FOOTBALL 2022 FIFA World Cup

[Super Freak]

It seems whenever I've made a prediction against a team, that team has ended up doing the opposite of what I predicted.

So here goes nothing.

Australia don't stand a chance. Argentina will be far too good for us and will flog us.

 

[Mustafur]

It seems whenever I've made a prediction against a team, that team has ended up doing the opposite of what I predicted.

So here goes nothing.

Australia don't stand a chance. Argentina will be far too good for us and will flog us.

I think we all understand this to be the case, but the nature of the game being soo difficult to score relative to other sports makes the impossible possible.

Heck if we manage to get to penalities it's basically a 50/50(it seems the foundation of our national team is based on that lol, even though I think on paper we actually had a better team then Uruguay back in 2005).

 

[Sproj]

Cameroon take a late lead against Brazil and then the goal scorer gets a red card for a second yellow for taking his shirt off haha

 

[winslow_wong]

It seems whenever I've made a prediction against a team, that team has ended up doing the opposite of what I predicted.

So here goes nothing.

Australia don't stand a chance. Argentina will be far too good for us and will flog us.

I’m gonna do my part and put my whole Sportsbet account on Argentina.

 

[Foordy]

the butthurt that we advanced to the round of 16 is strong in the media (of the countries we beat)

in the official pre-match press conference, a Tunisian reporter asked Graham Arnold (asked in Arabic, translated to Arnold) mentioning ‘rumours swirling in the Arab world’ about a doping issue involving the Australian team.

Independant Arabic fact0check site Misbar reported the social media reported that the social media rumours were 'totally unfounded' and "misleading"

Graham Arnolds reply:

“I don’t know if I should even answer that,” Arnold said.

“... I’m sorry but that’s the first time I’ve heard of anything like that. No idea what you’re talking about.”

 

[Super Freak]

There's some real exciting match-ups in this Round of 16.

It's too bad Cameroon didn't make it through despite their 1-0 win over Brazil. They needed Serbia to beat Switzerland or beat Brazil by 2 goals and Switzerland draw with Serbia.

It would have been nice to see more African/Asian countries in the knockout stages.

It is strange that the Round of 16 doesn't feature Germany and Italy.

I think the final is going to be a '98 rematch.

 

[The True King]

It seems whenever I've made a prediction against a team, that team has ended up doing the opposite of what I predicted.

So here goes nothing.

Australia don't stand a chance. Argentina will be far too good for us and will flog us.

The problem we've got is that Argentina are now starting to churn through the gears. They could have easily put 4 or 5 past Poland and they are no mugs either.

Losing to Saudi Arabia was almost a blessing for them. Given they had a 36 game unbeaten streak heading into this tournament, there were a few guys in the team there just purely on reputation and past performances. That loss opened the door for form players like MacAllister, Acuna and Alvarez to get a run and they have looked far better since changing shape.

I really hope we can pull something off but my gut feeling is they will use us to really kick off their trophy challenge. I still think Brazil, Argentina and France are yet to hit their peak.

 

[The True King]

There's some real exciting match-ups in this Round of 16.

It's too bad Cameroon didn't make it through despite their 1-0 win over Brazil. They needed Serbia to beat Switzerland or beat Brazil by 2 goals and Switzerland draw with Serbia.

It would have been nice to see more African/Asian countries in the knockout stages.

It is strange that the Round of 16 doesn't feature Germany and Italy.

I think the final is going to be a '98 rematch.

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If I had to put money on any upsets this round, it would probably be Japan and Morocco to get through. They look the two most even match ups on form and overall quality.

The other fixtures have a very clear favourite and they happen to be sides that know how to go deep in big tournaments. That said this World Cup is crazy hard to predict.

 

[BroncosFever]

The only thing giving me enough hope to set my alarm to watch the game is that against Saudi Arabia they just couldn't match them physically.

Messi isn't that guy who weaves his way through defense anymore, he might belt one from from outside the box and score but I don't see him being the threat he once was, we've only really looked completely hopeless against players with electric pace, can Argentina bring that?

