I’m shocked! 
World Cup 2018 - General discussion
- Thread starter Samid
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That‘s why I said that it‘s hard to tell at the moment. Put Sane or Draxler there.
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Very little fanfare for this World Cup, you'd never think it was 1.5months away or whatever.
Some very abysmal group games ahead don't really do much for the excitement levels. I think this WC will be diabolical until the knockout stages which will then see a big increase in excitement and quality of football.
Some very abysmal group games ahead don't really do much for the excitement levels. I think this WC will be diabolical until the knockout stages which will then see a big increase in excitement and quality of football.
Squads announced can't be too far away now?
Any big name players going to miss out through injury or tactical? Imagine whole of Portugal has prayer mats out for Ronaldo.
Any big name players going to miss out through injury or tactical? Imagine whole of Portugal has prayer mats out for Ronaldo.
Australia provisional squad
Australia provisional squad:
Goalkeepers: Brad Jones, Mitch Langerak, Mat Ryan, Danny Vukovic.
Defenders: Aziz Behich, Milos Degenek, Alex Gersbach, Matthew Jurman, Fran Karacic, James Meredith, Josh Risdon, Trent Sainsbury, Aleksandar Susnjar, Bailey Wright.
Midfielders: Josh Brillante, Jackson Irvine, Mile Jedinak, Robbie Kruse, Massimo Luongo, Mark Milligan, Aaron Mooy, Tom Rogic, James Troisi.
Forwards: Daniel Arzani, Tim Cahill, Apostolos Giannou, Tomi Juric, Mathew Leckie, Jamie Maclaren, Andrew Nabbout, Dimitri Petratos, Nikita Rukavytsya.
Goalkeepers: Brad Jones, Mitch Langerak, Mat Ryan, Danny Vukovic.
Defenders: Aziz Behich, Milos Degenek, Alex Gersbach, Matthew Jurman, Fran Karacic, James Meredith, Josh Risdon, Trent Sainsbury, Aleksandar Susnjar, Bailey Wright.
Midfielders: Josh Brillante, Jackson Irvine, Mile Jedinak, Robbie Kruse, Massimo Luongo, Mark Milligan, Aaron Mooy, Tom Rogic, James Troisi.
Forwards: Daniel Arzani, Tim Cahill, Apostolos Giannou, Tomi Juric, Mathew Leckie, Jamie Maclaren, Andrew Nabbout, Dimitri Petratos, Nikita Rukavytsya.
We have 2 friendlies vs Kuwait and Belgium before WC. I think the squad that will be announced for them is gonna be the one that will travel to Russia.
Can't wait even though Salah looks pretty knackered but hopefully he can catch his breath before our matches. Want to get past the group so bad, there won't be another better chance : Average group + Having one of the top 5 players in the world currently.
Can't wait even though Salah looks pretty knackered but hopefully he can catch his breath before our matches. Want to get past the group so bad, there won't be another better chance : Average group + Having one of the top 5 players in the world currently.
Nainggolan probably. His chances have gone up with the Steven Defour injury though.
I think you can get out of the group. Obviously mainly resting on Salah getting close to his club form which isn't always a given. That said there are other solid players in your squad. Hegazi has had a good season at WBA despite their struggles and Elneny has actually impressed me recently at Arsenal after a long period of mediocre form. PIcked up an injury but think he should be fit in time.
Can actually see Benteke failing to make the cup. Wasn't called up last time and he's not exactly giving it his best shot at Palace since then.
Cahill is gonna end up being in the squad for 2022 isn't he?
Cahill still plays? And for Millwall again? Bloody hell.
You also forgot Trezeguet who is playing in Turkey but is one of our good players as well. He had this game few days ago.
Hopefully he moves to a better European league this summer.
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Benteke a few years back was Belgium's first choice ahead of Lukaku and Dries Mertens (around the time of him leaving us and joining Liverpool). His stock has fallen a lot since then.
But he hasn't been relevant since that 'out of this world' season he had with you guys. Hardly a big name and his omission won't be a shock. If anything the shock would be if he somehow is included because he certainly doesn't deserve to be in that Belgian squad.
I've literally not heard of a singly one of those defenders. Trent Sainsbury sounds made up.
