The 2018 World Cup

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by AlexB

And weird that in the group game both teams played back ups, but both played pretty much strong sides in the 3rd place game!

Yeah. I watched the Belgian broadcast, the analysts were surprised pre-game as well. It made sense, or made clear both teams really felt 3rd place was something to fight for.

[MrBug708]

Rough to give up a goal on a clear dive

[AlexB]

French have dived 2-3 times already. Sigh. Time to root for Croatia.

[MrBug708]

Boom!

[MrBug708]

Handball

[AlexB]

Didn’t think so on first viewing, but the last angle showed the hand to ball.

[AlexB]

This referee is awful (again)

[AlexB]

Dola - take that back, Hernandez did foul the player

[bob]

France currently averaging two goals per shot.

[PilotMan]

Croatia has outplayed France, it's unfortunate for them to go in behind. The first goal because of a dive, and the 2nd on a unfortunate handball.



*calmly*

"Keep working hard and playing as you have and you'll win this game"



is the FM speech I'd give here.

[JPhillips]

That's probably it.

[Warhammer]

I hate the way the French play, would much rather have Croatia find some way to pull this off.

[MrBug708]

Pogba to Mbappe is just so unfair

[PilotMan]

Good grief. Now the good France team showed up.

[Warhammer]

Does that give Croatia some life?

[MrBug708]

That second Croatia goal was scored like every soccer video game allowed in the 90's/2000's

[miami_fan]

Spurs gonna Spurs even when they are not in a Spurs kit.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

That second Croatia goal was scored like every soccer video game allowed in the 90's/2000's

So frustrating in FM. So fake. lol

[Ksyrup]

Croatia's goalie is so bad he's making this look like a Don King Production.

[cthomer5000]

I would have to say that was probably the best overall World Cup I've seen in my lifetime. No worse than an A- rating on the tournament overall.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

90 minutes away from the should be final.

Word.
France - Belgium was the winner-take-all game.

[miami_fan]

Golden Ball- Luka Modric
Silver Ball- Eden Hazard
Bronze Ball- Antoine Griezmann

Best Young Player- Kylian Mbappe

Golden Glove- Thibaut Courtois

Golden Boot- Harry Kane
Silver Boot- Antoine Griezmann
Bronze Boot- Romelu Lukaku

Fair Play- Spain

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

I would have to say that was probably the best overall World Cup I've seen in my lifetime. No worse than an A- rating on the tournament overall.

My first one was USA 1994. (The only two things I remember from 1990 is Rijkaard spitting vs. Germany and Maradona crying in the final.) Because 2018 is fresh in memory, I'm sure I remember much more from this one, but I'm also sure I experienced it differently due to the absence of Oranje. All around, I think I can tell you which teams were present for all those tournaments, which teams advanced to what round and can tell you about half the scores of those games. Without peaking. But do I remember much from the actual football?

1994 was in a hot climate. Sweden, Bulgaria and Romania played great football. The group of Italy was full of defense-minded teams, all getting 4 points with a neutral goal difference. Norway deserved to finish last, scoring only 1 goal. Nigeria got unlucky vs Italy. Maradona was ejected from the tournament. Oranje was so-so, played their best in the lost game vs Brazil. The final was extremely boring.

1998 was wet. Italy played in a boring group, Cameroon deserved to be sent home for their non-football. Morocco got hosed by a tanking Brazil vs Norway. Nigeria swung through the group and hosed Spain in the process, Denmark rolled up Nigeria and played a great game vs Brazil in the quarterfinals. France was lucky at times, had the rare golden goal. Players starring in the new Adidas shoes commercial collected a lot of red cards (Zidane, Kluivert, Beckham...) Romania bleached their hair after 2 wins and promptly forgot how to play ball. Argentina provoked England successfully. Oranje returned the favor. Mexico was dirty. The USA lost to Iran. Croatia was enlightening, upset Germany, unlucky vs France. Brazil got lucky vs Oranje, then got steamrolled by France, 20 years later we find out Ronaldo's pre-game health issues completely froze Brazil.

