Archive for the ‘International Football’ Category

More From The Last 16 As Portugal And Argentina Bid Farewell

Posted: July 2, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur
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(“It’s goodbye from me and it’s goodbye from him”)

It seemed as though the World Cup exploded into life. The tournament, which is destined to be remembered as “the-dodgy-Russian-one-before-the dodgy-Qatar-one”, had thrown up some decent games during the group stage but the real excitement could only really be felt once the knock-out stage arrived.

The first two matches had the potential to be enthralling or boring because they featured South American teams against European teams. Argentina versus France, given their showings in the previous stage of the competition, was a meeting we hoped would provide entertainment rather than expected it to.

In the end it was a cracking game which had virtually everything. (more…)

More Bits & Pieces Including: Plenty Of Rest For The World Cup Wicked And New Contracts At Manchester United

Posted: July 1, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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And on the 16th day they rested. Let’s face it, this football malarky is tiring. Since the tournament started on the 14th of June, the poor players have only been managing an average break of four days between games.

What kind of break is that? The selected combatants have had, occasionally, to run around on a football pitch which some of them have had to grace with their presence for a whole ninety minutes!

Now, in fairness, they have been training between matches on the days they haven’t been allowed off by their coaches. (more…)

More Joy For Belgium In Beating England As Senegal, Poland, Panama And Tunisia Bow Out Gracefully

Posted: June 30, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, England, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup
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The afternoon matches today were from the tightest group. Going into the games Japan were top with four points, Senegal were second, also with four points, and Colombia were third with three points. By this time Poland were already eliminated having lost their two opening games.

So it was a three horse race whereby the first two would progress to the last 16. From a fan’s point of view it was extremely nail-biting stuff particularly if the flavour of those nails happened to be Colombian, Senegalese or Japanese! (more…)

More From Russia As The Bag-Packing Germans Are Joined By Serbia, Costa Rica And South Korea

Posted: June 29, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur
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(Manuel Neuer prepares for the last 16 stage of the World Cup)

The afternoon games had us watching Germany against South Korea purely because it was a game the Germans had to win so, of course, that is exactly what they would do. They always do.

The idea was to watch the game until Germany were two or three up then change channel and watch the Mexico versus Sweden match which should be a much closer affair.

Plan B was non-existent so, when the unexpected happened we had to improvise which we did by staying with the Germany game until the bitter end. And what a bitter end it was! (more…)

More World Cup Departures + Manchester United Need To Dump Fellaini

Posted: June 28, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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As the group stage nears it’s end some of the old-fashioned tactics have come into play as usual.

France and Denmark played out a stale and boring 0-0 draw as it meant that both teams qualified for the last 16.

Their play was roundly booed for much of the game as FIFA and the spectators were seen to be, as usual, miles apart in what they see as the not-so-subtle difference between getting the job done and entertaining the crowd.

The two teams were allowed to defraud the attendant masses of their money by putting on an insipid display of nothingness at which fans who had travelled thousands of miles to watch were entitled to vent their frustration. (more…)

More Good News For Uruguay As They Beat Russia. Spain And Portugal Are Both Fortunate Not To Lose + Anthony Martial To Spurs?

Posted: June 27, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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Everybody expected the Russian bubble to burst eventually, even the Russians. The positive aspect of their resounding defeat by Uruguay was that it was inflicted at a stage of the competition whereby they had already qualified for the last 16.

The question now is whether the players and coaching staff are good enough to raise their game when playing another top quality team. They managed it fine against Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both of whom have now exited the competition, then they failed their first real test when meeting Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani et al.

Having lost that game 3-0 to goals from Suarez, a Denis Cheyshev own goal and Cavani, there are still some positives to be grasped. (more…)

Top 5 Belgian Players Who Play In The Premier League

Posted: June 26, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The World Cup
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Image Source: theguardian.com

Written by: Guest author

Heading into the tournament, the predictions on the World Cup winners sites suggested that Belgium were considered outside favourites to win the trophy. However after their impressive opening game performance against Panama, and the less impressive displays of the other nations so far, Belgium have the potential to make it very far in this World Cup tournament.

The European nation are currently in the middle of their ‘golden generation’ and with the majority of their players playing at the highest level in the game, they will need to win a piece of silverware in the next couple of tournament to ensure that their best crop of players live up to their potential. (more…)

More On England’s Win, Senegal’s Draw With Japan And Colombia’s Stroll

Posted: June 26, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, England, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur
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Today it was England’s turn again. When listening to the pundits, in this case Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Alan Shearer, it would be easy to think that the team are among the favourites to win the World Cup this time out.

The three of them, along with host Gary Lineker, were almost gushing in their praise of how England managed to miss a few chances then scrape a 2-1 win, courtesy of a goal in injury time, against Tunisia who, a few days later, the Belgians put five past!

When the game against Panama kicked off England had only made one change which was Dele Alli being replaced by Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The constantly misfiring Raheem Sterling should have been replaced but, for some reason known only to Gareth Southgate, he wasn’t . (more…)

More Success For Belgium And Mexico + Germany Win For The First Time

Posted: June 25, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur
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Well, that didn’t take too long. Within six minutes of kicking off their game against Tunisia Belgium were awarded a penalty which was duly scored by Eden Hazard. This one wasn’t awarded by VAR although it was verified by the men in Moscow, who agreed that the American referee had got the original decision correct.

Tunisia, who had been unlucky to lose against a poor England team, were looking to salvage something from this game otherwise it would mean they were, most likely, going to exit the competition, assuming that England would beat Panama on Sunday, (certainly not a foregone conclusion!). (more…)

More From Russia: Including Wins For Brazil, Nigeria & Switzerland And Some Manchester United Fans Have Lost The Plot!

Posted: June 24, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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Brazil against Costa Rica was the stand-out game of the day, particularly as the setial winners of the trophy had only managed to pick up a point against Switzerland in a 1-1 draw. Costa Rica had lost narrowly by 1-0 to Serbia so it was all to play for here.

The final score of 2-0 to Brazil would have people who didn’t see the game thinking that this was a reasonably easy victory for them but the truth of the matter is very different. The fact that both goals came AFTER the 90 minute mark should give readers a reasonable idea how hard fought this win was. (more…)

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