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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Elite on November 14, 2022, 01:09:46 PM
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Do we need a thread for this? It's starting in a week!
I'm still on the fence with whether or not I'll watch, but since a bunch of the matches will be during day-time, I won't be able to see those anyway. Part of me wants to boycott, the other curious part of me would usually watch and follow everything, but this world cup is already tainted beyond repair I guess.
We'll see how much discussion this generates.
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I’ll be watching. I am a fan of the sport, I can give zero crap about politics they will always do what they want and us the affected ones can’t do a thing against the power. I am designated and that may be due to the 24 years of bad politics in my own country.
Anyways, I’ll be rooting for Brazil, Portugal and Argentina.
The only thing I will regret about Argentina lifting the trophy is that ESPN Argentina will be sooooo annoying talking about Messi for months if not years ALL DAYS forward. But I still want some LATAM country to lift the trophy it’s been ages since a South American country won a World Cup.
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I’ll be watching as always. This is only the second time Canada has qualified for the world cup, the first time being in 1986. They’re in a tough group, but I am hoping they can make an impact.
I’ll also be cheering for my home country of Wales, and also for England.
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Can't wait to travel to Philly to see a WC game in '26. I saw the Brazil-Sweden 1-1 tie at the Pontiac Silverdome in '94....what a frickin' worldly experience! :tup
All of the politics and financial abuses of the WC were eloquently exposed in a book titled 'Red Card' a few years ago. The horrible work conditions, deaths, and 'slavery' into building the stadiums for this are mind boggling in this day and age. Nope, no money went into corrupt pockets from Russia and Qatar over the past decade ;) >:(
I love how Qatar is paying some fans from Europe to attend, and then have them 'praise their monarchy and experience' , even if their experiences are rotten. What propaganda BS!!!
Just don't drink in public, as well as be a gay person out in the open. :censored
I'll still watch the games,
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It's a shit show, for sure. And people will watch, worldwide. Because it is the world's biggest sport after all. For all the boycotting that could possibly be done, people still don't want to miss it. But how this could have happened is pretty astonishing. 12 years ago everybody knew this was some corrupt bullshit, yet here we are, one week from the tournament starting.
and you bet I will watch when (not if) the Netherlands makes it far :)
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I'll be watching...not even sure what political bs is running this time, but it's always something...
Will be pulling for the USA of course, and for my vatos down south El Tri.
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I saw the Brazil-Sweden 1-1 tie...
On behalf of every sports fan in America, please let me say...
:facepalm:
:)
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I'll watch when I can.
For anyone wanting to get drunk watching, just do a shot every time a player takes a dive.
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I could give a shit, honestly.
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I'm on the fence about watching this. It's usually the high point of the year for me, but I really don't like the politics of Qatar and their disregard of human rights, plus that Sweden didn't manage do qualify this time. And it feels weird to watch it during the winter season - it's always been a summer event all these years.
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Most people will watch, regardless of all the bs and corruption that lead to it, and in hindsight FIFA and Qatar then will say that it was a good tournament. And nothing will change.
That said I'm still undecided if I will watch any games, on one hand I don't think Germany will make it far and on the other hand I'm completely fed up with everything regarding professionell football. From functionaries to overpaid and arrogant so-called stars to UEFA and FIFA. The sport that I once followed almost religiously has left me more and more cold in recent years.
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I found all these boycott calls very tardive and meaningless. The tournament was awarded in 2010 if I remember correctly. Twelve years where "everyone" sat through the decision to award it to begin with, the idea of playing in the desert, the absurd move to winter time and no one did anything? rampant allegations and investigations into corruption and no one raised the issue when there was time? it was twelve freaking years, and no one did anything. And now some random players or coaches say that the cup is a bad thing? now Sepp Blatter, one of the most corrupt people in football history, dares to come out and say "yeah we were kinda bribed" 2 weeks away from the beginning of the tournament? screw you and your decision to not personally give the World Cup to Italy back in 2006, may Zidane's headbutt haunt you forever, you corrupt asshole.
Oh, and speaking of Italy, we have to see the second world cup in a row without the four time winners... and current reigning european champions. What a crying shame. We can at least say we boycotted Putin before it was cool, and Qatar as well ;D
Without Italy, I'll just have to go with alternatives.
My usual approach to world cups is this one:
- Rooting for Germany since I like the nation and I've been there many times
- Rooting as well for any scandinavian countries 'cause I'd love to be there
- Rooting for some random weak teams just for the lulz of it, 'cause underdogs are always fun
- Rooting against France because screw you France (or better, screw you football team of France, I like the nation itself)
I don't think I'll watch on purpouse any full match, I barely watch football anymore and I watch just the national team during a world or european cup. I'll probably watch some moments if I have nothing better to do. I'll just have a passive interest, I'll follow the results and fantasize about possible outcomes, that's all.
I hope this Cup tanks and bombs and will blow under every organizative aspect and that the failure will haunt everyone involved with going through this. Nothing personal against the Qatar team, but I hope they will receive blatant favors just like South Korea in 2002 just to highlight further the corruption of it all.
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I will be watching for sure and rooting for the US. I don't have high hopes for us getting out of the group stage though. The US kits are terrible for the World Cup too, so bad. Just give us the Waldos. At least we'll look good when we lose.
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Speaking of groups, in Group E we have Germany and Japan together. Italy is missing, but there's Spain in the group, and Spain had too a fascist dictatorship. So Group E is the Axis group essentially :biggrin: USA and England are together as well in Group B, if France was there as well, it could have been the Allied group :D
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*blows vuvuzela*
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*blows vuvuzela*
That‘s so last decade. ;)
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*blows vuvuzela*
That‘s so last decade. ;)
https://youtu.be/-E6ljLSOkbY (https://youtu.be/-E6ljLSOkbY)
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I'm not gonna watch for obvious reasons but have fun for those of you who will watch. Will be tough without any 'real' football for 1 ½ month but at least I got some extra time in the weekends and work during normal days so.
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I could give a shit, honestly.
I could not.
I saw the Brazil-Sweden 1-1 tie...
On behalf of every sports fan in America, please let me say...
:facepalm:
:)
That's the thing. Some ridiculous percentage of these games end in ties, and they decide championship games on penalty kicks. :facepalm:
Maybe if the U.S. does something interesting I'll poke me head in.
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I've decided to root for, in order:
Germany (I don't really want them to actually win a fifth cup but hey, I have already a flag so.....)
Denmark (Go Scandinavia!)
Netherlands (Cool people all around, and they're long due a worldwide consacration, after three finals lost)
Canada (Gotta pick an underdog)
Australia (Go kangaroos!)
Other sympathies will be for Croatia (oh, how I wish they won the final 4 years ago), Costa Rica and for the african teams.
Anyway, a spoilerish look at how the knockout phase can shape up:
NETHERLANDS vs USA or WALES
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ARGENTINA vs DENMARK or AUSTRALIA
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SPAIN or GERMANY vs BELGIUM or CROATIA
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BRAZIL vs URUGUAY or PORTUGAL
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=====
ENGLAND vs SENEGAL or ECUADOR
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FRANCE vs MEXICO or POLAND
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CROATIA or BELGIUM vs GERMANY or SPAIN
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PORTUGAL or URUGUAY vs SWITZERLAND or SERBIA or CAMERUN
Mh, looks that Spain and Germany should aim to arrive second in their own group, the road might be easier that way. As long, of course, as the other favorite teams all win their groups.
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On the one hand, I know that this World Cup was built on blood and the stomping of human rights and that it deserves to be boicotted.
On the other, it will be Messi's last chance to win it and I can't help it, I need to root for him and for my country. I will be paying attention and watching interesting matches as long as my work allow it.
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Just for curiosity I went and checked how Messi stumbled on the way to the World Cup. Wow. Since 2006 Argentina lost three times in a row against Germany (and then against France last time around for good measure).
Every team has their "black beasts" where they seem to always lose to. For example Germany, between 2006 and 2012, either at the World Cup or European Cup lost four times in a row against either Italy or Spain. The very first time they didn't meet neither, in 2014, they became World champions.
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Every team has their "black beasts" where they seem to always lose to. For example Germany, between 2006 and 2012, either at the World Cup or European Cup lost four times in a row against either Italy or Spain. The very first time they didn't meet neither, in 2014, they became World champions.
And when they finally beat Italy in 2016 they didn't win the cup. :D
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So it seems Qatar has changed their minds, and aren't allowing beer sales at all, just wine and hard booze. Oh...and the booze sales are only allowed in luxury boxes, because fuck the poor or something.
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They even vetoed "pork products", so goodbye beloved ham for Spain! (and for every other team who enjoys it)
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So it seems Qatar has changed their minds, and aren't allowing beer sales at all, just wine and hard booze. Oh...and the booze sales are only allowed in luxury boxes, because fuck the poor or something.
If they said from the beginning, that they are a muslim country and therefore no alcohol was allowed, I could get behind that. But cancel an agreement two days before the start and then still sell alcohol to those rich fucks shows just how stupid this whole thing is.
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So it seems Qatar has changed their minds, and aren't allowing beer sales at all, just wine and hard booze. Oh...and the booze sales are only allowed in luxury boxes, because fuck the poor or something.
If they said from the beginning, that they are a muslim country and therefore no alcohol was allowed, I could get behind that. But cancel an agreement two days before the start and then still sell alcohol to those rich fucks shows just how stupid this whole thing is.
Shouldnt people already understand that Qatar is a Muslim country and therefore it's Sovereignty as its own Nation should be upheld. Just like we uphold Ukraine's Sovereignty.
Honestly this just makes me laugh at the ignorance of humans about culture and sovereignty. What did people expect, that the Muslim Nation would suddenly disregard its own cultural values, traditions, customs, and ways of life, just for the Sport of Football. :lol
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Budweiser has a huge lawsuit on their hands. The contract was broken. They spent 75 million to sponsor and serve beer.
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Not sure what Ukraine has got to do with it.
But Qatar had an agreement with FIFA and probably a contract with Budweiser which they now canceled. That's nothing to do with culture.
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Not sure what Ukraine has got to do with it.
But Qatar had an agreement with FIFA and probably a contract with Budweiser which they now canceled. That's nothing to do with culture.
My point...What makes you think they would acknowledge a contract? Businesses do not control the world. Nations and Governments do.
Also, Budweiser has Non-Alcoholic beer right?
Plus, if alcohol is involved in how humans react when certain Sports Games don't go their way and begin to riot because they can't control themselves due to being intoxicated, how would you handle this? Qatar also doesn't want their home to become a warzone in the chance the fans do escalate their excitement into the streets.
It has everything to do with culture, as Sports Culture involves beer, and apparently, Sports Fans just have to have beer when watching Sports. And that is pretty damn funny to me how people just need to have beer or else the game won't be enjoyable.
