Macca

Spain out! (on penalties) Which makes things a little easier for the winner of the France/England QF (winner will play Morocco or Portugal* in a SF) *Portugal demolish the Swiss, 6-1! 21yo Goncalo Ramos (who replaced Ronaldo in the team) scores a hat trick! Looks a player too!

Here's a trivia question for you good folk The following teams all have the same thing in common at World Cup level USA, Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, Sweden, Croatia, France, Poland, West Germany, Portugal, Chile & Austria So what is it?

I got on with Betr to win a grand for a $10 bet ... Betr are now offering 400 in bonus cash instead but I'm holding firm (as are a couple of mates who are on Brazil as well) #GambleResponsibly By the way, the very definition of gambling responsibly is getting 100-1 for backing the favourite!! (With a small outlay) But Brazil are not over the line ... they didn't win in '82 or '86 when they had a super team!

Brazil were impressive last night. Great team to watch! As for the games tonight, both games could go down to the wire Morocco topped their group and could trouble Spain. But I'm reckoning Spain to win 2-1 Portugal vs Switzerland could go either way so it's a toss-up After tonight we get 2 days break and then the matches are as follows (Q/F's) Sat 9th 2.00am Croatia vs Brazil Sat 9th 6.00am Netherlands vs Argentina Sun 10th 2.00am Morocco or Spain vs Portugal or Switzerland Sun 10th 6.00am England vs France

The mistake made was not having the overhead vision available at the time ... thus all the angst, @Monbon But we are dealing with human beings and there is a reliance on them to make the overhead vision available But we make errors because we're human ... you know that saying about footy umpires... "They're only human" haha On a lighter note is it at all possible to be able to apply VAR technology to the Harmes incident? That would settle a few arguments!!

With VAR the widest point of the ball (the middle) is measured against the edge of the line marked on the ground ... so if 2mm of the widest part of the ball cuts across the edge of that line, the ball is deemed to have not completely crossed the line Now you and others might not like how the ruling is adjudged but that type of ruling is right across the board for every team It's very similar to how a tennis ball is measured against the line marking. I agree that there is grass between the bottom of the ball and the line but that's not how the ruling is adjudged It's the widest part of the ball against the edge of the line from an overhead viewpoint

And we have a sole winner in the tipping comp ... @DeeSpencer has made his move at Chiquita Lodge and says catch me if you can! Picks up 2 points ... plus a bonus point so the big 3 points to go to 7 points. Well played sir! Leaderboard later!

On to tonight ... You'd reckon that France & England should progress but both their opponents have nothing to lose and could play that way accordingly Senegal probably have a better chance of upsetting England as opposed to Poland over France but we've seen plenty of upsets in this WC so you never know And I echo the sentiments of those praising Australia's run in the WC. 2 eke out 2 wins and to put up a more than credible performance against Argentina in the round of 16 was admirable. The team should be proud of themselves! (as we are of the team)

Tonight ... Brazil should defeat Cameroon but it will depend on how they approach a game that they don't have to win. In the same group, if Serbia win they go above the Swiss and probably qualify for the round of 16 In the other group Portugal are in a similar position but any team in this group finishing 2nd will see an advancement to the round of 16 but the likely opponent would be Brazil. Good luck! Ghana play Uruguay and the winner would probably advance. Portugal are up against Sth Korea and the Koreans need to win to have a chance of advancing Another fascinating night ahead!

Bills, Chiefs, Browns

Germany out of the world cup (despite beating Costa Rica 4-2) Japan are through after a great win over Spain. Who would have thought? Earlier, Belgium failed to qualify for the round of 16 after not being able to defeat Croatia Morocco won that group but their opponent in the round of 16 will be the 2nd placed team in Group E (Spain) Croatia & Japan will meet in the other round of 16 match-up That was a wild morning!

Tonight's games are full of intrigue ... Germany need to win against Costa Rica (they should do) and if they do that, they should advance as long as Japan doesn't beat Spain (unlikely) In the other group Belgium will need to defeat Croatia as a draw will see them fall short as Morocco will probably get at least a point against Canada But Croatia need to at least draw with Belgium to advance otherwise a loss could see them go from top of the group to out!

