World Cup 2018 - General Chat

[Azeem98]

Pele: Neymar Ready to Lead Brazil

Will Neymar be the one to carry Brazil to the summit?
Neymar has changed the way he plays with the national team. He has had to. At his club side, he was playing as a left-sided attacker, whereas for Brazil, he plays more centrally, as a more traditional No10. That’s hard, but he’s managed to adapt his game. If you look around the world, the ones who stand out are Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar. There are no other superstars. The important thing is for the national team to be well organised as a group because they no longer have three or four top players for each position. The same is true of Germany, whose emphasis is more on the collective. Before, it was individuals who mattered most, but it’s changed a lot. It’s all very similar these days.

Does he look to you like he’s ready to be the leader of this team?
He’s ready, yes. He might find that the tactical switch from his club to the national team isn’t straightforward, but Neymar is Brazil’s key player. He has to prepare himself for that. And I would go further: for me, technically, he is already the best player in the world. I’m absolutely sure of that.

[Azeem98]

Manuel Neuer suffering from bone marrow edema in his right foot

Manuel Neuer has been completing full team training sessions for Bayern Munich for just over two weeks now, but he’s experienced yet another minor setback in his race to be fully fit before the end of the season. Per a report by Bild, an MRI scan has revealed that the keeper is suffering from bone marrow edema in his foot, an excessive build-up of fluid within the bone—in Neuer’s case, his metatarsal.

The condition can cause severe swelling and thus make the skin in the effected area increasingly tight. After the edema was discovered, Neuer was ordered to rest for at least two to three days to reduce the swelling, leaving him out of contention for Bayern’s 3-1 win over FC Köln.
Neuer had been hopeful of potentially receiving minutes in either of Bayern’s two remaining Bundesliga matches, but it now looks as if the only possible date for a comeback this season, if any, would be for the DFB-Pokal final against Eintracht Frankfurt on May 19th. Given Sven Ulreich’s excellent form, however, Jupp Heynckes will not risk Neuer unless he’s absolutely ready to play.

Realistically for Neuer, it’s now boiling down to a matter of being fully fit for the World Cup. Joachim Löw has to prepare his preliminary 23-man roster for Germany by May 14th and a final roster by June 4th, giving Neuer only a month and a half to be ready. Bild suggests that Low wants to take four goalkeepers to the preliminary training camp in South Tyrol, Italy, from May 23rd to June 7th. Paris Saint-Germain’s Kevin Trapp is slated to be Neuer’s emergency replacement alongside Barcelona’s Marc-André ter Stegen and Bayer Leverkusen’s Bernd Leno, if Neuer is not fit on time.

[Leicester City]

Danny Drinkwater To Miss World Cup Due To Dehydration

[Ando Teymourian]

Danny Drinkwater To Miss World Cup Due To Dehydration

Lol, for a split second there I actually thought this was real. Glad to know everyone is fine haha.

[forzatm]

Dani Alves will miss the World Cup. His absence will be a blow to Brazil.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...miss-world-cup

[Azeem98]

Dani Alves will miss the World Cup. His absence will be a blow to Brazil.
https://www.theguardian.com/football...miss-world-cup

Alves is extremely excentric and an attention seeker but his fellow brazilian players love him, respect him and see him as a leader. And it´s not like Brazil is rich in the leadership department, the other guy who acts like a leader in that dressing room is... Thiago Silva.

[Azeem98]

Hector Herrera: Mexico Must Stop Thinking We're a Small Team

Hector Herrera has urged Mexico to shed its small-side mentality and start thinking about winning the FIFA World Cup™.

El Tri have been eliminated from the Round of 16 at each of the past six global finals – by Bulgaria in 1994, Germany in 1998, USA in 2002, Argentina in 2006 and 2010, and the Netherlands in 2014.

“We have to stop these fears, stop believing we’re a small team, stop going on about ‘the fifth game’, believing that we won't reach the fifth match,” Herrera told Marca. “We have to think about becoming champions, in wanting to lift the World Cup.

“I think if we reach the next round, it is proof that we are up for big things and can cause that surprise and impose the feeling that we are a great side at the World Cup."

[Azeem98]

Poland Provisional World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers: Bartosz Bialkowski (Ipswich Town, England), Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea City, Wales), Lukasz Skorupski (Roma, Italy), Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus, Italy);

Defenders: Jan Bednarek (Southampton, England), Bartosz Bereszynski (Sampdoria, Italy), Thiago Cionek (SPAL, Italy), Kamil Glik (Monaco, France), Artur Jedrzejczyk (Legia Warsaw), Marcin Kaminski (Stuttgart, Germany), Tomasz Kedziora (Dynamo Kyiv, Ukraine), Michal Pazdan (Legia Warsaw), Lukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund, Germany);

Midfielders: Jakub Blaszczykowski (Wolfsburg, Germany), Pawel Dawidowicz (Palermo, Italy), Przemyslaw Frankowski (Jagiellonia Bialystok), Jacek Goralski (Ludogorets Razgrad, Bulgaria), Kamil Grosicki (Hull City, England), Damian Kadzior (Gornik Zabrze), Grzegorz Krychowiak (West Bromwich Albion, England), Rafal Kurzawa (Gornik Zabrze), Karol Linetty (Sampdoria, Italy), Maciej Makuszewski (Lech Poznan), Krzysztof Maczynski (Legia Warsaw), Slawomir Peszko (Lechnia Gdansk), Maciej Rybus (Lokomotiv Moscow, Russia), Sebastian Szymanski (Legia Warsaw), Piotr Zielinski (Napoli, Italy), Szymon Zurkowski (Gornik Zabrze);

Forwards: Dawid Kownacki (Sampdoria, Italy), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich, Germany), Arkadiusz Milik (Napoli, Italy), Krzysztof Piatek (Cracovia), Lukasz Teodorczyk (Anderlecht, Belgium), Kamil Wilczek (Brondby, Denmark).

