Segun Oluwaniyi

I thought Russia played quite good football against the sides that let them, tbh. Some of their play against what was thought to be a decent Egypt side was impressive. Spain is just much, much better and they tired massively in the second half. It was just a matter of hanging on at that point.

They wont get past Croatia. Croatia are very strong, probably finalists. Croatia will lose to Denmark.

Russia are 100% going to beat England in the semifinals, fwiw.

VAR shouldn't be giving penalties unless there is a blatant and obvious foul missed. Players are going to tussle on set pieces. The ref can give it if he feels it is excessive or directly impeding an attacking attempt.

VAR is wretched. Are we going to see the entire side surround the ref whenever there is any sort of contact on set pieces?

This match seems a perfect candidate for the first penalty shootout of the knockout stages.

I don't see how Argentina can persist with both Mascherano and Rojo defensively. Their rash and reckless play nearly saw them out of the tournament in the last match. The pair of them have blatantly rugby tackled an attacker, needlessly grabbed a non-threatening player from a set piece, kicked a player in the face, and headed it off his their arm all within Argentina's penalty box in the last 135 minutes, ffs. I can easily see one or both of them getting sent off in the second half here or giving away another penalty. Messi as a false-nine has been entirely ineffective, imo. They need a real forward or at least some pace for the attack to function properly.

I like how you say "bar a dodgy ref" when life as a Newcastle supporter should inform you that 99 percent of refs are dodgy. Throw-ins and corners are much less arbitrary. Why not use these if we are just pulling random statistics.

What an awful tournament for Africa. Nigeria and Senegal both should have gone through, but really just wasted the opportunity when it was there for them. Teranga Lions had a tough match today, but should have won their last match if not for errors. I am happy for Japan, anyway, a hardworking side with an entertaining style of play. All of their matches were surprisingly enjoyable. Believe that either of England and Belgium would walk over them, though. Fwiw, fair play is just a rubbish way to decide a group. Just draw lots at that point or organise a shootout. Yellow cards are entirely arbitrary decisions from the referee and reflect nothing about the quality of a side's play.

Not everyone is having fun, Mike.

Very good The last time the Germans crashed out in the group stages was 1938. In 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. My research tells me that the team to knock out Germany in 1938 was Switzerland, so take solace that Korea will likely be alright if the pattern holds. Didn't he get sacked from his club for it? This is somehow a true story. Was that racist twat owner who used to run (still runs?) Perugia. Didn't the guy sign Qaddafi's son as well? I'm quite sure Perguia collapsed and were re-integrated, so I doubt he runs them still.

"One life, live it up, 'cause we got one life One life, live it up, 'cause you don't get it twice..."

Yeah, I don't know what happened with that, tbh. Rohr was saying something about him not being 100% fit, but he was quite good against Iceland I thought and ended the season in good form for Leicester. We really needed him too. Ighalo is just simply a poor striker so his performance is exactly what I expect. Kelechi is the much better talent and the chances spurned in the second half are his bread and butter, but Iheanacho was playing so badly the manager had no choice but to remove him.

I mean fair enough I agree, but the vast majority of Nigerian coaches are completely incompetent and the entire structure corrupt, so it is not that easy Keshi has passed unfortunately so really the only big candidates left are Samson Siasia, who produces good attacking football, but has been rightfully sacked previously and Sunday Oliseh who seems to be quite talented, but certifiably insane. I would love a better version of Rohr, tbh. I am actually quite surprised the guy is alive, tbh. Getting to 57 is actually a fair accomplishment with the life he has led since the end of his playing days (and probably before).

Just back to my flat from St. Petersburg Stadium. The result tonight has devastated me. Nothing will ever change. Every World Cup it is against Argentina in the group and we lose a close match by one goal because we do not have the professionalism to compete for 90 minutes. We have underachieved at every WC with the exception of 2014, imo. Bitterly disappointing. Both Kelechi and Ighalo were total rubbish. Iheanacho looked unfit and I cannot believe Ighalo had the temerity to run to the ref after completely wasting the best chance of the match. I do not understand the passivity with which the team approached the matches against Croatia and Argentina, other than that it comes from the manager. The German has been good overall at improving the lax organisation, building a close unit led by Obi, and aggressively pursuing worthwhile dual-nationality players, but I am sick of his constant negativity about how the team is young and the other sides are ranked higher. It shows in how they play and does not reflect the Nigerian mentality at all. Against Argies, Croatia, and even England in the friendly, we sat deep and played tentatively, inviting the other team to attack, until they inevitably scored, because sitting back is not our specialty. We only played football when the situation called for goals. Argentina were a poor defensive side that left gaps at the back all match, and we did not exploit this whatsoever; it was there for the taking. We let Croatia walk through in second gear all match as well. Vexing that he decided to save his substitutions to waste time as well. It was obvious fresh legs upfront/defensive cover was need for the last ten minutes. Fwiw, I thought the handball tonight was no different than the one yesterday. They are ball to hand and are not penalties, imo, but if they are given in other matches, we are right to protest. FIFA should clarify. The better shout was Rojo kicking Iheanacho in the face in the box first half. He pulls him down in addition to the dangerous play. A foul anywhere else on the pitch 100% of the time.

