Group F Opponent Watch (Belgium, Croatia, Morocco)

[umpiredice]

Croatia playing France right now.  France have made ten changes from their last match and it looks like their "B" squad on the pitch.  Croatia have brought in all their stars.  This match might give us a truer look at what we'll be up against in November.  Seven minutes in and it's pretty much all Croatia so far, although they haven't generated any real chances yet.

[umpiredice]

After about 15 minutes Croatia seemed to run out of gas a bit. Vida is very lucky to still be on the field after a pretty terrible challenge.  France have had almost all the good chances and had a goal ruled out for offside, although Croatia should have scored after beating the offside trap.  It's 0-0 at half time, should probably be 2-1 or 3-1 for France.

We'll have to be wary of a very strong press from Croatia to open the match, but if we can weather that then we might see some success attacking down the right side.  Croatia's right back has looked vulnerable.  And despite having Modric on the pitch, Croatia's midfield is getting beaten to the ball and passed through/around more often than not.

[Brozosexual]

45 minutes ago, umpiredice said:

Croatia playing France right now.  France have made ten changes from their last match and it looks like their "B" squad on the pitch.  Croatia have brought in all their stars.  This match might give us a truer look at what we'll be up against in November.  Seven minutes in and it's pretty much all Croatia so far, although they haven't generated any real chances yet.

Half of our team is injured. CB Erlić is literally a debutant. There's no Perišić, Gvardiol and Sosa (on the bench, suffered minor injury last game). Budimir also isn't our first striker by any strech, that said all our strikers are shit anyway. Our midfield and Juranović are definitely first choice, though.

Edited June 6, 2022 by Brozosexual

[Brozosexual]

6 minutes ago, umpiredice said:

After about 15 minutes Croatia seemed to run out of gas a bit. Vida is very lucky to still be on the field after a pretty terrible challenge.  France have had almost all the good chances and had a goal ruled out for offside, although Croatia should have scored after beating the offside trap.  It's 0-0 at half time, should probably be 2-1 or 3-1 for France.

We'll have to be wary of a very strong press from Croatia to open the match, but if we can weather that then we might see some success attacking down the right side.  Croatia's right back has looked vulnerable.  And despite having Modric on the pitch, Croatia's midfield is getting beaten to the ball and passed through/around more often than not.

France had two shots in total and it should have been 3-1 to France, how does that work? We both had one decent chance. Ours was better but Budimir fucked it up completely. Should have just squared it to Majer.

[umpiredice]

14 minutes ago, Brozosexual said:

France had two shots in total and it should have been 3-1 to France, how does that work? We both had one decent chance. Ours was better but Budimir fucked it up completely. Should have just squared it to Majer.

Not sure what you're counting, but your keeper made two last ditch saves and if Diaby was smart enough to stay onside his goal wouldn't have been disallowed.

And France have just scored, blew by the right back again. Maybe that's not your first choice RB, but if he plays against Canada, Buchanan will have him for lunch.

Edited June 6, 2022 by umpiredice
speling chekc

[Aird25]

Rabiot puts France up in the 52'

[umpiredice]

Croatia finishing the way they started, running all over France for the final 15 minutes.  They've tied it up with a penalty which was originally overruled for offside, but VAR showed it was onside.  French keeper with three really good saves.  But the Croatian keeper saved their bacon right at the death by stopping Griezmann from being able to walk it into an empty net after a horrendous mistake by the CBs.

It's almost as if there have been two Croatian teams on the pitch today - a pretty good one for the first and last 15 minutes, and a kind of average one for the 60 minutes in between.  We're going to have to be very disciplined if we want to get a result.  Davies and Buchanan will have fun against their back line, but it will be a real test for our midfield and defence.

[Brozosexual]

39 minutes ago, umpiredice said:

Not sure what you're counting, but your keeper made two last ditch saves and if Diaby was smart enough to stay onside his goal wouldn't have been disallowed.

And France have just scored, blew by the right back again. Maybe that's not your first choice RB, but if he plays against Canada, Buchanan will have him for lunch.

They weren't last ditch saves. One was a shot from distance he comfortably parried (ball was dropping a bit and he didn't want to risk spilling it) and the other was a good chance, though from a bit of an angle. They literally had two shots in the whole half and you said 3-1 would have been a realistic scoreline. I'm sorry but that's just mental.

