The World Cup

[Caveblade]

Its shite. Too many teams. Drinks breaks break the game up. I hate modern football. FIFA and Referees continually meddling with things that weren't broken and broke it.

I have barely watched it and the bits I have seen have been bang average.

 

[Rodley]

Drinks breaks are crap but will be here to stay and ultimately will come in for domestic games as well.

Last night Egypt vs Belgium was a cracking contest, but it does feel like quite a few games seem to be a weak team clinging on (like the third round of the FA Cup).

My ultimate frustration was how Chong looked…well…really Chongy. I was hoping he’d perform above his normal levels and we could cut & run!

 

[SwissBlade]

Its shite. Too many teams. Drinks breaks break the game up. I hate modern football. FIFA and Referees continually meddling with things that weren't broken and broke it.

I have barely watched it and the bits I have seen have been bang average.

You’ve nailed it. Breaking things which weren’t broken

Changing the game to the interests of Americans that just aren’t interested in the game. Making it more complicated and longer.

Games are no longer 90 mins, they’re 100min+

A simple game has been slowly killed

 

[SwissBlade]

Drinks breaks are crap but will be here to stay and ultimately will come in for domestic games as well.

Last night Egypt vs Belgium was a cracking contest, but it does feel like quite a few games seem to be a weak team clinging on (like the third round of the FA Cup).

My ultimate frustration was how Chong looked…well…really Chongy. I was hoping he’d perform above his normal levels and we could cut & run!

The drinks breaks really shouldn’t be necessary at all for most games. They certainly aren’t necessary in the domestic game to have players stood around getting cold and wasting time in February. They also break the momentum of games.

Most games I’ve seen have been so mismatched and whilst the grass roots fa cup is a delight to see the minnows winning, the pinnacle of the game, the World Cup is not the place for this. It’s like throwing Chesterfield into the champions league.

 

[I should coco]

Drinks breaks are crap but will be here to stay and ultimately will come in for domestic games as well.

Last night Egypt vs Belgium was a cracking contest, but it does feel like quite a few games seem to be a weak team clinging on (like the third round of the FA Cup).

My ultimate frustration was how Chong looked…well…really Chongy. I was hoping he’d perform above his normal levels and we could cut & run!

You can see it, on a cold wet night it February.

The game stops in pissing rain for the hydration break.

 

[Rodley]

You can see it, on a cold wet night it February.

The game stops in pissing rain for the hydration break.

It’s for TV adverts. It’ll be in the Prem in 5 years, sadly.

 

[Uganda Blade]

You can see it, on a cold wet night it February.

The game stops in pissing rain for the hydration break.

Or maybe Doris will wheel out an urn of tea (sponsored by the club's official tea partner, of course).

 

[dexter101]

I am not saying I am a fan of advert, I mean drinks, breaks, but based on the fact that most teams do this anyway with a player feigning injury, I think if they kept the tempo of the football higher, I would prefer them to have a set break...

backs slowly away from the computer as a lynch mob of football fans congregate

 

[mattbianco1]

No, the country codes are defined by the ISO, not just made up randomly by broadcasters.

The 2 digit code assigned to Curacao by the ISO in 2010 is CW, therefore the 3 digit code (used by broadcasters) CUW is an extension of that.

So why are Morocco MAR and Switzerland SUI, but Germany aren't DEU ?

 

[The Fox]

I am not saying I am a fan of advert, I mean drinks, breaks, but based on the fact that most teams do this anyway with a player feigning injury, I think if they kept the tempo of the football higher, I would prefer them to have a set break...

backs slowly away from the computer as a lynch mob of football fans congregate

You might be right , It'll be intresting to compare in play time across the whole tournament compared with an average PL or world cup match.

Going down faking an injury is used more than ever by players and coaches to stop momentum or call a "time out" .

Although I wouldn't want a hydration, (time out , coaching ) break. Its an Intresting experiment at least.

 

[SwissBlade]

It’s for TV adverts. It’ll be in the Prem in 5 years, sadly.

You’re probably right, I’ve turned off 2 games at the drinks break though already. But I did notice that BBC (obviously) and ITV have not used it as an opportunity to go to ads at least. I heard that lots of countries have also been the same

You can guarantee though that Sky will use the chance to get more ad revenue in as well as increasing subscription costs

It’ll no doubt accelerate the crash in the football economy as costs are becoming too high already for a product which gets worse and worse…

 

[dexter101]

You might be right , It'll be intresting to compare in play time across the whole tournament compared with an average PL or world cup match.

Going down faking an injury is used more than ever by players and coaches to stop momentum or call a "time out" .

Although I wouldn't want a hydration, (time out , coaching ) break. Its an Intresting experiment at least.

So far its hard to judge because some of the games have been played at such a slow pace but it does feel like the ball has been back in play more quickly.

Time will tell...

 

[Cheeky Blade]

Has Harry Kane found his shorts yet?

