FIFA World Cup 2018 - Russia

[tob]

Good start by Russia but Saudi Arabia gave the ball away too easily and didn't offer anything in attack Golovin is Russia's best player but what a strike by Cheryshev for his second goal.

[dublinbluray108]

Good news about Mo Salah today. He is coming back to play for Egypt tomorrow against Uruguay.

[Moviefan1203]

Originally Posted by Lacit170

cant blame ya since i didnt even know it started today!

i was thinking about the fantasy a few weeks ago and assumed we had time to get it together... oh well... see ya in 4 years lol ?

Maybe next summer for the Women’s World Cup.

[BLMN]

Originally Posted by CV19

Very surprised at that myself. In previous tournaments, Italy were generally seen as one of the favourites, so not sure what happened this time.

it was an anomaly, Sweden was super lucky.

Originally Posted by dublinbluray108

Well would you look at that. Russia win 5-0 against Saudi Arabia. A great start to their World Cup campaign being the hosts.

Great start indeed but once they hit the round of 16 they will be one and done.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by dublinbluray108

Good news about Mo Salah today. He is coming back to play for Egypt tomorrow against Uruguay.

Ah, the Uruguayans. Plenty of teams come with labels and while some are certainly clichéd and outdated, the U's being a bunch of thugs who'll kick you off the park is not one of them. You can bet that they'll be zeroing in on Mo's shoulder like a Salah-seeking missile!

As for today, I'd hoped that the Saudis would provide a sterner test for the Russians but at least it shows that some teams aren't coming here just to park the bus and nick a result. Euro 2016 was so dull and attritional (partly because of the increase in teams, it went from being the Champions League of national team events to the Checkatrade Trophy, can't wait for the 48-team World Cup ) and I thought it was a wretched tournament, but it looks like the Coupe du Monde 2018 might be a bit more expansive.

[Batman1980]

I only watch for the Dutch, the Americans and the Koreans, will double check later to see if any of them got in.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

I only watch for the Dutch, the Americans and the Koreans, will double check later to see if any of them got in.

Well, 1 outta 3 ain't bad

[Bullitt]

Looking forward to the Portugal v Spain game,the first big match of the tournament,hopefully the goals will continue after the opening match.

[tob]

Egypt v Uruguay not a easy game to watch both teams cancelled each other out until the last ten minutes where it picked up Uruguay had the most chances that Suarez didn't take but it was a great header by Gimenez for the winning goal.

[Geoff D]

Missed that game but this Maroc vs Iran match is a lot of fun, it's proper helter-skelter stuff and reminds me of a schoolboy match at times with the way that loads of players all swarm towards the ball and those challenges are certainly, ah, agricultural. Good stuff!

[tob]

That was a hard game to watch between Morocco v Iran as i expected Morocco started off well for the first 20 mins or more but that second half was just awful from both sides with the players dropping and looking for fouls every minute just stop and go its lucky we even got a goal which was a own goal which tells you a lot about this game.

[eagle20]

Originally Posted by tob

That was a hard game to watch between Morocco v Iran as i expected Morocco started off well for the first 20 mins or more but that second half was just awful from both sides with the players dropping and looking for fouls every minute just stop and go its lucky we even got a goal which was a own goal which tells you a lot about this game.

It was a boring game on the other hand this Spain vs Portugal game has been great so far.

[Geoff D]

Cracking game this!

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Well, 1 outta 3 ain't bad

Usually all 3 get in, heard America and the Dutch(whut, one of the best football countries in the world) didn't make the cut so I guess it's just the Koreans.

[Geoff D]

Iran top group B

Ronny

(Maybe he should get a 2-year suspended sentence for tax evasion more often!)

[Batman1980]

I see the group my home country is in, I doubt we even win 1 game.

[CV19]

Portugal vs Spain - this is actually the first game I've managed to watch in this World Cup, and what a game! Thoroughly entertaining.

[tob]

Portugal v Spain fantastic game Ronaldo does it again great free kick and a great strike by Nancho for Spain best game so far.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by tob

Portugal v Spain fantastic game Ronaldo does it again great free kick and a great strike by Nancho for Spain best game so far.

Agreed. That third goal from Spain was a corker. And that free kick from Ronaldo to equalize was a stunning way to round off what was an outstanding game of football.

[Geoff D]

It's funny that this 'Telstar' ball (so named to evoke the 1970 ball which first saw the usage of different coloured panels in a World Cup so it would show up better on the tellybox) was apparently designed to stop players from doing those "knuckleball" free kicks where they hit them dead on and they fly like a missile, so what does Ronaldo do? He hits one of the sweetest free kicks he's ever hit in his life with his instep and all anyone can do is watch it fly into the net. Majestic.