2018 Football World Cup
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@cyclops I agree with the point that football and rugby aren't easily broken statistically by player. But there are some -- penalties vs turnovers for flankers, lineout percent for bookers.
But I reckon that they can be broken by play and playing style. Some look flashy but don't work well, whereas lineout drives should be your first option every single attacking lineout (I've seen a quite ordinary team win a championship with just that).
I would for example pick the props that give away the least penalties, not the ones that look good or dead lift the most. I would value scrum push for locks far more than most (and hence rate Bird higher). There is room for such arbitrage.
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Clubs like Southampton have tried a type of moneyball approach by buying players fairly cheaply who shine in the EPL and then they can sell on for substantial profits - as well as having a top-notch academy system. In the Champions League final, Mane, Lovren, van Dijk, Lallana and Bale all passed through Southampton as well as Clyne who probably would have played instead of Alexander-Arnold were he not injured.
Signs that system only works while you're buying gems and as soon as you get some duds, it's move the manager along and get desperate like every other club.
I'd like to see Belgium or France win the World Cup to cap the old golden generation thing. Still no idea who will win given that one of Croatia, Russia, England, Sweden will be in the final and if you ranked the teams, they may be 5-8 of the 8 that are left.
Sweden are obdurate. They were in a group with France and the Netherlands to qualify and edged out the Dutch (2010 finalists). They had a playoff with Italy to qualify and edged out the 2006 winners. A tough group with Germany and Mexico and topped it, sending home the 2014 winners.
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@kiwipie While I agree that the top half of the draw contains the best four teams for reasons that I'm not sure I can explain, even to myself, I don't like any of them.
Maybe Uruguay because they punch above their weight . Brazil Fuck off Neymar plus the whole masters of the game vibe when for the last 50 years Germany have been the best performing team. France - well they're French for a start. Belgium yeah nah. Lived in the Netherlands Fuck Belgium winning it before they do plus the whole golden generation thing fucks me off as much as it did during Ericsons England tenure.
Agree Sweden will be tough for the Poms - ABBA - crime against humanity. Fuck off home.
Russia - c'mon. Well done - hosting a great tournament but reality is its a shit team.
Croatia - nice football - great storyline re small country constantly footing it with the big boys. Wouldn't be distressed if they won it, but the downer (for all the Balkan nations) is the fans. Yeah boisterous fun blah blah but scratch the surface rabid racist hilklbilly psychos.
Which leave ING-GA-LUND. Limited team haven't done much so far but do seem to be a team and let's face it England's pretty fucked (as a country) - surely they deserve some sort of feel good to last them the next 50 years?
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- Brazil. The fucks have a culture of winning WCs.
- ENGERRLLAAANND!!!!
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@bovidae said in 2018 Football World Cup:
Southampton, otherwise known as the Liverpool reserves...
Leicester City must be the best recent example of getting value for money in a squad.
Kante and Mahrez were bargain buys from France (in fact Kante was probably the greatest purchase of recent years), Vardy turned out to be a gem and the rest of them were very efficient/experienced. Perfect storm of all the usual contenders declining for that season.
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@dogmeat I don't think you need to scratch the surface of a Croatian football fan. Many start as violent thugs and get worse (organised crime in the Balkans operates through football clubs and their fan groups).
I don't know how racist they are. True they'd literally tear Serbs apart if they got the chance, but other than old hates its hard to tell.
Incidentally, the Serb-Croat hate runs very deep (ethnic cleansing post Yugoslavia, fascist vs communist in WWII, etc). Russia is the traditional supporter of the Serbs (post Yugo, Communist in WWII etc). The Croatia vs Russia game will not be pretty if there's an incident.
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@kiwipie said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@bovidae said in 2018 Football World Cup:
Southampton, otherwise known as the Liverpool reserves...
Leicester City must be the best recent example of getting value for money in a squad.
Kante and Mahrez were bargain buys from France (in fact Kante was probably the greatest purchase of recent years), Vardy turned out to be a gem and the rest of them were very efficient/experienced. Perfect storm of all the usual contenders declining for that season.
Jamie Vardy
Discarded by Sheffield Wednesday at 16
Languishng in non-league football until 2010
Premiership winner in 20015/16
to World Cup winner in 2018Now that would be a story
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France now up 2-0 and they are doing most of the attacking. They’re a good side to watch.
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Yep
France v Brazil (likely) / Belgium (unlikely) should be a cracker
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This game is great. Quality football.
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Almost just did
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On this performance £865 per week would be a stretch for Neymar
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Great skill for the Brazil goal fair play.
Funny how now Brazil have a sniff the theatrics have diminished.
Brazil 1 - 2 Belgium
78 mins gone
