France and Uruguay advance and predictions for tomorrow

A couple of barn-burners today as France barely got past a completely dysfunctional Argentina coached by Lionel Messi and Uruguay played an Atletico Madrid style low block defensive style and beat Christian Ronald and the Portugals 2-1 thanks to Edinson Cavani’s rock hard chesticles.

In the Argentina-France match we saw the importance of organization and teamwork. Neither team looked particularly organized or team oriented but Argentina made France look good by playing what could loosely be described as the same formation we see every weekend at your local pickup game. Mascherano played the role of “old man who was probably good back in the day”, Messi the role of “that guy who is really good but everyone hates playing with”, di Maria was “the guy who thinks he’s better than he is” and the entire Argentina defense was “just a bunch of guys who kind of suck at everything else so they have to play in defense.”

For France, it was a good idea that they brought their superstar Kylian Mbappe, he was really Kylian the Argentina back line. I feel like it’s ok to make these kind of Dad Jokes at the expense of Mbappe because I’m old enough to be his dad. He’s the second youngest player to score a double in the World Cup or something. Anyway, he’s a good player but it was his speed that killed Argentina. I actually quit playing open age leagues back in the early 2000s because I was blown past on several occasions the way Mbappe destroyed Masch and Rojo. RIP guys, it’s time to quit the footballs.

The system predicted Argentina to win but like I said in my preview, that was almost entirely down to Messi. Without him it was a close match with France probably winning. Too bad he couldn’t play today as he was busy with coaching duties.

In the Uruguay-Portugal match we saw the importance of organization and teamwork. I know I already said that but it’s important and true.

Uruguay played a low-box style game but for each of their goals there was a sense that they “always looked like they had another gear they could shift up into.” I particularly loved the Cavani first goal, where he chested the ball in instead of heading. I think he went to the Welbeck school of finishing for that one. Speaking of pickup games, I once scored a goal just like that — well, mine made more of a soft thud sound as the ball stuck to my fat.

Uruguay was really ugly to watch. Lots of rolling around on the ground pretending to be hurt. Again, Cavani took the lead here with one of my favorites being him slide-tackling someone and then pretending he got kicked. He was apparently actually hurt toward the end which prompted the image of the cup as he limped off and Ronald pretended to help him off the pitch, you know, out of the generous sporting spirit that fills his legs to bulging, and not at all because he wanted to speed up play because Portugal were losing.

Tomorrow’s matches will not be nearly as good. They can’t be, it’s physically impossible. We will all physically explode if they are any more exciting.

Spain is the system’s favorite over Russia and I fully expect Spain to win and then “test positive” for PEDs. By those quotes I mean “Spain will test positive and there will be hints that the old KGB is involved in piss-taking (literally!)”

In the Denmark-Croatia game, my system has the smallest of advantages to Denmark. That said, the two teams can be separated by expected goals. Denmark’s total expected goals for over three matches with Peru, Australia, and France were just 2.54. That’s awful compared to Croatia’s 4.11. That said, the Croats don’t have a dominant forward to help them win games and instead rely on a bunch of nimble midfielders. Hey! If you took Argentina and combined it with Croatia, you could have a really good team. Denmark are so awful that I’m going with the Croats here (against my system!).

See you all tomorrow.

Qq

(Running total World Cup knockout predictions: 1-1)

55 comments

  1. I always knew Argentina would crash out at some point and I knew it was gon be France to do the job. (How’s that for a middle finger Diego?) I wish we had mbappe😭!! I loved the kante-pogba combo and i wish xhaka would form such with torreira whom I thought was amazing tonight.. that’d only be if xhaka could turn as fast as the pogba. I love Ronaldo as a player, not just cos he helped Cavani out of the pitch but because he works so hard and then there’s his humility.. I see either France or Belgium in the final though.

