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Posted by: Mack. 15th May 2018, 03:46 PM

With less than a month to go until it begins. Who do you think will win it?


GROUP A:

Russia
Uruguay
Egypt
Saudi Arabia


GROUP B:

Portugal
Spain
Iran
Morocco



GROUP C

France
Peru
Denmark
Australia


GROUP D
Argentina
Croatia
Iceland
Nigeria

GROUP E

Brazil
Switzerland
Costa Rica
Serbia


GROUP F

Germany,
Mexico
Sweden
South Korea

GROUP G

Belgium
England,
Tunisia
Panama

GROUP H

Poland
Colombia
Senegal
Japan

Posted by: Mack. 15th May 2018, 04:11 PM

UK Broadcasting Teams:




ITV Team

Presenters:
Mark Pougatch
Jacqui Oatley

Pundits:
Gary Neville
Ryan Giggs
Roy Keane
Ian Wright
Lee Dixon
Eniola Aluko
Patrice Evra
Henrik Larsson
Martin O'Neill
Slaven Bilic
Mark Clattenburg

Reporters
Gabriel Clarke
Seema Jaswal

Commentators
Clive Tyldesley
Sam Matterface
Jon Champion
Joe Speight

Co-commentators
Glenn Hoddle
Ally McCoist
Ian Dowie


BBC

TV

Gary Lineker, Dan Walker, Gabby Logan, Alan Shearer, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Didier Drogba, Pablo Zabaleta, Jurgen Klinsmann, Phil Neville, Jermaine Jenas, Danny Murphy, Martin Keown, Alex Scott,

Commentary

Kevin Kilbane, Guy Mowbray, Mark Lawrenson, Steve Wilson, Jonathan Pearce, Steve Bower, Simon Brotherton, Vicki Sparks

Posted by: Evil Houdini 15th May 2018, 04:19 PM

Hopefully this will be a World Cup filled with lots of goals. It would be great to have a match like the recent Tottenham Vs Leicester match, especially if it happens in the knockout stage.

Posted by: 5 Silas Frøkner 15th May 2018, 07:02 PM

Team Deutschland!!! Hoping that the Bundesrepublik can do the double.

Posted by: Rooney 15th May 2018, 07:05 PM

Brazil have the best squad on paper. Can't really see past them or Germany. The dark horse for me would be Peru.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 15th May 2018, 07:06 PM

I'm hoping for a few surprises in the group stage and hopefully a few giant-killings as well! Oh and us to not finish last in our group.

Posted by: 5 Silas Frøkner 15th May 2018, 07:12 PM

They did in 2014 as well and had their ass handed to them by Germany so badly that the all Brazilians in the stadium, in Brazil, were cheering for Germany by part way through the second half!!

Posted by: Iz 15th May 2018, 07:30 PM

Germany vs Brazil round of 16. Calling it. (and then Germany will win the whole thing)

I'm still feeling like Belgium will go down to the semi-finals at the least if not facing Germany in the final. I flip-flop on my opinion of Argentina's ability all the time but they've surely got to be dangerous also.

Group B as the group of death, both Morocco and Iran are very good defensive teams, I wouldn't too surprised at all if Spain and/or Portugal came unstuck there, could be some interesting second-rounders making it through in A, F (well, the runner-up) and H at the least.

Posted by: Rooney 15th May 2018, 07:35 PM

True, but losing Neymar was a huge blow and I also think the team just crumbled without him. Plus it was a good squad but littered with a strange policy to select Brazillian based players. I think they're better now than they were in 2014, whereas I don't think this current German team is quite as good as it was 4 years ago.

Can't see Belgium doing that well, they have a talented squad but I have a feeling they will suffer a similar fate as the England golden generation of 2006. Lots of good players, but can never quite get the winning formula for a good team. Also don't rate Martinez.

Posted by: Mack. 15th May 2018, 07:44 PM

Expect some more World Cup threads coming up.

Looking to do a thread for each group if that's all right.

Posted by: Rooney 15th May 2018, 07:57 PM

Should do a thread for each group and then separate threads for the England games.

