Newsflash! Soccerball International Championship thread?

There it is! England not paying attention at the back.

The have been patchy defensively at times. Critical against a team with players like Manzukic and Rakitic. You can never lose track of them
 
All in all deserved result. Croatia being the better team in the second half and extra time.

England perhaps not experienced enough to defend the early advantage. Also throughout the tournament they have shown to be too wasteful with chances.

Credit to Croatia, they kept patient and kept playing their game. The final is promising to be a belter
 
Holy shiiiit.

What a game. I hope Croatia can recuperate, with 3 games going into extra time they've collected an entire extra match by now... Compliments to England though, they've played great this tournament. If they fix the effectiveness problem with their forwards they can do great again next tournament. There's no shame in losing to this Croatia, they have some amazing players and they've shown to be a crazy comeback machine. And compliments to Southgate, as the Finnish commentator said, no matter what happens, he stays calm, doesnt panic, doesn't cause a fuss, just stays calm and coaches his team.
 
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Hanglow said:
Croatia worthy winners

Immense achievement for such a small country too

France will win though
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Not so sure. They can play amazing football and their back line is pretty solid. It depends on how well rested the players can get before the final. If they can get fit in time, it'll be really close. France hasn't been that impressive to me. Against Belgium they mostly leaned on their defense, which you can't afford to do too much against Croatia if Modric and Raketic starts spreading the game. So they'll have to come out more. And Croatia has shown some incredible spirit, durability and came back from the grave so reliably that it's no incident anymore.
 
wok said:
Modric for me already nr1 contender of player of the tournament. Always composed, incredible control and seems to be able to keep plugging away forever
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I love how it so often looks like he lost the ball, yet still ends up not only keeping the ball, but coming out of the situation completely in control.
 
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Roy Keane is hilarious btw. He has some valid criticisms about some of the English defending, whilst the others are looking for excuses.
 
Yeah - it seemed to me that after parking the bus for most of the second half (i.e. packing the 18 and playing behind the ball) their defense got sloppier and sloppier as the game went on. My daughter noted that on the Croatian attacks up the wing, Modric was always running up the center, with no English defender within five yards. Very strange play by England...
 
bsman said:
I’m hoping Croatia win on Sunday. I’m tired of the “same’ol same’ol” clique of multiple WC winners. It would be nice to get something different.
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I hope so too, but I am not sure they can break down France.
 
wok said:
I hope so too, but I am not sure they can break down France.
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Same here. France's speed (Mbappe mainly) can cause problems. Sterling caused some with his today but he isn't much of a finisher. And after 3 straight ET games you wonder if Croatia might get fatigued early. Certainly they seemed to have the better legs than the younger English squad but 3 games in a row has to weigh a bit on some of the older players. England was unable to get much on net and eventually that was a difference.

While the English fans are rightly disappointed (everyone who loses are) they do have a very young team and they should be back in 4 years older and wiser. Certainly some of their defending was suspect and one could blame some of it on inexperience. They were able to accomplish a lot more than expected.
 
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