AP - Qatar bans beer at World Cup Stadiums (https://youtu.be/GwMJ4Nq6bOs)
ESPN - Qatar bans all beer sales at the World Cup (https://youtu.be/1RNog_rPRFs)
Just got to love culture clashes right?
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I'm all for not selling alcohol at large events. But that's not the point here. It just shows that Qatar doesn't give a fuck about what was agreed. And all those that argue, that the world cup will make Qatar a better country should look closely.
Let's see how FIFA, an organization more corrupt than all third world countries combined, will try to cover the loss.
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Ben, because of liability. They will pay for this. Plus, they will never host a world sports event again.
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Ben, because of liability. They will pay for this. Plus, they will never host a world sports event again.
They won't pay a single dime. Budweiser's contract is with FIFA, not with Qatar. This is a stupid decision because it goes against their intention of sportswashing their terrible laws and human rights issues, not because it costs them money.
This was a great opportunity for them to showna different face to the world, but instead they are chosing to be themselves openly.
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Not sure what Ukraine has got to do with it.
But Qatar had an agreement with FIFA and probably a contract with Budweiser which they now canceled. That's nothing to do with culture.
My point...What makes you think they would acknowledge a contract? Businesses do not control the world. Nations and Governments do.
Also, Budweiser has Non-Alcoholic beer right?
Plus, if alcohol is involved in how humans react when certain Sports Games don't go their way and begin to riot because they can't control themselves due to being intoxicated, how would you handle this? Qatar also doesn't want their home to become a warzone in the chance the fans do escalate their excitement into the streets.
It has everything to do with culture, as Sports Culture involves beer, and apparently, Sports Fans just have to have beer when watching Sports. And that is pretty damn funny to me how people just need to have beer or else the game won't be enjoyable.
AP - Qatar bans beer at World Cup Stadiums (https://youtu.be/GwMJ4Nq6bOs)
ESPN - Qatar bans all beer sales at the World Cup (https://youtu.be/1RNog_rPRFs)
Just got to love culture clashes right?
But they didn't completely ban it, they just banned it for everyone not rich. So their 'muslim culture' is only applicable to the poor, if you have enough money, muslim rules don't apply. It's fucking stupid.
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So, here we are, the World Cup finally starts with the worst and most cloying speech in the history of whataboutism by Infantino (head of Fifa).
I still have to understand if videos of "fans" coming from "all over the world" who all suspiciously look the same, and definitively not brazilian, argentinian or germans, are a parody or are an actual thing.
Anyway, I don't like how the combination of Covid and a winter world cup means that France has been world champions for four years and a half, while Italy will be european champion for three ;D
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As this is nothing but a big propaganda event for Qatar, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the 'fans' are bought. There were enough believable rumours.
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My interest in football is middling at the best of times, so this will be an easy one to boycott.
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Just remembered North America is hosting 2026, and Seattle will be a venue. I want no part of this anywhere near me. I fear my wife will want to go to a game. Maybe we can get Taylor Swift'ed out of tickets. Of course they want these host cities to look as good as possible for international TV, so maybe they will clean up the homeless and filth - or maybe they'll just hide it for the weeks the camera crews are here.
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Just remembered North America is hosting 2026, and Seattle will be a venue. I want no part of this anywhere near me. I fear my wife will want to go to a game. Maybe we can get Taylor Swift'ed out of tickets. Of course they want these host cities to look as good as possible for international TV, so maybe they will clean up the homeless and filth - or maybe they'll just hide it for the weeks the camera crews are here.
When we hosted the Superbowl, even though the game was in Santa Clara, they held all the festivities in SF, with a huge SB city by Pier 1. They literally did a sweep a few weeks before, pushing the homeless to other districts for the week.
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When we hosted the Superbowl, even though the game was in Santa Clara, they held all the festivities in SF, with a huge SB city by Pier 1. They literally did a sweep a few weeks before, pushing the homeless to other districts for the week.
Right. Nothing to see here, enjoy the beautiful city!
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Following it as much as I can. Rooting for Croatia ofc, tough draw but I believe they can at least advance from group stage.
First game, Qatar can be happy they conceded only 2.
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The rumours that they bribed Ecuador for a victory were false then :lol
Well, if their performance is this poor, I might as well hope for a 0-6 defeat against the Netherlands just for the lulz.
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I am probably watching a match with friends later this week, but I decided to not watch the tournament as a whole, unlike other editions.
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I saw the Brazil-Sweden 1-1 tie...
On behalf of every sports fan in America, please let me say...
:facepalm:
I hear ya :lol
but....that entire day was one hell of an experience. Look at who was playing. I was much younger, and, dare I say it, .... the eye candy before, during, and after the game was ... uhm, er...'memorable’.😉👍
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England trashed Iran 6-2.
Well, now I raise my expectations, I want a 0-8 defeat for Qatar against the Netherlands :D
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England trashed Iran 6-2.
Well, now I raise my expectations, I want a 0-8 defeat for Qatar against the Netherlands :D
I fully expect Netherlands to take them to the woodshed.
Didn't see the England game, but it sounds like it wasn't even that close, my dad watched, and said they were basically toying with them the whole time.
It's early, but I'd gather this is a must win for the US today. I figure we're all gonna slap around Iran, and England will be a tough win at best for all the teams in the group, so to move forward, we need to take down Wales, and vice versa. Should be a solid grudge match there.
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Well, so far The Netherlands have found their equal in Senegal. And I must say I’m not too impressed with the Orange.
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Well, so far The Netherlands have found their equal in Senegal. And I must say I’m not too impressed with the Orange.
So yay, we won. But I’m honestly unsure whether this was a deserved win. A tie would have suited this match better, or even a 1-0 win from Senegal.
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Iran's team visibly refused to sing their national anthem before their game. Brave men, the lot of them.
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Yes!
On the other hand there, FIFA threatens to give yellow cards to any captains wearing a ‘OneLove’ bracelet and then all European teams just don’t wear it. What a weak move from FIFA (are they fully in Qatar’s pocket already?), but also seems like a weak statement from the UEFA teams to just comply.
Anyway, the FIFA is a shit organisation led by crooks, but we kind if knew that already. Thus ridiculous World Cup just reinforces that idea.
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What's sad about the armband situation is that its not like it wasn't a predictable response by FIFA. Have some guts and call their bluff.
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Did you guys see the nice gift bags most spectators got?...
https://youtu.be/gkWwqjm4-HI
At least everyone is smelling good there. :biggrin:
I haven't been able to catch a game yet.
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I enjoyed England’s 6-2 rout of Iran, but the Netherland’s-Senegal match was a complete snoozefest.
USA vs Wales. I thought Wales were doomed after playing so poorly in the first half, but they woke up in the second half. We’ll take the 1-1 draw.
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I missed the part where George Weah, AC Milan legend, had a son that could play for the USA.
Tomorrow four matches. Go Denmark and Australia!
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I missed the part where George Weah, AC Milan legend, had a son that could play for the USA.
Hopefully he's better than his infamous 'cousin':
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Dia
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Argentina 1 - Saudi Arabia 2.
Yup, you read that correctly.
I did not see this coming. What's next, Italy losing against North Macedonia?
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What the hell was that :lol
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What the hell was that :lol
It's a clever masterplan to have Messi vs Ronaldo in the final, if Argentina and Portugal both win their groups, they will meet at the latest in the semifinal.
:P
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Dafuq?
Just checked the highlights, seems the Saudi goalie had a career game, definitely a stud performance. Doesn't help that Argentina had a bazillion goals called back for offsides
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But that’s part of the game, and the rules. Score goals, but make sure you’re not ahead of the defenders when you get the ball played to you. Shame it happened 3 (more even?) times, but you could also say it’s the attackers’ faults for not paying more attention.
(I did not watch the game, so perhaps they were all very unlucky and barely offsides, but in times where we have VAR checking every slight possibility you’d think teams would train on making sure they won’t be offside).
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My interest in football is middling at the best of times, so this will be an easy one to boycott.
I'm the same boat.
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0-0 between Denmark vs Tunisia and Mexico vs Poland.
And, since the gods of football already granted a miracle today, Australia's initial lead against the world champions (France) turned out into a 4-1 for said champions. It would have been glorious if France lost as well ;D
Germany tomorrow, against Japan, since the world is so calm and at peace now, might as well do an Axis Powers derby!
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It would have been glorious if France lost as well ;D
If only it were a war.
:laugh:
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Croatia vs Morocco today. Morocco have really solid team, Ziyech is back. But I think Croatia should beat them, if they continue their League of nations form. in 2018 they were 2nd in the world albeit having pretty easy draw until semifinals. In comparison to 2018, I think we have better goalkeeper and defence but two big misses are Rakitic in midfield (Kovacic is great player as well) and Mandzukic as central forward, there is no real replacement for him. I just hope whoever coach picks as CF (Kramaric, Budmimir, Petkovic, Livaja) will have tournament of his life and actually score some.
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I just hope whoever coach picks as CF (Kramaric, Budmimir, Petkovic, Livaja) will have tournament of his life and actually score some.
Isn't that the key, after all? yeah, it's the World Cup, it's the dream of every player, but in the end, it's "just" a tournament of one month where you play at best 7 matches. You don't need to have the best players ever, you just need to have a group of people in good form that can fire on all cylinders for a month. For an entire season, you need a reliable champion, for one month and seven matches, you just need anyone who's good in that moment. Hell, that's how Italy won Germany 2006 and Euro Cup 2021, with the strength of the group and some players who activated the god mode for that specific tournament.
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Well, yeah but none of them are really proven goalscorers on high level. Said that, Giroud didn't score any in 2018 World Cup and France won :D
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Morocco - Croatia 0-0.
And.... Japan defeated Germany!!! 2-1 after being down one goal!!! :o
And today we had as well our daily upset ;D
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Watched Mexico v. Poland (I'm a Polack, so rooting for the fam, more or less) and disgusted to see instant replay being used to adjudge the game. The great thing about futbol was always that it was 22 guys, 2 refs, a ball and shorts/tshirts. The sport seemed oblivious to the technological advances - aluminum bats, padding, etc. - that have ravaged other sports. Lo and behold, the ref is "under the hood" and grants a penalty kick to Poland. Boo, to the process (the call was the right one and ultimately didn't affect the outcome, but we just got lucky on that).
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Watched Mexico v. Poland (I'm a Polack, so rooting for the fam, more or less) and disgusted to see instant replay being used to adjudge the game. The great thing about futbol was always that it was 22 guys, 2 refs, a ball and shorts/tshirts. The sport seemed oblivious to the technological advances - aluminum bats, padding, etc. - that have ravaged other sports. Lo and behold, the ref is "under the hood" and grants a penalty kick to Poland. Boo, to the process (the call was the right one and ultimately didn't affect the outcome, but we just got lucky on that).
But yay to Ochoa for being a total fucking badass and making the save.
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So Germany finally decided to boycott the World Cup.
