FIFA World Cup

The Aussie youngster hits the bar.

Egypt win the shootout.

The Aussies are out.

@Bones said in FIFA World Cup:

England game brought forward "because of heat". I guess we know who FIFA is backing this year...

Reckon Starmer had a word

Zero productivity in England regardless of the result

I understand Souttar taking the first penalty, but an 18 year old centre back who was playing A League football less than 6 months ago stepping up to take a penalty at that point of the shootout? Hmmm, can't say I agree with that.

@African-Monkey said in FIFA World Cup:

I understand Souttar taking the first penalty, but an 18 year old centre back who was playing A League football less than 6 months ago stepping up to take a penalty at that point of the shootout? Hmmm, can't say I agree with that.

Yeah, that was a bad call. No way an 18 kid should be asked to take a penalty.

Also, subbing the keeper (who was having a great match) back fired. The new keeper never got near a penalty.

Also, penalty shootouts suck.

@Bones

I heard it’s because of possible thunderstorms.
The new kick off time (6 hours earlier) suits me better, which is all that matters…

@westie_boy said in FIFA World Cup:

@African-Monkey said in FIFA World Cup:

I understand Souttar taking the first penalty, but an 18 year old centre back who was playing A League football less than 6 months ago stepping up to take a penalty at that point of the shootout? Hmmm, can't say I agree with that.

Yeah, that was a bad call. No way an 18 kid should be asked to take a penalty.

Also, subbing the keeper (who was having a great match) back fired. The new keeper never got near a penalty.

Also, penalty shootouts suck.

Yeah the keeper sub felt like it was for the sake of it, especially as Beach's main strength is his shot stopping ability.

@Bones said in FIFA World Cup:

England game brought forward "because of heat". I guess we know who FIFA is backing this year...

It's because of predicted thunderstorms

@African-Monkey said in FIFA World Cup:

I understand Souttar taking the first penalty, but an 18 year old centre back who was playing A League football less than 6 months ago stepping up to take a penalty at that point of the shootout? Hmmm, can't say I agree with that.

I’ll never be on this train.

No excuse available for not hitting the target.

@MajorStokes said in FIFA World Cup:

@African-Monkey said in FIFA World Cup:

I understand Souttar taking the first penalty, but an 18 year old centre back who was playing A League football less than 6 months ago stepping up to take a penalty at that point of the shootout? Hmmm, can't say I agree with that.

I’ll never be on this train.

No excuse available for not hitting the target.

Or just have your better penalty takers step up when they're meant to.

@westie_boy @sammyc yes

Tremendous match Arg v Cabo

African teams have brought a lot of excitement to this tournament but not quite ready for the big table

10 qualified for the tournament

9 advanced to the round of 32

2 advance to the round of 16

No surprise for Morocco, they were in the SF last WC

I’ll be very surprised if Eqypt go any further

Back to 1am

@African-Monkey yeah not disagreeing but not quite the same point.

Paraguay made it hard for France but they get it done. How did Galarza and Caceres not get a YC after so many obvious and cynical fouls?

@Bovidae Glad they're gone. Played such a negative brand of football. The coach telling his team to push up the field for the last kick of the game was the cherry on top of the shit mountain. When they went behind 1-0 I expected them to at least go for an equaliser but they still parked the bus. I don't know why they were complaining to the officials after the game, they should've had multiple yellows and a probably a red.

@Bovidae said in FIFA World Cup:

Paraguay made it hard for France but they get it done. How did Galarza and Caceres not get a YC after so many obvious and cynical fouls?

Everything that's wrong with football

@canefan

yeah
kinda like scruming to get penalties and yellow cards on the opposition in a game of rugby

The ref was useless, so Paraguay took that as a green light to play the way they did.
The World Cup is better with them gone.
Well done France for keeping their composure.

Can Norway hang on..

