Day 23: Uruguay vs France and Brazil vs Belgium

Treble said:
Was a bit lucky too because Brazil could have scored first and the game could have been completely different. Brazil hit the post and then concede an OG. Belgium were very lucky and looked a bit meh in the second half. A performance like that won't be enough vs France. And Hazard should pass it more often. Those amaizing dribbles do little more than winning fouls and time. He created very little yesterday but got away with it because Augusto/Coutinho missed great chances to level it and VAR fecked up with Kompany's foul.

I'm not against Belgium at all, I'll be for them against France. Argued in another thread prior to the game that they can win vs Brazil. But they were more lucky than great yesterday, in my humble opinion.
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We're talking about Brazil though, the favorite to win this whole thing. Of course they were going to have chances.

You have to give credit where it's due. Belgium played a fantastic game yesterday.
 
Vato said:
We're talking about Brazil though, the favorite to win this whole thing. Of course they were going to have chances.

You have to give credit where it's due. Belgium played a fantastic game yesterday.
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First half.

Second half were lucky. Already first half were lucky to not concede first and to score first with such an OG.

I'm not underestimating Belgium. On the contrary, as can be seen from my posts in the thread for the Japan game where I defended their corner, so to speak.

I'm telling what I'm seeing. Generally, a lot of people are very influenced by the final result and adjust accordingly their opinions.
 
Treble said:
Was a bit lucky too because Brazil could have scored first and the game could have been completely different. Brazil hit the post and then concede an OG. Belgium were very lucky and looked a bit meh in the second half. A performance like that won't be enough vs France. And Hazard should pass it more often. Those amaizing dribbles do little more than winning fouls and time. He created very little yesterday but got away with it because Augusto/Coutinho missed great chances to level it and VAR fecked up with Kompany's foul.

I'm not against Belgium at all, I'll be for them against France. Argued in another thread prior to the game that they can win vs Brazil. But they were more lucky than great yesterday, in my humble opinion.
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A bit harsh in my opinion. Yes we had luck on our side on a couple of occasions but our first half, after surviving the first 10 minutes, was a great performance. We looked deadly every time we countered and I thought we kept them out well. They came at us in the second half and with better finishing they could've equalised, but there was also a lot of resolute defending involved. I think you're doing us a great disservice by attributing that result more to luck than a great performance. I would say that either team deserved to win that game.

France aren't Brazil, they play a completely different style of football. I think we'll also see a different Belgium side out there tactically.
 
Treble said:
First half.

Second half were lucky. Already first half were lucky to not concede first and to score first with such an OG.

I'm not underestimating Belgium. On the contrary, as can be seen from my posts in the thread for the Japan game where I defended their corner, so to speak.

I'm telling what I'm seeing. Generally, a lot of people are very influenced by the final result and adjust accordingly their opinions.
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So you think Brazil deserved to go through instead?
 
Vato said:
So you think Brazil deserved to go through instead?
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Deserved to go to extra time for sure. Created twice as many chances as Belgium (despite leaving huge spaces for counter attacks) and should have a pen for Kompany's foul with 40 minutes to go.

Luck is part of football though. It isn't Belgium's fault that Casemiro got a silly yellow vs Mexico and Fernandinho was shocking. And Coutinho missed a great chance, etc. They won vs a very solid team.
 
Treble said:
Deserved to go to extra time for sure. Created twice as many chances as Belgium (despite leaving huge spaces for counter attacks) and should have a pen for Kompany's foul with 40 minutes to go.

Luck is part of football though. It isn't Belgium's fault that Casemiro got a silly yellow vs Mehico and Fernandinho was shocking. And Coutinho missed a great chance, etc. They won vs a very solid team.
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Red Star One said:
I think they definitely deserved extra time, especially with the pen not given.
And trying to be objective and bias aside, I think a better team lost.
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Nah, I disagree. I thought Belgium were better, it was a pretty complete performance from them.

Of course the second half Brazil were the better team. They had to go for it or they were out, Belgium didn't.
 
I don't think it's a surprise that Martinez is doing well with Belgium. The overall stain on his career so far has been defensive organisation but Belgium have a ready made machine in Kompany, Vertonghen and Alderweireld with Witsel in front that make it easy to utilise his attacking tactical prowess as was shown with Lukakus influence last night.
 
Vato said:
I'm seeing that some of the flak for Martinez (which he received a lot of!) is slowly making room for praise.

Are you warming to him aswell now? Especially seeing that he's ex-Everton and all that.
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I always thought he would be out of his depth at the WC but he got it right yesterday and that’s what matters. I never disliked him because of Everton before that tbh, just didn’t think he was the right man for us. Obviously wrong now since he got us to the semis.
 
RobinLFC said:
I always thought he would be out of his depth at the WC but he got it right yesterday and that’s what matters. I never disliked him because of Everton before that tbh, just didn’t think he was the right man for us. Obviously wrong now since he got us to the semis.
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Same here. I too was not convinced he was the right man for Belgium, but he got us to the semis now which matches our best ever WC result, so he deserves praise for that.
 
SilentWitness said:
I don't think it's a surprise that Martinez is doing well with Belgium. The overall stain on his career so far has been defensive organisation but Belgium have a ready made machine in Kompany, Vertonghen and Alderweireld with Witsel in front that make it easy to utilise his attacking tactical prowess as was shown with Lukakus influence last night.
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Tbh, Kompany was more of a liability yesterday. Almost gave away a stupid penalty and kept trying on iditoic passes that he gave straight to Brazil.
 
Acole9 said:
Funny you should say that. I was just saying how I find it baffling that Kompany isn't the captain, I know his injury record is poor but he's for sure one of the greatest leaders the Premier League has seen.
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He used to be captain. Then Wilmots made Hazard captain during one of Kompany's injuries for hazy reasons and it just kind of stayed that way. Hazard himself has said though that the likes of Kompany and Vertonghen are more of the real leaders in the team.
 
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