Way to go guys :metal :metal :metal
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:lol
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I’m hoping for another upset when Canada faces Belgium shortly. Canada finished top of the table in CONCACAF qualifying and looked good in doing so. Hopefully they can carry that over to the big stage.
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Spain 7 : 0 Costa Rica :|
Watching Belgium vs Canada closely since they're in Croatia's group. Belgium are obviously favorites but Canada has some quality names, I think they can surprise.
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Spain 7 : 0 Costa Rica :|
Makes sense. Costa Rica is constitutionally barred from enlisting a defensive formation.
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And yet, Costa Rica defeated Italy in 2014 :facepalm:
Poor them for the trashing they got today, and poor Canada! they could have scored a penalty but Curtois saved it and Belgium eventually won 1-0. Canada didn't deserve defeat...
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How Canada didn't score after taking a bazillion shots on goal is beyond me...as I told Jingle, they're just too polite to score.
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May they be as polite against Croatia on Sunday :biggrin:
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How Canada didn't score after taking a bazillion shots on goal is beyond me...as I told Jingle, they're just too polite to score.
:lol
I feel hard done by after that loss, but at the same time I was pleased to see them play so well.
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How Canada didn't score after taking a bazillion shots on goal is beyond me...as I told Jingle, they're just too polite to score.
:lol
I feel hard done by after that loss, but at the same time I was pleased to see them play so well.
In American, that translates to "They screwed us and we sucked!"
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How Canada didn't score after taking a bazillion shots on goal is beyond me...as I told Jingle, they're just too polite to score.
:lol
I feel hard done by after that loss, but at the same time I was pleased to see them play so well.
In American, that translates to "They screwed us and we sucked!"
Shh. We’re not talking about the Bruins here. :laugh:
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Switzerland - Cameroon 1-0
Uruguay - South Korea 0-0
Yawn.
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Let's see if Serbia can continue the takedown of the Giants trend.
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Let's see if Serbia can continue the takedown of the Giants trend.
Not gonna happen
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Let's see if Serbia can continue the takedown of the Giants trend.
Not gonna happen
A week ago the Saudi's taking down Argentina would've been just as unthinkable.
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Switzerland - Cameroon 1-0
Uruguay - South Korea 0-0
Yawn.
There’s a beautiful moment in the Switzerland - Cameroon match when the Swiss striker who was born in Cameroon realises that he scored against his motherland.
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An even more beautiful moment was Brasil's second goal, wow :o
And Portugal bested Ghana 3-2.
Today we start with the second round of matches, let's hope to see Qatar eliminated already ;D
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Wales - Iran 0 - 2, victory achieved in super extra time. Wales have a foot and a half out.
Qatar - Senegal 1 - 3, Qatar gets eliminated (what a surprise, uh?), scoring at least one goal in their World Cup history, which is likely gonna be short.
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Well, Qatar has a small chance still (but nah, they’re done)
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I hope USA wins, not just because I'm an American but because I bet on them to win in Call of Duty and I get in game rewards if they do (or a draw) :lol
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Well, Qatar has a small chance still (but nah, they’re done)
Yup, with Netherlands and Ecuador drawing they're officially done!
I hope USA wins, not just because I'm an American but because I bet on them to win in Call of Duty and I get in game rewards if they do (or a draw) :lol
Well, sorry you weren't as lucky as in 1776 :P
Now it's a very open group, thanks to the 6-2 to Iran England are basically through, now Iran - USA will basically be a playoff... with Iran able to play just for a draw!
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Brazil is going to win this.
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Yawn.
Fo' shizzle.
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Brazil is going to win this.
I know they’re the favourites and all, but I’m not too sure
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Mexico - Argentina should be a doozy... I figure Argentina is coming out for blood.
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Mexico - Argentina should be a doozy... I figure Argentina is coming out for blood.
I bet Mexico will beat them.
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Australia defeated Tunisia 1-0
Poland defeated Arabia Saudita 2-0
France just defeated Denmark 2-1 (damn). Not that this was going to change much for Denmark - even with a draw and 2 points, they had anyway to defeat Australia to go through.
Now let's see if Mexico will kick Argentina out of the cup already!
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Is Messi on the pitch?
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Yeah, he scored a great one!
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Ok, that's more like it. I don't think we had a good match but I'll take the win
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For today's segment of "I did not see that coming", Costa Rica defeated Japan 1-0.
Also surprising, but not THAT shocking, is Morocco's victory 2-0 over Belgium, Canada deserved better against them....
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Making the rounds on Facebook.... :lol
(https://i.imgur.com/8joXEAK.jpg)
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That's awesome, and accurate.
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:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol
I enjoy the World Cup, but the constant flopping is always a major stain on the sport. Not saying athletes in other sports don't flop (hello, NBA!), but soccer players are next level with it.
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So sad that Canada are eliminated already after playing so well. After Croatia finally woke up, they were too hard to handle.
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The big match Spain - Germany ends 1-1, everything is open.
Calling it now: Spain wins the group, goes in the harder part of the table, and gets eliminated in the round of 16. Germany passes as second, ends up in the easier half, and goes straight to the semi final :biggrin:
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I was really hoping Germany were going to lose. Let’s go Costa Rica :lol
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I have only seen one match thus far, The Netherlands vs Ecuador. It was one of the most boring matches of any sport I have ever seen. It really seemed we were standing still most of the time. And in the interviews afterwards the players seemed devoid of life.
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The only two matches I watched in full were last night’s Spain - Germany clash which was very fun to watch, and Friday night’s England - USA match which was exciting as well.
I saw parts of Netherlands - Senegal, Netherlands Equador (both boring games, damn) and the last 20 minutes of Argentina - Mexico. (Nice goal, Messi!)
Definitely not watching as much as I’d usually do, but it doesn’t help that three of the four daily games broadcast are basically during working hours.
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Definitely not watching as much as I’d usually do, but it doesn’t help that three of the four daily games broadcast are basically during working hours.
...that's where working for tech support for a company that sells TVs among other things comes in handy, when the workload is not overbearing it's cool to watch part of the games on a 65'' Oled TV ;D
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I watched most of the early games in background (working from home ;D )
Maybe I'm biased but Canada vs Croatia was the best game this whole tournament. Score is indicating Canada got hammered but I think they really put up a fight (in first half at least).
Last game is agains Belgium. They're kinda disappointing this year but still have great team and (imo) the best player in the world currently so I can't be sure Croatia will manage to get 3 points there.
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I confess that the german team surprised me. I thought there was no way they wouldn't lose to Spain in a devastating way. Now they have a good chance to advance to the next round.
But even so, my interest in this world cup is still not what it used to be. I haven't watched a single minute on tv.
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Making the rounds on Facebook.... :lol
(https://i.imgur.com/8joXEAK.jpg)
I see you and raise you:
(https://a.disquscdn.com/get?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimgur.com%2FX3syHee.gif&key=Fk4ZirZt5NF4WHYYqWBXMA&w=600&h=250.77142857142857)
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Some fun matches today:
Cameroon - Serbia 3-3
Ghana - South Korea 3-2 (after South Korea equalized in three minutes)
And the portoguese speaking teams (Brazil and Portugal) won 1-0 and 2-0 respectively, and now they're both in the next round.
From tomorrow it's do or die, third and last matches of the first two groups!
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RIP to the guy who ran across the pitch waving a rainbow flag during Portugal - Uruguay.
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RIP to the guy who ran across the pitch waving a rainbow flag during Portugal - Uruguay.
Yikes....
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They killed him??
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RIP to the guy who ran across the pitch waving a rainbow flag during Portugal - Uruguay.
Yikes....
It was actually kind of funny because the cameras (presumably all broadcasters are using the Qatari feed) instantly cut to the referee to give the impression there'd been an injury or something, only for Flag Dude to run right past the referee :D I'm sorry whoever it was is probably gonna be executed at dawn tomorrow, the guy's nuts have their own moons and weather systems and will therefore be sorely missed, but I still had a damn good chuckle at how mortified the authorities must have been.
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They killed him??
No, no, I'm being sarcastic (I hope!). As far as I know the dude has only been detained.
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They killed him??
No, no, I'm being sarcastic (I hope!). As far as I know the dude has only been detained.
Oh, ok..gotcha!
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Brazil showed pragmatism today...Neymar was out, and with that, their quality in the attack drops dramatically. We won Switzerland for the first time on a WC Final today, and made it to the round of 16. It looks like we'll be playing against Gana, Uruguay or South Korea on the round of 16. Anything but Uruguay would be a piece of cake to win, and that's purely because of the local rivalry.
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RIP to the guy who ran across the pitch waving a rainbow flag during Portugal - Uruguay.
No doubt. That guy should've had a car and driver waiting outside a predetermined exit, with a direct course plotted out to the nearest airport, where a chartered jet was waiting for him with its engines running.
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It was actually kind of funny because the cameras (presumably all broadcasters are using the Qatari feed) instantly cut to the referee to give the impression there'd been an injury or something, only for Flag Dude to run right past the referee
That's a FIFA feed that all broadcasters are showing. And FIFA will air only things that show it's the best world cup ever.
But some countries' broadcasters have their own cameras in the stadium and there's social media, where fans post everything they see, so the attempt to supress "unpleasant" pictures is a bit futile.
Flag Dude will probably be okay because the whole world is looking. Otherwise I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.
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Congratulations to the US... Here's your knockout round game against the Netherlands.
USA fans New to the game definitely learned the gut check tension of the game in those last few minutes :lol
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I'm an American so of course I'm rooting for the US, but I'm not happy they are playing against Netherlands who are the 2nd team I'm rooting for since I was forunate enough to actually see the Netherlands team play against Belgium two months ago while I was in Amsterdam. Sadly pitting my two teams against each other. I'd be shocked if the US wins, I think they are definitely capable, but still, I'd be shocked.
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I'm an American so of course I'm rooting for the US, but I'm not happy they are playing against Netherlands who are the 2nd team I'm rooting for since I was forunate enough to actually see the Netherlands team play against Belgium two months ago while I was in Amsterdam. Sadly pitting my two teams against each other. I'd be shocked if the US wins, I think they are definitely capable, but still, I'd be shocked.
If Pulisic is out, we're fucked.
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Don't be mad at me but I was rooting for Iran. Or better, for the actual players who dared to speak out against their regime, I hope nothing's gonna happen to them when they go back home.
Qatar ends their first and, for the foreseeable future, last partecipation at the World Cup with three defeats and only one goal scored. Pity the Netherlands only scored twice, I was thinking they were really going to town on them, like England did with Iran.
Speaking of England, they won their group and so they're gonna get Senegal, who won the do or die match against Ecuador!
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Good job Senegal!
And good job USA!
I’m actually quite excited for the Netherlands - USA match. Having seen both teams play, this could actually be a pretty even match. The USA team definitely has some fighting spirit, something ours has been lacking. The draw against England shows that they are not to be underestimated.