    1. Forgive my cynicism, but I saw that (helping Cavani off) as “please leave so we can score an equalizer”.

    2. Xhaka doesn’t have the drive to bomb forward like Pogba and I daresay Pogba doesn’t quite have the passing of Xhaka.

      Now, Ramsey and Toerriera.. YES PLEASE.

  2. Is my sight that poor or did Cavani’s first goal go in off his face rather than his chest?

    1. Definitely his face! Right cheekbone to be precise. And as you know….he has perfect cheekbones.😏

  3. Was I the only who saw torreira put his head on the ground just to stop a pass?..that’s insane!

  4. I hope that Torreira’s transfer is sufficiently far down the line as to be a formality. Ornstein said yesterday that there’s been no medical done (obviously) or contract signed yet, because world cup.

    I can see Florentino Perez getting on the phone to his Sampdoria opposite number after the game. As if Madrid care about whether they have enough players for a position. My least favourite word, when I lived in England, was “gazump.” I’ll not feel at ease till I see Torreira’s signing officially announced on Arsenal.

    He announced himself to the world today. We agreed with Samp 25m Pounds for a player whose market value is easily double that, and who will be more of a wanted man today than he was 24 hours previously. What a game he had.

    And while I’m on Torreira…
    It’s be a good idea for gooners to give the new management some credit for being serious professionals who presumable know what they’re doing. Torreira’s too lightweight, Leno’s ordinary, Licht is too old, Sokratis is average. How about we give them time, latitude, anda chance?

    1. I agree that Torreira looked fantastic today. I’m not sure I’ve seen a lot of criticism of his potential signing though, most Gooners I’ve encountered are quite excited by it.,

      Also, let’s continue to debate each signing on its merits, not based on “those guys have the jobs, they must know what they’re doing.” I like to think this blog is a bit too sophisticated for the appeal to authority logical fallacy.

      1. Fair points.

        Didnt say that there was a lot of criticism of Torreira signing. In fact Tim wrote an article comparing him favourably to other DMs. To be fair, only the usually excellent Josh suggested that he’s too slight for the rough and tumble of the premiership, and on that basis wasn’t that good an acquistion. I doubt very much that Josh holds the same view after today.

        This isn’t a ding on any one person. It’s just that some of us have jumped awfully quickly to conclusions about the new signings. No, we’re not signing Ousmane Dembele. But we’re signing decent to very good players. It’s not that we shouldn’t question authority… but to read some of the gooner chatter (not just here) it’s as if the scouts and recruitment team are recruiting without proper consideration. The good thing is that views have improved once we’ve seen them play competitively. Shame that Leno has no such opportunities.

        I spent 3 solid years dinging Wenger, Arsenal’s management and its board, so I dont think that the corporate line should be unquestioned. Debate, differences are healthy.

        1. i did say that i didn’t fancy torreira at arsenal simply because, as claude already mentioned, i don’t fancy him in the rough and tumble of the bpl. today’s performance hasn’t changed my mind. the world cup is great but there’s something about playing in england.

          the bpl is home to some of the most powerful and competitive midfielders in the world that compete at a frantic pace and with a lot of physicality. today, he played against portugal, who are not frantic and, besides carvalho, are not physical midfielders. he was, repeatedly, beaten off the dribble and missed most of his attempted tackles but people are comparing this guy to n’golo kante. when has that ever happened to kante? seriously, it was portugal, who play a 4-4-2 (counter-attacking formation), yet despite being outnumbered in midfield, portugal seemed to have most of the ball. are you guys sure? he had to launch himself into a challenge with ronaldo. £26 million is a lot of dough.

          with that, i also put out a disclaimer that says i don’t really know much about him except for what i’ve seen on youtube and at the world cup. he’s played against egypt, saudi arabia, and ten-man russia so no, i’m not excited yet. it doesn’t mean that i can’t be. let’s see what he looks like against pogba and the real n’golo kante before i throw him out with the bath water.

