Prediction: England win this by 1-0.

Croatia are after 2 games in a row which went 120 minutes.

I look forward to coming back here after England have won and seeing the poll at 27-5 in favour of Croatia or some such rubbish.

Who the f**k pissed in your cornflakes. How dare anyone have an opinon different to yours 

There is not much between the teams, but Croatia are very experienced and have players who have been part of Europe's premier cadre for several years now, and their presence in the first teams at Real/Athletico Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan, Inter, and Fiorentina speaks to that. The point is, this is the strongest team that England have faced in some time. They have also won two penalty shootouts, with Subasic being the star.

England though will justifiably fancy their chances, and I dont think they will fear this Croatian team. They will also look at the Russian goal, and take heart from Croatia being less that robust from the set piece.

A good game is in store.

Just find it funny that a majority of people on here had Colombia and then Sweden to beat England.

If you are going to be voting based on hatred for England then it's stupid. And that is something which has clearly been happening.

The comments in both prior England threads have talked about how bad they are and lucky they are, I expect mine will stand out quite a bit for actually looking at the football rather than our own history with each nation.

Good man. Enjoy them.

Prove it like a good lad.

 Sweden were a well set up team in the run up to the match today more than enough for people to think they could possibly nick it. Colombia were only beaten on penalties. England were far from impressive in that game IMO. 

Apologies if this upsets such a sensitive soul like yourself 

 

Yet you'll say a Croatia team that beat 2 poor teams on penalties are favourites for this.

You really can't accept people having a different opinion to you can you.

Probably better we call it hatted because a majority of people on here having Sweden to beat England reflects quite embarrassingly on their footballing knowledge.

I’m waiting to after the match before voting on this.

Where does it say that people have to vote with their footballing preference? 

The majority of Irish football fans do not like the England football team, how can there be any argument? I was pretty sure that England would be in the final as soon as I saw the draw, that doesn't mean I won't vote against them in a silly ybig poll.

England comfortable won the game as their ability would suggest. People had a Swedish team who we would fancy ourselves against to beat them.

Give over.

You're a real sour f**ker. 

I wouldn't 

BTW they beat Italy to qualify for Russia  in case you missed it

 

 

How apt coming from the lad who said "that is a pretty serious allegation" when someone said you had an anti English agenda 

So you thought England would reach the final from the last 16?

Care to back that up with a post? Fair play if you can. 

And I held up my hands about it later. So your point is  ?

Whether you held your hands up after is irrelevant, easy call others sensistive when you overreacted over a petty comment.

And for what it's worth, I don't think he was being overly sensistive because what he said was spot on.

A lot of posters opinions are based on what they wanted to happen (seeing England lose) than actually being fair with their anaylsis. 

Any Russians in the crowd better cheer for their old war ally, or they'll merely be proving Boris Johnson correct. 

ENGLAND for me. 

I actually can't get over it 

 FFS, I always vote for the underdog. It means f**k all.

Anyway, hope Croatia wipe the floor with the Tan ****s. Soundest fans I met in 2012 Euros.

Much, much, much better looking women too, which is very important

I don't really get this post match idea that England were always going to swat Sweden aside today. Sweden knocked the Dutch out in the qualifying group. The Italians out in the play offs. Beat the Mexican team who beat Germany 2-0, 3-0 and topped their world cup group and have very often been a bogey team for England. Today apart from the 3 very good chances they made they were awful. Why they had such a massive drop off in performance is hard to say.They looked very lethargic and lacking in energy right from the kick off.

Didn’t most people fear that England would make the finals or atleast the semis from when the last sixteen path was confirmed? 

They’ve been bookies favorites for every single game they’ve played since the Belgium match and there is not one team who they could have played who possibly could have started as favorites against them.

Even against Croatia, England are priced at 7/5 vs 12/5. 

Saying that I thought they would make the final from when the last sixteen draw was made is not exactly a hugely impressive or sweeping statement so I don’t think I’d need to back it up with any posts - they’ve been favorites to make the final from that side of the draw from the moment they lost to Belgium. 