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England vs Wales was a tough one for me, as I cheer for both teams. i knew Wales didn’t have much of a chance of advancing though, so that made it easier.
Congrats to the US for likely being the only CONCACAF team to advance.Still bummed that Canada are done.
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I managed to see most of the match today thanks to timing my lunch nicely to watch most of the first half in the breakroom, and then taking advantage of a slow afternoon to wander over to the breakroom and see big chunks of the second half including the last 10 minutes. Having a cool boss who doesn't care if we do stuff like that so long as our work gets done is a positive. :tup :tup
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I know it's slightly uncouth to come in here just to vent, but I'm going to leave my .02 cents on FIFA and professional football in general and move on.
Because the Philadelphia Union made it to the MLS finals I ended watching way more football this year than I might otherwise, because my wife follows them. That said, that and my previous watching of some World Cup matches makes me have one singular opinion on professional football, which is that it is an absolute and complete joke. It's not a professional sport that should ever be taken seriously, I see less acting in professional wrestling.
And this saddens me because I could feel like I might learn to appreciate football as a sport, but it cannot begin to even be possible thanks to how awful it looks on the professional level. The rules and culture seem to openly promote and facilitate flopping as opposed to curtailing it, and until that changes it's just dumb.
But hey, hope your country wins!
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I agree that what you call flopping is a big nuisance but you guys talk about it as if it's happening a hundred times in every game and that's definitely not the case, or you're watching the wrong teams. ;)
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It happens enough to be noticeable. It's also a reason why I stopped watching the NBA. Flopping is such bad sportsmanship. Soccer is really bad with it too.
I've got a bit of a bigger issue with the sport though. What is up with stoppage time? I get the concept, but they really need to show a clock that goes up during the half to show the actual stoppage time that accumulates. I can't help but think it's complete BS and like every match has +9 it seems these days. I think this should be transparent.
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It happens enough to be noticeable. It's also a reason why I stopped watching the NBA. Flopping is such bad sportsmanship. Soccer is really bad with it too.
The problem isn't the sportsmanship, you do whatever you can within the rules to win. I have no problem with individual teams and players taking advantage of a broken system. But rules need to be put in place so that it's not an advantageous to do.
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Making the rounds on Facebook.... :lol
(https://i.imgur.com/8joXEAK.jpg)
I see you and raise you:
(https://a.disquscdn.com/get?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimgur.com%2FX3syHee.gif&key=Fk4ZirZt5NF4WHYYqWBXMA&w=600&h=250.77142857142857)
I'll call :D
There's a couple of good/great ones here https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=hockey%20players%20vs%20soccer
and if you don't have Facebook, Hockey player (Ovechkin) vs Soccer player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFfxQSxbOuc :rollin
I'll say this in their defence: having broken an ankle, sprained ligaments in one foot, and at a much earlier age sprained ankles playing basketball, been stepped on and kicked in the shin playing American football.......FRICK! It hurts! >:(
That said......one of my former Bad Boys' Bill Laimbeer would be proud of these guys ;)
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I'll call :D
There's a couple of good/great ones here https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=hockey%20players%20vs%20soccer
and if you don't have Facebook, Hockey player (Ovechkin) vs Soccer player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFfxQSxbOuc :rollin
Bob Baun, anyone?
It happens enough to be noticeable. It's also a reason why I stopped watching the NBA. Flopping is such bad sportsmanship. Soccer is really bad with it too.
I've got a bit of a bigger issue with the sport though. What is up with stoppage time? I get the concept, but they really need to show a clock that goes up during the half to show the actual stoppage time that accumulates. I can't help but think it's complete BS and like every match has +9 it seems these days. I think this should be transparent.
Yeah...instead of counting down the time, we're going to count up...and we're not going to tell you how much time is left! Brilliant!
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Meanwhile France suffers the most unhurtful of defeats against Tunisia, which is not enough for them: Australia defeats Denmark and goes on as second, while France won the group even with said defeat.
Denmark was such a letdown... I really thought they could have passsed!
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The problem is how would you punish overacting? Should referee say: "you looked like it hurt 4/5 but it should hurt 2/5".
It's really hard to make a decision about it. On the other hand, trying to deceive a referee when there's no contact at all should be retroactively punished with a least a match ban.
Don't get me wrong, overacting is disgusting as well, I just don't see an easy way to fix it.
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Meanwhile France suffers the most unhurtful of defeats against Tunisia, which is not enough for them: Australia defeats Denmark and goes on as second, while France won the group even with said defeat.
Denmark was such a letdown... I really thought they could have passsed!
Did that last second goal by France not count? I didn't continue watching it cause of work.
Also, go Mexico!!
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The problem is how would you punish overacting? Should referee say: "you looked like it hurt 4/5 but it should hurt 2/5".
It's really hard to make a decision about it. On the other hand, trying to deceive a referee when there's no contact at all should be retroactively punished with a least a match ban.
Don't get me wrong, overacting is disgusting as well, I just don't see an easy way to fix it.
I think you got the right idea. Upon video review sometimes you can see there isn't even contact. It may not be called on the spot, but it should be allowed to be called post match and lead to missing a game. It's at least something.
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and if you don't have Facebook, Hockey player (Ovechkin) vs Soccer player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFfxQSxbOuc :rollin
Obviously some can take more than others.
https://youtu.be/SYTLDMux6M4 (https://youtu.be/SYTLDMux6M4) :D
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and if you don't have Facebook, Hockey player (Ovechkin) vs Soccer player https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFfxQSxbOuc :rollin
Alex Ovechkin played a soccer game in a league in Russia last Summer and I saw clips of him fending off someone (since he's a pretty huge dude) and got a goal (pretty much near his spot that he would fire his power play hockey goals that's he's known for).
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Tough one for Mexico
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I didn't like Mexico in first two games but Poland was even worse, didn't even seem to try. And somehow they advanced to the next round. Where they play France, that'll be fun :lol
Can't wait for Belgium vs Croatia tomorrow!
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Tough one for Mexico
This is what always bugs me in this form of tournament. You lose your last game and still advance to the next round.
I know they got the necessary points and goals in their previous games but still seems strange.
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The problem is how would you punish overacting? Should referee say: "you looked like it hurt 4/5 but it should hurt 2/5".
It's really hard to make a decision about it. On the other hand, trying to deceive a referee when there's no contact at all should be retroactively punished with a least a match ban.
Don't get me wrong, overacting is disgusting as well, I just don't see an easy way to fix it.
The NHL has no problem with it. Obviously, lots of things are subjective, and refs aren't perfect, but it generally works pretty well.
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Tough one for Mexico
This is what always bugs me in this form of tournament. You lose your last game and still advance to the next round.
Well, France won the last game and won their group so..... :D
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Tough one for Mexico
This is what always bugs me in this form of tournament. You lose your last game and still advance to the next round.
I know they got the necessary points and goals in their previous games but still seems strange.
Every team plays every other team in the group exactly once. Of course in some cases that will mean the laat match could be for naught, or it could mean you lose the game, but still advance based on the result of the previous games. In essence, you could view the whole round (all three matches a team plays) as one large game stretched over multiple games.
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The problem is how would you punish overacting? Should referee say: "you looked like it hurt 4/5 but it should hurt 2/5".
It's really hard to make a decision about it. On the other hand, trying to deceive a referee when there's no contact at all should be retroactively punished with a least a match ban.
Don't get me wrong, overacting is disgusting as well, I just don't see an easy way to fix it.
Start yellow carding the players who flop or embellish, and make it to where it can happen after the match is over if caught on replay. And in the case of the World Cup, make it to where the second offense is then a red card. Players will stop flopping so match if they start hurting their team or getting penalized for it, but just like basketball, the people who run the sport are gutless and would rather it look like a clown show. When the flops outnumber the goals in any given match by a wide distance, it is a problem. And I enjoy watching the World Cup, but the constant flopping is a major detriment to the sport. Nearly everyone I know who has zero interest in watching it has cited the flopping as being too unbearable to watch as a reason why.
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The Mexico v Saudi Arabia match was very exciting. I wish Mexico could have managed to score one more goal. They certainly deserved it.
With regard to “flopping”, I feel like this has been less of an issue since VAR was introduced. But yes, I wish the players weren’t so overly dramatic when they go down.
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The problem is how would you punish overacting? Should referee say: "you looked like it hurt 4/5 but it should hurt 2/5".
It's really hard to make a decision about it. On the other hand, trying to deceive a referee when there's no contact at all should be retroactively punished with a least a match ban.
Don't get me wrong, overacting is disgusting as well, I just don't see an easy way to fix it.
Start yellow carding the players who flop or embellish, and make it to where it can happen after the match is over if caught on replay. And in the case of the World Cup, make it to where the second offense is then a red card. Players will stop flopping so match if they start hurting their team or getting penalized for it, but just like basketball, the people who run the sport are gutless and would rather it look like a clown show. When the flops outnumber the goals in any given match by a wide distance, it is a problem. And I enjoy watching the World Cup, but the constant flopping is a major detriment to the sport. Nearly everyone I know who has zero interest in watching it has cited the flopping as being too unbearable to watch as a reason why.
And you can also address this as a matter of "player safety". If you're on the turf for more than 5 seconds, automatically ineligible to play for 15 minutes in order to ensure you don't injure yourself further. I don't know the in and outs of football rules, but in this case I would imagine you'd be allowed to sub in another player during that time.
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Tough one for Mexico
This is what always bugs me in this form of tournament. You lose your last game and still advance to the next round.
I know they got the necessary points and goals in their previous games but still seems strange.
Every team plays every other team in the group exactly once. Of course in some cases that will mean the laat match could be for naught, or it could mean you lose the game, but still advance based on the result of the previous games. In essence, you could view the whole round (all three matches a team plays) as one large game stretched over multiple games.
Obviously I know and understand this but right after the match it's sometimes strange to see the loser celebrate and the winner crying.
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I don't condone flopping either, but staying down is probably a way to draw attention to the foul. No referee is going to award a foul or even a penalty if someone who suffered a legit foul gets up immediately after. This of course is no excuse to cry and whine and act like they're dying, I despise it as well, but I get the general idea of drawing attention to the foul.
Also, as someone pointed out, you can't judge the severity of the hurt, it's a classic case of "this is why we can't have nice things" or the entire classroom being punished for two-three bad kids misbeaving. Players will always suffer legit hits that genuinely hurt, but the divers will make them pass as "actors" as well.
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So Morocco are through at Belgium’s expense. It’s a deserved outcome.
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So Morocco are through at Belgium’s expense. It’s a deserved outcome.
Yeah, I have nothing against Belgium but for whatever reason they spent years at the top of the FIFA ranking and they never won anything. Even Denmark and Greece won an euro championship. At a certain point if they always fail to live up to their potential, it's kinda "ah well, screw them" :D
And yes, great job Morocco!!!
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Wow.. Japan knocks off Spain to win the group.
