World Cup Qatar 2022 - Desert Strike

[Ork1927]

Assuming England win tonight, I'll be in the strange position of fully supporting a team against England.

 

I hate England vs Wales as I have to support England, but don't want Wales to lose and it gets very confusing with Cardiff players. Tuesday, if England are through then I'm getting a temporary dragon tattoo on my face and a bucket hat.

[Thor]

Stop looking so depsondent, Bale, you were fucking shit all match. 

[glb]

4 minutes ago, jonamok said:

Would LOVE Iran and the USA to make it out of this group.

 

One of them will and it won't be the USA.

[Gabzy]

Fully deserved, they were excellent today.

[Ork1927]

Problem for Wales is even if Southgate rests everyone for the third game then they have to deal with Foden, Grealish, Rashford, Wilson, etc, etc and they'll have a field day.

[Gotters]

Not sure why Wales looked so flat all game, I get they're players aren't all top level but you'd expect a bit more energy and effort about them.

 

If you're Wales getting Iran in a WC group game is something you'd expect to be really up for getting a win, instead they played like a backs against the wall minnow. 

[Gabe]

I know there is always a bit of home-nation bias, but Gabby Logan saying it was a sucker-punch suggests Iran were lucky in some way or it was against the run of play, but its such a false narrative.

[feltmonkey]

Iran deserved to win, they were the better team. God they were dirty though, Klinsmann is absolutely right.

 

Edit - Not sure about the "that's their culture" comments though. To give him the benefit of the doubt perhaps he means their footballing culture.

[Fierce Poodle]

Weird, I didn’t see any Iran players doing flying kicks at opponents necks.

[davidcotton]

11 minutes ago, Gotters said:

Not sure why Wales looked so flat all game, I get they're players aren't all top level but you'd expect a bit more energy and effort about them.

 

If you're Wales getting Iran in a WC group game is something you'd expect to be really up for getting a win, instead they played like a backs against the wall minnow. 

I suspect it’s reliance on the Bale of 2022 rather than the Bale of 2016. 

[davidcotton]

9 minutes ago, Gabe said:

I know there is always a bit of home-nation bias, but Gabby Logan saying it was a sucker-punch suggests Iran were lucky in some way or it was against the run of play, but its such a false narrative.

Could have been 3-4 Iran easily in the second half alone. 

[Stoppy2000]

Imagine having to have an injured Joe Allen as your game changer. 

[Ork1927]

Very interested 

12 minutes ago, Gotters said:

Not sure why Wales looked so flat all game, I get they're players aren't all top level but you'd expect a bit more energy and effort about them.

 

If you're Wales getting Iran in a WC group game is something you'd expect to be really up for getting a win, instead they played like a backs against the wall minnow. 

 

Bale and Rambo were so useless and it was boiling so the other 8 outfield players felt like they'd played 90 minutes by the 1/4 hour mark.

 

Its a real shame that those two player's magic basically ran out.

 

They shouldn't have started, but its hard to drop the two architects of years and years of Wales doing well in the tournament they've waited 60+ years to qualify for, but they both look like they should now be playing in Soccer Aid not the World Cup.

[Naysonymous]

 

Just for those who haven’t seen the red.  

[Ork1927]

4 minutes ago, davidcotton said:

I suspect it’s reliance on the Bale of 2022 rather than the Bale of 2016. 

 

Watching Wales at home the last few years and the younger players often stop and look for Bale to pass to rather than doing stuff themselves.

 

Its going to be a hard transition now as they don't really have any players that are very good in the middle of their careers - it is passed it heroes and youngsters who don't all play a lot domestically.

[Gabe]

10 minutes ago, feltmonkey said:

Iran deserved to win, they were the better team. God they were dirty though, Klinsmann is absolutely right.

 

Edit - Not sure about the "that's their culture" comments though. To give him the benefit of the doubt perhaps he means their footballing culture.

Yeah, that felt a bit ugly. And I don't even think the bits they highlighted as Iran being 'dirty' were anything much different to what we've seen in other games.

[Art Vandelay]

I feel bad for Wales as realistically they have to play Ramsey and Bale, but at this stage it is a bit like when Mike Bassett accidentally calls up the two middle-aged semi-pros called Benson & Hedges.