2002. Oranje missed out, rooting vs Portugal was a priority. They crashed out in the group stage vs the enjoyable cinderella's South Korea and the USA. China is still lightyears away from being competitive. Saudi Arabia should have stayed at home, they were nowhere near their level of 1994. France crashed out in a group with defensive teams. Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Rivaldo. Italy and Spain were shockingly on the receiving end of questionable refereeing, in favor of South Korea. Senegal got deep, but I can't remember why. Turkey finished 3rd, but no idea how they got there. Kahn carried Germany to the final.

2006. Germany played a different kind of football, enjoyable. Oranje showed the new generation of soon to be near-champions. Crashing out against the provoking Portugese. We cheered when Cristiano Ronaldo left the field injured in tears, then lost our heads in the worst football match ever. Argentina getting lucky versus Mexico. The USA being in the crazy group with Ghana, Czechia and Italy. Defensive football got Italy to the title. Materazzi was the dirtiest player in the tournament, too bad people only remember Zidane head-butting him.

2010. Fuvuzela. Xavi and Iniesta. Casillas toe keeping Oranje from the title. Great games for Oranje vs. Brazil and Uruguay. Italy fell completely apart. New Zealand learned the hard way drawing games won't always work. Ivory Coast got hosed by Brazil accepting the tie vs Portugal. Germany was awesome, except for getting lucky early versus England. Suarez making a heroic handball, Gyan missing the penalty kick.

2014. Germany 7, Brazil 1. Mosquitoes, drinking breaks. Oranje played in a 5-3-2 with Dirk Kuijt playing everywhere. Counter attacking past Spain, Mexico getting helped by the referees not giving a penalty, until the last minute. Krul for the penalties versus Costa Rica, no sub left to do it again versus Argentina. Messi struggled, but somehow got his team to the final. Belgium's golden generation choked for the first time. Italy fell apart again. Spain as well after several years of domination. "Gahmez" Rodriguez.

2018. VAR and a truckload of penalties. Except for Serbia. Handball or not being random between various referees. Neymar's flopping. Uruguay's diving, Colombia's provoking versus England. Panama doing both while getting steamrolled vs England and Belgium. Golden generation Belgium losing the should be final vs France after the awesome games vs Japan and Brazil. Japan's stalemate 1-0 loss vs Poland, out fair playing Senegal. Fair play not coming into play when Belgium-England was the game where losing was better. England purposely missing scoring opportunities. Neymar's flopping. Croatia successfully surviving 3 overtime games. Spain failed to get creative, Akinfeev's toe got Russia into the quarterfinals. Germany struggled to score goals. Messi struggled even more than in 2014. Cristiano Ronaldo better than ever, but not good enough to get pas the round of 16. Saudi Arabia World Cup unworthy in their first game. Neymar's flopping. Iceland not bringing their mojo successfully to the world cup, but other teams successfully parked the bus at the world cup, most notably Sweden, Russia and eventual champions France.

I'm going to rank the 2010, 1998, 2014 and 1994 tournaments ahead of the rest, simply because Oranje fever caught the country. Probably take 2018 over 2002, because there were slightly more enjoyable teams staying around through the knock out stages. 2006 was very unmemorable to me, aside from the disgraceful Portugal-Oranje game.

[RainMaker]

I think I enjoyed this one more because the US wasn't in it. I could just sit back and enjoy each game without a real rooting interest.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I think I enjoyed this one more because the US wasn't in it. I could just sit back and enjoy each game without a real rooting interest.

I believe that's why I enjoyed it so much as well.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I think I enjoyed this one more because the US wasn't in it. I could just sit back and enjoy each game without a real rooting interest.

Me too. I took a more active interest in all teams because i didn't have to expend so much nervous energy in the USA.

Favorite games:

Belgium-Japan
Belgium-Brazil
Spain-Portugal

[ISiddiqui]

So, remember what I said about World Cup final ratings a bit ago (when I was savaged for it) - oh and yes I was talking more US, apologizes for that misunderstanding...

http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2018...lemundo-final/

This is the lowest rated combined (English and Spanish) US World Cup final rating since 2002. Almost 10 million less viewers than 2014. Almost 7 million less viewers than, 2010.

