World Cup 2018 General Discussion

farfan wrote:------N'zonzi----
--Kante--Pogba--
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Griezmann-Mbappe

uff worthy or no?

Giroud for Griezmann and yes

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farfan wrote:------N'zonzi----
--Kante--Pogba--
-------Fekir------
Griezmann-Mbappe

uff worthy or no?

absolutely shocking he has never tried this. awful coach

The issue for France this past year has been that, due to injuries, the fullbacks were Digne, Kurzawa and even Jallet at times.  Awful weakness there.  As Madrid fans have learned recently...  when there's such a weakness, it unbalances you in an awful way and the CMs become stretched.

With Sidibe and Mendy finally healthy and Lucas/Pavard as backups (late season performers to get their spots)... that massive weakness has gone away.

Really interesting to see how the team looks now that it's not playing to compensate on the wings.

I can't express how awful both Kurzawa and Digne have looked for NT.... they couldn't defend a traffic cone and, to boot, they weren't even doing well on the attack!

Official Portugal Squad:

Goalkeepers - Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Beto (Goztepe) and Rui Patrício (Sporting)

Defenders - Bruno Alves (Rangers), Cédric Soares (Southampton), José Fonte (Dalian Yifang), Mário Rui (Nápoles), Pepe (Besiktas), Raphael Guerreiro (Dortmund), Ricardo Pereira (FC Porto) and Rúben Dias (Benfica)

Midfielders - Adrien Silva (Leicester), Bruno Fernandes (Sporting), João Mário (West Ham), João Moutinho (Mónaco), Manuel Fernandes (Lokomotiv), and William Carvalho (Sporting)

Forwards - André Silva (Milan), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Gelson Martins (Sporting), Gonçalo Guedes (Valência) and Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas)

5 Wingers and only 1 CF which is Andre Silva? Ronaldo CF then?

Guedes can play CF, can't he? Or am I just thinking with my FIFA-brain?

I'm no Valencia expert but whenever I watched he was 100% a playmaker.

Platini admits draw for 1998 World Cup was fixed so France faced Brazil in final

https://news.sky.com/story/platini-admits-draw-for-1998-world-cup-was-fixed-so-france-faced-brazil-in-final-11377566

Doesn't every host country do this?

Morocco's world cup squad



I know only a handful of players  here



Wasnt Harit one of the revelations at Schalke ? @Hans

Ziyech seems to be highly rated at Ajax

Is that Munir of Barca fame ?

No idea where Belhanda plays nowadays. Was incredibly hyped at one point

And ofcourse there's Benatia and Dirar.

Anyone from Morocco here ? @farfan ?

Football is the most corrupt sport on the planet and it's not even close... As long as fans don't care and revenues go up, it won't change either.

Only way things change is if there's impact on money.

Saiss, who plays in midfield for Wolverhampton, is actually a better defender in the NT than Benatia.

Belhanda ( Galatasaray ) has been scrubing it for years now, But Renard likes hustlers and physical players in every position so he'll start over much more talented players.

Munir is a GK. A sub in the Spanish second division who somehow starts over Bono, the starting GK for Girona.

Ziyech is the most talented player in the team, he starts on the wing but is given the freedom to roam. Boussoufa is a poor's man Modric and is the brain of the midfield.

Renard made a solid defensive unit out of this team, they are entirely capable of giving Portugal some problems. I still believe Tunisia and Egypt have a better chance of making it out of the first round tho.

I wouldn't call HArit at Schalke necessarily a 'revelaation', not to us since sports had been hyping him since years

But it was a case of, oh right, he really is quite decent

Our #WorldCup squad list !
Final 23 04/06#REDTOGETHER pic.twitter.com/nxOLAv28MS

— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) May 21, 2018

Nainggolan left out of World Cup squad

Diego Costa for Atletico Madrid and Diego Costa for Spain are like two entirely different entities

I think a lot rests on him this WC. Was one of the worst players easily in the last edition.

I dont know who that Rodrigo jabroni is though

Radja Nainggolan left out of the Belgium squad. Meanwhile, Fellaini and Adnan Januzaj make it in.

lmaooooooo

Naingol hype was great while it lasted, you don't recover from this though

would take winning the Balon D'oR, unreal snub

Announced he's retired from Internationals now too.

marcos alonso dumped oo, dont rate him as a fullback, he played wing back all his career but i think he should have dropped Monreal to pick up Javi. He doesnt have a back to Busquets. Azpi would have served a left back back up

Firenze wrote:Radja Nainggolan left out of the Belgium squad. Meanwhile, Fellaini and Adnan Januzaj make it in.

lmaooooooo

Naingol hype was great while it lasted, you don't recover from this though

would take winning the Balon D'oR, unreal snub

Announced he's retired from Internationals now too.

They left him out because he smokes too much or something/unlheathy lifestyle or so i've read.

Martinez trying to look genius by snubbing quality players and letting scrubs in.

Kinda reminded me of a certain someone that dropped Ibrahimovic for Pedro and put Lahm in midfield just to look cool and different.

Its all about dem system players though (:

Ninja deserved to be called up, but I'm not complaining. Just means he'll be able to stay fit for us for pre-season. And he gets a much deserved vacation. He's not gonna see it that way, because he's an absolute warrior, but that is the solver lining.

Sorry but Nainggolan staying home is not changing the fate of any country. Belgium qualified without him and he should have expected

Mr Nick09 wrote:Sorry but Nainggolan staying home is not changing the fate of any country.

Might as well not pick anyone then tbh.

I did not mean it that way, but I don't understand the outrage today when Martinez never counted on him since he took over. This is not a surprise is what I mean and ultimately Belgium need performance from guys like Hazard, De Bruyne to have a successful world cup

Because this is the World cup. Ignoring him during friendlies or qualifiers is different than not taking him to the world cup. Now it's the big stage and Martinez is setting himself up for failure.

It's not different, because that's when the manager is reviewing what he has on hands, what works and what does not work for him, the way he wants to play, players personalities. I dont have any insight into the Beldium squad but Martinez has never liked Nainggolan that much, and it showed in how often he relied on him during the qualifiers.

and what is failure for Belgium? not winning?

I think going to the quarter finals is their expectation, semi finals their ceiling, or at least taking out a big nation in 1v1 will make their campaign successful.