World Cup: Matches

[messi11]

10 minutes ago, TomC said:

Can't agree...the 3rd round of the groups has been great, but the first 2 rounds had way too many awful matches.

 

I disagree. This is the best world cup in 4 years for me from round 1 to 3.

Can we agree to disagree?

Edited December 1, 2022 by messi11

[Johnnyp]

Why is souness dressed like he’s auditioning for Indiana Jones. 

[VillaParkAvenue]

Spain losing was the most obvious ”shock” in years. So obvious even I bet on Japan winning - Spain did nothing to score once Germany were back in the lead. Lovely.

[Johnnyp]

Anyone reckon Spain purposely pulled up when they seen they would finish second and face Morocco instead of first and Croatia. Also now not on the Brazil side of the draw either. 

[VillaParkAvenue]

3 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

Anyone reckon Spain purposely pulled up when they seen they would finish second and face Morocco instead of first and Croatia. Also now not on the Brazil side of the draw either. 

Of course they did. It was visible too, they looked really stressed for a few minutes when Costa Rica were ahead but once Germany were back in the lead they had zero interest in scoring. 

[rjw63]

1 hour ago, messi11 said:

This is the best world cup in 4 years 

[will87]

I'd go even further than that, 4.5 years for me.

[Wainy316]

Seeing that and if it’s backed up by tech, I am now genuinely wondering if the Sheff Utd ghost goal maybe wasn’t 100% over the line after all.  
 

Maybe the football world owes us an apology.

[messi11]

25 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

Seeing that and if it’s backed up by tech, I am now genuinely wondering if the Sheff Utd ghost goal maybe wasn’t 100% over the line after all.  
 

Maybe the football world owes us an apology.

I refuse to believe any goal crossed the line now unless it bursts through the back of the nets to make a hole.

 

[Xela]

Don't worry, when its a 48 team world cup, there will be none of these shocks. The groups will be so weak, the 2 expected teams will go through. 

 

[maqroll]

2 hours ago, The_Steve said:

Very happy for Japan, think they can beat Croatia on Monday.

Yes, they'll be happy with that opponent, and Croatia will also like the match up. Should be good!

[maqroll]

2 hours ago, TomC said:

Can't agree...the 3rd round of the groups has been great, but the first 2 rounds had way too many awful matches.

 

For me it's been either amazing or bland, and that goes for the atmosphere too.

[Marka Ragnos]

2 hours ago, AVTuco said:

Ball is round, impossible to say from the picture. It's the same as with corners taken, they often look like they are kicked from over the line.

I don’t know. I see la mano de Dios clearly holding that ball back. 

[maqroll]

6 minutes ago, Xela said:

Don't worry, when its a 48 team world cup, there will be none of these shocks. The groups will be so weak, the 2 expected teams will go through. 

 

I'm really looking forward to Brazil v Tonga, should be a nail biter.

[messi11]

15 minutes ago, Xela said:

Don't worry, when its a 48 team world cup, there will be none of these shocks. The groups will be so weak, the 2 expected teams will go through. 

 

Why don't they just do a World cup which features all 195 countries across the world. The groups can be played instead of international friendlies over the course of 4 seasons. 

 

[HanoiVillan]

11 minutes ago, maqroll said:

I'm really looking forward to Brazil v Tonga, should be a nail biter.

I don't like this expansion idea one bit, but people are getting a bit far ahead of themselves with talk of Laos and Tonga! It's like 3 extra teams or so per qualification - Europe could be Italy, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Russia etc, Africa could be Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Mali, South America likely to be Chile, Peru, Colombia, Paraguay. Admittedly the level sinks a bit further in Asia and North America, but you'd have to have a World Cup of about 160 teams before Laos or Tonga were in danger of appearing. 

[maqroll]

6 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I don't like this expansion idea one bit, but people are getting a bit far ahead of themselves with talk of Laos and Tonga! It's like 3 extra teams or so per qualification - Europe could be Italy, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Russia etc, Africa could be Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Mali, South America likely to be Chile, Peru, Colombia, Paraguay. Admittedly the level sinks a bit further in Asia and North America, but you'd have to have a World Cup of about 160 teams before Laos or Tonga were in danger of appearing. 

I know, I was exaggerating.  

[Zatman]

7 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I don't like this expansion idea one bit, but people are getting a bit far ahead of themselves with talk of Laos and Tonga! It's like 3 extra teams or so per qualification - Europe could be Italy, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Russia etc, Africa could be Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Mali, South America likely to be Chile, Peru, Colombia, Paraguay. Admittedly the level sinks a bit further in Asia and North America, but you'd have to have a World Cup of about 160 teams before Laos or Tonga were in danger of appearing. 

While true Oceania will have a full place now and New Zealand are not a power like Australia that its fully guaranteed

Not so long ago Tahiti got into the Confederations Cup

[HanoiVillan]

2 minutes ago, maqroll said:

I know, I was exaggerating.  

I know 

But I think people are overly concerned about quality dilution in general, we've seen several upsets in this WC and only one thrashing, and there are easily enough good sides that 48 won't lead to more than 1 or 2 stupid sides. IMO the good reason to oppose expansion is just that 32 is the perfect number from the perspective of interesting, meaningful and competitive group games. 

7 minutes ago, Zatman said:

While true Oceania will have a full place now and New Zealand are not a power like Australia that its fully guaranteed

Not so long ago Tahiti got into the Confederations Cup

My boring opinion about this is that there are too many federations, which are too unbalanced in size. I would combine Asia and Oceania but have regional pre-qualifying rounds, so Oceania islands would still basically only play each other unless one was unexpectedly brilliant, as there would be Oceania group, East and Central Asia, South and South East Asia, and West Asia/Middles East. Then there would be groups drawn from the stronger sides in those. This would avoid the 'we have to give a place to Oceania because we can't think of a reason why not other than they're shit' problem. I'd also combine North and South America, but again have a pre-qualifying round. 

[Johnnyp]

17 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I don't like this expansion idea one bit, but people are getting a bit far ahead of themselves with talk of Laos and Tonga! It's like 3 extra teams or so per qualification - Europe could be Italy, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Russia etc, Africa could be Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Mali, South America likely to be Chile, Peru, Colombia, Paraguay. Admittedly the level sinks a bit further in Asia and North America, but you'd have to have a World Cup of about 160 teams before Laos or Tonga were in danger of appearing. 

Gonna get some crap from CONCACAF though. USA , Canada and Mexico automatically qualify. CONCACAF will get 3 qualifying spots along with 2 playoffs. Step up El Salvador and Jamaica.