World Cup General Discussion Thread - 2030 The Jokes On You

It is really weird and we're all shocked especially as this side was so impressive in the qualifiers and in nations league. We completelly outplayed Portugal both times (I know there was that goalline clearance controversy in the first match, but there we had two clear penalties not called and were definitelly the better side) in the qualifiers. Now, our players seem tired and defensively clueless.

Neither of the two penalties were penalties imo. I hope we beat the Swiss, so that we can beat them again. Overrated side, they have one of the best squads on paper (top 3 I would say) and they still rely on Ronaldo way too much and don't play a nice brand of football at all.

 

Political tensions in Serbia?

I have a feeling Serbia tend to underperform on the big occasions like tournaments - is that fair?

 

I meant tensions between Serbia and Albania(same thing that caused problems in our previous match with Switzerland with Xhaka and Shaqiri showing the Albanian eagle). There are many people in Serbia and Albania who are looking at this match like it's Serbia vs Albania (not me obviously, I care about it because it's important match result wise and that's it).

In football, yes, usually. We had high hopes before this tournament though, as we won all three must win games we had with our new coach (Portugal game, Sweden and Norway in nations league) and we thought those days are behind us.


By the way, good luck today everyone! I'm still not convinced by Southgate as coach, but you showed more than enough to get out of the group stage at least. I actually quite like Wales but they've been pretty poor this tournament and it wouldn't be fair if they went through (although I know that's highly unlikely and you're pretty much through already).

 

I’m already bored of this competition. Too many games to keep track of. The odd shock but all the big guns will get through. Spain will beat Japan, Germany will beat CR. Maybe it will get more exciting at the business end of the competition. I’m just looking forward to the proper football season resuming.

 

It’s a real shame teams like Saudi Arabia and Japan couldn’t follow up impressive results and turn the screw on the bigger teams.

 

I have to agree with this . Increasing the amount of teams to 32 reduces the overall quality particularly the group stages whilst simultaneously taking away the jeapody of group stage matches and whilst Germany and Argentina have lost their opening matches to Japan and Saudi Arabia it still looks like that they will still qualify.

 

And yet the European champions aren’t even here, and the next World Cup will have 48 teams. Imagine the quality of some of those extra teams.

 

Am I being cynical or is the purpose of extra nations to do with selling TV rights and the revenue this will bring in ?

 

More than likely, although the idea seems to be an infantino promise to get more teams from the various regions into the competition, the whole format is stupid and there will be some really poor sides there:

https://amp.theguardian.com/footbal...teams-how-the-2026-world-cup-will-work-united

 

I'm old enough to remember when the World Cup was 4 groups of four, two qualifiers then straight to the quarter-finals. Of course, it was heavily weighted towards Europe and South America, which was not ideal, but it was tough to qualify for so the teams that were there were high quality and almost every match had a lot riding on it.

 

I can just about remember Euro 92, which was only 8 teams. No wonder England used to struggle to qualify!

 

Even worse, imagine the quality of the qualification stages. Maybe groups of 5 with the top 3 qualifying ??? Christ, even Scotland could qualify.

 

A terrifying thought

 

48 teams is too much, it shouldn't change. I would have 16 teams at Euros too, 24 is way too much (even though we last played at Euros in over 20 years and it would mean that it's harder for us to qualify).

With 32 at WC and 16 at Euro, "lesser" teams still qualify for those competitions and often pull upsets. Having more teams than that deteriorates the quality of the competition.

 

You've just described the Premier League. The odd shock but we can all tell you who the top 6 will be every season. We all know that Man City will win it. We all know Haaland will be top scorer.

 

Maybe more like the FA cup ? At least the minnows don't get to play 38 games

 

On the pitch this WC has been a success so far, the best rule has been making sure 90 minutes of football are actually played! VAR has been and will always be a talking point but for the most part the decisions have gone the right way I feel.

Nice to get half my day back now as the four matches a day format was starting to be a bit of a grind to be honest.

If Foden, Grealish, Wilson and a few others dont start tonight then Southgate is a clown. I have no idea why White isnt starting, playing for the league leaders and he is a massive part of why they are top!

 

Ben White has been ill so almost certainly won't face Wales but yes, as much as there was some positive coverage for Maguire and Stones after the way they passed the ball to each other against the USA, it's an old school partnership and one that looks like it would be vulnerable against a dynamic attack.

Unfortunately, at international level it seems the system is king and if the individuals don't fit the system they don't play. England is not the only country to suffer from this affliction. In defence of the caution-first coach, tournament football is about getting the job done, not picking the 11 most eye-catching players. Sadly, most international line-ups are not a Harlem Globetrotters-style collection of the most talented individuals but a combination of flair and graft. In winner-takes-all football often it's those who take the safer option who prevail. Against the USA England were outnumbered and outshone in midfield because they didn't have enough players in there to cause the opposition problems. And playing Kane when clearly hampered by injury just seems so shortsighted. Give him the extra time to recover rather than expecting him to play on one-and-a-half legs.

Being charitable to Southgate, perhaps he is saving Foden for trickier tests to come.

 

I don't think Foden is all that myself. And an ultra **** haircut

 

See, it’s not that hard to take a penalty, is it Ismaila?

 

Sarr actually scoring a penalty for once in his life shows exactly what he thinks of Watford.

 

Was it against WBA that Sarr did ones of those roll it in penalties that was saved.

 

Watford are going to win the World Cup

 

I take back every defence I've made of Sarr. He's just taken an excellent penalty under huge amounts of pressure. Where is that for Watford???

 

It was actually a very good pen.

He needs to Troy the next one he gets though.

 

Man U 4-1 I think.

 

The game where he missed it twice! Not good. He has scored a couple of important pens though - today, and the promotion clincher against Millwall.

 

I was not confident for him there. Especially the split second where it left his foot quite slowly.

 

Can we get these Senegal fans into Vicarage Road?

 

From comments to Beeb live text:

Stuart: How/why is Sarr still playing for Watford in the Championship? Should be at a higher level for sure.

 

Are there any other “Pozzo machine” products playing in the cup? The only one I notice is Sarr.

 

Theres 3 playing now?!

 

Theres an Arab official all in white, just in front of the Senegal fans covered in S E N E G A L letters. He's hating his job right now.