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splitclimber
climber
Sonoma County
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You should've put money down on that prediction
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sports betting is illegal in Norway. 🙁
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BooDawg
Social climber
Butterfly Town
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England shut down Sweden 2-0, and I guess I'm rooting for England VS France in the final.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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France-Belgium should be an excellent match.
And England is likely to be favored against Croatia now. They haven't exactly played well, but they've beaten the teams they needed to. They could easily make it to the final, then who knows? Despite the fact that Harry Kane, and perhaps Maguire are the only English players that might start for either Belgium or Croatia.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Heartbreaking for Russia.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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"Harry Kane, and perhaps Maguire are the only English players that might start for either Belgium or Croatia. "
Nonsense. The only players in the Croatia squad that could get into the England squad if they were club teams are Modric and Rakitic. England has more talent, more depth of talent, and play better football. Belgium shades England on talent, Croatia is nowhere near either of the two nor France.
You're right. I had a brain cramp while writing that. Meant to say Belgium or France.
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John M
climber
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Jul 10, 2018 - 11:18am PT
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France vs Belgium is on right now. Semi finals..
England vs Croatia tomorrow same time.
Edit:
wow.. great save by France's goal keeper. 22 minute mark. very high level play going on.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Jul 10, 2018 - 11:53am PT
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Pretty even so far. Both teams have had some pretty good chances, and both keepers have made a critical save.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jul 10, 2018 - 01:33pm PT
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Good clean game tonight. Got to watch it on a big screen in a restaurant in Lofoten with French, Italians, Germans, and Norskies! Waay gud! France was deservedly a shade better. I was a little bent that Hazard got hacked twice down the stretch with no calls but I won’t lose sleep over it. How great will an England - France final be?
GO ENGLAND!
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Jul 11, 2018 - 12:32pm PT
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England and Croatia on now, tied 1-1 early in 2nd half.
Here's my inexpert opinion: Croatia is MUcH better, they just about scored as I type this (off the goal bar).
But it's soccer, so England has a faint hope of keeping it tied and winning on penalty kicks. (But at least based on the butt whippin they're getting now, may be a long shot.)
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John M
climber
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Jul 11, 2018 - 12:50pm PT
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England controlled the first 60 minutes of the game. They had Croatia on their heels for the first half. They barely missed a number of tries. Then Croatia seemed to pick it up in the second half. England kind of went to sleep. Croatia scored and England got completely disheveled. It has taken them awhile to start bringing themselves back. There is a 30 minute overtime. So I don't believe that they are just hoping to hang on until penalty kicks.
Thats my inexpert opinion.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Jul 11, 2018 - 01:23pm PT
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Well with all due respect to our respective inexpert opinions, I stand by my assessment--I didn't see the beginning of the game, but since I've been watching, it's been incredibly one-sided, you could call if a blowout if they were playing a game where people actually scored more than once in a blue moon. First overtime period just ended-- England has been hanging onto dear life pretty much the entire time, I am sure they are praying to be able to have a coin-flip (penalty kicks).
I'd be interested in someone's opinion who has ever watched a complete soccer game (not me), as this just seems like an incredibly one-sided affair.
Bam=-Croatia just scored as I was typing!
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jul 11, 2018 - 01:28pm PT
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Croatia, a population of 4 million, and can soon be in the finals - 6 min left...
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John M
climber
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Jul 11, 2018 - 01:31pm PT
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I watched the whole game. Believe what you want man.
Things changed at about the 60 minute. If you started watching at that time, then I could understand your opinion.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jul 11, 2018 - 01:45pm PT
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Congrats Croatia, and well done to a young English team.
France - Croatia coming...
The excellent French team is the favorite... anything can happen...
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Russ Walling
Social climber
from Poofters Froth, Wyoming
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Jul 11, 2018 - 01:47pm PT
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One sided? hmmmm.... I watched the whole match and would not say that at all... England a bit flat after the equalizer, but a good game on the whole.
Not enough shots on goal to really make it happen though... refs a bit inconsistent but equal...
Go Croatia!!!! Frenchies be damned!!!
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mooch
Trad climber
Tribal Base Camp (Riverkern Annex)
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 11, 2018 - 02:08pm PT
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A few missed oppotunities for Kane in the first half. Stoked that Croatia is head to the finals against France. Gonna be a tough fight for them, especially against this young lad....
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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John M
climber
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Jul 11, 2018 - 02:27pm PT
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I was mostly reacting to the contention that Croatia was much better. It was a good game until England went flat. The first half could have been 2-0 England, or 1-1. It just looked to me like England had more chances and won more balls. Then they just seemed to go flat. Some of that can be attributed to Croatia's forwards, who in the second half turned it up another notch and were contesting every ball, whereas England's backs were playing sloppy. Because of that, Croatia tied it up and England seemed to lose their way.
I like Croatia. They have had some tough fought matches. I didn't know if they would have enough in the tank after their win over Russia. I will root for Croatia over France. Go American Fries! Oh wait.. it was Freedom Fries. oops.. bringing politics into it.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Jul 11, 2018 - 02:37pm PT
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Look I don't know much about soccer but I know something about a good old fashioned butt whuppin when I see one. Admittedly I started watching after England scored and wasn't paying that much attention anyway, but I saw enough to see that England was desperately hanging on for dear life most of the game.
Here are the relevant stats:
Shots (on Goal)
Croatia: 22 (7)
England: 11 (1)
The 22 to 11 margin is pretty much a blowout I'd say, but the real diff is between the shots on goal (which I think is the only way to score in this game, unless there's another way I don't know about).
I did see Croatia got penalized a little more so they could have cheated some, hard for me to say.
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kief
Trad climber
east side
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Jul 11, 2018 - 02:49pm PT
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England rode the luck of the draw throughout the tournament. Has any team ever gotten so far while creating fewer chances against such marginal opposition? Ten goals out of twelve from set pieces. One goal an accidental deflection. Yeah, they demolished Panama. Meanwhile Belgium disposed of Brazil and Croatia took apart Argentina. Croatia seem unlikely to prevail on Sunday, but least it will be a final with two teams that played memorable football to get there.
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