Who cares ? I am just happy Croatia wins . You, not so much.
And it’s not like Brazil was outrageously dominant or something.
Day 18: Croatia vs Brazil | Netherlands vs Argentina (QF 1&2)
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
And it’s not like Brazil was outrageously dominant or something.
Has Keane said something about the excessive crying in the game by the Brazilians? Downplaying the real tragedies around the world worth crying for
Took me a while to find this but would seem that this is wrong - https://www.theifab.com/laws/latest/determining-the-outcome-of-a-match/#kicks-from-the-penalty-mark
Must the referee be informed of the order in which players will take the kicks from the penalty mark?
No. The order of the kickers is the tactical responsibility of the teams. The referee’s responsibility is to make sure that no player takes a second kick before every other team member has taken their first kick.
Neymar not swapping out for 3rd or 4th... well I'd blame him, but he probably doesn't even know. Though at this stage, he or his manager, should be informing him of it. Someone should know!
Yep, even if all these games go to penalties with Croatia scoring jammy goals left and right. Anti-football to me is when Greece won the Euros -- niggly fouls, time-wasting, sitting very deep, old school man-marking; comfortably the only team so far in my decades watching football that did not deserve to go all the way in a major tournament. I just don't see any of these with Croatia.
The game was lost in the midfield. I don't know why Tete started all of their attackers together by sacrificing the midfield. Casemiro was left alone with Paqueta who is an attacking midfielder by trade. Should have been Bruno or Fred .
Funniest thing is Tete stick to his midfield combination until Korea match and they did well.
Well, it's up to Messi now to ensure we don't have the most uninteresting semi-final possible
I'm so nervous, God. It's just 11 kids in an orange shirt who cares if they lose 
Yeah it is Lukalu and luck. It is normal to reach 1/2 finals of World cup by luck.They legitimately won 1 game in the whole tournament. How can anyone say that with straight face
If only Lukaku hadn't been a donkey, they wouldn't be here.
No worries, he is entitled to his opinions even if he is wrong. Thing is Croatia seem to have a factory, not a golden generation. Only 4 of those that lost the final 2018 are still starters. And only 3-4 of those on the bench are still in the squad, Livakovic and Kovacic among them. Amazing to say the least!
You'd swear Brazil had just played one of the most incredible games of football ever seen and were somehow robbed going by some of the comments on here Deserved win for Croatia. Midfield outclassed Brazil today but they were lacking up front. Both teams defended extremely well throughout. Incredible effort by Croatia to not give up after going 1-0 down in extra time and they won yet again on penalties, which is clearly an area they've worked hard on. Brazil didn't do enough to win. Simple as that.
Deserved win for Croatia. Midfield outclassed Brazil today but they were lacking up front. Both teams defended extremely well throughout. Incredible effort by Croatia to not give up after going 1-0 down in extra time and they won yet again on penalties, which is clearly an area they've worked hard on. Brazil didn't do enough to win. Simple as that.Congrats Croatia! Absolute warriors.
I see them beating Croatia and that's no disrespect to Croatia who have a fantastic midfield in particular. Brazil kind of played into Croatia's hands a bit, I think Argentina and the Netherlands would be far more cautious with the 1-0.
Croatia are mentality monsters and Brazil paying the price of not having more creative midfielders in the squad
What else do you expect. Europe is far ahead of all other countries in terms of money, talent and infrastructure. No one cares about a game unless they have something to eat !
Brazil have been knocked out by five different European teams since they won it in 02
France
Netherlands
Germany
Belgium
Croatia
They clearly struggle to handle decent Europeans opposition when it comes to knockout football
France
Netherlands
Germany
Belgium
Croatia
They clearly struggle to handle decent Europeans opposition when it comes to knockout football
That's true.
But, I guess that what I am saying is this: 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, five WC finals with at least one SA team in the final, and with three wins. Now, with Brazil struggling to pass the QF, half of the SA representation is gone. Argentina might lose too. And so, even these two bright spots are not what they used to be.
They just lack a top striker, don’t think it is their intent to be anti-football by any means like you say.
Brazil were the better side as the game wore in but never did enough to kill anything off and that is what can happen.
Lautaro Martinez seems to really have been banished to the shadow realm after his performances in the group phase.
Europe had also more money in the past.
Plus, they lost to Belgium (2018) and Croatia (today), not the super rich European teams. Yes, I know, these were/are good teams, but Brazil has enough talent to beat this Croatia team.
Congrats, man. I seem to remember four years ago we were fuming together when those pitch invaders disrupted a promising Croatia move during the final. I swear there weren't as many Croats around these parts back then! For whatever reason the Canada incident leaves me with somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth this time around, but still, best of luck.
