World Cup — Day 14

Deutschland Deutschland uber taxi!

Angela Merkel, Hansel and Gretel, Beethoven, your boys took a hell of a beating!

John (#2) and I bet the Royal Family ain't too pleased. The proper Royle Family in my eyes.

Not the first time they've been battered on the eastern front!

Anyone for schadenfreude?

Mwwwuahahahaha...

Lol Brent

Last time Germany went out in the group stages was 1938. If I was Polish, I'd be booking a long holiday abroad!!!

Don't mention the Var!

Nice one, Jimmy...

England fans hoping England will win the World Cup should be sad Germany have gone out. England could have met the weakest and poorest German international team I have seen. No belief, no fight, no inspiration from anyone on the field or off it – they would have been a walkover for England or any decent team they would have faced later in the tournament.

Jimmy (#8), hilarious!

I take my hat off to you Jimmy (#8), for that one.

Dermot, is that a helmut?

I must have been watching a different game... how many chances did Germany have to score? How close did they come? One skimmed the top of the bar. How many fine save did the South Korea goalie make?

Yet the pundits are leaping with joy telling us how awful they were... Yes, Schadenfreude and all that — I'm overjoyed they're out and couldn't stop laughing — but football is a game of incredibly narrow margins at critical times and I don't get this alternative narrative.

Oh wait: Post Truth, Alternate Reality, Fake News. I geddit now...

The worse tournament German side I can remember. Devoid of passion, pace and ability, Michael.

You can still get 7/1 about the Serbians if you think there will be more surprises today – Tempting.

Interesting odds for tomorrow too. The bookies cant split them:

15/8 England - 9/5 Belgium

True enough, Michael – if Kane's winner had not gone in against Tunisia, we'd have all been moaning. But to be fair, Germany have been poor in all three group games and deservedly go out.

And so, after all these years, Gary Lineker gets to revise his aphorism: "Football is eleven a side, and at the end the Koreans win".

Lukaku out for the game against England tomorrow.

Link

Brazil nervous, especially after the scare for Argentina and defeat for Germany today, but still expectant of victory and passage to the knockout stage.

Apparently South Korea's fans started chanting "Can we play you every week?"

Brent, my mate, if you stumble into winning the war over again, I will be forced to get the lederhosen out again.

Last time, in a drunken attempt at continental sauciness, my missus laughed so much the end result was ٣,000 of therapy and I have worn corduroy and smoked a pipe ever since.

But hey, willing to risk it again to join in!

Beers, so I can't really remember names... But I'm sure there are a lot out there who can remember slow starters just scraping into the knockout stages, who either went on to win the World/European Championships, or getting to the Final!

So, I'm happy Germany is out!

Being Norwegian, I should probably be happy for Sweden and Denmark, but I've only been interested in games involving Everton players for the past 20+ years, so meh! Pickford and Gueye still in there, so still games to watch!!!

But it would be so lovely to see an English TEAM do well, not a Frankenstein's monster made up of "Stars" demanded by the media to get picked! Gerrard & Lampard...

Lev, Italy in 1982 are a typical case of what you say. They barely scraped through to the knock-out stages, and then beat Argentina, Brazil and West Germany!

Brazil, once so great, are now diving, cheating prima donnas. Sad reflection of the modern game and commentators never say anything about it.

Pigs and troughs.

Stan Boardman and all British Chippy owners are in heaven tonight. The Fokkers are out.

Dermot, that is the modern game, for us all! I was watching the Sweden game, and their sub dived horribly at 3-0. The ref just waved him to his feet...

In some ways, I dislike VAR, but IF there are to be actual rules to this ever more modern game of football, then I feel we have no choice but to embrace it! This is now Big Business, whether concerning Club or Nation, I fear!

The bottom line for now, though, is that cheaters will probably get caught (if the situation is what VAR was made for)! VAR is not used for everything, by far!

There was a good VAR/referee decision for a possible handball-decision in the Sweden game, with the ref not giving a penalty for a ball that MIGHT have just hit the Mexican player's arm. Nothing looked very overt, so good call in the end.

Watching Serbia go out, and thinking about what Michael wrote @14. Fine margins indeed, with the gap between so many teams, next to nothing these days?

Am I the only one who thinks Neymar is about 60% as good as he thinks he is? Coutinho runs this team – not him. And all these close-ups of his face on TV just piss me right off...

Oh and this Jr bollocks on his shirt? Sorry, mate, but the last time I checked, your dad wasn't in the squad, so why do you need to differentiate yourself from him? Or is he another self-centred peacock who thinks the world revolves around him?

If I'm England, do I not want to finish 2nd in the group?

That side of the bracket looks a hellava lot easier to me:
England (placing 2nd), winner Group H, Spain, Russia, Croatia, Denmark, Sweden Switzerland.

The above opposed to:
Belgium, winner Group H, Uruguay, Portugal, France, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico

I'm seriously getting nothing done at work today.

Paul @ 28.

"Am I the only one who thinks Neymar is about 60% as good as he thinks he is?"

I rather think it is more to do that he is probably only at about 60-70% fitness levels, playing only his third competitive game in four months since returning from injury.

