2018 FIFA World Cup Megathread

[Relikai]

VILLAIN TURNED HERO! KROOS WITH A 95TH MINUTE GOAL

[Shofercia]

Referee for Team Germany MVP!

[True Alimeria]

GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!111111111111!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GOOOOO GERMANYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

[Neu Leonstein]

I need a lie-down.

EDIT: Lineker with an update:

Football is a simple game, 22 men chase the ball for 82 minutes and the Germans get a player sent off so 21 men chase the ball for 13 minutes and at the end the Germans somehow fucking win.

[Rio Cana]

Yes, the Germans won with less then one minute on the clock for a 2 to 1 victory. That ball curved very nicely into the net. Has for the Swedish team and fans, it seems they are in shock.

[Fartsniffage]

For 90 glorious minutes German fans knew what it was like to be an England fan.

[Tinhampton]

This is the only time in my life I'll be able to say this, but I'm going to say it: Fuck off, Robin Olsen.

(failing that, I suppose that those of you who hold "never trust the MSM" as a watchword will only have those beliefs strengthened as a result of large-scale media what-iffery for virtually the entire game)

[True Alimeria]

This is the only time in my life I'll be able to say this, but I'm going to say it: Fuck off, Robin Olsen.

The way he immediately jumped on the ground everytime when he caught the ball fkin pissed me off.

[Arotania]

For 90 glorious minutes German fans knew what it was like to be an England fan.

We experienced Euro 2000 and '04, so we know hurt. Fwiw I really wouldn't mind England winning something major (you got a couple recent youth titles iirc) again, for a change. Let's meet in the final

Also I am soooo relieved. This game cost me a couple of years of my life. Hope lives on, at least for another game.

[Neu Leonstein]

For 90 glorious minutes German fans knew what it was like to be an England fan.

I don't like it. Hope they go back to playing football like normal again.

Boateng out might actually help. He had a bad game, yes, but it also feels like they've pushed his usual forward involvement (accurate long balls diagonally to the opposite fullback) even further, so that now he keeps playing low diagonal passes from well into the opposition half. I don't like it. It's not like there aren't enough people who can play a good pass in the team.

[Geisenfried]

I am still flipping out, I so thought once Brandt hit the post again that was it

What a freaking shot by Kroos. They did it. THEY DID IT

Still too susceptible to the counterattack, but man, with Boateng out and down to the last sub, they put on another attacker and pushed for it all and they did it

DEEEEUUUUTSCHLAAAAND!

[Lillorainen]

Gosh. I can't put into words what I'm thinking. Still too excited about our luck and that gorgeous goal.

[Neu Leonstein]

Kroos in post-match interview (his usual testy self): "Many people in Germany might have been happy if we'd been eliminated. But we're not going to make it that easy for them."

A few pictures:
Ball touches (Germany on the left, Sweden on the right): https://images.scribblelive.com/2018/6/ ... 089f42.jpg

Kroos ball touches: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DgZsR4LX4AY0pED.jpg

German shots on goal: https://images.scribblelive.com/2018/6/ ... a4d548.jpg

[Kita-Hinode]

Damn it, Sweden. Doomed us all!

[MERIZoC]

The worst fucking slide I've ever seen. Jesus christ, you were this close.

[Tinhampton]

I can see it now. Victory against South Korea in the group stages, victory against Brazil (or Switzerland, depending on how much you underestimate Serbia) in the round of 16, victory against Belgium in the quarter-finals, victory against France in the semi-finals. Victory over Spain in the final. Germany, winners of the 2018 World Cup.

Germany, winners of the 2022 World Cup. Germany, winners of the 2026 World Cup(?) Six-time World Cup champions at a minimum. The most resilient Golden Generation in history. Joachim Low, the greatest manager of all time... and all because some random Swede decided to make a risky challenge four minutes into injury time a decade earlier. I am not affiliated with the "show of eight Kings" from Act 4 Scene 1 of Macbeth.

---

Note how I have Belgium, not England, down to lose in the quarter-finals. This is me running under the assumption that we'll get something out of the Panamaians but fail to win against the Belgians. The top team from Group G, our group, face the second from Group H (and vice versa, which should be easy for either team from Group G... in theory).
However, the winner of 1G vs 2H will have to face whoever comes out on top at 1E vs 2F (which, at this rate, will be a re-run of Brazil vs Germany), which we should all know by now is effectively a death sentence). The winner of 2G vs 1H, on the other hand, will have to face the victor of 2E vs 1F (currently Mexico vs Switzerland - much nicer... in theory). England is of ded if we win against the Red Devils, as a result, but we could find ourselves in deep doggy-doo even if we don't (note that Helvetica is ranked sixth by FIFA/Coca-Cola rankings).
Of course, there is also the possibility that South Korea could pull off The Biggest Shock At This World Cup So Far!^TM and Mexico fail to triumph on the final matchday (or Brazil decide to seriously underestimate Serbia), in which case so long Tinhampton's reputation, it was nice knowing you.

[MERIZoC]

Players at the biggest expression of national pride in the world should be fined for....expressing national pride.

They're playing for Switzerland, not Kosovo. Essentially, they're using FIFA to broadcast their cheap shot propaganda to millions of viewers, whereas had they been playing for Kosovo, they would've gotten a few thousand.

They're Swiss and they're Kosovan. This isn't a hard concept to grasp. Your second sentence is just, as I said before, more Serb bullshit. Go apologize for ethnic cleansing somewhere else.

