Sweden šŸ‡øšŸ‡Ŗ vs :engerland: England - @SaintBristol vs @Fowllyd - Quarter Final

Sadly correct

Let’s hope for a quantum leap in performance and only get beaten by the odd two or three in the final. :lou_wink_2:

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OK you have to have FB to watch this, but tis is the first one that bought a tear to my eye.
Brilliant

https://twitter.com/EvilSimonnn/status/1015630557584207878

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Probably, though I really wouldn’t see a 5-0 being too likely. But, as it’s a cup final, a one-off match, who knows? Nobody fancied Greece to beat Portugal in the 2004 Euros, nor were France widely tipped to beat Brazil in 1998. For that matter, I thought that Russia would come to grief big time against Spain.

Now, I’m by no means expecting England to win, always assuming that we get through the semi-final, but this whole campaign has just been so fucking refreshing in so many ways that I’m happy no matter what. A squad that seems to be genuinely together, with players fully committed to the team rather than their own personal glorification - and looking like they’re actually enjoying it (all of which has been massively evident on the pitch), a manager who you can actually warm to and even (astonishingly) admire, a lot of decent football played and good goals scored - what’s not to like? What was anyone seriously expecting a few weeks ago? Who knew that watching England could be something other than a chore?

I’ll be handing @SaintBristol his arse on a plate as promised by the way. If you do with to eat it I think you should probably negotiate this with him.

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https://twitter.com/TomMallows_/status/1015628653714182146

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That’s a very good point, and one that I’d (kinda) meant to put in my post above. If Big Fat Sam had remained in charge, I reckon that we’d have qualified, and probably got out of the group as well. But scoring six goals, even against a side a poor as Panama, would have been unimaginable. And I don’t think we’d have beaten Colombia, let alone Sweden. And we sure as fuck wouldn’t have a manager anyone could warm to, let alone admire.

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Well, it’s the morning after the night before down under and all one can really say at this stage is :fireworks: Congratulations!! :fireworks:

It seemed (at least to a non English person) that that was relatively easy, though I assume it was nerve racking to watch all the same.

Semi final eh? At least you can say you are among the top 4 teams in the world! Bugger FIFA ratings, this is where its at!

Onwards and upwards and good luck against Croatia

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Was a pretty much stress free World Cup QF. Croatia have a great midfield, but i’m kind of positive.

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Just saying…

https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/ticketing/ticket-availability.html

And no. not available.
At the moment…
However for the quarters it opened up a couple of days before
:roll_eyes::wink:

I know he has many fans on here…

NSFW #language

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ā€œWondering if you could advise if any Croatia players are suspended for the semis and how that may affect their team,ā€ asks Antony Bellingall.

No Croatia players are suspended for the semi Antony. Four were booked against Russia but none of the eight who were at risk of suspension.

The accumulation of yellow cards is no longer a consideration for the four remaining teams, meaning a semi-final sending off is the only way a player can be suspended for the final.

Just when the game was stagnating to the point where it felt it might have to be delivered by caesarean section, along came Harry Maguire, or more specifically: along came Harry Maguire’s head. Maguire’s head really has an identity and a carriage all of its own: like a 3-wood, or one of Jupiter’s moons, or an Elgin Marble, or something similarly substantial and unyielding. It really is a Large Hadron Collider of a head, a head for which hair is really just a sort of disguise, protecting the general public from the full, terrifying scale of that granite cranium. Rumours that the Earth has actually between revolving around Maguire’s head this whole time remain, according to the majority of astronomical consensus, purely conjecture.

Slipping in between the tightly-packed lines of their defence and midfield was like trying to find space in a double cheeseburger.

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Just added a turd emoji simply because I’ve never used one before. :lou_wink_2:

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When you realise that this shit is getting real.
That FIFA link?

They are selling tickets for FRA BEL. I’m broke. I can’t. Nowhere to stay. Billy no mates. She’d kill me.

Oh stop it, you mean to say it’s only 200 quid return flight.

nooooooooo

Close call. Had to pop to the shop. While there the tickets came on sale.
Luckily I was kicked out the queue because I had not ordered in 10 minutes from when they came available.
At least I tried
$255 each

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I’m not sure what’s more impressive, that we’re in a semi-final, or that a member of the England team has a decent sense of humour

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What is equally fun has been the shock of the media, they seem to actually be having real fun as well. From Jonathon Lieuw going berserk literally to Matt Slater tweeting pics of his bag of beer even down to the BBC studio crew.
World Cup 2018: Shearer celebrates England’s win with a spot of karaoke - http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/44757749
This has been one crazy magical journey for everyone