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I can't believe there is no thread about this!

So, what's your views people?

In the office sweepstake, I got Peru... Not much chance of winning it I guess!

So who's your guess? Shall we have a vote now?

Germany in a Germany-Brazil (2-1 the score) final is my guess.

I'll kick myself if that happens and I didn't put money on it

Yeah, Germany is always a good bet for the final!

I still can't believe there is no Italy in the groups...

I don't follow football much so more on the guess side of things here...

Costa Rica will bet Tunisia in the final 6-3.

You heard it hear first, people!

I have a feeling Argentina will win it for some reason, not sure why.

Tonight's game between Spain and Portugal is the best I've ever seen in the world cup (first world cup I remember is 2002). I love Ronaldo and he is just sensational. If we get even one other game like that this tournament then we are in for a treat.

Sweden in my office sweepstake draw

I'm taking a big gamble on France (no money involved - just a 'gamble' choice!).
Can't argue about the Spain-Portugal match. What a treat.

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Germany - Argentina final with Germany win 2-1 in extra time.

Good to see Australia giving it to France.

1-1 with halfa to go.

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Australia were a lot better than I thought they would be and unlucky not to get a point.

Yeah, Spain-Portugal was a treat.

Portugal seems strong, Ronaldo is like a madman on fire. He has everything but a World Cup now...

I said France before the tournament started but I'm not so sure now. They rather remind of the England team of 10 years ago: lots of great individual players but with no idea of how to gel them together into a team. Looks like they're just trying to put their best 11 players on the pitch and hoping something will happen.

Spain and Portugal are probably looking the most impressive so far. Croatia may be worth an outside bet, I think their team looks even better than their '98 team that reached the semi finals. With Modric and Rakitic they have two of the world's best midfielders.

I am being cautiously optimistic about England doing well for once. I think it's the only England team that I can recall that actually looks better than the sum of its parts. We have a recognisable tactical system that makes the most of the players that we have, for probably the first time since Euro 96.

I'd put a fair few teams in this category: Brazil, Belgium, Argentina.

Croatia are the best team I've seen so far but can't quite see them winning it. I think I'd put money on Spain now if I had to put money on someone.

What the hell Germany???

And I voted for them

i was in germany in april. my friends all said they didn't think germany would win it all.....didn't expect it to end so early though. wow, lackluster play

I heard this the other day:

German invasions in Russia never end well!

(It's a joke before someone gets offended)

Looking forward to the knockouts starting today. Predicting wins for France and Portugal.

Very impressed with Uruguay today, probably the best all-round team performance I've seen so far. Their collective work rate is incredible, they play superbly as a team with no emphasis on any individuals, their defence is extremely hard to score against, and Suarez and Cavani up front can create a goal out of nothing. A stark contrast with Portugal's over-reliance on their aging superstar.

No one mentioned them in the run-up to the tournament but I genuinely think Uruguay are good enough to win the thing. France in the quarter finals will be a massive test for them though.

Agree that Uruguay were impressive, them vs France in the quarter finals is going to be good.

Belgium last night was a great comeback, but I was gutted for Japan who were excellent and a lot better than I thought coming into the tournament.

England tonight, 50-50 game. Not sure England will ever get a better chance of reaching a WC final.

Please England, just this once.

All the teams on England's side of the draw are beatable. Doesn't necessarily mean we will beat them, we have to perform at our best to win all three games.

Rodriguez not available for Colombia tonight is a relief. I still fear Cuadrado and Quintero will cause havoc down the flanks though. Colombia's tall, athletic centre backs should blunt our set-piece ability as well.

Well - that's a start. Unfortunately, I have no nails left.

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Where I'm going, I don't need roads

First time i've teared up as a result of a football match since a 9 year old me watched Southgate miss in '96, christ what a monkey to get off of your back at the first attempt for our 'bright new young' team. Bit of redemption for Southgate too, pleased for him.

Roll on Sweden, we always play like poo against them but this is the most 'functional' Swedish team in years, on paper it looks doable.

Edit: Could at least get my own age right! I wasn't drunk, I swear

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Yeah, good result!

I found the conduct of the Colombian players shady, a few dirty tricks to intimidate the ref, special moment was them trying to mess with the penalty spot before Kane's shot. Good reffing all around though.

Really enjoyed Brazil vs Belgium tonight, was a very good game.

Nervous about England tomorrow. I think it will be a similar game to Tuesday where England have a lot of the ball but don't create many chances as Sweden will be strong defensively.

It's coming home: https://twitter.com/WillBates9020/statu ... 4304959490

I think both semi finals will be very close games with the teams pretty evenly matched. I expect that it will come down to who performs better on the day and would't be surprised to see both go into extra time and penalties. I'm going for a France vs England final.

Yeah, I was thinking this for the final. I can't really see a Croatia-Belgium final, that's for sure.

My gut says France-Croatia but frankly with how this tournament has gone so far England-Belgium wouldn't surprise me at all either.

I think France are strong favourites to win now though. England I feel could go either way, they could cruise to the final and give France a hard time or be put away easily by Croatia. Problem is we haven't seen them go up against a really good team yet*, so its a big unknown IMO.

*Belgium didn't really count as both teams kept their best players back to rest them.

It's what they say though; it's only one game. Anything can happen. So France is through now, let's see in England can pass Croatia. It won't be easy, the Croatians are tough, a very good team indeed

And so... England can fight Belgium for the podium.

Well done and well deserved Croatia! Their greatest football achievement.

Well done to Croatia, they were the better team tonight.

I'm proud of what England have achieved in this tournament though. We look respectable on the world stage again, and with most of these players still being in their 20s when the next tournament comes around I think the future's bright.

Couldn't have put it better myself

I was thinking the same. These guys will be there again, Croatian players are much more experienced at top level and they are in their 30's.

Well done to both teams.

This was not shown on TV. Sneaky England attempted to equalize behind Croatians's backs while these were celebrating their 2:1. The referee prevented. The English sense of sportsmanship?

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/10 ... 5265429506

I've seen similar things before in lower categories. Thanks, interesting find

I think Panama did the same in their game against England.

FIFA's rule states that "for every kick-off, all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half of the field of play". So you are right about the clock ticking.

As for the last point, would it be off side if all the players are off the pitch? They are offside of who exactly?

The proposal that it was a "protest against the fact the clock was ticking down" would be rather ludicrous. They attempted to score. They wouldn't be the first team to attempt such.

They were waiting till the last Croatian player (bar the goalkeeper) left the pitch and then they rushed towards the opponent's goal. There is apparently a rule that you can do it in such a case, no need for the referee to blow the whistle for the kick. It happened in the match between Macedonia and Gibraltar, U-19. Macedonians scored the goal and they all went out to celebrate... Gibraltar pulled the stunt and sneaked in the winning goal. The referee didn't stop it.

But the difference being, Macedonians were celebrating on their side of the pitch. While Croatians were still on England's side. Thus the referee correctly didn't allow it happen. But England tried anyway, oh they did.

Well, the better team won. Beautiful goals, great pace, good game. France was again a brilliant side. The Croatian still did very well, what with the first two French goals being somewhat dodgy. But they were the better side and well done to France!

Well, good to know that it was a misinterpretation of the rules, a lookout for a loophole. Perhaps those 3 England players won't attempt it again, knowing it by now too... providing they have been reading some of these:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/world-cup-2018 ... elebrated/

Sure you can hold that it is ludicrous to suggest they attempted to score - while to me, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck and clearly there have been the precedents of such attempts as well as the cases of players believing in that urban legend.. I will hold it ludicrous to suggest that it was an innocent way of protesting.