 

[Wolfie]

The only thing giving me enough hope to set my alarm to watch the game is that against Saudi Arabia they just couldn't match them physically.

Messi isn't that guy who weaves his way through defense anymore, he might belt one from from outside the box and score but I don't see him being the threat he once was, we've only really looked completely hopeless against players with electric pace, can Argentina bring that?

They have plenty of pace. Gonzalez, Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez are all quick. Then with the likes of Messi, Di Maria and Correa they have plenty of guile and creativity as well. Not sure on the fitness of Dybala either. I think Australia just need to swamp their midfield so their forward players dont get any quality ball.

 

[Super Freak]

There were two moments in the Ghana vs Uruguay match that Uruguay felt should have been penalties, and it's the reason for their behavior towards the officials after the game.

The first one, I don't think it's a penalty. I've seen them given, but I think Nunez contributes to what happened. It might be a penalty by the laws of the game, but moments like this should not be penalties ever. I don't think the contact is sufficient enough to justify a penalty.

The ref initially waved it away, then VAR stepped in and it went for a review, ref reviews it and decides no penalty which I think was the right call.



This is the main one Uruguay were blowing up about at full time because of the situation they were in.

This one is definitely not a penalty. Cavani takes a dive in the hopes of gaining a penalty and it doesn't work out for him which led to him confronting the officials after the game and also punching over the stand that contains the VAR monitor that the refs use.



I can't remember who it was in the post-game, I think it was Bosnich, going on that it's a highly emotional situation regarding the Uruguay players' behavior towards the officials which is a cop out. There's no excuse for what they did. You don't confront the officials in such a way.

Uruguay thought they had it in the bag when they went up 2-0, took off Suarez and Arrascaeta and really after that they weren't pushing for that third goal as much as they should have been. They thought they were through to the knockout stages, Korea had other ideas.

 

[Super Freak]

I don’t watch a whole lot of football, so in reading this thread I’ve seen a lot said about our lack of speed in general. Can anyone tell me why this is the case? The few decent players I’ve known all were fair sprinters growing up. I know it’s not the same when dribbling but there’s surely some overlap there with training.

I think a big reason is the fact that football is not the main sport in this country. It's AFL, Union and NRL and all of the speedsters are pushed more towards those codes at a young age rather than professional football. I think another reason is the fact that the development systems in this country just aren't good enough.

I think we have a few players that are quick when they build up speed, but we don't have those players that are quick off the mark and provide those short bursts of speed that you see in all of the top teams. Well not anyone that's good enough to make the national squad.

 

[tommy]

I’m gonna stay up and watch. i think we will win because they are showing 1998 Argentina vs Netherlands at the moment. Argentina should be really tired by 5am after already playing a game today. Australia 3-0.

 

[Super Freak]

I’m gonna stay up and watch. i think we will win because they are showing 1998 Argentina vs Netherlands at the moment. Argentina should be really tired by 5am after already playing a game today. Australia 3-0.

One of my favourite Netherlands games that QF against Argentina. Bergkamp scoring one of the all-time great World Cup goals that won the game for Netherlands and sent them through to the SF against Brazil.

That '98 side was a bloody good side. It's a real shame they didn't win a WC. Unfortunately, they went up against a fucking good Brazil side.



I wish Netherlands had a Bergkamp in their side today.

 

[Super Freak]

Netherlands vs USA coming up in 30 minutes.

Nervous for this one. Netherlands have the better side, but their performances in this WC so far have been mixed and apart from the Qatar game, haven't really been able to control a game as well as they should. They have a knack for turning over the ball too easily.

I guess the good thing is that LVG has again opted to start Depay. Netherlands attack looked better with him up front and starting.

Not sure about Ake defending in the middle again, though.

 

[Super Freak]

 

[Super Freak]

Great save Noppert.

Blind not playing the Pulisic offside almost cost Netherlands.

 

[Super Freak]

Not the best start for Netherlands..