International sports bar

[Montegriffo]

England hadn't made a semi-final since Italia 90.
They lost to Croatia (ranked 4 in the world) in a very close game.
They didn't choke, they lost to a better side.
4th place for a team ranked 6 at the time is an overachievement on paper.

They don't actually play on paper though they play on grass.

[StCapps]

Wow.
You really don't understand sports fans.
You don't understand football either if you think there are any easy matches in the QF of a World Cup.

Most sports fans are idiots and ridiculous homers, I don't give a fuck if they hate being called out on it.

The difference in quality between legit WC contenders and teams who qualify only because they play in a shitty region is staggering, the difference in quality between legit WC contenders and shitty teams who have no real chance at qualifying for the world cup, is even more staggering. Pretending otherwise means understanding even less about soccer than someone who barely even watches it, that's pretty fucking bad.

International soccer is not high on the parity scale, I watch sports with infinitely more parity, you can't snow me.

[Montegriffo]

Wow.
You really don't understand sports fans.
You don't understand football either if you think there are any easy matches in the QF of a World Cup.

Most sports fans are idiots and ridiculous homers, I don't give a fuck if they hate being called out on it.

The difference in quality between legit WC contenders and teams who qualify only because they play in a shitty region is staggering, the difference in quality between legit WC contenders and shitty teams who have no real chance at qualifying for the world cup, is even more staggering. Pretending otherwise means understanding even less about soccer than someone who barely even watches it, that's pretty fucking bad.

International soccer is not high on the parity scale, I watch sports with infinitely more parity, you can't snow me.

I'm not contending this

The difference in quality between legit WC contenders and teams who qualify only because they play in a shitty region is staggering

I'm saying that you contending there was a huge gap in quality between England and Sweden is piffle and balderdash.

[StCapps]

I'm saying that you contending there was a huge gap in quality between England and Sweden is piffle and balderdash.

I never said that, they are quite close in quality. But the gap between France and England or Sweden is quite a large one. The gap between Brazil or Argentina and them is also pretty big. Germany even on a down year, only lost to Sweden because they choked. Belgium is head and shoulders above them. Portugal is notably better. If Spain hadn't choked they probably would have beaten either of them head-to-head, even though they are super old.

England and Sweden ain't that good dude, be real. All those teams are much better than Italy right now, but Italy ain't that much worse than England or Sweden, that margin is a lot smaller than the gap between the teams mentioned above and England or Sweden. If Italy had got the easy path that England did, might have been able to achieve a similar result, or they might have choked earlier, because Italy does tend to choke at the WC quite a bit, even when they are good, which they aren't right now, but they are a lot better than some of those shitty North American, African and Asian teams who barely qualified.

[Montegriffo]

I'm saying that you contending there was a huge gap in quality between England and Sweden is piffle and balderdash.

I never said that, they are quite close in quality.

So not an easy run to the semi-final them?
Phew, we got there in the end.

[StCapps]

I'm saying that you contending there was a huge gap in quality between England and Sweden is piffle and balderdash.

I never said that, they are quite close in quality.

So not an easy run to the semi-final them?
Phew, we got there in the end.

When Sweden is the best team you played who you beat, that's an easy run. Belgium and England had the easiest group that guaranteed they'd both advance, and in the elimination rounds the toughest teams you played were Sweden and Croatia, that's a fucking cakewalk.

[Montegriffo]

Croatia was not a cakewalk. They were ranked higher and had a winning record against us.

[StCapps]

Croatia was not a cakewalk. They were ranked higher and had a winning record against us.

Croatia was decent, but they overperformed and had an easy road as well. When that is your toughest opponent, you didn't have a tough road, when the best team you beat was Sweden, and you had the easiest group to advance in, that's a cakewalk.

[Montegriffo]

Funny thing about that.
The harder you work the easier it looks.
France must have had the easiest route, they only played teams they could beat

[StCapps]

Funny thing about that.
The harder you work the easier it looks.
France must have had the easiest route, they only played teams they could beat

France faced a murderers row. Pretending England had it tough and France had it easy, that's trolling.