Diamond_Jim

A new fortress... a la the Northern Bulwark !

Not going to happen guys until someone at VFL level pushes him out and that isn't happening as far as I can see. More the pity ..not because of any loss of form but it has been so obvious that his place and that of Vince is up for grabs. Getting to the stage where we may need to trade for his replacement come seasons end. Hunt or Wagner anyone ? They certainly don't cut it at present.

Boy o boy... Sweden were so bad Could not help notice the absence of the usual "pretty girl" shot amongst the English supporters. Obviously the young ladies do not travel with the lads... Sensible methinks ? Think it was the Uruguayan game last night where we had the crying child... three times. Whoever decides the feeds really needs a new producer. Now for Russia v Croatia Imagine if Russia wins. We then have Theresa May v Vladimir Putin or should I say Virtue v Evil except I am not sure who is what !!

Didn't we hear recently that they renewed this disaster but we are trying to get it scheduled before the bye ?

really is a game of inches. Brazil could have won that 8-1 but lost. France could not really get their game going but got the win. Good signs and are probably the tournament favourites now. Mind you being the favourite in this WC is not a good thing !!

By the way would anyone like to comment on the penalty given to England against Colombia. Not a soccer expert but it looked like the clumsiest act I have ever seen and so worth a penalty. My only question and I am not sure it is relevant to a penalty is that Kane did not seem to be in a realistic spot to score. The Colombians are still complaining backed by no one better than Diego "hand of God" Maradona. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/05/colombia-dirtiest-team-ive-ever-played-against-john-stones

Great first season... Has really cemented his spot. In the top 15 of the club at present if not near the top ten.

Well a big couple of days coming up with the quarter finals. No real stand out teams but France and Brazil probably the most skilful. Other than Russia who would surprise if they make the next round one would not be surprised with any result. Hopefully not 4 matches decided by penalties though.

Macca, if Russia beat Croatia the lid will really come off. Only 37 in the beautiful city of Tbilisi today. Georgian wines are thought to be amongst the oldest in the world so I am doing my best to research as many as I can during my week here. They are rather good and not too expensive.

yep.. relative humidity is the term you should be looking at. In simple terms the hotter the temp the more water the air can hold and thus you feel a lot "wetter"at 30% humidity with a temp of 27 than with 30% at a temp of 17. Thus the term relative tries to standardise the comparison

That second half of the Belgium v Japan game was amazing. I had a long hot day (power outage included) in Tbilisi so after a boring first half I followed the second half on the Guardian blog before going back for what I thought was sure to be extra time. How wrong can one be.. five goals in a half and the winner with 8 seconds to go. On a different note the penalty taking is not subject to VAR so early movement by the keeper is not monitored. Wonder if this will change

Yep time to slowly head back ... (might have been a bit quicker if the Dees had been on a roll) Four weeks in Russia was enough... great experience.. saw 5 games. The tickets get much harder to obtain from the quarter final stage and quite expensive. Quarter final tickets are US$320 for example and the accomodation costs are very high during the WC period. Mind you the food and drink is very cheap and top quality. I am now in Tbilisi Georgia. The travel people call it the new Prague. Great old city with good food and wine plus it's very cheap. For example I'm in a two bedroom airbnb and out of the large number I have stayed in over the years this is up at the top. The price... $40 a night. If only it wasn't so hot ... may have to return outside the summer months. It's a big weekend getaway spot for all the expats in the Middle East.

Well I can tell you the old Soviet apartment blocks in Kazan are rumbling with the cheers of the locals after that win !!! Off to Georgia tonight on the 4:30am flight

Yep they do like their food here ! Now we are off to Penalty Lotto Old Vlad must be upset that he didn't drop in for this one

Lewis and Vince will go when someone from Casey forces them out. So far there really haven't been any standout players in that regard. Hunt injured and the perennial Wagner doesn't instil much confidence that a change will come soon. Playing Petty on the back of a few reasonable games smacked of desperation

Perhaps not a game for the ages but the break away speed France was at sometimes breathtaking. I noticed it in the early stages of the game against Australia but tonight it went for almost the whole match. France were unlucky not to score another two or three whereas Argentina's goals were against the run of play. Argentina's fans of which there were many are certainly noisy but as they left the various vuvuzele at home I rank them above the Colombians.

Very warm 29 degrees here in Kazan and should still be 29 at kick off. Strangely the game is not a sell out which I think is a combination of prices too high for Russians, Argentina ending up unexpectedly in this match thus causing their fans difficulty with last minute accommodation and transport issues. England FA didn't even sell its ticket allocation for tomorrow's match

Interesting when you just select auto fill for the remaining rounds MFC end up 6th (15 wins) and Collingwood 8th with 14 wins. Geelong 9th on 12 wins

I can recall the golden goal but I can never recall the player reduction. Funny because I have suggested for years that is the way to go. Perhaps it is too shambolic in reality. When many of the knock out games are decided on penalties the WC seems to lose just that little bit.

https://www.cuponation.com.au/insights/world-cup-2018 Fascinating article about the relative average wages in the various World Cup nations. A bit like the famous Big Mac index. Australia right up there with Switzerland and Denmark

Freo in Darwin.. yep ...in Melbourne a regulation win .... in Darwin becomes a 60/40 at best. We always knew that taking the NT dollar would probably cost us big at sometime and perhaps it's this year.

The Argentinians will be arriving in town today. I assume the French will be here in greater number than they were against Australia. I'm assuming (hoping) the Argentinians can't be noisier than the Colombians. Went to the house where Lenin grew up in yesterday. It is now a great little museum. Almost deserted... Not sure that the football fans are into museums !!

England v Belgium will be a fascinating game. The preponderance of opinion is that the loser goes through to the easier side of the draw PS: If England win tonight they will play Japan in the round of 16... On form you would say England should win which will set them up nicely for elimination in the quarter finals ?

One does not begrudge Japan their success of they progress but this is a poor group. Poland ranked 8 have not fired a shot... far worse than Germany Senegal and Colombia are ranked 27 and 16 respectively with Japan at 61 If no goals are scored the two lowest ranked teams will progress to the next round with the to team being decided on the number of yellow cards. And of course 2 minutes after I post the above Poland scores?

I did not realise that the Asian Cup is not a FIFA approved tournament and therefore the various league clubs are not obliged to release their players