The World Cup

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Hahahahaha wtf

 

[Sportbilly /Detroit Blade]

VAR wednesday

We need cunt Andrew on VAR, I think we know how he could be "bought".

 

[Kenilworth]

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Is Bellingham the player of the tournament so far? I find it hard to argue it..

 

[Sportbilly /Detroit Blade]

Is Bellingham the player of the tournament so far? I find it hard to argue it..

For me yes, although that baguette munching tosser Mbappe has to be close too.

 

[BazWainwright]

Is Bellingham the player of the tournament so far? I find it hard to argue it..

Bellingham is our cheat code.

We have always had that mercurial player on whom such success hinges. Gasgoigne, Robson, Beckham, Crouch, Kane have all been in this bracket, one way or another. An injury or suspension to them completely cripples the squad. The replacements are always several steps down and you pray they don't get a leg breaker that will end the hopes and dreams they individually impose.

Bellingham himself is a footballing dynamo. He has incredible energy, physique and capability to read the game and drive the team into the attack. We've not had one of those for many, many years. In a midfield trio, backed by (a fit) Rice and now Anderson, who has had a great World Cup, we have enough to take on Argentina and dominate. We possibly need Anderson to do a Montgomery and follow Messi round the pitch and never let him get more than a metre away. Like Haaland, stop Messi having effect and we have a chance. Leave him space and we are done for.

 

[ChefYouKnighted1889]

That second Jude goal when he follows it when the keeper should have saved it comfortably and he puts after burners on and defender dint have a clue at first I thought offside but nowhere near pure genius

 

[tincan]

Bellingham is our cheat code.

We have always had that mercurial player on whom such success hinges. Gasgoigne, Robson, Beckham, Crouch, Kane have all been in this bracket, one way or another. An injury or suspension to them completely cripples the squad. The replacements are always several steps down and you pray they don't get a leg breaker that will end the hopes and dreams they individually impose.

Bellingham himself is a footballing dynamo. He has incredible energy, physique and capability to read the game and drive the team into the attack. We've not had one of those for many, many years. In a midfield trio, backed by (a fit) Rice and now Anderson, who has had a great World Cup, we have enough to take on Argentina and dominate. We possibly need Anderson to do a Montgomery and follow Messi round the pitch and never let him get more than a metre away. Like Haaland, stop Messi having effect and we have a chance. Leave him space and we are done for.

Messi walks around the pitch and sees 3 moves ahead where he can tap the ball in. Opposition cannot concentrate on him for that long..
Still think Ronaldo is better though

 

[Champagneblade]

Every time Messi draws a foul I want England to accuse him of diving.

Love to see him get some clog for 90 minutes and not have a kick. They rely so much on him it would be worth having Stones just man mark him all game finally answering the question in the affirmative that he probably wouldn’t have been able to do at away at Stoke on a wet Tuesday night

 

[Champagneblade]

I see they are taking about extending the World Cup.

How ridiculous.

It would be 132 matches.

Probably win a vote for it as all those who precariously got in this time will be a regular feature and plenty of peripheral ones will fancy it.

infantino isn’t the one who deals with the fallout of too many games though is he? I’m sure Villa are happy about the extended tournament, losing Onana to an ACL.

 

[Pintor75]

We have to beware of Argentina playing dirty and winding us up, try and keep our composure no silly bookings etc, they are definitely bearable imho

 

[Kenilworth]

For me yes, although that baguette munching tosser Mbappe has to be close too.

That’s the only comparison that would work for Mbappe and I


* I’m not French, btw

 

[SwissBlade]

I see they are taking about extending the World Cup.

How ridiculous.

It would be 132 matches.

Probably win a vote for it as all those who precariously got in this time will be a regular feature and plenty of peripheral ones will fancy it.

infantino isn’t the one who deals with the fallout of too many games though is he? I’m sure Villa are happy about the extended tournament, losing Onana to an ACL.

I think its lost a lot of value for fans with it being extended to so many bang average and shit teams, Cape Verde aside, there were too many that just made the level look so poor in those opening group games. The round after then just didn't bring enough decent games either. Its only really the last 16 where the quality and competitiveness has really improved. But i'd say that in terms of quality, this world cup has been one of the worst i can't remember

European teams tend to play the Pep way of strangling games with possession and the opposition sit deep to defend.

Is it also just me or has there also not been many amazing goals? Normally the first week or two we get a few absolute worldies but feels like there haven't been many freekicks scored and not so many crackers from distance.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

A lot of the also-ran teams of old have now got goodplayers competing in all the top leagues in Europe. Turkey, Morocco, Mexico, Senegal and Egypt have closed the gap immeasurably. Even the traditional non football mad nations like the US, Australia and Canada can field competitive teams these days.

Why are England fans singing Wonderwall?

But why "Wonderwall?" Essentially, each participating team submits a list of songs to FIFA that are played before and after games. England sent in "Wonderwall," "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond and "Hey Jude" by The Beatles, in reference to England star Jude Bellingham.1

Been wondering that as well - none of them particularly inspiring to me

Not a great fan of Wonderwall (bit of a dirge) or Oasis for that matter. Not really uplifting football anthems in my opinion. There’s probably a bit of recency bias with the choice as Oasis seem to be cool again…But here’s hoping we continue to hear it for
the next two England games.

