World Cup 2022: Qatar

[tinker]

Not for me I'm afraid, not yet. Think it maybe the fact it's been played during our winter rather than the summer,  mixture of barbecues and watching in foreign bars is always going to be a better experience.

 The football has been ok but both quarters have been cagey, the ref spoiled the Argentina Holland game, think he gave Messi to much respect,  let him off for a blatant handball (no yellow) and then gave him fouls when he shouldn't have. This then spread into the game and he lost control,.some of the tackles flying in were red cards. Turned into a nasty game, refs fault..

 Messi's pass and Modric's overall performance today were highlights and the second Holland goal...........

[Thug]

7 minutes ago, tinker said:

Not for me I'm afraid, not yet. Think it maybe the fact it's been played during our winter rather than the summer,  mixture of barbecues and watching in foreign bars is always going to be a better experience.

 The football has been ok but both quarters have been cagey, the ref spoiled the Argentina Holland game, think he gave Messi to much respect,  let him off for a blatant handball (no yellow) and then gave him fouls when he shouldn't have. This then spread into the game and he lost control,.some of the tackles flying in were red cards. Turned into a nasty game, refs fault..

 Messi's pass and Modric's overall performance today were highlights and the second Holland goal...........

Absolutely right.

 

Lost all respect when he didn’t book Messi for the hand ball.

 

 

[villa4europe]

9 minutes ago, tinker said:

Not for me I'm afraid, not yet. Think it maybe the fact it's been played during our winter rather than the summer,  mixture of barbecues and watching in foreign bars is always going to be a better experience.

Same here

Would also add a mixture of being at work for the earlier games and then putting the kids to bed for the late games means I'm not watching that much of it and because there's no sunshine and social activity around it I'm not missing it, still not seen any buzz on WhatsApp about meeting mates to watch games, even England, tomorrow night is the same, Saturday game and all my mates are watching it at home with their family rather than going out at mid day like we would for a summer tournament

Also not convinced the football I've seen is that much better than normal, think a few shock results is clouding judgement, there's not been that many great games or goals, how many of these games are going in to the fifa vault as all time classic games? Japan beat Germany, great result, great headline, it wasnt a great game though, tonight ended up with drama but it wasn't a good game, the Bergkamp game in 98 blows it out of the water

[robby b]

Just now, 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. 

My first world cup (that I watched on TV) was Spain 82, I enjoyed England's win against France with Bryan Robson scoring in the first minute! And I loved Peru's distinctive  kit and Brazil: they had a brilliant team with Socrates and Ader.

And I loved Italy 90 (with Lineker scoring lots of goals) until it got to the penalties in the semi, that was heartbreaking. :<

Edited December 10, 2022 by robby b

[TRO]

14 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. 

..........and he has done well to feature in place of Mings., who hasn't done much wrong for England.....

[TRO]

For those that dismiss having a big man in a squad as an option......Weghorst displayed well how that big central figure up front can disrupt defences and change games.

first class header, and a used his muscle well for a clever set piece.....He clearly upset Argentina.

maybe its not, for he purists, and not for a regular style, but its a great option to have.

[sheepyvillian]

Who would have thought you would see Holland channelling their inner Wimbledon. 

Johan must have been turning. 

[KentVillan]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

..........and he has done well to feature in place of Mings., who hasn't done much wrong for England.....

I think White was taken for his ability to play RB, RCB and CB, and it makes sense to have a utility defender in the squad. I don't think he was competing with Mings for a place.

The weird thing is how Southgate has taken so much cover at RB. I would have taken one of the specialist RBs out (as you still have White and Saka to cover injuries to the first two), put Mings in ahead of Coady, then you've got an extra slot for a striker or left back.

In fairness to Southgate, it's possible his thinking was Walker might get injured and Trippier is LB cover, and Coady is just there as the hype man. Still doesn't really explain why he's left us so light in attack.

If we're honest with ourselves, the reason not many Villa players are featuring in the WC is Steven Gerrard. I think Mings, Watkins, Dougie, Buendia, Digne and possibly a couple of others would have had a decent shot at a WC place if Emery had been here a bit longer. They were all getting caps relatively recently.

Never mind, we'll have a well rested squad for the second half of the league.

[KentVillan]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

For those that dismiss having a big man in a squad as an option......Weghorst displayed well how that big central figure up front can disrupt defences and change games.

first class header, and a used his muscle well for a clever set piece.....He clearly upset Argentina.

maybe its not, for he purists, and not for a regular style, but its a great option to have.

It worked particularly well against Argentina because their defence is quite small.

Just Googling their heights - Lisandro Martinez 5'9, Otamendi 6'0, Romero 6'1. Not sure who exactly was on the pitch when van Gaal rolled the dice, but Tagliafico 5'8, Montiel 5'9, Holding midfielder Enzo Fernandez 5'10.

It was the smart move in this game. In the Premier League I don't think you get that match up so often, but I agree it's a good option to have.