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And Germany is out :facepalm:
Imagine Nelson saying 'ha ha'
There was a short time when both Japan and Costa Rica were in the lead and both Spain and Germany were out. Now that would have been crazy and funny. :D
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The last two games between Spain vs Japan and Germany vs Costa Rica were absolutely wild. All four teams at some point were on to the next round or out during the course of the game. So crazy!
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We had to pick between Spain and Germany, and got Japan ;D no disrespect but I think Croatia have better chance against them than Spain
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We had to pick between Spain and Germany, and got Japan ;D no disrespect but I think Croatia have better chance against them than Spain
On paper, Spain and Germany should've beaten Japan.
I'd say we definitely have our Cinderella for this tournament. The J-metal girls are freaking out on Twitter right now :lol
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This was the changing ranking of the group during the course of the game someone posted on reddit. Mins 70-73 were intense.
(https://imgur.com/dKC3lYj.png)
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Damn, that was intense stuff. Most exciting group finish so far. I'm sad for Germany, was rooting for them. Yet Japan won from both them and Spain (and then somehow lost to Costa Rica? ??? )
Those two Costa Rican goals today were super ugly, would have been completely bonkers if those failures would mean Spain got tossed out (which was the case during the game for a few minutes).
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The last two games between Spain vs Japan and Germany vs Costa Rica were absolutely wild. All four teams at some point were on to the next round or out during the course of the game. So crazy!
That was high drama indeed. Quite exciting. I was flipping between the two matches.
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Ok that was awesome and what every group in the world cup should be about :metal
Those three minutes where Costa Rica and Japan eliminated Spain and Germany were the most crazy and funniest of the world cup so far :lol
Pity for Germany, my love for a nation I visited many times made them my fallback team, but now the road goes on without them. Germany in 2014 equalized Italy by winning their fourth world cup, but not wanting to stop there, they imitated Italy as well by getting eliminated in the first round in the two consecutive editions. Now they should go all the way and not qualify for the next two editions ;D
At this point, I'm gonna root for all the underdogs, I want Morocco, Ghana or even the Netherlands to win this.
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Ok that was awesome and what every group in the world cup should be about :metal
Those three minutes where Costa Rica and Japan eliminated Spain and Germany were the most crazy and funniest of the world cup so far :lol
Pity for Germany, my love for a nation I visited many times made them my fallback team, but now the road goes on without them. Germany in 2014 equalized Italy by winning their fourth world cup, but not wanting to stop there, they imitated Italy as well by getting eliminated in the first round in the two consecutive editions. Now they should go all the way and not qualify for the next two editions ;D
At this point, I'm gonna root for all the underdogs, I want Morocco, Ghana or even the Netherlands to win this.
I'm pulling for the underdog as well, the US :biggrin:
Definitely want to see Japan do well too, love a good giant killer story.
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Thank you, Ghana. Still feeling that thing from 2010. You got them good this time, despite losing :)
(That goal from South Korea definitely helped though :lol )
What a bizarre finish yet again! Great stuff!
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Brazil X South Korea on the round of 16. NEXT!!!!!
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Abysmal decisions from the Uruguayan coach to basically get all attackers off and try to defend a 2-0, while there was still the possibility of them not making the next round. Unbelievable that they let that one slip. They honestly should have (and could have) gone for a bigger win.
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Again, these matches were a lot of fun to watch, going right down to the wire. It’s a hard way to go out, when a team thinks they have things in the bag and all of a sudden the scoreline in the other match flips.
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Brazil X South Korea on the round of 16. NEXT!!!!!
Brazil is going to win 7-0.
But never say never.....
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Abysmal decisions from the Uruguayan coach to basically get all attackers off and try to defend a 2-0, while there was still the possibility of them not making the next round. Unbelievable that they let that one slip. They honestly should have (and could have) gone for a bigger win.
They took the polish route, but without the same result.
Is it too much to ask for Switzerland to beat serbia by a couple of goals and for Brazil to lose with Camerun?
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Honestly, I have not been impressed by Brazil so far
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Honestly, I have not been impressed by Brazil so far
Sorry you haven't been able to watch Brazil play yet, dude.
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Well, there is that too :lol
I haven’t watched a ton, but I’ve been following closely. Mostly watching replays which obviously don’t give the full picture.
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Abysmal decisions from the Uruguayan coach to basically get all attackers off and try to defend a 2-0, while there was still the possibility of them not making the next round. Unbelievable that they let that one slip. They honestly should have (and could have) gone for a bigger win.
Is it too much to ask for Switzerland to beat serbia by a couple of goals and for Brazil to lose with Camerun?
Yes.
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Is it too much to ask for Switzerland to beat serbia by a couple of goals and for Brazil to lose with Camerun?
Almost, man.
Brazil - Portugal would have been fun.
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Lol so close...
Well, fun round...I'll definitely be up bright and early for the US game.
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In order for the USA fans to fully embrace this game of Soccer they are going to have to change a few things starting with that ridiculous point system determining who advances. :tdwn
Who knows, maybe that's the only thing.
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In order for the USA fans to fully embrace this game of Soccer they are going to have to change a few things starting with that ridiculous point system determining who advances. :tdwn
What exactly is ridiculous about it?
3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw. If there's a tie, you look at the goals scored. How is that weird?
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In order for the USA fans to fully embrace this game of Soccer they are going to have to change a few things starting with that ridiculous point system determining who advances. :tdwn
What exactly is ridiculous about it?
3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw. If there's a tie, you look at the goals scored. How is that weird?
Exactly. It's a fair system.
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In order for the USA fans to fully embrace this game of Soccer they are going to have to change a few things starting with that ridiculous point system determining who advances. :tdwn
Who knows, maybe that's the only thing.
That's definitely not the only thing and, based on Elite's explanation that followed your post, it sounds like a reasonable system for a tournament like this (although a straight bracket would also be reasonable).
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These were my predictions:
NETHERLANDS vs USA or WALES
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ARGENTINA vs DENMARK or AUSTRALIA
===
SPAIN or GERMANY vs BELGIUM or CROATIA
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BRAZIL vs URUGUAY or PORTUGAL
=====
=====
ENGLAND vs SENEGAL or ECUADOR
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FRANCE vs MEXICO or POLAND
===
CROATIA or BELGIUM vs GERMANY or SPAIN
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PORTUGAL or URUGUAY vs SWITZERLAND or SERBIA or CAMERUN
Well, it didn't take a genius to figure these out, but still we got some surprises, like Japan, Morocco and South Korea!
This is how it's gonna be instead:
NETHERLANDS vs USA
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ARGENTINA vs AUSTRALIA
===
JAPAN vs CROATIA
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BRAZIL vs SOUTH KOREA
=====
=====
ENGLAND vs SENEGAL
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FRANCE vs POLAND
===
MOROCCO vs SPAIN
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PORTUGAL vs SWITZERLAND
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Ok.. My winners based on absolutely nothing except my bias..
USA
Argentina
Japan
Brazil
England
France
Spain
Portugal
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I wish you all good luck, my American friends! :)
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Just glad Pulisic got cleared to play, I'd hate to go into this without our star.
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Good luck in the second half :corn
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Good luck in the second half :corn
I just got a sensation during the action, "well, now if they score they go into half time with a reassuring advantage"..... and it happened :P
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Well USA, it was good while it lasted! :tup
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USA were just back in the game..... and their defense allowed a dutch player to wander around the penalty area undisturbed and unnoticed (to the point he even called for a cross with his hand), for the easiest of goals.
Unforgivable sin at this level. Now it's Netherlands vs Argentina, most likely, but you never know!
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Americnas, sorry that your team is out. That hurts.
I will be cheering for Holland as they are long overdue to win a world cup.
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I keep hoping for the underdogs to win, but as the competition advances, it does get more difficult for them to win. Argentina in particular always struggles in the group stage, but rise to the occasion as they move forward. Let's see how they behave against Australia in a few minutes.
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The bottom line earlier was that the Netherlands defensemen played great and the USA's did not. Seems like every time we tried a cross, there was a Dutch defender there to take care of it, but every time it was the other way around, every US defender had his head up his ass and a Dutch player had free reign to just direct it into the net.
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I think The Netherlands did well. It is clear our players aren't in their peak forms, but in this match they put in the work and had some great moments. I do like how our goalie is a no-name guy from a small club in our homecountry. Not really sure how Van Gaal got him in his sights, but he did well so far.
I briefly watched Argentina and I would be surprised if we managed to win against them though. But who knows, in these tournaments all it takes is a slightly off day for the supposedly better team.
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I think The Netherlands did well. It is clear our players aren't in their peak forms, but in this match they put in the work and had some great moments. I do like how our goalie is a no-name guy from a small club in our homecountry. Not really sure how Van Gaal got him in his sights, but he did well so far.
I briefly watched Argentina and I would be surprised if we managed to win against them though. But who knows, in these tournaments all it takes is a slightly off day for the supposedly better team.
The Netherland defense was amazing today.
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So Netherlands - Argentina it is. A chance for the orange ones to avenge 1978 and 2014! it's gonna be hard though....
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Too much France for Poland. Mbappè has unlocked the god mode and he's simply on another level.
Now let's see if it's gonna be England vs France, or if Senegal has something to say about it....
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As a Englishman I can say this is the best squad I've ever seen (84 being my earliest memories). The France game is going to be epic.
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As a Englishman I can say this is the best squad I've ever seen (84 being my earliest memories). The France game is going to be epic.
England has some great young players. I'm looking forward to the QF.
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We'll see. Gut feeling is that France will trash England, but who knows.
The good thing of this match is that only one of them will continue ;D
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I'm still not too impressed with England despite big win yesterday. France however...
Croatia vs Japan today, can't believe Croatia is actually favorite in knockout phase for once ;D that's what's scaring me. Spain and Croatia play somewhat similar football but Croatia is little bit more direct. Japan will be looking for fast counters again, for sure.
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Japan already won two games where the opponent was the favorite and they lost the one where they were the favorite. So maybe Croatia being the favorite in this match isn't such a good thing. ;)
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Exactly :lol that group was weird
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I swear, just one more penalty shootouts and my heart won't survive.
Tbh worst match of WC so far.
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I swear, just one more penalty shootouts and my heart won't survive.
Tbh worst match of WC so far.
I only saw the last 5 minutes and the penalty shootout. Aside from Japan's terrible penalties, what was so bad about this match?
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I swear, just one more penalty shootouts and my heart won't survive.
Tbh worst match of WC so far.
I only saw the last 5 minutes and the penalty shootout. Aside from Japan's terrible penalties, what was so bad about this match?
I havent watched, but my gf a bit ago texted me saying that was the best match of the world cup so far. So yea, what was so bad about it?
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The best one so far that I’ve actually seen was Germany vs. Spain.
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What? Japan's unwillingness to attack and Croatia's strategy with high balls (which worked once, fortunately) resulted in pretty meh game. Only a few shoots on target in 120 minutes.