Posted by: Evil Houdini 15th May 2018, 08:10 PM

Apparently Joe Hart & Jack Wilshere are going to be left out of England's squad. I doubt Joe Hart will get another opportunity to play in a World Cup.

Posted by: Rooney 15th May 2018, 09:24 PM

Bertrand apparently also misses out. But Jake Livermore makes it.

Posted by: Dobbo 15th May 2018, 09:29 PM

And quite rightly so too (ironically Wilshere was still a far better shout this time than he was at the Euros). Good to see Southgate showing some balls, although I'll refrain anymore judgement until the final squad is revealed.

Livermore? well I take that back then.

Posted by: ML Hammer95 15th May 2018, 09:34 PM

My predictions:

A: Uruguay, Egypt
B: Spain, Morocco
C: France, Denmark
D: Nigeria, Croatia (yes, Argentina out R1... can see them flopping big time)
E: Brazil, Serbia
F: Germany, Mexico
G: England, Belgium (I'm getting Euro 2012 vibes from this team)
H: Senegal, Poland (hardest group to predict)

QFS: Uruguay France, Spain Nigeria, Brazil England, Germany Belgium
SF: France Brazil, Spain Belgium
F: France Spain

Spain to win.

Posted by: Mack. 16th May 2018, 03:46 PM

England's World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Stoke), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley).

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Manchester United).

Midfielders: Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea).

Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal).

Standby: Lewis Cook (Bournemouth), Tom Heaton (Burnley), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), Jake Livermore (West Brom), James Tarkowski (Burnley).

Posted by: Rooney 16th May 2018, 06:00 PM

Pretty strange that Cahill got a call-up last minute. While Welbeck will get the stick, I think you could make an argument for Rashford not going either due to playing time Problem is we lack pace and strikers, so I can see why Welbeck especially has been chosen.

Posted by: Dobbo 16th May 2018, 06:09 PM

Welbeck is one of the very few players who seems to actually perform better in an England shirt than for his club, very much like Peter Crouch was back in the day so not too bad an inclusion I guess.

I really think Shelvey should have been given a shot. Also it me or is that squad rather imbalanced? Why SO many defenders?

Posted by: Rooney 16th May 2018, 06:42 PM

It does look slightly imbalanced, but I suppose I put that down to the 3-5-2 we will likely adopt.

It's a massive shame both Lallana and Oxlade-Chamberlain are not fit/ injured. Shelvey has been in great form in 2018, I guess the idea is that Delph will be a midfielder.

Posted by: RabbitFurCoat 16th May 2018, 08:00 PM

From the last few games, I think Cahill has taken Gomez's place and he wouldn't be back in if he were fit.

Welbeck has always played really well for England.

Am a massive fan of this squad and continue to be hugely impressed by Southgate. The way he's dropped underachieving players from previous squads so quickly and easily - Rooney, Walcott, Smalling, Wilshere - and now Hart too. I understand why it looks a bit daft for him to have played him so often, but Butland spent most of last season injured and Pickford only started playing regularly part of the way through last season. The keepers in his first squad were Hart, Forster and Heaton. Realistically I don't think Heaton was ever going to be no.1, especially as he'd only been back in the PL for about half a dozen games, and Forster has always been in squads because there's no one else. Hart was first choice by default and never really did enough wrong for England following that.

Southgate is a massive fan of versatile players so no surprise to see the likes of Welbeck, Young, Delph and Alexander-Arnold included ahead of others which aren't.

I sort of get the Shelvey fuss, but seems like far more than performances and form are taken into account, not trustworthy and not the greatest influence on a squad who seem like a really close-knit group of players. I also think a player like him would be utterly useless against teams that'll have less possession and not sure he's disciplined enough against better teams.

Lallana is the one player I would like to have seen in the squad, but he's completed one 90 minutes all season so no complaints.

Posted by: Rooney 16th May 2018, 08:15 PM

Yeah it's not a bad squad at all, and like you say if Lallana, Gomez and Ox were fit then you would expect they would take the places or probably Delph, Cahill and Loftus-Cheek. But these things happen and I think it's an interesting mix. I think our central defence is probably the weakest spot, there is a bit of a lack of consistency (I honestly don't get the hype around Maguire) but everyone has to start somewhere.

