It was almost a given they were going to advance given
by steelhop (2018-06-19 15:49:36)
Edited on 2018-06-19 15:52:39

In reply to: I'm clearer on who I'm rooting against than for in this WC  posted by ShermanOaksND

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the way the "draft" of groups went. No other European team placed into the Group and the top B team being at least the 3rd best team out of SA.

Forgot to add, they'll get killed by whoever works out (between Spain and Portugal) to be the 2nd place team in the B group.

And yet some predicted they'd lose to KSA
by ShermanOaksND  (2018-06-19 15:52:28)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

I guess they don't know FIFA very well.
Or they haven’t watched Saudi Arabia
by miamioh_irishfan  (2018-06-19 21:18:27)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Not that I’d blame that person. But they’re ranked in the 60s in the FIFA rankings for a reason.

Yes, but wasn’t Russia # 70? *
by ShermanOaksND  (2018-06-20 01:27:55)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

For a reason, they didn’t go through qualifying
by DakotaDomer  (2018-06-20 10:06:54)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

It’s hard to accumulate the necessary points playing only friendlies

Prior to the start of Euro qualifying it looks like they were #38

That makes sense and partially explains their success
by ShermanOaksND  (2018-06-20 13:30:42)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

I did hear some "experts" opine that Russia is really bad, but their WC performance does not match that assessment.

Well, there are rumors out there that FIFA wasn't
by steelhop  (2018-06-20 14:59:14)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

quite as diligent as the Olympics was in looking for performance enhancing products in the Russian sports program. Not, that the Olympics didn't try to look the other way as much as they could.
Well...it’s Russia...
by DakotaDomer  (2018-06-21 10:09:41)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

But every team should play a hell of a lot better at home than otherwise expected.
8-1 better so far? *
by steelhop  (2018-06-21 12:48:25)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post