But also I was very nervous, we played extra times 3 times (and penalties twice) in 2018 WC, didn't want to go through it again :lol
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Well, this game is over already.
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What? Japan's unwillingness to attack and Croatia's strategy with high balls (which worked once, fortunately) resulted in pretty meh game. Only a few shoots on target in 120 minutes.
Indeed, I think neither deserved to win, honestly :P
However, it doesn't matter in the end because Brazil will most likely defeat them easily anyway :biggrin:
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Uruguay Vs South Korea was the worst match I've seen at this WC.
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The Netherlands - Qatar was the worst. What a slog.
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4-0 Brazil, not even halftime. Poor South Korea.
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Well, this game is over already.
Well, yeah.
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4-0 Brazil, not even halftime. Poor South Korea.
I started feeling bad for Koreans about 20 minutes into the game. Brazilians were joy to watch and there is no doubt that they are the single technically most gifted team at the tournament. I wonder if their superior football skills will be enough against top European teams that are better organized and more physical (true, none of the European teams really impressed so far so this time, unlike in 2014 and 2018, Brazilians might win the whole thing).
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Yeah, the only doubt is: it was Brazil that was so good, or it was South Korea that was so average?
Frankly, I expected a 7-0, but it's clear they just saved themselves for the next match once victory was secure. Germany was more brutal and relentless with them in 2014.
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Morroco drops Spain in penalties.
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What a terrible match this was, unbelievable. Winning by showing the most boring play possible and then beating them on the penalty shootout. Completely undeserved if you ask me. Good keeper, Morocco, but the was abominable to watch.
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That's what I dislike about soccer. You can be overmatched, play for a 0-0 tie, and then pray you win in it penalty kicks. Can you imagine NHL playoff games being decided by penalty shots? It's silly.
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I also hate the penalty shots. I get that the game could go on for a very very long time, but I would prefer that be the way to settle this instead of a chance mini game. I'd rather it be the team with the most depth/stamina win vs. luck.
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Spain had 77% ball possession. What the fuck.
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Not saying that Spain deserved to be out, but that endless passing game that they play is boring af to watch.
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Didn't watch the game but read a stat that Spain had over a 1000 passes and 1 shot at goal, Morocco had ~300 passes and 2 shots on goal. Is that true? That's just baffling if so.
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Yep
(https://i.imgur.com/Re1696o.png)
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Spain had 77% ball possession. What the fuck.
The game is about putting the ball inside the other team's net, not about ball possession. It's always funny to see this tiki-taka shit getting pwned.
I also hate the penalty shots. I get that the game could go on for a very very long time, but I would prefer that be the way to settle this instead of a chance mini game. I'd rather it be the team with the most depth/stamina win vs. luck.
Well, one way or the other you have to have a winner, and penalty shots are a decisive tiebreaker.
In the wiki article about penalties, I found a suggestion I like quite a lot: to have a penalty shootout before extra time, and have it serve as a tiebreaker only if extra time ends up in a draw.
That way, you'd have a more exciting extra time, with the team that lost trying to score, rather than both teams settling for the penalties.
Obviously, the team that wins the penalties could "park the bus" but hey, you'd have to defend for 30 minutes straight, a mistake can condemn you.
In other World Cup news, Portugal trashes Switzerland 6-1. Didn't expect it.
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I also hate the penalty shots. I get that the game could go on for a very very long time, but I would prefer that be the way to settle this instead of a chance mini game. I'd rather it be the team with the most depth/stamina win vs. luck.
I'd hardly call Penalties luck. It's a test of skill and holding your nerve.
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Spain had 77% ball possession. What the fuck.
The game is about putting the ball inside the other team's neat, not about ball possession. It's always funny to see this tiki-taka shit getting pwned.
For me, the only "real" tiki-taka is how Barcelona played under Guardiola, and maybe when Spain when they won Euros and WC 10 years ago (well, that was practically Barca team). Even he said he don't want possession just for sake of it. Sadly, Spain today play for passes and possession without being direct and fast.
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I also hate the penalty shots. I get that the game could go on for a very very long time, but I would prefer that be the way to settle this instead of a chance mini game. I'd rather it be the team with the most depth/stamina win vs. luck.
I'd hardly call Penalties luck. It's a test of skill and holding your nerve.
My critique is that it reduces a team game to a series of 1 v 1, and puts a disproportionate amount of responsibility on the goalkeeper compared to the rest of the game.
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I also hate the penalty shots. I get that the game could go on for a very very long time, but I would prefer that be the way to settle this instead of a chance mini game. I'd rather it be the team with the most depth/stamina win vs. luck.
I'd hardly call Penalties luck. It's a test of skill and holding your nerve.
My critique is that it reduces a team game to a series of 1 v 1, and puts a disproportionate amount of responsibility on the goalkeeper compared to the rest of the game.
Actually the goalkeeper is the one with less to lose in the penalty shootout. Everyone remembers the players who missed an important penalty. No one ever went against a goalkeeper blaming him for not saving one.
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I'm not too pleased with penalties as the tie-breaker but I don't know what could be done instead.
At least it's not a toin coss like they used to do some long time ago.
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Play until nobody can even stand on their legs :lol
Fun fact: Brozovic broke his own record in distance covered: 16.7 km iirc. And then he was fit enough to score a penalty after 120 minutes. Lungs of steel. Ironically, I think he's smoker :lol
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I'm not too pleased with penalties as the tie-breaker but I don't know what could be done instead.
After the 9 minutes is over I would do the following: 1 ET of 20 minutes where in each minute one player of each team is dragged out of the pitch until the time is up. The team that scores the most in that period of time wins.
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So these are the best 8 teams:
NETHERLANDS vs ARGENTINA
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BRAZIL vs CROATIA
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ENGLAND vs FRANCE
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PORTUGAL vs MOROCCO
How do you think it's gonna go? how do you WISH it would go?
My dream: a final Netherlands vs Morocco
My expectation: Brazil vs France
I guess I'm gonna root for the Netherlands, Morocco and Croatia.... these are the "problems" I have with the other teams (of course said all in jest and not to be taken too seriously):
Not England because "it's coming home" and we're never gonna hear the end of it
Not Argentina because you'll never hear the end of it from Messi's fanboys
Not Portugal because you'll never hear the end of it from Ronaldo's fanboys (unless he doesn't start up from the beginning like with Switzerland, and the others take the glory)
Not Brazil because they have already 5 cups and they're gonna add another one
Not France, ESPECIALLY not France, because they'll be just one cup short behind Italy, and also they would win twice in a row, a feat only Brazil and Italy accomplished.
So ranking the best case scenario from worst case scenario I'd say:
Netherlands (if Morocco isn't in the final)
Morocco (if the Netherlands aren't in the final - they already lost 3 finals, enough is enough)
Croatia (all the world but the french rooted for them in 2018)
Portugal (yeah, Ronaldo is gonna build a golden statue to his own dick, but hey, they never won it)
Argentina (they'd reach 3 cups, too close, also all the rants about Messi)
Brazil (6 cups are too much, and their collective dances are annoying)
England (World cup one year after Italy defeated them in the Euro cup and didn't even qualify? geez, no)
France (nope nope nope, they must not win two cups in a row)
Having said that and wished bad luck to 5 teams out of 8, I have however to admit that Mbappè is a monster player and it would be very cool to see him measure up against the legends of our time (Messi and CR7) and see if the rising youth will dethrone the two reigning football kings (the irony, since it's France who's currently world champions). Also I don't really have anything against the english players themselves or their coach, it's just the worst part of their fanbase who's really annoying.
Argentina vs Brazil (who's the south american best team?) and France vs Portugal (Mbappè vs Ronaldo or the rising starts behind CR7) would undoubtedly be the most exciting semifinals. But as an outsider, nothing beats the pleasure of an underdog winning ;D
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I'm all for the Netherlands, they've lost enough finals, it's time they win some.
And I would also root for Portugal, if it weren't for CR7. Great football player but absolute despicable human being.
But I think it will come down to Brazil or France.
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I think if Croatia win agains Brazil they can go all the way. Brazil is obviously great team, great attack. The question is how will basically one defensively oriented midfielder (Casemiro) play against Modric, Brozovic and Kovacic. Will there be another midfielder (Fred, Fabinho...), which attacker will be benched, etc? This is the first for Brazil this WC where they can actually be dominated in midfield.
Being Messi fanboy, you'd expect me to want him to have it but Argentina didn't show much so far so I don't care for them.
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Also I don't really have anything against the english players themselves or their coach, it's just the worst part of their fanbase who's really annoying.
Agreed (and I'm English).
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I don't get what's so annoying about the Brazilians dancing. I love it...and I'm not even a fan of the kind of music these players like. But it's a celebration of excelling at something on a world stage. Most of these guys would be beggars in the streets if it wasn't for football, so I'd celebrate even more if I was in their place.
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My predictions are meaningless, but:
The Netherlands - Argentina can really go both ways. I will root for my home country, but wouldn't mind a Messi win either.
Brazil - Croatia . I think Croatia are going t get trampled to be honest.
England - France . As much as I'd like England to win, there's too much good stuff in the French team for them to lose this one.
Portugal - Morocco . Seriously, they're not going to pull the same stunt again. Portugal did better than Spain so far. I don't like Ronaldo at all though, so they can lose to France after this match for all I care.
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I don't get what's so annoying about the Brazilians dancing. I love it...and I'm not even a fan of the kind of music these players like. But it's a celebration of excelling at something on a world stage. Most of these guys would be beggars in the streets if it wasn't for football, so I'd celebrate even more if I was in their place.
I think it is a cultural thing - some people just can't accept that others display their emotions in a different way. I wouldn't dance the way the do even if someone put a gun to my head and I enjoy Brazilians' dancing way less than their football - but I am fine with them doing it. Who else should be dancing if not Brazilians?
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I think if Croatia win agains Brazil they can go all the way. Brazil is obviously great team, great attack. The question is how will basically one defensively oriented midfielder (Casemiro) play against Modric, Brozovic and Kovacic. Will there be another midfielder (Fred, Fabinho...), which attacker will be benched, etc? This is the first for Brazil this WC where they can actually be dominated in midfield.
Being Messi fanboy, you'd expect me to want him to have it but Argentina didn't show much so far so I don't care for them.
Not sure about Croatia this time. They impressed at the previous WC and I was rooting for them to win the whole thing (and really disappointed when they lost to France). But they were nowhere near as good at last Euro and they don't seem like a favorite now either, as much as I would like them to win (if my home country,Czechia, is absent from WC, which is almost every single time, Croatia is regularly one of the teams I root for).
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I don't get what's so annoying about the Brazilians dancing. I love it...and I'm not even a fan of the kind of music these players like. But it's a celebration of excelling at something on a world stage. Most of these guys would be beggars in the streets if it wasn't for football, so I'd celebrate even more if I was in their place.
