THE OFFICIAL FIFA WORLD CUP 2018 IN RUSSIA THREAD!

[rictor]

Good for them, taking advantage of Colombias not-so-good form. Now they can seriously think about advancing to the knock-out stage. And Poland joins the list of countries that flopped.

[K1power]

Germany defeats Sweden at the last second and avoids early elimination (for the time being)!

Very happy and still shaking!

[K1power]

Japan vs. Senegal ends in 2-2 after a very entertaining game.

[K1power]

Well, that was it for Germany. While part of me didn't expect them to go far this tournament to begin with, I can't help but feel crappy about it. We managed to look spectacularly bad in every game to a point where advancing would have felt undeserved, really.

Oh well, congrats to Korea for winning.

I'm rooting for Japan and Portugal for the rest of the tournament.

[Shadess]

Probably the best sporting tournament in my life so far :/

[K1power]

Trying to look at it from a more neutral point of view I think it's been pretty decent so far:

It has been a bit less predictable than the last few tournaments and I like that the 'big football nations' are somewhat struggling against underdogs. We've had some fun games and a few great ones. I particularly liked Spain vs. Portugal and Japan vs. Senegal. I liked Germany vs. Sweden as a thrill ride, but not as a 'good' game because it really wasn't.

What I don't like is (obviously) Germany not even surviving the group phase, African and Asian countries for the most part looking traditionally bad and after all is said and done probably still ending up with a predictable champ again like Spain, who I feel have won enough in recent history.

[lero]

Brazil should win this.

[K1power]

w000t Japan advances to the next round! Their match against Poland just now wasn't pretty, but due to the fair play criterium of having received less cards than Senegal they -barely- made it to the 2nd spot of the group.

The one thing I would have preferred to see here was Senegal advancing over Colombia to at least have one African nation in the next round.

[karaevfan]

Yay?

[K1power]

Asolutely yay!

Japan delivered in two out of three matches and running down the clock for 3 minutes at the end of the last game instead of stupidly risking elimination to score a goal that just wasn't gonna happen would have been the more spirited, but definitely the less strategic option. Blame the rules for encouraging this behaviour.

I don't really like Japan's chances against Belgium or England though.

[karaevfan]

WWGSD

What would Garyu Shingo Do

[K1power]

[K1power]

BTW I'm equally disappointed and disgusted by how seemingly half the world seems to be celebrating Germany's elimination.

Harsh - but justified - criticism on the their weak performance and having some fun with it is one thing, but this is beyond just 'Schadenfreude'. I have the impression that a lot of people, for whatever reason, deeply to their fucking core hate Germany and Germans and I find it very disheartening. Maybe it's a bit blown out of proportion for me since I live in Holland, but man..

German press ain't much better either, though. 4 years ago Löw was God and now he's the devil. People are so quick to forget the good things you did when things aren't going according to plan.

To make things worse, I just read that in Lebanon a 20 year old kid was stabbed to death for celebrating Germany's elimination. Poor kid, what hellish direction of extremes are we as a people heading towards?

[Shadess]

For me and what I've seen at least just mostly seems having fun with it.
Excluding that last stabbing bit...

[K1power]

On to more positive things: Belgium is taking on England to decide the #1 in their group.

Two of the few bigger football nations that have actually delivered thus far and can be considered contenders if they manage to keep their current levels up.