Yes, it began before noon Eastern Time (11am for the record, so 8am Western, but I was told that it wouldn't matter due to it being the World Cup final, and of course about 50% of the US population does live in EST), but I still believe Croatia, not really a soccer power, being one of the two teams hurt interest.

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[JonInMiddleGA]

2010. Fuvuzela.

{shudder} Pretty much the last time I tried to watch the WC. Single most annoying sound ever.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

So, remember what I said about World Cup final ratings a bit ago (when I was savaged for it) - oh and yes I was talking more US, apologizes for that misunderstanding...

World Cup Ratings: Nearly 18 Million For Final - Sports Media Watch

This is the lowest rated combined (English and Spanish) US World Cup final rating since 2002. Almost 10 million less viewers than 2014. Almost 7 million less viewers than, 2010.

Yes, it began before noon Eastern Time (11am for the record, so 8am Western, but I was told that it wouldn't matter due to it being the World Cup final, and of course about 50% of the US population does live in EST), but I still believe Croatia, not really a soccer power, being one of the two teams hurt interest.

Sorry I wasn't posting in defense of that then... in addition to not being a soccer power, and not having star power (sorry Luka Modric & Ivan Rakitic!), Croatia also has many less people here with hereditary ties to it than a Germany or Brasil. Of course the national TV ratings would be lower here.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

So, remember what I said about World Cup final ratings a bit ago (when I was savaged for it) - oh and yes I was talking more US, apologizes for that misunderstanding...

Well yeah, it didn't occur to me at all that you initially meant ratings for just the USA.

FWIW, tv ratings for the final were pretty low in the Netherlands with only, 3.0M viewers for the final. The semifinals drew 3.9M (Fra-Bel) and 3.5M (Cro-Eng) viewers, but those were at prime time (8 pm local), while the final wasn't (5 pm local).

2014 numbers: 9.1M for the semifinal Netherlands-Argentina, at least 7.3M for Oranje's 5 other competitive games (bronze medal game only 6.4M). The Germany-Argentina final had 5.9M viewers, barely more than the Brazil-Germany semifinal (5.8M). 22 other games cracked the top100 best watched programs all with at least 2.4M viewers.

2010 numbers: 8.5M for the World Cup final. All other matches at least 5.7M, except for the Monday 1:30 pm local time game vs. Denmark (4.2M). 7 other games not involving Oranje cracked the top25 best watched: the 3 other quarterfinals, the other semifinal, the bronze medal game and two Sunday 8:30 pm games involving Brazil and Germany. 20 more games cracked the top100 best watched programs, all with at least 2.1M viewers.

2006 numbers: 8.3M watched the disaster that Portugal-Netherlands was. Group stage games for Oranje drew 7.7M, 7.1M and 5.4M. The Italy-France final 5.5M. 31 other games made the top100 watched programs, all with at least 2.1M viewers.

2002 numbers: 2.7M watched the Germany-Brazil final. It was the best watched game of that world cup, 39th best viewed program. No other World Cup game cracked the top50, requiring 2.6M viewers.

In all those years, the only thing that came somewhat close in viewers were Speed Skating events at the (winter) Olympics. Except for 2002 as programs about the Dutch royal wedding were the only ones to top 5M.

I know, much smaller country (16M to 17M people), but with a larger soccer tradition, but it does confirm how small the interest is if Oranje isn't playing. And how far ratings will drop if games are not played at prime time.

[Warhammer]

I lost interest when France made the final. I was not a fan of how they played.

[Arles]

I still think a big part was the time window. 10 am in the Midwest (right when church starts) and 8 am on the west coast is a tough time slot for sports. So, you think the ratings would have been much better with England (we did have France their star power)? Unless Mexico or the US was in the finals, this was destined for lower US ratings. You can’t run a major sporting event at between 8 and 10 am on a Sunday morning for 2/3s of the US and expect decent ratings