[avfc1982am]

1 hour ago, robby b said:

My first world cup (that I watched on TV) was Spain 82, I enjoyed England's win against France with Bryan Robson scoring in the first minute! And I loved Peru's distinctive  kit and Brazil: they had a brilliant team with Socrates and Ader.

And I loved Italy 90 (with Lineker scoring lots of goals) until it got to the penalties in the semi, that was heartbreaking. :<

82 was mine. Zico along with Tony Morley were my hero's. That 82 WC was still to this day my most loved. From the moment Robbo netted against France it was just brilliant game after brilliant game. Some of the match ups were amazing. The most disgusting thing about it was Peter Withe being the only Villa player in the England squad considering we just won the European Cup. Absolute travesty imo that several of our players weren't in that squad. Instead waiting for Brooking and Keegan to be fit. Then they came on in the draw v Spain when we needed a win and delivered zilch. Total bollox.

As a tournament though I still find it hard to find to pick anything that rivals it. It probably had more football legends participating than any other WC in history. It was just mental and the football legendary. 

Here are the goals. I would say if anyone can find the official video narrated by Sean Connery its a serious good watch.

 

[Villaphan04]

so, uh, what the **** is going on over there.

 

 

[sne]

2 hours ago, Villaphan04 said:

so, uh, what the **** is going on over there.

 

 

Reported he suffered a heart attack after first getting bronchitis earlier during the tournament but was on the mend.

His brother is claiming they had him killed. Doesn't believe it was natural causes.

[OhioVilla]

He was arrested by the Qatar police for wearing a Pride shirt to one of the matches. 2 weeks later, a healthy man drops dead?

Do not buy it at all.

[Keyblade]

4 hours ago, avfc1982am said:

82 was mine. Zico along with Tony Morley were my hero's. That 82 WC was still to this day my most loved. From the moment Robbo netted against France it was just brilliant game after brilliant game. Some of the match ups were amazing. The most disgusting thing about it was Peter Withe being the only Villa player in the England squad considering we just won the European Cup. Absolute travesty imo that several of our players weren't in that squad. Instead waiting for Brooking and Keegan to be fit. Then they came on in the draw v Spain when we needed a win and delivered zilch. Total bollox.

As a tournament though I still find it hard to find to pick anything that rivals it. It probably had more football legends participating than any other WC in history. It was just mental and the football legendary. 

Here are the goals. I would say if anyone can find the official video narrated by Sean Connery its a serious good watch.

 

I was randomly watching this yesterday. This is the world cup my dad always raved about. He loved Brazil. I grew up hearing about Socrates and Zico and watching them recently in these clips, they really were brilliant weren't they? Their skill seemed unmatched by any other team in the tournament from what I can tell. 

[AXD]

9 hours ago, maqroll said:

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

I keep seeing this kind of posts on social media as well, mostly from Arabs. Seems like they want to push this narrative. 
personally I disagree. Too many boring draws in the group stages, no real exciting games in the knock outs (tense though). Add the boring crowds and the wrong season for the WC (no barbecues) makes it definitely not the best ever. Some good football and upsets (spain and Brazil out) makes it ok for sure, but far from the best.

[tinker]

7 hours ago, KentVillan said:

It worked particularly well against Argentina because their defence is quite small.

Just Googling their heights - Lisandro Martinez 5'9, Otamendi 6'0, Romero 6'1. Not sure who exactly was on the pitch when van Gaal rolled the dice, but Tagliafico 5'8, Montiel 5'9, Holding midfielder Enzo Fernandez 5'10.

It was the smart move in this game. In the Premier League I don't think you get that match up so often, but I agree it's a good option to have.

Good point on the heights, I'm sure it won't be lost on Croatia who are a big powerful team. 

[HKP90]

3 hours ago, AXD said:

I keep seeing this kind of posts on social media as well, mostly from Arabs. Seems like they want to push this narrative. 
personally I disagree. Too many boring draws in the group stages, no real exciting games in the knock outs (tense though). Add the boring crowds and the wrong season for the WC (no barbecues) makes it definitely not the best ever. Some good football and upsets (spain and Brazil out) makes it ok for sure, but far from the best.

Too many Penalty shootouts in the knockouts at the moment for  but hopefully that will change. 

Certainly it's been dramatic, which is good.

[avfc1982am]

5 hours ago, Keyblade said:

I was randomly watching this yesterday. This is the world cup my dad always raved about. He loved Brazil. I grew up hearing about Socrates and Zico and watching them recently in these clips, they really were brilliant weren't they? Their skill seemed unmatched by any other team in the tournament from what I can tell. 

That 82 Brazil team is arguably the greatest team never to win a World Cup, probably their best team since 1970. Such a beautiful team to watch play football. Here's the 82 Brazil story football art.  

 

[turnbull]

14 hours ago, rjw63 said:

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

70 was a good one, Brazil were magical. 

[messi11]

England vs France. Lets go!