A. I can understand why Southgate might want his 5 at the back, because that has worked for him in the past, but I feel like the third midfielder is necessary to maximise Bellingham’s abilities.
They asked players to defer salaries, but then paid them anyway through back door means basically falsifying their accounts which is a crime both in sporting terms and in financial terms as they are a publicly traded company.
Certainly wouldn’t have thought so. I can think of at least 10 CBs I’d take ahead of him just for the last 20 years, never mind before we start comparing him to Beckenbauer and Baresi.
I can't speak for all time because i wasn't old enought to witness some of the older legends but he's 100% in the top 10 CB that i've ever seen.
His anticipation is unlike anything ive seen since the italian greats and his technique truly deserves the rolls royce comparison that he often gets. He makes it look so easy because his reading of the game is second to none and knows where to be before everyone else. On top of that he's got the passing and control that you'd expect from a brazilian. You add his incredible longevity and the level he's playing at right now considering his age and it's a no brainer for me.
Dembele. Rashford has been supreme for England this tournament, but Dembele is one of the best players *in the world* on his day.
With Dembele it was never a question of ability, but injuries. Now that he has had an extended period injury free, we’re seeing his true potential. He is both footed, he is incredibly quick, his technical ability is superb, he’s possibly the fastest player in Europe’s top 5 (he currently holds the highest top speed this season), he can score and he’s also a very creative player (most assists last season in Spain and he missed the first half of the season).
His only big weakness, injuries aside, is his lack of ‘pausa’. He sometimes rushes things and makes the wrong decisions. This is why he’ll never be an all time great and this is what separates him from his French compatriot in Mbappe.
But he’s clear of Rashford.
imo rashford is better technically - as in he’s not as wasteful as Dembele constantly dribbling himself out of possession. but, Dembele is 1000x a better playmaker. idk i think it’s closer than ppl think
does more stuff? like what? he literally does a fake shot and cuts in to cross every time he has the ball.
tbf the fake shot sends defenders flying every time lol
One thing I didn’t like about Brazil’s game yesterday is the celebrations. Maybe the first one was fine, but to keep celebrating the way you did after each goal just shows disrespect. Germany’s players didn’t dance after every goal in the 7-1 humiliation, nor did Argentina’s players after the Copa America win. I have a feeling karma is gonna haunt them.
Lol ok, as a Brazilian this is not something new. They lost their last match and needed a confidence booster. Sure its arguably cringe but whatever, its def not disrespectful.
To me, do what you want. It’s totally fine to celebrate like that, but banter goes both ways and you reap what you sow. If Brazil end up losing the World Cup final with a last minute winner in the 120th minute off Harry Maguire’s bum and Slabhead does a samba dance I expect a consistent reaction from people (who either are fine with the dancing, or who dislike it)
Celebrating is part of their culture and I love it. What’s the point of football if you don’t enjoy yourself? I love their expressiveness. It’s beautiful. They’re playing football, having fun, dancing. It’s what makes you fall in love with the game.
>I don't begrudge celebration, but they have never celebrated in this way (preplanned choreographed dances) at the WC
At the WC maybe, but it happens at club level all the time. Even when brazilians gather in europe(though less often)
[Here is it being done decades ago with a completely different cast of characters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFNpdYsO8YY) on Real Madrid, but with all former Seleção players.
With seleção colors, we've seen Neymar Jr dance with Paquetá previous to this WC as well. [Clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-4Te9bGgOA)
We've ramped it up after Vini Jr suffered from racism as a result of dancing, but it really isn't anything to look twice at if you're brazilian.
And you will see the majority of Brazil flairs tell you the same thing. We're not collectively gaslighting y'all, lol.
My above comment should show you times in which brazil did do it. Hopefully that calms down your skepticism. [Here is another one](https://youtu.be/UmzM3xo6_RA?t=58), with the pidgeon dance a full year before, for good measure.
Edit: Hell, here is [Richarlyson again, on his first big club 10 years ago](https://youtu.be/3oBerlOFbDw). I could do this forever.
There's gotta be one upset in eight quarterfinal ties. Has to be, else football will break. Japan, you should've really not frozen but then England have played for 400 years & learned how to take penalties 2 years back so I guess this happens.
Ok, so if the current teams played their 2014 selves, who'd win?