@layzie@Dee Zephyr@Go the Biff@Clintosaurus @JV7@DeeSpencer@Dappa Dan@titan_uranus @Dr. Gonzo @Gorgoroth @DemonDave Leaderboard Tipping Comp 5 - Go the Biff 4 - DeeSpencer, Gorgoroth, titan_uranus, Clintosaurus, layzie, Macca 3 - Dr.Gonzo 2 - JV7 0 - TWSRN! 2 points on offer this week

Good post layz I don't mind low scoring games in certain sports (notably baseball, soccer and in the NFL) It comes from playing defence when I played sport (those days are done!) But oddly enough, I don't like low scoring games of footy With soccer, goals are hard to score and the goals are golden. That's the essence of the sport! Much like many others, I've seen many great games that finish nil-nil So we are playing the way we are because that's our best option. If not, we'd probably get smashed

I'm on Brazil but only because Betr gave me 100-1 odds (for 10 bucks) a while back But I genuinely think they can win along with 8-9 other teams. Even England! As for our match against Argentina, we'll go in with nothing to lose but they are an awfully good team To be honest, being matched up and in the conversation against a team led by the great Messi is quite a thrill I'm lapping up the opportunity! (and I'm sure the team will as well)

For the life of me I don't understand the criticism of Graham Arnold We're are not a good team so it wouldn't matter who is/was in charge. Talent generally wins out and we don't possess much talent. Alex Ferguson in his prime couldn't do much with this Aussie team That's why this team getting to the round of 16 is a minor miracle. And I'm a total realist so I'm as surprised as the next person (even though I never ruled out the possiblility of making it this far ... because of the nature of the sport) But holding out against a revitalised Argentina for 90 minutes? Keep your fingers crossed, layz!

We're currently paying 16-1 (up to 25-1 might be available) so at those odds, it's worth a wager that won't hurt the hip pocket #GambleResponsibly Argentina looked awesome this morning and they could go a long way in this tournament. They completely dismantled Poland We'll do well to limit the damage but if we can somehow hold them scoreless to half time, the pressure will mount on them. Big ask though But in all reality, I'm immensely proud of our team and a good comparison are the Demon teams of '88 & 2000 Those disappointed with those GF losses can only be described as supreme optimists. In my view, we did extraordinarily well to get that far Much like Australia in this group (and in the qualifying for the tournament) No one gave them a chance

Dream on layz haha We've got about a 3% chance of getting past Argentina However, to make it this far is a monumental achievement. And we should be incredibly proud A motley crew of no-names makes the round of 16. Incredible! But as you said, dare to dream and I'm reminded that one of the worst teams in history (New Zealand) went undefeated in the world cup in South Africa So I suppose anything is possible!

Looks like we're playing Argentina *Shudder*

The team we'd prefer to avoid in the round of 16 would be Argentina as they'd be hard to beat But Poland, the Saudi's or Mexico hold no such fears. In fact, we could beat any of those 3 teams given the nature of how we've won our 2 games in the group Ideally the Poland/Argentina game ends in a draw or a win to Poland. If that happens, Argentina can't win that group

Yeah, we're all different, Gv Radio/audio sport I love (but not so much footy anymore) Test Cricket, Soccer, NFL, MLB, NBA & NHL are all favs But as for the visual, I'm able to block out the commentary as I can see what's going on. In some sports, the commentators just talk way too much For instance, with the footy, I just ignore what the commentators are saying. Close to zero interest in the commentary as I'm too enthralled with the contest (esp Demon games)

Yeah I came to terms with Qatar hosting early on ... money talks but that's the world we live in (and it's nothing new) Out of last night's games I feel that Senegal could trouble England but by contrast, I reckon the Dutch should be able to take care of the Americans Be interested in the thoughts of your good self and others on those same 2 upcoming round of 16 games ... @Grapeviney @Winners at last@hardtack@roy11@Demonland@dl4e@Wadda We Sing @Dee Zephyr@Jumping Jack Clennett Tonight's games are interesting as well which includes the biggie ... Australia vs Denmark 2.00am (I expect Argentina to to beat Poland tonight and they probably have to, as the Saudi's can beat Mexico and snare a spot in the next round)

Not generally one to take in commentary too much at sporting events but I did notice Tyler's deadpan commentary in the Spain/Cameroon game Notably when Cameroon scored their 3rd goal. Martin seemed perplexed about offside & VAR but in the meantime, Cameroon had scored and had drawn level - Tyler seemed oblivious to what was actually happening! Saw him interviewed at the start of the tournament and he was all over the place there as well. Seemed a bit eccentric to be honest. And a bit incoherent Netherlands should win this morning and advance as the group winner whilst Equador & Senegal are playing for the other round of 16 spot In the other group England will advance you'd reckon whilst it's all to play for between Iran & USA

I thought you'd lost interest as I haven't seen you here for a week! The thread has been dead (I thought it might have been ultra busy but you can't predict these things!)

Now for South Korea/Ghana with Spurs striker Son on show Does he score once or twice? Maybe ... I'm thinking he might get a brace against this opposition