The Syndicate

nutella wrote: ↑Tue Jul 10, 2018 4:08 pm

Golden wrote: ↑Tue Jul 10, 2018 3:58 pm And there we have or World Cup winner I believe. As much as I was willing Belgium to win I have felt like France looked the best the whole way and they’ll be very deserving.

Blech. They wasted a lot of time and the ref made so many calls in their favor and I don't like them and this whole wc has been pretty disappointing tbh all the teams I cared about got eliminated and it's all blah blah Europe boring blah. I hope Croatia wins at least they're Eastern and don't suck

Wow so much hatred.

Even I can't hate this youthful France.

There were some really bad calls in there.

But I don’t think they made a difference. Belgium threw a lot at that but France’s defence was so strong. Courtois needed to keep that corner out.

Rip, I guess Griezmann deserves it though. I wish it would've been a tie game at regulation :/

France has probably been the best team in this tournament. Croatia has definitely been my favorite team. I’ll be rooting hard for them tomorrow.

[mention]Iai[/mention] and [mention]aflickering[/mention] hey guys, I'm missing your predictions!

semi finals results

France 1 - 0 Belgium
England x Croatia

JJJ
France 2-1 Belgium - 2 pts
England 2-1 Croatia

DDL
France 2-2 Belgium, Belgium wins on pens. - 0 pts
England 2-1 Croatia

dunya
France 1-1 Belgium (France wins) - 1 pt
England 1-0 Croatia

Buckaroo
Belgium 2 France 1 - 0 pts
England 1 Croatia 2

Golden
Belgium 3 France 2 - 0 pts
Croatia 0 England 0, Croatia on penalties.

nutella
France 1-2 Belgium - 0 pts
Croatia 2-0 England

wolbre
England 2-0 Croatia
Belgium 2-1 France - 0 pts

melatonii
France 2-2 Belgium. France on penalties - 1 pt
England 2-1 Croatia

Sloonei
France 3 Belgium 2 - 2 pts
Croatia 1 England 0

cool fact: JJJ is the only player in this who still has a chance to win the final prediction in Phase 1 by having chosen France! he is also likely the only one to win Golden Glove if Lloris keeps it up.

dunya wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:44 am cool fact: JJJ is the only player in this who still has a chance to win the final prediction in Phase 1 by having chosen France! he is also likely the only one to win Golden Glove if Lloris keeps it up.

If Belgium beat France I was on track for first and third

some more fun numbers, how many of our phase 1 quarter finalists and semi finalists predictions were correct?

no one predicted more than 4 correct quarter finalists: dunya, wolbre, DDL

no one predicted more than 2 correct semi finalists: wolbre, Golden

wolbre was the only player to have the highest correct predictions in both the quarter and semis! well done [mention]wolbre04[/mention]

dunya
quarter finalists: 4/8 correct
semifinalists: 1/4 :o

wolbre
quarter finalists: 4/8 correct
semifinalists: 2/4

melatonii
quarter finalists: 3/8 correct
semifinalists: 1/4

DDL
quarter finalists: 4/8 correct
semifinalists: 0/4

Sloonei
quarter finalists: 3/8 correct
semifinalists: 0/4

Golden
quarter finalists: 3/8 correct
semifinalists: 2/4

nutella
quarter finalists: 3/8 correct
semifinalists: 0/4

JJJ
quarter finalists: 3/8 correct
semifinalists: 1/4

Buckaroo
quarter finalists: 3/8 correct
semifinalists: 0/4

Iai
quarter finalists: 3/8 correct
semifinalists: 0/4

aflickering
quarter finalists: 3/8 correct
semifinalists: 1/4

Choutas
quarter finalists: 3/8 correct
semifinalists: 1/4

holy shit, already 1 by england

Croatia looked bad for the first half hour. But they are looking odds on right now.

England don’t look as awful as they did against Colombia. But they don’t look great either. They have all the athleticism and speed of France without the same ability to actually seem threatening.

Croatiaaaaaaaa

Fun game to set up an interesting final.

I don’t think anyone can say England disappointed in this tournament.

I predicted both matches exactly right but reversed the scores.

Heck yeah Croatia. They’re such a pleasure to watch, glad we get to watch them play for a title now.

