Thought Iran were o.k actually. Defensive but they had a fair few attempts in second half.
Day 7: Portugal vs Morocco, Uruguay vs Saudi Arabia and Iran vs Spain
- Thread starter K2K
- Start date
Wright and Evra look like they want to chin Billic. He just keeps interrupting them.
If Iran play against us like they played today they're going to beat us
Not to get into a religious debate but Allah isn't really known for his love of the ostentatious.
Keane looking like he wants to blow himself up rather than listen to Bilic anymore.
These guys are hilarious on ITV. Evra looks like he does not give a feck.
And then i am the pessimist here
Quite ironic those two examples happen to be from Women's football and the dude attempting this happens to be from Iran where Women are not even allowed to attend matches, copy their moves though.
Bilic is an absolutely awful pundit, like, the worst, most unpleasant to watch I can think of.
He really comes across as a bitter, sour shithead. He seems to have zero conversational skills and creates a weird, almost sketchy atmosphere in the studio. Trying to bully other pundits and dominate the discussion, badly.
It makes me cringe watching him, and good to see Wrighty (and Keano) really standing up to him.
On a side note, Portugal vs Iran and Spain vs Morocco will together maybe have just two goals in them. Will make for dull viewing.
Iran's football team is pushing for the inclusion of women in the game. The captain of the team met with the president to push for the change before going to russia. Blaming the players for the ban is like blaming ANC for apartheid.
Loose match of Spain. Despite the good defense of Iran they lacked ideas. They did not take advantage of Lucas except in a few minutes of the second half.
All the passes to the area were low balls. Even on the radio they wondered if it would be a team order.
Iniesta doesn't have legs. He can not play from the beginning.
I do not trust Hierro too much. Very slow in the substitutions. After scoring, we should have controlled more the ball.
Carvajal is very bad. Maybe he needs minutes but we should think about Nacho / Odriozola.
The best Isco and Costa
All the passes to the area were low balls. Even on the radio they wondered if it would be a team order.
Iniesta doesn't have legs. He can not play from the beginning.
I do not trust Hierro too much. Very slow in the substitutions. After scoring, we should have controlled more the ball.
Carvajal is very bad. Maybe he needs minutes but we should think about Nacho / Odriozola.
The best Isco and Costa
Isco is a player I don't understand, people keep repeating he's had great games when he spent the whole game adding nothing. Happened against us and it happened again today. His technical ability is great but he doesn't really create anything with it most of the time and he just ends up holding the ball for too long.
I would play with Nacho Koke and Thiago instead of Carvajal Iniesta and Silva, Iniesta and Silva are just hasbeens to be honest. Poor game from Spain but Iran were pathetic they parked the bus and the plane and waited for us and that's about it..it's always difficult to play a team playing so defensively, we might play Uruguay in the 1/8 and they will be playing like Iran played tonight, should be a close game.
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come on, deixa o vinho
Any non Greek source partial to Alexander. He took a wife from that area before he left. Nothing admittedly that I can give you that is unanimously accepted in the West where this story of his victory has become commonplace.
Forgetting his contribution with Madrid: The game of Spain is based on fluidity in the circulation of the ball and especially in that it is not continually interrupted with losses, which provoke many counters(you've already seen how weak the defense seems), knead and knead the ball until the occasion arrives. In that he is being the best, and more now that Iniesta seems without that millisecond that allowed him to anticipate the play (today he lost several balls).
Isco is not necessarily the one who assists, but the "pre-assist", opening to the winger, or combining between lines, another of his virtues.
He plays very well in short spaces, between lines and is able to move forward if necessary. Logically he has been criticized a lot for the keeping the ball too much, especially in Madrid, but in general, in my opinion is playing a great world cup.
I think he's been good but Silva was better today imo and Isco was part of the problem in the first half by not really creating anything worth noting. Just lots of possession, lots of pretty flicks but no actual end product. He's important in those big games and he guarantees that his team are always great on the ball but against parked buses he's too one dimentional imo. I think people get caught up in his technical ability and say he'd had a great game even when he wasn't really effective.
I think to win the World Cup Spain will have to put a more defensive minded midfielder next to Busquets by the way, the way both Iran and Portugal were able to get into dangerous situations with very simple football should be worrying and I still think Javi Martinez shouldn't have stayed at home.
