Argentina V Croatia
(Synopsis in red)
Pregame bets:
Perhaps this game will be more open than the Iceland game, and so with more room to play Messi might be more in tune to score a goal.
€10.00 Single
Argentina v Croatia – Anytime Goalscorer Lionel Messi 11/8
Full betting review here>https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-of-the-world-cup-2018/
Never had a look in, unfortunately as his team mates haven’t figured out how to pass to him or create space for him, such a shame he plays with such dross.
Beers: Group D of Beer World Cup:
Quilmes of Argentina need to get off the mark as they lost the opener and now need a result against Croatia’s Ožujsko, who got the three points in their opener V Nigeria.
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Croatia’s Ožujsko, much like their team, had that bit more of class to them, smoother, more enjoyable and long lasting. Enjoyable. Quilmes was ok, but just not as good as Ožujsko, one nil.
PreGame:
Against Iceland, Messi never really got motoring, sure he was well marked but so is Ronaldo and he is on four goals already! Missing a penalty in the first game also must have hurt badly, so I’d be interested to see how he responds to today’s game against a tough enough Croatia. I imagine that Croatia might play a more expansive game which would help, but then they probably only need a draw in this game to set themselves up for the last game V Iceland, so they could also be just as cagey.
Truth be told Argentina didn’t deserve a win against Iceland. They started off great and full of heart, but in the end they found the Icelandic defenders just too strong to get past, and with Messi double marked, a draw was all they could muster.
Aguero scored a well taken goal but other than that no one stepped up to the plate, and, truth be told, that Argentinian defence is pretty weak and all over the place. They wont be winning any World Cups playing like that. Croatia will be a sterner test today so its going to take some magic from Messi to wake them up from their apparent slumber!
As for Croatia, they just did enough to get the win against a poor enough Nigeria, who didn’t really have anything to give at all. In their victory Croatia also showed their lack of depth as they didn’t play well at all. The game was pretty dull, nothing much to report at all. Croatia’s first goal was due to a bit of good fortune, while their second was a penalty. But all they really need today is a draw and they might set up for that and play it tight. It could work for them as a man marked Messi nullifies Argentina easily enough. I hope I am wrong, but lets see…..
A more detailed review on Argentina here and on Croatia here
I kind of feel a bit sick knowing that this could be Messi’s final world cup. Its such a crying fucking shame, that his compatriots are such selfish fucking clowns. It’s not rocket science, when your name is Acuña, Dybala, or Pérez for example, and your team is fighting to stay in the Wold Cup, and you receive the ball on the outside of the box……you…
A: move and pass it on, and create space for Messi.
B: give it to Messi,
C: give it to Messi, or
D: give it to Messi.
No, it is E: you fucking take a wild next to nothing shot, because you are a CUNT.
And then the fucking imbecile of a manager takes off Agüero to further make Messi’s life harder. Bringing on Higuaín (did he even touch the ball?) is neither here not there, take off a fucking midfielder ffs!!!!
Argentina looked awful, they looked like a team that was assembled in the stadium car park hours before the game, no team spirit and no clue what their game plan was. And Mascherano should have been put out to pasture years ago, the lazy get didn’t do anything all game.
That’s not taking away from Croatia, who knew exactly how to exploit the narrow shape of Argentina, by pining it along the wings. It also helped that Caballero’s brain went away without leave, gifting Rebic a free strike, which he took superbly. After that Argentina were always playing catch up. Croatia had so many more chances, and sure enough another goal came for Croatia, and what a goal it was. Modric creating space for himself to curl a lovely ball into the corner of the net, top class stuff. Rakitic, who had a good game overall, apart from his playacting, then hit the post, but got another chance to get on the score sheet, minutes later, when he had an easy conversion from a square ball to simply place it into the net. Argentina were dead and buried, from Croatia with love, thank you very much, 3-0.
Argentina better get the novenas out and pray that Nigeria somehow beat Iceland tomorrow, otherwise they are going home early. Croatia on the other hand, job done after two games, well done, and they are a good footballing team too that might sneak into the last four.
