Qatar World Cup

Mazzy Star

Very poor game, feel asleep during it at one point.

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119921813#Comment_119921813

Pretty young US squad they look fit. Won't be easily rolled over you would think.

Yurt2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119921856#Comment_119921856

Plenty of the US side play with good sides in Europe. Lots of people sleeping on their ability to go further. Probably lack a bit of cutting-edge but they have quality all around the park.

lumphammer2

Qatar 2022 ... a mixed bag for me ..

Some good games .. some surprises ... but too many 0 0 draws ... early days yet though ...

Qatar I agree is a strange place to hold it ... and it has no real history in the world cup ... I never remember them in it before ...

Some people talk of keeping football and politics separate ... some talk of FIFA corruption ... some say rewarding dictatorships or oppressive countries is wrong ... others say it will help change these places ...

One thing is for sure ... Qatar is not the first and far from the worst place it was held ... Nazi Italy had it in 1934 ... Far right military junta Argentina had it in 1978 .... Putin's Russia ... albeit before he went totally mad ... had it in 2018 ... what made Qatar different is that unlike Russia, Italy and Argentina it has no world cup history ...

The football ...

Best performance ... Spain 7 Costa Rica 0

Best match ... Portugal 3 Ghana 2

Best comeback ... Iran 2 Wales 0

Best team ... I'd have said England earlier but now maybe France so far ...

Biggest surprise ... Saudi Arabia 2 Argentina 1

Worst performance ... Costa Rica 0 Spain 7

Worst match ... all the 0 0 ones esp Denmark/Tunisia and England/USA ... some really bad matches ...

Worst team ... well, Qatar so far !!

drivingmissdaisy

Love the Woke hypocrisy

Corporations push BS White man so evil

Same Corporations sponsor Qatar World Cup

Qatar hellhole by all accounts for non nationals

Brendan Bendar

Why would they go there if such a “hellhole”.

Come from a worse “ hellhole “ perhaps?

Ardillaun

Refs have enough to worry about apart from timekeeping. Make football a normal sport by having a clock that everyone can watch.

Hard to judge Iran. They came in with many other worries on their backs that other teams don’t have and they looked a lot better against Wales.

Cluedo Monopoly

2 good games this evening. Argentina v Mexico could be a classic.

Gusser09

Lets go Australia

CalamariFritti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119921813#Comment_119921813

They are great to watch. Always a joy watching a fresh young team playing it around quickly with pull towards goal the whole time.

Unfortunately they can't seem to find finishes. It's hard to see where goals are going to come from. Their best bet is nearly someone gets knocked over for a penalty.

Uncharted2

The England team seems to be focusing more on LGBT rights than the games at hand. The world cup is a massive achievement for a country to qualify for, and every player wants to win the world cup but football has been destroyed by political agendas.

England captain Harry Kane, led the squad from the team coach into the dressing-room at the Khalifa International Stadium before the 6-2 win over Iran wearing a $950,000 Rainbow Rolex (again a political statement).

Seven European teams had gone public with their intent to wear rainbow-coloured “One Love” armbands to promote inclusivity and LGBTQ+ rights. What about focusing on football? The reason they are there to begin with.

The German team covered their mouths for the team photo before the match in a powerful protest against FIFA’s decision to ban rainbow-themed armbands.

Belgium star Eden Hazard says Germany should focus on football rather than “political messages” after its shock World Cup loss to Japan. Hazard also stated “We’re here to play football, I’m not here to convey a political message.”

He was backed by Switzerland star Granit Xhaka, who's stated 'I don’t think we need to do anything as the Swiss team, we need to respect the rules and concentrate on our football, that’s all I intend to do."

“We’re here to play football and not hand out lessons to anyone.”

The Rolex watch Kane wore.

ArthurDayne

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058273456/should-the-world-cup-focus-on-football-and-not-political-agendas

The fact that people see expressions of solidarity with LGBT people globally as a "political agenda" is probably a solid indication as to why players should continue showing solidarity with LGBT people globally.

bog master

The fact that the teams represent a "country" is in itself political!

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119923508#Comment_119923508

Think it's 16 of their squad are currently with various clubs in Europe, I'm not sure if it will come together for them this time around (lacking a proper danger up top imo) but in 4 years when they're co-hosts they might surprise a lot of people...

Beasty

merged

rogber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119924324#Comment_119924324

Will be kind of funny if Argentina lose and go home early after all the talk of them as favourites and football "owing" Messi a world cup. The guy had his chance to match Maradona in 2014 and didn't take it. Amazing player yes, but sometimes you only get the one chance

Kermit.de.frog

Where does a Saudi win rank on the lib ownership scale, anyone?

Anyhow, Allah won't be pleased at half time.

Mad_maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119924442#Comment_119924442

The very term LGBTQ+ is political, it’s the politicisation of sexuality and identity,it’s a huge assumption to even label a gay person as “LGBTQ “ , not all gay people partake in identity politics or are left wing

Man Vs ManUre

This is the crappiest World Cup ever. Fact.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119924640#Comment_119924640

At this rate England will be the only muslin country left in the competition.

Mad_maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925120#Comment_119925120

Yep , looks like pipping 1990 or 2002

lawred2

Was that not a handball?

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119924442#Comment_119924442

What politics is is the settling of controverted disputes.

While you may wish for solidarity with LGBT people to be universal, spontaneous and undisputed it definitely isn't. It is controverted. Especially in a global context where religious people outside of Europe, in particular, resist taking direction from European atheists.

farmingquestion

It's great now that the whole armband, rainbow flag rubbish is put to bed largely and the focus is just on football now.

It's been a great world cup considering it's almost December. Pity about so many empty seats at times but it seems to be going pretty well on the whole.

This stadium for the Argie/Mexico game is one of the most visually impressive stadiums I've seen.

humberklog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925120#Comment_119925120

Worse than '78,' 90, '02 or' 10?

Gotta disagree, I'm enjoying this one a lot more than those. So far at least.

farmingquestion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925656#Comment_119925656

2010 was the worst for the simple fact of the vuvuzelas

Gusser09

Well Mexico v argentina is awful shite.

Not a great world cup but not a poor one. Apart from the Richarlason goal i cant see to much of this making it into highlight reels.

1998 was the best world cup ever.

humberklog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119925662#Comment_119925662

Yeah, my joint least favourite. Really didn't like '02 either. Crap kick off times and overly defensive approach by most teams, oh and sneaky shenanigans by refs.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119924623#Comment_119924623

Argentina are always talked up as favourites. Nothing new in that. Its a bit surprising this time as in my opinion its the worst squad thay habe had in a long time.

Man Vs ManUre

86, 90, 98, 06, 18 were great tournaments. 94 and 14 were ok. 02 and 22 so far absolutely terrible.