I'd play Busquets-Thiago-Koke instead of Busquets-Silva-Iniesta in the tougher games
Disappointing day
Agree. The most disappointing one so far. Really hope tomorrow’s games pick up drastically to make up for it.
Boring day of games really. Looked like a boring day on paper though to be fair. Tomorrow looks better.
@carvajal
Carlos Queiroz after the game: "Here there was an offside that helped Spain and eight years ago there was no justice with a goal from Villa in the round that eliminated Portugal."
No revenge for Queiroz but at least he gets to complain about it after the game
Carlos Queiroz after the game: "Here there was an offside that helped Spain and eight years ago there was no justice with a goal from Villa in the round that eliminated Portugal."
No revenge for Queiroz but at least he gets to complain about it after the game
I thought it looked like a potential goalfest on paper. The big teams seem to be approaching small teams with a level of complacency though.
Spain are a weird one. Undoubtedly they're an excellent team. Their passing is always fluid and nice to watch, even if it's not quite as impressive as it was during their golden era, and generally as a team they seem very cohesive. Squad-wise they're full of quality players and thus far they've been fairly entertaining...but it also feels like there's something missing, or something that's holding them back. Despite their quality on the ball they didn't feel particularly incisive tonight at times, struggling to create clear-cut attacks against an Iran side who - while resilient - shouldn't have been too difficult to break down. Similarly, despite their obvious quality at the back, sometimes it felt like they were a bit vulnerable when Iran took the initiative, as if caught by surprise that they might not win.
Will be interesting to see how they do. Obviously one of the favourites, and hard to dispute their play so far considering they nearly beat Portugal as well, but not necessarily brilliant either.
Uruguay-SA game earlier was beyond brutal. Can see a Portugal-Uruguay game potentially being a bit brutal barring an early goal since both teams aren't always the prettiest, despite their quality.
Will be interesting to see how they do. Obviously one of the favourites, and hard to dispute their play so far considering they nearly beat Portugal as well, but not necessarily brilliant either.
Uruguay-SA game earlier was beyond brutal. Can see a Portugal-Uruguay game potentially being a bit brutal barring an early goal since both teams aren't always the prettiest, despite their quality.
It's weird. Granted, some of the big nations do have to adjust to their players playing alongside each other on a competitive basis regularly, something they only do every couple of players, but a team like Spain has plenty of teammates playing alongside each other, and while some big sides may be tentative in coming up against relatively unknown sides, you'd think the many coaches and sports scientists they employ are more equipped than they've ever been to assess and evaluate even the most obscure opposition sides.
I don't think it was complacency.
Both Iran and Morocco have incredible defensive records, they concede very few goals and despite the first game Portugal and Spain aren't really the type of teams to score a lot either. Uruguay even less so.
Yes, I read it, so resentful.@carvajal
Carlos Queiroz after the game: "Here there was an offside that helped Spain and eight years ago there was no justice with a goal from Villa in the round that eliminated Portugal."
No revenge for Queiroz but at least he gets to complain about it after the game
I would play 4-2-3-1 with Busquets -Koke/Saúl and Asensio -Isco-Silva, by the way who do you prefer if we go through? Russia or Uruguay
Yeah I agree. The approach has been slow though. Could argue they're just controlling the game but it'd be very easy to end up with a 0-0.
I don't care, I just want to go through and after watching Iran today I'm scared
I think Uruguay haven't looked as good as I was expecting but their game will be more suited to the knockouts and Godin + Gimenez pretty much make me think we'd end up going to penalties after a boring 0-0. Russia have looked a lot better than I was expecting but I'd still prefer them even if they're at home.
Perfect, I would like to avoid the host. We should prepare some "biscotto"I don't care, I just want to go through and after watching Iran today I'm scared
I think Uruguay haven't looked as good as I was expecting but their game will be more suited to the knockouts and Godin + Gimenez pretty much make me think we'd end up going to penalties after a boring 0-0. Russia have looked a lot better than I was expecting but I'd still prefer them even if they're at home.
In Kazan? I don't know. But during the Morocco vs Iran game some people on the Caf said it's part of their fans' culture and they all love that shit in those countries.