Exciting to think Sessengon and Sancho can't be too far away from the next squad either.

Posted by: Suedehead2 16th May 2018, 10:36 PM

So Spain to start and end the tournament with a match against their neighbours

Posted by: Mack. 17th May 2018, 10:19 AM

How far do people think England will go in the World Cup?

Posted by: Dobbo 17th May 2018, 11:16 AM

Last 16 at best.

Posted by: Evil Houdini 17th May 2018, 01:06 PM

I think England will get to the Round of 16 and get knocked out by Colombia.

Posted by: DJHazey 17th May 2018, 03:53 PM

Two factors when making predictions:

The darkhorses Peru will be without their captain Guerrero as he been suspended for doping and Iceland may or may not be without four of their top players as they are battling serious injuries and may not be fit.

Posted by: DJHazey 17th May 2018, 04:00 PM

That said my predictions:

A: Uruguay, Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia
B: Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Iran
C: France, Denmark, Peru, Australia
D: Argentina, Croatia, Nigeria, Iceland
E: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Costa Rica
F: Germany, Mexico, Sweden, Korea Republic
G: Belgium, England, Tunisia, Panama
H: Colombia, Poland, Senegal, Japan

Round of 16: Morocco over Uruguay, France over Croatia, Brazil over Mexico, Belgium over Poland, Spain over Egypt, Argentina over Denmark, Germany over Switzerland, England over Colombia

Quarterfinals: Morocco over France, Brazil over Belgium, Spain over Argentina, Germany over England

Semifinals: Brazil over Morocco, Spain over Germany

Final: Brazil over Spain

Posted by: Dobbo 17th May 2018, 04:11 PM

Morocco? Well I suppose there's always one team that defies the odds.

I also fear we would get torn to shreds by Colombia. I'm hoping Poland top that group I think we'd have a better chance against them!

Posted by: Evil Houdini 17th May 2018, 05:19 PM

My predictions:

A: 1st Uruguay, 2nd Egypt, 3rd Russia, 4th Saudi Arabia
B: 1st Spain, 2nd Portugal, 3rd Morocco, 4th Iran
C: 1st France, 2nd Peru, 3rd Denmark, 4th Australia
D: 1st Argentina, 2nd Croatia, 3rd Nigeria, 4th Iceland
E: 1st Brazil, 2nd Serbia, 3rd Switzerland, 4th Costa Rica
F: 1st Germany, 2nd Mexico, 3rd Sweden, 4th Korea Republic
G: 1st Belgium, 2nd England, 3rd Tunisia, 4th Panama
H: 1st Colombia, 2nd Poland, 3rd Japan, 4th Senegal


Round of 16: Uruguay, France, Brazil, Belgium, Spain, Argentina, Germany, Colombia

Quarter Finals: France, Brazil, Spain, Germany

Semi Final: France, Germany

Winners: France

Runners Up: Germany

3rd Place Bronze Medal: Spain

4th: Brazil

Posted by: Dobbo 17th May 2018, 05:27 PM

I'll just do my Group predictions for now:

A:
Uruguay, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia

B:
Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Iran

C:
France, Peru, Denmark, Australia

D:
Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, Nigeria

E:
Brazil, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Serbia

F:
Germany, Mexico, South Korea, Sweden

G:
Belgium, England, Panama, Tunisia

H:
Colombia, Poland, Japan, Senegal

Posted by: Rooney 17th May 2018, 06:22 PM

I think we can make the quarter finals.

Posted by: Rooney 17th May 2018, 06:24 PM

My group selections:

A: Uruguay, Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia
B: Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Iran
C: France, Denmark, Peru, Australia
D: Argentina, Croatia, Nigeria, Iceland
E: Brazil, Switzerland, Serbia, Costa Rica
F: Germany, Mexico, Sweden, Korea Republic
G: Belgium, England, Tunisia, Panama
H: Colombia, Poland, Senegal, Japan

Posted by: RabbitFurCoat 18th May 2018, 05:08 PM

I have two bets on for the World Cup so far. Morocco to qualify from the group, and Salah e/w top scorer. Could get a few in that group quite easily.

