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Semi Finals

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wm02 said:
Wonder who the last one was.
Maybe West Germany in ‘54?
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I was thinking about this. Has there really been one? I know Brazil in 50 and Hungary in 54 were massive favorites but Uruguay and West Germany wouldn't have been as far down the list as Morocco or even Croatia right? Or even something like Greece in Euro 2004.
 
TheBigIguana said:
I was thinking about this. Has there really been one? I know Brazil in 50 and Hungary in 54 were massive favorites but Uruguay and West Germany wouldn't have been as far down the list as Morocco or even Croatia right? Or even something like Greece in Euro 2004.
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I think West Germany in ‘54 would be the closest. I believe they were mostly amateurs.
Anyway, I lived in Germany when Das Wunder von Bern was released so I’ve probably been brainwashed ?
 
TheBigIguana said:
The World Cup is definitely due for a underdog to win. It's a knockout tournament, almost like March Madness in a way but with a more random sport even, so at some point someone is going to ride a wave of decent play and luck to lifting it. Maybe Morocco or Croatia can be the one.
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Id like Morocco to win it as I really like what they do, they have hard work, a bit of skill, and an actual game plan that suits their players. However I think FIFA will make sure the final is Argentina vs France aka Messi vs Mbappe and I think Messi will finally win a World Cup leading to more conspiracy theories from the Portuguese.
 
Simon Buttle said:
Id like Morocco to win it as I really like what they do, they have hard work, a bit of skill, and an actual game plan that suits their players. However I think FIFA will make sure the final is Argentina vs France aka Messi vs Mbappe and I think Messi will finally win a World Cup leading to more conspiracy theories from the Portuguese.
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I genuinely wouldnt raise an eyebrow in surprise if the refs made sure it was france argentina in the final.
$$$$$$$$$
 

Simon Buttle said:
Id like Morocco to win it as I really like what they do, they have hard work, a bit of skill, and an actual game plan that suits their players. However I think FIFA will make sure the final is Argentina vs France aka Messi vs Mbappe and I think Messi will finally win a World Cup leading to more conspiracy theories from the Portuguese.
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I believe that the refs will be looked on favourably by FIFA if they get Argentina over the line against Croatia and the French over the line in their SF.

However, I dont think the final will be tilted in either Argentina or France's favour.

If they want ideally a Messi WC win I think that will come about in any case.

The Argentinians - apart from that first game - have been immense in the way they've committed to games. And the stadium will be 2/3rds full of Argentinians if the previous games are anything to go by. It'll be a massive struggle for France to beat Argentina.
 
Daveysgingerlovechild said:
Would love Morocco to be the equivalent of 04 Greece.
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Greece was a huge shock.

Leicester winning the premier league was more so, and as it stands is probably the most outrageous and shocking trophy win in football.

However if Morocco win the world cup i would consider that to be the most incredible thing i've witnessed in football.
 
If Morocco win it's going to make international football even harder to watch than it is now. Uncreative second-rate managers who failed at club level, barely enough time to get the players to gel as a unit, and defending is the path of least resistance. It will just encourage more negative, boring football.
 

mmmmsnouts said:
If Morocco win it's going to make international football even harder to watch than it is now. Uncreative second-rate managers who failed at club level, barely enough time to get the players to gel as a unit, and defending is the path of least resistance. It will just encourage more negative, boring football.
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This doesn't really change no matter who wins. Argentina and France are still safety first teams, they just have more talent when they do have the ball.
 
mmmmsnouts said:
If Morocco win it's going to make international football even harder to watch than it is now. Uncreative second-rate managers who failed at club level, barely enough time to get the players to gel as a unit, and defending is the path of least resistance. It will just encourage more negative, boring football.
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Perhaps just me but, unlike the 04 Greece team, don’t find Morocco boring to watch.

They are clearly happy to concede possession but when they do get the ball think they are quite interesting - much prefer it to Spain for instance.
 
mmmmsnouts said:
If Morocco win it's going to make international football even harder to watch than it is now. Uncreative second-rate managers who failed at club level, barely enough time to get the players to gel as a unit, and defending is the path of least resistance. It will just encourage more negative, boring football.
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I think this is more a problem with the structure of the competition than anything else. A win and two draws always gets through the group stages. A clean sheet in the knockout stages at worst earns a coin toss shootout to advance, so the lesser of the two sides should always play for it until they have to chase the game.

This is then compounded by the problem you point out, which is the difficulty in getting an attack between players that don't play week-in, week-out to sync up. An attack firing on all cylinders requires a certain degree of telepathy to deliver the ball in the correct place with the right weight. Defense is just clogging predictable passing and shooting lanes, for the most part, so long as you aren't conceding counterattacks.

If we want attacking football from the opening whistle, the resolution mechanism has to be something other than a penalty shootout where one side knows they're likely to lose if the score is tied at the end of regulation/extra time. That would not be fair, but it would result in a better watch.
 

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