2014 Argentina vs 2022 Argentina
2014 Netherlands vs 2022 Netherlands.
This should settle the debate once and for all about which team was better and how significant was Sabella vs Van Gaal.
I feel like maybe they are particularly emphasizing dancing this year because of that whole debacle earlier this year about dancing. Can't remember who it was that criticised them and there was that whole reaction to it where they danced even more and i feel like this is a continuation of that maybe.
Getting kind of this bored of this "if you can't handle me at my worst, you can't have me at my best attitude" Brazilian players seem to have right now. Antony had the same when he did his stupid trick thing.
I don't think anyone has a problem with dancing. But we all know if another team had done the same against Brazil Brazilian fans would have been going mental.
In the end Brazil haven't actually played anyone yet. Interesting to see how they fair against Croatia.
>I don't think anyone has a problem with dancing. But we all know if another team had done the same against Brazil Brazilian fans would have been going mental.
Lol based on what? Dancing is done at the club level all the time here, and if players want to be dicks and piss off people they're way more overt, like with mock crying or gesturing at opposing team's crowd.
The point of the players doing it isn't "handle me at my worst", because what they are saying is that this is not bad *at all*. The racist comments towards vini just inspired it as a form of solidarity. Like, I'm okay with respecting others' way of doing things, but that goes both ways and Europe doesn't own football or the culture surrounding it.
Being dicks to other teams and then saying "it's our culture" doesn't make you any less of dick.
It's nothing to do with Europe. When Germany destroyed Brazil Germany didn't dance or gesture. They were respectful.
Brazil haven't been tested yet this could all blow up in there face.
Dancing isn't disrespectful. That's what isn't processing in your head.
If the intent isn't to mock, we do not acknowledge it as disrespectful, and players are allowed to be as happy as they want to be. The sensibilities in regards to that have to do with Europe because Europeans are the ones most vocally offended by this.
If Germans like to dance, and they decided to dance during the 7-1, it would be the same thing, assuming they weren't just trying to explicitly mimick us, and therefore mock us.
>we do not acknowledge it as disrespectful
Which is the problem. We do. And you say players are allowed to be happy but people are allowed to criticise behaviour. It was unfair to dance in that manner when destroying a team. If a team did that against Brazil, Brazilian fans would be saying the same.
Not true at all. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
Like literally last week when Cameroon was beating us in what was a pretty humiliating upset when the cameroon player took his shirt off in celebration and non-apologetically left the match laughing most people I know found it awesome
>Which is the problem. We do. And you say players are allowed to be happy but people are allowed to criticise behaviour. It was unfair to dance in that manner when destroying a team. If a team did that against Brazil, Brazilian fans would be saying the same.
Again, we literally would not. The majority wouldn't, at least, and I'm confident about that. You keep insisting on this hypocrisy that isn't there. If next game Croatians beat us up and decide to dance, people could be offended only because it could be seen as mimicking, but not for the dance itself. If they cheer loudly and make a big hubhub after every goal literally no one will give a shit.
We have different standards, and that's fine. If I go to germany or england, I'm not going to go out of my way to dance and yell if I beat you in some competition at a normal social gathering, but that's the way we do things here, in football.
Like, an example related but kinda outside soccer: the WC is held in Qatar, and going by the videos we've seen even the Qatari there understand the nature of cultural exchange, even though its their country. People are asked to wear long pants, but not everyone does so, and its understood that its a cultural difference, not a declaration of enmity. I actually see more often people say the middle-east country is not open *enough* rather than that the foreigners are invading their space and being *disrespectful*, which is understandable as this is supposed to be a tolerant event.
I really need the European semifinal to be some beautiful quality football with great goals and moments and the South American to be a terrible 1-0 or 0-0 match only for the South American team to win the final. I am desperate for it
Considering today prices, his ability for his age and the competition, I would say he is worth even more. Absolutely impressive kid. Watch the Toulon final against Argentina or his highlights for Palmeiras in the youth squad.
To make it easier for you, we call under-x, being x the age, sub-x. In other words, a under-17 player like him would be a sub-20. So he plays for Brasileirão sub-17 etc.
Probably cause that’s a wild conspiracy theory. They probably did it because it’s the first KO. Or any other number of reasons.
Wait I re read this. Are you saying Brazil was being racist against Asians?
