The Football Thread - 17/18 Season

[Scisca]

RolStoppable said:

I feel justified for putting Croatia at #5 in the power rankings. They must have also a lot more depth on their roster than Poland if they can beat Spain with changes on five positions. Sorry, but Poland as a top 5 team of this tournament is still as ridiculous as it was before.

Spain obviously remains a top 5 team despite the loss, but their result means that they'll face off against another favorite for the tournament win. Fingers crossed that they'll knock out Italy.

EDIT: Today's results make the game vs. Iceland a simple win-and-in affair for Austria, meaning no need for maths as a win is all it takes.

I told you you were overestimating Spain when putting them on the top spot. Their defence looked bad to me, it was way too easy for Czech Rep and Turkey to get scoring opportunities and as I've said - the first team that neutralizes Iniesta and pressures them will be a nightmare for them. I know I praise defence (maybe even too much), but I honestly believe that it's crucial to win a tournament and is more important than offence. The upcoming game against Italy will be huge. One of the best offensive teams with an average defence vs the best defence with a very bad offence. On one hand it's almost impossible to score on the Italians, on the other I can't see them putting as much pressure on Spain as Croatia did. It will be a nailbiter! A clash of styles and a football chess match. I think Spain is the more balanced team, but then again - in the knock-out stage, you have to defeat your opponent and I view Italians as the immovable object. Should Italy win, Germans will be terrified

I put Poland and Croatia at 5 and 6 and I feel as justified with that choice, as when I put Spain on 4th. Croatia is explosive and has massive potential, when their offence clicks, no defence will stop them. But so far they have been a bit more shaky than Poland. Czech Rep managed to bully them in the second half and score 2 goals. The way the brackets turned out, I think that the winner of the quarterfinal between Croatia and Poland (granted both teams get pass the 1/8) will most probably go all the way to the final. I was hoping Spain would win its group and be set for a potential quarterfinal with us, as I think we are a very good match up against them. Croatia will be tough, especially if our strikers keep on wasting every single opportunity.

I wanted Poland to end up second in the group stage, but never in my wildest dreams have I dreamt of such a bracket. It's more imbalanced than the Conferences in NBA. Italy, Spain, Germany, France, England - all on one side! Crazy. On the other side there's only Poland, Croatia, Wales and Switzerland, most probably Belgium, the winner of group F and two teams that finished 3rd. I know this Swiss team was the U19 World Champion, so they shouldn't be underestimated, but still the imbalance between the two sides is massive. Whoever comes out of the stronger side will be the clear favourite to win it all (just like the Golden State Warriors... ).

Predictions for today (probably the most difficult to predict day thus far):

Iceland 1-0 Austria (Austria will go all out on the offence, since they have nothing to lose and all to gain, but that's exactly what Iceland wants, one of their counters will prove deadly)
Hungary 1-1 Portugal (cause I love Hungary )
Italy 0-0 Ireland (Italians no longer care)
Sweden 0-3 Belgium (Sweden's defence is so bad it hurts)