With memories of the golden years (80's) of the albanian football still fresh on her mind, Albania is now attempting to recreate its strong football legacy. As young players start making their names abroad, the future is looking bright for Albanian football!
Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Fri Jun 21, 2024 11:57 pm
Sylvinho got the starting lineups all wrong. Out of any game Broja should have started against Croatia. Perfect for his speed and we saw plenty of the ball.
Against Spain and Italy we'll barely see the ball, so I don't care too much who's in there.
The lineup was fine. Laci provided some energy and aggressiveness in the midfield. Him starting Asani was a mistake but at this point we know he’s married to the guy.
I don’t like his inability to make changes. He had the chance to punish Croatia on the counter and all he needed to do was put in some pace to expose Croatia lack of pace and them playing high up. Broja and Hoxha or Muci should have been inserted early in the second half. Instead he made the game slower and invited more pressure with Gjasula and Seferi.
We knew Albania needed three points against Croatia but yet he was hoping to get lucky and squeeze out a 1-0 win. Loser mentality.
Albania needs three points against Spain and we can guarantee that he’s going to play scared again.
Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Fri Jun 21, 2024 11:57 pm
Sylvinho got the starting lineups all wrong. Out of any game Broja should have started against Croatia. Perfect for his speed and we saw plenty of the ball.
Against Spain and Italy we'll barely see the ball, so I don't care too much who's in there.
The lineup was fine. Laci provided some energy and aggressiveness in the midfield. Him starting Asani was a mistake but at this point we know he’s married to the guy.
I don’t like his inability to make changes. He had the chance to punish Croatia on the counter and all he needed to do was put in some pace to expose Croatia lack of pace and them playing high up. Broja and Hoxha or Muci should have been inserted early in the second half. Instead he made the game slower and invited more pressure with Gjasula and Seferi.
We knew Albania needed three points against Croatia but yet he was hoping to get lucky and squeeze out a 1-0 win. Loser mentality.
Albania needs three points against Spain and we can guarantee that he’s going to play scared again.
Sylvinho doesn't really seem to rate Muçi that much, Hoxha as a newcomer is getting more playing time than him. Both Gjasula and Seferi were logical subs in theory and were brought to put a defensive shift, don't think Muçi or Broja would've helped that much, neither of them wants to press.
Aurora Bulkualis wrote: Fri Jun 21, 2024 11:57 pm
Sylvinho got the starting lineups all wrong. Out of any game Broja should have started against Croatia. Perfect for his speed and we saw plenty of the ball.
Against Spain and Italy we'll barely see the ball, so I don't care too much who's in there.
The lineup was fine. Laci provided some energy and aggressiveness in the midfield. Him starting Asani was a mistake but at this point we know he’s married to the guy.
I don’t like his inability to make changes. He had the chance to punish Croatia on the counter and all he needed to do was put in some pace to expose Croatia lack of pace and them playing high up. Broja and Hoxha or Muci should have been inserted early in the second half. Instead he made the game slower and invited more pressure with Gjasula and Seferi.
We knew Albania needed three points against Croatia but yet he was hoping to get lucky and squeeze out a 1-0 win. Loser mentality.
Albania needs three points against Spain and we can guarantee that he’s going to play scared again.
Sylvinho doesn't really seem to rate Muçi that much, Hoxha as a newcomer is getting more playing time than him. Both Gjasula and Seferi were logical subs in theory and were brought to put a defensive shift, don't think Muçi or Broja would've helped that much, neither of them wants to press.
Gjasula is never a good defensive sub because he is slow and unable to press and with his lack of possession skills he invites in too much pressure. Seferi is okay defensively but doesn't have pace and that game was open for a counter. Getting some pace in there would have prevented Croatia from camping in our half and give some breathing room for defensive.
When Gjasula goes on Albania is gauratneed to lose the possession battle 70-30% and pretty much have bunker for a tough 25 minutes. It's such an outdated and lazy strategy as it requires so much luck in hoping the endless crosses don't eventually connect. Once Hoxha came on in the 85th with his pace is when Albania showed life. If Albania inserted Hoxha in the 65th minute Albania probably wins.
Simboli i Diellit wrote: Sat Jun 22, 2024 4:18 pm
During WC 2022, Spain lost 2:1 to Japan in their last group game so Germany couldn't qualify.....