Posted by: Rooney 18th May 2018, 07:17 PM

Salah top scorer is definitely a great shout. I fancy Iran not to score a single goal, it's a good price.

Posted by: Evil Houdini 18th May 2018, 07:37 PM

I dont think Salah will be the top goalscorer because Egypt probably wont go far in the tournament, he'll probably score a few in the group stage though. I think Antoine Griezmann is the most likely person to win the golden boot.

Posted by: Rooney 24th May 2018, 08:37 PM

You probably only need to score 3/4 goals though to be in the top 4 goalscorers. Most of Egypt's goals come through Salah and I think they have a fairly open group so potentially a bit of money to be made. Also fancy Mbappe to be top scorer ew (33/1).

Price is a little too short for me, but Iniesta to get the Golden Ball is a good shout too.

Posted by: RabbitFurCoat 25th May 2018, 04:36 PM

Yeah mainly going for the e/w. Last World Cup only two got more than 4, there were four players with 5 at 2010, and only Klose scored more than 3 in '06!

Posted by: Evil Houdini 25th May 2018, 07:34 PM

It will probably be Iniesta's last World Cup and it would be a fitting way to end his legendary World Cup career if he won that award. The Golden Ball in general is really hard to predict, I don't think Lionel Messi deserved it at the last World Cup and it was probably only given to him due to him being the face of Adidas at the time. He was average by his standards at the World Cup four years ago.

Posted by: Mack. 25th May 2018, 08:23 PM

A look at the World Cup fixtures

Group stages

Thursday 14 June

Russia vs Saudi Arabia (Group A) - Moscow (Luzhniki) - 4pm - ITV

Friday 15 June

Egypt vs Uruguay (Group A) - Ekaterinburg - 1pm - BBC
Morocco vs Iran (Group B) - St Petersburg - 4pm - ITV
Portugal vs Spain (Group B) - Sochi - 7pm - BBC

Saturday 16 June

France vs Australia (Group C) - Kazan - 11am - BBC
Argentina vs Iceland (Group D) - Moscow (Spartak) - 2pm - ITV
Peru vs Denmark (Group C) - Saransk - 5pm - BBC
Croatia vs Nigeria (Group D) - Kaliningrad - 8pm - ITV

Sunday 17 June

Costa Rica vs Serbia (Group E) - Samara - 1pm - ITV
Germany vs Mexico (Group F) - Moscow (Luzhniki) - 4pm - BBC
Brazil vs Switzerland (Group E) - Rostov-on-Don - 7pm - ITV






Monday 18 June

Sweden vs South Korea (Group F) - Nizhny Novgorod - 1pm - ITV
Belgium vs Panama (Group G) - Sochi - 4pm - BBC
Tunisia vs England (Group G) - Volgograd - 7pm - BBC

Tuesday 19 June

Colombia vs Japan (Group H) - Saransk - 1pm - BBC
Poland vs Senegal (Group H) - Moscow (Spartak) - 4pm - ITV
Russia vs Egypt (Group A) - St Petersburg - 7pm - BBC

Wednesday 20 June

Portugal vs Morocco (Group B) - Moscow (Luzhniki) - 1pm - BBC
Uruguay vs Saudi Arabia (Group A) - Rostov-on-Don - 4pm - BBC
Iran vs Spain (Group B) - Kazan - 7pm - ITV

Thursday 21 June

Denmark vs Australia (Group C) - Samara - 1pm - ITV
France vs Peru (Group C) - Ekaterinburg - 4pm - ITV
Argentina vs Croatia (Group D) - Nizhny Novgorod - 7pm - BBC

Friday 22 June

Brazil vs Costa Rica (Group E) - St Petersburg - 1pm - ITV
Nigeria vs Iceland (Group D) - Volgograd - 4pm - BBC
Serbia vs Switzerland (Group E) - Kaliningrad - 7pm - BBC