Not in the slighest and I know absolutely no-one who thought England would make the World Cup Final and that includes myself.

So yes I would say it was a sweeping statement to suggest England would make the final.

Have you not read the posts on England on this forum? 90% of them are dismissive of just about everything England and Southgate have done or could do.

Logically, on paper atleast - England are better than all of Columbia, Switzerland / Sweden, Russia / Croatia. 

It’s only their history of f*cking it up when they really shouldn’t that has made people think they wouldn’t get to the semi’s at least. 

Should they over come Croatia I can’t help but think there’s been an air of inevitability about it all, as everything has slotted nicely into place for them along the way. 

They were favorites against everyone they’ve played and when playing to potential are better than all of those teams. 

I dislike England as much as any other Irish football fan, but I don’t think it’s a shock that they got to this stage. 

Russia, Sweden or Switzerland getting to the final would be a shock, but a team with Harry Kane in attack and then the likes of Sterling, Alli, Henderson etc, who are all elite level Champions League players reaching a final against average opposition isn’t a huge surprise.

So why are we including Switzerland in this who only made the last 16 and not Spain 

Fair point I suppose had forgotten about them. 

Did you spell it wrong too and edit it 😉

Now if Spain weren't on the English side of the draw, Croatia potentially were the one side who I think are at least on a par if not slightly better than England who really could stand in their way of doing something special "but" there wasn't a hope in hell I was predicting that Spain were going to lose to Russia.

If the last 16 started allover again, Spain would still have been my pick to reach the Final from that side.

Panteira's on the warpath tonight. 

Day sessions especially with football on the box will always trump any 'epic' nights out when the local arseholes or stags and hen parties are out. 

Sweden's best players are Emil Forsberg, Marcus Berg and Andreas Granqvist, who play for Helsingborgs, Al Ain and Krasnodar FC respectively.  Sweden are an average team who punch above their weight and if the opposition team plays badly they can hurt them.  They're basically an upgraded version of Iceland 2.0.

Just this time England play a lot better than the crap they served up against Iceland in Euro 2016, hence the win today and fair play to them for that.

Yes Sweden knocked out Holland and Italy but those sides are pretty substandard these days, did you not see how terrible Holland were in the recent friendly against England?  Route 1 to Bas Dost?  

Croatia on the other hand have players playing for Real Madrid (x2) Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan Inter Milan, Liverpool, Monaco, Hoffenheim (3rd in the bundesliga this season).

England are finally playing players who play regularly in the Champions League for the first time in this WC (excluding the Belgium 2nd XI).

This will be a tight game, but IMO its game that suits Croatia far more than the games against Denmark (park the bus) Russia (park the bus), England will be more open and expansive in this game, similar to how Argentina IMO.  This is a 50/50 match.

But on paper Croatia HAVE to be a step up from Sweden and even Colombia.

  

I’d be more worried about their form post the group stages.

They were very patchy in both games. The main positive is they went a goal down in each game and were able to equalise.

England still haven’t been fully tested and they have never been behind in any game. Also I feel this will be the first game where they will have less than 50% possession. Croatia will win the midfield battle.

It’s going to be a close game. If you were to do a combined XI it would be evenly split.

England will be relying on set pieces so Croatia need to ensure they don’t give anything away cheaply.

Both teams will be nervous as it’s a massive opportunity for one of them. 

It should be noted Croatia have also had a kind draw to get to the semi finals.

I think England will sneak it. If they played in the group stage Croatia would probably win it but I feel England will handle the pressure better.

I think we’ll England v Belgium final.

I think some people need to prepare for the worst. Although still an unlikely event, England may just win the World Cup. It would be foolish not to at least have a plan to move to the other side of the planet where they have no internet.

I won’t be silenced about my love for Balkan women

They were behind against Belgium as they lost the game 

I don't think I have ever been offended in my life, it would be nearly impossible to offend me. I also dislike sexism,racism and homophobia. 