    2. I would completely lose faith in the “brain trust” if they let Torreira get away.

  5. I had Argentina beating France, because teams that have come-back-from-the-dead momentum can be hard to beat. What do I know? Germany/Sweden/ Kroos followed by South Korea should have served as a warning that this isn’t always true. Lot of talk about Messi carrying the team, but although he had 2 assists, he shot straight at Lloris, wide open, late in the game at 4 -2. Granted, it was his chocolate leg, but the would’ve made it 3-2 with 10 minutes (including added minutes), to play.

    And what of Otamendi, with time running out and a goal down, kicking the ball against a French player on the ground? You never get all the time back from a stoppage. Idiot. Argentina are ordinary, and Mascherano was washed up one whole world cup ago. banega was less effective today, but with his fabulous close control he plays very well in traffic. He’s do well in the EPL, I think.

    France has scary depth. Dembele and Lemar didnt play a minute.

    Tomorrow, Croatia should have too much for Denmark. Rakitic and Modric in the middle of the park are two of the best in the world at what they do.

  6. i wish i would have read your post yesterday predicting argentina beating france. that’s nuts! i told a friend i thought france would win 4-0. argentina barely qualified for the world cup and barely advanced from the group stage. their defense is hot garbage and i predicted that argentina would have no answer for france’s attack; the south american’s simply didn’t match up well against giroud or m’bappe. i’m quite surprised that argentina scored three goals. likewise, france could have scored more if they wanted to.

    one thing i’d like to mention is back on center forwards. mbappe played center forward for france for the very first half against australia and not another minute since. it’s not what he’s good at. germany had a similar situation with a young guy who’s not a center forward trying to play there. the difference is löw didn’t protect his young prodigy while deschamps did. by bringing on giroud, france got better center forward play and better mbappe play. germany could have done a similar thing.

    still on center forwards, a similar thing could be said about argentina playing messi up high. what we knew before today is that messi can play as a false 9. what we learned today is that argentina can’t play a false 9 system. lesson to all the boys and girls out there: never play a false 9 if you’ve got forwards available (unless you’re down a man or playing for a draw). all of your midfielders have to be tip-top quality and well-drilled on everyone’s duties in the system, not just their own. if they’re not, it’s too easy to defend and you’re probably gonna lose. that’s why over the past decade or so, besides barcelona, spain, and roma, no one’s played this system; it’s too hard to score goals. what those three teams have in common is there was a need to play that system; neither team had center forwards. barcelona bought alexis thinking he could replace ibrahimovic. fernando torres was going through a mental crisis of confidence. roma only had one guy and he got hurt. they played with a false 9 out of necessity, not because the good idea fairy told them to.

    1. Playing messi as a false 9 today was particularly insane, given that all of Argentina’s other excellent players are forwards, while their defense, midfield, and wingers are either crap, past their best (with all due respect to Masch and Banega), or both. How do you go into a WC knockout match against France with *that* squad and start with all of Aguero, Higuain, and Dybala on the bench!!!!!!?????????!!!!!!!

      That’s insane.

      By the way, I’ve long felt that, although he’s obviously got skills, Di Maria is one of the most overrated players in world football. He loses the ball so cheaply and stupidly when there are easy and good options on all around him. He was doing this a lot back in 2014 too, but then he’d do one or two excellent things in the match, and all the commentators would fall all over themselves saying what a great player he was. It feels like now his powers have waned to the point that others are seeing all the crap in his game that I’ve seen for years. Today summed it up: scored a worldy (well, it actually wasn’t that great, but a good hit), but his control, passing, and especially decision making were piss poor the rest of the game, to the point that his negative contributions arguably cancelled out the positive contribution of the goal. He was even worse in the group stage.

      1. Spot on with di Maria. I can see the book title… “How to Score a Great Goal and Play Rubbish in the Same Game.”

        I think reports that the Argentina coach lost control of his squad are correct. His two domestic based players, Pavon and Perez, are far inferior to the European based talent he left on the bench.

