ponsaelius

I think Qatar have always insisted that they actually could have done. It was FIFA that pushed it to be moved. It would not be so much the games that would have been the problem in the summer - but the training for the players and the fan experience would have been terrible. I've been in Abu Dhabi/Dubai in July and it was absolutely unbearable.

Hope you enjoyed it Flip. Would be good to hear more reportage of your experiences out there.

Yes, in all but one of them. It seems massive overkill for the night games. I saw some people complaining that it was genuinely cold in the ground

Obviously they were blunted quite well but you can totally see why Brazil are favourites. Some of the ability coming off the bench is ludicrous.

The thing with international football is it's always more disjointed and lacking in cohesion compared to club football - as you'd expect. However with international tournaments you usually have the tiredness factor after a long season which plays into more game-breaking mistakes to open things up. That can be a bit of an equaliser. Feel like the biggest issue with this competition is loads of teams are setting up very negatively (sick to death of seeing 5 at the back) - and having the match fitness and energy to easily implemented these kind of game plans. I've always thought the Afcon tournaments were often awful to watch. But I think this is playing out very similarly and maybe there's a correlation there.

You can't tempt us with that finish and pull it away with a slip, man. Just cruel.

Jordan Ayew with the worst sub appearance of all time? Gave the ball away for both of those goals.

Ref has been given ridiculously soft fouls all game like - so it is consistent.

Definitely reminding me of 2010 now for shiteness. So many unadventurous and safety first sides producing almost no chances. In 2010 it was usually a ridiculous shot from miles away with that penny floater that broke the monotony. We're not even getting that at the moment.

A Fernando Santos side against a 5 man defence? Can't wait to waste another 2 hours of my life.

Lack of quality in attacking areas from so many teams has been excruciating. Four 0-0s already ffs

There's no doubt whatsoever that more people playing football from a young age instead of other stuff would drastically improve the standard. Although it's definitely not as simple as more athletes and money = success in football like it is in certain other sports which rely more on pure athleticism or have less global competition (e.g. many Olympic disciplines). There's clearly an intangible cultural element that manages to produce great technical footballers in certain places. E.g. Croatia making world cup finals with a tiny population, while China flounders about in qualifying despite hundreds of billions spent and millions of active players. My point however was more on the absurd takes that you could literally re-train existing athletes in other sports and put them in the US team more or less overnight. Which genuinely exist unironically.

Losing to France in 2018 was no great disappointment, though. That's just falling at their natural hurdle to a better team with better players (after pulling off an excellent result against Brazil in the quarters). By the Euros last year the team was already in steep decline in defensive areas and retained the weaknesses that were always there at full-back. Again they lost a tight game to the eventual winners being on the tough side of the draw. Belgium's team has always been overrated because so many of the players play/played in the PL and were therefore familiar. Martinez has been fine if a bit dull and unspectacular. The exit to Wales in 2016 was obviously a disaster and probably the biggest missed opportunity because so many teams were not at their best and even France were miles away from the current quality and depth they have. If they had had an actual manager in for that tournament, even Martinez, they probably would have won it.

Pretty sure there's no change to KO times?

Has done far better than his predecessor too. Nobody has a god given right to win a tournament, particularly Belgium ffs.

Final ball and composure of Canadians was really poor, all things said. Particularly from Davies and David who you'd expect better. A shame because they're overall play deserved more.

Very frustrating but Canada have been wasteful.

He wasn't offside as a Belgium player played the pass, no?

That's a pen surely?

Love that Atiba Hutchinson is still going. Must be great for a player who's played gamefully for years through the doldrums to catch the start of a golden generation.

Probably started about half and come off the bench the rest. Mostly bench last couple of months. He's really struggled though - seems shockingly out of confidence.

De Ketelaere has been monumentally bad for Milan since joining, mind. Like criminally almost unfathomably poor. Trossard can probably feel hard done by though.

If Germany do win I can see this group being a 6-6-6-0 with an unlucky team.

Bizarre tournament so far. Mix of huge upsets, one sided dominations and total stalemates. Not really had a proper match up between two sides.

Had a meeting so missed the whole second half. Let me tell you, I am spitting.