It is self-evident he is not firing on full cylinders, that he hasn't got that explosive burst past defenders from a standing position back yet, that he is a nanosecond or two off at the moment, but in today's game there were distinct signs of improvement compared to his first two outings.

You must have a very short memory if you don't recall how extremely well he was playing before getting injured in February.

Of the game itself, Brazil still sputtering a bit, but displaying a side of their game under Tite not often associated with Brazilian sides: an extremely well-organized, resilient and disciplined defence.

At the start of the 2nd half, Brazil were really under the cosh as Serbia bombarded them, but they stood firm and after the 2nd goal comfortably saw the game out.

Interesting to see how one half of the knockout draw is now predominantly south and central American and the other half predominantly European. Some juicy ties already lined up.

Jamie, we'd have to win all our games in the end, after all. But I admit Belgium, at least, would be nice to have removed by someone else!

Still, I look very much forwards to seeing how this new-fangled actual Team of England can do versus anyone else!

This far, it seems like teams trumps big stars gathered for a tournament... Let's hope England can do well from that!

Serbia disappointed for me, Brazil still feeling their way, doing just enough to get by. However like all sides in the World Cup openly vulnerable.

Serbia knew how to get at Brazil, aerially that is, but surprisingly Brazil, after a shaky first 15 minutes, got to grips with it.

I thought the Serbian keeper was poor for the first goal. The ball was great, matched by the run but it was at the very limit of Paulinho's control. The keeper stopped, hesitated half-way and bottled it, he made the lad's mind up for him.

Had he stayed home, I think Paulinho's stretched touch would have fell straight to him.

A decent 10 minutes in the second half saw Serbia spurn two point-blank headers and Miranda, I think, slice viciously over his own bar.

All-in-all, a pretty average game, but Brazil nothing to be scared of, but no other team either.

After the utter bananas that went before it, a damp squib. 😑

John @ 33.

"Brazil... like all sides in the World Cup, openly vulnerable" and
"Serbia knew how to get at Brazil, aerially that is, but surprisingly Brazil, after a shaky first 15 minutes, got to grips with it."

I presume by that you think Brazil is defensively fragile, particularly to aerial threat.

Neither the empirical evidence – the actual performances since Tite became national manager – nor the statistical evidence back you up on that, if so.

In the 24 games played in less than 2 years under Tite, Brazil's record reads:

P 24 W 19 D 4 L 1 F 52 A 6

Taking out the 9 friendly games in that spell (their solitary defeat was an exhibition game in Oz last summer against Argentina – a 1-0 defeat – when neither side played all their best players), Brazil's 15 competitive game record under Tite reads:

P 15 W 11 D 4 L 0 F 35 A 4

In all 24 games under Tite, they have conceded just 6 goals, a single goal on 6 different occasions.

Tiago Silva and Miranda are extremely solid and strong in the air at the centre of the Brazilian defence. The 'keeper Alisson the type to clean out any forward who gets beyond the defence.

Tite deliberately embraced and applied 'European-like' defensive discipline at his last club side Corinthians and now the national team.

Vulnerable at the back they most certainly ain't.

However, losing Dani Alves before the World Cup started and today Marcello (still no news how serious that injury is) has/will force on Tite changes from his default starting team. That said, the replacements are pretty useful themselves.

It just seems that the cream rises to the top (Germany excepted) and Brazil are going to take some stopping.

I see France getting by the Argies with Uruguay and Spain advancing also.

If Serbia had a decent striker instead of that big amateur Mitrovic they may have done something.

Brazil have the speed and scoring power to beat any team now.

One other observation.

Chucky Lozano may put a few balls in the Irish Sea when he shoots if he plays at Goodison.

I don't know how much we're rumored to pay for this kid, if we get him at all, but I certainly would not over pay for him.

Jay — what a load of whoooey! All of Serbia's chances came from crossed balls and headers; Allison at fault for at least two of them.

In this ‘World Cup' which I referenced not a sub-par but grueling South American qualifying campaign, so shove those statistics up the Amazon.

Qualifying means fook all — it's at the finals where teams and players come to play up a level. That's what we are looking at — not some tinpot game versus Paraguay, Bolivia or Venezuela.

Brazil have been pretty ordinary and have looked nowhere near the perennial favorites in the World Cup they normally are. Each team they've faced have not looked uncomfortable or cowed by Brazil, indeed both Serbia & Switzerland (two average European sides) had significant spells of pressure against them.

Just because a team bends but does not break does not mean they are not vulnerable. The lack of a class finisher cost Serbia at key times today.

😑

Hmmm... you preface your post as a 'a load of whoooey', then write what you do.

I think we'll leave it at that.

Jamie (#36), I sure as hell would. He's pure electricity, terrorizes every defender he goes up against, creates at one end and hurls his body in the way of opposing shots at the other. And because he skies a few shots under defender pressure, you're skeptical? No way, Jose. This kid would light Goodison on fire.

Unfortunately, Barcelona are in for him and that blows us out of the water.

Lev (22), going all the way back to 1954, I don't know if Germany were slow starters but they got hammered by Hungary 8-3 in the opening rounds but then beat Hungary 3-2 in the final after coming back from losing 2-0. There were lots of reasons why Hungary lost that final but Germany won the World Cup.

Der boot is on the other foot now, the only thing that could make it better would be if it was on penalties... cue England to implode.