World Cup: Group A: Egypt vs. Saudi Arabia, Uruguay vs. Russia 6/25/2018

[KrejciMVP]

I think it's good for Russia to face a strong team before the round of 16 to see where they stand, make adjustments, get the starting players back. Rest up for the round of 16. Couldn't ask for a better situation than this for a team with a low ranking

 

[Firsov99]

Russia's marking on standards is just awful..

Yep, it’s been Russia’s weakness in forever. Even in 2008, when they had a great team.

 

[Elliman]

Russia is gonna get pounded by Spain / Portugal

 

[KrejciMVP]

Russia is gonna get pounded by Spain / Portugal

well Im sure Vegas odds would agree but that's why they play the games

 

[KrejciMVP]

Egypt going 0-3

 

[Jussi]

Saudi Arabia with the late winner.

 

[ViD]

I guess the last two matches have shown us if anything that South Americans are better at football than Eastern Europeans.

We are still taking the title of the best Eastern European football country in the world. Hooray.

 

[Kap-the-Head]

Good news as that Russia plays at Luzhniki it's 1/8 final... That stadium has been kind to the NT.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Egypt going 0-3

On paper, Egypt looked like a notably better side than the Saudis, so them losing this match surely is more indicative of attitude than anything.

 

[Elliman]

I’m delighted the Saudis won. Hopefully this spares the players from being “punished” which is what was reported after game 1.

 

[Jussi]

We are still taking the title of the best Eastern European football country in the world. Hooray.

Croatia says hi.

 

[SiberianHockey]

Bull****. Russia keep giving away fouls because Uruguay are faster and more skilled. The turnovers are coming because of Uruguay's superior pressing and counter-attack. Coming back down to reality when they're now facing a top team.

Have to disagree) Uruguay is not more a top team than Russia. Just a sloppy game from Russia today.
Akinfeev, Ignashevich, Golovin, Dzagoev, Smolov are not worse than Godin, Gimenez, Betancourt, Cavani, Suarez (at least this season). Russia is a sixth best league in Europe, not far behind France, with not that many foreign players in it. Of course, level of football in Uruguay is impressive, considering the population of that country, but please don't underestimate Russia
BTW Saudi Arabia also is not better than Egypt in football, despite the result of the game.

 

[Moncherry]

Have to disagree) Uruguay is not more a top team than Russia. Just a sloppy game from Russia today.
Akinfeev, Ignashevich, Golovin, Dzagoev, Smolov are not worse than Godin, Gimenez, Betancourt, Cavani, Suarez (at least this season). Russia is a sixth best league in Europe, not far behind France, with not that many foreign players in it. Of course, level of football in Uruguay is impressive, considering the population of that country, but please don't underestimate Russia
BTW Saudi Arabia also is not better than Egypt in football, despite the result of the game.

Not going to bother.

 

[Eisen]

I just saw the highlights of Egypt-Saudi Arabia. That was some iffy reffing concerning the penalties.

 

[Firsov99]

Have to disagree) Uruguay is not more a top team than Russia. Just a sloppy game from Russia today.
Akinfeev, Ignashevich, Golovin, Dzagoev, Smolov are not worse than Godin, Gimenez, Betancourt, Cavani, Suarez (at least this season). Russia is a sixth best league in Europe, not far behind France, with not that many foreign players in it. Of course, level of football in Uruguay is impressive, considering the population of that country, but please don't underestimate Russia
BTW Saudi Arabia also is not better than Egypt in football, despite the result of the game.

Please. You are making a fool out of yourself. This Russia is no match for Uruguay.

 

[Kap-the-Head]

Have to disagree) Uruguay is not more a top team than Russia. Just a sloppy game from Russia today.
Akinfeev, Ignashevich, Golovin, Dzagoev, Smolov are not worse than Godin, Gimenez, Betancourt, Cavani, Suarez (at least this season). Russia is a sixth best league in Europe, not far behind France, with not that many foreign players in it. Of course, level of football in Uruguay is impressive, considering the population of that country, but please don't underestimate Russia
BTW Saudi Arabia also is not better than Egypt in football, despite the result of the game.

Come on, man... I know we all enjoyed the latest Russia's success, but let's not get carried away. I am the minority among Russian fans, but I did really expect Cherchesov to do well, and he has not disappointed. But we are still far away from nations like Uruguay. Are we 70th ranked team? Absolutely not. But we are not sniffing top 20 either, at least for a year...

 

[ViD]

Croatia says hi.

Balcans are now Eastern Europe ?

 

[Eisen]

Balcans are now Eastern Europe ?

Part middle Europe part south-east.

 

[Luigi Habs]

Solid teams like Uruguay look better by each game. I expect Brazil to get better as well.

Uruguay looked much better in this 3-5-2. Laxalt and Nandez should be starting every game. Uruguay vs Portugal would be a fun matchup.

Btw I wasn’t too impressed with Bentancur. Lost the ball too often and made some bad passes.

 

[Jussi]

Part middle Europe part south-east.

We lump them all in Eastern Europe.

 

[SiberianHockey]

Please. You are making a fool out of yourself. This Russia is no match to Uruguay.

I'm a big fan of South American football, following copa libertadores since 80s. Believe me Uruguay not producing good players in bunches. They have good generation sometimes and then not so good.. This World Cup is more like the latter. Suarez and Cavani are very good players, but being a 31 old is not a best age for forwards. Pretty sure, I'm quite accurate in my assessments this year Uruguay team is almost equal to Russia. It doesn't mean much, but that's how I see it))
Don't see it as 2 first games of Russia were fluke and now they met "real team" and showed the "real level". It's far from that. Also Russian players are undeservadly underastimated by general football public (even in Russia), because they are in some kind of isalation from Big5 championships and big football media by crazy salaries in domestic league. Still I've seen many good games from different Russian teams: Euro2008, U19 EC2015, wins over big european clubs every season and know for sure that top RU players are good enough to be compared with this year Uruguay team.

 

[N o o d l e s]

Have to disagree) Uruguay is not more a top team than Russia. Just a sloppy game from Russia today.
Akinfeev, Ignashevich, Golovin, Dzagoev, Smolov are not worse than Godin, Gimenez, Betancourt, Cavani, Suarez (at least this season). Russia is a sixth best league in Europe, not far behind France, with not that many foreign players in it. Of course, level of football in Uruguay is impressive, considering the population of that country, but please don't underestimate Russia
BTW Saudi Arabia also is not better than Egypt in football, despite the result of the game.

Beats Saudi Arabia and Egypt....thinks they're on par with Uruguay.

What?

 

[SiberianHockey]

Beats Saudi Arabia and Egypt....thinks they're on par with Uruguay.

What?

Don't care about Saudi Arabia and Egypt games. Base my assumptions on hundreds of games from Ignashevich, Golovin, Dzagoev, Smolov and Godin, Gimenez, Suarez, Cavani I've seen in recent years.

 

[member 51464]

Russia's marking on standards is just awful..

What does marking mean and what are standards?

I think marking means something like defense against the ball carrier in some sort of man-on-man sense?

 

[cgf]

We lump them all in Eastern Europe.

Brits *rollseyes*

Don't care about Saudi Arabia and Egypt games. Base my assumptions on hundreds of games from Ignashevich, Golovin, Dzagoev, Smolov and Godin, Gimenez, Suarez, Cavani I've seen in recent years.

Dude...no. I've defended russian football on here on many occasions, but dude. No.