Now before the few usual muppets come on trying to have a go and fail big time I've genuinely watched all but about 6 games ( missed Portugal v Spain ) There's been some good moments ( like iran nearly winning tonight ) But I think the overall standard has been pretty poor very few "wow moments" were even non football fan go "quality Goal" Example of that would be the Kroos goal is probably goal of the tournament upto now yet wouldn't be near top 5 in years gone by And apart from 3 or 4 games most have been very poor games and even Portugal parked the bus against Morroco for 45 minutes ffs And usually the negative football starts when the knock out games come around and usually get plenty of 0-0s But countrys like Iran and Russia have looked very good and surprised alot of people ( I thought iran would be whipping boys )
I don't think Kroos' free kick is goal of the tournament...but its an opinion I guess. Its been a World cup of late goals, surprises and inconsistent VAR usage!
I think its been engaging and competitive with few exceptions like the Panama games or Saudi Arabia and Egypt's games. Most teams are at the least difficult to break down or have a go. Morocco have been really good and Iran but in different ways. You're not going to get all star games like in CL or Classico because international teams can't spend 300 million a year on fixing weaknesses. That means the outcome isn't predetermined like the club game. It means England have a chance too. Once a decade maybe you get a great international side. We had the Spain team of 08-12.
Quaresma tonight, Coutinho vs Switzerland, Nacho vs Portugal, Ronaldo's free kick vs Spain, Modric vs Argentina and arguably Kolarov vs Costa Rica were all better goals than the Kroos goal.
But usually the standard gets worse in the knock out stages as teams have too much to lose I doubt we'll see many 3-2 games past the QF stage
But apart from Spain v Portugal there hasn't been a wow game Been 2 or 3 decentish ones And Brazil 2002 ? Italy 2006 ?
I think it started off very well with some exciting and good football being played but the last few games have been a bit scrappy. Maybe to do with teams being a bit more negative due to worry about not getting out of the groups. It seems to be taking the same route as the last world cup where it started well but especially in the knockouts it was scrappy and cagey. Hope not though
Id agree but even games like Uruguay v Egypt and Croatia v Nigeria in the 1st round were utterly horrendous matches
Same here Best WC since 1998 for me. Yes sometimes some games have lacked quality. But not a single 0-0 scoreline so far, unlike South Africa which really was a complete snorefest right from first to last minute. Some tight games and also some entertaining games too. Spain 3-3 Portugal, Germany 2-1 Sweden, Japan 2-2 Senegal. As has been previously mentioned, you are not going to get the highest quality on offer in international football any more because international sides cant spend 400 million pounds in new fullbacks central midfielders and strikers. International football is about dealing with the hand you are given best and in many ways i am starting to enjoy it more than club football as one element of it is present that is not present in club football as much now. Coaching players to improve and good tactics. Impossible to be a chequebook manager in international football and there is something more pure about it that i like compared to modern club football. Finally, if you think quality of tournament is poor now, wait till it goes to 48 teams. Then you will have to wait till 3rd week in tournament before you get some decent games as until last 16 the quality will be dire.
For me quality of football from both teams makes a good game and not high scoring games that lack quality. It does help when you get both though
I think it’s been a good World Cup so far. At least no games have been goalless and the balls don’t fly off in weird, unpredictable directions like they have done in recent tournaments.
Part of problem as well is internationalisation of world football nowadays. 24 years ago, no one had heard of the great Romanian or Bulgarian teams who graced the 94 USA World Cup. Very few people had heard or watched Paolo Rossi before 82 World Cup in Spain. Now you can watch any league in world football anywhere. El Classico, any big 6 clash in England and big CL games on every month in club football have imo perhaps had an impact on World Cups. They just dont seem as magical as they once were and i can understand the reasons for thinking that modern World Cups are not as memorable as past tournaments.
You don't get many classic, great games in a World Cup/international tournament, Maybe 1 or 2 on average (or 0 in 2010). In the last World Cup it was the Brazil semi and that was just a meltdown. The World Cup has always been more about moments or once in a while a great team (Brazil 70, Holland 74, Brazil 82, Spain 2010) The odd awful game, the odd really good game and a lot of watchable games if not necessarily stacked with quality. Seems about right to me for a World Cup
