2018 World Cup
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Looking at the overall snapshot of the groups, I must admit to being mildly underwhelmed. With the possible exception of Portugal and Spain, there aren't many combinations there that I could see generating excitement among neutral fans. Although there's always England's inevitable defeat to Panama to look forward to, I guess.
22 minutes ago, Michael* said:Looking at the overall snapshot of the groups, I must admit to being mildly underwhelmed. With the possible exception of Portugal and Spain, there aren't many combinations there that I could see generating excitement among neutral fans. Although there's always England's inevitable defeat to Panama to look forward to, I guess.
Russia x Saudi Arabia is a crappy opening game too.
5 hours ago, Michael* said:Looking at the overall snapshot of the groups, I must admit to being mildly underwhelmed. With the possible exception of Portugal and Spain, there aren't many combinations there that I could see generating excitement among neutral fans. Although there's always England's inevitable defeat to Panama to look forward to, I guess.
Group F is s’alright but it’s hard not to foresee evermore 0-0s and 1-1s as teams implement safety first, biege coloured tactics. God knows it’s England’s best hope.
^Call up some Baby Lions if you have nothing to lose.
England getting eliminated is always an event. 
On 12/2/2017 at 12:55 PM, Michael* said:With the possible exception of Portugal and Spain, there aren't many combinations there that I could see generating excitement among neutral fans.
Can't say I agree, the second I saw Group D I knew I was going to watch the hell out of it.
Hungry Argentina against thriving Iceland? Scandal plagued Croatia and the only African team in the tournament? Yes please.
The rest of the groups are fairly dull save a few fixtures, though.
With both of my teams out I'm pulling for Iceland.
On 12/2/2017 at 1:19 PM, Stromboli1 said:Russia x Saudi Arabia is a crappy opening game too.
Yeah, it is a bit. I believe these two will be the lowest ranked teams to ever contest an opening World Cup game, although perhaps look for that to change when something like Qatar-Uganda happens in four and a bit years' time. 
Home advantage can never be underestimated of course, but I'm not convinced that this Russian side will even make it out of the group. If they do scrape into a second place finish, I would expect Spain to dispatch them with relative ease in the first knockout round.
^ And Pizzi, who failed to qualify us for the Cup will now be coaching on the opening game
On 12/2/2017 at 6:39 PM, Frederick said:Group F is s’alright but it’s hard not to foresee evermore 0-0s and 1-1s as teams implement safety first, biege coloured tactics. God knows it’s England’s best hope.
I'm not usually big on nostalgia of any kind so maybe it's a sign of old age setting in, but I will admit to missing the days when a crazy 4-3 would happen and it wasn't immediately used as an argument for bus-parking being the best way to approach tournament football.
Equally, England will probably just be left with Roy Keane to shake his head and pick over the bones of where it all went wrong.
On 12/3/2017 at 5:05 PM, HitchcockBlonde said:Can't say I agree, the second I saw Group D I knew I was going to watch the hell out of it.
Hungry Argentina against thriving Iceland? Scandal plagued Croatia and the only African team in the tournament? Yes please.
The rest of the groups are fairly dull save a few fixtures, though.
With both of my teams out I'm pulling for Iceland.
There’s usually a surprise or two along the way, but for probably the first time I can remember, there's no real 'group of death' scenario in the mix. The draw seems to have created wide open roads for most of the big teams to just cruise into the quarters.
On the bright side, the last World Cup started off well and faded towards the end where the majority of knockout rounds were boring as hell. This one looks like it could be the reverse, although until we get there, we might have to power through some poor games.
what do you think?
Natalia Oreiro - United by Love (Russia 2018 Official Video)
Surprised that Putin approved that! 
Spain fired Lopetegui....... wtf? 
I know he was just announced as the manager of Real Madrid and would've taken over after the World Cup. 
On 6/13/2018 at 8:41 AM, Stromboli1 said:Spain fired Lopetegui....... wtf?
I know he was just announced as the manager of Real Madrid and would've taken over after the World Cup.
What I heard this morning is that he reached an agreement with Real Madrid pretty much behind the back of Spain's National Team. He didn't communicate this to the Spanish Football Federation.
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I just want Saudi Arabia to lose BADLY against Russia on the inaugural game and also on their other 2 games.
Not because of the team, not because of the country. Because of the coach...
Soon 
Had a nightmare but now I feel better since the game starts in about 6 hours!
9 hours ago, Stormbringer said:What I heard this morning is that he reached an agreement with Real Madrid pretty much behind the back of Spain's National Team. He didn't communicate this to the Spanish Football Federation.
Interesting..... interested in hearing both sides of it.
Real Madrid ended up saving 2M Euros because Spain fired him, they were set to trigger his release clause.
Here we go!
Looking forward to the Spain vs. Portugal game tomorrow! Cristiano Ronaldo looked so handsome arriving on a plane. And the team looked great in their suits.