The World Cup

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

This world cup has gone quick 6 weeks... 4 games a day through night aswell was great tbf!

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

No, as I recall, they were pretty brutal and un-self-aware that even then, booting people, roughing up players and fighting wasn't quite how the beautiful game was meant to be played. Sound familiar?

Their Captain Rattin was dismissed (for 'looking at the ref in a not nice way' apparently) and tensions were high. I can remember Sir Alf stopping our players swapping shirts with the 'animals' as he called them.

That day I was at Hillsborough , watching West Germany v Uruguay. It is very much the case that Northern Europe and South America had very different views on how football should be played. Uruguay were brutal, the West German team was much less so, but did some theatrical falls. Uruguay had 2 players sent off, and it could have been more. I have had a look at some highlights of England v Argentina, and it is clear Argentina did some bad fouls, but England had Stiles and Jack Charlton for 2 who were far from angels. England did concede almost twice as many fouls as Argentina. There was a big difference in the way the South Americans crowded round the referee, and Maradona for one later drew on the tradition of believing that deceiving the referee was clever, and part of the game. Several different dark arts have since been added, especially in the case of Argentina.
I have written recently about being privileged to spend 3 days with the River Plate team in Sheffield in 1978, and finding Rattin to be a charming and entertaining human-being. I didn’t pluck up the courage to ask him about the sending-off at Wembley, but you can see from the videos that he was claiming the right to speak to the referee as captain, and that the situation of neither Rattin nor the ref speaking the other’s language was a problem. It is perhaps a fitting tribute to the recently-deceased Rattin that yellow and red cards were introduced as a result of his dismissal.

 

[Bladedog]

Yeah, well, there's 'fouls' and there's 'legal and benign footballing challenges whereby the Argentinian player goes down like a sack of cack screaming and crying and the ref gives the free kick'

I'm not defending em..but that's somert you see in nearly every Premier league game..its fuckin embarrassing.

 

[Sean Thornton]

He got a blue badge when he did his ACL

And a PiP. Bloody forrins etc etc etc

 

[Sean Thornton]

FIFA World Cup 2026™ Champions Ring

The first Champions Ring in FIFA World Cup™ history. Official Licensed Product. 18k gold, diamonds and sapphires. Limited edition of 2,026.

championsring2026.com

Anyone got a spare £12,000 to spend on a tacky ring?

Poetry1867 suggests he’s got a few quid but is Zero Dark BeMyFriend that expensive?

 

[BazWainwright]

That day I was at Hillsborough , watching West Germany v Uruguay. It is very much the case that Northern Europe and South America had very different views on how football should be played. Uruguay were brutal, the West German team was much less so, but did some theatrical falls. Uruguay had 2 players sent off, and it could have been more. I have had a look at some highlights of England v Argentina, and it is clear Argentina did some bad fouls, but England had Stiles and Jack Charlton for 2 who were far from angels. England did concede almost twice as many fouls as Argentina. There was a big difference in the way the South Americans crowded round the referee, and Maradona for one later drew on the tradition of believing that deceiving the referee was clever, and part of the game. Several different dark arts have since been added, especially in the case of Argentina.
I have written recently about being privileged to spend 3 days with the River Plate team in Sheffield in 1978, and finding Rattin to be a charming and entertaining human-being. I didn’t pluck up the courage to ask him about the sending-off at Wembley, but you can see from the videos that he was claiming the right to speak to the referee as captain, and that the situation of neither Rattin nor the ref speaking the other’s language was a problem. It is perhaps a fitting tribute to the recently-deceased Rattin that yellow and red cards were introduced as a result of his dismissal.

Agree - and I'm not defending cloggers like Charlton J and Styles, the latter famed for his 'no compromises' approach to defending and the former a proponent of elbows and fists. What I am trying to illustrate is exactly amplified by your comments on URG v DDR - there are different approaches to the game.

I have spent some time in my career in Argentina and attended a provincial game where the fairly industrial-level methods of sportsmanship was matched with an impressive level of gamesmanship. The game was rendered ugly and unwatchable even amongst my colleagues and the ref really struggled to control the game. The fans also (n a game more or less equivalent to Swindon Town v MK Dons in it's elevation) were another level of distasteful, aggressive and potentially violent. You get 'tension' in UK games, but they were amped up, noisy and ready to attack, missiles thrown, flares on the goals, noisy in an aggressive manner and made the small stadium not a nice place to be.

I had a chance to go to a Boca game later on in Buenos Aires and declined and those who went to the game came back somewhat traumatised, as did those who chanced their arm at a River Plate match.

 

[gordoncharles]

Cultural differences abound.

Can you imagine an England performance in the World Cup Final as poor and dominated as that? Actually, yes.

But then would the English media and forums like this have responded to such a showing by praising the team's defensive resilience, focussing on their fatigue, showing pride in the overall campaign, suggesting that turning their backs on the winner's trophy ceremony was simply raw emotion, claiming that there was a conspiracy against the team and that they had been told to lose in the dressing room before the game?

 

[Davalon]

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

Found this on Facebook

 

[uTurn]

Just a small thing that dawned on me earlier.

Dean Henderson ended the 2017/18 season (just 8 years ago) by losing the League 1 play off final with Shrewsbury vs Rotherham. Within a decade, he's started a 3rd place playoff match for England at the World Cup.

Stating the obvious here, but the lad's done good.

 

[232 Bramall Lane]

Just a small thing that dawned on me earlier.

Dean Henderson ended the 2017/18 season (just 8 years ago) by losing the League 1 play off final with Shrewsbury vs Rotherham. Within a decade, he's started a 3rd place playoff match for England at the World Cup.

Stating the obvious here, but the lad's done good.

And Man Utd could have saved themselves a fortune by giving him a proper chance!