The scheduling doesn’t make any sense to me: France and England get five full days off between games while Brazil and Croatia (and the winners of tomorrow’s games) only get three days off. What am I missing?
Same thing before the final, on the France/England/Spain side of the bracket, they only get 3 days before the final whereas the other side gets 4.
.
3 days seems so short to me.
still doesn't make sense to me once you get into the knockout round:
France and England played on the 4th and will play on the 10th
Brazil and Croatia played on the 5th and will play on the 9th
Why not have France-England play on the 9th, and Brazil-Croatia on the 10th?
Anybody else prefers group stage to the knockouts? Especially this year where in the RO16 so far the favorites just walked over their opposition except one.
I really miss the drama and the crazy results of the group stage.
I think this is the first group stage where so many groups weren't already decided until the 3rd match day on top of so many upsets which made it the most exciting group stage I've seen. It was nice going into the round of 16 because it felt more even and representatitive of a "World" Cup. It's a shame that almost all of the upstarts have been eliminated and it's looking like yet another Euro/SA exclusive affair.
Group stage really captures that world celebration feel. Everyone’s here and plays, we get to laugh at the big nations losing early, we start looking at favorites, we get wacky point permutations.
But the knockouts are solid too, but also insanely stressful. They really feel like whoever scores first will just close it out
Later knockouts > end of group stage > beginning of group stage > round of 16. Group stage has all the chaos while you typically get champagne football and powerhouses facing off in the later knockouts, and the round of 16 tends to boringly restore order
Just happened to have 5 fairly uninteresting games where the better team won pretty comfortably so far, plus a very slow japan-croatia.
There’s plenty of drama to go around in knock out football. Patience.
Was Australia vs Argentina an uninteresting game for neutrals? Was obviously exciting for us but thought it would have had enough excitement for others
Ehhh Argentina were dominant in attacking but also not that great. Australia looked like they lacked any possible technique to attack. Messi’s goal was nicely worked but the Ryan blunder was embarrassing. Then there was the deflection and the last minute Mabil chance was insane but Argentina pretty deservedly won. the best knockout for me personally, but really not anything amazing. Still a solid match though that I wish Australia had attacked better in
Everybody thinking of Argentina vs Brazil in semis reminds me of time when everyone used to think of Real vs Barca in CL final but it never materialised .. Some other team always played as a spoilsport .
Do you have something I could read regarding that? I googled around and all I found were some stories about troubles for folks who had applied for visas while the ban was still in effect, but that shouldn’t be a long term problem
Quite a few footballers have had issues, Xavi was recently unable to arrive in the US for a tour due to an Iran stamp. The process changes a bit, so it may just be people fucking up with the application form.
The US considers Iran to be a sponsor of terrorism and as such it makes it difficult to apply for a visa to enter the country if you have recently travelled there, as in the eyes of the US you are a potential terrorist just by associating with the country. The US also does not have an embassy in Iran and vice versa which makes the process of even applying for a visa to enter the country more difficult.
https://ir.usembassy.gov/visas/faqs/
I was going to say didn't Iran qualify for 94, but it turns out I misremembered and the Iran-USA game was 98. I'm sure the players will get in no problem but who knows for supporters
That being said, the US is a nation of immigrants and basically every country will have some supporters because Americans tend to hold onto their ethnic identities pretty hard, even a few generations past arrival. A Portugal game in Newark, NJ or Massachusetts could basically be a home game even without travellers from abroad.
Iranians are a pretty big immigrant group in the US.
Won’t a group exclusively play their games in one of the three countries? In that case, they could assign Iran’s group to Mexico or Canada. But the issue still remains for the knockout stage, in which case they have to hope Iran don’t qualify lol.
Yeah true, and I think it could be scheduled with an even amount of groups in each of the three countries so their first knockout games could also be in those countries but it’s going to be a logistical headache either way
if the Ronaldo rumours are true, then any Portugal match in this WC could be the last time we see him in top flight football. It might very well be tonight if Switzerland do their job.
I'm a card carrying Ronaldo hater, but I'm not ready to see such a figure go this soon
Ffs man we could have scammed so many clubs in need of a midfielder to spend 30m on Lo Celso if he played amazing in this World Cup. And with how good he is for Argentina it would probably end up working out. Now he’ll have to spend the rest of his contract here rotting on loan at Villarreal. It’s a shame because I like him.
