WhiteFace at World Cup

I think that the standard of penalty taking has got so bad in this world cup. Ghana,s was very bad and the Polish last minute penalties were terrible, from such high profile players.
There were no such problems for players like Alan Shearer, Julian Dicks etc.
 
Totally agree , some terrible penalties- 2 dreadful attempts by Lewandoski , got lucky that Lloris moved and Ayew basically hitting a back pass to the Uruguayan keeper.
It would be a brave keeper who saved a Dick’s penalty- he was to say the least a feisty character!
 
I would say that the Japanese players were too tired to hit pens. I just don't like the stop start run -ups . There was no such thing with Dick's. He was a character alright ...a no nonsense character.
 
Personally, I think all the nonsense at penalties is just giving the player taking it more opportunities for something to go wrong. I read a statistic that said 80% of penalties in a normal game are scored, 70% in a shoot out so pressure counts

Goalies are also bigger these days. I recall reading an article comparing Ray Clemance and Allison, Allison is 4 inches taller so he has a slightly better chance of stopping it.
 
If the player takes a decent run up the goalkeeper has a lesser chance of saving it , no matter how tall he is , in my opinion. . With this stop start method as long as the goalkeeper doesn't move before it is kicked he has a better chance of saving it. The Japanese players took such bad penalties that you or I would have had a good chance of saving them.
 
I have a theory that for the penalty shoot outs, once the usual penalty takers are out of the way, the keeper shouldn't move. Defend the centre of the goal. It's different if you are up against a regular penalty taker who will place the ball. Once you go down the list you get more penos missed \ blasted \ rolled down the middle.
 
I would call Lewandoski and Ayew regular takers and look at the crap penalties that they took. I would go so far as to say they let their countries down.
 
Who would have thought that after the quarter finals there would be no Neymar , no Ronaldo, no Kane , no Spain, Brazil, Holland, Germany England , Portugal or Belgium . I would have expected to see some of them.
What is it about penalties and England...
I thought the conduct of the Argentinian players wasn't good to see, even Messi should have been booked for the hand ball. The ref was poor to be fair.
It should be a great game between Argentina and Crotia and an interesting game between France and Morocco.
Who is your money on now ....
 
Brazil, Spain, Portugal and England even Germany lost their matches even though they played better. Some might think this unpredictability to be a good thing; I am not so sure. Seeing Morrocco simply holding out for an hour by kicking the ball anywhere wasn't edifying.
One thing we can be sure of; there will be a lot of French players in the final as the majority of Morrocco players were born in France; in fact there were more players born in France playing for other teams than for France in this WC. Remind you of any one? FAI - Find An Irishman at Italia '90.
 
You have to give credit to Morocco. They play to there strengths like any team do. They came through a tough group , have beaten both Spain and Portugal so more luck to them whatever brand of football they play.
 
The odds are on a final between Argentina and France, both dual winners. I would not relish a Morocco/Croatia final, or indeed any other combination. We want to see Messi vs Mbappe.
Betfair:
France/Argentina. 54%
France/ Croatia 25% (2018 replay)
Argentina/Morocco 15%
Morocco/Croatia 6%
 
Last edited:
Today's Irish Times TV schedule says there will be a semi final broadcast this evening between Argentina/Netherlands and Brazil/Croatia. Has it been decided that because these QFs finished drawn AET that all four teams will contest the SF?
 
Duke of Marmalade said:
Today's Irish Times TV schedule says there will be a semi final broadcast this evening between Argentina/Netherlands and Brazil/Croatia. Has it been decided that because these QFs finished drawn AET that all four teams will contest the SF?
Click to expand...
No the Irish Times exists in a state of quantum uncertainty.

You live in the universe where the SF is contested between Argentina and Croatia.

But these matches also spawned off universes where:
Argentina play Brazil
Netherlands play Croatia
Netherlands play Brazil

These universes receive the same copy of the Irish Times.

This state of quantum uncertainty will resolve at the end of the world cup when these strands will collapse back into one universe.
To the great relief of Irish Times delivery drivers.

You don't get that attention to detail from The Sun.
 
Apparently our Roy is a hate figure on Brazil social media for calling the Brazilian team disrespectful for their goal celebration dance. When England went out there were a torrent of posts (in Portugese of course) along the lines "Roy Keane - who's dancing now?". Little did they know that the answer included most of the people of Cork, including Roy.
 
The result for Brazil v Croatia will be even more embarrassing now for Brazilians having seen their local rivals Argentina put Croatia to the sword.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register