World Cup 2022: Qatar

[maqroll]

1 minute ago, tomav84 said:

where it is is probably a factor. there are no £20 a night hostels to kip at or cheap flights so the younger crowd aren't there in as many numbers. not saying it's a bad thing but the fact that there have been zero reports of crowd trouble indicates that there's a different clientele attending these games

That or really tight security everywhere. 

[maqroll]

12 hours ago, Xela said:

Reading the papers (I know!) it seems that White wasn't prepared for tactics meetings and wasn't aware of some of the opposition player strengths. White has himself said that he never watched football as a kid and doesn't watch it now. He's done well to become a professional player if that is true! 

I do think 26 man squads are far too big. Nothing wrong with 22/23 as previous years. 

So was he kicked off the team?

[tomav84]

Just now, maqroll said:

That or really tight security everywhere. 

possibly. its just a theory. you've just not really seen the loud beer throwing lads though whenever fans have been shown on the news. it's an older and more civilized crowd

[Zatman]

Far from the best World Cup, even the game tonight was a dud until the Dutch got a late goal. They had one shot until about the 70th minute and had no shots in Extra time

Croatia werent much better

[Xela]

2 minutes ago, maqroll said:

So was he kicked off the team?

Not sure, all newspaper rumours. They seem to suggest he had an argument with a member of the England coaching team and then asked to leave the camp. Could be bullshit!

[Zatman]

5 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

where it is is probably a factor. there are no £20 a night hostels to kip at or cheap flights so the younger crowd aren't there in as many numbers. not saying it's a bad thing but the fact that there have been zero reports of crowd trouble indicates that there's a different clientele attending these games

I think the countries with the most fans that travelled are from Arabic/African countries and they arent the type to get into a punch up with random other countries. 

[KentVillan]

7 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

where it is is probably a factor. there are no £20 a night hostels to kip at or cheap flights so the younger crowd aren't there in as many numbers. not saying it's a bad thing but the fact that there have been zero reports of crowd trouble indicates that there's a different clientele attending these games

Or just no drinking in the stadiums, and not that many places to drink outside the stadiums

[mjmooney]

12 hours ago, Xela said:

White has himself said that he never watched football as a kid and doesn't watch it now. 

Brian Little was the same. As was David Batty. 

[KentVillan]

2 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Far from the best World Cup, even the game tonight was a dud until the Dutch got a late goal. They had one shot until about the 70th minute and had no shots in Extra time

Croatia werent much better

That's bollocks tbh, it's been a classic, and in my lifetime only 98 and 06 have had a similar level of drama and quality

[tomav84]

4 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

That's bollocks tbh, it's been a classic, and in my lifetime only 98 and 06 have had a similar level of drama and quality

2014 for me. dont remember a single 0-0 (was there even any?)

edit: i'm thinking of 2018 - just 1 0-0

Edited December 9, 2022 by tomav84

[Zatman]

3 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

That's bollocks tbh, it's been a classic, and in my lifetime only 98 and 06 have had a similar level of drama and quality

the last World Cup was better than this for quality and drama. Russia and Sweden incredible runs. France vs Argentina one of the best World Cup games ever then was Spain/Portugal, Russia/Croatia, England/Croatia, France/Croatia, Belgium/Japan  all but one were knockout games

So far the knockouts have been dull games or one sided wins

[KentVillan]

1 minute ago, tomav84 said:

2014 for me. dont remember a single 0-0 (was there even any?)

2014 was decent, but had a pretty boring knockout stage (including the final)... there were a few 0-0s yeah, but not loads. The hot humid weather in the north of Brazil wore down a few teams. I think this winter format produces better football, as all the players look fresh. Plus the refs stopping the watch more often has meant you get a lot more drama towards the end.

[KentVillan]

Just now, Zatman said:

the last World Cup was better than this for quality and drama. Russia and Sweden incredible runs. France vs Argentina one of the best World Cup games ever then was Spain/Portugal, Russia/Croatia, England/Croatia, France/Croatia, Belgium/Japan  all but one were knockout games

So far the knockouts have been dull games or one sided wins

The last World Cup was awful. Most of the teams looked completely spent towards the latter stages. The France/Belgium side of the draw was very good, but the England/Croatia side was pants.

[avfc1982am]

15 minutes ago, maqroll said:

Whether we like it or not, this is shaping up to be arguably the best ever World Cup..

It really isn't. 

You hear this banded about everywhere. The one thing that denies this actually being factually correct is the individual memory. Everybody will have different a perspective on their personal favourite based on memories. 

I'm sure if England win it then all us English will put it up there in the memory bank as a positive but nobody outside the Country will care. Same with any Country tbh. 

 

[rjw63]

12 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

That's bollocks tbh, it's been a classic, and in my lifetime only 98 and 06 have had a similar level of drama and quality

You must be very young, '78 and '82 were fantastic

[KentVillan]

Just now, rjw63 said:

You must be very young, '78 and '82 were fantastic

I'm 38, so yes anything before 1990 I can't remember

[avfc1982am]

Spain 82, Mexico 86, Italia 90. All these were better WC's for me personally. 82 and 86 because I was an footy mad kid. 90, because I could enjoy it in the pub with mates, and obviously England had a great tournament with our own David Platt lighting the Country up against Belgium and then the Cameroon and Germany games were amazing. 98 I got to go England v Tunisia, my only WC game which was mental. I also loved Brazil in 2014 which was visually amazing even if England were disappointing, it was also a fantastic summer in the UK. 

It's all about the individual memories, but I would guess that most peoples favourite tournaments will have been as youngsters or based on personal memories during the tournaments. 

[KentVillan]

3 minutes ago, avfc1982am said:

Spain 82, Mexico 86, Italia 90. All these were better WC's for me personally. 82 and 86 because I was an footy mad kid. 90, because I could enjoy it in the pub with mates, and obviously England had a great tournament with our own David Platt lighting the Country up against Belgium and then the Cameroon and Germany games were amazing. 98 I got to go England v Tunisia, my only WC game which was mental. I also loved Brazil in 2014 which was visually amazing even if England were disappointing, it was also a fantastic summer in the UK. 

It's all about the individual memories, but I would guess that most peoples favourite tournaments will have been as youngsters or based on personal memories during the tournaments. 

Yeah but I think people are just commenting here on the general quality of the football on TV between sides they don't care about. It's not as if everyone saying this is 12 years old. We've all seen a few World Cups...

[PaulC]

21 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

That's bollocks tbh, it's been a classic, and in my lifetime only 98 and 06 have had a similar level of drama and quality

I agree I think its been an excellent world cup. Still can't pick a winner.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

Mexico 86 was my first World Cup and still the best for me although Italia 90 is close.

Qatar 22 has been absolutely bonkers though, no World Cup before has had this many shock results. This is exactly why we watch, it is unpredictable.