Music to get you in the mood
Un poco de amor francés (Indio en concierto) – Indio Solari (Argentina) V Kimiko – AK 47
Both teams were pish poor in the first games, and the fact that Uruguay know that a win will see them through should be enough for them to put on the foot on the gas until job is completed.
Saudi Arabia need to show signs of improvement today as they will be slaughtered by Uruguay if not. But I dont see how they can as there was no spark in the first game, just nothing there. I fear for another hammering today.
I fancy Iniesta to score, to be honest the only real value I could get as most of the Spanish players are short odds for this game!
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Spain took part in one of the best games of the World Cup last week, against Portugal, it was a game that was wall to wall action and pure class. Today they move down the gears a little to play Iran. An Iranian team that did just enough to pox a win against an equally rubbish Morocco. I imagine they might even play some new players today, as I cant see them not totally dismantling the Iranian team, without breaking too much of a sweat. Diego Costa might even be worth a hat trick today,
Diego Costa got the lucky goal, scoring off a rebound that hit his knee, don’t think he even knew too much about it. Not much the goalkeeper could do about it. 
For some reason I also fancy Pepe to score here. Yes i know he rarely scores, but I have visions of hims scoring with a blasting header from a corner.
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Morocco, on the other hand, lost to a pretty useless Iran team, and their midfield got overrun in that game too, so I cant see how they will stop Ronaldo unless they put two men on him at all times. 
Shame really as they played well enough in the game, and in particular N Amrabat who had Guerreiro in his back pocket all day. Amrabat has played well in the two games, albeit he does tire badly, but he at least can hold his head up high with his performances so far. 
Today’s game will all depend on if Mo Salah is playing. If yes then we have a real game on our hands, if not then forget it Egypt will be out. If he is playing I think he will dramatically change Egypt’s fortunes, and is sure to give the Russian defenders something to think about. Egypt, knowing they need a result, could easily beat a Russian team that were lucky that SA made them look so good, because they aren’t really. 
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For the first game of the World Cup it was a decent enough opener, 5 good goals, a lot of action and some nice play. For me Y Zhirkov and R Zobnin down the left flank were a constant thorn all game to the Saudi’s and it was nice to see Zobnin round off an excellent performance with a goal of his own in the dying seconds of the game. Also to note, fuck me For egyptDzyuba is an animal, the size of him, lol!
Warda was fairly lively for Egypt, but should have been substituted much earlier in the second as he had gone off the boil big time, not even bothering to join the attack at times. While Kahraba was lively when he came on, and the goalkeeper had an excellent game, particularly the save near the end from Cavani. Ahmed El-Shenawy looks like he might have done enough to get a move to Europe with that great display of goalkeeping (He plays with Zamalek in Egypt).
Didn’t have to wait too long in the second half for a goal as it came after a very sloppy display of goal keeping by El-Shenawy who choose not to catch a simple ball and the resulting clearance made its way back into the box and off the defender Fathy for a pathetic own goal. Two more goals came, Cheryshev, scored a well deserved second from a great assist by Fernandes, and Dzyuba, the man mountain scored a typical centre forward effort bringing the ball brilliantly down on his chest and then rifling it home bottom corner, class stuff. 
Poland are a very cynical team and like to take a tumble or three, and in Robert Lewandowski they have a bit of a cunt up forward who goes down with the slightest touch, and I would figure that Senegal will be like most African teams, tough tackling and a bit all over the place defensively, so with all this in mind I feel Senegal might get a red card in the game.
For sure Robert Lewandowski is the one to watch, but I have never been convinced about him. Yes he bangs in the goals in the Bundesliga but in my mind he has never performed at the big stage, be that an international tourno or the latter stages of the CL. He was simply atrocious in the last Euros, bad form and an ever worse attitude. As captain that seeps into the rest of the team and what I see any time Poland plays is a cynical team and doesn’t offer much in the way of excitement or free flowing football. If a team can get Poland’s back up then they can definitely beat them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Senegal, in the opening game, cause them all sorts of problems. 
