2018 FIFA World Cup Megathread

[Fartsniffage]

Not Archer, real.

Hwat

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 18466.html

[DesAnges]

Hwat

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 18466.html

Well that's the most mental thing I've seen today.

[Cryptomypt]

anyone else catch amiri sending pique to the shadow realm with the slick nutmeg? why is pique always the one getting humiliated? at least it's not ronaldo this time.

[Outer Sparta]

Iran missed several opportunities - apart from the offsides goal, they had several good looks and pushed the ball wide, and after that excellent nutmeg, the header got pushed above the goal.

[Relikai]

Portugal - Morocco : Portuiano Ronaldo to continue with his scoring record, unless Morocco decides to mark him out of the game like Liverpool did, causing players like Joao Moutinho to step up in the midfield. Draw likely unless Morocco commits fouls near the box, allowing Ronaldo to threaten with free kicks.

A must-win game for Portugal to secure the 4-point mark, especially when they could be accompanied by Spain or left behind by Iran in the later game.

Uruguay - Saudi Arabia : Suarez finally gets his game back on as he bares his fangs at Saudi Arabia after a piss poor first game in order to get their 6 points before facing Russia on Hax.

Iran - Spain : No longer against the best player in the world, Spain's attacking ruthlessness works better against an Iran which would be focused on a disciplined defence, aiming to hit the minimum of 4 points for qualification into the Last 16.

Glad to see that most of my analysis were close or spot on in terms of result, not necessarily with scoreline.

Next round of matches! This will be a tricky one!

Denmark vs Australia: Denmark has shown their averageness against Peru, with a moment of genius by Eriksen after showing their lack of ability to hold the midfield against a dogged Peruvian squad. So far, most European favorites have shown a vulnerability against hardworking teams, and those who start play from the back often fall to direct play. Australia has shown their direct play against France as well as a compact defence, as has been the key to victory for most underdogs in this tournament.

Prediction - DRAW, or a narrow win by Denmark.

France vs Peru: A battle of the midfield, Pogba and Co has to step up as does Griezmann to handle Peru. A win here would most likely assure them qualification unless Australia pulls off the win against Denmark in the earlier game. France most likely to keep a clean sheet although Peru would be keen to put their fullbacks to the test. While France's young wingers were mostly silenced against a strong Australian formation, Peru's discipline would be tested to the limit.

Prediction - France Win.

Argentina vs Croatia: Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic would seek to advise his teammates on how the Argentinian maestro handles his position behind the striker. However the main threat would come from Man City's Aguero and Angel di Maria should Croatia seek to play an attacking game. Personally I would see Modric being the midfielder relying on sitting deep and quick counterattacks. Argentina would perform more with a more compact front three with Aguero, Dybala and Higuain with Messi forming the link between them and the midfield. Croatia's taller defenders would also pose an issue for the shorter South Americans to rely on a passing game, a repeat of the Iceland match.

Prediction - DRAW, or a narrow win by Argentina.

[Sharania]

Under thunderous applause Russia became a full-time police state:

Russia's World Cup headache: Keeping it safe, keeping it fun

WHAT FANS FACE

The last thing Russian President Vladimir Putin wants is for an attack to spoil this party. He wants the world to walk away from this tournament in awe, not in fear.

So Russia has closed sea ports to dangerous cargo, halted factory production that might pose chemical risks, and positioned fighter jets, just in case.

In the city center of Kazan, police and military patrols are posted about every 500 meters (yards). To enter the stadium territory, an Associated Press journalist was made to open all his cigarette packs and test out his lighters, among other security measures.

A similar scene greets fans in Nizhny Novgorod. Fans must walk several hundred meters through double security checkpoints, with X-ray machines and body frisks, plastic police barriers and metal fences — just to reach the "Fan Fest" site where matches are shown on giant screens.

In the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, uniformed police stand guard near bars downtown, and sealed off all roads around the arena several hours ahead of the first match Friday. The traffic lights continued functioning, ignored.

In Sochi on the Black Sea, which hosted the 2014 Olympics, the stadium is surrounded on three sides by the well-secured Olympic Park. That creates a natural buffer and leaves only one well-protected road that fans can funnel through to enter the stadium.

WATCH OUT FOR CARS

Saturday's taxi crash in Moscow revived a long-standing concern: that attackers could use cars to attack soft targets like shopping areas or crowded sidewalks.

Moscow police said Sunday this risk was already built into World Cup security measures, and the crash was purely accidental. FIFA and Russia's World Cup organizing committee wouldn't comment on whether any extra measures were put in place after the crash.

But AP reporters discovered the security perimeter for cars was expanded around Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium for Sunday's Germany-Mexico match — even beyond the broad limit drawn for Thursday's opening game.