I think it is a cultural thing - some people just can't accept that others display their emotions in a different way. I wouldn't dance the way the do even if someone put a gun to my head and I enjoy Brazilians' dancing way less than their football - but I am fine with them doing it. Who else should be dancing if not Brazilians?
It feels too much staged and coreographed, especially with the whole team joining. I get it's a cultural thing, and that many other players "customized" their celebration as well, but one thing is seeing Mbappè putting his hands beneath the armpits or CR7 doing his jump with spread arms, another is seeing an entire team (minus the goalkeeper) joining together for a dance and doing it again and again for every single goal, it feels a bit.... cringey, dunno? If a single player feels like doing a dance after a goal it's fine, when the whole team does it over and over it feels like a rehearsed coreography without any spontaneity. And I would get the same vibe from any other group celebration, it's not the dance itself, it's everyone joining to do it every single time (whatever might be the actual thing they're doing) that feels too TikTok-ish.
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I don't think the dancing in itself was the problem but to do it after every goal, even if you have a commanding lead was seen as disrespectful by the opponent.
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I don't get what's so annoying about the Brazilians dancing. I love it...and I'm not even a fan of the kind of music these players like. But it's a celebration of excelling at something on a world stage. Most of these guys would be beggars in the streets if it wasn't for football, so I'd celebrate even more if I was in their place.
I think it is a cultural thing - some people just can't accept that others display their emotions in a different way. I wouldn't dance the way the do even if someone put a gun to my head and I enjoy Brazilians' dancing way less than their football - but I am fine with them doing it. Who else should be dancing if not Brazilians?
It feels too much staged and coreographed, especially with the whole team joining. I get it's a cultural thing, and that many other players "customized" their celebration as well, but one thing is seeing Mbappè putting his hands beneath the armpits or CR7 doing his jump with spread arms, another is seeing an entire team (minus the goalkeeper) joining together for a dance and doing it again and again for every single goal, it feels a bit.... cringey, dunno? If a single player feels like doing a dance after a goal it's fine, when the whole team does it over and over it feels like a rehearsed coreography without any spontaneity. And I would get the same vibe from any other group celebration, it's not the dance itself, it's everyone joining to do it every single time (whatever might be the actual thing they're doing) that feels too TikTok-ish.
MirrorMask the Italian Roy Keane! ;D
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I don't get what's so annoying about the Brazilians dancing. I love it...and I'm not even a fan of the kind of music these players like. But it's a celebration of excelling at something on a world stage. Most of these guys would be beggars in the streets if it wasn't for football, so I'd celebrate even more if I was in their place.
I think it is a cultural thing - some people just can't accept that others display their emotions in a different way. I wouldn't dance the way the do even if someone put a gun to my head and I enjoy Brazilians' dancing way less than their football - but I am fine with them doing it. Who else should be dancing if not Brazilians?
It feels too much staged and coreographed, especially with the whole team joining. I get it's a cultural thing, and that many other players "customized" their celebration as well, but one thing is seeing Mbappè putting his hands beneath the armpits or CR7 doing his jump with spread arms, another is seeing an entire team (minus the goalkeeper) joining together for a dance and doing it again and again for every single goal, it feels a bit.... cringey, dunno? If a single player feels like doing a dance after a goal it's fine, when the whole team does it over and over it feels like a rehearsed coreography without any spontaneity. And I would get the same vibe from any other group celebration, it's not the dance itself, it's everyone joining to do it every single time (whatever might be the actual thing they're doing) that feels too TikTok-ish.
It feels staged and choreographed because it IS 100% staged and choreographed. They like to celebrate! Maybe we should have a procedure in place for celebrations, to establish what is allowed and what's not allowed...what is offensive and what isn't. Perhaps we could make it mandatory for players to apologize to the opponent for the unsurmountable oppression of scoring a goal and putting them at a disadvantage? What do you say?
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Dutch vs Argentina - Please let the Dutch win this. It's not a great Dutch team - doesn't have the names of previous era's, but they do seem a decent unit.
Brazil vs Croatia - Got to be Brazil. This isn't a great Croatia, and this Brazil are fun to watch again (although I hate Neymar).
England vs France - Well I'm English so.....losing to France would hurt a lot.
Portugal vs Morocco - Hopefully Portugal will win and Ronny will be left sulking on the bench.
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I don't get what's so annoying about the Brazilians dancing. I love it...and I'm not even a fan of the kind of music these players like. But it's a celebration of excelling at something on a world stage. Most of these guys would be beggars in the streets if it wasn't for football, so I'd celebrate even more if I was in their place.
I think it is a cultural thing - some people just can't accept that others display their emotions in a different way. I wouldn't dance the way the do even if someone put a gun to my head and I enjoy Brazilians' dancing way less than their football - but I am fine with them doing it. Who else should be dancing if not Brazilians?
It feels too much staged and coreographed, especially with the whole team joining. I get it's a cultural thing, and that many other players "customized" their celebration as well, but one thing is seeing Mbappè putting his hands beneath the armpits or CR7 doing his jump with spread arms, another is seeing an entire team (minus the goalkeeper) joining together for a dance and doing it again and again for every single goal, it feels a bit.... cringey, dunno? If a single player feels like doing a dance after a goal it's fine, when the whole team does it over and over it feels like a rehearsed coreography without any spontaneity. And I would get the same vibe from any other group celebration, it's not the dance itself, it's everyone joining to do it every single time (whatever might be the actual thing they're doing) that feels too TikTok-ish.
It feels staged and choreographed because it IS 100% staged and choreographed. They like to celebrate! Maybe we should have a procedure in place for celebrations, to establish what is allowed and what's not allowed...what is offensive and what isn't. Perhaps we could make it mandatory for players to apologize to the opponent for the unsurmountable oppression of scoring a goal and putting them at a disadvantage? What do you say?
Oh, come on. No need to go to the extreme doing strawman examples which are obviously exagerated. And when did I say it I found it offensive? I don't think it's offensive, it's just a bit cringey. The point are not the brazilians or the dance, it's doing the same thing over and over, I would find equally weird if....
- the germans after every single goal would join together to mimic drinking beer.
- the english after every single goal would join together to mimic sipping tea.
- the new zealand players after every single goal would join together for a maori dance.
- the french players after single goal would join together and, dunno, climb on each other in formation to create the shape of the Eiffel tower?
At the end of a match usually a team goes to the sector where their supporters are, that would be a more natural moment to perform whatever coreography a team invented to celebreate, rather than a goal. England defeated Iran 6-2, if you think it would have been cool to see for SIX TIMES ten players joining together to mimic sipping tea, well, congratulations, you have more tolerance for non-spontaneous, TikTok-ish celebratory moves than me.
Dutch vs Argentina - Please let the Dutch win this. It's not a great Dutch team - doesn't have the names of previous era's, but they do seem a decent unit.
Brazil vs Croatia - Got to be Brazil. This isn't a great Croatia, and this Brazil are fun to watch again (although I hate Neymar).
England vs France - Well I'm English so.....losing to France would hurt a lot.
Portugal vs Morocco - Hopefully Portugal will win and Ronny will be left sulking on the bench.
I'm more or less with you. Rooting for the european teams (underdogs in both matches), but I assume and expect the south american ones will go through.
For England and France, it would be fun if any team would trash the other, but if there's a team winning 4-0, it's gonna be France. I can't imagine England destroying France, but hey, who knows.
And yeah, as much as I root for Morocco, Portugal will get through, and it would be fun if they'd achieve another crystal clear victory without CR7.
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Are Dutch really underdogs agains Argentina? Argentina didn't show much so far, other than a few individual flashes.
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Is Croatia's thing to drag each and every single knockout game into extra time?
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Is Croatia's thing to drag each and every single knockout game into extra time?
Yes
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Is Croatia's thing to drag each and every single knockout game into extra time?
I hate them for this :facepalm:
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Good job!! Wow!
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Is Croatia's thing to drag each and every single knockout game into extra time?
I hate them for this :facepalm:
Seemed to work..adios Brazil.
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Kudos to my neighbors, good job. :tup
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Ha!
Happy for Modric - one of the classiest footballers (both as a player and a man)
But Brazil blew it, low energy.
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Who saw that coming.. the Croatian football association can double their goalkeeper’s salary. Unbelievable work from him throughout the match.
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Wooooooo
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From now on, all my support to Argentina and England :-\
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2018:
Round of 16 > Croatia defeats Denmark at penalties
Quarter finals > Croatia defeats Russia at penalties
Semifinals > Croatia defeats England in extra time
Final > Croatia loses to France 4-2 in regular time
2022 so far:
Round of 16 > Croatia defeats Japan at penalties
Quarter finals > Croatia defeats Brazil at penalties
The moral is: you either defeat Croatia in 90 minutes, or you don't.
Before the match, I would have told you that Brazil would have trashed them. During the match, I realized that Croatia could hold on into extra time. After Neymar's goal (brilliant one, you have to hand it to him), I was sure it was over. But when they equalized, I felt they could bring this one home also.
Italy failed to qualify twice in a row, Germany was eliminated in the group stage twice in a row, and little Croatia is twice in a row in the best four of the world! wow!!!
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Can't believe this :eek
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Always the penalties that kill us.
Ah well, we had a good run. Our team showed their worst side on the pitch though, with all the ridiculous brawls. Such a shame.
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Exciting finish to regulation and OT, with a thud of an ending. I know it is redundant, but deciding World Cup matches on PKs is so awful.
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What a pity for the Netherlands.... they brought themselves back from the dead only to lose at penalties, damn! after 1978 and 2014 their argentinian curse continues. And Argentina remains to carry South America's flag (and the fever dream of a final Messi vs Ronaldo).
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Goddamnit Argentina and their damn penalties. I think we did well, they fought for it to the bitter end. And I love that a lot of Dutch people were memeing on Wout Weghorst whenever he was selected (and playing), but damn did he do well this game, even a crucial defense save. The match was a bit nasty at points though, I was fully expecting to see the red cards arrive.
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What a pity for the Netherlands.... they brought themselves back from the dead only to lose at penalties, damn! after 1978 and 2014 their argentinian curse continues. And Argentina remains to carry South America's flag (and the fever dream of a final Messi vs Ronaldo).
That free kick was so clever. I loved it. So disappointing that they still ended up losing.
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If it's true what Messi and the rest allegedly said and did, I lost what little respect I had for them. Hope they lose the next match.
And it shows again, that 99% of those so called superstars are just overpaid assholes.
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If it's true what Messi and the rest allegedly said and did, I lost what little respect I had for them. Hope they lose the next match.
And it shows again, that 99% of those so called superstars are just overpaid assholes.
What did they say or do?
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If it's true what Messi and the rest allegedly said and did, I lost what little respect I had for them. Hope they lose the next match.
And it shows again, that 99% of those so called superstars are just overpaid assholes.
