Belgium V England World Cup 2018

Belgium V England

Beers: Third Place Playoff Beer World Cup:

Similar in the football,Belgium had a good run in my Beer World Cup, winning Beer World Cup G, with beers from Jessenhofke and Kamil, beating Colombia (Club Colombia) easy in round two, but their good run was ended by some Swiss heavyweights, Celestial Brewery, Soo. Soors Beer, Dr. Brauwolf, in the last 8. England were also strong on the beer front, coming second to Belgium in group, Beer Group G, with London Pride doing the business for them, they then went on to beat Poland (Tyskie) in the last 16, but their good run came to end when they came up against a trio of Strong German beers in the last 8, so England are not here today but Switzerland who were also knocked out, in the last 4, by the beer kings Germany.

Croatia V Switzerland

Croatia (Ožujsko and Bura Brew), came top in Beer Group D, up against heavy hitters from Iceland, Argentina and Nigeria. Then in the last 16, the Croatians when on to beat Australia (Fosters), while for the last eight they had a tough battle with Portugal (Super Bock), a tussle that went down to the wire, but they got through it in the end. Unfortunately they came up against a strong Germany Zombräu and Döllnitzer Ritterguts Gose, and although they performed well in the tussle with their German rivals, they just lost out in the end, just missing the final, 2-1

Switzerland (Dr. Brauwolf, Celestial Brewery, Soo. Soors Beer) easily powered home in my Beer Group E, no problem at all, and in the last 16 they beat popular Mexican beer, Corona. While in the last eight they had a tough battle with Belgium (Jessenhofke and Kamil) just coming out by the skin of their teeth! In the semi final they came up against Knightberg of Russia, and although they were favourites to progress the Russians surprised with a Russian Brettness beer and a Hefeweizen which simply blew me away. Albeit the Dr.Brawolf’s Red Ale, Soo.Soors Swiss Ale and Celestial Beer’s Le Dermier Ciel, were all excellent beer and on another day definitely would have made the final, but the Russian’s pulled it off and made the final instead.

So today we have the third play off place between Croatia (Ožujsko) and Switzerland (Dr. Brauwolf, Celestial Brewery, Soo. Soors Beer)

Ožujsko Bura Brew

Celestial Brewery Soo. Soors Beer Dr. Brauwolf

Read who qualified for my Beer World Cup Final here

Had a massive mash up between a variety of beers from Switzerland and the last few remaining cans of Ožujsko representing Croatia.

For Switzerland we had a lovely light Swiss Ale from Soo. Soors Beer, which was very smooth, very easy to drink, nice and crisp on the tongue. Representing Celestial Brewery, I had their L’Intemporelle Blance, a lovely Belgian witbier, and their “L’Autre Monde, a very good coffee stout. For Dr. Brauwolf, I had a good selection of their brews. Their Black IPA, which was interesting, their own version of a Chocolate Stout, another Witbier, an American IPA and, to finish off, I had a Vanilla Cream Ale, which was just fantastic.

Poor old Ožujsko didn’t know if it was coming or going, a lager against these heavy hitters from Switzerland! But they did score a few hits and although they didn’t win the tie, they went down fighting!

Switzerland comes third in my beer world cup! And I had a massive “head” the next day!!!

PreGame:

England V Croatia: Another good game, and it started with a cracker, Trippier banging in a brilliant free kick after about 5 minutes. The skill to get it up and over and down was brilliant. Not a bad way at all to score your first goal for England.

This spurred England on, and it was them as they dictated the play and had a few more chances to increase the lead. Lingard should have scored, or at least hit the target when Alli set him up perfectly, while Kane had two bites of the cherry from close on but couldn’t connect. Those chances would come back to bite them on the ass later!

Croatia came more into it in the second half as England let the foot off the gas, Brozovic hitting the post. That should have woke England up but it didn’t. Sterling still on the pitch, fannying around, while Kane not showing any leadership on the pitch. Perisic, on the other hand, was showing grit by pushing his side forward every chance he had, and all that hard work came off as he scored the equalizer beating the defender to shot for goal, a bit too easy for Croatia. England were now on the ropes. Brozovic missed another chance, an empty goal after a rare blunder by Pickford. Vrsaljko also had Stones clear off the line with a shot. Mandzukic was excellent and had a great shot well saved by Pickford, while Vida at the other end had Sterling ,and Rashford when he came on, had them both in his pocket, well defended considering the speed of those two players. And then at the centre of it all Modric pinning the ball all around the pitch, brilliant to watch, a world class performance if I ever saw one.

But England held out, just about, to extra time. Expect they didn’t really, as Croatia, continued into the added time, with more of the same, and it was no surprise at all when Mandzukic scored a perfect strikers goal, as the English defence fell asleep and pretty much put Croatia into the final. You just knew England had no idea how to come back after that. Game over!

England fans are proud of their team, but if I am honest I would be a little pissed if I was English, they really had an excellent chance of making the final and kind of fucked it all up. Those chances dont come round very often, once every 30 years more or less! But fair dues to Croatia, they well deserved to make the final as they are a better footballing team and Modric surely deserves to play in the final after all his years of entertainment that he has given the footballing world.

France V Belgium: Great start to the game from both teams, Pogba to Mbappe but Courtois quick off his line, A Hazard shot which Varane just headed over. Alderweireld then with a tight angled shot that seen Lloris saving superbly, up the other end Pavard seeing his shot well saved by Courtois. If anything it was the goalkeepers that were the busiest in the opening exchanges.

At half time I would have said that Belgian were bossing it a bit, especially in the centre with Kevin pinging the ball around, so France on the 51st minute kind of scored against the run of play, when Umtiti headed to the back of the net from a corner, one nil to France.

This fired up the Belgians, and again Lloris was called into action to save from Witsel this time. But for all their huffing and puffing Belgium really couldn’t break the France back line which was well marshaled by Pogba, of all people! France managed to hold out for a memorable victory against a very good Belgium team.

So today’s game might be a slight anti climax, for sure both are happy do as well as they have done in recent memory, but I am guessing they are wondering how they didn’t make that final. Still I would expect a free flowing game today and Belgium to edge it again.

Bit of dead rubber game in all honesty, but we didn’t have to wait too long before Belgium took the lead, 4 minutes in, when Meunier scored a very nice goal, another top team goal from the Belgians, Lukaku with a lovely pass to Chadli who squared it perfectly for Meunier to fire home. Great start to Belgium.

It was all Belgium, Kevin again bossing midfield, Hazard doing his stuff on the wings, Lukaku always a danger up front.

At the other end, Kane should have really got a goal back for England, snatching at a shot when he should have at least got it on target.

England played slightly better second half. But still Belgium were a danger, with De Bruyne putting it on a plate for Lukaku who should have really scored.

The the move of the game came when Belgium from deep in their own defence when up the other end, one touch passing football, for Meunier to slam in a shot that was excellently saved by Pickford. If it had went in it would have got the best goal of the tournament, no doubt.

E Hazard, with a great one two with De Bruyne, scored the second for Belgium killing the game as a contest and so the Belgians take the third spot. A good World cup for both teams, but England were lucky that they got such an easy route to the semi’s, they wont get that again for a while, while the Belgians must be wondering how they didn’t make the final since they were easily the best footballing team in this years tournament. Roll on the Euros 2020!