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How does this WC fare compared to others?

JD nawrat

By JD nawrat,
in 2018 World Cup Forum

How does this WC fare compared to others?  

75 members have voted

  1. 1. See title.

    • Best tournament ever
      10
    • Best in recent history
      42
    • A good WC but not spectacular
      19
    • One of the poorer WCs we've had
      5

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JD nawrat

JD nawrat

Posted
Posted

In 24 hours time it will be over. How you answer this question may or may not depend on the result tomorrow, but for me it doesn't matter. 

I've only seen from 02-present WCs so I can't speak for a great deal of experience, but for me this is the best WC yet. In my lifetime and of course my opinion, this is better than the rest. If Croatia win today then it will cement that even further, but even if France prevail it doesn't change it for me. 

The group's were full of drama and the knockouts maybe didn't deliver in that regard, the L16 and QFs had their share of great games and I thought England/Croatia was brilliant. 

I know for a lot of you guys being English it might cloud it for you, especially the people who weren't born or don't remember Italia 90. 

But how does this WC compare to previous tournaments for you guys? 

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Razzler

Razzler

Posted
Posted

I think it gets skewed if your own country does well, tbh, most of the tournaments these days are instantly forgotten once they are over, this will likely be no different. I liked it fine whilst it was going on, there was drama and stuff but wasn't amazing

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sebsy

sebsy

Posted
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I can't really compare to others because tbh once four years have past I don't really recall how good an overall tournament was, but this World Cup has been pretty great. Only a few poor quality matches but the majority have been really entertaining.

 

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Rob1981

Rob1981

Posted
Posted

1998 > 2014 > 2018 > 2006 > 2002 > 2010

Although tbh, this is like people asking you which of your kids is the best. Even the worst one is still magical, it’s the World Cup ffs.

Most people’s “favourite” is influenced a lot by whether their own country did well and the personal context for them. How old they were, what else was going on in their life at the time, who they watched it with etc.

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

Posted
Posted

2006 > 1998 > 2018 > 2014 > 2010 > 2002

5 minutes ago, georginho_juventusygr said:

France and Germany were free of this sort of things.

You and your politics in every topic.

Germany and France were the best because all main factors were present.

Quality of foobtall, footballing nation as a host, stadiums, atmosphere.

For exmple, stadiums in Russia are great, but ghe atmosphere is dreadful. Not because of Russians, but because most fans on the stadiums are tourists or your average rich people.

 

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CFuller

CFuller

Posted
Posted
  1. 2002
  2. 1998
  3. 2018
  4. 2006
  5. 2014
  6. 2010

After about two rounds of group matches, I thought this would rival 2010 for being the worst World Cup I've experienced. Hardly any of the established powers were playing anywhere near their best, there was so much negative football on display, VAR was often disrupting the flow of matches, and some of the play-acting bordered on farcical.

Things got better from the final group games onwards. Germany crashed out early, France ripped Argentina apart (with Pavard's wonder-goal and a breakout performance from Mbappé), Belgium launched an incredible comeback against Japan... and then there was England. The team's massive overachievement made this the most enjoyable World Cup from an English perspective since 2002 at the latest.

All in all, I'd say this was the best World Cup of my adult life. It would've taken something extraordinary to top my childhood memories of France '98 and Korea/Japan 2002, but I'm still satisfied.

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EhvanHSV

EhvanHSV

Posted
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@Rob1981 is right, I think, when he says people's favourites are influenced by their team doing well. I'm Welsh but also half-German so obviously follow them quite closely. My first World Cup was '90 and I can just about remember the final, but my favourite is 2014 - by a long way. I spent most of that in Germany and the atmosphere of the place was fantastic, only bettered really by the big love-in Wales had in 2016.

This has been an entertaining World Cup, and I've loved teams like Iran and Iceland doing well with clearly defined tactics and whatnot, but a great one? Maybe not, although part of my feelings about that that could be due to the ridiculousness of some of the media in Wales trying to get us all to support England, and Germany being bollocks certainly didn't help. That said, if Croatia wins today it'll automatically be ace in my mind.