  7. Btw:
    People often comparing Torreira to Kante (agree with Claude: I’m terrified that LT is going to slip through our fingers), but am I the only one who thinks Torreira’s game and style–at least the defensive part of it; think there’s more to come from him offensively–looks more like a young Mascherano’s?

    1. Saying any midfielder who’s good at breaking up play is like Kante is just the new saying any midfielder who’s good at breaking up play is like Makelele. Torreira has the added benefit of being of slight build and seemingly quick, which means he even looks the part a bit. Obviously lacking Frenchness or being of African descent, but we can’t have everything. Its the lazy pundit non-Arsenal version of the New Vieira.

      Having watched Torreira twice now, I don’t have an obvious comparison. He’s obviously tenacious and reads the game well. He’s playing in a well-organized system, Óscar Tabárez is well-known for his tactical acumen and picks a team that works. Hopefully Emery can do the same at Arsenal and give him the opportunity to shine. Xhaka and Ramsey are not particularly disciplined, however, so I’d expect a slow start on that front. I don’t really get a sense of what his passing capabilities are from watching him in this team, but theoretically, that’s what Xhaka is in the team for.

      Regardless, so long as we manage to get this over the line, its a legitimately exciting signing.

  8. Ok, one thing I don’t get about this whole Torreira saga (yes, saga; soon it might be a debacle):

    Samp have acknowledged repeatedly that the deal has been done, i.e. that they’ve lost/sold him. Virtually all the reports (though ominously, Ornstein’s last tweet was a bit more circumspect) suggest that the only thing really to be finalized is to have a medical and for the player to actually sign the darn thing.

    But supposedly Arsenal are just waiting until Uruguay get knocked out of the World Cup (they’ll lose to France surely, won’t they??). But as long as nothing is signed, then OBVIOUSLY we could get “gazumped” by a bigger fish. He’s got a release clause, so it’s not like Samp can just decide to do business with a team offering a better deal if the player wants to sign with us, but of course he could do the dreaded “u-turn” and decide to sign with Real Madrid or whoever off the back (or is it “on the back”) of his WC performances, if someone like that steps in for him.

    So, here’s my question…

    Is this stupid decision to wait until after the WC to get the medical done due to Uruguay refusing to let the medical happen in Russia, or is it more that we decided to not disturb his/their preparations by sending out a team to Russia to get the deal over the line, secure in the belief that we had the player???

    If it’s the latter, then we must be the DUMBEST elite club in Europe. Who cares if we piss off Oscar Tabarez for one day of training!!!! Don’t we know that in transfer season, typically anything that can go wrong will go wrong??

    Can anyone explain this?

    1. Im not as worried as you are here, PFo. But Im cautious about the deal not being done yet, and Torreira announcing his talent to the world. That’s a gap that makes me nervous. Perhaps without cause, but hey. Maybe the concern is all for nothing, but we did lose Higuain when Napoli were prepared to pay Madrid more (I dont think that a release clause was involved). I cited Madrid, because they are completely cuntish operators, and I wouldnt put it past them to try to get a player they don’t absolutely need. But of course Im basing that on nothing but speculation. It could as well be United or City. Or nobody.

      If the Uruguay coach banned transfer/club business from his camp, he wouldnt be wrong to do so. I wouldnt fault him for demanding total focus on the mission. On the other hand, some coaches dont like uncertainty hanging over their players’ heads, and work with clubs to get things sorted so that the player’s mind is clear. Cesc’s transfer to Chelsea was facilitated while he was with Spain in Brazil. They even got a blue jersey to him to pose with, in his dorm room.

      I wouldn’t be so hard on Arsenal for not being able (so far as we can see) to do the same with Torreira. If the coach blanks us in that regard, there’s nothing we can do about it.