He's our first choice RB and good going forward, though we also have Vrsaljko who's more defensively sound but he's injury prone. 

[Brozosexual]

10 minutes ago, umpiredice said:

Croatia finishing the way they started, running all over France for the final 15 minutes.  They've tied it up with a penalty which was originally overruled for offside, but VAR showed it was onside.  French keeper with three really good saves.  But the Croatian keeper saved their bacon right at the death by stopping Griezmann from being able to walk it into an empty net after a horrendous mistake by the CBs.

It's almost as if there have been two Croatian teams on the pitch today - a pretty good one for the first and last 15 minutes, and a kind of average one for the 60 minutes in between.  We're going to have to be very disciplined if we want to get a result.  Davies and Buchanan will have fun against their back line, but it will be a real test for our midfield and defence.

It was the RB again that gave the ball away to Griezmann.

[Gian-Luca]

Changed to a different link as the previous youtube video seemed to have been deleted

Edited June 8, 2022 by Gian-Luca

[TGAA_Star]

Either way Croatia weren't all that bad against France

[narduch]

Modric signed a 1 year extension with Real Madrid.

Also Belgium plays Poland today at 245pm ET. It's on DAZN

[TGAA_Star]

17 minutes ago, narduch said:

Modric signed a 1 year extension with Real Madrid.

Also Belgium plays Poland today at 245pm ET. It's on DAZN

Belgium will beat Poland 

[BigMo]

Morocco is playing South Africa in an AFCON qualifier tomorrow. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by BigMo

[Approve My Account Pls]

1 hour ago, BigMo said:

Morocco is playing South Africa in an AFCON qualifier tomorrow. 

As someone with a South African background, if you think we're learning anything from that match you're sadly mistaken 

[mrstepp817]

54 minutes ago, Approve My Account Pls said:

As someone with a South African background, if you think we're learning anything from that match you're sadly mistaken 

My Canadian/South African wife and in-laws would agree with that take as well lol

[Gian-Luca]

Poland takes a first half lead on Belgium with a Lewandowski goal

[Gian-Luca]

Witsel equalizes before the half

Edited June 8, 2022 by Gian-Luca

[Obinna]

4 hours ago, Approve My Account Pls said:

As someone with a South African background, if you think we're learning anything from that match you're sadly mistaken 

 

4 hours ago, mrstepp817 said:

My Canadian/South African wife and in-laws would agree with that take as well lol

Might not be the place for it, but what's behind the SA stagnation/regression? I noticed the other day most of their players seem to be domestics now. Can part of the blame be put on that? I assume the league is one of the stronger in Africa, but probably not strong enough to prep the national team to make progress. Ignorant take on my part? Let me know. Cheers

[TGAA_Star]

Belgium 🇧🇪 6-1 Poland 🇵🇱 in UEFA Nations League take that in

[Lurker]

15 minutes ago, TGAA_Star said:

Belgium 🇧🇪 6-1 Poland 🇵🇱 in UEFA Nations League take that in

They peaked too early. 😉

[TGAA_Star]

11 hours ago, Lurker said:

They peaked too early. 😉

How so? Did you not see them destroy Poland? If you did, then how does that not concern you if you're Canada? Just goes to show you just how lethal Belgium is

[Alex]

2 hours ago, TGAA_Star said:

How so? Did you not see them destroy Poland? If you did, then how does that not concern you if you're Canada? Just goes to show you just how lethal Belgium is

Hes saying they peaked now which means it’s all downhill from here 😉 

[narduch]

Morocco plays South Africa today at 3pm ET in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.

Its on BeIn.

[mrstepp817]

17 hours ago, Obinna said:

 

Might not be the place for it, but what's behind the SA stagnation/regression? I noticed the other day most of their players seem to be domestics now. Can part of the blame be put on that? I assume the league is one of the stronger in Africa, but probably not strong enough to prep the national team to make progress. Ignorant take on my part? Let me know. Cheers

Thats a great question....my FIL was just over there for 3 months...need to get his take on it...I always assumed (and you know what they say when you assume) that rugby is so big there that maybe it cuts deeply into potential soccer talent??