World Cup 2018 | 18th June Matches | Next Match: Belgium vs Panama, KO 16:00 (BST)

MCFC1993

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Put this thread up for the other 2 games tomorrow. There is a separate thread for the England game.


18TH JUNE


SWEDEN VS SOUTH KOREA


Match kicks off at 13:00 (BST) on ITV 1. Coverage starts at 12:30 (BST), presented by Jacqui Oatley, analysis by Henrik Larsson, Ryan Giggs and Patrice Evra, commentary by Jon Champion and Ally McCoist.

Sweden come into this tournament ranked 24th in the world, this is their first appearance at the finals since 2006. Sweden had a decent qualifying run finishing behind France but above the Netherlands putting them into the European playoffs, from there they knocked out Italy over 2 tight games. Ibrahimovic has retired from international duty and Sweden don’t have the team they once did, so will have to hope they are better than the sum of their parts. Marcus Berg was their top goal scorer in qualifying and the 5th top goal scorer overall with 8 goals.

Likewise South Korea are not the team they were 10-15 years ago. They come into this tournament ranked a lowly 57th in the world. They finished some 7 points behind Iran in qualifying, only winning 4 of their 10 games. They’ve also had some poor performances in friendlies leading up to the finals. Losing to Bosnia and Senegal and drawing to Bolivia. They have a couple of familiar faces; Ki Sung-yueng of Swansea captains them and of course their star player is Son Heung-min of Spurs but he only managed 1 goal in qualifying and Ki was actually their top scorer along with Koo Ja-Cheol.

Struggling to call this one so I’ll go with a draw.


BELGIUM VS PANAMA

Match kicks off at 16:00 (BST) on BBC 1. Coverage starts at 15:30 (BST). Commentary by Steve Bower and Mark Lawrenson.

Belgium come into this tournament with was must be there last shot with this group of players, many of them in their peak or aging. Ranked 3rd in the world, they are being talked about as realistic contenders to win the thing, albeit slight outsiders given their previous performances. The swept away everyone in qualifying, finishing with 9 wins and 1 draw and in fact are unbeaten in 19 games, winning 14. They have world-class players in every position, most we are familiar with given they play in the premier league but without doubt the two stand-outs are De Bruyne and Hazard. Also there is the possibility of City captain Vincent Kompany lifting the world cup, imagine that!

Panama come in this tournament ranked 55th in the world. This is their first ever appearance at the finals, making them the only debutants this time around. Most of their squad are unknown even to the most avid football watcher but there is a lot of experience in their squad with 6 of their players having more than 100 caps. In qualifying it took them until the final match day to secure qualification when they beat Costa Rica, with now their national hero Roman Torres scoring in the final 10 minutes to secure a 1-0 win. I can’t comment too much on their style as I have only seen them once in that game against Costa Rica where they ran through brick walls against a fairly uninspired Costa Rica side. If they get a point in this group I’m sure they’d be happy with that.

I expect Belgium to show up in this game, question of how many.
 

Not expecting much from this first game. Couple of familiar names on show though.
 
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Seen more quality in motherwell v rangers game ,than in this turgid shite
 

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