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Round of 16 - Argentina vs Switzerland (17:00 BST) & Belgium vs USA (21:00 BST)


gillsminnow

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Argentina were garbage today. No worse than Belgium. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they beat Argentina.

Just think Belgium aren't going to be as defensive as the rest so far have been against Argentina, will be a lot of space for Messi to do his work. Maybe even the other forwards will actually do something too.

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USA coming out of this WC with a lot of credit, done well, as not many people thought they would get out of the group they were in.

Should raise the profile of the sport in the states as well, which is of course a big positive for them.

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Just think Belgium aren't going to be as defensive as the rest so far have been against Argentina, will be a lot of space for Messi to do his work.

i thought messi was their only decent player and apart from 1or 2 others in other games, most Argentinian players have looked average throughout the tournament. Tbf, no team has consistently stood out.

Belgium vs Argentina kicking off 4 hours before Holland vs Costa Rica seems strange considering the other sides played before.

I'm sure 4 hours isn't going to make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

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Just think Belgium aren't going to be as defensive as the rest so far have been against Argentina, will be a lot of space for Messi to do his work. Maybe even the other forwards will actually do something too.

I kind of agree, but at the same time this team will be by far the best team Argentina's faced yet at exploiting their defensive weaknesses themselves. Could be a cracking match, unfortunately it's one of those 1PM kick-off times.

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Just think Belgium aren't going to be as defensive as the rest so far have been against Argentina, will be a lot of space for Messi to do his work. Maybe even the other forwards will actually do something too.

Counter-balanced by the Belgians having a great defence though. They can afford to give a bit more space. And even if Messi gets through, he's up against Courtois :D

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Some great QFs ties.

Brazil/Colombia - tough to call but I'm going Colombia.

France/Germany - also tough to call. Going France but could go to pens tbh.

Argentina/Belgium - very tough to call, probably the hardest of the lot. I'll say Belgium...

Netherlands/Costa Rica - the only 'easy' one, but I think Costa Rica could do here what they did to Uruguay/Italy and exploit a slow defence. Still, NED.

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Wouldn't be surprised if the first three QFs go to ET at least. You'd expect Holland to get past Costa Rica in 90 minutes, though it won't be an easy game.

Hoping Colombia knock Brazil out, France beat Germany, Argentina to go through (had them to win it) and Holland.

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Wouldn't be surprised if the first three QFs go to ET at least. You'd expect Holland to get past Costa Rica in 90 minutes, though it won't be an easy game.

Hoping Colombia knock Brazil out, France beat Germany, Argentina to go through (had them to win it) and Holland.

Agree with all of that, tbh (not sure on Argentina, though I did predict them pre-tournament).

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Why on earth is everybody expecting Oranje to coast past CRC? :D

I sure hope it goes that way, but I have no reason to expect an easy game.

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Some great QFs ties.

Brazil/Colombia - tough to call but I'm going Colombia.

France/Germany - also tough to call. Going France but could go to pens tbh.

Argentina/Belgium - very tough to call, probably the hardest of the lot. I'll say Belgium...

I will respectfully disagree with all your picks. Though the Netherlands should and will hopefully hammer Costa Rica who were truly dire against Greece.

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Yeah i'm not as confident as i was on Argentina having watched all four of their games so far, just been poor really and playing the same way etc in every game before being bailed out by Messi, or Di Maria, assisted by Messi today. They can win it but they need to step it up a bit now.

Belgium just like Argentina so far really imo, not as good as many thought they would be, can improve still though of course and they are getting the job done without being great. Four games and 4 wins now from them.

All of the teams bar Costa Rica can win the WC at this stage imo, not much difference in the sides i feel, mainly one player dragging the team this far, Neymar for Brazil, Messi for Argentina, James Rodriquez for Colombia (though they have been the best team of the tournament so far) Robben and RVP for Holland) Benzema for France. Muller for Germany.

Bar the last QF on paper at least the ties are all very evenly matched, hard to predict a winner or even a clear favourite, really looking forward to seeing it all unfold.

