World Cup 2018 World Cup 2018: England vs Croatia

[pereblue]

The World Cup is ending and there are only 2 games left ... in this last semifinal, England vs Croatia. First time these two teams are in a semifinal of a world cup and both come with great possibilities to pass. In our Facebook page we have created a new Poll too:

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[LadyJelena]

Go Croatia! <3

 

[Welshy88]

England's to lose.
England will never have a better chance to get to a world cup final.

 

[dionysus]

England's to lose.
England will never have a better chance to get to a world cup final.

shush you, i followed the threads/FIFA too long to not at least place 2nd

 

[luckysox]

It's gonna be a good game, the Croats will fight like no tomorrow. They only made it this far once, 20 years ago(?), when they just became a sovereign country. I think Croats want it more badly than English.

 

[RyanABC - retired]

COME ON ENGLAND!!

Jelena - that's quite enough form you ;-)

Anyone back it with a little punt as well?

 

[goatwack]

It's going to be telling in the latter stages of the game, where Croatia will be absolutely spent.

If Sterling were to score, now's the time to do it. Kane will be more of a threat than Mandzukic, I just hope Kyle 'I'm not really a central defender' Walker doesn't get caught out badly.

If England can contain Modric, there's every chance, whereas England have Kane, Lindgard, Alli and even Sterling as match- winners!

There's definitely a tangible sense of excitement in the air. Of course it's a tad nauseating seeing middle-class women singing Vindaloo in the streets with their England facepaint, but it's a small price to pay

England to scrape through 2-1 in Extra Time.....

 

[LadyJelena]

Jelena - that's quite enough form you ;-)

Nooo, this time it's gonna work properly!! Certainly, it's the only team I rooted for and haven't let me down, so I hope they won't today either

 

[robby811]

No madders who will win today , France will going for the Cup

 

[Welshy88]

No madders who will win today , France will going for the Cup

They said that in Euro 2016 .

 

[goatwack]

France are solid but not unbeatable. Their best game was their 4-3 against Argentina, and though an attacking masterclass, they still conceded 3 against them.

I don't even think they played that great against Belgium, just that Belgium choked and had no plan B. If say England were to lump balls into their penalty area when needed I'm not sure the likes of Varane, Umtiti and Loris could cope with that.

Plus, despite playing in England for God knows how many years, Loris punched the ball instead of catching it, what is it with the foreign keepers

Griezmann was I thought awful, Giroud poor, Mbappe made blistering runs but lost the ball a fair few times. Their main strength is their dynamism in midfield with the likes of Kante and Pogba breaking everything up.

They're not world beaters. England or Croatia could give them all manner of problems on any given day. It'll be 50/50

 

[robby811]

We will see , hopefully a great Final like 2014

Best about 120Min/ Penalty

 

[FavoPlayer]

England will win today and will win World Cup 2018!

Just checked here:

 

[09237653]

Not to nitpick but that only goes up to 2000.

 

[dunover]

It's going to be telling in the latter stages of the game, where Croatia will be absolutely spent.

If Sterling were to score, now's the time to do it. Kane will be more of a threat than Mandzukic, I just hope Kyle 'I'm not really a central defender' Walker doesn't get caught out badly.

If England can contain Modric, there's every chance, whereas England have Kane, Lindgard, Alli and even Sterling as match- winners!

There's definitely a tangible sense of excitement in the air. Of course it's a tad nauseating seeing middle-class women singing Vindaloo in the streets with their England facepaint, but it's a small price to pay

England to scrape through 2-1 in Extra Time.....

Best laugh I've had all week!

 

[goatwack]

Best laugh I've had all week!

Granted, it is quite funny, but despite his wonky composure for England he has just done a 23- goal season at MC

 

[pinnit2014]

Hopefully Gabby Yorath is taking an annual leave day for interviewing duties. The other night's insightful (normally leading) questions were asking Harry Maguire about the size of his head

Putin's ordering the drugs test as we speak.

 

[goatwack]

All rather easy so far isn't it

 

[mack341]

england are making hard work of this, sitting back for the rest of the match is asking for trouble

 

[steveh35]

Seems England is once again suffering from a fall in sterling

 

[steveh35]

The engravers must already be etching France onto the trophy lol

 

[Harry_BKK]

All rather easy so far isn't it

the game just turned into a cliffhanger.

 

[mcgameboy]

If England had gone 2-0 up while they were bossing this game, it was all over.

But now...I'm thinking penalty shootout.

England looking very shaky now though. It's like the enormity of the occasion has suddenly hit them. The fear is beginning to creep in.

 

[nikantw]

Kane is not at his best day, 3 chances lost already.

Oh crap....... frak that....

I am not even going to see any other match

 

[Harry_BKK]

Oh dear

 

[mcgameboy]

Gareth rolling the dice now. No choice.

 

[pinnit2014]

Hasn’t helped that Kane’s not turned up today. Half of them have gone awol in the second half.

Need to test Croatia for steroids at full time.

 

[krowster83]

Yaaaaaaaaaa Croatia...

Revenge for 1998 against france.

6min to go


Uboj uboj za narod svoj
Uboj uboj za narod svoj

 

[paul7388]

Gooooooo Croatia lol

 

[mcgameboy]

Modric going off 2 minutes before the end? Odd.

