*** The Official 2022 World Cup Thread ***

[Indy 3,298]

I’m still in shock on that utterly disgusting penalty award! I’ve never seen such a stupid use of VAR!

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

Argentina looking more like the side we expected to watch. Poland look petrified.

[Herman 9,758]

Poland deserve to go out on this showing. Very poor. 

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

3 minutes ago, Herman said:

Poland deserve to go out on this showing. Very poor. 

BBC making a typo again.

[yellowrider120 762]

As Argentina bring substitute after substitute on, one is left wondering where on earth is the God Buendia? One poster on here did say many months ago that .......'Emi was going to win the World Cup with Argentina' . 

[Capt. Pants 4,231]

4 minutes ago, yellowrider120 said:

As Argentina bring substitute after substitute on, one is left wondering where on earth is the God Buendia? One poster on here did say many months ago that .......'Emi was going to win the World Cup with Argentina' . 

Unfortunately he picked the wrong time to be alive. He doesn't get close to this squad.

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

OK, who saw that coming? Saudi Arabia just put the dagger in Mexican hopes there. Poland will feel vindicated for stinking out the joint.

EDIT: OK, maybe they didn't. It would have boiled down to goals scored instead. Ignore this.

Edited November 30, 2022 by TheGunnShow

[Capt. Pants 4,231]

What an absolutely fantastic tournament.

I hope France beat Poland now. A quite bizarre performance from the Poles tonight.

[SwearyCanary 1,179]

Just watched the Mexico free kick. Great strike! 

[Ken Hairy 3,772]

So if we beat Senegal then it's definitely France, not a cat in hells chance that mob beat the French.

[Ken Hairy 3,772]

6 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

OK, who saw that coming? Saudi Arabia just put the dagger in Mexican hopes there. Poland will feel vindicated for stinking out the joint.

The Saudi goal actually changed nothing, a 3rd Mexico goal still would have put them through on goals scored.

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

Just now, Ken Hairy said:

The Saudi goal actually changed nothing, a 3rd Mexico goal still would have put them through on goals scored.

Just saw the BBC comment stating that and realised I'd called it incorrectly.

[SwearyCanary 1,179]

I really cannot see how that Messi pen was awarded. Sorry. Been said but Jesus 

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,749]

Dont think i'll be pinning a lot of hopes on yhe Poles vs France...not that I wouldve expected Mexico to do much but a side going into it off the back of a win might have been more confident that that dreadful Polish showing.

Damned Argies...loose their first game vs Saudi...now theyve got bl0ody Australia to get to the quarter finals

 

[KiwiScot 1,443]

Ben White has left England's World Cup squad in Qatar to return home for personal reasons and is not expected to return for the rest of the tournament, England said in a statement.

Edited November 30, 2022 by KiwiScot

[Iwans Big Toe 312]

 

Made me chuckle.

 

 

[king canary 7,605]

10 hours ago, SwearyCanary said:

I really cannot see how that Messi pen was awarded. Sorry. Been said but Jesus 

Same. I cannot for the live of me see how that can be considered a penalty.

Nothing about the contact changes anything in the play- Messi gets his header, it goes wide, he isn't thrown off but he gets a slight tap in the face from a diving keeper after the ball is gone. Football isn't non-contact.

[Capt. Pants 4,231]

10 hours ago, GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary said:

Dont think i'll be pinning a lot of hopes on yhe Poles vs France...not that I wouldve expected Mexico to do much but a side going into it off the back of a win might have been more confident that that dreadful Polish showing.

Damned Argies...loose their first game vs Saudi...now theyve got bl0ody Australia to get to the quarter finals

 

And then a QF against Holland or USA, whereas Spain and Brazil will likely meet in the QFs. It's opening up nicely for the Argies.

[PurpleCanary 5,558]

ALLEZ LES MAROCAINS!!!

 

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by PurpleCanary

[Barham Blitz 652]

14 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

And there wasn't one amongst those England midfielders. Which is why I maintain it was imbalanced. You had a bumper crop of attacking midfielders with varying strengths (Lampard was a goalscoring threat, Beckham had his set-pieces and Scholes was the most imperious in possession), and in Gerrard a genuine box-to-box one.