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Yeah i'm not as confident as i was on Argentina having watched all four of their games so far, just been poor really and playing the same way etc in every game before being bailed out by Messi, or Di Maria, assisted by Messi today. They can win it but they need to step it up a bit now.

Belgium just like Argentina so far really imo, not as good as many thought they would be, can improve still though of course and they are getting the job done without being great. Four games and 4 wins now from them.

All of the teams bar Costa Rica can win the WC at this stage imo, not much difference in the sides i feel, mainly one player dragging the team this far, Neymar for Brazil, Messi for Argentina, James Rodriquez for Colombia (though they have been the best team of the tournament so far) Robben and RVP for Holland) Benzema for France. Muller for Germany.

Bar the last QF on paper at least the ties are all very evenly matched, hard to predict a winner or even a clear favourite, really looking forward to seeing it all unfold.

Agreed. Would say Cuadrado has been excellent as well but Rodriguez sublime form has some way overshadowed Cuadrado's performance who has been brilliant as well. But wow all games hard to call. People might say Holland have it easy but as we have seen that will be ludicrous to rule CRC out.

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Some great QFs ties.

Brazil/Colombia - tough to call but I'm going Colombia.

France/Germany - also tough to call. Going France but could go to pens tbh.

Argentina/Belgium - very tough to call, probably the hardest of the lot. I'll say Belgium...

Netherlands/Costa Rica - the only 'easy' one, but I think Costa Rica could do here what they did to Uruguay/Italy and exploit a slow defence. Still, NED.

Fat fat fat chance.

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Never understood the KDB love, haven't seen him have a good game ever

Don't get the KdB hate on here. If you guys had actually watched some Belgium games before, you'd have noticed that he's been our most influential player.

More so than Hazard or anyone else.

My exaggeration is simply to balance out the majority of fans who are proclaiming him the next big thing. The lad has something like 5 goals in 40 appearances at Lille - he is not a goalscorer.

Just having read some numbers somewhere doesn't tell you everything JDizzle. Do you know how many of those games he actually played as a striker? He usually played out on the wing. Be gentle on the kid, he's just surfacing & he's immensely talented imo. He can hold up the ball, dribble & has a good shot. Could've scored more yesterday sure, but you could say the same of a few others as well.

Incredible game yesterday though, still trying to recover. Picking up the phone at work sucks, have no voice whatsoever :(

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I know in the end he ends up with a goal and an assist, but whenever i've seen him for Belgium (in actual real games) and Chelsea, he's never done anything except try ridiculous shots that go nowhere near the goal. Even in last nights game, he just constantly gave the ball away and wasted opportunities, the Kompany one at the end was such a simple pass to win the game in normal time

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I agree the low cross to Kompany was woeful, but honestly I've never been disappointed by the kid. He's one of our most creative players & sets up a lot of goals.

Whenever we play without him you get the feeling we're missing something. He's invaluable to us tbf. Never seen him 'do anything but try ridic shots' in any game I've been to. Have you seen him play in the Bundesliga? Great great player, full stop

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nah never seen him play in the Bundesliga, just for Chelsea. tbf though I understand that when you're trying to impress in a side like Chelsea and you have limited opportunity, some players do tend to try ridiculous things to get themselves noticed. Daniel Sturridge was the same at Chelsea

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Myeah at Chelsea they just didn't need him tbf, still don't get why Jose insisted on recalling him from loan. He wasted an entire year when he could've been lighting up the Bundesliga like he did the season before.

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That was a cracking game

I think you will always get that kind of performance from the Yanks. I don't think they're a particularly good team but incredible spirit and hard work and do the simple things. Confident with the ball. Even when they sit back when they have the ball they do commit men forward. HUGE gaping holes in the midfield the entire game

There's not too many craft except for that great free kick, which is, no surprise, something you can work on in training. Work, work, work. They will always do that and good collective ethic

We get all excited about individuals but every tournament just highlights the power of the collective (now, I know the American won't like that commie ****!! :p)

I think it's good they got the Copa so everything can get behind that in a couple of years rather than waiting 4 years for a properly big tournament again (if you call Copa that big) but at least they get to play a bunch of top sides in a tournament setting again that they don't play all the time

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