2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia (Maidenfans WC Pool inside)

Today's matches with some World Cup history:

France vs Australia... France is a big candidate for the title.
Australia, the underdog, has Bert van Marwijk as coach. Van Marwijk reached the final of edition 2010 with the Netherlands. At previous World Cups:
1974: they did not win a match
2006: they won one match vs Japan (3-1) and reached the round of 16 where they lost from Italy (1-0; a penalty in the 95th minute). This was their biggest success, under another successful Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink. Two players from this tournament are still in the squad: Tim Cahill (38 years) and Mark Milligan (32 years).
In 2010 they went with another Dutch coach Pim Verbeek and won one match vs Serbia (2-1).
In 2014 they had their worst edition: lost all their three matches. In 1974 they did not score a single goal but at least made a draw vs Chile.


Peru vs Denmark.
Peru has not performed on the World Cup for ages. Here are the previous editions:
1930: lost all their matches
1970: their best edition. They reached the quarter finals. They won from Bulgaria and Morocco and lost the QF from Brazil (2-4).
1978: they won from Scotland and Iran in the first round and lost all their matches in the second round
1982: they did not win a match

Denmark:
1986: Their best group performance ever, beating all three opponents (finalist West Germany, Uruguay and Scotland). They lost in the round of 16 from Spain with 1-5.
1998: Their best result: they reached the Quarter Final. In the group they won from Saudi Arabia and in the round of 16 they beat Nigeria (4-1). They lost the QF from Brazil (2-3).
2002: They won from Uruguay and France(!) but lost in the round of 16 from England (0-3).
2010: They won from Cameroon but lost their other matches. So this was their worst edition,


Argentina vs Iceland: Too much and too little World Cup history to focus on, now.


Croatia vs Nigeria:
Croatia:
1998: an excellent tournament. The reached the semi-final and beat us for the bronze medal. A third place!
Along the way they won from Jamaica and Japan in the group. In the round of 16 they won from Romania. In the QF they beat Germany with 3-0!
In the semi final they lost from later winner France.

In later editions they never reached beyond the group stage
2002: they won one match vs Italy (2-1).
2006: they did not win a match
2014: they won one match from Cameroon (4-0)

Nigeria:
1994: their best edition and the greatest team they had.
Head coach: Clemens Westerhof
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Club
1 GK Peter Rufai 24 August 1963 (aged 30) 55 Go Ahead Eagles
2 DF Augustine Eguavoen 19 August 1965 (aged 28) 35 Kortrijk
3 DF Benedict Iroha 29 November 1969 (aged 24) N/A Vitesse
4 DF Stephen Keshi (c) 23 January 1962 (aged 32) 59 Molenbeek
5 DF Uche Okechukwu 27 September 1967 (aged 26) 26 Fenerbahçe
6 DF Chidi Nwanu 1 January 1967 (aged 27) N/A Anderlecht
7 MF Finidi George 15 April 1971 (aged 23) 23 Ajax
8 MF Thompson Oliha 4 October 1968 (aged 25) N/A Africa Sports
9 FW Rashidi Yekini 23 October 1963 (aged 30) 46 Vitória de Setúbal
10 MF Jay-Jay Okocha 14 August 1973 (aged 20) 10 Eintracht Frankfurt
11 MF Emmanuel Amunike 25 December 1970 (aged 23) N/A Zamalek
12 FW Samson Siasia 14 August 1967 (aged 26) 32 Nantes
13 DF Emeka Ezeugo 16 December 1965 (aged 28) N/A Budapest Honvéd
14 FW Daniel Amokachi 30 December 1972 (aged 21) 26 Club Brugge
15 MF Sunday Oliseh 14 September 1974 (aged 19) 8 FC Liège
16 GK Alloysius Agu 12 July 1967 (aged 26) N/A FC Liège
17 FW Victor Ikpeba 12 June 1973 (aged 21) N/A Monaco
18 FW Efan Ekoku 8 June 1967 (aged 27) N/A Norwich City
19 DF Michael Emenalo 14 July 1965 (aged 28) N/A Eintracht Trier
20 DF Uche Okafor 8 August 1967 (aged 26) N/A Hannover 96
21 MF Mutiu Adepoju 22 December 1970 (aged 23) 18 Racing Santander
22 GK Wilfred Agbonavbare 5 October 1966 (aged 27) N/A Rayo Vallecano
They won from Bulgaria (3-0) and Greece (2-0) in the group and lost from Italy after extra time in the round of 16.
1998: they won from Spain (3-2) and again Bulgaria (1-0) and lost with 1-4 from Denmark in round of 16.
2002: they did not win a match
2010: they did not win a match
2014: in the group they won from Bosnia-Herzegovina and lost the round of 16 from France (0-2). This last World Cup match must have caused some bitterness. From wiki:
After the Round of 16 match between France and Nigeria, American referee Mark Geiger was accused by multiple Nigerian players, most notably midfielders Ogenyi Onazi and John Obi Mikel, forward Peter Odemwingie, as well as by Nigeria's coach Stephen Keshi, of having bias against Nigeria. Geiger was criticised for several calls throughout the game. This included a goal by Nigerian striker Emmanuel Emenike being cancelled for offside (although television replays suggest this may have been the correct decision); no red card for an apparent attempt by French striker Olivier Giroud to elbow Nigerian midfielder Mikel, no penalty being called against French left-back Patrice Evra for holding Odemwingie during a corner, a general lack of protection from the referee for persistent rough play and, most notably, only a yellow card being issued for a studs-in tackle by French midfielder Blaise Matuidi, which resulted in midfielder Onazi's left leg tendon being torn apart and requiring surgery, and forced to be substituted for midfielder Reuben Gabriel. Several commentators like Allan Jiang of Bleacherreport and Patrick Johnson of Yahoo! News noted that the decisions significantly impacted the match, especially the forced substitution of Onazi, which changed the complexion of the game, depriving Nigeria of its most influential midfielder.

EDIT:
Australia's starting 11. Cahill may enter later, I hope!

DfzMBUDUEAAWlXB.jpg

Apart from @Niall Kielt (winner Australia) and some crappy predicter from the Netherlands (draw) everyone has France as winner. Let's see what happens.
*long ominous drum fill*
 
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Since I'm going for a France-Germany final, I'm pretty sure les bleus will rip the pouch of that kangaroo.
 
France are my pick for the title. Just an immensely talented squad with no prior international success.

Though they can be annoyingly inconsistent, so I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even get too far.
 
The Flash said:
Nope. Griezmann retains possession and then his left foot gets hit from behind. Clear penalty.
Click to expand...
A dubious penalty.* And at some point they had no clue how to play against the Australians. The Socceroos deserves at least one point but the upside is that they draw hope from this match. I doubt if the French are happy with their game and they may worry more for what lies ahead.

*He did not retain possession, he'd never had the ball, it went straight to the goalkeeper thanks to the ball contact.
 
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Forostar said:
*He did not retain possession, he'd never had the ball, it went straight to the goalkeeper thanks to the ball contact.
Click to expand...

Umm, no.


It's Griezmann who pushes the ball forward, not the defender. The defender fails to make a connection with the ball and catches Griezmann on the back of his left foot.
 
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