2018 World Cup running thread

But Uruguay is 14 in June and it says up 3 spots. Just makes it seem shady from an organization that at time is quite shady.

 

Who said they aren't worthy? I said they aren't on the same level as the top countries. They have no players on any of the top clubs.
Smart non-American is there anything not true about that?

 

You're arguing against Iceland being an elite team, which no one claimed. The only thing anyone said is that this is a damn good Iceland team that is far better than the "Little Cindarella" story that Fox was pushing yesterday. Was it a good result for Iceland? Absolutely. A disappointing draw for Argentina? Yes. But this was not UMBC-Virginia. More like Gonzaga...with people who follow basketball going, "Well, yeah, Gonzaga's good."

 

If they get to the quarterfinals in this WC it's not a Cinderella run because they did it at the Euro? I don't think it's UMBC, but it's definitely not Gonzaga.
Maybe the first year Gonzaga made the Sweet 16. The best players pretty much play on 10-12 clubs. Iceland has no one on those teams. Gonzaga has had
guys selected in the 1st round of the NBA draft.

 

No one said that. Only that a 1-1 tie with Argentina - while impressive - isn't earth-shattering to people who have watched this team standup to elite Euro squads.

 

Maybe not earth shattering but still pretty big. Maybe not UMBC but closer to a 13 or 14 seed if you want to make the NCAA comparison.
Greece won the Euro a while back. That WC, forget which one, they were pretty bad. If they had made a run in that WC I think people
would've said it was a Cinderella run. And that was a team that won the Euro, not just reached the quarterfinals.

 

The groups have been much more balanced due to the pot system. There really isn't a true group of death this year. Sure, Russia gets a break being in Pot 1 automatically, but so did South Africa in 2010. They also happened to catch the break of getting the worst Pot 4 team in their draw. Uruguay made out like a bandit here, clear road to the A1 spot in the knockout stage. Though they'll get either Portugal or Spain in that R16 matchup so the breaks stop in the group stage for them.

 

Sweden looked like the best team in a 40-and-over adults league.

 

Damn you never see that shot go in.

 

Unless it was Son, they were not even thinking about getting close to a wing player until they were in a danger area.

 

Espn.com has possession in Belg-Pan, 65-35, in the 2nd half it seems about 80-20.

 

The rout is on. Panama was pressing and paid for it.