Because international sports isn't a place to express your political bullshit. FIFA has specific rules against that. They were invited to play by FIFA. Without FIFA, they wouldn't have had millions of viewers, because, to be frank, they ain't that good. Had VAR administrators actually performed their damn jobs, Serbia would've won, and they would've continued on with their insignificant existence.

lol you seem mad :^)

[True Alimeria]

Players at the biggest expression of national pride in the world should be fined for....expressing national pride.

They're playing for Switzerland, not Kosovo. Essentially, they're using FIFA to broadcast their cheap shot propaganda to millions of viewers, whereas had they been playing for Kosovo, they would've gotten a few thousand.

"Kosovo is Serbia only if my mother is a virgin." - Zlatan Ibro Ibrahimovic

[Shofercia]

They're playing for Switzerland, not Kosovo. Essentially, they're using FIFA to broadcast their cheap shot propaganda to millions of viewers, whereas had they been playing for Kosovo, they would've gotten a few thousand.

They're Swiss and they're Kosovan. This isn't a hard concept to grasp. Your second sentence is just, as I said before, more Serb bullshit. Go apologize for ethnic cleansing somewhere else.

Because international sports isn't a place to express your political bullshit. FIFA has specific rules against that. They were invited to play by FIFA. Without FIFA, they wouldn't have had millions of viewers, because, to be frank, they ain't that good. Had VAR administrators actually performed their damn jobs, Serbia would've won, and they would've continued on with their insignificant existence.

lol you seem mad :^)

FIFA has rules. They signed contracts with FIFA. They broke the contracts they signed. Ergo, they can get punished. It isn't a hard concept to grasp. They can represent Kosovo on their own time, not on FIFA's time. If I'm working, and being paid, I don't get to go on a rant at work, and then claim that it was tangentially related, so that I'm not punished for my rant.

As far as apologizing for ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, I'm not a Clinton fan. Never was. Not seeing why I should apologize for the end results of a policy I opposed. Oh, and at the actual trial, Milosevic's cross of Ranta established that Racak wasn't quite the "ethnic cleansing" that it was made out to be. It's just that they didn't have social media back then... unfortunately.

[Lillorainen]

They're playing for Switzerland, not Kosovo. Essentially, they're using FIFA to broadcast their cheap shot propaganda to millions of viewers, whereas had they been playing for Kosovo, they would've gotten a few thousand.

"Kosovo is Serbia only if my mother is a virgin." - Zlatan Ibro Ibrahimovic

Ibrahimović is of Bosnian origin, not of Serbian.

And I agree that Swiss players shouldn't be spreading some cheap shot propaganda from a country they technically aren't from (only have roots in it). It would be the same as me representing Germany on the field and broadcasting some "Kosovo je Srbija" shit. It just doesn't belong there no matter what perspective you consider it from.

[Shofercia]

They're playing for Switzerland, not Kosovo. Essentially, they're using FIFA to broadcast their cheap shot propaganda to millions of viewers, whereas had they been playing for Kosovo, they would've gotten a few thousand.

"Kosovo is Serbia only if my mother is a virgin." - Zlatan Ibro Ibrahimovic

"If I wasn't married, I would plant my gene seed in many American women to raise the level of soccer in America" - also Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He can certainly troll, although I doubt he's got an account on NSG

[Neu Leonstein]

Maybe take the troglodyte nationalist BS to another thread, no?

[Shofercia]

"Kosovo is Serbia only if my mother is a virgin." - Zlatan Ibro Ibrahimovic

Ibrahimović is of Bosnian origin, not of Serbian.

And I agree that Swiss players shouldn't be spreading some cheap shot propaganda from a country they technically aren't from (only have roots in it). It would be the same as me representing Germany on the field and broadcasting some "Kosovo je Srbija" shit. It just doesn't belong there no matter what perspective you consider it from.

Bingo ^

Or, to put in another way - imagine you're watching a movie, or a play, or an opera, and right in the middle of the movie/play/opera, some rude fucker runs up on the stage/hacks the movie screen/interrupts the play and starts broadcasting political bullshit. Would you feel pissed off? That's how real sports fans feel with all of this bullshit. I've debated politics numerous times, I don't find most of it even remotely offensive, but if I'm enjoying a sports game, I really don't have time for political bullshit.

[Relikai]

This isn't the thread for salty nationalism. Bring that shit somewhere else.

Edit - Imagine Ozil or Khedirea doing some Turkish thingy against the Greeks should they score. Condemnation is to be expected.

[MERIZoC]

They're Swiss and they're Kosovan. This isn't a hard concept to grasp. Your second sentence is just, as I said before, more Serb bullshit. Go apologize for ethnic cleansing somewhere else.


lol you seem mad :^)

FIFA has rules. They signed contracts with FIFA. They broke the contracts they signed. Ergo, they can get punished. It isn't a hard concept to grasp. They can represent Kosovo on their own time, not on FIFA's time. If I'm working, and being paid, I don't get to go on a rant at work, and then claim that it was tangentially related, so that I'm not punished for my rant.

And they won't be punished lol. Stay mad. Fuck Serbia.

As far as apologizing for ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, I'm not a Clinton fan. Never was. Not seeing why I should apologize for the end results of a policy I opposed. Oh, and at the actual trial, Milosevic's cross of Ranta established that Racak wasn't quite the "ethnic cleansing" that it was made out to be. It's just that they didn't have social media back then... unfortunately.

Disgusting.