Official FIFA atrocity World Cup thread

[Jim Lahey]

Written in the stars for a glorious win against the English on Tuesday, although Iran's 2nd goal could be a problem.

Need England to hammer the gringos tonight, Wales to beat England reserves on Tuesday and the gringos to beat Iran by a goal.

Not likely, but not out of the realms of possibility. Although the Welsh need to start playing decent football in the first half, which will present the biggest challenge . . .

[C69]

Well that was brutal. What a totally inept display.
Very flattering score towards Wales. Could easily have been six or seven. Goodbye Bale and Ramsay you have been good servants but your last game is England.

[sturginho]

Well that was brutal. What a totally inept display.
Very flattering score towards Wales. Could easily have been six or seven. Goodbye Bale and Ramsay you have been good servants but your last game is England.

not sure their clubs would agree?

[Lobby]

Looking on the bright side, a good Welsh performance at the Football World Cup would have been disastrous for Welsh Rugby. At least now the Welsh Rugby team aren’t the worst national team in Wales (as long as we ignore the Georgia result).

[tc27]

Good for Welsh rugby - and the cup final for Wales is next week anyway.

[I like neeps]

Woops.

[GogLais]

Looking on the bright side, a good Welsh performance at the Football World Cup would have been disastrous for Welsh Rugby. At least now the Welsh Rugby team aren’t the worst national team in Wales (as long as we ignore the Georgia result).

Football ranked about 20th out of 200+, rugby about 10th out of 100+. Sort of on a par!

[GogLais]

Written in the stars for a glorious win against the English on Tuesday, although Iran's 2nd goal could be a problem.

Need England to hammer the gringos tonight, Wales to beat England reserves on Tuesday and the gringos to beat Iran by a goal.

Not likely, but not out of the realms of possibility. Although the Welsh need to start playing decent football in the first half, which will present the biggest challenge . . .

So much for England thrashing the US, we put a couple on Iran and go through on goal difference.

[C69]

Well that was brutal. What a totally inept display.
Very flattering score towards Wales. Could easily have been six or seven. Goodbye Bale and Ramsay you have been good servants but your last game is England.

not sure their clubs would agree?

I don't give a toss about their clubs. Neither do they

[Insane_Homer]

I do love this commentary, where we get to hear a detailed account of Eng opposition players tenuous links to Eng Football clubs.

"...and there is Joe Shmow, who it 2020 had a weekend trial with Wigan Southends women's third team, but only came off the bench 3 times because of the covids, then having half a season at Pasta United in Italy before finally return to the States to get a regular spot playing for the Boston Shitbenders"

[Tichtheid]

♫ Boston Shitbenders, Boston Shitbenders, we'll support you evermore
We''ll support yoo eh vah mo"♫

chants - "oh to, oh to be, oh to be a , Shitbender"

[robmatic]

I'm enjoying watching it with Turkish language commentary. Don't have to put up with the inane co-commentators English TV always has.

[petej]

Tripper outside of deadballs is not as good as Ben White who is weirdly under rated.

[Blackmac]

I'm enjoying watching it with Turkish language commentary. Don't have to put up with the inane co-commentators English TV always has.

The best bit was when they said that Shaw "inadvertently" stamped late and high on the yank's shin.

[Blackmac]

England getting totally outplayed here so far.

[Gumboot]

England getting totally outplayed here so far.

Can't say I'm much of a football fan, but it looks that way to me as well. England looks really flat.

[Slick]

Don’t know why more footie refs aren’t like this guy. Basically tells them to fuck off and gives withering looks if they think about arguing - been absolutely none of the usual shite

[tc27]

England getting totally outplayed here so far.

Agree.

I work with lots of Yanks could be a rough week

[Slick]

Iran v USA will be a cracker!

[Grandpa]

♫ Boston Shitbenders, Boston Shitbenders, we'll support you evermore
We''ll support yoo eh vah mo"♫

chants - "oh to, oh to be, oh to be a , Shitbender"

[Sandstorm]

6-2 was an outlier. 0-0 and shithouse is the standard of this England squad.

[robmatic]

Iran v USA will be a cracker!

Alhamdulillah.

[Kawazaki]

6-2 was an outlier. 0-0 and shithouse is the standard of this England squad.

I approve of this message.

[Paddington Bear]

That reminded me why I prefer rugby

[fishfoodie]

6-2 was an outlier. 0-0 and shithouse is the standard of this England squad.

Patriotically doing their best to avoid blackouts at home, by forcing fans to turn off their TVs in disgust

[Gumboot]

That reminded me why I prefer rugby

The best bit so far is Qatar being eliminated after just 6 days.

[Tichtheid]

6-2 was an outlier. 0-0 and shithouse is the standard of this England squad.

Patriotically doing their best to avoid blackouts at home, by forcing fans to turn off their TVs in disgust

[Biffer]

I have to ask, is there a snigger emoji?