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Federico

Federico

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In terms of quality of football I think this is the worst World Cup I remember. Some matches (like a couple... France - Argentina and maybe Belgium - Japan) were enjoying but I have seen so many teams just parking the bus and hoping in a lucky counter. And I accept this, good defending can be a good quality, but in terms of pure enjoyement that was not a joy for my eyes.

And when, early in the tournament, you see Germany's out, Brazil out, Argentina out, Spain out.... and see teams like Holland or Italy watching the games from home and teams like Panama, Saudi Arabia, Egypt playing it... I can't ever be excited.

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PMLF

PMLF

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Posted
3 hours ago, Federico said:

In terms of quality of football I think this is the worst World Cup I remember. Some matches (like a couple... France - Argentina and maybe Belgium - Japan) were enjoying but I have seen so many teams just parking the bus and hoping in a lucky counter. And I accept this, good defending can be a good quality, but in terms of pure enjoyement that was not a joy for my eyes.

And when, early in the tournament, you see Germany's out, Brazil out, Argentina out, Spain out.... and see teams like Holland or Italy watching the games from home and teams like Panama, Saudi Arabia, Egypt playing it... I can't ever be excited.

I don't mind the teams parking the bus, but I think this World Cup was indeed nothing special, it wasn't bad at all but not really that great either. Same can be said about 2014 too, for instance (too many goals and too much weak defending then).

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Coulthard's Jaw

Coulthard's Jaw

Posted
Posted

98 the best one for me. Knockout stages were immense in that, quarter finals onwards was all the best teams facing off against each other in incredible matches. Final was just mad for drama.

2018 probably the best one since then, it's been a great tournament because it's been so wide open. 

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PMLF

PMLF

Posted
Posted
57 minutes ago, Coulthard's Jaw said:

98 the best one for me. Knockout stages were immense in that, quarter finals onwards was all the best teams facing off against each other in incredible matches. Final was just mad for drama.

2018 probably the best one since then, it's been a great tournament because it's been so wide open. 

You must be French without knowing it! :brock:

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westy8chimp

westy8chimp

Posted
Posted

I think I watched a different WC...but I watched all the games up until dual coverage. Many were decided by own goal, penalty or corner. We lacked the big teams turning up. We lacked world class strikers doing the business. We lacked the Zidane/Ronaldo world class entertaining performances.

Too much diving, too much play acting, too much shocking defending on corners (of all the penalties given away very few were due to a defender 'being done' and having to foul the player before they had a good chance.. most were just silly wrestling from set pieces.)

Several boring matches even in the knockout rounds.

No major underdog really pushed the boundaries (Korea beating Germany was superb)... and Japan probably the highlight there.

The final had horrific VAR but granted was reasonably exciting game.

-------

I thought it was ... 'Ok' at best. 

Thinking of goals like Owen vs Argentina, Bergkamp vs Argentina...Zidane vs Brazil performance. Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands teams of old that had 5 or 6 world class players playing at the same time to the peak of their ability... moments you remember for the rest of your life. This world cup just seemed lacking in those areas.

I'll remember the Belgium winner vs Japan... KDB vs Brazil ... Korea vs Germany. That's about it when people ask me what 2018 WC was like.

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

Posted
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11 minutes ago, westy8chimp said:

Too much diving, too much play acting, too much shocking defending on corners (of all the penalties given away very few were due to a defender 'being done' and having to foul the player before they had a good chance.. most were just silly wrestling from set pieces.)

That's not just the WC, it's what football is turning into, unfortunately.

Of course that new generations will see no problem in diving because as we've seen yesterday, it can lead to goals even in WC final.

The only way to eradicate diving would be some drastic measure.

iirc, EPL tried to implement something similar with game bans if you're caught diving?

