Knockout Stages - Round of 32

[Lionator]

Morocco can win the thing you know. Will need a bit of luck if they come up against France but they’ve been the better team v Netherlands and Brazil now. They’re battle hardened and full of class.

[fox_up_north]

3 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Morocco can win the thing you know. Will need a bit of luck if they come up against France but they’ve been the better team v Netherlands and Brazil now. They’re battle hardened and full of class.

A colleague who runs an academy and coaches said it would be an African team to win.

 

His reasoning being the climate and different levels of end of season fatigue. 

[Leicesterpool]

I expect know Klopp will return to management with guess who... Germany. We will see him at euro 28.

[Samilktray]

Got a feeling about Ecuador for some reason

[Jon the Hat]

17 minutes ago, Leicesterpool said:

I expect know Klopp will return to management with guess who... Germany. We will see him at euro 28.

He could probably combine it with his current role.

[filbertway]

2 hours ago, when_you're_smiling said:

I thought I’d experienced every emotion possible in football through this basket case club of ours….but feeling sorry for Germany is a complete new one.

 

Also **** ITVX. Got up early to watch the Netherlands v Morroco match and not only do they not have it up yet they’ve a spoiler on the home page.

Use iplayer if you want highlights without spoilers. They've been my go to for the late games

[Finnegan]

47 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Morocco can win the thing you know. Will need a bit of luck if they come up against France but they’ve been the better team v Netherlands and Brazil now. They’re battle hardened and full of class.

 

I'd say they'd go in to most games against most of the teams in the tournament without being too severe under-dogs, sure.

 

But they'd need more than just "a bit" of luck to beat France imo.

 

[filbertway]

43 minutes ago, fox_up_north said:

A colleague who runs an academy and coaches said it would be an African team to win.

 

His reasoning being the climate and different levels of end of season fatigue. 

Most African players play in Europe dont they? So I doubt the fatigue would be much of a factor.

 

I'd rate Morocco are probably the only ones close to being good enough to go that far.

[ClaphamFox]

3 hours ago, fox_favourite said:

These results are warming shots for England. Don't take anything for granted and the DRC are not to be taken lightly 

After our games against Ghana and Panama, if we take anything for granted we deserve to come home. As it happens I don't think Tuchel will allow complacency to creep in. I'm more worried about whether we've got the quality/know-how to unlock another packed defence tomorrow evening...

[Finnegan]

11 minutes ago, filbertway said:

Most African players play in Europe dont they? So I doubt the fatigue would be much of a factor.

 

I'd rate Morocco are probably the only ones close to being good enough to go that far.

 

I don't want to be that guy and I definitely don't want that conversation but the only African team that are even vaguely close to being considered potential winners are Morocco.

 

Not only does nearly their entire squad play in Europe's main leagues but of the 10 outfield players started against the Netherlands, only Ounahi was born in Morocco. 

 

I'm not touching ethnicity and nationality with a barge pole, people can go debate that elsewhere (and by that I mean not on FoxesTalk), but what is definitely the case is that all the rest of them grew up in Europe and most significantly received their footballing education in the academies of European football clubs.

 

Whilst their progress is commendable and should be celebrated, it's not exactly a big win for Africa in terms of footballing culture and a massive, massive gap in wealth and opportunity would need to be narrowed significantly if you wanted to be here in X years time celebrating a squad of players genuinely developed in Africa being talked about as contenders for a world cup.

 

Which, by the way, is not an attack on the individual nations involved but more at the generally horrific wealth imbalance in the sport.

 

[FoxesWalk]

1 hour ago, Lionator said:

Morocco can win the thing you know. Will need a bit of luck if they come up against France but they’ve been the better team v Netherlands and Brazil now. They’re battle hardened and full of class.

Their project is to try to win their home World Cup in 2030, where they share hosting with Spain and Portugal. But without doubt it’s a great side already. Should be a stern opponent to that scary looking France team. I’m a big fan of theirs, but I don’t think they have enough to win it yet. 

Edited yesterday at 08:35 by FoxesWalk

[Aus Fox]

32 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

I'd say they'd go in to most games against most of the teams in the tournament without being too severe under-dogs, sure.

 

But they'd need more than just "a bit" of luck to beat France imo.

 

I think that’s the joy of big tournaments, if this was a 38 game season France win at a canter, the leagues probably all wrapped up by Christmas.

In a major tournament, you’re one bad performance away from heading home. Who knows where it comes and one big team leaving can change the whole tournament. 

[Finnegan]

3 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

I think that’s the joy of big tournaments, if this was a 38 game season France win at a canter, the leagues probably all wrapped up by Christmas.

In a major tournament, you’re one bad performance away from heading home. Who knows where it comes and one big team leaving can change the whole tournament. 

 

Yeah you're not wrong. I just think that France are so absurdly good with so much immense strength in depth that quite a few of them can afford to have a bad day and they can mix it up.

 

[Wakeyfox]

1 hour ago, Jon the Hat said:

He could probably combine it with his current role.

Trivago?

[filbertway]

56 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

I don't want to be that guy and I definitely don't want that conversation but the only African team that are even vaguely close to being considered potential winners are Morocco.

 

Not only does nearly their entire squad play in Europe's main leagues but of the 10 outfield players started against the Netherlands, only Ounahi was born in Morocco. 

