2022 FIFA World Cup

[scott43]

Well, my dark horse pick, Qatar, looks ill-advised.

Might as well just burn your cash...

 

[Tony Storaro]

Dreaming of final Argentina-England. Argentina wins 3-0. Vamooooooos!

 

[Teumie]

As a Belgian I guess I have to root for Belgium

Excitement here is is incredibly low compared to other years, guess the fact that it is in Qatar and in winter has a huge impact on how excited people are.
I don't really care how well we do so long as the English get hammered, so please USA I'll be rooting for you!! (at least the first 3 games haha)

 

[fatbob]

Expectations are pretty low for this England team but why are they considered important enough to be hated? A SF loss in Russia to a team they could readily on paper have beaten and being defensively outclassed by Italy in the Euro final, and since then having struggled with defenders shouldn't make anyone fearful.

Kane remains the wrong man to build a team around I think. He's a flat track bully who goes missing in games where a switch up in tactics is needed or the opposition are going to strangle posession.

 

[Teumie]

Expectations are pretty low for this England team but why are they considered important enough to be hated? A SF loss in Russia to a team they could readily on paper have beaten and being defensively outclassed by Italy in the Euro final, and since then having struggled with defenders shouldn't make anyone fearful.

Kane remains the wrong man to build a team around I think. He's a flat track bully who goes missing in games where a switch up in tactics is needed or the opposition are going to strangle posession.

for me the performance of the team is never a reason to hate/not like a team.
However, the arrogance and especially how fans interact with other teams definitely is.
Given how poor their fans acted during Euro 2020 I am sure most of the world would prefer to see them get kicked out earlier rather than later.
To my knowledge, it is the only team that has such fans ...

 

[fatbob]

However, the arrogance and especially how fans interact with other teams definitely is.
Given how poor their fans acted during Euro 2020 I am sure most of the world would prefer to see them get kicked out earlier rather than later.
To my knowledge, it is the only team that has such fans ...

I can get that - there's a certain amount of dumb boorishness associated with certain groups of England fans. Although not unique to England of course, every country has its ultras. Hungary and Russia being notable obvious examples of worse behaviour.

 

[Teumie]

haha, you're probably right.
luckily enough neither Russia nor Hungary typically make it far enough in a tournament to make it too annoying

 

[neonorchid]

 

[Teppaz]

for me the performance of the team is never a reason to hate/not like a team.
However, the arrogance and especially how fans interact with other teams definitely is.
Given how poor their fans acted during Euro 2020 I am sure most of the world would prefer to see them get kicked out earlier rather than later.
To my knowledge, it is the only team that has such fans ...

That sums it up. Other countries are not keen on the English chant of "Football's Coming Home," either. And in Europe at least, you can't neglect the fact that since Brexit, England has been seen as arrogant and obnoxious.

 

[dbostedo]

for me the performance of the team is never a reason to hate/not like a team.
However, the arrogance and especially how fans interact with other teams definitely is.
Given how poor their fans acted during Euro 2020 I am sure most of the world would prefer to see them get kicked out earlier rather than later.
To my knowledge, it is the only team that has such fans ...

For me it's just that I have a couple of English friends, so it's fun to root against them and give my friends a hard time.

 

[dbostedo]

Speaking of England ...

Spoiler

They had a dominant first half against Iran, though unfortunately I'm not watching and just looking at the box score.

3 - 0 with 82% possession. Shots are 7 - 1, corners 4 - 0.

 

[dbostedo]

Per my last post, is this a non-spoiler thread (i.e. don't post results in the open)? What's everyone think?

 

[James]

Why would one read a wcup thread if you don’t want to know the score?

 

[crosscountry]

is this a non-spoiler thread (i.e. don't post results in the open)?

Not just this thread.

It should be a forum standard that if there's only one thread about the subject, that need to be a non-spoiler thread. But if some people want to discuss results right away, they can start another thread with the "Spoiler Alert" on the title.

 

[crgildart]

Agree that using performance as the key criteria for SUPPORTING a team is bandwagon, fair weather fan junk.. It's prudent for betting though..

The genealogy research my grandfather did traced my ancestors back to Liverpool, some were mayors there in the 1700s. I've even got a copy of a letter George Washington wrote to one of them.. pissed off about us sending him spoiled goods or something like that.

So my Premiere League team is obviously Liverpool. For WC my home team is the USA of course .. but when they go down England is next because that's where my forefathers/mothers came here from.

Mexico just because my neighbors love them and they are fun to watch...

 

[cantunamunch]

Non-spoiler threads are boring - they kill in-the minute enthusiasm, they kill any but the most vague speculation, and everyone is told what to think by professional review writers. No one in non-spoiler threads bothers to bring any of their own insight to the table.

Dull. Boring. Predictable. Tuesday morning blah blah, like an old man buying a porno just to feel he could, maybe, get excited again.

We've seen this in every sport we've discussed on here, from cycling to F1.

This is too important.

If someone doesn't want to get spoilered, they'd better take some agency and eff off back to their cave instead of reading WC threads.

 

[dbostedo]

Why would one read a wcup thread if you don’t want to know the score?

For instance, right now you might want to discuss the upcoming US/Wales (or or any other) match, but not see the scores from today's other matches because you're planning to watch them when you get home from work this evening.

But the more I think about it... I vote to let the spoilers fly here. With 3 games each day, there's no good way to discuss things without spoilers jumping in, or the match is old news already. @Mike Rogers - you started the thread... any thoughts?

 

[James]

At least we can watch it, unlike wcup skiing.
Anazing how many “highlight” videos there are on youtube that don’t show any goals. I guess they hope not to get taken down.

 

[FreddieG]

Looks like Brazil has too potent of an offense for anyone to beat them. USNMT should get out of the bracket they are in . Young team and good preparation for the World cup in the States !
Dark horse is Portugal!

 

[crgildart]

Speaking of spoilers how about not posting comments with results for at least 12 hours after matches. Folks might be recording and trying to get the full experience AFTER work. Or, is clicking this thread fair warning? It's not for WC Skiing results..