Or they haven’t watched Saudi Arabia
by miamioh_irishfan (2018-06-19 21:18:27)

In reply to: And yet some predicted they'd lose to KSA  posted by ShermanOaksND

Post Reply Return to Clark's Pitch

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