| RolStoppable said: From what I gathered, Japan didn't make use of their advantage in the first half as Colombia had more possession and more scoring chances, so the 1-1 at halftime wasn't lucky on Colombia's part. However, it seems like Japan actually played like teams are supposed to when they have one man more, so they dominated large parts of the second half, got their second goal and made Colombia so tired in the process that the South Americans couldn't fight back anymore. I was pleasantly surprised that this thread hadn't any crazy Polish people, but then I saw that Scisca showed up in time to praise Europe's most overrated team up to heavens. Of course, on the field we got the not unexpected typical shitshow by Poland who got neutralized by a very physically playing Senegal. The game had hardly any scoring opportunities on either side, so what ultimately decided the game were big mistakes and those were committed by Poland. The verdict for the Polish team is the same as it was two years ago: They are in dire need of a good striker, because the ones they have couldn't even hit a barn from five meters away. Russia and Egypt were equal in the first half. The second half began with an unlucky own goal and was quickly followed by disastrous defending that led to another two goals for Russia. You can't play like that at a World Cup, you just can't. Being that deep in the hole, it came as no surprise that Egypt lost the game. Their official elimination from the tournament will have to wait until tomorrow; if Uruguay gets at least one point against Saudi Arabia, Egypt is out. Being in a situation that necessitates rooting for a Saudi win... you are done for, Egypt. A disappointing day for three teams, a disappointing day for my predictions. All wrong again. Predictions for Wednesday's games: Portugal vs. Morocco 2-0 |
I agree with your overall sentiment that Poland was crap today, but to claim that they're in dire need of a good striker when they have Lewandowski seems a bit strange? He's been consistently in either first or second place for golden boot in the Bundesliga for the past 2-3 seasons and is known for hammering in goals, in the past 5 seasons, he's won the golden boot three times, every other year, and he's scored over 40 goals across all competitions for three seasons running (he was also the first foreigner to net over 30 times in the Bundesliga). They could certainly use more goal scorers though, their play relies far too heavily on one man. Poland's main problem, much like many other teams of the cup, is a disorganized midfield with poor precision down the wings and a hopeless insistence of trying to spearhead directly through the center of the pitch and into the box square-on. Their short-passing play is practically non-existent as well, most center pitch passes are hard, 12-15 meter or more, passes with increased risk of poor first touches, it's like the entire team doesn't know how to simply roll the ball within the squad without smashing it and the positioning was absolutely everywhere with plenty of miscommunications all over the place.
Lewandowski is a proper world class striker and on par with the best in the WC, but he has a shit crew backing him up and he needs to be played through and into or near the box to score goals. I hardly saw a decent cross during the entire match from Poland. I pity a man who is used to world class service from the wings and central midfield at Bayern when he's surrounded by a bunch of bumbling troglodytes (with only a couple of exceptions).
Great fun with wins from Senegal and Japan, but a bit tacky that the wins mostly came off of sloppy opposition rather than actual tactical and/or attacking prowess. But that's football, for better or for worse. Also; I'm loving the video refereeing so far, it's literally a game changer. Also, has anyone noticed the exceptional amount of penalties being given in this tournament? I think the previous WC had a total of 15 for the entire tournament, while we've already seen about 10 or so so far in this one. And it's not simply down to less savvy teams going dirty either, some fouls are committed by seemingly experienced and understanding players (like the idiot move from Sanchez for Colombia against Japan).
