Quote:
Originally Posted by ak-71
It was a good game and Russian team gave it and this world cup all they had. I don't remember any Russian or Soviet national team trying that hard - for me it was pleasure to watch them play.
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All Russians should be very proud of them. They ran hard and played open attacking football against a much stronger Croatian team and took them to penalties. A few better calls and a post or deflection that game could have been ugly but they kept fighting and refused to bottle up and defend.
The ref couldn't do enough for them either (those were some of the worst one sided calls I have ever seen) but, at the end of the day the result is what it is. Clearly the stronger side went through.
Croatia played far too conservatively I thought and took no chances on an overlap or committing too many men forward. Nevertheless the completely controlled that game.
Should be a couple great matches next week.
England and Croatia will be tight. France and Belgium will also be a tough game for both.