What are they like this time round? Well they have Sadio Mané who has had an excellent season with Liverpool, and Everton powerhouse Idrissa Gueye in defence. They are also quite lucky in that their group is one of the easiest. Poland, Japan and Colombia are all beatable on the day, and if they play as a cohesive team I’d expect them to come out of the group.
Senegal did drop the tempo a bit in the second half, but Poland didn’t react at all. And after Senegal poxed another goal from a comedy goal they kind of gave up. The goal was a mix up between midfielder Krychowiak who booted an aimless back pass towards his goalkeeper Szczesny, who wasn’t expecting it and came off his line to intercept, but he missed it and Niang got the bounce and scored into an empty net to make it two nil.
Japan, on the other hand, are not a great team but what they lack in ability they make up in determination and heart and I am sure they will not stop for the 90 minutes. With this in mind I can see them scoring a goal. And if that is the case then it has to be K Honda, their start player to score (who else?). And I have a strong vision of a penalty too, as they did get a penalty in the last world cup (as far as I can remember!) 
To be fair its not only about Rodríguez, they also have a good squad too. David Ospina is decent enough in goals, Juan Cuadrado is a real work horse in midfield, and Radamel Falcao up front is the type of striker that defenders hate to play against, in your face, strong, and has the ability to smash them in from all angles, albeit he can be lazy enough in games too. But he missed the last World Cup through injury so I am sure he will want to get going this time round. 
With the bad form in mind the Japanese FA in their perceived wisdom decided to sack their manager Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic, just two months before the games. Akira Nishino is the guy now in charge and I wish him luck but that’s a crazy decision by the Japanese football association. 
This time Sweden will be at a major tournament without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, their iconic centre forward. Will it harm their chances? I don’t think so, if anything it might give them more of a chance to progress. They were far too reliant on him, playing virtually everything through him, and that hindered the development of the rest of them and stopped the team from playing with a natural style. Truth be told it never really worked for them as with the big Zlatan, and his even bigger ego, they never played particularly well and did nothing at the international level with him, not even qualifying for the last two World Cups. It could be a blessing in disguise. They were good enough without him too knock out an Italian team that just expected to walk into the World Cup.
At the moment their squad dont have any star players that stand out, and they are struggling badly for form. But they weren’t expected to get out of their qualifying group ahead of the Dutch, they definitely weren’t expected to knock Italy out, and they are not expected to get up to much this time round either. Team spirit can get you far in world football. The Swedes, I wonder would it be wise to disregard them again!!
They won just four games out of ten in the qualifiers, and their form in the friendlies is intermittent. But its not all bad, they do have one player of outstanding quality, Son Heung-min of Spurs, is really the type of player that could drag the team to a victory in a tight game. He always gives 100% and his passion might rub off on the team. It certainly needs to otherwise I see the The Taeguk Warriors returning home early. 
The Korean goalkeeper, Cho Hyun-Woo, has to be commended for keeping his team in it, as he made about 3 or 4 top class saves, one a point blank save from Berg. Conversely Berg had about 3 seriously good chances to put the ball in the net and fluffed them all, poor stuff from him.
With the relativity inexperience of the Panamanian team, up against some serious heavy hitters in a strong Belgian team, a team used to playing on the big occasion, I feel that we might actually get a goal fest today. We could do with some goals, as the last few days have only seen games with a goal or two. So come on Belgium please put on a show for us.
Not long after Hazard someone manages to pass a ball (was difficult for him today) and sets up Lukaku with a chance to score, which he does with a lovely deft little chip over the goalie. A well worked goal.
Three nil is all good and well for Belgium but I saw a lot of flaws in this game today that would make me very concerned if I was a Belgian fan. One thing that can’t be excused was that Eden Hazard couldn’t give a simple pass all game, well apart from setting up the one goal, he must have lost the ball a million times in the game. He can afford to do that against Panama but will be severely punished if he does that shit v Spain or Portugal for example. And you wonder on why the manager didn’t take him off. I would begin to wonder about Martinez there.