What we can say is the route to the final is opening up for England in a once in a lifetime way. Whether they take advantage of it is another matter, but it is quite possible they will be favourites in all of the games they play until the final depending on the Croatia v Denmark result! That is reasonable for Germany and Brazil but unthinkable for England!
I wonder if Belgium are still celebrating their victory over us
Celebrating ? I still have to get my kimono ironed ...
Croatia strong favourites to reach a World cup final from the weak side of the draw. But can they take the pressure.
England have achived nothing yet, they have got out of one of the weakest groups. Can we break a habit and win a KO game. Tuesday will answer that question
All the optimism of fans mean very little.
Both England and Croatia are 5/2 not exactly strong favourties
Well as we live in England that's no surprise. I meant in a football sense, not people having a bet on their own country.
Don’t understand the mentality of “I’m not going to get excited until XYZ happens”.
Sorry, but we spend all week having to be level headed and reasonable with work and other responsibilities. If England have a realistic route to the final (which they absolutely do) then I’m going to have a lot of fun dreaming it can happen.
If we get our hearts broken then so be it, but getting carried away is what loving football is all about.
I don't understand how they can have the levels of fitness they seemed to have over 120 minutes today - one of their defenders is nearly 39 FFS. 146KM covered over 120 minutes. These are not world class players playing for the top teams in the world either.
If their fitness training doesn't involve chemicals and is purely above board then premiership/champions league teams should be snapping up these Russian fitness coaches after the tournament, they are clearly doing something special that could change the sport.
Was their fitness that great today?
They weren't exactly going for it in extra time. They barely got out of their own half and at times the game was played at a walking pace in front of them. Spain showed no real urgency at all. It's not as if their players were making lung bursting 70 yard runs forward all the time. They were camped between the edge of their area and 30-35 yards out.
They were good against a poor Saudi side, played well in a 20 minute burst v Egypt, were poor v Uruguay and basically played for penalties tonight. I don't think they're a great side, they've just got a bit lucky by Spain being so poor.
I don't understand how they can have the levels of fitness they seemed to have over 120 minutes today - one of their defenders is nearly 39 FFS. 146KM covered over 120 minutes. These are not world class players playing for the top teams in the world either.
If their fitness training doesn't involve chemicals and is purely above board then premiership/champions league teams should be snapping up these Russian fitness coaches after the tournament, they are clearly doing something special that could change the sport.
But then he spent most of the match defending his penalty box. Hard work mentally, but he wouldn't have done much running
Don’t understand the mentality of “I’m not going to get excited until XYZ happens”.
Sorry, but we spend all week having to be level headed and reasonable with work and other responsibilities. If England have a realistic route to the final (which they absolutely do) then I’m going to have a lot of fun dreaming it can happen.
If we get our hearts broken then so be it, but getting carried away is what loving football is all about.
Come on England!
It’s a defence mechanism Plus we have only scrapped a win against Tunisa and beaten panama
If we beat Columbia then yes I think virtually every single person who is not convinced that this is not just another year where the England football team trick and decieve you into believing that they can actually do it
If we were playing any of these team on our side of the draw in qualifying/ frendiles etc I’d make us favourite in all of them bar Croatia, which is still a very tight one to call.
The World Cup and an English history of failure obviously adds pressure, but I’m confident
I don't understand how they can have the levels of fitness they seemed to have over 120 minutes today - one of their defenders is nearly 39 FFS. 146KM covered over 120 minutes. These are not world class players playing for the top teams in the world either.
If their fitness training doesn't involve chemicals and is purely above board then premiership/champions league teams should be snapping up these Russian fitness coaches after the tournament, they are clearly doing something special that could change the sport.
Was their fitness that great today?
They weren't exactly going for it in extra time. They barely got out of their own half and at times the game was played at a walking pace in front of them. Spain showed no real urgency at all. It's not as if their players were making lung bursting 70 yard runs forward all the time. They were camped between the edge of their area and 30-35 yards out.
They were good against a poor Saudi side, played well in a 20 minute burst v Egypt, were poor v Uruguay and basically played for penalties tonight. I don't think they're a great side, they've just got a bit lucky by Spain being so poor.
They collectively ran 36 KM in 32 minutes - AFTER 90 minutes of football, and yes, in their own half for most of it, don't see how what half of the field they were running around in effects how fit they are??
146 KM in total. They have an almost 39 year old that stayed on the entire game. Yes their fitness level was nuts - most teams of their footballing standard/facilities the players have would be on the floor. They barely had the ball so had to work harder than Spain as well who yes did play at walking pace at times, but the Russian players couldn't play at the same pace could they? They were defending without the ball - that's how they covered so much more distance to Spain in this game, Spain were strolling around knocking it between each other and the defenders were chasing it. Didn't see a single Russian defender walking when they were defending.
You are welcome to believe what you like, I think there is a case to be answered, and FIFA are doing everything they can to block any investigation into checks and tests that have been made on Russian players. Russia have form for this it's not like the accusation is coming from out of the blue.
Well i guess obviously because it's Russia there will be finger pointing but i don't think we're seeing anything amazing. Not once have i watched a Russia game (and i've seen all 4) and thought 'wow those guys are running around like lunatics'.
It's worth pointing out that the Russian league season is only 30 games and they have a winter break from mid-December until March, so their (largely domestic based) squad is probably the freshest in the entire tournament.
Comments
ibborg is my leader on this.
I meant in a football sense, not people having a bet on their own country.
What's new?
The return goal was a fortunate deflection.
But are we spurs or Leicester
Can you imagine the situation if Brazil and France go out before the final and we are still in
The NHS would collapse under the amount of 40 plus year old men having heart issues
Sorry, but we spend all week having to be level headed and reasonable with work and other responsibilities. If England have a realistic route to the final (which they absolutely do) then I’m going to have a lot of fun dreaming it can happen.
If we get our hearts broken then so be it, but getting carried away is what loving football is all about.
Come on England!
They weren't exactly going for it in extra time. They barely got out of their own half and at times the game was played at a walking pace in front of them. Spain showed no real urgency at all. It's not as if their players were making lung bursting 70 yard runs forward all the time. They were camped between the edge of their area and 30-35 yards out.
They were good against a poor Saudi side, played well in a 20 minute burst v Egypt, were poor v Uruguay and basically played for penalties tonight. I don't think they're a great side, they've just got a bit lucky by Spain being so poor.
If we beat Columbia then yes I think virtually every single person who is not convinced that this is not just another year where the England football team trick and decieve you into believing that they can actually do it
The World Cup and an English history of failure obviously adds pressure, but I’m confident
146 KM in total. They have an almost 39 year old that stayed on the entire game. Yes their fitness level was nuts - most teams of their footballing standard/facilities the players have would be on the floor. They barely had the ball so had to work harder than Spain as well who yes did play at walking pace at times, but the Russian players couldn't play at the same pace could they? They were defending without the ball - that's how they covered so much more distance to Spain in this game, Spain were strolling around knocking it between each other and the defenders were chasing it. Didn't see a single Russian defender walking when they were defending.
You are welcome to believe what you like, I think there is a case to be answered, and FIFA are doing everything they can to block any investigation into checks and tests that have been made on Russian players. Russia have form for this it's not like the accusation is coming from out of the blue.
It's worth pointing out that the Russian league season is only 30 games and they have a winter break from mid-December until March, so their (largely domestic based) squad is probably the freshest in the entire tournament.