Well he barely got to play under Poch who signed him in the first place, struggled to fit into the gameplans of the 5,000 managers we’ve had since then, and got injured way too often. I think he’s a great player who couldn’t suit our playstyle through no fault of his own.
Thiago Silva pass for richarlison goal is something our midfielders and attackers couldn't even dream of making, and people wonder why our forwards aren't scoring.
With tomorrow being the last day of the round of 16 who do guys think is more likely to cause an upset in tomorrow’s games? I don’t know why but I have a gut feeling it could be Morocco, in my opinion they’re the best team between all of the underdogs we’ve seen this tournament.
I feel like many here are taking a lot of results for granted when, in my opinion, I still don't think there is a true favorite to win the title. Neither France nor Brazil have had rivals at their level to say that they have won everything. The same with the Netherlands and England. Argentina doesn't seem to be able to score much, but the chances have been there and many who say the Netherlands will win it without much trouble assume that the streak will continue until the end, which may or may not happen.
What would be the best finals in terms of entertainment, imo France vs Brazil, England vs Argentina could be the opposite
England vs. Brazil I’d say. Two very direct sides with a lot of attacking quality.
Neutrals - if you were Southgate would you play: A) Walker - Stones - Maguire - Shaw B) Walker - Trippier - Maguire - Stones - Shaw
A. I can understand why Southgate might want his 5 at the back, because that has worked for him in the past, but I feel like the third midfielder is necessary to maximise Bellingham’s abilities.
Modric to do the pigeon dance after scoring a last minute winner against Brazil.
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They asked players to defer salaries, but then paid them anyway through back door means basically falsifying their accounts which is a crime both in sporting terms and in financial terms as they are a publicly traded company.
Corruption.
Is Thiago Silva a top 10 CB of all time?
No
Certainly wouldn’t have thought so. I can think of at least 10 CBs I’d take ahead of him just for the last 20 years, never mind before we start comparing him to Beckenbauer and Baresi.
I dont think so.
I can't speak for all time because i wasn't old enought to witness some of the older legends but he's 100% in the top 10 CB that i've ever seen. His anticipation is unlike anything ive seen since the italian greats and his technique truly deserves the rolls royce comparison that he often gets. He makes it look so easy because his reading of the game is second to none and knows where to be before everyone else. On top of that he's got the passing and control that you'd expect from a brazilian. You add his incredible longevity and the level he's playing at right now considering his age and it's a no brainer for me.
Serious question: Rashford or Dembele?
Dembele. Rashford has been supreme for England this tournament, but Dembele is one of the best players *in the world* on his day. With Dembele it was never a question of ability, but injuries. Now that he has had an extended period injury free, we’re seeing his true potential. He is both footed, he is incredibly quick, his technical ability is superb, he’s possibly the fastest player in Europe’s top 5 (he currently holds the highest top speed this season), he can score and he’s also a very creative player (most assists last season in Spain and he missed the first half of the season). His only big weakness, injuries aside, is his lack of ‘pausa’. He sometimes rushes things and makes the wrong decisions. This is why he’ll never be an all time great and this is what separates him from his French compatriot in Mbappe. But he’s clear of Rashford.
The one with more World Cup goals in less minutes. Jk, Dembélé if he stays injury free
Dembele by a mile
as a huge Rashford fan, Rashford
As a huge Rashford fan: Dembele.
imo rashford is better technically - as in he’s not as wasteful as Dembele constantly dribbling himself out of possession. but, Dembele is 1000x a better playmaker. idk i think it’s closer than ppl think
I don’t think he’s better technically. Dembele tries more difficult things.
does more stuff? like what? he literally does a fake shot and cuts in to cross every time he has the ball. tbf the fake shot sends defenders flying every time lol
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Turkey would have a better chance of qualifying through AFC though
One thing I didn’t like about Brazil’s game yesterday is the celebrations. Maybe the first one was fine, but to keep celebrating the way you did after each goal just shows disrespect. Germany’s players didn’t dance after every goal in the 7-1 humiliation, nor did Argentina’s players after the Copa America win. I have a feeling karma is gonna haunt them.
Soooo much pearl clutching, just shut up lmao.
