Group D Thread - Iceland, Argentina, Croatia, Nigeria

[OFFSIDE_1]

Ok fair, a question.

Do you think Iran can beat Iceland as of now?

Do you think Morocco would lose to Iceland ? These are hypotheticals. But to answer your question, if I had a choice between Iceland and Morocco in our group, I would take Iceland. We beat a Morocco team with a roster made up of mostly top european leagues. Look at the Iceland roster. Most are locals. I think one of them is a dentist :-)


However, the original point of this discussion was that the Argentina team we faced in their backyard with 90% of the fans being from Argentina, a team that finished 2nd in the world is NOTHING like the Argentina team we saw today.

As of now, I would say definitely Spain and even Portugal can beat this one man Argentina team.

[mahestan]

How come the media loves Iceland but detests Iran's style of play? They're pretty similar. Tight. Defensive. Cohesive. Organized.

Maybe the population has something to do with it, but so does good ole fashioned propaganda..

Iranophobia. We have been portrayed as the boogie man for the past 40 years, and that mentality has spread to every aspect of Iranian portrayal, being politics, sports or even everyday life. Iceland is portrayed as the “cute” underdogs who are continuing their “fairytale” World Cup campaign while we are the “evil” country from Middle East. It’s so very sad.

[Babak agha]

Also the media sees these Asian/African teams play 'unattractive' football and thinks, well instead of those we could've some decent Euro teams playing here. Obviously they can not say that with Iceland.

[Dortmund]

Morocco became everyone's dark horse, aka all the hipsters wanted them to get far. That fox news loser alex lalas was jerking himself off to Morocco in every prediction show he did and when it came to summarizing the Iran-Morocco game he was disrespectful rather than actually giving a summary like he did for the other teams games. People just wanted Morocco to advance for some reason.

[TM4LIFE]

Someone said it nicely yesterday, and i want to re-emphasize this:

This is the world cup. Teams are not playing to please neutrals and arrogant pundits who just want to watch tiki-taka. Teams are playing to please their entire nation. All of their family, friends, everybody who helped them get to where they are. They are (like in Iran's case) playing to bring some joy to their people when times are tough. That means they will do whatever it takes to win, and games will be tight, tactical, and physical. That in and of itself is something to admire, and we saw it today for Iceland and we are seeing it again for Peru. There is no such thing as desert, as both teams will fight to the very last ounce of energy they have and the one that is most focused and clinical will be the one that comes out on top ALWAYS.

[ShirFarhad]

baba he works today in a salt jar factory, he didn't leave it behind him. he is going back to work after world cup at the same time as his hobby is football.

He went to work in a salt jar factory prior to the World Cup to keep himself focused. He didn't do it to make a living. I don't think he even worked longer than just a few weeks there..

[Leicester City]

Nigeria is going to lose 5-0

[Zamboor]

That was a bad game by Nigeria, big time! I dont think they will have any remaining chance going up against Iceland or Argentina

[GolfePersique]

Nigeria seemed completely lost without any clear plan.

Iceland will probably frustrate Nigeria as we did in 2014. Their best chance is versus Argentina who play a more open game. They seem to somehow perform better against Argentinians.

[KasraKhan]

So far Africa has played 3 matches, 3 losses, 0 goals scored.

And people are quick to diss Asia....

[kastro]

So far Africa has played 3 matches, 3 losses, 0 goals scored.
And people are quick to diss Asia....

We came across a strong opponent with one of the best defenses in the tournament.

We've had more shots on target than any African or Asian team so far. Without our best player too.

[Leicester City]

[milad_b]

That was a bad game by Nigeria, big time! I dont think they will have any remaining chance going up against Iceland or Argentina

I disagree . Iceland plays physically , Nigeria plays physically . The difference is that Nigeria is super fast . I think nigeria will win against Iceland but lose to Argentina as always.

Also it is weird that they are always in the same group as Argentina . In 1994 - 2002 - 2010 - 2014 - 2018 ! How the hell is that even possible !

[khodam]

I was impressed by individual players on the Nigerian team. But tactically they didn’t seem to have a diverse plan to open the Croatian defensive fort. Nigerians attack and midfield were constantly out numbered.

The Croats defense was very disciplined. But they didn’t have the offensive bite. They better be good in taking penalties in the next round.

[hasan]

Iceland beats nigeria take it to the bank