Archive for the ‘The World Cup’ Category

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 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…)

More News From The World Cup And Transfer Talk In London!

Posted: June 23, 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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(Pedro Aquino on realising that Peru’s World Cup is almost over and, as yet, they have neither a goal nor a point)

Australia and Denmark played out an entertaining 1-1 draw whereby an excellent Christian Eriksen strike was cancelled out by yet another penalty, awarded by the referee via VAR and scored by Mile Jedinak.

The draw was, in the end, a fair outcome as Denmark were the better team in the first half whereas Australia were superior in the second.

The point moves Denmark to four in total and means they will probably only need a draw from their game against France to qualify. The point for Australia keeps alive their faint hopes of progression but means that they will have to beat Peru to have any chance whatsoever. (more…)

More From Russia As Teams Progress And A Manager Gets Injured, Plus A Little Premier League News

Posted: June 22, 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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So to the day’s games and first up was Portugal against Morocco or, more realistically, Cristiano Ronaldo against Morocco. Fresh from his 3-3 draw with the entire Spanish team he set out to prove it was no fluke and, indeed, that he could take things a stage further by actually beating a team.

He managed it but it was a close-run thing. With just the one goal, a bullet header in the first half, he had to rely on his team mates at times to defend his lead. They did this heroically, albeit with a few of the stutters they showed against Spain.

So for a few short hours Cristiano was top of the group. He is, of course, far too modest to accept all the plaudits and was gracious enough to allow the team name to be used when the tables were shown. (more…)

More From The World Cup And Some Transfer News

Posted: June 21, 2018 in Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, International Football, Liverpool, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League, The World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur, Transfers
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The day’s first game was a feisty affair between Colombia and Japan. Colombia started without James Rodriguez who was only deemed fit enough to be on the bench and to be used only in the case of emergency.

Well, a penalty and a sending-off after 2 minutes and 56 seconds certainly qualified as an emergency but it was to be a while still before he was risked.

The penalty was awarded for deliberate handball which prevented a goal and was, therefore, a red card offence. The offending player, Carlos Sánchez, became the second earliest victim of a sending off in the competition’s history, following that of José Alberto Batista for Uruguay against Scotland in 1986. He lasted a mere 54 seconds and stands to hold the record for a very long time, probably even in perpetuity. (more…)

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