If not, can we have one?

[JM2K6]

Top of the group mind you. We got to the final of the euros after a similarly soporific draw against Scotland, and it's not like we lost to Iran or Japan or something.

We seem a worse team than the last two tournaments and I'd really like it if Harry Kane's shit twin would stop turning up at major tournaments. England really missed James on the right and Foden will probably spend too much time kicking his heels. Fuck knows what Jordan Henderson is supposed to bring to the party at this stage as well.

[petej]

Top of the group mind you. We got to the final of the euros after a similarly soporific draw against Scotland, and it's not like we lost to Iran or Japan or something.

We seem a worse team than the last two tournaments and I'd really like it if Harry Kane's shit twin would stop turning up at major tournaments. England really missed James on the right and Foden will probably spend too much time kicking his heels. Fuck knows what Jordan Henderson is supposed to bring to the party at this stage as well.

The inability of the goalkeeper and defenders to shift the ball quickly and incesively is the biggest problem. It is why United need to dump de gea and mcguire and arsenal dumped Leno and holding. White would balance out the defence better plus can do a bit of the inverted fullback thing that guardiola and arteta love.

Of the midfield and front players would be tempted to change Sterling and mount and bring in foden.

[Paddington Bear]

England pretty assured tonight and march on to play Senegal. Fire up the bandwagon

[petej]

England pretty assured tonight and march on to play Senegal. Fire up the bandwagon

As we head towards the expected quarter final exit against France

[JM2K6]

I missed the first 30 which was pretty leaden footed by all accounts, but what I saw was a shift towards using pace and giving Rashford the opportunity to actually be a striker while Kane jogged around a bit and generally couldn't be arsed to try and get on the end of things. England looked decent.

9 goals in the group stage and top of the group, not as bad as feared pre-tournament.

[I like neeps]

Top of the group mind you. We got to the final of the euros after a similarly soporific draw against Scotland, and it's not like we lost to Iran or Japan or something.

We seem a worse team than the last two tournaments and I'd really like it if Harry Kane's shit twin would stop turning up at major tournaments. England really missed James on the right and Foden will probably spend too much time kicking his heels. Fuck knows what Jordan Henderson is supposed to bring to the party at this stage as well.

I'd say England are better than the last two tournaments. World cup 2018 they didn't beat anyone half decent and were ultimately poor Vs Croatia, Belgium and Colombia. I think people remember them as good because they were young and lacking expectations so it was fun. The Euros they were far too defence focused which kind of works but at international level teams often underperform their xG as they don't have time to work on patterns in attack and individual brilliant strikers are lacking at this level. Let Saka, Rashford, Foden, Grealish, Sterling run at people rather than have 5 at the back and Rice/Phillips in midfield. If you think about the Italy and Croatia games they attacked and scored early then sat back and allowed elite midfielders on the other team to control the game and the more focus that is on defending the more your weak defence are involved and the more chances are there for them to make mistakes which they will eventually. Vs France for instance you can't play on a defensive masterclass Vs Mbappe you have to plan on stressing France"s weak midfield and fullbacks - I also think Upamecano is a bit suspect at best so there's goals to be scored there too. Win a 3-2 rather than lose a 2-1 by playing 8 defensive players. I'd be quietly confident in the "we have better attacker's than you" strategy but Kane does need to pick it up.

[Paddington Bear]

I missed the first 30 which was pretty leaden footed by all accounts, but what I saw was a shift towards using pace and giving Rashford the opportunity to actually be a striker while Kane jogged around a bit and generally couldn't be arsed to try and get on the end of things. England looked decent.

9 goals in the group stage and top of the group, not as bad as feared pre-tournament.

We lacked final penetration but were all over them for the first 30. Southgate gets plenty of criticism but we've navigated a potentially tricky group without any real alarms which is hard to whine about

[JM2K6]

Top of the group mind you. We got to the final of the euros after a similarly soporific draw against Scotland, and it's not like we lost to Iran or Japan or something.

We seem a worse team than the last two tournaments and I'd really like it if Harry Kane's shit twin would stop turning up at major tournaments. England really missed James on the right and Foden will probably spend too much time kicking his heels. Fuck knows what Jordan Henderson is supposed to bring to the party at this stage as well.

I'd say England are better than the last two tournaments. World cup 2018 they didn't beat anyone half decent and were ultimately poor Vs Croatia, Belgium and Colombia. I think people remember them as good because they were young and lacking expectations so it was fun. The Euros they were far too defence focused which kind of works but at international level teams often underperform their xG as they don't have time to work on patterns in attack and individual brilliant strikers are lacking at this level. Let Saka, Rashford, Foden, Grealish, Sterling run at people rather than have 5 at the back and Rice/Phillips in midfield. If you think about the Italy and Croatia games they attacked and scored early then sat back and allowed elite midfielders on the other team to control the game and the more focus that is on defending the more your weak defence are involved and the more chances are there for them to make mistakes which they will eventually. Vs France for instance you can't play on a defensive masterclass Vs Mbappe you have to plan on stressing France"s weak midfield and fullbacks - I also think Upamecano is a bit suspect at best so there's goals to be scored there too. Win a 3-2 rather than lose a 2-1 by playing 8 defensive players. I'd be quietly confident in the "we have better attacker's than you" strategy but Kane does need to pick it up.