Loads of South Americans are rich as hell. Theres tons out there who can afford it. Not that hard to travel from any country now a days either, especially not Colombia with Avianca as a big airline being from there. The number of Brazilians here in St. Petersburg has been staggering, tbh. Latin America in general have shown very well. I've seen countless people from Peru and Mexico walking around Nevsky and neither of these nations play matches anywhere close to here. I'm actually a bit disappointed in the Nigerian turnout as there are many who can afford it and it is a short journey for the legions of us in Europe. I think some may have been scared off by the negative press. Senegal-Colombia should be a fantastic match, really looking forward to it. There are definitely goals in that match, I don't think either sides defense will hold up particularly well. I'd normally favour Poland over Japan, but I'm not sure how they will react to early elimination. They might roll over against a highly motivated Japanese side.

Their constant cheating makes it very satisfying. They're soooo bad though We've done worse against worse teams, I'm just enjoying having an England team that don't make everything a total chore. Trinidad and Tobago in 06, Algeria 2010, Costa Rica in 14. We generally make a right meal of these games. This is a massive insult to Algeria and Costa Rica who were and remain serious, competitive sides, and a minor one to T & T who were organised and resolute. England has done exceedingly well, but those teams do not compare to Panama.

I am interested to see if Korea can succeed where Nigeria failed eight years ago and become the first side to advance from a World Cup group after losing their first two matches. If they win (difficult against Germany, though they have looked a competitive side) and Mexico also win, they will be even on points and at worst even on goal differential with Germany and Sweden. We were extremely close in 2010, one goal away in match where Yakubu missed an open net from a yard away. It would also be incredible if Mexico manage to go out after how brilliant they have been in the first two matches.

The host doing exceedingly well under suspicious circumstances is a World Cup tradition, tbh. I'd be stunned if Qatar leave 2022 with anything less than four points. Fwiw, Russia were abhorrent until exactly nine days ago, doping or not. Even if they have stuffed the players with amphetamines for the matches, the performances are impressive.

When did Hubie or Walt Frazier have the sex change? Can confirm it was allowed at Euro 2016 - however what isn't obvious, or wasn't obvious then, was that it was 0.5% shit. It's the same here. They are selling diluted Budweiser in light-up cups for 350 ruble. At the cost and quality, the only drunks are those that arrived at the stadium that way. Outside of Asia and Oceania (which is just lacking in depth of serious football nations compared to the sides that regularly qualify from AFC), I think the next 16 teams added will be fairly competitive. Everyone has talent and the lesser teams are at least tactically sound for the most part. The days of teams showing up to these events and just being embarrassed or looking clueless is over. The quality will be similar. The bigger issue is with the idiotic format of the 48 team tournament. Instead of just doubling a normal 24 team tournament (the winner would play 8 matches instead of 7), we will have nonsensical three team groups in order to placate the clubs.

AH-MED MU-SA AH-MED MU-SA AH-MED MU-SA AH-MED MU-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAA My governor is one of the wildest players around. He can look like an antelope trying to play football in one match and then come back with performances like that. A great card to have in the deck, and he has proven to be a boss on the world stage. The Croatia match is behind us, Nigeria's World Cup has now started and Argentina is in our sights. We should be fair, the first half was poor, but the swagger came back after the first goal with some sweet, sweet football being played. Hey what a surprise you were miles better with Mikel in CM and not AM The issue is that Mikel is a perfect #10 in Africa where the game is slow, played on hard, dry pitches and excessively physical. He can dictate the game in this environment. By the same token, small boys like Kelechi and Musa tend to get tossed around on the continent, so we have to adjust our game for the international stage. 3-5-2 suits this team better right now. Moses's end product is less of an issue at wingback and Mikel's lack of lungs less of an issue when he is further back. I swear before I die, Nigeria will beat Argentina at the World Cup. As of now, we four matches and four losses, but this will change on Tuesday!

So now the gist is that Rohr (our manager) was upset with previous lineups leaking out and and is having the ITK media put out fake news. Apparently, Musa and Iheanacho start now and Moses is at wingback, unless this is even later fake news. I am happy with that, if true. SE will have to take the chances they create today and avoid giving away silly set pieces at all costs. I don't think this is particularly important unless Iceland and Nigeria draw. Sure they will rest players that need it, but they are highly incentivised to win the group. Would you rather face France or Denmark/Australia? I'm not happy about all of this Argentina news of mutiny and chaos in the camp. I would much rather play them while they were internally imploding rather then play a team of angry world-class players after the implosion has already happened. They will be very dangerous, still.

If the rumoured lineup from the ITKs is correct, with Iwobi and Ndidi dropped and Iheanacho/Musa still benched in favour of Moses, Nwankwo, and goal-less wonder Ighalo, I have no confidence at all in a result. I do wonder if it is misdirection, because the same ITKs yesterday were saying 4-2-3-1 with Kelechi, Musa, and Ndidi playing, but now it is 3 at the back with entirely different players according to these same people.

There was a fight between two drunken Russians in front of me towards the end of the Russia-Egypt match. Other than that madness with the taxi running into pedestrians, there hasn't been anything of note, though.

I'm more bored of them because they did the exact same thing at 2014. There is not any novelty to it anymore, and it is not pleasant to watch at all. I appreciate it because they have so much less talent than a country like mine and compete just as well, if not better, but I was expecting poor games as soon as the groups were drawn in December.