 

[Selly]

I see they are taking about extending the World Cup.

How ridiculous.

It would be 132 matches.

Probably win a vote for it as all those who precariously got in this time will be a regular feature and plenty of peripheral ones will fancy it.

infantino isn’t the one who deals with the fallout of too many games though is he? I’m sure Villa are happy about the extended tournament, losing Onana to an ACL.

Assuming they are talking about extending to 64 teams, its more overall games (of lower quality) but it wouldn`t increase the number of games any individual team would play - as presumably you'd end up with 16 groups of 4 and the top 2 qualifying.

And this is a clear play for more votes from (non Euro and South America) confederations. As the expansion to 48 teams was.

 

[Selly]

s it also just me or has there also not been many amazing goals? Normally the first week or two we get a few absolute worldies but feels like there haven't been many freekicks scored and not so many crackers from distance.

I think thats just modern football - teams don`t, generally, shoot from distance these days, they try and create the high value chance.

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

According to some stats I've just read. 1 in 7 goals have been scored from outside the box, which is double what there was in Qatar.

 

[SwissBlade]

A lot of the also-ran teams of old have now got goodplayers competing in all the top leagues in Europe. Turkey, Morocco, Mexico, Senegal and Egypt have closed the gap immeasurably. Even the traditional non football mad nations like the US, Australia and Canada can field competitive teams these days.

Not a great fan of Wonderwall (bit of a dirge) or Oasis for that matter. Not really uplifting football anthems in my opinion. There’s probably a bit of recency bias with the choice as Oasis seem to be cool again…But here’s hoping we continue to hear it for
the next two England games.

I wonder how the FA came to the choice of songs as Grey Blade mentioned. I'll throw in the darts one as well as that has been used when England have scored, as i said earlier in this or the other WC thread, its a bit of a strange choice.

Hey Jude, i get as its a great one for the fans to sing along to, Sweet Caroline has been done to death. But i really love Wonderwall. Not my favourite Oasis song by any stretch, but seems to be a great choice for the post match sing along and of course its by an English band. The lyrics also seem to fit this side when the Wonderwall of England fans is serenading the team that maybe they're going to be the ones to finally get this over the line.

I presume that the songs were voted for by the England fans but it also makes a nice change from 3 lions.

 

[SwissBlade]

According to some stats I've just read. 1 in 7 goals have been scored from outside the box, which is double what there was in Qatar.

Mental. As it doesn't feel like its been that many.

 

[billyblademan]

Bellingham is our cheat code.

We have always had that mercurial player on whom such success hinges. Gasgoigne, Robson, Beckham, Crouch, Kane have all been in this bracket, one way or another. An injury or suspension to them completely cripples the squad.

I feel like one of those is not like the others...

 

[BerksBlade]

Assuming they are talking about extending to 64 teams, its more overall games (of lower quality) but it wouldn`t increase the number of games any individual team would play - as presumably you'd end up with 16 groups of 4 and the top 2 qualifying.

And this is a clear play for more votes from (non Euro and South America) confederations. As the expansion to 48 teams was.

It's changing the whole dynamic of the competition. If you add more teams you need more stadia for the group games, so a single host nation is going to be a thing of the past (if it isn't already). I was against 48 teams, but this WC has worked out OK. 64 teams is definitely a step too far.

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

It's changing the whole dynamic of the competition. If you add more teams you need more stadia for the group games, so a single host nation is going to be a thing of the past (if it isn't already). I was against 48 teams, but this WC has worked out OK. 64 teams is definitely a step too far.

Said it already, but i would not be surprised to seen Continent wide world cups becoming a thing.

 

[billyblademan]

Said it already, but i would not be surprised to seen Continent wide world cups becoming a thing.

That actually wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, really. We've basically already had it this year. Next year has 5 (count 'em) host countries as well.

You could have the Euros/AFCON being a single host nation tournament, and the World Cup can spread the love a bit more (within reason - flying from Tokyo to Mumbai between matches wouldn't be much fun).

 

[10-0 win]

Argies going about it as usual, only put in enough effort to, 'just' win.

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

That actually wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, really. We've basically already had it this year. Next year has 5 (count 'em) host countries as well.

You could have the Euros/AFCON being a single host nation tournament, and the World Cup can spread the love a bit more (within reason - flying from Tokyo to Mumbai between matches wouldn't be much fun).

Just trying to imagine the field day the street scammers of Delhi and Mumbai would have with a World Cup

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

That actually wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, really. We've basically already had it this year. Next year has 5 (count 'em) host countries as well.

You could have the Euros/AFCON being a single host nation tournament, and the World Cup can spread the love a bit more (within reason - flying from Tokyo to Mumbai between matches wouldn't be much fun).

Sorry. I may have missed something. But my understanding is that in FIFA 2030 Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Morocco, Spain and Portugal (six) would all host matches.