Dispatches from the World Cup

[The End]

World Cup liveried signage starts to appear. My gaff in the background. In't it quaint?



Posh new buses ready for action.

[The End]

New Metro station still not open, but organisers seem confident...



Stadium in the background.



Russia right now. Not the norm. Stadium in the background again.

[The End]

[subsub]

Time to clean that keyboard, End-o...

[The End]

Shared work PC. Not lifting a finger to clean it!

[The Ghost of Alex Higgins]

Salty tears from our group stage exit will wash it clean

[kevin04]

How are the Russians feeling about getting through to the knock out stages, Endo?

I hope they do, but their form looks pretty appalling (albeit, friendlies) and playing very good sides, but they have not won a game for 8 months.

Should set up a friendly against us, or Gibraltar before the tournament. Get the goals in and the confidence up!

[Bad Blue 2000]

How are the Russians feeling about getting through to the knock out stages, Endo?

I imagine, the same way South Korea felt in 2002.

[The End]

How are the Russians feeling about getting through to the knock out stages, Endo?

I hope they do, but their form looks pretty appalling (albeit, friendlies) and playing very good sides, but they have not won a game for 8 months.

Should set up a friendly against us, or Gibraltar before the tournament. Get the goals in and the confidence up!

They have no defence. That's the biggest problem. Their two best centre halves - Dzhikiya and Vasin - are fucked, and 38 year-old Ignashevich has had to be recalled. There were even talks of the Berezutskyi twins coming back, despite the fact both are in their early 60s now. Plus, Zhirkov is likely to be a starter in left midfield and he is absolute shite (I've watched him several times this season). Smolov is a genuinely excellent centre forward, and Dzagoev in attacking midfield remains world class when fit, but a lot relies on the younger, inexperienced players such as the Miranchuk brothers, Kuzayev, and Golovin. Watch out for uncapped forward Chalov, though - he could develop into something very good.

Regarding results, they actually played very well against Argentina (0-1) and Spain (3-3) back in November, but shambolic defending in March against Brazil (0-3) and France (1-3) was very worrying. Final two friendlies should provide at least one win though - away to Austria and home to Turkey.

The only real positive is the fact they could hardly have gotten an easier group - Saudi Arabia, Egypt/Salah (I'll be at that one), and Uruguay. If they fuck up in either of the first two, and need a result against Uruguay.....

[kevin04]

How are the Russians feeling about getting through to the knock out stages, Endo?

I hope they do, but their form looks pretty appalling (albeit, friendlies) and playing very good sides, but they have not won a game for 8 months.

Should set up a friendly against us, or Gibraltar before the tournament. Get the goals in and the confidence up!

They have no defence. That's the biggest problem. Their two best centre halves - Dzhikiya and Vasin - are fucked, and 38 year-old Ignashevich has had to be recalled. There were even talks of the Berezutskyi twins coming back, despite the fact both are in their early 60s now. Plus, Zhirkov is likely to be a starter in left midfield and he is absolute shite (I've watched him several times this season). Smolov is a genuinely excellent centre forward, and Dzagoev in attacking midfield remains world class when fit, but a lot relies on the younger, inexperienced players such as the Miranchuk brothers, Kuzayev, and Golovin. Watch out for uncapped forward Chalov, though - he could develop into something very good.

Regarding results, they actually played very well against Argentina (0-1) and Spain (3-3) back in November, but shambolic defending in March against Brazil (0-3) and France (1-3) was very worrying. Final two friendlies should provide at least one win though - away to Austria and home to Turkey.

The only real positive is the fact they could hardly have gotten an easier group - Saudi Arabia, Egypt/Salah (I'll be at that one), and Uruguay. If they fuck up in either of the first two, and need a result against Uruguay.....

Cheers, End-o. I hope they get through to the knock out stages. Always a better tournament when the hosts go on, so fingers crossed they do it.

[VeritasVincit]

End:
The Observer has gone mad today with articles about World Cup Russia.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... pussy-riot
If you get the chance to have a look you might like to comment on their accuracy.

[The End]

End:
The Observer has gone mad today with articles about World Cup Russia.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... pussy-riot
If you get the chance to have a look you might like to comment on their accuracy.

A fair bit of truth in there, spliced with a few stereotypical views. Decent articles.

[The End]

Good job Lawnsy has no plans on visiting.



Metro map now has footballs on it.



Shiny new stations.



The view from the new station exit.

[The End]

Two weeks today and I will be at the World Cup (providing I can bend my leg).

[Zambo]

Two weeks today and I will be at the World Cup (providing I can bend my leg).

Hope you make it, but I'm sure the bloke in front won't mind you sticking it on his shoulder. The only problem I could see with that is, if he's there supporting a team and they score.