      1. I’m not being hard on Arsenal (necessarily), I’m just genuinely puzzled, as not a single report I’ve read on the matter (and I’ve read a lot), has said “Uruguay wouldn’t let him have his medical.” They haven’t even so much as suggested this possibility. It’s plausible, but it hasn’t been put forward as a possible explanation by any of the the reports, from Italy, from England, from Uruguay, etc, on this.
        So that just has me thinking: we wouldn’t be so dumb/naive as to fail to close a deal we really want to get done as quickly as possible, when we have the opportunity to do so, would we?

  9. How sweet was that open-up-his-body, first-time hit by Cavani for his second? I keep changing my mind, this very watchable world cup, on what’s been the best goal so far. I’d been favouring the Grant Rocket v Serbia ( a great goal that was much more than about football), but man, Cavani’s was a goal of majestic beauty. I don’t count set pieces, where you have time to think and opposition is obliged by the rules to retreat. So sorry, Kroos and Ronaldo (free kick v Spain).

    What’s yours, peeps?

    I also liked the technical excellence of Messi’s v Nigeria

    1. Pavard I think. partly for the surprise element.

      Young defender hitting the ball with such control and precision from so far out, technically superb, and a very ambitious strike but he made it look nonchalant. And he seems like a nice guy.

  10. i hate to keep harping on it but i’m really disgusted that germany lost. do you guys remember the game they played against sweeden. at halftime, löw pulled draxler and brought on gomez to play center forward and moved werner to the left. germany, instantly, had better center forward play and werner lit it up on the left where he got to face up and attack, something he’s good at. he wasn’t quite m’bappe today but young timo played very well. why would löw go back to what didn’t work?

    1. Germany weren’t great, and being pantsed by Mexico in the first game cost them dearly, but they were also unlucky. Nobody created more shots than them in the group stages and their passing numbers suggest a team that dominated most of its encounters.

  11. The 2 matches showed that greater possession doesn’t translate into win.
    Argentina and Portugal based their game on possession or tiki taka.
    This type of game .imho,slows down the attack.
    The French and Suarez and company show that a a quick passing movement with
    minimum passes and running don’t give defenders time to regroup.
    I believe the France/ Uruguay game will be a stalemate and go to et.
    Its about one of these games will go to extra time.
    Hopefully the new gunner boss will not play Wengers style of soccer
    otherwise the y wont make headway

    1. Too simplistic. Germany and Spain won the last two World Cups as the two most possession centric teams. Of course slow and uninventive possession against teams looking to sit deep and counterattack gets you nowhere.

      Plus, Portugal have hardly been a tiki taka team this WC. They’ve got the same coach, and were playing the same style, as the lucky/uninspired team that won the Euros two years ago. Their problem today was they were trailing and had to go for it, and were facing a team who were as happy to defend deep as they were. But if they had ever taken the lead (or even been tied for any length of time in the second half) you would have seen them be as defensive and cagey as Uruguay. So no surprise that when they had to take the initiative and dictate the game for virtually the first time in the tournament, they weren’t very good at it.
      As for Argentina, they were an absolute shambles tactically and organizationally, and played with almost no discernible teamwork or style all tournament. The traditional Argentine style is one of fairly patient short passing, but that’s sorta gone out the window since their last great midfield conductor, Riquelme, retired, and their midfield talent pool has sadly and spectacularly dried up.

    2. I wouldn’t call either Argentina or Portugal possession based teams, especially Portugal. I think France had a deliberate strategy of giving the ball to Argentina because they knew their clownish defenders would get roasted on the break, which they did, time and again. Basically, anytime Mbappe or Pogba went on a run they could barely catch up for a cynical foul, let alone any actual defending. I hesitate to give Deschamps much credit for tactics but it seemed pretty obvious to me that it was deliberate. As soon as France wanted to keep the ball, they did.

      Portugal aren’t anyone’s idea of a tiki-taka side. They’re a bunch of cynical pricks led by Pepe, one of the most cynical pricks the game has ever known. Uruguay were happy to concede possession because they got an early lead.

