Semi Finals: Argentina vs Croatia | Eng... France vs Morocco

IFC 1905 said:
Yeah, we were lucky with that. Lucky to have LISANDRO MARTINEZ defending. He won't be starting today, that's my biggest fear.
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How come, tactical decision or an injury?

He's a beast, love him to bits.
 
Think both Argentina and France will barely edge out. Would have been very fun to see a Croatia : Morocco final, but that's just not going to happen.
 
I don't want any more PK shootouts as that's a lousy way to decide important matches.

Why not mark Modric? I thought that's what Brazil should have done in the 2nd half. Yes, that would likely leave space in midfield but if you limit Modric's role that's a big negative for Croatia.
 
antk said:
If this only looks at placement, this is irrelevant. Some of Japan's PKs were awfully weak in power and had no chance to get in as long as the keeper guessed the right side.
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mono-math said:
I might be missing something, but doesn't this fail to consider the approach taken by the penalty taker. As an example, a lot of penalty takers these days do the stuttered run up, wait for the keeper to move, then simply pass the ball into the opposite side of the goal. In this model, the pen would be flagged as poor quality when in reality, considering the approach taken by the penalty taker, it's a great penalty.
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Redfrog said:
Placement is one thing but Japans penalties were weak, they were slow, so much easier to stop. So statistics for someone with eyes are worthless here.
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There are other variables at play such as the approach taken by the penalty taker and strength of shot, absolutely. The whole point of that model is to point out that on another day the Japan goalkeeper could have guessed the right way each time and those penalties would have had a higher chance of being saved simply because of placement. Considering that we are now deep in the latter stages and teams that go far in World Cups tend to have very good goalkeepers, if the situation entails Croatia will want to replicate those Brazil shootout penalties instead of their earlier one.
 
Redfrog said:
Placement is one thing but Japans penalties were weak, they were slow, so much easier to stop. So statistics for someone with eyes are worthless here.
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Seriously! It's ridiculous how many matches are getting decided this why and horrible when some sides play from the start looking for a shootout.
 
That doesn't even take into account waiting for the keeper to commit as Messi and De Jong did. A very simplistic analysis.
 
Croatia were very good against the Brazilian press so they could withstand pressure and control the ball for long periods.

How De Paul plays would be crucial for Argentina, the drop off with him being taken off in the last game was massive. Need someone like him to win the ball but also he can't afford to give it away as they could be left chasing the Croats around all game
 
I'm gonna predict - 70 mins of Croatia defending and keeping out Argentina who are the more attacking

Then the last 20 mins Argentina get the breakthrough and Croatia need to score, which is their toughest task with only 1 player scoring more than 1 goal this tournament. Argentina to win it but if it goes to penalties Croatia could nick it
 
How’s that Moroccan keeper with his feet? Seems to be the bees knees, the real iceman!
 
MostHandsomePlayer said:
Seriously! It's ridiculous how many matches are getting decided this why and horrible when some sides play from the start looking for a shootout.
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It’s an other subject you are bringing in.
But in this game precisely, Japan were leading and Croatia equalized, so it’s not like Croatia was grinding out for the penalties. It was not 0-0.
 
Ish said:
Yeah him and the Croatian keeper are the picks of the tournament IMO. Not 100% sure how good either are with their distribution though.
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Agreed. Both to keep an eye out for. Very impressive on this showing but I suppose the game plans also help.
 
Argentina official : Martinez tagliafico Ottamendi Romero Molina Parades Paul Enzo Mac Allister Messi Alvarez
 
Croatia to take the Semis and Final on penalties to become the first World Champions to have only beaten Canada
 
And they drop their best defender! Sincerely hope these idiots get dumped out today.
 
Ekeke said:
I'm gonna predict - 70 mins of Croatia defending and keeping out Argentina who are the more attacking

Then the last 20 mins Argentina get the breakthrough and Croatia need to score, which is their toughest task with only 1 player scoring more than 1 goal this tournament. Argentina to win it but if it goes to penalties Croatia could nick it
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Sounds like a Romano tweet. Covering all bases. :lol:
 
We are again packing the midfield... In one way it is good to have more control, but that is basically hoping from hail Mary from Perisic on one side or Pasalic to get something in the air.

Think Argentina (with their aggresive approuch) will win this.
 
Very interesting from Scaloni. Went 3-5-2 against Holland and now matching their opponents again with a 4 man CM
 
Paredes must be the weakest midfielder Messi has ever played with. If they beat Croatia, and thats a BIG if, no way they beat France. Their midfield is so average. Crazy how far the magic of Messi has pulled them.
 
No Di Maria is a surprise, he gives them a lot of what they're missing in the attack even though he isn't in his prime anymore.
 
On RTE, the Croatian coach straight up said "penalties are our speciality" :lol:
 
Dazzmondo said:
On RTE, the Croatian coach straight up said "penalties are our speciality" :lol:
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He ain’t wrong. 4 of their last 6 WC knockout games were won on penalties. 1 win in extra time against England, and the loss in the final to France.
 
Nick7 said:
He ain’t wrong. 4 of their last 6 WC knockout games were won on penalties. 1 win in extra time against England, and the loss in the final to France.
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Fair play to them for clearly putting so much work into them. I just found it funny that he owned it in public
 
These two teams will cancel eachother out. The two teams, and audiences, are relying on some Modric or Messi magic.
 
I love an underdog story but I find it hard to get behind Croatia shithousing all the way to the final. Three penalty shootouts in a row would take the cake. And on top of that will likely set yet another France vs Croatia final that almost no one wants.
 
Also hope Argentina win today, and with lots of shithousing at that
 
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