Medlar on 9/7/2018 at 14:05
Is that a double negative?
Tomi on 10/7/2018 at 20:06
Thor speaks in mysterious ways...
Semi-final 1:
France 1-0 Belgium
Not a bad game despite of just one goal. France may not be the most exciting team to watch, but damn they're effective! Belgium were good today, but I'd say that France were even better! The only disappointment today was that I was expecting Belgium to be able to put much more pressure on France in the end, but I suppose that France were just too good. I was hoping that Belgium would win today as they have been so great to watch, but I can't complain about the winner.
Thor on 10/7/2018 at 20:16
Yeah, double negative ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Not too mysterious, even for a non native English speaker. The first if was a typo though.
It was up to France to take out the trash!
Fiiiinally the most unlikable and undeserving-to-even-be-there team is out. Took it 2 games longer than it should have due to their ungodly luck, but finally somebody showed them what a real football team is like. Even though I don't really like Afrofrance, but compared to those flashy hipsters Afrofrance actually seems kinda alright (or dare I say - France?). Hope the waffles don't get bronze, as the remaining 3 teams are superior to them in every conceivable way (except maybe how flashy their uniforms are).
Good entertainment from France in the last minutes, as they teased and annoyed the hipsters.
Been a Croatia fan since last Euro Cup and haven't really grown any less of a fan, so I hope they take the cup. Though England winning has some sentimental value doesn't it. Football creators and all. And they finally have a good team again. But I think 3rd place would be OK for them also.
Edit: P.S. I was quoting you with that manner of speech, Tomi, as you used that exact double-negative expression 2 posts above, so to say that I speak in mysterious ways is a bit selective and misleading. I'm just quoting mysterious speech.
Thor on 11/7/2018 at 20:55
Well that was a display of excellence from Croatia from 2nd half-time and onward. England looked kinda sleepy and tired today in comparison. I feel a bit sad for the brits, but yeah, Croatia was definitely the better team here. They even survived without penalties - which is kinda weird - it's been like the Croatian standard up until now. Well, at least they still enjoy running 120 minutes instead of 90 - haven't missed an opportunity. France is lazy though. This is another substantial reason why I wish for Croatia to beat France - probably in overtime as well! Croatian endurance is really displayed to be on another level (rivaled maybe by russians, japanese, denmarks and.. that might be all). And they haven't played a single game without scoring a goal yet - stopping at the finale would be quite the buzzkill. Croatia has the chance to make a World Cup finale actually interesting. I've not observed France a whole lot, but I guess they also like to play anti-football as soon as they're in the lead, as most teams that aren't Croatia (and possibly the South-American countries, but did those even play this year?).
P.S. Another Perisic shot at the pole 2 matches in a row, damn. All this bad luck and they still thrive. A better team could not have made it to the finale. Shame they aren't playing someone like Japan or Portugal in the finale. CR7 vs Modric would have been a sight to behold.
Tomi on 11/7/2018 at 21:08
Haha, you're cute with your CRonaldo obsession. :p
You talk about anti-football a lot, but then mention that you would have liked to seen Japan in the final. Have you forgotten their match against Poland, where Japan were happy to defend a 0-1 defeat and they just walked around the center circle for the last ten minutes, because that result was enough for them to qualify for the next round on fair play points? Can't get any more anti-football than that... Luckily Japan were later knocked out by the most pro-football (that's the opposite of anti-football, right?) team in the tournament! ;)
Tomi on 11/7/2018 at 21:31
Semi-final #2
Croatia 2-1 England (after extra time!)
A really good match, and I'm delighted to have one of my favourites in the final! England had a strong start, and with a bit of luck they could have had a two goal lead at half time. But just like against Colombia, they seemed to be happy to just defend their lead on the second half, and this time it cost them... Croatia were all over England for the next 45 minutes and were unlucky not to win the match on normal time. Normal time? Is that what it's called? :p England got back to the game on extra time, but not much happened until Mandzukic scored the winner. Croatia played the remaining minutes cleverly and didn't let England surprise them anymore. Like Thor already pointed out, Croatia were the better team today, but not by much in my opinion! Perhaps the pressure was just too much for the young England team, and the experienced Croatians (Croats?) took advantage of it. I'm glad that this game went to extra time, but even more glad that it wasn't decided on penalties - it would have been wrong to decide the winner of a match like this in such manner. Great game by two great teams, I could have watched another 120 minutes of this, but I don't think that the players would have appreciated it. :)
Thor on 11/7/2018 at 21:44
Please, Japan's last 13 minutes against Poland was the funniest sh*t I've ever seen in football. I laughed the entire time. :D That was such obvious, direct anti-football it was actually comedic (also those were the only minutes they played anti-football in this tournament). More subtle anti-football practicing teams like England, Belgium and Russia got farther though. Well, one is still left, though I guess (or hope, at least) France is a bit less anti-football than some. And you're right, it was all luck (on their part, not so much on the tournament's) that had belgians had that last second win against Japan. On that note, I wish England to mop the floor bloody with belgians on Saturday. Being 4th is already way better than they ever deserved (I just can't hate on those boys enough :p). Perhaps it's a chance for ya boy Harry to still win that golden boot. The actual best players like Modric don't tend to get that spotlight. What was it for Harry - 1 accidental ricochet goal, 2 penalties and 3 real goals? I mean, very good, but not worth all the talk. CR7's first match alone still made it a contender for best player... shame they got knocked out so early - the tournament got half as fun without the CR7. And yeah it's fun to be obsessed with him - he always looks like a showman, cause he knows he's being filmed every second, so he entertains.
Tomi on 11/7/2018 at 22:02
Ok, I get that you don't like Belgium, that's fair enough, but I really don't get the anti-football thing... They've scored the most goals in the tournament (some really nice ones too!), they could have taken an arguably easier route to the final but England wanted to lose more in that last group stage game, and they never stopped attacking even against Brazil (to the point that some of their attacks were just mad!). I haven't been a fan of Belgium in the past, but they've easily been the most entertaining team to watch in this World Cup. Belgium vs Croatia would have been my dream final, but at least I'll have a clear favourite in that game now. :)
Medlar on 12/7/2018 at 08:11
@Thor, please explain anti-football.
N'Al on 12/7/2018 at 11:58
Cricket?