Saturday 23 June

Belgium vs Tunisia (Group G) - Moscow (Spartak) - 1pm - BBC
South Korea vs Mexico (Group F) - Rostov-on-Don - 4pm - ITV
Germany v Sweden (Group F) - Sochi - 7pm - ITV






Sunday 24 June

England vs Panama (Group G) - Nizhny Novgorod - 1pm - BBC
Japan vs Senegal (Group H) - Ekaterinburg - 4pm - BBC
Poland vs Colombia (Group H) - Kazan - 7pm - ITV

Monday 25 June

Uruguay vs Russia (Group A) - Samara - 3pm - ITV
Saudi Arabia vs Egypt (Group A) - Volgograd - 3pm - ITV
Spain vs Morocco (Group B) - Kaliningrad - 7pm- BBC
Iran vs Portugal (Group B) - Saransk - 7pm - BBC

Tuesday 26 June

Denmark vs France (Group C) - Moscow (Luzhniki) - 3pm - ITV
Australia vs Peru (Group C) - Sochi - 3pm - ITV
Nigeria vs Argentina (Group D) - St Petersburg - 7pm - BBC
Iceland vs Croatia (Group D) - Rostov-on-Don - 7pm - BBC

Wednesday 27 June

South Korea vs Germany (Group F) - Kazan - 3pm - BBC
Mexico vs Sweden (Group F) - Ekaterinburg - 3pm - BBC
Serbia vs Brazil (Group E) - Moscow (Spartak) - 7pm - ITV
Switzerland vs Costa Rica (Group E) - Nizhny Novgorod - 7pm - ITV

Thursday 28 June

Japan vs Poland (Group H) - Volgograd - 3pm - BBC
Senegal vs Colombia (Group H) - Samara - 3pm - BBC
England vs Belgium (Group G) - Kaliningrad - 7pm - ITV
Panama vs Tunisia (Group G) - Saransk - 7pm - ITV

Posted by: Iz 27th May 2018, 09:13 AM

Taking this over from the Champions League thread:

Gah, I agree! He was one of the players I was most looking forward to seeing in action when I turn up for watching international football matches. Egyptian FA is saying they're hopeful but from what I hear it was a fairly nasty injury. Best of luck for him recovering.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 27th May 2018, 01:47 PM

A bit late but here are my Group Stage predictions:

A:
Uruguay, Egypt, Russia, Saudi Arabia

B:
Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Iran

C:
Peru, Denmark, France, Australia

D:
Argentina, Croatia, Iceland, Nigeria

E:
Brazil, Costa Rica, Serbia, Switzerland

F:
Germany, South Korea, Sweden, Mexico,

G:
Belgium, Panama, England, Tunisia

H:
Colombia, Japan, Poland, Senegal

Obviously England have a good chance of qualifying but I wouldn't be surprised if they have another shocker

Posted by: Mack. 3rd June 2018, 03:50 PM

For me, I think the teams going through in the groups will be:

GROUP A:
Uruguay
Egypt



GROUP B:

Spain
Portugal


GROUP C
France
Denmark


GROUP D
Argentina
Iceland

GROUP E

Brazil
Switzerland


GROUP F

Germany
Mexico


GROUP G

Belgium
England



GROUP H

Colombia
Poland

Posted by: Mack. 5th June 2018, 07:05 PM

Golden Boot Odds:

Top Goalscorer

9/1 Lionel Messi
10/1 Neymar
12/1 Cristiano Ronaldo
12/1 Antoine Griezmann
14/1 Gabriel Jesus
14/1 Timo Werner
16/1 Sergio Aguero
16/1 Thomas Muller
16/1 Harry Kane
18/1 Romelu Lukaku
20/1 Edinson Cavani
20/1 Luis Suarez
20/1 Gonzalo Higuain
22/1Diego Costa
25/1 Roberto Firmino
33/1 Iago Aspas
33/1 James Rodriguez
33/1 Paulo Dybala
33/1 Mario Gomez
33/1 Angel Di Maria
33/1 Robert Lewandowski
33/1 Radamel Falcao
33/1 Mohamed Salah
33/1 Kylian Mbappe
33/1 Sandro Wagner
40/1 Mauro Icardi
40/1 Dele Alli
40/1 Philippe Coutinho
40/1 Olivier Giroud
40/1 Eden Hazard
40/1 Rodrigo Moreno
50/1 Dries Mertens
50/1 Pedro
50/1 Isco
50/1 David Silva
55/1 Raheem Sterling
66/1 Mario Mandzukic
66/1 Jamie Vardy
66/1 Marco Reus
66/1 Paul Pogba
66/1 Willian
75/1 Marco Asensio
80/1 Marcus Rashford
80/1 Paulinho
80/1 Andre Silva
80/1 Carlos Bacca
80/1 Christian Eriksen
80/1 Sadio Mane
100/1 Mesut Ozil
100/1 Danny Welbeck
100/1 Toni Kroos
100/1 Ahmed Musa
100/1 Aleksandr Kokorin
100/1 Fyodor Smolov
100/1Aleksandr Mitrovic
100/1 Thomas Lemar
100/1 Michy Batshuayi
100/1 Arkadiusz Milik
100/1 Jesse Lingard
100/1 Shinji Kagaw
100/1 Heung Min Son
100/1 Gylfi Sigurdsson
100/1 Julian Draxler
100/1 Javier Hernandez
100/1 Kevin De Bruyne
100/1 Sergio Ramos
500/1 Tom Rogic
500/1 Jordan Henderson

Posted by: Iz 5th June 2018, 07:51 PM

https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2018/jun/05/world-cup-2018-complete-guide-players-ratings-goals-caps

This is some impressive work from The Guardian in providing a lowdown on every single player in the World Cup, I'm going to be bookmarking so that I can look like I know what I'm talking about in the weeks to come.

Posted by: Mack. 7th June 2018, 06:26 PM

Thanks for sharing this link, Iz~

Just another friendly to endure with England v Costa Rica tonight.

Posted by: Mack. 7th June 2018, 06:41 PM

Outright Odds to win the World Cup

Brazil 9/2jf
Germany 9/2jf
France 11/2
Spain 6/1
Argentina 9/1
Belgium 11/1
England 16/1
Portugal 25/1
Uruguay 25/1
Croatia 28/1
Colombia 33/1
Poland 50/1
Russia 50/1
Denmark 100/1
Mexico 100/1
Switzerland 100/1
Egypt 150/1
Nigeria 150/1
Senegal 150/1
Serbia 150/1
Sweden 150/1
Peru 200/1
Iceland 250/1
Japan 250/1
Costa Rica 300/1
Morocco 300/1
South Korea 400/1
Australia 500/1
Iran 500/1
Tunisia 750/1
Panama 1000/1
Saudi Arabia 1000/1

Posted by: Steve201 7th June 2018, 07:32 PM

Rashford is class. Looks like he plays with so much freedom for England!

Posted by: mdh 7th June 2018, 10:41 PM

England performance tonight was very promising, nice to see Rashford play really well.

Posted by: Crazy Chris 8th June 2018, 08:36 PM

England and Belgium will both qualify but which first and which second is anyone's guess.

Posted by: Evil Houdini 8th June 2018, 09:53 PM

Just out of curiosity has anyone booked time off for some World Cup matches? kick off times for the matches in UK time are 1 PM, 4 PM & 7 PM. I'll most likely have to rely on highlights for the afternoon matches during the week. Next Saturday there's going to be 4 matches taking place one after the other, definitely gonna try to watch all 4 live.

Posted by: Rooney 8th June 2018, 11:04 PM

I have! Shame on one of the best days of football though I'm actually busy all day!

Posted by: ┴פsᴉʍ/ 9th June 2018, 12:06 AM

Luckily, I just need to finish my work placement assignment which is in for Thursday morning and I've finished 2 year of Uni and I am free for the summer. Definitely watching every watch of the World Cup, I'll try and have one on the TV & one on my phone during round 3 of the group stage fixtures.

