Football (World Cup 26)

[lost]

I watched Brazil vs Norway then left the Iplayer app open, switched my phone off and went to bed, got up and streamed the whole match from 6.

 

Cracking game but horrible to watch after the red card. I think Dan Burn broke some clearence record in 15 mins 😄

 

Quansah out now and think Henderson injured himself in the celebrations.

[charlierc]

20 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I remember before the World Cup hearing people say England would struggle with the Miami heat, lucky they found an opponent who will struggle more!

Tbf we've just spent a week deliberating how England would deal with playing a host nation in their sporting cathedral at high altitude. So if nothing else they got that test checked off. 

 

Whether the next right back can be part of a defensive unit that shuts out the goalscorer extraordinaire Norway have is another question. As well as dealing with Miami's vibe. 

[charlierc]

2 minutes ago, lost said:

I watched Brazil vs Norway then left the Iplayer app open, switched my phone off and went to bed, got up and streamed the whole match from 6.

 

Cracking game but horrible to watch after the red card. I think Dan Burn broke some clearence record in 15 mins 😄

 

Quansah out now and think Henderson injured himself in the celebrations.

Aye he only played 20 minutes but that display justified bringing Burn along by itself. 

 

Yeah apparently Henderson fell off a billboard and badly f**ked up his wrist. Tuchel confirmed he's been taken to hospital rather than going back to America with everyone else. Very unfortunate. 

[Skip997]

It’s a funny old world. I’m now a blob fish fan 

[Ben7amin_]

Best performance yet by England -  Fancy us to beat Norway now -    

[pink_triangle]

2 hours ago, lost said:

I watched Brazil vs Norway then left the Iplayer app open, switched my phone off and went to bed, got up and streamed the whole match from 6.

 

Cracking game but horrible to watch after the red card. I think Dan Burn broke some clearence record in 15 mins 😄

 

Quansah out now and think Henderson injured himself in the celebrations.

It feels like Henderson can play the same role injured as he does fit!

[pink_triangle]

2 hours ago, charlierc said:

Tbf we've just spent a week deliberating how England would deal with playing a host nation in their sporting cathedral at high altitude. So if nothing else they got that test checked off. 

 

Whether the next right back can be part of a defensive unit that shuts out the goalscorer extraordinaire Norway have is another question. As well as dealing with Miami's vibe. 

As I said previously I would always go for the team with the best players. I still don’t think any Mexico player would make the England squad. Norway there may be 2 or 3, but unlike Mexico one of those players is one of the best in the world. England probably have the best squad (admittedly Argentina close) in their half of the draw, so think they will be favourites against Norway and 50/50 if they play Argentina.

[steviewevie]

24 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

As I said previously I would always go for the team with the best players. I still don’t think any Mexico player would make the England squad. Norway there may be 2 or 3, but unlike Mexico one of those players is one of the best in the world. England probably have the best squad (admittedly Argentina close) in their half of the draw, so think they will be favourites against Norway and 50/50 if they play Argentina.

Most of the teams are kind of the same level now, it's just who has the superstar strikers...Norway and Argentina have one, England has two, but France has three.

QED

[philipsteak]

Thoughts and prayers for any bar staff working on Saturday.

[balti-pie]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

As I said previously I would always go for the team with the best players. I still don’t think any Mexico player would make the England squad. Norway there may be 2 or 3, but unlike Mexico one of those players is one of the best in the world. England probably have the best squad (admittedly Argentina close) in their half of the draw, so think they will be favourites against Norway and 50/50 if they play Argentina.

 

Yeah, i very much align myself with that - i think England will narrowly take care of Norway, and while Argentina in a semi is 50/50, there's also the Messi factor at play - FIFA bloody love him and clearly want him to go as far as possible. Very hard to call.

I think France are far and away the best team in the tournament but that doesnt mean they'll win, if its an England v France final then its up for grabs innit - i dunno whether to be happy for people around me supporting England or aghast at the prospect of them winning the bloody thing 😄 i'm as neutral as possible, i just want some people to laugh at! 