 

[HighfieldBlade]

You can see it, on a cold wet night it February.

The game stops in pissing rain for the hydration break.

...and that 'hydration' would be hot cocoa and Bovril!

 

[Varkanoid]

So why are Morocco MAR and Switzerland SUI, but Germany aren't DEU ?

I was curious as to why Netherlands fans were chanting "Holland Holland" easier than "Netherlands Nethernlands" ?

 

[The Fox]

So why are Morocco MAR and Switzerland SUI, but Germany aren't DEU ?

The graphic at the start of the match yesterday had Spain as Espanol, ( not the 3 digit ref) no idea why as we dont have the other names in the counties language ?

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

No, the country codes are defined by the ISO, not just made up randomly by broadcasters.

The 2 digit code assigned to Curacao by the ISO in 2010 is CW, therefore the 3 digit code (used by broadcasters) CUW is an extension of that.

So why are Morocco MAR and Switzerland SUI, but Germany aren't DEU ?

the country codes are assigned by FIFA, not the ISO or broadcasters

List of FIFA country codes - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Brownieblade]

Its shite. Too many teams. Drinks breaks break the game up. I hate modern football. FIFA and Referees continually meddling with things that weren't broken and broke it.

I have barely watched it and the bits I have seen have been bang average.

You really need to watch more then

 

[Melbourne Blade]

Drinks break aside and the first game referee brain farts I think it's been an absolute cracking world cup so far. Been entertaining, goals, a few shocks and judging by teams I've seen so far, England have every chance to win the thing.

 

[crucialkneeligaman]

Can I just shock you… I like something that FIFA have done.

The new anti-time wasting rules have worked really well. Amazing how miraculously nobody gets injured anymore.

And would you look at how quickly subs can happen when you have the threat of losing a player for a minute if you take too long.

And of course there must be something magical in the water because I don’t think there have been any goalkeeper injuries at all…

You could argue that the ‘hydration breaks’ negate the need for the keepers to do their fake injuries now as managers get the chance to give players a mid-half team talk but it’s still good to see that there is definitely ways to stop time wasting even if it’s not exactly perfect at the moment.

The coaching during these drinks breaks should be banned, if not why not just call them coaching breaks.

 

[KMC-1889]

Its shite. Too many teams. Drinks breaks break the game up. I hate modern football. FIFA and Referees continually meddling with things that weren't broken and broke it.

I have barely watched it and the bits I have seen have been bang average.

Number of teams is fine. I like seeing teams and players I’ve not seen before, but I do agree the group phase needs to be rejigged so there’s more jeopardy in it. Getting to the R16 should be an achievement.

Ad breaks are an absolute joke and belong in the bin, tickets and concessions should have price caps as well.

 

[G.H. Lawrence]

Blades related how?

Chong is playing!

 

[G.H. Lawrence]

Chong is playing!

Sorry, didn't read until the end of the thread before shooting my load

 

[Gimli]

Its shite. Too many teams. Drinks breaks break the game up. I hate modern football. FIFA and Referees continually meddling with things that weren't broken and broke it.

I have barely watched it and the bits I have seen have been bang average.

You’ve barely watched it but you’re declaring it shite already…

I mean sure, if the ‘bits you have seen’ have been a random 10 minutes between Scotland and Haiti then sure, it’s been bang average, but there’s been 16 games so far, most of them have been perfectly decent games.

If your point was just about the drinks breaks then maybe you’d be right, but with all the other changes that have had a positive impact I think we’re actually net beneficiaries as fans so far. At least with the drinks breaks you know it’s going to happen (as pointless as they are), and I’d take that over a fake keeper injury or Arsenal taking 3 years to take a throw in.

 

[Tom Bott]

I would scrap the drinks breaks as mandatory only allowing them based on heat stress indicators (similar to how the armed forces work on exercise).

That's why our armed forces don't get sponsored by Disney, Adidas's and Coke though.

 

[Tom Bott]

Chong is playing!

More correctly, on the field of play.

 

[Sean Thornton]

You can see it, on a cold wet night it February.

The game stops in pissing rain for the hydration break.

The players haven’t to wait while the hot Oxo cooled down?

 

[Pedro Verde]

Can anyone tell me why 90% of players in the World Cup are playing in PINK boots

 

[LBA_Blade]

That's why our armed forces don't get sponsored by Disney, Adidas's and Coke though.

True it’s too obvious the actual reason why just surprised they haven’t had sponsorship on all the kits too.

 

[JohnDenver]

I was curious as to why Netherlands fans were chanting "Holland Holland" easier than "Netherlands Nethernlands" ?

This is a great question. Holland is a part of the Netherlands, so it's a bit like England fans giving it Yarkshuh! Yarkshuh! (stretching a point, but still).


A bit of a reddit trawl suggests it's not OK to call the nation "Holland" but for some reason it's OK to do so for the footy team, almost as a nickname.