Posted by: Iz 9th June 2018, 12:16 AM

I have booked the first couple of days off of work (got something to do the day it starts which is convenient, means I have more than just that excuse) so I should be able to see at least the first round of group matches of nearly every team, which is probably going to keep me satisfied prior to getting fatigued of it all.

I think the first two matches I will miss are unfortunately South Korea and Japan's first matches but I'll just make sure to catch their second ones.

Posted by: Mack. 9th June 2018, 08:38 PM

Managed to get time off w/c 18th June for the World Cup which is good.

Posted by: Dobbo 9th June 2018, 09:13 PM

Don't need any time off luckily for the England matches! Not overly bothered by any of the others enough to watch them Live I'll just stick on the evening matches as background telly.

Posted by: Mack. 12th June 2018, 12:04 PM

Cesc Fabregas will also be part of the BBC's World Cup punditry team - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44435725

His first appearance will be Spain V Portugal on Friday.

Posted by: Mack. 12th June 2018, 10:04 PM

Anyone got any tips for dark horses they think might do well?

Posted by: Dobbo 12th June 2018, 10:41 PM

Well Belgium in terms of the fact they have a pretty poor recent record at WCs but they're pretty much everybody's go to "dark horse".

Otherwise it's hard to call, I'd say a team from Africa will be in the Quarters but not sure which one. Then maybe why not Iceland causing a few more upsets?

Posted by: Dobbo 13th June 2018, 11:02 AM

Spain have sacked their manager a day before the World Cup

Posted by: LewisGT 13th June 2018, 11:31 AM

The 2026 World Cup will be in USA/Canada/Mexico.


It's a shame, I really wanted a Morocco world cup.

Posted by: Suedehead2 13th June 2018, 11:35 AM

The USA becomes the latest country to have staged the tournament twice since it was last in England. Mexico will be hosts for the third time since then.

Posted by: Mack. 13th June 2018, 11:58 AM

They sacked their manager as he decided to join Real Madrid after the World Cup.

Posted by: Mack. 13th June 2018, 12:02 PM

Apparently Spain's Under-21 manager Albert Celades will replace sacked manager Julen Lopetegui in the dugout for their first World Cup match against Portugal on Friday, according to reports in Spain.

Posted by: DJHazey 13th June 2018, 12:21 PM

Yikes, Spain was one of my favorites to win it all. They had been 16-0-4 in their last 20 matches under Lopetegui. We'll see what effect this has.


Very pleased that the World Cup will coming back to the U.S.

Posted by: 5 Silas Frøkner 13th June 2018, 12:54 PM

That’s very petty by the Spanish FA! Could be a huge error on their part.

I’m on holiday for a huge chunk of the World Cup anyway, but I’m Australia so the games will be at I think 10pm 12am and 3am local time. So I’ll probably miss the majority of them. Should see Germany’s first group game before I leave for my hol and then I’ll be back for the last few games, the good ones

Posted by: Evil Houdini 13th June 2018, 01:46 PM

Spain have no chance of winning the World Cup now! Sacking their manager a day before the tournament starts is possibly the worst thing that they could have done. I wont be surprised if we'll see unrest within their team similar to the meltdowns from the French team during the 2010 World Cup.

Posted by: Evil Houdini 14th June 2018, 02:50 PM

Looking forward to the banter on twitter about Glenn Hoddle during this tournament. The tweets about him are so funny

Posted by: Mack. 14th June 2018, 02:52 PM

This may not be the best opening match. 2006 between Germany v Costa Rica was a cracker.

Posted by: Steve201 14th June 2018, 11:58 PM

Thought Croatia Brazil was decent Inn 2014!

Posted by: Mack. 16th June 2018, 08:25 AM

Danny Murphy from the BBC has been absolutely embarrassing so far. And in the same match saying Ronaldo's first wasn't a pen before sheepishly u-turning, then later talking some random gibberish about an S Club 7 song for crying out loud.

Posted by: Suedehead2 19th June 2018, 12:28 PM

A couple questions for people watching this outside the UK.

