2018 FIFA World Cup

[PenguinHunter]

The Stanley Cup is making its way over to the World Cup! Ovy is taking it over.

[2014olympicgold]

Brazil and Belgium are the best two teams left in the tournament, unfortunately they will meet in the quarter-finals. You could make the argument for Croatia as well but they did not look good against Denmark.

I'd say Uruguay and France should be in with those two. But again, the winner of Brazil vs Belgium plays the winner of Uruguay vs France.

[Axeman33]

Columbia is losing their shit in this game.

Go England!

[2014olympicgold]

Columbia is losing their shit in this game.

Go England!

If i saw the right replay of the penalty, it looked like Kane helped push the Colombian defend down into him. I would be pissed too.

[Axeman33]

If i saw the right replay of the penalty, it looked like Kane helped push the Colombian defend down into him. I would be pissed too.

The ref was watching the two of them even before the play started. The Columbian was warned before the ball was even put into play because he wasn't giving room to Kane in the lineup. He certainly made his own bad choice once the ball was booted and put himself into that situation.

[PenguinHunter]

Columbia tied it up!?

[Loch]

Columbia tied it up!?

Possibly you are not familiar with England in major tournaments?

[DusterDave]

FULL PREDICTIONS
Round of 16
France 1 - 0 Argentina
Uruguay 2 - 1 Portugal
Spain 2 - 1 Russia
Croatia 2 - 0 Denmark
Brazil 3 - 0 Mexico
Belgium 4 - 0 Japan
Sweden 3 - 0 Switzerland
Columbia 1 - 2 England

Quarter-Finals
Uruguay 2 - 0 France
Brazil 3 - 2 Belgium
Spain 2 - 3 Croatia
Sweden 1 - 1* England (*ENG win on PKs)

Semi-Finals
Uruguay 0 - 1 Brazil
Croatia 3 - 0 England

3rd Place
Uruguay 2 - 0 England

Final
Brazil 2 - 0 Croatia

Quarter-Finals are set. I went 7/8 in my Round of 16 predictions but who honestly had Russia eliminating Spain? As for my full bracket predictions, the one I wrestled with the most was England-Sweden quarter-final matchup. I went with England but I'm still pretty undecided. I'm not able to make the change in my pool so I guess I'll stick to England on here as well. I currently sit in 6th place out of 160, top 5 are in the money.

[Godin]

Quarter-Finals are set. I went 7/8 in my Round of 16 predictions but who honestly had Russia eliminating Spain? As for my full bracket predictions, the one I wrestled with the most was England-Sweden quarter-final matchup. I went with England but I'm still pretty undecided. I'm not able to make the change in my pool so I guess I'll stick to England on here as well. I currently sit in 6th place out of 160, top 5 are in the money.

Nice job. Good luck.

[Axeman33]

LOL! Neymar. You may be good at soccer but you sure are great at wasting time and acting like a big baby.

https://www.thescore.com/news/1566794

Neymar's dramatic rolls after fouls have wasted nearly a quarter-hour of World Cup playing time.

The Brazilian star, who has been chastised in the media for his embellishments, has spent nearly 14 minutes writhing on the ground, according to Swiss outlet RTS Sport, which timed Neymar's time-wasting antics from foul to free-kick.

The 14-minute total includes five minutes and 30 seconds Neymar spent "hurt" after Mexico's Miguel Layun stepped on his ankle in the round of 16.

Of course, not all fouls called involving Neymar are imagined. Of Neymar's tournament-high 23 fouls suffered, some have appeared legitimately painful. Opponents are clearly targeting his surgically repaired right foot.

But there's no doubting Neymar has embellished several incidents, and it's become difficult to argue his reputation as a flopper is undeserved.

[Godin]

LOL! Neymar. You may be good at soccer but you sure are great at wasting time and acting like a big baby.

https://www.thescore.com/news/1566794

It is so ridiculous that they get away with this stuff. They can be given yellow cards for their overacting but rarely do. Like the NHL, these clowns should be fined and also yellow carded after the game if it was proven that they weren't actually shot. Either that or they have to leave the game. It's an embarrassment to the game of soccer.

[2014olympicgold]

It is so ridiculous that they get away with this stuff. They can be given yellow cards for their overacting but rarely do. Like the NHL, these clowns should be fined and also yellow carded after the game if it was proven that they weren't actually shot. Either that or they have to leave the game. It's an embarrassment to the game of soccer.

That won't stop Neymar. He's amazingly rich.

The reason why players do it is because it works. Brazil wasted 15minute of time and even when they add injury time at the end of the half, it's not 15min. It worked. The way to stop it is the refs to keep the game going until the other team touches the ball. No way would Neymar be down for 15min if the play would continue until Brazil touched the ball.

Refs ignore this stuff, and it goes away.

[Tobias Funke]

The thing that must be understood in his vilification is that soccer hardcores differentiate diving from play acting, the former of which is the main reason his reputation is taking a beating. Because of the size of the field of play, and the amount of players under the governance of one official during game play, the referee has a huge responsibility obviously. Soccer players are in fact trained to go dive, or go down if a legit foul is made on them, possession was lost, and the referee may be a bit farther away from the play, assuming he may not have had a clear, unobstructed view. This, in the best case scenario in terms of sportsmanship is only to reaffirm what the referee may be unsure of, the key being that a legit foul was made, leading to a loss of possession.

That stuff is just so ingrained in pure soccer fans, but non soccer fans have a hard time with it. In these cases, the referee blows for a foul committed, the player is already on his feet and play resumes. It?s the play acting, the feigning injury long after the foul has been given, the diving when no contact was made etc is why his reputation is taking a beating.

Also, non soccer fans seem to think that soccer is less physically taxing than other contact sports, and that?s an argument for another day maybe, but in my younger day I played plenty of competitive hockey and soccer, and I was definitely more beaten up after a soccer game than a hockey game, generally.

So, he does take a beating. He?s a star player and all star players are targeted. He does take a fair amount of punishment, he?s just not mentally or physically strong enough to deal with it.

[2014olympicgold]

To note, he was stepped on his surgically repaired foot. The little step prolly did hurt, but not to the level he acted.

[Loch]

This is how it should be done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__G4RrlGmVk