In Saransk, a six-lane bridge over the Insar River is shut to all traffic to keep cars away from the stadium crowds on match days. Traffic is blocked not only on the territory of the Mordovia Arena but also from a perimeter stretching another 250 meters (yards) from the property's edge.

WHY THE WORRY

The threats to Russia, and the danger inherent in the world's most-watched sporting event, are real.

First and worst is terrorism. Moscow, St. Petersburg and Volgograd have suffered suicide bombings by Islamic extremists in recent years — and count among the 11 cities hosting World Cup matches over the next month.

While security measures are similar at other major sporting events, this one is especially challenging because it lasts so long and is so spread out.

The U.S. State Department even sent a travel warning Friday titled "Russia, Level 3: Reconsider Travel." In addition to terrorism, the warning said Americans "are often victims of harassment, mistreatment and extortion by law enforcement and other officials."

The dramatically worded message may be in part politically driven. Security cooperation has shrunk as Russia-West ties have suffered in recent years over the wars in Syria and Ukraine, alleged Russian election meddling, and the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain. U.S. government staff in Russia has shrunk after tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.

Hooliganism is the other big problem. Russia is working with FIFA and authorities in Britain and other countries to identify threats , and threatens to deport anyone unruly.

KILLING THE FUN?

At times, the security threatens to extinguish the tournament's festive spirit.

As crowds streamed into Moscow's Spartak stadium Saturday, a police van rumbled through slowly, keeping watch and separating the throngs. Cheerful chants fell silent.

At Bar 11 in Kazan, a newly-opened small club with a DJ playing records, heavily armed OMON police officers came in twice overnight Saturday for routine checks.

[Sharania]

You thought that 1984 was just a book, not possible in our time? Think again:

Russia orders media blackout on crime news for World Cup

Police have been ordered not to publish any information about crimes during the World Cup as Vladimir Putin attempts to craft an image of Russia as a transgression-free zone.

With fears lingering of a terrorist attack like the bloody underground bombing last year in St Petersburg, near where the England team is based, Moscow has deployed missile launchers and anti-drone jammers at stadiums.

Regional cops have been dragooned to patrol host cities, leaving their home towns complaining of shortages.

The media blackout underlines the push to make the national prestige project a success after Vladimir Putin told police in February that the “ image of the nation depends upon the thoroughness of your work”.

In a copy of a document seen by The Telegraph, a colonel in Russia's central federal district ordered subordinates to “cease publishing in the mass media information about investigative operations and preventative measures” from June 5 to July 25.

He also said police should monitor social media to “catch negative information about the activities of interior ministry organs and leadership”

Police departments in Russia's 85 regions have not published any news about catching criminals or solving crimes since June 6, the news site Mediazona found.

The press service of the interior ministry in Krasnodar, where host city Sochi is located, told Mediazona that it was on orders to put out only “positive” information.

“They think that they shouldn't take the quarrel out of the hut and are hiding all these things,” Vladimir Vorontsov, a former officer who now heads an independent police union, said of the order. “They don't want any negative or insider information to come out, especially since it's the World Cup.”

The authorities have revealed almost no information about the security operation around the tournament, but tens of thousands of police have been mobilised along with security service personnel, national guardsmen and even traditional Cossack horse warriors.

For a test match last month at the new World Cup stadium in Rostov-on-Don, police simply shut down the entire southern bank of the Don River to vehicle traffic, making fans walk more than a mile on foot.

Already, Russia is one of the most-policed states in the world, employing about 900,000 law enforcement and security officers.

Prophylactic measures have verged on the illegal: Police have reportedly been forcing people previously convicted of extremism in mostly Muslim Dagestan to sign travel restrictions during the event.

“A key advantage of Russia is that it is a security state,” said analyst Mark Galeotti. “The security apparatus can operate far more freely.”

Russia has also reportedly deployed additional warships and aircraft to the Sea of Azov for fear of a Ukrainian “provocation” during the World Cup.

In Volgograd, where England will play Tunisia on Monday, police have installed 131 new surveillance cameras for the tournament and closed streets near the stadium. The city has sought to tighten security since suicide bombings killed 34 people here before the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

The Volgograd branch of the interior ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

The focus on the World Cup has stretched police so thin in at least one city response times have gotten slower. Officers have reportedly been working 14 hours a day and are on call for the rest.

“We understand that the leadership doesn't want to fall face first into the mud, so they're bringing lots of police to the the host cities, but other cities are suffering because of this,” Mr Vorontsov said, warning that crime could rise.

But even the most intensive security efforts can't replicate the “ring of steel” that encircled Sochi for the Olympics, as the World Cup will be held in 11 host cities across a territory of almost 2,000 miles.

