Day 17: France-Argentina, Uruguay-Portugal.

Have you watched Uruguay this WC?

I have watched Uruguay. Suarez looks a third of the player that left Liverpool. Godin and Jiminez look the best CB pairing in the world cup. There's not much to talk about the centre of Uruguay's midfield, i.e. hard working, functional, etc, but so were Iran, Nigeria, Argentina even.

As phenomenal as Godin and Jiminez are they haven't been isolated against players like Mbappe. Only one winner there and if they over-mark him out then Greizmann or Pogba will kill them. Cavani is the only real goal scoring outlet they have which would keep France more on the back foot. No Cavani, no worries.
 
On another note I can see Uruguay really struggling in the next WC, Godin, Suarez and Cavani will all be over the hill by then and I doubt they'll get 3 world class players like those coming up at the same time.

Maxi Gomez is a really good young forward coming through, 22 and plays for Celta Vigo. Would do well in england imo so think he'll be playing for a bigger club here or in Spain next two years. No minutes at this World cup so far.

At last World cup they have a really old midfield, Averlo Rios and Alvaro Perieria were still part of it, now their midfield is full of young 20s like Torreria, Nandez and Bentacuar.

At the back yeah Godin probably won't make Qatar but Gimenez is still only 23 and already has ridiculous amount of experience at top level and plays for one of the best teams in World football so just find him a partner and they should be fine.

Uruguay is brilliant at refreshing their team every 2-3 years just in time for major tournaments.
 
For me Portugal's anthem is the best in the world. I'm not Portuguese and your anthem get's me all pumped up and teary every time I hear it. Great lyrics and amazing build up.

Love them both, just learn not to put them in thread titles as people don't have a clue what's going on.:lol:
 
Fantastic entertainment. The France game was incredible, loved it. I picked them at the start, so I'm supporting them. Portugal do nothing for me so it was good to see Uruguay take them out. They could be a decent dark horse but I reckon Cavani will be missed if he's out.
 
Laxalt is a player we should be all over. I doubt he would cost that much from Genoa either. He’s been one of the best fullbacks at the World Cup this year.
 
For me Portugal's anthem is the best in the world. I'm not Portuguese and your anthem get's me all pumped up and teary every time I hear it. Great lyrics and amazing build up.
I gotta agree with that. Definitely one of the best anthems. When Ronaldo smiles at the end it gets you even more pumped up.
 
I have watched Uruguay. Suarez looks a third of the player that left Liverpool. Godin and Jiminez look the best CB pairing in the world cup. There's not much to talk about the centre of Uruguay's midfield, i.e. hard working, functional, etc, but so were Iran, Nigeria, Argentina even.

As phenomenal as Godin and Jiminez are they haven't been isolated against players like Mbappe. Only one winner there and if they over-mark him out then Greizmann or Pogba will kill them. Cavani is the only real goal scoring outlet they have which would keep France more on the back foot. No Cavani, no worries.
I can't imagine Uruguay will allow the same spaces in behind that Argentina gave them. They'll defend in a low block, mark zonally and play on the counter. No way will they concede 4 and i think they have a good chance of beating France.
 
I can't imagine Uruguay will allow the same spaces in behind that Argentina gave them. They'll defend in a low block, mark zonally and play on the counter. No way will they concede 4 and i think they have a good chance of beating France.

Completely agree with the tactics you mentioned, mainly because of Mbappe's danger. And those tactics would work because Cavani is such a nuisance and proving to be a deadly finisher. With no such outlet Uruguay will become entrenched. One dodgy VAR goal for France will leave Uruguay no choice but to open up in the second half (what's the point of closing gaps defensively when you're going out of the world cup right?). Once that happens France will score a bucket load on the counter.
 
Fantastic entertainment. The France game was incredible, loved it. I picked them at the start, so I'm supporting them. Portugal do nothing for me so it was good to see Uruguay take them out. They could be a decent dark horse but I reckon Cavani will be missed if he's out.
Much more than Wales that's for sure.
 
Now to stop with negativity regarding a good Saturday of football I want to congratulate France and Uruguay, and respecting all the French posters here I will from now on support Uruguay. Suspect I will not bring any kind of luck to them. :lol:

Anyway from those I can remember @antohan @JPRouve @Sayros @kouroux @izec congratulations for a good Saturday of football, and for those like @IFC 1905 @Peyroteo @SportingCP96 @barros @Infordin we got what we deserved, nothing to be ashamed.

@Arbitrium Enjoy your football and don't waste your time trying to push me, if you want to have the good football talk I am more than open, if it is the typical Ronaldo vs Messi discussion count me out.


Yeah bro, sadly.

It would've been good to see an Argentina - Portugal. We can only dream with that now.
 
I haven't bothered to read a ton of threads here or anywhere, but after watching the Argentina game, first off... what a great game. Second, Argentina got royally screwed with the Rojo foul and the Messi PK not called. That would've made the score 4-3 Argentina assuming they made the PK...

Why wasn't VAR called to review these plays? 2 legit close calls that should've been reviewed and in my opinion probably called Argentina's way. Rojo fouled outside the box or at least began his series of fouls a step outside the box and Messi was defintely fouled in the box. How is VAR supposed to work? Why didn't they get into the ref's ear and say it's worth reviewing?

I'm no Argentina fan boy but I think they got screwed hard in this one.
 
who knew that Argentina's most important player would turn out to be Sergio Romero!
 
I haven't bothered to read a ton of threads here or anywhere, but after watching the Argentina game, first off... what a great game. Second, Argentina got royally screwed with the Rojo foul and the Messi PK not called. That would've made the score 4-3 Argentina assuming they made the PK...

Why wasn't VAR called to review these plays? 2 legit close calls that should've been reviewed and in my opinion probably called Argentina's way. Rojo fouled outside the box or at least began his series of fouls a step outside the box and Messi was defintely fouled in the box. How is VAR supposed to work? Why didn't they get into the ref's ear and say it's worth reviewing?

I'm no Argentina fan boy but I think they got screwed hard in this one.
the Rojo one: he did start the foul outside of the area but who says the ref didn't play advantage because Mbappe didn't go down but then when Rojo took him again, it was in the area.
 
Completely agree with the tactics you mentioned, mainly because of Mbappe's danger. And those tactics would work because Cavani is such a nuisance and proving to be a deadly finisher. With no such outlet Uruguay will become entrenched. One dodgy VAR goal for France will leave Uruguay no choice but to open up in the second half (what's the point of closing gaps defensively when you're going out of the world cup right?). Once that happens France will score a bucket load on the counter.

Ok, so not a bucket load but the game went exactly as I expected.