      As PFO said, the last two winners were the top possession sides in the tournament. I think there’s an excellent chance this years winner is well. There’s nothing wrong with being a possession-based side, if you’re a big side you have to be good with ball – even most of Mourinho’s teams were ball-dominant against everyone but the big opponents, and he’s the least tiki-taka manager this side of Pulis. The problem for Arsenal when they were a tiki-taka side is that you have to have defensive nous to deal with counterattacks. Spain ’10 and Germany ’14 had that. Germany ’18 didn’t, and so they went out in the group stage. Pep’s sides have a ton of the ball but do everything in their power to stop counters. Arsene’s sides of 07-16 (the last two years we’ve hardly been a quality possession side) had a ton of the ball and two fullbacks in the penalty box and hoped Koscielny could make a brilliant recovery tackle in a 2-on-1.

      If Emery can manage the defensive side of the ball, no reason Arsenal can’t still tick retain possession. I’d expect us to adopt a counter-attacking posture more often now, not least because we’re looking at 10 games a year against teams that expect to beat us as opposed to the 2-4 of the past.

  12. How did AW not purchase any of these young French starlets over the last few years? What does it say about his allure to young French players or our inability to spot talent in Ligue Un that we never got close to signing the likes of Mbappe, Tolisso, Dembele, Griezmann, Kante, Varane, Umtiti, Fekir, and Lemar? Anyone have ideas why AW couldn’t recreate the success he had in the late 90s/early 2000s picking out talent from the French league?

    1. Well, there’s a variety of reasons but the biggest:

      1. In the late 90s/early 00s, Wenger had a lot more connections in France, having managed there recently.
      2. There was a thought at recently as the mid-to-late 90s that you could only have a small handful of foreign players in your side, as a foreign-dominated side wouldn’t be able to handle the English steel. Wenger’s title teams put this thought to bed forever.
      3. Chelsea in particular, but other clubs as well, started just poaching anyone we targeted and they had more money.

      And by far the biggest reason:

      3. The world is a lot smaller now. In 1996, a guy like Vieira wasn’t known to everyone. Nowadays, a prospect of that stature is known the world round. Think about how many “wonderkids” you can name now thanks to FIFA and Football Manager and Youtube compilations and so on. If that’s what your knowledge is, what do you think a big club’s scouting network is like? Arsenal is competing against dozens of clubs for these guys, not just a few. Most of those players you named basically went straight to big clubs immediately. Only Kante is really a “find.” Wenger still had a knack for those until quite recently – Koscielny certainly qualifies and Diaby had the talent if not for Dan Smith. He was still trying that route to the end – guys like Reine-Adelaide and Fortune were attempts at that, they just didn’t work out.

      1. We had a whole back and forth on this in yesterday’s thread. I think the whole Sven-Sanhelli axis was created because of these problems that Wenger could not solve.

    2. I agree with Gaspar but would add that there were factors that Arsenal could and should have controlled better. First, the scouts weren’t identifying top talent early enough, across the board it wasn’t good enough, even Wenger has said as much over Raphael Varane for example. The players they were identifying hardly sniffed the top tier. Second, the players we did know about we weren’t aggressive enough in pursuing. This was multi-pronged. Wenger, without David Dein’s aggressiveness in the player market and talent for recruitment, had a habit of sticking with what he had through thick and thin (mostly thin), while the board were happy to keep letting him do more with less as he had always done. How the exact power struggle worked out there we may never know but we do know the results. Then there was just sheer bad luck. In many ways, finding and blooding youngsters is a crap shoot and we bet on all the wrong horses, but again we could’ve improved our chances by being more aggressive and buying more promising talent instead of finding one and saying “job done” as the club often seemed to do after securing the signature of one promising youngster.

  13. Spain is showing that, cultured a passing team as you may be, you need players who can ferry the ball. =Dribblers. They’ll play like this all day and not pass through Russia. Why isIsco out on the left and not playing through the middle?

  14. Spain are tough to watch these days. The 2010 tiki-taka retread is creating no chances and taking few risks. Isco’s youthful balance and quickness is the only source of real creativity in a team ostensibly chock full of them.

