[WC] World Cup 2018 - General Talk Thread (9 Viewers)

[Seven]

It's a slippery slope to accept direct (or obvious indirect) political statements from any part involved in the game, so I'd say the President of the Serbian FA should also have a case opened on his behaviour.

Oh, and had a danish-albanian done what those guy did, I would have been furious. Switzerland will have a very hard tiem advancing if those two are suspended.

I can't even imagine losing Hazard and Lukaku to something similar. As a Swiss, you must be going absolutely crazy right now.

The Serbs have been nothing short of disgraceful though. Their manager has gone as far as saying the ICTY screwed them over and now they're screwed all over again. Then he added the ref should be judged by the ICTY.

I honestly can't think of comments that might be worse. I guess death threats or something.

I believe proceedings have started against them too though.

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[j0ker]

Some of you sound like they showed a map of Greater Albania.

Both Albania and Kosovo are recongnized by FIFA, if the serbs are offended by Albanian flag they can fuck off and complain about "provocation" like always.

 

[pitbull]

Itd be provocation if they paraded that flag under Serb noses, however that celebration was clearly intended for the fans, its the problem of Serbs that Albanian symbol offends them.

I dont think its a political statement, more like a tribute to their roots

 

[Seven]

Itd be provocation if they paraded that flag under Serb noses, however that celebration was clearly intended for the fans, its the problem of Serbs that Albanian symbol offends them.

I dont think its a political statement, more like a tribute to their roots

So does Shaqiri celebrate like this every time?

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[pitbull]

So does Shaqiri celebrate like this every time?

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Obviously no, beating Serbs was a joyful event for the Kosovo people, even if there were only 2 of them. Still doesnt mean Serbs should take offense in them celebrating.

 

[JuveJay]

Thing with England is that the squad is young and the manager is popular and laid back, there are no squad cliques like back in the day where the Arsenal, United and Liverpool players would stay in their little groups and be suspicious of each other, no big egos out for themselves.

This England can go pretty far but from what I've seen defensively against even the weakest of attacks, there are errors and lapses in concentration in that back line. That'll surely get punished against a team with a more than decent attack, but also you'd expect concentration to be better with a great threat.

That said, the national media are getting very carried away again "It's all different this time". Yeah, seen it all before.

 

[Salvo]

Thing with England is that the squad is young and the manager is popular and laid back, there are no squad cliques like back in the day where the Arsenal, United and Liverpool players would stay in their little groups and be suspicious of each other, no big egos out for themselves.

This England can go pretty far but from what I've seen defensively against even the weakest of attacks, there are errors and lapses in concentration in that back line. That'll surely get punished against a team with a more than decent attack, but also you'd expect concentration to be better with a great threat.

That said, the national media are getting very carried away again "It's all different this time". Yeah, seen it all before.

There's too many trash teams in these groups to get too hyped about anyone

We will see once the knock outs start

 

[Seven]

Thing with England is that the squad is young and the manager is popular and laid back, there are no squad cliques like back in the day where the Arsenal, United and Liverpool players would stay in their little groups and be suspicious of each other, no big egos out for themselves.

This England can go pretty far but from what I've seen defensively against even the weakest of attacks, there are errors and lapses in concentration in that back line. That'll surely get punished against a team with a more than decent attack, but also you'd expect concentration to be better with a great threat.

That said, the national media are getting very carried away again "It's all different this time". Yeah, seen it all before.

Well, honestly I do think England look a lot different. I don't know how far they'll go, but Southgate has made the right choices so far. England haven't looked this much of a team in.. Well, decades really.

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[Seven]

There's too many trash teams in these groups to get too hyped about anyone

We will see once the knock outs start

Both England and Belgium are flawed teams, but if things go well for them they also have the quality to go far. Both defend poorly though and faced with for example Colombia they will have to hope Falcao misses at least one sitter.

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[Xperd]

Both England and Belgium are flawed teams, but if things go well for them they also have the quality to go far. Both defend poorly though and faced with for example Colombia they will have to hope Falcao misses at least one sitter.

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Colombia defend poorly too tbf . Their defense always has a brainfart or two in them.

But from what I've seen, they look one of the more aggressive attacking teams in the tournament. Basically what we expect Brazil to be. Shame about their opening game.

 

[Jethro]

https://twitter.com/Mr_DrinksOnMe/status/1010831902624878592?s=19

 

[Juvellino]

Itd be provocation if they paraded that flag under Serb noses, however that celebration was clearly intended for the fans, its the problem of Serbs that Albanian symbol offends them.