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gavo01

gavo01

Posted
Posted

I have loved this World Cup. Maybe not the best but certainly entertaining in my eyes. (Gotta to save that for Spain '82 as that was the first WC i took a proper interest in).

Lots of goals and plenty of very debatable VAR decisions. 

But what I have enjoyed more than anything is seeing England get to the last four whilst watching Germany and Argentina limp out in the earlier stages. 

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mrw072

mrw072

Posted
Posted

I think it's been a pretty good World Cup overall.  I don't know if it's just my memory but there seem to be a lot less flair players around nowadays, compared to past years.  And I think that has an impact on the competition.  But in general the games were great and I really enjoyed it.  I'd put it second after 1990.  I know that wasn't the most spectacular overall, but it was very exciting being English, and having such a strong North East connection to the team.

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westy8chimp

westy8chimp

Posted
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6 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

That's not just the WC, it's what football is turning into, unfortunately.

Of course that new generations will see no problem in diving because as we've seen yesterday, it can lead to goals even in WC final.

The only way to eradicate diving would be some drastic measure.

iirc, EPL tried to implement something similar with game bans if you're caught diving?

Yes not isolated to the WC... but still impacted my enjoyment of it.

The diving is hard to cut out.. when they start trying to implement rules that make football a non contact sport (like focussing on shirt tugs and contact on corners) then it's only going to increase the desire and reward for diving. We seen in this WC that yes there is silly grappling by defenders on corners... but the strikers who make a big deal and go down then get the penalties awarded... those who are men and stand up or give it back don't get anything.

What is the bigger sin in the game? Diving, or a little bit of pushing in a crowded box on set play? for me it is diving... allow the additional contact on set plays... focus on stopping diving.

To do this

  • more reward for players who stay on their feet i.e. still give free kicks/penalties where there is a clear foul but the striker stays on feet (at the moment you can have a striker completely unbalanced by a foul but try to get the pass or shot away, to no avail, and they get nothing)
  • more punishment for the dive ... if you dive in the box, where if successful you gain a penalty (clear goalscoring opportunity) the punishment should echo ... i.e. a red card for a clear goalscoring opportunity
  • more retrospective punishment ... 3 game ban for a dive + fine
  • fine clubs too, so that they cut it out as a culture
  • Perhaps a step too far... but points deduction? If you won a game due to a dive that won a pen or fk... should you be docked a point? 3 points? Maybe too much :D not sure about that one... but it would sure help stamp it out
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Divinity

Divinity

Posted
Posted

Final was decent.

Overall quality through the whole tournament was really, really poor. Can't think of many moments where I was 'wow, that was outstanding'. Possible I didn't watch enough, but I found the tournament largely devoid of true individual skill or one truly great player.

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Federico

Federico

Posted
Posted

And another thing that annoyed me really much about this World Cup, is the amount of complaints to the ref from players. And the way the asked the use of VAR for basically every circumstance, just to prove the entire world they don't even know the rules of the game they're so largely paid to play for.

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JD nawrat

JD nawrat

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I don't think this tournament lacked moments you'll never forget @westy8chimp.

We'll all remember Germany losing to Mexico and South Korea, I'd like to think Ronaldo's hattrick Vs. Spain in the Group B opener would be well remembered as it was an elite performance. Belgium coming back from 2 down to beat Japan and then win with an amazing counter attack (and great dummy from Big Rom) to win it in injury time. France Vs Argentina in the L16 was an amazing game and featured for me the most unforgettable moment - Pavard volleying it into the side netting. One of the best goals I've ever seen. Truly. 

Plenty of memorable moments in this WC. I think if you embraced the fact that the general level wasn't great then you'd have enjoyed it more, especially when it did actually hit exciting levels. 

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LilSaint

LilSaint

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Posted

Mixed feelings for me, I think there's been some memorable games and a fair share of drama. Spain Portugal was great. Some giants being knocked out sooner than expected. VAR took some getting used to for me, you couldn't cheer immediately for a goal/penalty.