    1. I said it a few days ago and I’ll say it again: Spain are better off without Diego Costa leading the line if they are not in the lead. He’s so good he will always score goals, but he is constructed to attack center backs in the open field, not to link up with intricate passing patterns.

      1. I literally thought you were joking first time you said it (perhaps it was the framing). I disagree.

        Spain’s problem isn’t their best centre forward. Who deserves his place in the starting XI. And who is better placed than nearly all of the attack to finish off a chance of half-chance. It’s their sterile passing when opponents park the bus. They could have continued playing till midnight and they not have picked Russia’s lock. And things didnt improve when Costa with withdrawn.

        Hierro, one of my favourite defenders of all time, looked, on the sidelines like what he was. A hurriedly recruited caretaker coach.

        I thought that the Spanish game cried out for someone who can dribble between the two banks of five. A ferryer. Isco Alarcon has that skill, but he was either playing wide left, or drifting to the right.

        I said two banks of five, but at times it looked like flat back 10.

        1. I don’t mind having unpopular opinions 🙂

          I thought Spain looked so toothless for most of that game and immediately improved with Aspas and Rodrigo ahead of the creators who finally had someone at whom to aim their passes. Costa didn’t do enough to create those passing angles because that’s not the type of forward he is. It didn’t work out for Spain at the Euros with Costa either. Great player, but a square peg as far his fit with this Spain team is concerned.

          Before I’m accused of over-stating my case, I’m not here blaming Costa as the chief reason for their exit. But I do believe that you pick the players to suit a system, not a system to suit all your best players.

  15. Trump: “What, Russia won the World Cup?”
    Staffer: “No, Mr President, they’ve made the quarters”
    Trump:” What, Russia won a quarter of the World Cup?”
    Staffer: “Erm.. yes they won the World Cup.

    1. And then Trump phoned Shard for clarification, as he does for all things Putin 🙂

      Come on, Tom. You’re slipping

  16. I think ‘it’s coming home’ is one of the most annoying phrases I’ve ever had to deal with. England fans feeling happy about avoiding Brazil and now Spain. The way this world cup is going, Colombia will probably beat them, only to fall to Switzerland in the Quarters.

    I think Croatia have a great chance to win it. They have a great midfield, and Mandzukic and Perisic are good attacking options. But they need to make sure they do the business against Denmark later today.

    It’s been a fun, crazy world cup so far.

  17. Crazy world when you consider the fact that the last forward line that our manager had to deal with was Mbappe, Cavani and Neymar.

    So, my friends… You have to pick an XI, but for tactical reasons can only choose 2 out of that 3. Who do you bench? I fear I know who the overwhelming favourite will be.

    1. It depends on how you want to play and who your opponent is. If I’m playing against Spain, I’d go with Neymar-Mbappe, but if I’m expecting to have a lot of the ball then I’d go with Cavani and probably Neymar. The Cavani-Mbappe partnership is the least appealing to me because they are both very direct but that can be a good thing as well if your midfielders are the creative types. Really it’s an embarrassment of riches and a problem I’d love to have as a manager.

  18. I have to say, I’ve been impressed to bits with each and every Real Madrid player I’ve seen in this tournament. For me Ronaldo has been the best player at this competition thus far in terms of the threat he offered on the ball, making runs off it, and at set pieces. But I don’t konw if any club team has had a clutch of players with a better tournament thus far than his teammates Isco and Modric, with honorable mentions to Kroos and Sergio Ramos, while Casemiro, Marcelo, Keylor Navas, Varane and Carvajal have all been solid as well. Confidence? Pedigree? Freedom from the suffocating pressure of playing for Real? Either way, they have earned my respect.

  19. Pretty dire game here between Denmark and Croatia. It just looks like both teams are terrified of losing by risking too much, especially the Danes, plus they’re just fatigued at this point. I’d be surprised if this doesn’t go to penalties.

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