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1 hour ago, johnnyboy said:

Similar thing to the NFL where if you lose the challenge you lose a timeout which stops challenges being used with gay abandon.

How long did they bother listening for as she's perfectly decent.

Honestly less than 10 minutes. I zoned out when people started saying "stay in your own lane".

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Both ITV and the Beeb seemed to have made a real effort to include women in their presenting lineups during this tournament. They had a former England women's player pitchside with Ryan Giggs for the opening game, plus another woman presenting another piece during the same broadcast. They had Gabby Logan interviewing Raheem Sterling. This was all ITV.  BBC have also had women, as with the commentator today.

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Very dull day today unfortunately, Iran Spain was the highlight but that’s the worse day of the World Cup so far. It’s been pretty decent thus far mind so can’t complain too much about one day

Got high hopes for tomorrow, hope Peru can pull off a shock against France, Denmark/Australia will be dull but Argentina Croatia should be good as well so I’m optimistic. 

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This Argentina side is dreadfull isn't it, they'e even brought Messi down to there level it seems.

Going in I had them finishing behind Croatia and going out to France in the 2nd round but even that prediction is looking bold now.

An Iceland win tomorrow would really leave the Argies on the brink and needing favours and a big win in the final game to progress 

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Today was a huge improvement on yesterday. Denmark VS Australia (from what I saw when I caught the last half hour or so) was end-to-end excitement and the Eriksen goal was a thing of beauty. France VS Peru was ok, but Croatia VS Argentina was a worthy main event.

What a shower of shite Argentina are. It shouldn't be a huge surprise, given how wank they were in the qualifiers but at the big stage form often goes out of the window. Not this time, they were just as crap. Players were jogging around and half-arsing it. The set-up was completely wrong- in a game they really had to win they lined up with 5 at the back AND Mascherano, with the likes of Di Maria, Dybala, Banega, Higuaín, Lo Celso and Biglia on the bench. That's a lot of talent to sacrifice for Enzo fucking Perez (who was a late replacement for Lanzini for crying out loud) and Meza.

The manager publicly stating before the tournament that their hopes are pinned on Messi can't help. I mean, of course that's true, but you don't hear Fernando Santos saying this of Ronaldo. What are the other players supposed to think if your manger tells the world you're a bunch of also-rans?

Wily's error was as bloody hilarious as Modric's goal was stunning. The third goal was just comical defending. Croatia looked class without even having to hit top gear, Modric and Rakitic are two of the best players of the tournament so far.

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I just can't fathom how some of the top players in the world perform at these tournaments. Obviously England teams of the past were the prime example, but so many players just not turning up this year. Is it the pressure? The tactics? Tiredness?

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I'll be absolutely made up for Iceland if they qualify, and after tonight that's looking like a relatively fair shout. To put it in perspective, all the star players aside, Argentina have a population of 40 million people....Iceland have 330,000. As the ultimate underdogs, I've been rooting for the Icelandics from the beginning (I'm Scottish....) but I never dared think they'd actually be in for a chance at this. And to give scale to their pedigree, they actually finished above Croatia as group winners in the qualifiers. I reckon Iceland getting out of that group would be just as special a story as the Leicester one a couple of years ago.

Of course now I've posted this ,watch Nigeria batter them 4-0. 

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Argentina just have no balance. For a team with 5 defenders and Mascherano they looked shaky every time Croatia came forward and then with arguably the best pool of talent (in the competition) in attack they just couldn't create anything at all. At times they couldn't even get the ball from defence to attack even with Croatia's wonderful midfield controlling the game.

One thing I have noticed is the lack of Plan B from teams in this World Cup. I think since the Spain model too much focus has been on playing one way and hoping it pays off. So far I haven't seen much changes from teams in this World Cup when things are going against them. I'm not saying hoof the ball into the box like we see in the Premier League but even throwing a few more forwards on (in forward areas), crossing the ball into the box etc would mix things up a little. It's so like for like - I mean taking Aguero off last night and putting Higuain on is fine if your changing your approach, but they kept playing the same way.

This does give me hope England have different options that may work to our advantage (although Southgate kept to his principles against Tunisia).

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