 

[krowster83]

I know.....

 

[goatwack]

All rather easy so far isn't it

 

[paul7388]

Well done Croatia.

First big test England failed.

Now im going to get totally pissed which im not far of anyway.

Have a good night all

 

[mcgameboy]

Well done Croatia. They hung in there when they had to.

To all the English members in the group, sincere commiserations.

I hope we see a new name on the trophy on Sunday.

 

[goatwack]

Wouldn't be so downbeat. It was only 28 years since the last WC Semi-Final, it was our best chance possible with Columbia, Sweden & leading Croatia for 68 minutes and we could have scored two or three. So not a missed opportunity at all!

See you in 2046!

 

[dunover]

Made somebody's night anyway.....

 

[Welshy88]

Would love Croatia to win it but I don't think they are that good .

 

[goatwack]

At least there's the 3rd/ 4th place playoff England are going to win!

Wha....what's that? Gotta play Belgium??

Well done on 4th place England! Football's coming home! (sort of)

 

[Welshy88]

At least there's the 3rd/ 4th place playoff England are going to win!

Wha....what's that? Gotta play Belgium??

Well done on 4th place England! Football's coming home! (sort of)

Group game all over again . Probs reserves vs reserves again

 

[mcgameboy]

It's actually a rather spooky carbon copy of England's last game in the Luzhniki Stadium, the Euro 2008 qualifier against Russia.

Scored early, had chances to put the game away in the first half, didn't take them, opponent survived, rallied and then prevailed.

It's been their achilles heel for a long, long time. Ever since the 1970 QF against West Germany, there has far too often been a lack of killer instinct and ability to turn dominance into a two-goal lead. The Sweden game was that very rare "stroll" to a win in a very big knockout game.

It's a very good learning experience for them though. Problem is, when the Euros come along in 2020, France, Belgium and Croatia will likely still be around.
And Spain and Germany will surely respond to their failures at this tournament.

Sometimes the window of opportunity closes as quickly as it opens.

3rd place playoff is now a Golden Boot showdown between Lukaku and Kane.

PS Loving the banter between Keano and Wrighty.

 

[goatwack]

I thought Keane was gonna get up and lamp him one

 

[LadyJelena]

YASSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! Soooooooo happy!!! Feeling like my country won

 

[dunover]

YASSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! Soooooooo happy!!! Feeling like my country won

Well I'll be cheering Croatia on against the bloody French Sunday.

P.S. I noticed not a single person picked Croatia in extra time in the poll....that's why bookies are rich and the people aren't.

 

[mcgameboy]

YASSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! Soooooooo happy!!! Feeling like my country won

It's a tremendous acheivement for such a small country Jelena. Population of only 4 million (?).

They are the smallest country to reach the WC Final since Uruguay in 1950, as well the lowest ranked team to reach one (20th).

It makes up for their failure at the Euros 2 years ago, where they lost in the last 16 to the eventual winners, Portugal.
They should never have lost that game and if they had not, they probably would have made the final.

 

[LadyJelena]

It's a tremendous acheivement for such a small country Jelena. Population of only 4 million (?).

They are the smallest country to reach the WC Final since Uruguay in 1950, as well the lowest ranked team to reach one (20th).

Small, but one of the pretties countries in the world We here from Balkans have always been very good in many sports (basketball, water polo, volleyball, tennis, now even football)
Proof that the size doesn't matter

 

[LadyJelena]

Best post I've seen today

 

[dave1888]

C'mon Croatia!! Blow away the French pretty please??

 

[BrianGhattas]

I am going to be cheering on Croatia Sunday. I don't want to see a bunch of French-Canadians who couldn't identify France on map celebrating in the Byward Market like they did in 1998 and 2000. Their ancestors may be from France but they're Canadians, not French.

 

[snorky510238]

Can’t believe England are being lorded for their so called gallant effort and restoring pride to the nation.REALLY! Maybe I stand alone and have some sort of illness that’s never been diagnosed making me see things differently from everyone else but from where I am standing I see it like this. England came within a couple of minutes of drawing with Tunisia (Who?). You know Tunisia that great footballing nation. They then thumped Panama who wouldn’t win the Vauxhall conference. Then lost to Belgium. Beat Columbia on penalties which is a coin flip. Then Sweden who are about as expectant as Poland and pretty much lame ducks. Then lose to Croatia. Cometh the hour, cometh the man but the hour came and no man cometh. What’s new?

 

[goatwack]

Oh how foolish one feels to believe England could take that next step, hell, even win the darn thing

Amazing what a bit of hype and ballyhoo can do to kid everyone

Fact is, and the reason I've initially not got carried away in the euphoria is because I've seen this on infinite loop since Euro '88, and in the cold light of day, England had a stupendously gratuitous pathway to the Semis.

Not one opponent of note, really, and so they were found wanting when they finally did face one, albeit they were 23 minutes away from something quite unthinkable....

I do think there's a touch of over-reaction with this, people feeling depressed, kids not going to school or even talking etc etc

And proposing that Southgate gets knighted is beyond absurd. I know we're success- starved but nothing was actually won! Get a grip