England awful after half time
At least the England haters can go back to their premier league glory hunting in a couple of weeks.

Yesssssss

I can say that.

England were awful. They had one good game, against Sweden, and one game where they blew out the worst team in the tournament. They lucked out a semifinal spot thanks to a lucky corner of the bracket and Colombia playing particularly poorly against them and butchering the shootout.

They were far worse than their finish suggested. And I say this as someone who is rooting for England to win again. If they keep the core of this team, in four years they may have a real chance. But for now... I was disappointed that their talent never seemed to live up to potential. Was that only one shot on target in that game? They should be so much better than that.

I’m hopeful that the result is enough for Southgate to keep his job for four years because I think he’s got the goods.

France 1 Croatia 0

Both of these teams are deserving. The final could be a playoff for golden glove.

i think you're assessment is very harsh on England.

melatonii wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 4:43 pm England awful after half time
At least the England haters can go back to their premier league glory hunting in a couple of weeks.

problem is before half time they were just average too.

this was not their game. maybe they underestimated croatia?

2 Stupid Dogs wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:22 pm i think you're assessment is very harsh on England.

I just don't think there is any way they reach the final four if they hit France, Uruguay, Portugal, Brazil, Belgium, Croatia, Spain or even possibly Russia or Argentina on their way there. I don't think it's harsh it's just the reality of what I see when I was watching them. They did make final four and that should be celebrated, but I think they have so many of the right tools - I could see them winning Euro 2020. The World Cup just came along too early for them.

anyway, this is the last watchable world cup I've decided thanks to melatonii. the next one will have 48 teams. FORTY EIGHT! holy crap, what a snooze fest. nothx.

fake edit: I just googled before I posted, and nooooooooooooooo, that's going to happen in america/mexico/canada 2026. enjoy that. i won't be watching.

48 teams (16 groups of 3 teams) – 80 matches

lmao.

i can't even.

nope.

dunya wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:42 pm 48 teams (16 groups of 3 teams) – 80 matches

lmao.

i can't even.

nope.

Is it just the single group winner advancing to a round of 16? Because if so I like that. England tanking against Belgium to finish 2nd for the easier draw was lame, and getting rid of that kind of thing would be nice.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:52 pm

dunya wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:42 pm 48 teams (16 groups of 3 teams) – 80 matches

lmao.

i can't even.

nope.

Is it just the single group winner advancing to a round of 16? Because if so I like that. England tanking against Belgium to finish 2nd for the easier draw was lame, and getting rid of that kind of thing would be nice.

i wish, but nope. top two will progress to a knockout round with 32 sides

2 Stupid Dogs wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:57 pm

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:52 pm

dunya wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 5:42 pm 48 teams (16 groups of 3 teams) – 80 matches

lmao.

i can't even.

nope.

Is it just the single group winner advancing to a round of 16? Because if so I like that. England tanking against Belgium to finish 2nd for the easier draw was lame, and getting rid of that kind of thing would be nice.

i wish, but nope. top two will progress to a knockout round with 32 sides

Okay that's dumb.

Yeah, 2022 is fine to watch. 2026 is going to suck such a bad decision.

If they were going to expand to 48, what they should do is have the highest 16 ranked qualifying teams go straight to a round of pool play, and have the other 32 play off to make pool play, or something like that.

fifa will make $1bil more at this expansion so...

I do love group play, it’s fun to watch the underdog nations compete and to see the adjustments that are made between games, plus the urgency of two teams competing for one spot on the last day. It’s my favorite part of the tournament. But nearly doubling the size of the bracket stinks of oversaturation. I’ll probably still watch though. As long as Iceland is one of those 48 nations.

For now I’m just pumped Croatia is in the final. I’m gonna predict them to win so I don’t need to feel conflicted.

Croatia 1 France 0

1-0 for france tbh

sorry croatia

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 7:28 pm I do love group play, it’s fun to watch the underdog nations compete and to see the adjustments that are made between games, plus the urgency of two teams competing for one spot on the last day. It’s my favorite part of the tournament. But nearly doubling the size of the bracket stinks of oversaturation. I’ll probably still watch though. As long as Iceland is one of those 48 nations.

do you watch any football leagues?

dunya wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 7:46 pm

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 7:28 pm I do love group play, it’s fun to watch the underdog nations compete and to see the adjustments that are made between games, plus the urgency of two teams competing for one spot on the last day. It’s my favorite part of the tournament. But nearly doubling the size of the bracket stinks of oversaturation. I’ll probably still watch though. As long as Iceland is one of those 48 nations.

do you watch any football leagues?