“With these big events, the Russians are pretty good at throwing a lot of resources at the traditional methodology, but in the age of the YouTube-radicalised lone wolf it's always going to be difficult,” Mr Galeotti said. “At some point terrorism will get through.”

Besides terrorism, the authorities have cracked down on hooligans and Kremlin critics so that no unseemly protests or violence mar the tournament.

On Friday it emerged that a Krasnoyarsk woman faces five years in prison for allegedly kicking an officer at a May opposition protest.

[Sharania]

Don’t let the World Cup mask Russia’s vast corruption

RUSSIA’S EXPLOITATION of the World Cup soccer championship got underway days before the tournament officially began. Having induced Egypt’s team to train in Grozny, capital of the southern republic of Chechnya, its murderous ruler, Ramzan Kadyrov, dragged star player Mohamed Salah from his hotel so that he could pose with him before television cameras and a cheering crowd. Score one for Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s most notorious lieutenant, who has been linked to a string of political murders and singled out for U.S. sanctions.

Thanks to the 2010 decision by soccer’s corruption-ridden governing body to award this year’s championship to Russia, propaganda stunts of that sort can be expected for the next month by a regime that is anxious to ease its international isolation without retreating from its aggressions in Ukraine, Syria and cyberspace. Mr. Putin was at it before the opening game in Moscow on Thursday, inviting fans to “soak up the atmosphere of this great football holiday and, of course, enjoy their stay in an open, hospitable and welcoming Russia.”

To be sure, the regime paid heavily for this show — a reported $11 billion for stadiums and other infrastructure. Much of that went to Putin cronies such as Aras Agalarov, a former business partner of President Trump, whose company built a new stadium in the Baltic city of Kaliningrad at a cost of $280 million. The New York Times reported that the glittering new structure, which seats 35,000, will host four World Cup matches before being turned over to a local team that typically draws 4,000 fans to its games.

This display of waste and probable graft may well be accompanied by outbursts of racism and nationalism. Authorities are attempting to stifle Russian fans, who are known for chanting neo- ­Nazi slogans and greeting black players with monkey noises, but they are finding it harder to control the hate speech of Moscow politicians. Take Tamara Pletnyova, a parliamentary committee chairwoman, who this week advised Russian women not to hook up with foreign visitors — especially those of a different race.

Mr. Putin is likely disappointed by the thin ranks of foreign dignitaries attending the games — the heads of state are limited to former Soviet republics and a handful of African and Latin American countries. Politicians from Western democracies have been properly deterred by the recent attempted assassination of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain, which authorities have blamed on the Kremlin, as well as ongoing Russian efforts to meddle in Western elections.

Russia will nevertheless be the recipient of a month of mostly benign global media attention, and some of the glamour of the games is likely to rub off on Mr. Putin. Let’s all enjoy the soccer over the next month. But in doing so, let’s not forget that the regime seeking to burnish its reputation through this spectacle is guilty of vast corruption, murder of its domestic opponents and war against its neighbors.

[Relikai]

And good play to Russia for trying to keep the tens of thousands of visitors safe.

Back to the game, 8 hours to go

[Gim]

Portugal - Morocco : Portuiano Ronaldo to continue with his scoring record, unless Morocco decides to mark him out of the game like Liverpool did, causing players like Joao Moutinho to step up in the midfield. Draw likely unless Morocco commits fouls near the box, allowing Ronaldo to threaten with free kicks.

A must-win game for Portugal to secure the 4-point mark, especially when they could be accompanied by Spain or left behind by Iran in the later game.

Uruguay - Saudi Arabia : Suarez finally gets his game back on as he bares his fangs at Saudi Arabia after a piss poor first game in order to get their 6 points before facing Russia on Hax.

Iran - Spain : No longer against the best player in the world, Spain's attacking ruthlessness works better against an Iran which would be focused on a disciplined defence, aiming to hit the minimum of 4 points for qualification into the Last 16.

Glad to see that most of my analysis were close or spot on in terms of result, not necessarily with scoreline.

Next round of matches! This will be a tricky one!

Denmark vs Australia: Denmark has shown their averageness against Peru, with a moment of genius by Eriksen after showing their lack of ability to hold the midfield against a dogged Peruvian squad. So far, most European favorites have shown a vulnerability against hardworking teams, and those who start play from the back often fall to direct play. Australia has shown their direct play against France as well as a compact defence, as has been the key to victory for most underdogs in this tournament.

Prediction - DRAW, or a narrow win by Denmark.

France vs Peru: A battle of the midfield, Pogba and Co has to step up as does Griezmann to handle Peru. A win here would most likely assure them qualification unless Australia pulls off the win against Denmark in the earlier game. France most likely to keep a clean sheet although Peru would be keen to put their fullbacks to the test. While France's young wingers were mostly silenced against a strong Australian formation, Peru's discipline would be tested to the limit.

