Tag: #Russia

World Cup 2018: Raheem Sterling And The Butterfly Effect Of Benjamin Mendy’s Knee

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Raheem Sterling has been booed by pubs full of his own fans, voted by the public as England's poorest player against Panama despite setting up two of the goals and has faced racist attacks on his character from the English tabloid media throughout the 2018 World Cup. He's missed some chances in the World Cup and there is a perception that he is a poor player or at the very least a poor finisher. The difference in England's system and Sterling's role within it certainly helps us understand why he is not scoring for them as much as he has done for Manchester City. It is worth also then thinking about why he has scored so much for Manchester City. Let's start by considering Benjamin Mendy's knee.

World Cup 2018 Group B: Spanish Creatives, Cristiano Ronaldo and Moroccan Memories

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On the 15th of June Group B of the 2018 World Cup begins with Morocco v Iran and Portugal v Spain. As with Group A, we will be previewing the group by highlighting a key element of a team, a star player and a Scottish connection. Our preview kicks off with a look at Spain's creative options before we pick out Cristiano Ronaldo as our star to watch and finally revisit Scotland's last match at a World Cup - 1998's loss to Morocco. Mark Thompson's excellent guide to football stats may be of use throughout the comparison of La Furia Roja's attacking midfielders and the dig into the numbers underlying CR7's extraordinary performance levels.

World Cup 2018 Group A: Uruguayan Spine, Mo Salah and a Saudi Arabian Robbery in Scotland

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In just over eight weeks World Cup 2018 kicks off in Russia. Scotland may not have qualified for this one, or indeed any within the last twenty years, but we can still participate - as armchair analysts, fans of adopted nations and of course green eyed 'anyone but England' onlookers! Here at Pure Fitbaw we will be previewing a first round group each week in the lead up to June 14th's opener between Russia and Saudi Arabia by highlighting a key element of a team, a star player and a Scottish connection.  In addition to Russia and Saudi Arabia Group A includes Egypt and Uruguay and it is those two nations which feature predominantly in our first preview with a look at the South American team's spine and Egyptian star Mohamed Salah.

Young Celtic Stars Can Make Round Of 32 a European Zenith For Zenit

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Russian poet, playwright and novelist Alexander Pushkin described the city of Saint Petersburg as having been created to "cut a window into Europe." This Thursday night Celtic can bring the shutters down on that window by knocking Zenit out of the Europa League. This preview of the Round of 32, second-leg tie will use statistics … Continue reading Young Celtic Stars Can Make Round Of 32 a European Zenith For Zenit