There’s a recording of Messi saying:
“Hey fool, fool, get away, go get ver there fool. “
Weghorts says he went to shake his hands with Messi and Leo told him that.
Plus Dibu also said harsh things to the Netherlands bench.
Not counting how the Argentinian team mocked the rivals as soon as the game
Was over.
I do HOPE that Croacia takes Argentina out of the tournament.
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That and he called Weghorst a dumby. And their Goalkeeper yelled at them that he f*cked them twice.
You won the game, is it so hard to stay classy?
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It also seems that the dutch players were taunting the argentinian players before every penalty, "surrounding" them as they were walking to the penalty area. Enough things happened in a game filled with tensions to turn all the brawls into a "but they started it first!" argument.
Croatia and Brazil were more classy about it. No drama and Modric even went to console many brazilian players, including Casemiro (ex team mate at Real Madrid).
Today brings us Portugal vs Morocco (I wish they both would go through) and England vs France (I wish they both would go home ;D). Then the final four will be complete!
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I don’t feel so badly now about Canada lost all 3 of it’s group matches, given that two of the countries in their group (Croatia and Morocco) have advanced to the semis.
Great to see an African team get this far.
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Morocco makes history!!! the FIRST african team to reach the semi-finals in a world cup! :metal
They also avenge the "reconquista", having defeated the entire iberian peninsula ;D now that they've "conquered" it, they can as well move up to France...... :D
The final we'd deserve: Croatia vs Morocco
The final we'll probably get: Argentina vs France
No more Messi vs Ronaldo, if at all, it's gonna be Messi vs Mbappè.
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You’d still get both those matches :)
Happy for Morocco and the Moroccan people. Really cool for them to see their team progress. May they enjoy this moment and party (deservedly).
Deserved? Probably not. I completely detest their way of playing. Boring as F to watch yet again.
Unhappy, because people in my country (and several others in Europe) will use this as an excuse to throw fireworks at the police and start riots. Unfortinately there’s always going to be the group that ruims it for the majority.
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There are exactly two cars in my home town, driving around and celebrating the moroccan victory. :D
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I know they're kind of the underdogs here, but I'll be rooting for England in the upcoming match. Don't want France to win at all :biggrin:
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Don't want France to win at all :biggrin
Who does, beside the french? ;D
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The final we'd deserve: Croatia vs Morocco
The group game meeting was an awful 0 - 0.
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Yeah, please not that again :lol
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Such bad luck for England :(
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It has to be Argentina vs France, then :'(
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Such bad luck for England :(
It always feels like England has bad luck. They had a real chance this time and had the better of the play, but just couldn't pull it off.
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Good effort by the team. Think they can walk home proud in spit of the loss.
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The final we'd deserve: Croatia vs Morocco
The group game meeting was an awful 0 - 0.
I was talking more about the underdogs pulling through, rather than the actual level of the match :D
Well, now it's up to Morocco to stop France :metal
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That third goal Argentina scored was Messi gold. Wow!
Sorry for Croatia, but in this match they didn’t stand a chance.
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Yeah, I’m hoping for Argentina to win it all now, to give Messi his long desired World Cup trophy.
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Now I'll have to root for Morocco ;D
I've always considered Messi a Barcellona GOAT rather than a football GOAT, since he was always there (and won everything also with the help of a stellar midfield, it's easier to score when you have Iniesta and Xavi behind you) and he never carried Argentina on his shoulders like Maradona did (three finals lost in three years...), but it looks like he finally "unlocked" that level and his whole team is firing on all cylinders (some questionable moments aside, see the mess with the Netherlands).
If Argentina or France win it it's gonna be the third cup for either team, at this point I'll settle for what's less worse and if it's really Argentina vs France, I guess Argentina winning is less worse than France winning twice in a row.
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Morocco didn’t stand a chance really, almost similar to Croatia in last night’s match.
The final is going to be fun!
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Definitely got the best two teams in there. Pulling for Messi to finally get his cup.
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Let's go Argentina!
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Rationally speaking, this is the best possible final. The two teams that have been overall most consistent and that always gave the impression to have their own destiny in their hands, and the ability to change the outcome of any game. They never raised the question "how come they're still around?", it was plain to see that they were one notch above the rest. It's gonna be two teams with already two cups, it's gonna be Messi vs Mbappè, it's gonna be another classic Europe vs South America match.
But still, the fun of football is also the unrational side, the game of thrones-esque rivalries and preferences, so screw you France, look what you made me do, I'll have to root for Argentina and the never ending arguments about Messi being a god on earth from now on. :lol
At this point I also hope Morocco gets "the bronze", it would be cool for them to arrive third in the World Cup.
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Rationally speaking, this is the best possible final. The two teams that have been overall most consistent and that always gave the impression to have their own destiny in their hands, and the ability to change the outcome of any game. They never raised the question "how come they're still around?", it was plain to see that they were one notch above the rest. It's gonna be two teams with already two cups, it's gonna be Messi vs Mbappè, it's gonna be another classic Europe vs South America match.
But still, the fun of football is also the unrational side, the game of thrones-esque rivalries and preferences, so screw you France, look what you made me do, I'll have to root for Argentina and the never ending arguments about Messi being a god on earth from now on. :lol
At this point I also hope Morocco gets "the bronze", it would be cool for them to arrive third in the World Cup.
For pure entertainment value, this is definitely the best possible final, assuming it lives up to it’s potential. While it would have been cool to see Morocco make the final, it didn’t really feel like they deserved it based on their largely defensive style of play. Today’s match was the first one where Morocco's play really impressed me.
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So far: first ten minutes were fun, now it's a bit boring.
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And now Croatia is on the podium! third place after second place last time around. Wow.
Now final act tomorrow! people gloating about Messi being the second coming of Christ for ages to come is the price I'm willing to pay as long as France doesn't win two World Cups in a row ;D
(but if France wins, I want Giroud to score the decisive goal, since he plays for my AC Milan)
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This game is fucking crazy
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The craziest thing ever :omg:
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Even after M'Bappe's penalty kick to tie it, in the last minute, there were two very, very close misses. The intensity of this one is off the charts.
This penalty kick round is gonna be intense...
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Argentina! :hefdaddy :hefdaddy :hefdaddy
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What a match. Easily the best of the tournament.
This was edge of the seat stuff after the 80th minute
I’m glad Argentina won in the end, a France win would have been undeserved as they seemed to hinge way too much on Mbappé.
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Good effort by both teams.
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Argentina were so dominant until France finally scored. It’s unfortunate that they gave up those two goals in regulation time, but then it wouldn’t have turned into such a dramatic and thrilling match. So glad that Argentina managed to prevail in PKs. A deserved outcome.
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Lame ending (I HATE PKs deciding it), but great match. Very exciting.
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(https://i.imgur.com/vlXqAAd.gif)
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¡GRACIAS MUCHACHOS!
(https://images.milenio.com/DGw9xjGX9s_hgvAgSluXkM0M5HU=/942x596/uploads/media/2022/12/18/argentina-es-campeona-del-mundial-2.jpg)
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Woah! what a final! seriously one of the best finals ever!
I didn't watch it all, had a party with coworkers at one of them's house, but we kept track of the match. Missed the two goals of Argentina 'cause we were walking around the neighbourhood for the Xmas markets. Came back to the home of our host with eventually everyone leaving, and I saw Mbappè scoring two goals in three minutes!
Then since it would have been too late I went home, and during my drive extra time happened, I headed for my cousin's house to watch the end of the match, got notice of Messi's goal and then she called me, "penalty for France!!!!", and I shouted "I'm parking!!!!", as in "can you please tell the referee to hold on for a little while, I'm just about to arrive?" :lol
What a whirlwind of emotions... for an entire match Argentina dominated, then Mbappè single handledly turned it around, and extra time was on fire. Think of poor Mbappè, he scored three goals, four counting the penalty during the shoot out, and he lost.
Also, it's one of these rare times when penalties feel like an extra layer of excitement, rather than a cop-out. Italy - Brasil in 1994? criminal choice to make them play in the noon in the scorching humid heat, no emotions, 0-0. Italy - France in 2006? it was a draw, two goals at the beginning (but Toni scored a valid one, grrr) and then people only remember Zidane's headbutt. This of course was another draw technically speaking, but the emotions were so many that penalties felt like the icing on the cake, rather than just the outcome of a boring match.
The best possible final did deliver. Croatia vs Morocco would have not been as great as a final. Of course I wanted them to reach the finals as I didn't want neither France to win two cups in a row, nor Messi's fanboys smileing all over the internet for ages to come, but both Argentina and France deserved to be there, and they gave us a match for the ages. Brilliant ending to a world cup awarded to a nation with no football history or culture only because of bribes. And Messi had to lift the trophy wearing a qatarian robe.... I get it's a sign of respect but come on, when have we ever seen a captain lifting a world cup wearing anything else beside the jersey of the nation he represents?
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Yeah, I probably died a couple of times yesterday :lol
Man, it was such a rollercoaster. For much of the match I felt like we had it in the bag, that it would turn out to be the great win we were all waiting for. But France really fought for it in the end and I think Scaloni made the mistake of not changing some players sooner. It was obvious that some of Argentina's players were tired and eventually the french took advantage of this.
I can imagine that for someone who was neutral this must have been an amazing experience, but I can assure you that for anyone really involved in this it was a dream come true and a nightmare at the same time.
Fortunately for us, Martinez came away with that miraculous save in the extra time and afterwards I knew we were winning the penalties. Still suffered through them, but I was confident that the guys would come through.
Messi finally got the trophy he wanted the most and one that I think he deserved.
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Messi finally got the trophy he wanted the most and one that I think he deserved.
Yeah, as I said before somewhere in the thread I thought he never really lived up to his potential and he was never a strong leader, a one-man-army like Maradona was in 1986. And he always played in Barcelona with a monster midfield behind him never challenging himself somewhere else. But at the last chance he finally became the leader he was always expected to be, and carried Argentina on his shoulders (and on his penalty kicks ;D) , you gotta hand it down to him.
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And he didn't need the "Hand Of God". :D
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I think what made this win even better is the fact the Mbappe said not too long ago that us South Americans aren't as advanced as Europeans at Football.
Poetic :hat
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I thoroughly enjoyed this tournament, and the writings from the knowledgeable fans such as MirrorMask.
Yesterday was frickin' unbelievable from a simple sports fan perspective. One of the best ever. All the gut punches that Argentina had to withstand. After the lost 2-0 and 3-2 leads, Messi almost getting yet another game winner when tied at 3, and then the late save......I kept waiting for this thing to go to extra PKs when it had become 3-1.
Meanwhile, if we were still doing a caption contest, I know what I would have put up today! :lol :lol :lol
(https://tvnz-1-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/JRAg5neOmkRpr8VeJHW-hLqVo7s=/800x533/filters:format(jpg):quality(70):focal(316x150:326x160)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/tvnz/SOZJ24YGHJFXZGNQVMAYMYATAE.jpg)