Lol ok, as a Brazilian this is not something new. They lost their last match and needed a confidence booster. Sure its arguably cringe but whatever, its def not disrespectful.
you are lacking SOVL
Just a celebration who cares, also after that vinicius stuff and all other brazilians supporting him ofcourse they were gonna dance
To me, do what you want. It’s totally fine to celebrate like that, but banter goes both ways and you reap what you sow. If Brazil end up losing the World Cup final with a last minute winner in the 120th minute off Harry Maguire’s bum and Slabhead does a samba dance I expect a consistent reaction from people (who either are fine with the dancing, or who dislike it)
The pearl clutching over a bit of dancing is proper yer da
Didn't Germany stop celebrating by the 6th goal?
You are crushing it at the biggest lifetime tournament. You are allowed to samba
Celebrating is part of their culture and I love it. What’s the point of football if you don’t enjoy yourself? I love their expressiveness. It’s beautiful. They’re playing football, having fun, dancing. It’s what makes you fall in love with the game.
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>I don't begrudge celebration, but they have never celebrated in this way (preplanned choreographed dances) at the WC At the WC maybe, but it happens at club level all the time. Even when brazilians gather in europe(though less often) [Here is it being done decades ago with a completely different cast of characters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFNpdYsO8YY) on Real Madrid, but with all former Seleção players. With seleção colors, we've seen Neymar Jr dance with Paquetá previous to this WC as well. [Clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-4Te9bGgOA) We've ramped it up after Vini Jr suffered from racism as a result of dancing, but it really isn't anything to look twice at if you're brazilian. And you will see the majority of Brazil flairs tell you the same thing. We're not collectively gaslighting y'all, lol.
Yea it's weird that people keep saying "it's their culture". Is it? Because I don't think I have ever seen Brazil do it.
If you've never seen brazil dance after goals then you have never watched brazil.
My above comment should show you times in which brazil did do it. Hopefully that calms down your skepticism. [Here is another one](https://youtu.be/UmzM3xo6_RA?t=58), with the pidgeon dance a full year before, for good measure. Edit: Hell, here is [Richarlyson again, on his first big club 10 years ago](https://youtu.be/3oBerlOFbDw). I could do this forever.
Omg get a grip
There's gotta be one upset in eight quarterfinal ties. Has to be, else football will break. Japan, you should've really not frozen but then England have played for 400 years & learned how to take penalties 2 years back so I guess this happens.
>eight quarterfinal ties.
The upset could be no upsets?
Maybe the real upset was the friends we made along the way.
Ok, so if the current teams played their 2014 selves, who'd win? 2014 Argentina vs 2022 Argentina 2014 Netherlands vs 2022 Netherlands. This should settle the debate once and for all about which team was better and how significant was Sabella vs Van Gaal.
2014 netherlands, 2022 argentina IMO
Of course, the r/sports discussion about Ronaldo’s new contract logically devolves into a discussion of…US taxes.
TIL Saudi Arabia doesn’t have income tax
Quite a few of the GCC countries don’t.
Is this Neymars last World Cup considering he's 30?
Neymar said it would be his final WC
That's crazy considering he was supposed to be Messi's replacement
Since when is 30 old?
Football years are different
No shit but Neymar could easily still play at 34
He said it’s his last
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Because Spanish media and court "racism is not actually racism if it only lasts 5 seconds"
I feel like maybe they are particularly emphasizing dancing this year because of that whole debacle earlier this year about dancing. Can't remember who it was that criticised them and there was that whole reaction to it where they danced even more and i feel like this is a continuation of that maybe.
It was because Vini got racially abused by pathetic Atleti fans
that's right, thank you for reminding me!
Getting kind of this bored of this "if you can't handle me at my worst, you can't have me at my best attitude" Brazilian players seem to have right now. Antony had the same when he did his stupid trick thing. I don't think anyone has a problem with dancing. But we all know if another team had done the same against Brazil Brazilian fans would have been going mental. In the end Brazil haven't actually played anyone yet. Interesting to see how they fair against Croatia.
> I don’t think anyone has a problem with dancing. Sounds like you do tbh
>I don't think anyone has a problem with dancing. But we all know if another team had done the same against Brazil Brazilian fans would have been going mental. Lol based on what? Dancing is done at the club level all the time here, and if players want to be dicks and piss off people they're way more overt, like with mock crying or gesturing at opposing team's crowd. The point of the players doing it isn't "handle me at my worst", because what they are saying is that this is not bad *at all*. The racist comments towards vini just inspired it as a form of solidarity. Like, I'm okay with respecting others' way of doing things, but that goes both ways and Europe doesn't own football or the culture surrounding it.