Keane became a master of that role in front of the defence when he was a little older and not the thunderous box-to-box presence of his earlier days.

It was completely unbalanced and made worse by Sven's obsession with 4-4-2.  With a very good squad of players available we massively regressed from the Venables and arguably the Hoddle eras.

That said, I struggle to find a way of getting all four of them into a balanced midfield in any formation. Particularly given the riches we were blessed with at centre back and striker at the time.  Maybe a 3-5-1-1 or 3--4-2-1.  Either way, at international level Scholes would have been the first name down for me ahead of Lampard or Gerrard.  The former was slightly more one dimensional albeit exceptional at what he did, but the latter whilst more rounded as a player had very little sense of positional awareness and team structure.  So you sort of needed to build a team around Gerrard to compensate for his wanderings to make him effective. 

What I like about Southgate is that he doesn't just throw the best 11 players into a team and trust that they'll work it out.  He looks at the way each element works within the whole.  Which is why he has been as successful as he has with arguably a weaker squad (despite popular opinion) than anyone since Hoddle.

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

57 minutes ago, Barham Blitz said:

It was completely unbalanced and made worse by Sven's obsession with 4-4-2.  With a very good squad of players available we massively regressed from the Venables and arguably the Hoddle eras.

That said, I struggle to find a way of getting all four of them into a balanced midfield in any formation. Particularly given the riches we were blessed with at centre back and striker at the time.  Maybe a 3-5-1-1 or 3--4-2-1.  Either way, at international level Scholes would have been the first name down for me ahead of Lampard or Gerrard.  The former was slightly more one dimensional albeit exceptional at what he did, but the latter whilst more rounded as a player had very little sense of positional awareness and team structure.  So you sort of needed to build a team around Gerrard to compensate for his wanderings to make him effective. 

What I like about Southgate is that he doesn't just throw the best 11 players into a team and trust that they'll work it out.  He looks at the way each element works within the whole.  Which is why he has been as successful as he has with arguably a weaker squad (despite popular opinion) than anyone since Hoddle.

Tell you who it needed, but he was too old - David Batty.

[cambridgeshire canary 6,716]

Really hope Japan pull off a stunner tonight and sink Spain.. Not getting my hopes up but it would be nice to see 

[Capt. Pants 4,231]

I'd like to see Croatia and Morocco wins.

I really think Japan have blown it tbh. Spain will want to win the group to secure a potential R16 against Morocco.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,749]

5 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

And then a QF against Holland or USA, whereas Spain and Brazil will likely meet in the QFs. It's opening up nicely for the Argies.

5 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

And then a QF against Holland or USA, whereas Spain and Brazil will likely meet in the QFs. It's opening up nicely for the Argies.

This is a consequence of FIFA automatically making the hosts a seed in a group, regardless of how bad they are. It mot only distorts the group stage by having 1 group weakly unbalanced by then the knockout rounds thereafter

[Midlands Yellow 3,980]

Now or never for Belgium, piling on at 6/4.

[WD40 720]

7 hours ago, Iwans Big Toe said:

 

Made me chuckle.

 

 

Worst team in the tournament? Qatar run them close but they offered nothing. 

[Capt. Pants 4,231]

VAR just keeps on giving. 

I suppose there'll be some degree of urgency from Belgium eventually?

[dylanisabaddog 4,920]

3 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

VAR just keeps on giving. 

I suppose there'll be some degree of urgency from Belgium eventually?

Absolutely bizarre. I didn't think the Belgian actually touched the bloke but giving it offside was a bit odd. Why did that need the ref to look at it again? Either it was or it wasn't. 

I share your despair 

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,414]

I'm finding Lineker and Shearer really grating.

[WD40 720]

1 minute ago, Wings of a Sparrow said:

I'm finding Lineker and Shearer really grating.

Wait till you find out how much taxpayer money they earn