As for our run, I'm quite proud of our best ever result in finishing 3rd. On the other hand I feel we really could and should've gone all the way. It's the first time our team really ticked, for which I credit Martinez.
Kompany coming back to fitness surprised me as well, I fully expected him to be a 1 game wildcard. I'm too bitter over the semis against France and the ultra defensive way they set up, don't feel like they merit their tournament win. Not to mention Mbappes behaviour in the final 10 minutes, far too talented a player to be behaving like Neymar 2.0
For most memorable game from our point of view I'm torn between the comeback against Japan, where I was fully expecting us to be headed home. Or the win against Brazil - simply because.. beating Brazil.

It's a shame Pickford saved that Meunier volley as well, it would've been one of the best goals I've seen in some time. I blame Courtois for putting him on edge with his 'I would've saved Januzajs shot' :D

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Suggy33

Suggy33

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Posted
On 15/07/2018 at 17:43, GunmaN1905 said:

Entertainment level was great, overall quality not so much.

Atmosphere was terrible.

2006 is still untouchable for me.

Germany getting to host another big tournament is the best thing that could happen to football.

Mate, the atmosphere was incredible. Russia over performing made this World Cup even better than it was due to be. The all night street parties in Moscow after they knocked Spain out were some of the craziest scenes I’ve ever witnessed.

One of the top Russian politicians said Russia had not experienced moments like it since the end of the Second World War. 

Add in the Mexicans, the Peruvians, Iranians, Colombians, Australians, Argentinians, Brazilians...the only let down were the fans from European countries. I think maybe the Swedish and Serbians were the best but even they were less than 10-15k.

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GunmaN1905

GunmaN1905

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I was referring to stadium atmosphere, wasn't there so I wouldn't know about the stuff going on in the cities.

When South Americans got knocked out it was basically done.

Really disappointed by English fans. For as long as I can remember you guys had amazing support and I always admired it. Now you get all the way to semis and it was awful.
Croatian support was also awful, but understandable considering that most people who actually go on football games stopped following the NT.
Other European countries were predictably bad, except for Iceland and somewhat Sweden. Shame Netherlands didn't qualify.

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danmcconnell1

danmcconnell1

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Posted

'02 was the first World Cup I properly watched and that one was brilliant for upsets/controversy and the best team won it which made it sweeter. Pretty much every World Cup since then, 06, 10 and 14 were poor compared to the one that's just finished. The final epitomises the point, a game full of incident and quality as well as records being equalled/beaten seemingly every 5 minutes. It was a brilliant final befitting of a brilliant World Cup and definitely the best of recent times (20 years or so) and the best I've watched.

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PMLF

PMLF

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On 17/07/2018 at 11:16, LilSaint said:

Or the win against Brazil - simply because.. beating Brazil.

Beating Brazil is not as hard as it used to be... :( 

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Andyh21

Andyh21

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Posted

Yep have to say it has been the best world cup I've witnessed (all since 86 in case your wondering) not just because of England doing well, other big teams falling early but plenty of goals, I mean 6 in the final ffs :cool: and yes VAR just added to all the drama therefore from a watching it point of view best one to date.

 

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LilSaint

LilSaint

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14 hours ago, PMLF said:

Beating Brazil is not as hard as it used to be... :( 

If it wasn't for Prendergast, 2018 wouldn't have been the first time either :mad: 

Kidding aside, Brazil will always be one of those mythical teams to face. Much like Italy and Germany to an extent, even if they're not the same team they once were.

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PMLF

PMLF

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1 hour ago, LilSaint said:

If it wasn't for Prendergast, 2018 wouldn't have been the first time either :mad: 

Kidding aside, Brazil will always be one of those mythical teams to face. Much like Italy and Germany to an extent, even if they're not the same team they once were.

It's understandable, Brazil is the Real Madrid of international football.

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