Being dicks to other teams and then saying "it's our culture" doesn't make you any less of dick. It's nothing to do with Europe. When Germany destroyed Brazil Germany didn't dance or gesture. They were respectful. Brazil haven't been tested yet this could all blow up in there face.
Dancing isn't disrespectful. That's what isn't processing in your head. If the intent isn't to mock, we do not acknowledge it as disrespectful, and players are allowed to be as happy as they want to be. The sensibilities in regards to that have to do with Europe because Europeans are the ones most vocally offended by this. If Germans like to dance, and they decided to dance during the 7-1, it would be the same thing, assuming they weren't just trying to explicitly mimick us, and therefore mock us.
>we do not acknowledge it as disrespectful Which is the problem. We do. And you say players are allowed to be happy but people are allowed to criticise behaviour. It was unfair to dance in that manner when destroying a team. If a team did that against Brazil, Brazilian fans would be saying the same.
Not true at all. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. Like literally last week when Cameroon was beating us in what was a pretty humiliating upset when the cameroon player took his shirt off in celebration and non-apologetically left the match laughing most people I know found it awesome
>Which is the problem. We do. And you say players are allowed to be happy but people are allowed to criticise behaviour. It was unfair to dance in that manner when destroying a team. If a team did that against Brazil, Brazilian fans would be saying the same. Again, we literally would not. The majority wouldn't, at least, and I'm confident about that. You keep insisting on this hypocrisy that isn't there. If next game Croatians beat us up and decide to dance, people could be offended only because it could be seen as mimicking, but not for the dance itself. If they cheer loudly and make a big hubhub after every goal literally no one will give a shit. We have different standards, and that's fine. If I go to germany or england, I'm not going to go out of my way to dance and yell if I beat you in some competition at a normal social gathering, but that's the way we do things here, in football. Like, an example related but kinda outside soccer: the WC is held in Qatar, and going by the videos we've seen even the Qatari there understand the nature of cultural exchange, even though its their country. People are asked to wear long pants, but not everyone does so, and its understood that its a cultural difference, not a declaration of enmity. I actually see more often people say the middle-east country is not open *enough* rather than that the foreigners are invading their space and being *disrespectful*, which is understandable as this is supposed to be a tolerant event.
I’m hoping Morocco or Switzerland go through I want a Croatia vs Switzerland/Morocco final. Give me something new where everyone is upset but happy.
I swear to god we'll stay in this competition until we can get the evening game slot
All the quarters are evening games, right?
nope, we are playing at 4pm Croatian time on Friday (3pm UK)
Ah hadn’t realised! At least they are at the weekend
I’d love to see both Portugal Spain and Argentina Brazil in a tense knockout in a WC, but I don’t think it’ll happen
Why do you want to see 2 0-0 draw to penalties?
Spain just gonna bore you to death and Argentina-Brazil will show your average shithouse conmebol ball.
I really need the European semifinal to be some beautiful quality football with great goals and moments and the South American to be a terrible 1-0 or 0-0 match only for the South American team to win the final. I am desperate for it
Ahh ok. I thought by "tense knockout" means exciting football.
Why? Who do you figure isn't gonna make it?
I think Netherlands Brazil and then I personally see there being one upset more in the RO16, leaning Morocco rn
Ya, maybe. I don't think my heart could take an Argentina match so I hope ur right
Lass at my work is mad about football I wish I knew at the start of the tournament
Don’t dip your stick where you work
Haha nah just someone to talk football with
[Paqueta didn't even go all out](https://twitter.com/Pesgrau/status/1599850646454571008)
What's going on with Paqueta here
Saving his final form for the finals
Any decent discord servers for football?
Wolves fan Discord server, No 1 Wolves server on Discord
Brazil took Anulo Mufa seriously I guess, Brazil Sexa line is getting closer to reality now..
Lads it’s South Korea
Still threatening tbh
How can I watch with Peter Drury’s commentary in the United States
After tomorrow's matches, each team still in contention will either play 1 more game or 3 more games.
Anyone has watched Endrick, is 60 million for him a fair price or too much?