Only way it can happen again is if Croatia is beating Italy but even then Italy would probably qualify as one of the third best teams so the motivation for Spain to throw is low.
Simboli i Diellit wrote: Sat Jun 22, 2024 4:18 pm
During WC 2022, Spain lost 2:1 to Japan in their last group game so Germany couldn't qualify.....
Only way it can happen again is if Croatia is beating Italy but even then Italy would probably qualify as one of the third best teams so the motivation for Spain to throw is low.
Well we have to win . Doesn't matter if Italy or Croatia won't qualify.
Simboli i Diellit wrote: Sat Jun 22, 2024 4:18 pm
During WC 2022, Spain lost 2:1 to Japan in their last group game so Germany couldn't qualify.....
I don't think that was the case, because at one moment Japan and Costa Rica were winning and both Germany and Spain would've been out if the results in both games would've ended that way. Right now Spain looks unplayable.
The lineup was fine. Laci provided some energy and aggressiveness in the midfield. Him starting Asani was a mistake but at this point we know he’s married to the guy.
I don’t like his inability to make changes. He had the chance to punish Croatia on the counter and all he needed to do was put in some pace to expose Croatia lack of pace and them playing high up. Broja and Hoxha or Muci should have been inserted early in the second half. Instead he made the game slower and invited more pressure with Gjasula and Seferi.
We knew Albania needed three points against Croatia but yet he was hoping to get lucky and squeeze out a 1-0 win. Loser mentality.
Albania needs three points against Spain and we can guarantee that he’s going to play scared again.
Sylvinho doesn't really seem to rate Muçi that much, Hoxha as a newcomer is getting more playing time than him. Both Gjasula and Seferi were logical subs in theory and were brought to put a defensive shift, don't think Muçi or Broja would've helped that much, neither of them wants to press.
Gjasula is never a good defensive sub because he is slow and unable to press and with his lack of possession skills he invites in too much pressure. Seferi is okay defensively but doesn't have pace and that game was open for a counter. Getting some pace in there would have prevented Croatia from camping in our half and give some breathing room for defensive.
When Gjasula goes on Albania is gauratneed to lose the possession battle 70-30% and pretty much have bunker for a tough 25 minutes. It's such an outdated and lazy strategy as it requires so much luck in hoping the endless crosses don't eventually connect. Once Hoxha came on in the 85th with his pace is when Albania showed life. If Albania inserted Hoxha in the 65th minute Albania probably wins.
I rewatched the game and after Croatia brought Pasalic in, our left side with Mitaj started to struggle against him, Seferi was the only right sub there and Albania managed to stabilize the game again through that sub. Things turned to worse once Gjasula was brought in, but if not him who else in midfield? It's clear that most of our players don't have the legs for the full game and Laçi looked out of energy when he got subbed off. Gjasula as a veteran should've brought experience and calmness to our team, lmao. It looked weird to keep Bajrami for the full game, but again what does Muçi offer if you put him on the right side? Players like Muçi and Broja are looking like luxury players refusing/failing to adapt to the NT's needs.
Bet365 suggests a positive result roughly 1 of 3 times now for underdog. Albania has gained a lot of respect with their performance in this tourney. They will look to come out with 100km/hr and secure a historic spot in the knockout rounds. Everything is on the line here for Albania!
Over/under 2.5 goals
Over ~53%
Under ~47%
Both teams to score
Yes ~49%
No ~51%
Alvaro Morata is priced at +120 to score anytime for Spain. Ayoze Perez, Ferran Torres, Mato Joselu and Mikel Oyarzabal are priced at +160 to score anytime.
Armando Broja and Rey Manaj are priced at +375 to score anytime for Albania.
Interestingly enough if the tournament were to end today albania would still go through despite only 1 point. Scotland and Czech would get eliminated. Scotland plays Hungary today so good chance they might get atleast a point and we probably want a draw between them and not one of them winning or else that team advances in the third place knockout with three points. Czech plays Turkey later this week. We need Czech and Georgia both to lose or else one of them will over take us in the standings.
Slovenia is currently scheduled to advance with currently 2 points but they play England. If England were to put a hypothetical beatdown on them ruining their goal difference and Albania gets a point against Spain then we should pass them on the standings.
For some reason I thought the situation was a bit more bleak. Getting a point against Spain and we might get through with some luck.
