Knockout Stages - Quarter Final

[STEVIE B]

49 minutes ago, EastAnglianFox said:

As a jock, all my life I’ve dismissed Englands chances of winning a tournament, but not this time.

 

There just seems something different and I can’t put my finger on it.

 

I remember when they took it to the Dutch in euro 96 and blew them away and can see a proper statement win like that happening against a pretty average Argentina.

 

If England play for 90 how they played 2nd half against Croatia I think it’ll end up 4-1

Wow ! So you also think the Norway game is the trickiest of the 2.

l love your optimism though regardless. 

Edited Wednesday at 09:18 by STEVIE B

[RonnieTodger]

For all the moaning (usually from Celtic nations) about how England always get easy draws, Argentina’s route to the semi final is:

 

Algeria

Austria

Jordan

Cape Verde

Egypt

Switzerland

[FoxesWalk]

31 minutes ago, RonnieTodger said:

For all the moaning (usually from Celtic nations) about how England always get easy draws, Argentina’s route to the semi final is:

 

Algeria

Austria

Jordan

Cape Verde

Egypt

Switzerland

And yet they’ve still toiled to get this far 

[KFS]

Just booked to go Miami. The game and then UFC at Grails Wynwood. Going to be a big one  

[bovril]

Feel like there's usually a somewhat unfancied team that gets to the semi finals and think this year it'll be Norway. 

[Finnegan]

2 hours ago, FoxTimmy2 said:

 

I know some paranoid Ingerlunder is going to use this to claim Messi is being given a free ride and that the world is against England but this is a poor metric to do any analysis on in isolation. 

 

I do think it's interesting but it's just as much about footballing styles and the types of fouls committed as the way those teams' games have been ref'd. 

 

Teams like Spain and Argentina commit hundreds of little low impact fouls all of the time, just little niggly, shithouse stuff that doesn't really warrant a card. They'll probably also spread it out more around the team, they'll all be at it. 

 

A team could be quite dirty overall but actually score quite a high number of fouls per card just by weight. 

 

Where as a clean team could actually commit very few overall fouls and have few overall cards but maybe the small number of fouls they do commit were physical tackles or deliberately pulling a player back by the shirt to stop a counter? 

 

I don't have the stats, I'm just speaking anecdotally but England don't tend to mess around with a lot of little fouls and fluff, if you're going to foul someone it's going to be a "proper" foul not hundreds of little trips and cynical incidents. 

 

[Aus Fox]

Can we petition FIFA to move the semi final to the Azteca if it turns out to be Argentina v England.

We have some unfinished business to attend to.

[bovril]

I heard Infantino has "las malvinas son argentinas" tattood on his bum 

[Muzzy_no7]

1 hour ago, RonnieTodger said:

For all the moaning (usually from Celtic nations) about how England always get easy draws, Argentina’s route to the semi final is:

 

Algeria

Austria

Jordan

Cape Verde

Egypt

Switzerland

Add in almost zero travel in the group stages and playing at the same venue twice in the knockouts….

[Danizen]

29 minutes ago, bovril said:

Feel like there's usually a somewhat unfancied team that gets to the semi finals and think this year it'll be Norway. 

It might be wishful thinking but France are due a stinker

[Finnegan]

2 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

For all the moaning (usually from Celtic nations) about how England always get easy draws, Argentina’s route to the semi final is:

 

Algeria

Austria

Jordan

Cape Verde

Egypt

Switzerland

 

Just @ me you coward 

 

[Stadt]

Moaning about our opponents being easy is just ignorant, Mexico at the Azteca is much harder fixture than beating a washed Brazil side but there's just this star****er tendency (mostly from Jocks) England must beat Spain, France, Argentina, Barcelona 2009 and the Harlem globe trotters for it to be legitimate. We had the hardest group by ranking and swatted recent semi-finalists in that. DRC were no mugs and drawing those was by virtue of an expanded world cup, because we.... won our group.

 

Under Southgate we did benefit from kinder draws however.

[shen]

3 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

For all the moaning (usually from Celtic nations) about how England always get easy draws, Argentina’s route to the semi final is:

 

Algeria

Austria

Jordan

Cape Verde

Egypt

Switzerland

It always looked likely that one side of the draw would be considerably more stacked than the other. Argentina avoiding France, Spain, England, Brazil, Norway, Germany, Morocco, Portugal and Mexico is pretty fortunate. They don't control the draw though and it could just as easily have been Uruguay, Spain, Paraguay or Turkey in those knockout games.
But both the African nations proved they were a match for Argentina, so while it looks easier on paper, those teams made it there on merit.

[Raj]

Although France have been the stand out team so far, Morocco look really impressive.

Spain should beat a washed up Belgium team.

The other two are tough to call.

 

ALL the pressure will be on England v Haaland and his boys and the Argies are just a bunch of thugs who will thug it out...oh and they have Messi if he doesn't miss penalties.

 

England V Argy Semi though...blimey...hand of go, Falklands war...Defo kicking off in the stands!!

 

 

[Sampson]

Argentina really haven't convinced me against Cape Verde or Egypt. I'm really not convinced that they'll beat Switzerland.

[Nalis]

The difficulty in opposition so far is quite similar between the four favourites, argument for England or Spain having marginally the most difficult and Argentina with the most straightforward

[Heathrow fox]

Switzerland0 are really well organised and have been for decades.That will only ever take you so far as they have always struggled to score goals.

I’m always glad to see the back of em tbh

[shen]

1 minute ago, Heathrow fox said:

Switzerland0 are really well organised and have been for decades.That will only ever take you so far as they have always struggled to score goals.

I’m always glad to see the back of em tbh

They've scored in all but one game for a total of nine in five games, as many as Spain. Sure, they lack a top striker, but it's very possible they could take Argentina all the way to penalties and then we have another lottery.

[Spudulike]

3 hours ago, Aus Fox said:

Can we petition FIFA to move the semi final to the Azteca if it turns out to be Argentina v England.

We have some unfinished business to attend to.

And the Mexican's will be supporting us. Drums and trumpets all night outside Messi's window 

[AyewJoking]

4 hours ago, bovril said:

I heard Infantino has "las malvinas son argentinas" tattood on his bum 

Yeah,  OK

[bovril]

44 minutes ago, AyewJoking said:

Yeah,  OK

You got me, I am actually Donald Trump

[whoareyaaa]

2 hours ago, Sampson said:

Argentina really haven't convinced me against Cape Verde or Egypt. I'm really not convinced that they'll beat Switzerland.

Easy, Swiss didn't look great against Columbia, Argentina has some good players and Messi and the ref

[MC Prussian]

5 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

Easy, Swiss didn't look great against Columbia, Argentina has some good players and Messi and the ref

Switzerland has Gianni Infantino.

[Alf Bentley]

7 hours ago, bovril said:

Feel like there's usually a somewhat unfancied team that gets to the semi finals and think this year it'll be Norway. 

 

Is this the sort of scenario you envisage?

 

 

[Alf Bentley]

7 hours ago, bovril said:

I heard Infantino has "las malvinas son argentinas" tattood on his bum 

 

If there's an England v Argentina semi-final and FIFA conspires to ensure a win for the Argies, maybe Infantino will be overcome to the extent that he drops his trousers and reveals his tattoo live on TV?