What did their broadcasters have to say about England's performance?

How well (or otherwise) do they think VAR is working? Do they think VAR should have been used to give England at least one penalty last night?

Posted by: Mack. 21st June 2018, 10:42 PM

Croatia in to 14/1 to win the WC outright. Argentina out to 33/1.

Posted by: Botchia 💡 28th June 2018, 09:57 PM

BBC / ITV picks have been announced for the Round of 16:

Saturday 30 June

15:00 France v Argentina - BBC
19:00 Uruguay v Portugal - ITV

Sunday 1 July

15:00 Spain v Russia - BBC
19:00 Croatia v Denmark - ITV

Monday 2 July

15:00 Brazil v Mexico - ITV
19:00 Belgium v Japan - BBC

Tuesday 3 July

15:00 Sweden v Switzerland - BBC
19:00 Colombia v England - ITV

Posted by: Steve201 28th June 2018, 10:34 PM

Took a half day off work on Monday and Friday next week - strategic football thinking Brazil Mexico on Monday at 3

Posted by: Dobbo 2nd July 2018, 09:14 PM

WE'RE IN THE LAST 10

Posted by: Suedehead2 2nd July 2018, 09:41 PM

You should be a spin doctor

Posted by: Mack. 4th July 2018, 09:34 AM

Quarter-final picks

Uruguay v France - 6 July, 3:00pm- ITV
Brazil v Belgium - 6 July, 7:00pm- BBC
Sweden v England - 7 July, 3:00pm - BBC
Russia v Croatia - 7 July, 7:00pm - ITV

Posted by: Steve201 4th July 2018, 09:43 PM

Looking forward to my half day on Friday

Posted by: Suedehead2 6th July 2018, 08:00 AM

Quirky fact, courtesy of someone on Twitter - each of the quarter-finals, played on July 6 and 7, is between a team whose English name has six letters and one of seven letters.

Posted by: Dobbo 6th July 2018, 08:36 AM

Love a quirky fact! The best I've heard (and admittedly it turned out to be a hypothetical scenario) was that if Sweden were to play Denmark the 3 letter TV codes used for both teams during broadcast would spell out 'SWEDEN' whilst all the remaining unused letters would spell out 'DENMARK'.

Posted by: mdh 8th July 2018, 07:26 PM

I'd make the threads for the semi finals now if I were you @ Pete/Mack!

Posted by: ML Hammer95 8th July 2018, 07:36 PM

Of the World Cups I've seen and remembered this has got to be the best! My ranking would be:

2018
2014 (the best group stages but knockout rounds were a step down, 7-1 beside)
2010 (started terribly, but got better as it went on. Plus, England were so bad it was funny)
2002 (almost too many shock results, but the group stages were very exciting)
2006 (not bad, but not too much to remember - shame, as this was the first one I religiously followed)

This has had great goals, upsets, great games (Portugal Spain, France Argentina, Brazil Belgium), barely any 0-0s and England doing well for a change.

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 8th July 2018, 07:36 PM

I was waiting for Mack but I'll do it now!

Posted by: Dobbo 8th July 2018, 08:22 PM

2010 was definitely my least favourite by far. The KOs were almost all absolutely turgid - Spain boring the world to death with their pointless tiki taka nonsense. It had that one really good Semi Final between Uruguay & Netherlands but everything else was not worth watching, the only memorable event from that entire World Cup for me was the Suarez handball.

Posted by: Steve201 8th July 2018, 08:36 PM

Loved 1990/94 & 1998!

I love all world cups though tbh

Posted by: PeteFromLeeds 9th July 2018, 08:31 AM

2010 will always be the World Cup I love and remember since it was the first one I was really into (I do remember 2006 but only really followed the England games), plus I randomly supported Uruguay who got miles further than I expected them to.

Posted by: Doctor Blind 12th July 2018, 09:37 PM

Just wanted to say this has been a really enjoyable tournament to follow, and I take everything back I said about VAR early on. I am also really impressed with how much England exceeded expectations - a summer that will live long in the memory, and not just for the fantastic weather! : )