last some proper jeopardy in a final group game.

 

[AndyRM]

Big gamble making 5 changes.

There's been no continuity in coaching, personnel, tactics, formation for a while. Not the best way of creating a successful side so I'm not surprised to see them struggling.

 

[nickyboy]

The Nigerian national anthem has stolen some bits of "O Little Town of Bethlehem"

 

[Reynard]

Right, here we go...

 

[Reynard]

0-0 in both games.

Injury break in the iceland game after Bjarnasson got an accidental elbow in the face. Looks rather nasty as well.