England were better organised at WC2018 and people underrate any team England beats at football. The half decent teams were the ones that got to the knockout stages. What you really mean is we didn't beat any of the recognised major teams in a run of form. Which is fair, but ultimately irrelevant.

So we comfortably beat Sweden (who thumped Germany and beat South Korea), beat Colombia on pens (a huge problem for England - and given the reaction to Italy beating us on pens it means we were far superior to them), lost in extra time against Croatia who were worthy finalists (remember they absolutely thumped Argentina in the groups.) Yeah, we lost to Belgium. They beat Brazil, who beat Mexico, etc.

That's just international football these days. It's much closer and anyone can lose to anyone. It's great, frankly. Especially as we do still get the one or two outstanding teams at every tournament. These teams don't get to the business end of the tournament by accident, England included.

[Calculon]

All female on-field referee team taking charge of the crucial Germany - Costa Rica match. Not something that's ever going to happen in rugby, lol

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63801583

[Lobby]

All female on-field referee team taking charge of the crucial Germany - Costa Rica match. Not something that's ever going to happen in rugby, lol

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63801583

Except it’s already happened in Rugby. Earlier this year the match between Italy and Portugal had an all female referee team. Hollie Davidson was the referee, Sara Cox and Aurélie Groizeleau were the assistant referees and Claire Hodnett was the Television Match Official.

[Calculon]

All female on-field referee team taking charge of the crucial Germany - Costa Rica match. Not something that's ever going to happen in rugby, lol

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63801583

Except it’s already happened in Rugby. Earlier this year the match between Italy and Portugal had an all female referee team. Hollie Davidson was the referee, Sara Cox and Aurélie Groizeleau were the assistant referees and Claire Hodnett was the Television Match Official.

[I like neeps]

Top of the group mind you. We got to the final of the euros after a similarly soporific draw against Scotland, and it's not like we lost to Iran or Japan or something.

We seem a worse team than the last two tournaments and I'd really like it if Harry Kane's shit twin would stop turning up at major tournaments. England really missed James on the right and Foden will probably spend too much time kicking his heels. Fuck knows what Jordan Henderson is supposed to bring to the party at this stage as well.

I'd say England are better than the last two tournaments. World cup 2018 they didn't beat anyone half decent and were ultimately poor Vs Croatia, Belgium and Colombia. I think people remember them as good because they were young and lacking expectations so it was fun. The Euros they were far too defence focused which kind of works but at international level teams often underperform their xG as they don't have time to work on patterns in attack and individual brilliant strikers are lacking at this level. Let Saka, Rashford, Foden, Grealish, Sterling run at people rather than have 5 at the back and Rice/Phillips in midfield. If you think about the Italy and Croatia games they attacked and scored early then sat back and allowed elite midfielders on the other team to control the game and the more focus that is on defending the more your weak defence are involved and the more chances are there for them to make mistakes which they will eventually. Vs France for instance you can't play on a defensive masterclass Vs Mbappe you have to plan on stressing France"s weak midfield and fullbacks - I also think Upamecano is a bit suspect at best so there's goals to be scored there too. Win a 3-2 rather than lose a 2-1 by playing 8 defensive players. I'd be quietly confident in the "we have better attacker's than you" strategy but Kane does need to pick it up.

England were better organised at WC2018 and people underrate any team England beats at football. The half decent teams were the ones that got to the knockout stages. What you really mean is we didn't beat any of the recognised major teams in a run of form. Which is fair, but ultimately irrelevant.

So we comfortably beat Sweden (who thumped Germany and beat South Korea), beat Colombia on pens (a huge problem for England - and given the reaction to Italy beating us on pens it means we were far superior to them), lost in extra time against Croatia who were worthy finalists (remember they absolutely thumped Argentina in the groups.) Yeah, we lost to Belgium. They beat Brazil, who beat Mexico, etc.

That's just international football these days. It's much closer and anyone can lose to anyone. It's great, frankly. Especially as we do still get the one or two outstanding teams at every tournament. These teams don't get to the business end of the tournament by accident, England included.

No, it's because England didn't beat anyone good. Sweden weren't good, doesn't matter they beat Germany's worst ever world cup side or South Korea who also aren't good. Look at the lineup Sweden put out ffs it was awful! A load of has beens who had never been.

I didn't say England got there by accident and they won't when they go far this year either. It's just to beat teams they should be beating (Croatia, Italy) they should attack rather than have 10 men behind the ball as their strength is the attack and not the defence.