Day 13 | Slovakia vs Romania + Ukraine vs Belgium | Czech Republic vs Turkey + Georgia vs Portugal

Lowest point in a decade probably. At least against Croatia we tried in Qatar, now we were time wasting for a draw when a win could’ve seen us through on the nice side of the bracket. Just a shameful performance all around.

Ginger cnut shit as usual for Belgium.
 
Best outcome is for a Czech win today.

Would make for some cracking quarter finals and semi finals. I could easily see the following:

Spain v Germany
France v Portugal
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Netherlands v Austria
England v Italy
 
Red Stone said:
Belgium can theoretically be saved if someone manages to hack into the VAR system and prevent Lukaku's goals from being overturned.

There's no saving England from the scourge of Southgate.
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People are very dramatic.

Southgate made a final and lost on pens, and just won his group.

Two things Belgium have not managed.
 
England may have as well finished 3rd looking at the bracket now, could have got one side with Romania, Austria.. or other with Portugal, France, Belgium. Watch Slovenia get Romania and England the Dutch.
 
Adz_99 said:
Well obviously not. Adjust the number of teams in the tournament accordingly.
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So back down to 16 teams and have them go straight to the quarter final or increase it to 32 teams and deal with more dreadful teams like Greece and Norway regularly qualifying?

As a Norwegian... I'd pick the first option, personally.
 
VorZakone said:
What's the point of such arguments? Every game is a new game with new chances.
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I mean, he has a point. It's not like England is showing a lot more than this Belgium team in the tournament so far. Having "more talent" means jack sh*t if that isn't translating to anything on the field
 
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PoTMS said:
Best outcome is for a Czech win today.

Would make for some cracking quarter finals and semi finals. I could easily see the following:

Spain v Germany
France v Portugal
-----------------------------------
Netherlands v Austria
England v Italy
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It’s funny Netherlands and Austria being in the same group and could meet in the quarters.
 
Utd heap said:
People are very dramatic.

Southgate made a final and lost on pens, and just won his group.

Two things Belgium have not managed.
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And we’ve also gotten worse since we reached that final.
 
Gonçalo Motta said:
I mean, he has a point. It's not like England is showing a lot more than this Belgium team in the tournament so far. "Having more talent" means jack sh*t if that isn't translating to anything on the field
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Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia in the 2022 WC and won the thing. One can grow during the tournament.
 
Insanity said:
Come on England does have the talent even if Gareth is stumbling upon it. Belgium don't look very talented or very well coached. England will win if the two meet.
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If England play Belgium, the best player on the pitch is Kevin de Bruyne. England would be heavy favorites but one quality KDB pass to Doku during a counter could be a 1-0 and England hasnt been great going forward this tournament.

England hasnt been good enough to not fear any country
 
DJ_21 said:
Love your optimism mate. We couldn’t score past Slovenia so what makes you think we could score against Belgium?
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I think you guys will grow as the tournament progresses now that Southgate has discovered Mainoo and need for a better midfield set-up. You also have better weapons on the bench than some of the other teams.
 
Feel for Ukraine. Likely to be the only team on 4 points not to make the knockouts. Unlucky.
 
top1whoisman said:
Dalot starts, Bruno gets a rest.
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Punishment for the only player who has revolted against the team tactic of feeding their dictator at every opportunity. Ronaldo is going to get carried by his team and flat track bully his way to the top of the scoring charts in yet another insignificant dead rubber.
 
VorZakone said:
Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia in the 2022 WC and won the thing. One can grow during the tournament.
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I don't disagree with that at all. I'm just saying, based on what we saw so far, I wouldn't be surprised if Belgium won although I consider England the better team by a mile.
 
Is there any Turkish dressing room unrest? Came across a video of Montella telling Guler to train alone the other day.
 
Red Stone said:
Punishment for the only player who has revolted against the team tactic of feeding their dictator at every opportunity. Ronaldo is going to get carried by his team and flat track bully his way to the top of the scoring charts in yet another insignificant dead rubber.
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Whatever the reason it's nice to see Bruno get a rest since he pretty much never does. Also nice to see an international manager actually understand the concept of rotation. Southgate and Deschamps take notes. Maybe I might move Martinez from my fraud tier list.
 
TheGame said:
They rested players but Ronaldo demands to play every game :lol:
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It's funny how people always assume that Ronaldo has that amount of power. Maybe Martinez thinks that Ronaldo playing and getting a goal could be beneficial for the KO stages.
If that's the logic behind that decision, I can't even disagree with that because Ronaldo frustrated for not scoring could harm the team while an in-form Ronaldo can still be important in terms of crucial goals.
 
Gonçalo Motta said:
It's funny how people always assume that Ronaldo has that amount of power. Maybe Martinez thinks that Ronaldo playing and getting a goal could be beneficial for the KO stages.
If that's the logic behind that decision, I can't even disagree with that because Ronaldo frustrated for not scoring could harm the team while an in-form Ronaldo can still be important in terms of crucial goals.
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But surely resting a 39 year old would make more sense than starting him every game? He can barely run as it is.
 
Rockets Redglare said:
But surely resting a 39 year old would make more sense than starting him every game? He can barely run as it is.
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Yes, and I would prefer that he stays out. But, he’s the captain and scoring a goal today could help. I also think, or at least hope, that he will be subbed in the 2nd half. No reason for him to play 90 minutes.
 
Rockets Redglare said:
But surely resting a 39 year old would make more sense than starting him every game? He can barely run as it is.
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The first 2 games he was pretty decent, but I think he was barely wasting energy playing in the role he was playing. His fitness levels should be somewhat fine compared with the rest of the team that actually presses and covered a lot more ground
 
Pathetic display by Tedesco. Swapping a creative mid in Tielemans for Mangala, subbing off Doku. So scared of going out. Instead of going for the win and ending up in a quarter with Slovenia, Turkey and Austria now they play France and they can pack their bags after that. But at least they got out of the group or something. One good half in the entire tournament.
 
Gonçalo Motta said:
The first 2 games he was pretty decent, but I think he was barely wasting energy playing in the role he was playing. His fitness levels should be somewhat fine compared with the rest of the team that actually presses and covered a lot more ground
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Let me also add that managers always like to keep 2-3 senior players in games like this one.
 
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