No. I always get really into the World Cup and follow the other big international tournaments as well but I’ve never paid attention to club leagues. I might give it a shot this year, I know some American networks are finally broadcasting games. Who should I watch?

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 7:52 pm

dunya wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 7:46 pm

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 7:28 pm I do love group play, it’s fun to watch the underdog nations compete and to see the adjustments that are made between games, plus the urgency of two teams competing for one spot on the last day. It’s my favorite part of the tournament. But nearly doubling the size of the bracket stinks of oversaturation. I’ll probably still watch though. As long as Iceland is one of those 48 nations.

do you watch any football leagues?

No. I always get really into the World Cup and follow the other big international tournaments as well but I’ve never paid attention to club leagues. I might give it a shot this year, I know some American networks are finally broadcasting games. Who should I watch?

I'd say La Liga (spanish), the Premier League (english) or Serie A (italian) are all good. I only follow some games in the PL and Serie A but used to watch most games in La Liga (because my team is Barcelona and now it's like, all the games I care about cos I don't always have tome ). If you watch La Liga it will be fun to talk to someone about it

I highly recommend people watch the Champions League if following a whole league isn't your thing. It's like a yearly World Cup for all the top European teams of every country competing for the cup. and for runner up teams of every country's league who didn't make the CL, you have the Europa League which can be really entertaining too.

oh and if you're into german football, the Bundesliga. i was never a huge fan, but i watch the big teams sometimes if i happen to catch them just to weigh up the competition for the champion's league

Liverpool is owned by the same group that owns the Red Sox so they’d be an easy team for me to default to in the Premier League. But I like scrappy underdogs (go Croatia) so I’d need to find another team somewhere in Europe that doesn’t usually win anything.

dunya wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:09 pm oh and if you're into german football, the Bundesliga. i was never a huge fan, but i watch the big teams sometimes if i happen to catch them just to weigh up the competition for the champion's league

Bundesliga is hands down the most fun to say.

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:14 pm Liverpool is owned by the same group that owns the Red Sox so they’d be an easy team for me to default to in the Premier League. But I like scrappy underdogs (go Croatia) so I’d need to find another team somewhere in Europe that doesn’t usually win anything.

if a team that never wins anything in recent memory is what you're looking for, you should support Arsenal.

though Liverpool isn't that far behind.

what u can expect by being an arsenal fan

I don’t want a team that always loses. I want a team that’s up and coming but isn’t historically in the upper echelon of teams.

"I don't want a team that always loses, I just want a team that don't usually win anything" - sloonei, july 11, 2018

There’s a differnce between a loser franchise and a franchise that just hasn’t been on the stage before, okay!?

but imagine when Arsenal do eventually win. the victory will be soooooo sweeeeeeeeeeet. i highly recommend arsenalfantv on youtube whenever you're having a bad day. foolproof method to lifting my spirits up

I take it they’re the Chicago Cubs of soccer.

dunya wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:41 pm "I don't want a team that always loses, I just want a team that don't usually win anything" - sloonei, july 11, 2018

He’s a Red Sox fan, ok? This mentality runs deep.

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:49 pm I take it they’re the Chicago Cubs of soccer.

Nah, they’ve just had a bad run. More like the Celtics.

Golden wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:50 pm

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:49 pm I take it they’re the Chicago Cubs of soccer.

Nah, they’ve just had a bad run. More like the Celtics.

Hey they won 10 years ago!

You’re two years late for Leicester City.

Europa league is my kind of thing. Remove all the big name big payroll clubs and see who’s the best of the rest.

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:51 pm

Golden wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:50 pm

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:49 pm I take it they’re the Chicago Cubs of soccer.

Nah, they’ve just had a bad run. More like the Celtics.

Hey they won 10 years ago!

Probably about when Arsenal last won too. Arsenal are always in the mix, they’ve had glory days in the past, but now they just never quite seem to be the best.