[Boothjan]

Iran were much better.

 

They actually tried to take the game to us last time out, but whereas we dealt with their press extremely well and picked them off on the counter (helps having Rice and Bellingham in the middle of the pitch of course) Wales couldn't cope with it, and their service in the final third was awful.

 

Wales have to go for the jugular against England - and I think that game plan will suit us.  

 

Just hope we get the job done tonight.

[Bacon Horsemeat]

6 minutes ago, Gabe said:

Yeah, that felt a bit ugly. And I don't even think the bits they highlighted as Iran being 'dirty' were anything much different to what we've seen in other games.

 Exactly, the culture comment was well off. I've seen many European teams do the same - Spain, Portugal, Netherlands.

[Gabe]

1 minute ago, Bacon Horsemeat said:

 Exactly, the culture comment was well off. I've seen many European teams do the same - Spain, Portugal, Netherlands.

I mean Pepe probably did worse to his own team during the half-time break, because he was a proper dirty player.

 

Those comments coming from a man who liked to have a bit of a cheaty dive wasn't a great look.

[Eighthours]

Playing Wales is going to be like a local derby and is therefore a bit of a lottery, not a 'normal' international, so it's important for us to get a result tonight. A win would let us enjoy the final game in the group. Is there a scenario where we can be on 4 points after tonight and still get knocked out? I assume not, given our result against Iran.

[Ork1927]

2 minutes ago, Eighthours said:

Playing Wales is going to be like a local derby and is therefore a bit of a lottery, not a 'normal' international, so it's important for us to get a result tonight. A win would let us enjoy the final game in the group. Is there a scenario where we can be on 4 points after tonight and still get knocked out? I assume not, given our result against Iran.

 

It is a derby, but England's second string is going to be young and hungry where as Wales' first string is nackered or finished and their second string is league 2 players and Cardiff City kids.

 

 

[Art Vandelay]

10 minutes ago, Bacon Horsemeat said:

 Exactly, the culture comment was well off. I've seen many European teams do the same - Spain, Portugal, Netherlands.

 

The Netherland in the 2010 final as an example was one of the most disgraceful performances I've ever seen to be honest. If Howard Webb was competent the game would've been called it was that bad. 

[Naysonymous]

If England win tonight then I suspect Southgate will rotate against Wales because the group will be won and it’s better to conserve the energy of some and give much needed minutes to others while it’s possible.   I’m sure there will be talk of collusion given we are both British but fuck that.  

[Hamus]

9 minutes ago, Naysonymous said:

If England win tonight then I suspect Southgate will rotate against Wales because the group will be won and it’s better to conserve the energy of some and give much needed minutes to others while it’s possible.   I’m sure there will be talk of collusion given we are both British but fuck that.  

 

Yeah that sounds like an awful thing to level at us, but wouldn't it be great if it happened. 🤣

[Stig]

Even rotated England will be better than than Wales if they perform like that again.

 

If we win tonight, an Iran vs US match for 2nd place could be very spicy.

[Bacon Horsemeat]

23 minutes ago, Naysonymous said:

If England win tonight then I suspect Southgate will rotate against Wales because the group will be won and it’s better to conserve the energy of some and give much needed minutes to others while it’s possible.   I’m sure there will be talk of collusion given we are both British but fuck that.  

 

You can rotate all you want, give Kane a chance as goalie!

[Boothjan]

8 minutes ago, Hamus said:

 

Yeah that sounds like an awful thing to level at us, but wouldn't it be great if it happened. 🤣

 

IF we were to do that, we could line up with:

 

Ramsdale

 

Coady - Dier - White

 

Alexander-Arnold - Phillips - Henderson - Maddison

 

Foden - Wilson - Grealish

 

That's not a bad second XI for a World Cup squad.

 

If Wales play as poorly as they did today, I can't see anything other than a comfortable England win, particularly as Wales would have to attack us.  Not impossible of course - we need to keep the momentum going tonight but Wales would need a vast improvement.

[The Fox]

James Maddison at left wing back is certainly a choice.

[Gabe]

Qatar have been robbed of a blatant penalty there. At first I thought the attacker was playing for it, but you can clearly see in the replay it was a terrible attempt at a challenge. It wasn't even VAR checked they said in commentary!