I'd be real tempted to play Asensio over Isco to get a bigger goal threat and some pace out there, but that experienced defence (a classic World Cup advantage) and a quality midfield means they'll likely be my pick to win it.
I've heard of Gersbach because he plays in our domestic league, which is proof enough that he isn't actually any good. I think they're fairly toast unless Mooy plays out of his skin. Doubt Cahill will be of much use, seems like a default pick because of lack of alternatives.
Depends on Batshuayi being fit I guess, I really hope so. He's dropped in the picking order, that's for sure.
People always praise the Belgian team, but behind the best 13-14 players, there is a huge gap in quality. One injury in a key position and we're done. EC 2016 we had 2 defenders out and we were hopeless in the back against Wales. France, Spain, Germany, Brazil have much better squads.
There is never much talk about the World Cup until after the season is over, it starts to work up into a frenzy after that. People start kidding themselves that England can win it, leading to inevitable disappointment of a dismal group stage.
Joe Gomez to miss the World Cup. Wonder if Southgate will come back crawling to Smalling after the comments he made?
I must've missed this. What did Southgate say?
I was surprised when I saw that also .Looked it up, he's only played 65 mins for Milwall since joining in Jan, all from the bench. Seems he's leaving them
That smalling doesn’t have passing ability that he needs for his squad or something to that effect
And then proceeded to pick James Tarkowski who plays for a team that couldn't string together five passes to save their lives.
What I heard in praise was not that they are on an equal level to the heavyweights but hat Belgium have really overachieved compared to their population size to the extent of being comparable to them which is probably as big as it can get. Similar to the Netherlands a few years ago (for example 2008). It's even more noteworthy since Belgium wasn't really a regular in big tournaments a few years ago.
he was pretty diplomatic in his response. He believes he has players who are more comfortable on the ball than Smalling and he named Stones, Dier and Maguire. He then mentioned the fact that England weren't scoring enough and they need to address that and I guess that is reflected in having players comfortable bringing the ball out of defence. I'd have no issues with that, Smalling has some good strengths but being comfortable on the ball is clearly not one of them
All well and good until Stones, Maguire or Dier cock-up with a defensive lapse in concentration and England concede. Smalling may not be Beckenbauer reincarnated but he's certainly England's best natural defender, for me.
Plus he it's not as if he's Paul McShane on the ball. He had plenty of experience playing out from the back and bringing the ball forward under van Gaal.
It's a joke that Smalling isn't in the starting 11 never mind the squad. He's hardly put a foot wrong this season and is damn right better than the likes of Maguire, Mawson, Stones etc.
Exactly. It's a facet of his game greatly exaggerated in a negative sense.
he's uncomfortable with the ball in a team at Utd who don't play from the back. Southgate seems fixated on playing from the back, Smallings limitations would be much more highlighted in that set up imo. That's why I feel he may miss out from the managers perspective. I think he's a decent defender but like the others he's prone to lapses in concentration. No-one defender is perfect, but just speaking from a Utd view, he let Maguire go free for the last min goal v Leicester. He did that silly dive v Newcastle that they scored from, and of course was sleeping on the man city 1st goal. He's always prone to making a mistake. He's like Jones, on his day can look excellent but consistency even over 90 mins isn't always there. I hope he goes, he gives he's all every game, but I wouldn't take him if I was manager.
I don't massively disagree with any of your points (except I would take him to Russia) but the Maguire one: Smalling was injured right before the final play and we had no more subs left to use so he had to continue. There's no way he should've been in a 1v1 duel with Maguire under the circumstances.
Picking or not picking Smalling is a marginal question at the end of the day. You can argue a case for him but that says more about the other options. Any combination of central defenders Southgate can pick is a big drop off from players like Adams, Campbell, Ferdinand and Terry.
Belgium had a cracking side in the 80s.
I am not at all excited given who is hosting it.
fair enough.
the Maguire goal though he was ball watching, yeah he was injured but Maguire didn't rise above him and score with his head, he slid in behind him and side footed in. If Smalling hadn't been ball watching all he had to do stand stand in front of Maguire or move back and nod it out for corner. Injured or not that goal could have been prevented by him not ball watching . Anyway I do hope he goes, genuinely do.
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