 

I'm not touching ethnicity and nationality with a barge pole, people can go debate that elsewhere (and by that I mean not on FoxesTalk), but what is definitely the case is that all the rest of them grew up in Europe and most significantly received their footballing education in the academies of European football clubs.

 

Whilst their progress is commendable and should be celebrated, it's not exactly a big win for Africa in terms of footballing culture and a massive, massive gap in wealth and opportunity would need to be narrowed significantly if you wanted to be here in X years time celebrating a squad of players genuinely developed in Africa being talked about as contenders for a world cup.

 

Which, by the way, is not an attack on the individual nations involved but more at the generally horrific wealth imbalance in the sport.

 

 

[st albans fox]

Summerville might want to just glance at the keeper as he’s approaching the ball 

 

[FoxesWalk]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

Yeah you're not wrong. I just think that France are so absurdly good with so much immense strength in depth that quite a few of them can afford to have a bad day and they can mix it up.

 

They are absurdly strong in attack, no question. But there are without doubt also significant weaknesses there. The midfield is not on par with some of the other top teams, and as a result the back 4 look open and exposed fairly often, even against a fully rotated 2nd string Norway they would have conceded two if not for a missed pen. 
 

They will outscore most teams because of their attack, but in one off games they are not untouchable, that midfield can be dominated by the better sides. Mbappe does nothing in general play beside score. They play off the ball with 9 outfield players. Can Rabiot and Tchouameni overcome the top midfields? I have my doubts. Without that platform in the middle to play from, scoring becomes much harder. 
 

Still favourites, clearly, but Spain, England, Morocco, Argentina… could all win the midfield battle and beat them in a one off game. 

Edited yesterday at 09:53 by FoxesWalk

[FoxesWalk]

10 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Summerville might want to just glance at the keeper as he’s approaching the ball 

 

Bono full commits for pens, I love it. He really got in the head of Timber as well, pointing to one side and making it very obvious he was going that way. Clearly got in his head and made him change his mind about what he was going to do, and he subsequently dragged it wide 

[FoxesWalk]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

I don't want to be that guy and I definitely don't want that conversation but the only African team that are even vaguely close to being considered potential winners are Morocco.

 

Not only does nearly their entire squad play in Europe's main leagues but of the 10 outfield players started against the Netherlands, only Ounahi was born in Morocco. 

 

I'm not touching ethnicity and nationality with a barge pole, people can go debate that elsewhere (and by that I mean not on FoxesTalk), but what is definitely the case is that all the rest of them grew up in Europe and most significantly received their footballing education in the academies of European football clubs.

 

Whilst their progress is commendable and should be celebrated, it's not exactly a big win for Africa in terms of footballing culture and a massive, massive gap in wealth and opportunity would need to be narrowed significantly if you wanted to be here in X years time celebrating a squad of players genuinely developed in Africa being talked about as contenders for a world cup.

 

Which, by the way, is not an attack on the individual nations involved but more at the generally horrific wealth imbalance in the sport.

 

This is not a dissimilar reason why USA are quite good now… a significant number of their players came through in European academies. Just goes to show that youth coaching, and investment in youth coaching, is critical to success in international football. 

[STEVIE B]

1 hour ago, Samilktray said:

Got a feeling about Ecuador for some reason

They will beat Mexico if they repeat their performance v Germany, plus they're used to playing at altitude. 

Ecuador showed great energy & rarely let Germany settle, if we meet them it will not be easy at all. 

[FoxesWalk]

2 hours ago, Samilktray said:

Got a feeling about Ecuador for some reason

I really hope Mexico beat them somehow because I’m most scared of Ecuador of any of Englands potential opponents on the way to the semis. They are a much better side than Mexico though, so I expect them to go through. 
 

We will face the final boss of low blocks at the Azteca if Ecuador make it there. 

Edited yesterday at 09:55 by FoxesWalk

[ftfagos]

58 minutes ago, FoxesWalk said:

They are absurdly strong in attack, no question. But there are without doubt also significant weaknesses there. The midfield is not on par with some of the other top teams, and as a result the back 4 look open and exposed fairly often, even against a fully rotated 2nd string Norway they would have conceded two if not for a missed pen. 
 

They will outscore most teams because of their attack, but in one off games they are not untouchable, that midfield can be dominated by the better sides. Mbappe does nothing in general play beside score. They play off the ball with 9 outfield players. Can Rabiot and Tchouameni overcome the top midfields? I have my doubts. Without that platform in the middle to play from, scoring becomes much harder. 
 

Still favourites, clearly, but Spain, England, Morocco, Argentina… could all win the midfield battle and beat them in a one off game. 

Think they’ll be saving Kante for this scenario. 12 v11!

[21st Century Fox]

2 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

He could probably combine it with his current role.

He has a break clause in his RB contract to take the national team job if it becomes available.

Having one too many RB Leipzig players in the squad would probably look like a conflict of interest if he did both.

[MC Prussian]

5 hours ago, Lionator said:

Morocco can win the thing you know. Will need a bit of luck if they come up against France but they’ve been the better team v Netherlands and Brazil now. They’re battle hardened and full of class.

[CornwallFox]

5 hours ago, Lionator said:

Morocco can win the thing you know. Will need a bit of luck if they come up against France but they’ve been the better team v Netherlands and Brazil now. They’re battle hardened and full of class.

Tbh I expect France to win it but I was thinking last night that I've been really impressed with Morocco and I genuinely think they have a chance to surprise everyone. They're really good.