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2018 World Cup running thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Cosmo, Jun 11, 2018.

  1. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    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.
     
  2. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    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?
     
  3. Key

    Key Well-Known Member

    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."
     
  4. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    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.
     
  5. Key

    Key Well-Known Member

    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.
     
  6. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    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.
     
  7. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    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.
     
  8. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Sweden looked like the best team in a 40-and-over adults league.
     
    Webster likes this.
  9. Spartan Squad

    Spartan Squad Well-Known Member

    Damn you never see that shot go in.
     
  10. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

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

    cjericho Well-Known Member

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

    Spartan Squad Well-Known Member

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