Prediction - France Win.

Argentina vs Croatia: Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic would seek to advise his teammates on how the Argentinian maestro handles his position behind the striker. However the main threat would come from Man City's Aguero and Angel di Maria should Croatia seek to play an attacking game. Personally I would see Modric being the midfielder relying on sitting deep and quick counterattacks. Argentina would perform more with a more compact front three with Aguero, Dybala and Higuain with Messi forming the link between them and the midfield. Croatia's taller defenders would also pose an issue for the shorter South Americans to rely on a passing game, a repeat of the Iceland match.

Prediction - DRAW, or a narrow win by Argentina.

Can you do a prediction for Korea versus Mexico game (Group F)?

[Infected Mushroom]

I have saved up a fantastic red wine for tonight’s France game.

France must win.

[Gim]

I have saved up a fantastic red wine for tonight’s France game.

France must win.

I'm sure they will. I will be rooting for them.

[Relikai]

Can you do a prediction for Korea versus Mexico game (Group F)?

if Mexico keeps up with their pacey game, they will go the distance to qualifying for the Last 16.

Among the four teams in Group F, Germany and Mexico are strong favorites to get through based on the quality of their players. While Germany played like absolute crap in the game versus Mexico, Ochoa pulled off his duty magnificently, denying whatever shots on target the Germans landed. Meanwhile, Mexico's pacey forwards were able to isolate the German defence due to the Germans pushing 8 men forward.

South Korea might be more disciplined in defence, but this is a match they cannot lose, or even draw from.

South Korea will be expected to push forward, and if Mexico keeps the same game plan up, I can see Vela, Hernandez and Lozano and Lajun exploiting 4v4 or 4v3 situations.

However, the Mexican finishing needs plenty of polishing as evidenced from the past match as well (Lajun, seriously?).

I'd say Mexico for a narrow win. If Hernandez can exploit the space with his agility he should be able to come into the game more (I expected him to be quiet during the GER-MEX game standing between GER's two large defenders in the GER box, but his assist came a distance back with Lozano's brilliant run.)

[Pasong Tirad]

I don't know much about football, but I'm watching the Denmark-Australia game right now and I have to say that Jedinak has a beautiful beard.

[Infected Mushroom]

I don't know much about football, but I'm watching the Denmark-Australia game right now and I have to say that Jedinak has a beautiful beard.

He looks like a real life Wildling

[Mohajir Sooba]

I don't know much about football, but I'm watching the Denmark-Australia game right now and I have to say that Jedinak has a beautiful beard.

He looks like a real life Wildling

He looks like a rain deer to me. But Ramos from Spain has got some class with looks.

[The Blaatschapen]

Congrats to Bert var Marwijk and his Australian team

[Infected Mushroom]

The snacks are set for France game...

2 bags of lays classic, 1 bottle of red wine (cabinet Sauvignon), 1 massive dish of pasta (tomato sauce with pork), 1 bag of duck wings soaked in soy...

It’s too bad all the canned olives have been exhausted...

[San Regada]

I think that's the first case of mistaken identity we've had this World Cup. Good use of VAR once again. Poor Peru. No complaints really, France has been the marginally better team. Peru had some decent chances.

[MERIZoC]

Disappointed by the results of both matches today, even if the second gives the Danes a better chance. Poor Peru, they’re probably gonna end up the best team to not advance.

[Infected Mushroom]

Disappointed by the results of both matches today, even if the second gives the Danes a better chance. Poor Peru, they’re probably gonna end up the best team to not advance.

France deserved the win. 100.

[DesAnges]

Disappointed by the results of both matches today, even if the second gives the Danes a better chance. Poor Peru, they’re probably gonna end up the best team to not advance.

That'll be Germany m80

(Or for an actual answer, Colombia)

[MERIZoC]

Disappointed by the results of both matches today, even if the second gives the Danes a better chance. Poor Peru, they’re probably gonna end up the best team to not advance.

That'll be Germany m80

(Or for an actual answer, Colombia)

Haha. I think both of them still make it out, maybe not Colombia, time will tell though.

[The Archregimancy]

Looks at the Group B C table

So, France - Denmark is presumably going to end in a draw, then.

Edit:
Group C; of course I meant Group C!

[San Regada]

Terrible mistake from Caballero. I knew something like this was going to happen, both goalkeepers have been making a lot of terrible mistakes.

It's looking more like Croatia and Iceland will go through, with Argentina being the surprise drop out. Not really surprised about Nigeria.

Though it is still too early to be certain. There are a lot of twists and turns in this World Cup!