The vast country that is Russia is hosting the tournament with 12 stadiums total in 11 different cities.
Moscow: Moscow is housing two of the stadiums for the World Cup, one is the Otkritie Arena which is home of Spartak Moscow and has a capacity of 45,360 people. This stadium will host 5 games during the tournament.
Moscow: Luzhniki stadium is the biggest stadium in Russia. This stadium seats 81,000 people and is where the World Cup Final 2018 will be played.
Saint Petersburg: Krestovsky Stadium, this stadium plays host to local side Zenit and also has a retractable roof. The capacity is 68,134 seats.
Sochi: Fisht Olympic Stadium was built for the Winter Olympics back in 2014 and now lies waiting for it's taste of Football at this years World Cup. Seating capacity is 47,659 for the tournament.
Kazan: Kazan Arena was also newly built, in 2013 for the rich owners of local side Rubin Kazan. It seats 45,379 and will play host to 6 tournament matches.
Volgograd: Volgograd Arena, home to FC Rotor Volgograd is located in southern Russia and was purpose built for this years World Cup. It has only been open a few weeks. It seats 45,568 people and plays hosts to England's first game of the tournament!
Kaliningrad: Kaliningrad Stadium, hosts FC Baltika Kaliningrad from the next season after completion of the stadium came around March 2018. This stadium seats 35,212 people and sits just 45km away from Poland!
Yekaterinburg: Central Stadium, this stadium is the furthest eastern stadium in this years world cup and has a capacity of 35,696 people.
Saransk: Mordovia Arena, home to FC Mordovia Saransk this stadium was purpose built for the tournament as well. The stadium seats 44,442 people.
Nizhny Novgorod: Nizhny Novgorod Stadium is another purpose built stadium which will play host to FC Olimpiyets Nizhny Novgorod home games next season. With a capacity of 44,899 it is a very pretty stadium.
Rostov-on-Don: Rostov Arena hosts FC Rostov and serves as host to Brazil's first tournament game. Capacity is at 45,000 seats.
Samara: Cosmos Arena is where FC Krylia Sovetov Samara play in the Russian league and was purpose built for this tournament. It seats 44,918 people.
Teams
Groups!
Schedule
Opening Match - Thursday, Jun 14 3:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Last 16 - Saturday, Jun 30 2:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Quarter Finals - Friday, Jul 06 2:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Semi Finals - Tuesday, Jul 10 6:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) World Cup Final - Sunday, Jul 15 3:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Format
This year’s World Cup will probably be the last time we have the regular format we are used to. With 2022 being highlighted as the plan to implement the new 48 team world cup, this Russian version will be the last of the standard 32 teams. So the format for those who do not remember is;
32 Teams Seeded into 8 Groups of 4
Round Robin Groups
3 Points per win, 1 Points a draw, 0 points for a loss
Top 2 Teams Advance
Bottom 2 Eliminated
Tiebreakers - Goal Difference, then Goals Scored, then Head to Head
Last 16 is a Pre Deteremined bracket where Group Winners play Group Runner Ups
Each knockout match is regular 90 minutes, then extra time and penalties if needed
More To Come!
Over the next few days before the World Cup i will bring out the Power Rank! Which will mean the World Cup is pretty much spoiled as my predictions are that good! On top of that i will get a group thread out for every group so you can build the hype up and get trash talking and fanboying N1E style! CSS: FO-nTTaX Graphics: Sneirac Awesomeness: Panda
Went with B. I don't cheer for Spain, but living here, their matches are interesting and hyped. My gf is Moroccan, so that adds some magic there, and I legit think they have a decent team that can beat Portugal (not Spain tho).
Not having the Netherlands there means none of the groups are really interesting tho
ye group H and A have like, both spots up for grabs. every other group I'm at least certain of one team making it.
Then again all world cups have big upsets even in the group stage. 2014 had spain failing (granted, in group with chile and netherlands), Italy and England failing (getting #3 and #4 in group where Costa Rica and Uruguay advanced), and Portugal getting #3 behind USA. 2010 had France getting #4 in group with Uruguay, Mexico and South Africa and Italy getting #4 in a group with Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand (rofl).. Actually funny how none of those teams managed to qualify this time around. But anyway, I was as certain Italy was gonna advance from that last group in 2010 as I was about any team advancing from any group this world cup, so well, anything can happen.
I doubt anybody predicted Costa Rica to finish 1st ahead of England, Italy, and Uruguay in 2014 either. I hope at least 2 African teams and at least 1 Asian team can pull some major upset.
Really tough to call the most interesting group. Gotta give fifa at least some credit for finally going to seed all teams instead of making pots based on geography. Only group A is clearly separated from the others. So here's how I see it: A: Even group, the only outcome that would surprise me would be saudi arabia advancing. But whoever does is highly unlikely to make it past the ro16, so the most important thing here is that russia do well and give little excuse to hooligans. B: The only group where it whould be obvious who advances. Good thing spain and portugal are not playing each other last though. I wouldnt mind an upset though C: Opening game between Peru and Denmark should decide whoever finishes 2nd and have a real shot against whoever wins the next group. D: Not sure here. I got croatia as a dark horse. Despite what I read from some experts, I definitely see Argentina making out of the group, but it might be close and I'm not sure they win it. And they wont get past france in the ro16 if they dont. This group could be a fireworks or anticlimatic given that nigeria and iceland are being talked up a lot. E: This will be a real test for brazil, but they should win it in the end. The race for 2nd place for second place is all open, I think the uncertainty is in which shape serbia and costa rica turn up. If serbia make second place, I might rather have germany face brazil instead of serbia because we (the german public) have a history of not taking these balcan nations seriously and, surprisingly, the national team always underperforms against them. F: Germany should win this. Mexico should have the edge over sweden, but the schedule doesnt favor them as the german team usually steamrolls their first game and then struggles in the second. So on the final matchday, I expect sweden to only need a draw against Mexico, which they will get. G: Belgium and England should take this. And the english actually look humble enough to not fail early on this time. H: Big FFA. Cant call it, but in the end whoever advances should go out in the ro16 anyway.
So in the end, the most interesting group should be D. But purely for entertainment value and tension in only the group itself, while neglecting the greater scheme of the knockout stage, I'm going for H. It is the most likely to have all teams with everything to play for until the last matchday.
On June 06 2018 02:45 Liquid`Drone wrote: ye group H and A have like, both spots up for grabs. every other group I'm at least certain of one team making it.
Then again all world cups have big upsets even in the group stage. 2014 had spain failing (granted, in group with chile and netherlands), Italy and England failing (getting #3 and #4 in group where Costa Rica and Uruguay advanced), and Portugal getting #3 behind USA. 2010 had France getting #4 in group with Uruguay, Mexico and South Africa and Italy getting #4 in a group with Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand (rofl).. Actually funny how none of those teams managed to qualify this time around. But anyway, I was as certain Italy was gonna advance from that last group in 2010 as I was about any team advancing from any group this world cup, so well, anything can happen.
I happened to be at a boardwalk bar in Atlantic City for the Italy England game... I learnt many italian curse words that day..
The groups and the bracket seem very balanced. I would put my money on Germany and Uruguay. Well rounded homogenous squads with world class individualists and two coaches with a lot of experience. So I think they will both make it to the final in which I see Germany as a favourite by a small margin.
On June 06 2018 21:27 Pandemona wrote: I'll put those polls in Power Rank thread no problem. After you see my amazing rankings it might change your mind
I smell an Engerland bias all the way from over here.
EPT
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Hoping for good games. Don't think Germany will defend it's title, so let's see who can come up with a strong tournament performance :D