[Azeem98]

Russia Provisional World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moscow), Vladimir Gabulov (Club Brugge, Belgium), Soslan Dzhanaev (Rubin Kazan), Andrey Lunev (Zenit St Petersburg);

Defenders: Vladimir Granat, Ruslan Kambolov, Fedor Kudryashov (all Rubin Kazan), Ilya Kutepov (Spartak Moscow), Roman Neustadter (Fenerbahce, Turkey), Konstantin Rausch (Dynamo Moscow), Andrey Semenov (Akhmat Grozny), Igor Smolnikov (Zenit St Petersburg), Mario Fernandes (CSKA Moscow);

Midfielders: Yuri Gazinskiy (Krasnodar), Alexsandr Golovin, Alan Dzagoev (both CSKA Moscow), Alexsandr Erokhin, Yuri Zhirkov, Daler Kuzyaev (all Zenit St Petersburg), Roman Zobnin, Alexsandr Samedov (both Spartak Moscow), Anton Miranchuk (Lokomotiv Moscow), Alexsandr Tashaev (Dynamo Moscow), Denis Cheryshev (Villarreal, Spain);

Forwards: Artem Dzyuba (Arsenal Tula), Aleksey Miranchuk (Lokomotiv Moscow), Fedor Smolov (Krasnodar), Fedor Chalov (CSKA Moscow).

[Azeem98]

Australia Provisional World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers: Brad Jones, Mitch Langerak, Mat Ryan, Danny Vukovic

Defenders: Aziz Behich, Milos Degenek, Alex Gersbach, Matthew Jurman , Fran Karacic, James Meredith, Josh Risdon, Trent Sainsbury, Aleksandar Susnjar, Bailey Wright

Midfielders: Josh Brillante, Jackson Irvine, Mile Jedinak, Robbie Kruse, Massimo Luongo, Mark Milligan, Aaron Mooy, Tom Rogic, James Troisi

Forwards: Daniel Arzani, Tim Cahill, Apostolos Giannou, Tomi Juric, Mathew Leckie, Jamie Maclaren, Andrew Nabbout, Dimitri Petratos, Nikita Rukavytsya

[Rooyintan]

So who do most Pakistani support?

1. Saudi Arabia
2. England
3. Brazil
4. Egypt
5. Iran
6. Australia
7. any others?

[Rooyintan]

Fernando Santos Doubts Portugal's Chances

Fernando Santos has revealed who he believes are the five favourites to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ – and his Portugal side, despite being the reigning European champions and boasting The Best FIFA Men’s Player holder Cristiano Ronaldo, are not among them.
“For me, the favourites are Brazil, Germany, Spain, Argentina and France,” the 63-year-old told Blog Ora Bolas. “I say this due to the enormous strength in depth they have and the extraordinary quality of their teams, in addition to their experience on the big stages and success.
“We know that we’re not the favourites and we accept the favouritism of the other teams, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have ambition and the clear goal of going into each match to win.
“We are a very strong group, cohesive. We are humble, but we know we have quality. We don’t have the intention of thinking we’re better than everyone else, but we believe greatly in our quality and know we’ll be difficult to beat.”

I feel the following teams in this order have a chance of winning the cup.

1. Brazil
2. Spain
3. France
4. Germany
5. Belgium

[Azeem98]

I feel the following teams in this order have a chance of winning the cup.

1. Brazil
2. Spain
3. France
4. Germany
5. Belgium

No South American team is decent enough to win it this year.

Many people, wrongly, equate brazilian football to a beautiful style of football but this could not be more wrong. Brazil has adopted for a long time a very conservative and defensive style of football, based on counter-attacks. The fact they've had so many good forwards all those years, and it´s pretty obvious a 200 million nation whose first sport is football will have class players in every position, masks it.

The truth is brazilian midfielders are generally not creative and haven´t been for almost 3 decades, with some exceptions. Therefore they have a hard time at creating chances. When Brazil is trailing in the score, it´s a nightmare. They are generally eliminated or embarassed because their best weapon, the counter-attack, is taken away from them.

This has a very 2010 feeling to it. I think Brazil´s chances this year are small.

[Azeem98]

So who do most Pakistani support?

1. Saudi Arabia
2. England
3. Brazil
4. Egypt
5. Iran
6. Australia
7. any others?

Like most countries there isn't single majority for any team also that most like to see Muslim countries doing well.

P.S Why the hell did you add Australia

[Rooyintan]

Like most countries there isn't single majority for any team also that most like to see Muslim countries doing well.

P.S Why the hell did you add Australia

Just like your other neighbours from South Asia [India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh] I thought Pakistani people also have great love for their co-British Commonwealth countries England and Australia [or other who are there like New Zealand, Canada, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, South Africa, etc]