Yep

@booboo said in FIFA World Cup:

I think it's an issue. We find it an issue on the Veldt, and Mexico City is nearly 500m higher:

Altitude:
Mexico City 2,240m
Johannesburg 1,753m
Bloemfontein 1,395m
Pretoria 1,339m

I spent some time in Flagstaff, AZ many years ago and did a lot of walking around the city without noticing any problems. I never realised that its altitude isn't much lower than Mexico City (2,079 m).

@Bovidae said in FIFA World Cup:

@booboo said in FIFA World Cup:

I think it's an issue. We find it an issue on the Veldt, and Mexico City is nearly 500m higher:

Altitude:
Mexico City 2,240m
Johannesburg 1,753m
Bloemfontein 1,395m
Pretoria 1,339m

I spent some time in Flagstaff, AZ many years ago and did a lot of walking around the city without noticing any problems. I never realised that its altitude isn't much lower than Mexico City (2,079 m).

Suppose England will be OK if they just walk around the pitch then

I've spent a fair bit of time in mexico city and am a daily runner. Running at that altitude is hard.

Apparently just stared to rain and thunderstorms predicted to continue on and off for next 6 hours... Will be interesting to see what fifa do if that eventuate.s.

Brazilians and ref arcing up like spoiled brats

They don’t like it up ‘em Mr Mainwaring

@SammyC I think England will struggle. It was just a comment about some cities having a higher elevation than you think.

@Bovidae the Mexicans will be playing with a lot of emotion.

That could go either way for them

Always love to see Brazil lose.

The goalscoring in this tournament is kind of nuts. Three guys on 7, Kane on 5 and about to get a chance to add more.

Messi had 7 at the last world cup and was silver boot. Prior to that you have to go back to 1970 where the second highest scorer managed that many. This year 7 might not even get you in the top 3! The last 3 tournaments the third highest scorer managed 4 goals.

1970 was a good year for goals, with Müller getting 10. Since then, 7 would have got you the golden boot every year except 2002 and 2022.

Some of this is down to the extended tournament but I think we've also just got 4 phenomenal strikers in action all at once.

Well cynically speaking the top players are getting extra games and are against weaker opposition. They should be putting in more goals (which is probably the point of the tournament).

Brazil carry on like absolute flogs. Neymar is such an unlikeable douchebag. Pictures of crying brazilian children in teh crowd warm the cockles of my heart. What the fuck was the ref doing trying to let them back in to a game that should have been over?

Haaland is a remarkable player. I've never seen someone so unaffected by not getting touches. The ball doesn't go near him for extended periods and he still converts the two chances presented to him.

Has there ever been a more dissapointing "star player" at the WC than Neymar? Seems to have spent the last 2 rolling around on the ground and gesticulating wildy at the ref...

For a country that used to produce the best of no. 9's, Brazil haven't had a proper one since around 2010 with Luis Fabiano or Adriano before him. It's funny that they are eliminated by the brilliance of one of the only pure 9's running around today. They had their chances but blew them. Deserved to lose. The last Brazil team that were a genuine chance to win the world cup was the 2018 group. Neymar was at his peak in that tournament and they looked good but came undone against Belgium's golden generation and a all-time performance from Eden Hazard.

@Windows97 His career ends up as a case of "what if". Has all the club accolades, was apart of some great teams and arguably the greatest front three ever (Messi/Suarez/Neymar), has the goal scoring record for Brazil... but I still can't help but think that he never reached his full potential. Never won the Ballon D'or which admittedly, is hard in the Messi/CR7 era and he flopped at most of the world cups he played in.

@mariner4life said in FIFA World Cup:

Brazil carry on like absolute flogs. Neymar is such an unlikeable douchebag. Pictures of crying brazilian children in teh crowd warm the cockles of my heart. What the fuck was the ref doing trying to let them back in to a game that should have been over?

Haaland is a remarkable player. I've never seen someone so unaffected by not getting touches. The ball doesn't go near him for extended periods and he still converts the two chances presented to him.

Back in 2014 i must have re-watched that pasting to the Germans half a hundred times. God it was glorious, seeing them crying in the stands.