World Cup Qatar 2022 - Desert Strike

[Gabzy]

The ends of his hair touched it. I believe.

[feltmonkey]

2 minutes ago, Gabzy said:

The ends of his hair touched it. I believe.

 

It brushed his aura. 

[Gotters]

Always get the impression back thru the years that if Uruguay stopped cheating, fouling and generally being cunts they’d be a much better team for it.

[Gabzy]

I *think* McCoist likes Leāo.

[layten]

Penaldo is gonna be pissed he is off the pitch.

[Gabzy]

Deliberately placed hand between his legs when he knew he was being nutmegged. Seeya

[Mr Do 71]

Bruno!

[layten]

Some quality attempted shityhousery from the Uruguayans there trying the fuck up the penalty spot.  

[John0]

I'm all for penalising blocking shots with your arms raised but that seems a bit stupid. Arm is in a very natural position breaking his fall.

[feltmonkey]

2 minutes ago, layten said:

Some quality attempted shityhousery from the Uruguayans there trying the fuck up the penalty spot.  

 

Yeah, the strange territorial war over the penalty spot was hilarious. Uruguay scuffed it up, then three Portuguese players came and stamped it back down and took up defensive positions around the spot. 

[Gabe]

Whilst this tournament has thrown out a lot of poor games (of which this has been another), there is loads still to play for in the final round of games in every group, which isn't always the case. Will hopefully see teams opening up more chasing wins and a bit more excitement and drama.

[Naysonymous]

44 minutes ago, John0 said:

Was that a pride flag from the pitch invader maybe?

 

This is doing the rounds: 

 

 

[Gabzy]

Bruno nearly had a hattrick there! Well deserved.

[John0]

10 minutes ago, Naysonymous said:

 

This is doing the rounds: 

 

 

 

Brave guy! Hope he'll be ok.

 

Edit: Another couple of angles:

 

[Fierce Poodle]

Not convinced that was a pen but whatevs 

[feltmonkey]

I fear for that protester. I think the various TV companies have done well by putting his face on screen, as Qatar will find it harder to make him disappear if the world has seen his face. The fact that this consideration occurred to me and clearly to them, brings home again what a horrifying mistake it was to give the World Cup to Qatar.

[Hamus]

4 hours ago, feltmonkey said:

When was that offside? How far back can you go to disallow a goal?

 

Depends how much memory they have in the replay buffer.

[dug]

40 minutes ago, Gabe said:

Whilst this tournament has thrown out a lot of poor games (of which this has been another), there is loads still to play for in the final round of games in every group, which isn't always the case. Will hopefully see teams opening up more chasing wins and a bit more excitement and drama.

 

Yeah, we have two teams who are definitely out, Qatar and Canada, and three teams who are definitely through, France, Brazil and Portugal. I'd like to see how that compares to previous world cups after two group stage games, but can't be assed to do the research. 

 

There are no dead rubbers out of all the first round matches left, i.e. teams who are already through versus teams who are already out. Every remaining group stage match can have an impact on which teams qualify. I think.

 

So like you say, there is still a lot riding on the final round of games. Does this world cup stand out in that regard? Or do most world cups still have lots to play for at this stage? 

[Gotters]

feel at a bit of a loose end this morning. 

[Boothjan]

Know what you mean!

[Gotters]

I should be watching 1h of build up to a game I don't really have any interest in.

 

2h til Homes Under the Hammer, there is some curling on Eurosport 2.

[Boothjan]

Homes Under the Hammer is a good shout - need that Dion Dublin fix

[Gigawatt]

I always feel a strange sense of loss when the period of 3-4 games a day comes to an end.  I know why they have the final group games on at the same time but I still would prefer to be able to watch them all.  And then the first day when there are no games is a massive shock to the system. Bring on 48 teams!

 

I'm going to say something quite controversial now.  Notwithstanding all the issues about Qatar hosting, I'm coming round to the idea of a winter (Northern Hemisphere) World Cup. Purely from a selfish perspective, it means there's only a few days gap after the end of the tournament and the regular season will be in full swing again.   I'm not saying it's necessarily a good thing for the players, but it will certainly help with the usual withdrawal symptoms I get after a big tournament.

[Boothjan]

48 teams will not be a good thing for the tournament - there will be too many shit teams qualifying which will massively dilute the quality of the finals, and having 3 team groups is a stupid idea.  We're going to get plenty of Austria v West Germany situations.  32 teams with 4 teams in a group is the best setup.

 

I also want it back in the summer because it's just not felt right this time, and not just because of the unsuitable setting.  The build up was wrong, and having BBQs, spilling out into packed beer gardens etc is one of the things I look forward to most about the tournament.

[spork]

The extra teams isn't too bad imo but the groups of 3 is going to be absolutely fucking terrible.

[Fry Crayola]

I'm happy to reserve judgement on both, but my feelings are not great.

 

In an ideal world it's either a vast improvement for reasons we never expected, or it crashes and burns and we're back to normal even as soon as 2030. But that'll never happen, because it would require confederations voting against their own inclusion.

[disperse and recoagulate]

If anyone else is collecting the stickers, let's swap?

 

 

[El Pibe]

I have mixed feelings. That said, it will be great to see more teams involved and moving to a straight knock-out format with 32 teams sounds quite exciting.

 

I'm also really excited about the prospect of a tournament spread across those 3 nations. I feel like it could be really bloody good.

 

Maybe that's influenced by rose-tinted memories of '94?

 

A little bit gutted that the Rose Bowl wasn't chosen as a venue.

[Stoppy2000]

1 hour ago, disperse and recoagulate said:

If anyone else is collecting the stickers, let's swap?

 

 

Imagine a 48 team sticker album. You'll be looking at spending £1k to fill it. 

[Gotters]

48 teams does bring problems beyond just quality, namely in format

 

groups of 3 sees only 1 team out of 3 ko'd after 3 matches then KO from round of 32, keeps matches per team at current level but risks collusion as somebody plays last and knows what needed while another team sits on the sidelines watching. 

 

groups of 4 is better but if you want 32 teams thru you've got those weird best place loser situations going on across 12 groups, and the expanded KO stage adds a game to the schedule for everybody.

 

as we saw yesterday you can get belting games from the less fancied teams, but you'll also see a lot more mismatches and it'll be more akin to qualifying.