Happy to see Casemiro and Antony return home "early". Also, i'm delighted to see karma biting Neymar i the b*tt. Should've been sent off early on in extra time for that ridiculos kick on Brozovic.
Louis van Gaal isn't parking bus, he's the boss of bus station. This one is in the bag
Bringing Croatie
Bringing Croatie
Forget about that, Croata were the better team , did not deserve to go behind and deserved to win, you dont get to 2 WC semi's on the bounce by not being a very good team.They legitimately won 1 game in the whole tournament
If only Lukaku hadn't been a donkey, they wouldn't be here.
You have no idea how they would have reacted to going behind.
Probably Argentina's best lineup. This will be an interesting one. Neither result would surprise me.
Well deserved win for Croatia. Brazil were never really convincing except against Korea. Croatians have shown tremendous resilience throughout the tournament. They are mentally very tough and hence tough to beat.
Yeah I get that to be honest. I don't think Croatia shithoused their way to a win today though, not in the way I understand shitshousing at least. Just a decent and solid team that works extremely hard off the ball. I used enjoy watching prime Atletico Madrid around 2013-1015. They were so intense and turned shithousing into an art. It's all good though. Just football opinions at the end of the day. One man's trash is another treasure and all that innit
He was saying Brazil lost it because they were slow....No. They lost it because of a tiny chance event. Ya, they weren't dominant, but Croatia had 1 shot on target in 120 minutes and it went in because of a deflection. That's luck, not the opposition being tactically bad.
Of course Croatians or people who like underdogs or hate flair will celebrate. I loved it when United and Inter beat Barca in 2008 and 2010.
Feel sad for Casemiro, Antony and Fred.
But so happy because of Neymar, that clown will never win anything with Brazil.
But so happy because of Neymar, that clown will never win anything with Brazil.
Two of the this team are targets for us, it’s actually quite a formidable Dutch line-up. Holland are fairly slow at making an impact in tournaments.
This was nothing close to the capitulation of the Germany game or their general mindset in that entire tournament where, yes, they were clearly far, far too emotional. Their mentality has been fine in this tournament and it was fine in this match.Teams lose on penalties. It happens.
No one (sensible) thought these were anywhere near as good as the team of 02, but that's an unrealistic standard to aspire to, and even the most optimistic Brazilian fan has to have accepted this for years now. You're right that they're not the world beaters of the distant past, but they're absolutely better positioned than the Brazilian teams of the recent past (they started Fred, Bernard and Oscar up front at a World Cup). Compared to their competition (England, France, Spain, Argentina etc.), this current team is still pretty fecking good and I don't think losing on penalties to a decent Croatian side in a game they should've won should alter that view too much.
So Brozović shouldn't have got 3 yellow card after he already had one ? give me a break. Anthony hacked too. Anti-football won today not happy at all. One team tried to win and one team stole it.
They are what Germany used to be. Just drags games against superior opponents into territory where things happen on their terms, and in the end they're the ones left standing.You'd swear Brazil had just played one of the most incredible games of football ever seen and were somehow robbed going by some of the comments on here
The ball is round, shit happens. Neymar had a decent free kick clip the wall and go into the keeper. Vini Jr had a nice play in the box with Richarlison and tried to sweep it home into the far corner like Messi did last match, but this time the defender blocked much of the ball and it easily went into the keeper.
Id say 3rd would have been best choice, at least that way he definitley gets to take one and not as defining as going first if that makes sense.
Waiting to go 5th is stupid.
Knew martinez would start against a pacey front line.
Well, southamerican football has gone to shit, except Brazil (and that's because the massive population they have and money), so I'm not surprised.
Gaming becoming mainstream has a lot to do with it, kids nowadays rather play videogames/spend time on their mobile phones than go and play football outside.
Here in Chile, back in the 90s you could see kids playing football outside even in middle class neighborhoods, now to see young people playing football outdoors you have to go to a very very poor neighborhoods where people can't afford a computer or a console.
And I don't think it's much different in Argentina, looking at the poor quality they have now.
People might underestimate that, but less young people willing to become a footballers because since kids they rather play Fortnite or PS4 inside their home isn't precisely good for developing young talent, and here in SA (except Brazil) we don't have the money that England,Spain,France have to spend on youth development and infrastructure.
and some say Naymar is the best Brazil payer ever, not even close, in my book, would struggle to make top 10 defo not top 6.
No one says that.
Croatia tried to win it in a way that benefitted them, there's nothing wrong with that in tournament football. That was a tremendous match and neither team was anti-football.
Yes, let's go toe to toe with a team that scored 4 goals in the first half against their last opponent. Be naive, zero shape when moving forward and just defend without purpose. That'll give us the best chance to win!