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Croatia v England - semi final


banana

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The moment they ended up in the easy half of the draw, in their minds they had one hand on the trophy. It only takes a couple of wins, a bit of luck, and the old imperialist "everything since 1966 was an aberration, we're back now" arrogance inevitably surfaces. The only reason they got anywhere near the semi final was the number of traditional superpowers who completely muffed up (Germany, Spain, Argentina) as well as the complete lack of any surprise packages doing well (along the lines of Costa Rica/Algeria last time). A workmanlike squad scraped past an uninspired Colombia, had their one good result against an equally workmanlike Sweden, then didn't know what to do when Croatia actually started playing.

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15 minutes ago, jupe1407 said:

England haven't really over-achieved here at all. Had we seen at the start how the fixtures would play out, getting to the Semi-Final would have hardly been labelled a "miracle".

- Scraped a late win over Tunisia

- Scudded the worst team in the tournament

- Lost a meaningless match to Belgium

- Scraped a win on penalties against a Colombia team clueless without James Rodrigues

- Easily defeated a thoroughly drab Sweden side

- Lost to the first genuinely decent side with sometime to actually play for

 

Yep, and if Belgium beat them again on Saturday it's won 4 and lost 3.  Not great when looking at the #numbers. 

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11 minutes ago, jupe1407 said:

England haven't really over-achieved here at all. Had we seen at the start how the fixtures would play out, getting to the Semi-Final would have hardly been labelled a "miracle".

- Scraped a late win over Tunisia

- Scudded the worst team in the tournament

- Lost a meaningless match to Belgium

- Scraped a win on penalties against a Colombia team clueless without James Rodrigues

- Easily defeated a thoroughly drab Sweden side

- Lost to the first genuinely decent side with sometime to actually play for

 

Yeah, I'm not buying it either. Based on the ELO ratings, they've beaten 47th, 63rd and 18th, penalty victory over 10th and ET loss to 5th (they're 7th themselves). I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and exclude the Belgium game as that was 2 B teams.  

They've exceeded pre-tournament expectations, but the way the draw has opened up, they should be ruing a missed opportunity to win the thing. Celebrating a semi-final where you've lost to the only side that's on a similar level is a bit Scotlandy tbh.

 

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I sort of wanted a France v England final, to see them getting a real hiding but they might just have fluked it somehow, so I'm feeling rather calm and happy. The guys in my local cafe all called a Croatia win.

Allez les Bleus!

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5 minutes ago, cyderspaceman said:

I sort of wanted a France v England final, to see them getting a real hiding but they might just have fluked it somehow, so I'm feeling rather calm and happy. The guys in my local cafe all called a Croatia win.

Allez les Bleus!

Problem is, whilst they've got the players to do so, France haven't dished out a pumping to anyone thus far. I'd expect them to beat England as they've been the most composed team in the tournament and have class all over the pitch, but it would have meant the media circus continued until Sunday. This has worked out for the best IMO.

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6 hours ago, DrewDon said:

The best thing about Mandžukić's goal was that Pickford had been taunting him whilst he lay injured on the ground only minutes earlier. Pickford is a horrible little scrote, and he got exactly what he deserved. 

Yes. What was that about? He seemed to get severely clattered by the goalie. 

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10 hours ago, Lofarl said:

You know what that’s called Glen Hoddle?  That’s called Karma you monotone  backwards religious c**t. 

Look how it’s caught up with you.  f**k you, you fucking unsettling looking dick.

I lolled.    Difficult insult to hurl in live situation.

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England had no options once they took Sterling off. Once they had nobody to stretch the Croatian defence, Croatia took complete control of the game and looked utterly dominant. Modric was camped in the England half and Perisic had a stormer. Obvs there’s an element of hindsight but England rode their luck and quality at set pieces to get through the tournament and, barring some gargantuan good luck, France would’ve coasted against them.

Also, how on earth were England the more gassed of the two? Croatia had played through 240 minutes and two penalty shootouts FFS.

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