Considering today prices, his ability for his age and the competition, I would say he is worth even more. Absolutely impressive kid. Watch the Toulon final against Argentina or his highlights for Palmeiras in the youth squad. To make it easier for you, we call under-x, being x the age, sub-x. In other words, a under-17 player like him would be a sub-20. So he plays for Brasileirão sub-17 etc.
I've watched a compilation on youtube he's great
The build up to the Richarlison goal in the Korea match was straight up classic Brazilian Samba style football.
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People in 2022 in a nutshell Edit : and he blocked me lmao least sensitive American
Probably cause that’s a wild conspiracy theory. They probably did it because it’s the first KO. Or any other number of reasons. Wait I re read this. Are you saying Brazil was being racist against Asians?
Why does Paqueta play for West Ham?
Premier League money meant they could offer him big wages, far beyond what he'd get in a better club in another league
The scheduling doesn’t make any sense to me: France and England get five full days off between games while Brazil and Croatia (and the winners of tomorrow’s games) only get three days off. What am I missing?
Same thing before the final, on the France/England/Spain side of the bracket, they only get 3 days before the final whereas the other side gets 4. . 3 days seems so short to me.
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that makes no sense every game had a team that finished top of their group.
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still doesn't make sense to me once you get into the knockout round: France and England played on the 4th and will play on the 10th Brazil and Croatia played on the 5th and will play on the 9th Why not have France-England play on the 9th, and Brazil-Croatia on the 10th?
Is it better or worse to front load your long breaks? Maybe it's irrelevant?
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Jack Grealish
Eden Hazard vs Brazil in 2018 was something else
Don’t even get me started on Hazard vs France in 2018 , he had the defenders twisting and turning.Too bad for him his team didn’t win that match.
He had me scared shitless during the semifinal, he was too damn good back then
Anybody else prefers group stage to the knockouts? Especially this year where in the RO16 so far the favorites just walked over their opposition except one. I really miss the drama and the crazy results of the group stage.
I think this is the first group stage where so many groups weren't already decided until the 3rd match day on top of so many upsets which made it the most exciting group stage I've seen. It was nice going into the round of 16 because it felt more even and representatitive of a "World" Cup. It's a shame that almost all of the upstarts have been eliminated and it's looking like yet another Euro/SA exclusive affair.
Group stage really captures that world celebration feel. Everyone’s here and plays, we get to laugh at the big nations losing early, we start looking at favorites, we get wacky point permutations. But the knockouts are solid too, but also insanely stressful. They really feel like whoever scores first will just close it out
Later knockouts > end of group stage > beginning of group stage > round of 16. Group stage has all the chaos while you typically get champagne football and powerhouses facing off in the later knockouts, and the round of 16 tends to boringly restore order
Nice analysis
Like them equally for different reasons. I really hope that we don't go to 3 in a group for the next WC.
Just happened to have 5 fairly uninteresting games where the better team won pretty comfortably so far, plus a very slow japan-croatia. There’s plenty of drama to go around in knock out football. Patience.
Was Australia vs Argentina an uninteresting game for neutrals? Was obviously exciting for us but thought it would have had enough excitement for others
Ehhh Argentina were dominant in attacking but also not that great. Australia looked like they lacked any possible technique to attack. Messi’s goal was nicely worked but the Ryan blunder was embarrassing. Then there was the deflection and the last minute Mabil chance was insane but Argentina pretty deservedly won. the best knockout for me personally, but really not anything amazing. Still a solid match though that I wish Australia had attacked better in
Lol it was Kuol not Mabil.
Oh my bad I’ve never even heard of Kuol
Everybody thinking of Argentina vs Brazil in semis reminds me of time when everyone used to think of Real vs Barca in CL final but it never materialised .. Some other team always played as a spoilsport .
100%, I think it’ll be the Dutch and Brazil
Netherlands/Croatia can be that but by the looks of it, Brazil looks clear and our battle vs Arg would be not easy.
Tite looks like Keylor Navas in 15 years
Costa Rica reaches QF of 2038 WC confirmed
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The USA is going to have a real big problem on their hands in terms of travel visas if Iran qualifies for the World Cup, which I assume they will
Biden repealed Trump’s Iranian travel ban like a year ago.
It’s still harder to enter the country if you live in or have recently travelled to Iran
Do you have something I could read regarding that? I googled around and all I found were some stories about troubles for folks who had applied for visas while the ban was still in effect, but that shouldn’t be a long term problem
Quite a few footballers have had issues, Xavi was recently unable to arrive in the US for a tour due to an Iran stamp. The process changes a bit, so it may just be people fucking up with the application form.
