2018 World Cup Knockout Stages

[Bert]

22 hours ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

Nope.

Mexico will be there unless they lose to Sweden, the Germans win & Mexico go out on goal difference or whatever.

Senegal or Japan will definitely be there - and both might be, if Colombia don't beat Senegal & Poland don't beat Japan.

 

Between 1 and 3 non-Eur/SA nations will be at the KO party. 

 

Mods, feel free to move this post to the pedantry thread. 

Hopefully tomorrow's predictions don't go as bad as today's....

[Bob Weasel Fox]

9 hours ago, Max Wall said:

Bloody hell Bob. I've been 'beaten down' by England so many times over the years I thought I'd learned not to get carried away.

In all honesty, I have learned, but, if you can't get excited at this moment in time, what's the point? So rare to see all of the superpowers of football looking so lacklustre.

I'm just hoping for at least one knock out win. The joy of that is always incredible. Anything after that would be a bonus.

Having said that, you have to dare to dream......................

 

 

I do think this World Cup is really really wide open

 

if England don’t win it (I am seriously daring to dream) then a real dark horse like Croatia or Switzerland or Uruguay or Mexico might 

 

honestly the big ones like France Spain and Brazil etc have been average really so far 

[MC Prussian]

It's final!

 

Uruguay vs. Portugal

France vs. Argentina

 

Brazil vs. Mexico

Belgium vs. Japan

 

Spain vs. Russia

Croatia vs. Denmark

 

Sweden vs. Switzerland

Colombia vs. England

 

Updated with an eye on the potential quarter-final pairings.

Edited 28 June 2018 by MC Prussian

[The Doctor]

On 27/06/2018 at 18:42, Carl the Llama said:

For the sake of EU-SA pedantry are we classing Russia as a European nation?

They're members of UEFA so yes. From a football perspective they're European.

[Facecloth]

5 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

It's final!

 

Uruguay vs. Portugal

Spain vs. Russia

France vs. Argentina

Croatia vs. Denmark

Brazil vs. Mexico

Sweden vs. Switzerland

Belgium vs. Japan

Colombia vs. England

Not officially. You know the final whistle is the end a game right? Even though England don't look like scoring, the fixture aren't finalised yet.

 

EDIT: Now it's final!

Edited 28 June 2018 by Facecloth

[Nalis]

4 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

It's final!

 

Uruguay vs. Portugal

Spain vs. Russia

France vs. Argentina

Croatia vs. Denmark

Brazil vs. Mexico

Sweden vs. Switzerland

Belgium vs. Japan

Colombia vs. England

 

Can you send through the lottery numbers in advance too please?

[MC Prussian]

3 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

Not officially. You know the final whistle is the end a game right? Even though England don't look like scoring, the fixture aren't finalised yet.

 

I'm sorry, but what tended to be a prediction is now reality.

 

Game starts anew.

Good luck for England against Colombia and Denmark against Croatia.

[Facecloth]

1 minute ago, MC Prussian said:

I'm sorry, but what tended to be a prediction is now reality.

 

Game starts anew.

Good luck for England against Colombia and Denmark against Croatia.

Not liking the Croatia draw for Denmark. Croatia look good.

 

Colombia look a bit hit and miss, think England might have a chance, especially if James is out.

[MC Prussian]

Tough to predict winners now, it's just so even! Belgium, Spain and potentially Croatia my first picks out of the eight matches.

Edited 28 June 2018 by MC Prussian

[Webbo]

I wouldn't write off Mexico against Brazil. They'll give them a game.

[Amin]

It's a shame the Brazil/Mexico match is at 3pm on a Monday. We should see some great football in that one and maybe an upset. 

[shen]

15 hours ago, Facecloth said:

Not liking the Croatia draw for Denmark. Croatia look good.

Meh, everybody has written us off and don't want us to go through.

There's nothing to lose.

That said, I think Modric is going to be a very big handful and we'll be pinned back for most of the game.

[Facecloth]

1 hour ago, shen said:

Meh, everybody has written us off and don't want us to go through.

There's nothing to lose.

That said, I think Modric is going to be a very big handful and we'll be pinned back for most of the game.

If nothing else, we're hard to break down, which is useful in knockout tournaments. You can progress without winning, or by nicking the odd goal as long as you keep the other team out.

 

Potential England v Denmark semi final too  

[MC Prussian]

Lawro predicts a Switzerland - England quarter-final:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44644778

[Facecloth]

9 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

Lawro predicts a Switzerland - England quarter-final:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44644778

Colombia v Sweden it is then 

[KingsX]

How fivethirtyeight.com sees the reset

 

[Jonezy]

First we we do Croatia to revenge 1996, then Spain gets done for 1986, then payback against England for 2002 and finally to silence the world by beating Brazil in the final as a last laugh for 1998. The script is set for a Danish fairytale... 

[Super_horns]

We are getting some crackers today ...

[Super_horns]

On 29/06/2018 at 16:08, MC Prussian said:

Lawro predicts a Switzerland - England quarter-final:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44644778

Sweden v Colombia it is then !!

[The Doctor]

On 29/06/2018 at 16:17, Facecloth said:

Colombia v Sweden it is then 

 

4 minutes ago, Super_horns said:

Sweden v Colombia it is then !!

Didn't know you were a Watford fan @Facecloth...

[Guest seanfox778]

This has been an epic World Cup so far!

[MC Prussian]

Quarter-final pairings so far:

 

Uruguay vs. France

 

Brazil/ Mexico vs. Belgium/Japan

 

Spain/Russia vs. Croatia vs. Denmark

 

Sweden/Switzerland vs. Colombia/England

Edited 30 June 2018 by MC Prussian

[Nalis]

18 hours ago, KingsX said:

How fivethirtyeight.com sees the reset

 

Love how Brazil are bigger favourites v Mexico than Belgium are v Japan.

 

Checked the recent ones, France up to 3rd, Uruguay sandwiched between Croatia and Colombia.

[Wymsey]

13 hours ago, MC Prussian said:

Quarter-final pairings so far:

 

Uruguay vs. France

 

Brazil/ Mexico vs. Belgium/Japan

 

Spain/Russia vs. Croatia vs. Denmark

 

Sweden/Switzerland vs. Colombia/England

 

Brazil may have the stiffer of potentially two game tests, depending on how they do against Mexico first. If they manage to beat them and Belgium (who will be favourites against Japan), reckon they'll win the competition knowing they are on a roll beating very decent sides.

 

If we beat Colombia, team morale etc will be sky-high, and the positive adrenaline may well bode well for the last-eight match.

 

We've probably got the best chance in many years if we do beat Colombia, who also shouldn't be under-estimate (see Iceland game at Euro 16 etc..).

Edited 1 July 2018 by Wymeswold fox

[Mike Oxlong]