I dont think its a political statement, more like a tribute to their roots

The fans booed those two players during the match and some wore offensive shirts, offensive signs. The players were giving a fuck you to them, Serbian FA etc.

Some of you sound like they showed a map of Greater Albania.

Both Albania and Kosovo are recongnized by FIFA, if the serbs are offended by Albanian flag they can fuck off and complain about "provocation" like always.

 

[Maddy]

The fans booed those two players during the match and some wore offensive shirts, offensive signs. The players were giving a fuck you to them, Serbian FA etc.

So it was a political statement? I hope they get suspended :xfinger:

 

[Gagi]

"complain about "provocations""



Only a drone was missing.

Ofc it is, Maddy.

Behrami would have acted the same if he had scored. They should play football, not provoke. After all, it's the game against Serbia and WC is held in Russia, defo not the right place nor event where you should act like an idiot.

 

[Jethro]

Pogba playing his last World Cup?

 

[Juvellino]

So it was a political statement? I hope they get suspended :xfinger:

 

[Seven]

"complain about "provocations""



Only a drone was missing.

Ofc it is, Maddy.

Behrami would have acted the same if he had scored. They should play football, not provoke. After all, it's the game against Serbia and WC is held in Russia, defo not the right place nor event where you should act like an idiot.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/serbia-boss-mladen-krstajic-faces-12784198

Yeah, I think you should just shut the fuck up.

Shaqiri and Xhaka were in the wrong. I won't deny that. But this is a completely different level.

 

[Wittl]

So it was a political statement? I hope they get suspended :xfinger:

It's hard to guess what they will decide tonight. I think they will get banned, at least Shaqiri and Xhaka. But I think they shouldn't.

Their goal celebration doesn't have to be interpreted neither as a political statement nor a disrespect for the opponent. What if they just wanted to show the joy/pride of being Albanian besides wearing the swiss cross on their breast? The double headed eagle is the animal from albanians flag and they showed this with this simple gesture. If one of these players had made a Swiss cross with both hands, this wouldnt have been discussed at all. So imagine you're a FIFA fucker who has to decide tonight, how would you proof or communicate the reason for the ban? What we saw was jst a gesture that symbolizes the belonging to a country and this doesn't have to be politically motivated (it can be of course, maybe it really was, but how can they know/proof this?) and because of that it can be considered as legitimate. They just showed that they have a second nationality/origin, so why should this double headed eagle offend someone? It is the sign of a fucking flag. For the serbs this double headed egale must be something like this red rag for the bulls it seems.

 

[DAiDEViL]

They had it coming for celebrating like that, and yes, it was intended to be a provocation. I'm not sorry for them at all. It was plain stupid and naive to think they'll get away with it nowadays.

 

[Seven]

It's hard to guess what they will decide tonight. I think they will get banned, at least Shaqiri and Xhaka. But I think they shouldn't.

Their goal celebration doesn't have to be interpreted neither as a political statement nor a disrespect for the opponent. What if they just wanted to show the joy/pride of being Albanian besides wearing the swiss cross on their breast? The double headed eagle is the animal from albanians flag and they showed this with this simple gesture. If one of these players had made a Swiss cross with both hands, this wouldnt have been discussed at all. So imagine you're a FIFA fucker who has to decide tonight, how would you proof or communicate the reason for the ban? What we saw was jst a gesture that symbolizes the belonging to a country and this doesn't have to be politically motivated (it can be of course, maybe it really was, but how can they know/proof this?) and because of that it can be considered as legitimate. They just showed that they have a second nationality/origin, so why should this double headed eagle offend someone? It is the sign of a fucking flag. For the serbs this double headed egale must be something like this red rag for the bulls it seems.

This is likely the argument the Swiss will make and I don't think it's a bad one.

However, one could say that all nationalistic gestures are considered political. Furthermore, if Shaqiri and Xhaka have never celebrated like this, but decide to do so against Serbia, that indicates it was politically motivated.

The decision could go either way and for football reasons I hope they aren't banned. But if they are, I can't say I'll disagree with that decision.

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They had it coming for celebrating like that, and yes, it was intended to be a provocation. I'm not sorry for them at all. It was plain stupid and naive to think they'll get away with it nowadays.

It's also something they already knew they'd be doing back when Switzerland and Serbia got drawn in the same group.

Mostly I'd feel bad for the Swiss as a team.