[kaosmark2]

Thought that was one of the best games of the tournament so far, up there with Argentina v Cape Verde.

 

Big Dan Burn with the epic blocks.

Edited July 6 by kaosmark2

[lost]

1 hour ago, balti-pie said:

 i dunno whether to be happy for people around me supporting England or aghast at the prospect of them winning the bloody thing 😄 i'm as neutral as possible, i just want some people to laugh at! 

 

I'm just hoping when/if we do go out its from a great performance from one opposition player and not a Quansah like mistake from any of our players.

 

We always seem to get red cards in the knock outs. 

[steviewevie]

We're obviously going to win the whole thing now.

[Crazyfool01]

8 hours ago, charlierc said:

Yeah I had no energy so slept through it. Went in blind before watching the YouTube highlights and looks like I missed a good match. 

 

I was aware before going to bed of Norway dumping out Brazil. Which, tbf, I did think was a credible possibility. 

I woke up with low blood sugars as it was 2-0 went back to sleep to be woken by people on the way home for the pub singing Ingerland ingerland etc so knew the result … watched the highlights when I got up . Infantino needs to go now this is ridiculous 

[steviewevie]

16 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

. Infantino needs to go now this is ridiculous 

Yep, the red card is dodge imo, but this Trump intervention has kind of f**ked it for the US team no matter what happens, imagine if US wins tonight and Balogun scores? And now you get Trump gloating about it, just making things worse and worse. Feel sorry for this Balogun guy really.

[Ben7amin_]

The right thing to do is for USA to not play Belogun and for Infantino to resign...

 

This is however wildly unrealistic 

[lost]

Depends what Infantino's mandate is. If its to grow the sport in the U.S, he's probably done the right thing.

 

Same thing with expanding the numbers, I wouldn't be suprised if it keeps happening until say an India or China qualify as that's an extra 1 billion viewers potentially.

[kaosmark2]

2 minutes ago, lost said:

Depends what Infantino's mandate is. If its to grow the sport in the U.S, he's probably done the right thing.

 

Same thing with expanding the numbers, I wouldn't be suprised if it keeps happening until say an India or China qualify as that's an extra 1 billion viewers potentially.

I swear China have qualified before?

[lost]

1 minute ago, kaosmark2 said:

I swear China have qualified before?

 

2002 apparently. 

[charlierc]

8 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

I swear China have qualified before?

Yup, 2002. Lost every game without scoring a goal. 

 

Seems like the Chinese lost enthusiasm for investing in football after that brief flurry into the Chinese Super League 10ish years ago. So feels like it might be some time before we see them at a World Cup. 

[kaosmark2]

5 minutes ago, lost said:

2002 apparently. 

OK I hadn't realised it was that long ago but fair enough. 

 

I think growing football in India is going to be a very difficult task, in China multiple sports are taken seriously and they fund a lot of sports and try and drive for major success at the Olympics, so if they want to give it another go, it could get somewhere. But India is just cricket-mad, and I know that vaguely successful athletes in other sports are actively funnelled into cricket instead.

[lost]

12 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

 India is just cricket-mad, and I know that vaguely successful athletes in other sports are actively funnelled into cricket instead.

 

I noticed the aussies had a guy of Indian decent on their team. Nishan Velupillay? 

 

Going forward they could go the route some countries seem to and recruit people of Indian decent from countries who invest more in football. 

[steviewevie]

1 hour ago, lost said:

Depends what Infantino's mandate is. If its to grow the sport in the U.S, he's probably done the right thing.

 

 

well that definitely depends on how it pans out. At moment it looks more damaging to the sport in the US than anything.

If US win tonight its because they're cheating and corrupt. If they lose the world will celebrate.

[steviewevie]

 

Edited July 6 by steviewevie

[steviewevie]

Keir Starmer intervened in row over Mexico-England kick-off time - BBC News