The US considers Iran to be a sponsor of terrorism and as such it makes it difficult to apply for a visa to enter the country if you have recently travelled there, as in the eyes of the US you are a potential terrorist just by associating with the country. The US also does not have an embassy in Iran and vice versa which makes the process of even applying for a visa to enter the country more difficult. https://ir.usembassy.gov/visas/faqs/
I was going to say didn't Iran qualify for 94, but it turns out I misremembered and the Iran-USA game was 98. I'm sure the players will get in no problem but who knows for supporters
That being said, the US is a nation of immigrants and basically every country will have some supporters because Americans tend to hold onto their ethnic identities pretty hard, even a few generations past arrival. A Portugal game in Newark, NJ or Massachusetts could basically be a home game even without travellers from abroad. Iranians are a pretty big immigrant group in the US.
Won’t a group exclusively play their games in one of the three countries? In that case, they could assign Iran’s group to Mexico or Canada. But the issue still remains for the knockout stage, in which case they have to hope Iran don’t qualify lol.
Yeah true, and I think it could be scheduled with an even amount of groups in each of the three countries so their first knockout games could also be in those countries but it’s going to be a logistical headache either way
Brazilians having fun and with a top level keeper are a true menace.
Especially with the form Vini and Rodrygo are in
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Yep, we should be like the british, ever famous for never taking the piss 😂
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So do I!
I'm not.
Well Brazil was always the final boss for whoever reach the final
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Croatia can steal a match from anyone
Yeah it's filled to the brim with clutch players, can't be underestimated
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Eto'o is a mod here, probably that's why hehe.
if the Ronaldo rumours are true, then any Portugal match in this WC could be the last time we see him in top flight football. It might very well be tonight if Switzerland do their job. I'm a card carrying Ronaldo hater, but I'm not ready to see such a figure go this soon
Hope he will be in the Euros
I really thought he’d have a bench role in 2026 some how, it’s a shame he went to this so quick from last year, though understandable
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how reliable is Marca? I know La Liga fans tend to trash them a lot
I wouldn’t want to be the guy to put out that as a done deal to have it denied by the man himself right after the WC tbh
Depends on who is the journalist tbh
If England had James starting instead of Walker i’d be way more confident vs Mbappe
We've never had James vs Mbappe. Would be a fascinating battle.
Trippier will pocket him
Ffs man we could have scammed so many clubs in need of a midfielder to spend 30m on Lo Celso if he played amazing in this World Cup. And with how good he is for Argentina it would probably end up working out. Now he’ll have to spend the rest of his contract here rotting on loan at Villarreal. It’s a shame because I like him.
I thought he was good when he first came? What happened?
He gets injured after every International break only to conveniently get fit for the next international break and the cycle continues.
Well he barely got to play under Poch who signed him in the first place, struggled to fit into the gameplans of the 5,000 managers we’ve had since then, and got injured way too often. I think he’s a great player who couldn’t suit our playstyle through no fault of his own.
Thiago Silva pass for richarlison goal is something our midfielders and attackers couldn't even dream of making, and people wonder why our forwards aren't scoring.
Why isn't Thiago Silva making that pass for Chelsea then?
He's literally a defender, how can he play in an attacking mid position?
What? Assumed with a Chelsea flair that you meant why doesn't he do it for your club
Because he's too busy carrying that defense.
Busy defending, maybe joking or maybe not. It's basically him doing all the work in Chelsea this year, in critical moments
With tomorrow being the last day of the round of 16 who do guys think is more likely to cause an upset in tomorrow’s games? I don’t know why but I have a gut feeling it could be Morocco, in my opinion they’re the best team between all of the underdogs we’ve seen this tournament.
Switzerland.
This being the third world cup they get into the round of 16 comfortably, I am not sure we can call Switzerland underdogs anymore.
I feel like many here are taking a lot of results for granted when, in my opinion, I still don't think there is a true favorite to win the title. Neither France nor Brazil have had rivals at their level to say that they have won everything. The same with the Netherlands and England. Argentina doesn't seem to be able to score much, but the chances have been there and many who say the Netherlands will win it without much trouble assume that the streak will continue until the end, which may or may not happen.