Not liking something doesn't mean offence. If I come across racism,sexism or homophobia on any forum I am on I will report. The only way humanity will progress is by learning from mistakes.

Usually where I have pointed it out...

  

Croatia should be good enough to beat them and are a huge step up from anyone they've faced so far. But England's will have been encouraged by the fact that they looked vulnerable from the Russian set pieces yesterday.

Could go either way, hopefully Modric keeps up his form, they'll struggle to cope with him.

Sweden reached their limit. I don't think they believed they could win the game- they are physical as well but that doesn't intimidate the English like it does with the Koreans or Mexicans who are more lightweight.

Yes.

If somebody referred to any person in my company as a 'bird', I wouldn't be accountable for my actions. Anyone that thinks a term like that is acceptable deserves a swift kick in the bollocks.

Always Doc! It has cost me a few teeth!

How about you f**k off and rim me. Threatening someone cos they said bird ffs  big hard man behind the keyboard!!!

And while you're at it, piss off with your constant moaning about having to listen to English fans, you choose to move there so f**king deal with it

I love England and kind of want them to win it now. That doesn't make your sexism acceptable.

pre Madonna wrote: Why is this wedding even news though? She is just a posh bird with a famous sister and an arse borrowed from a 12 year old boy. I had managed to completely ignore it, in fact, when I first opened this thread, I thought it was going to be about Home and Away! It does seem all the usual rags are all over this though, I suppose I should be happy as it gives them a day off from telling us how Jezza blew up Canary Wharf, but I hate the unnecessary publicity  of an inbred wedding. I don't just mean this one either, I mean every pointless celebrity and reality tv star and pornstar gone mainstream, f**k off the lot of them. Off with their heads too.

But this is my favourite quote of pm using the term bird 

https://forum.ybig.ie/things-that-annoy-the-fook-out-of-you_topic26054_post1893348.html?KW=Bird#1893348" rel="nofollow - https://forum.ybig.ie/things-that-annoy-the-fook-out-of-you_topic26054_post1893348.html?KW=Bird#1893348

England are improving as the tournament goes on and Croatia are a very good team but have been unimpressive in their last two games. There won’t be a lot between the sides. 

Sexism 

See above post about the bird with a cracking arse! You absolute dipsh*t

I'm done dragging this off topic

Move on.

It's a f**king disgusting term, I'd expect no better from a Dub like you though...

How? I would like a proper explanation there, in English and not the sh*te you pass off as journalism...

But regardless the cavalry is he now and for England to win the WC they have to get through Croatia and one of France/Belgium.

All these teams have more than enough quality to beat England, which Colombia and certainly Sweden did not have.  Doesn't mean they will though, England have a very real chance of winning this WC and it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

But the quality opposition has arrived now.  Finally.

His accent isn't.. .

I think Southgate will stick with the same team as the 1/4’s.

Croatia will boss the midfield and should have lots of possession.

They absolutely must keep the corners and free kicks down to a minimum against England. 

8/11 goals have come from set-pieces.

If they play to their best they will beat England but I’m worried about their form since the group stages.

Shams cyber accent is disgusting! Absolutely disgusting!!!

This thread 

But is there actually any?

Some people are getting confused with people saying “England will beat Sweden as they are a better team” with “I’m supporting England”

Here's 3 lads saying it in the last day or so.

Jimmy Raggatip wrote: absolutely jealous of it all. Hope they win it. It looks like the entirety of England is at fever pitch

Green Devil wrote: Would like to see England win, I think they’ll get over the line just about and win it 1-0!

pre Madonna wrote: I love England and kind of want them to win it now. That doesn't make your sexism acceptable.

I think PM maybe only taking the piss or trying to jinx them as he was horrified with the idea of them winning it yesterday. 

A few others from their posts seem very pro England even if they don't come right out with it.

Mick is a friend of mine. How did you find this?