2018 FIFA World Cup - Russia

[Red Ranger 1]

So, fourth place for England. I can't say I'm surprised, I was never expecting them to beat Belgium and kind of forgot there was a medal ceremony and turned off at the final whistle.(There was a medal ceremony, right?) It would have been nice to score though, and even nicer if Harry Kane had added to his six, but nearest remaining rival Lukaku didn't score either, so unless Griezmann or Mbappe get a hat-trick in the final (no Croatia player has scored more than two), he's pretty much odds on for the Golden Boot!

Well, hey, it'd be nice to have something to brag about.

[Slade]

I didn't watch the England/Belgium match live because of the Women's singles final in tennis so only watched the highlights.  No surprise Belgium winning again.  I think they've been the most entertaining team and thoroughly deserve third place.  As I mentioned before on paper England have exceeded expectations and there are things to look at to improve.  So hopefully they will be in a stronger position in the 2020 Euros.

 

Onto the final - Agreed with Alan Shearer and thought Croatia were very hard done by in the first half.  A free kick that wasn't one and a penalty that shouldn't have been awarded leading to two first half goals (I think overall the VAR has been a success but unfortunately one of the few time it hasn't worked out had to be such a crucial point).  The problem was after that Croatia were always chasing, committing men forward and were susceptible to the counter attack which France have proved to be quite effective at utilising.  I did think they were a lot stronger in the second half, deserved to win and in the end won quite comfortably.  I think most people like to see entertaining matches and my frustration with France was the way the played against teams such as Uruguay and Belgium once they scored.  However their defence was a big part of how they played which I accept.  World cup finals generally tend not to be very good matches so yesterday's was actually a refreshing change.  More goals than the 3 previous finals put together.

 

The award ceremony was very interesting, watching Vladimir Putin then President Macron shake the hands of all the players and the managers and the Croatian President giving every person a hug.  She seemed to like giving hugs.  Wonder why they decided to go with political figures rather than representatives from the footballing world.

 

The South Americans are going to have to improve as they are now lagging behind Europe.  That's the fourth European world cup winner in a row and next world cup it will be 20 years since a south American team won it.  Prior to 2002 when they last lifted the trophy they won at least every other world cup since the second world war.  And since Uruguay won it in 1950, only Brazil and Argentina have lifted the trophy.

 

Overall I think this world cup has been a success which is surprising at I thought the Russians would have issues particularly with the hooligans but I guess we have the FSB to thank for that apparently.  Next one's going to be from November to December so that should be interesting although I don't think Qatar should have been allowed to host it either.  Might just prove to be as good as this one!

[pembie]

Oh shame I was hoping for a closer game for the final  like extra time so I was a tad bored and I was hoping that France has won it a few times now so that was a bit dispointing 

[Red Ranger 1]

Yes, France take the lead with a penalty and an own goal but to be honest Croatia did look outclassed and France made up for it with two pretty spectacular goals and gifting Croatia a stupid goal of their own.So that makes two wins for France, drawing them level with Argentina and Uruguay. And Harry Kane got the Golden Boot, with four players finishing behind him on four goals. (Why wasn't he there for the trophies, huh? Mind you, with the pouring rain, he probably felt glad that they're mailing the trophy to him or whatever.)

2022 next. Not too long ago I was thinking England should boycott that farce and convince as many nations as possible to join them.I think their good performance here has changed my mind a bit, although I'm also thinking that last time we wished the World Cup semi-finals we flopped at the European Championship that followed and didn't even qualify for the next World Cup.And I'll probably change my mind again when the fixtures for the 2022/23 domestic season arrive and I see the big gap in the middle and the last matches not being played until June.