Paullow

Yeah, I'll probably have the Netherlands match on the laptop, but definitely far more in the background.

I wonder what ITV1 to ITV4's ratio will be at 3pm? Obviously Netherlands (ITV1) have the 'name' to attract more casuals which presumably is why it is on the main channel, and possibly more Dutch people living in the UK, but Ecuador vs Senegal is obviously the bigger match generally with both having a chance to qualify, and a much harder match to call on paper. I'll be tuning into ITV4.

I thought it was funny when Germany lost to Japan the other day and thought they were on the brink of going out when I saw Costa Rica losing 0-7 (knowing CR faced Japan next), but as a relative neutral who's enjoying the tournament, I'd far rather see Croatia/Belgium (or Morocco as it will now probably prove to be) vs Germany in the last 16 than vs Japan, kind of same with Argentina ahead of Poland, so I'm now kind of pleased with how today turned out. Not really in Germany's hands to go through, but if they win by two goals on Thursday, you'd be stunned if they went out.

Great result for Germany. They'll possibly go through on 3 points now. I guess on paper it makes the group more interesting because if Japan and Spain won then it would just be group winners on the line, or had Japan drew and Germany lost, then Japan would have been effectively through on goal difference (vs Costa Rica), but now every team will be in it on the last day, but you'd expect Germany to comfortable beat CR, and probably Spain beating Japan (unless they play out of draw...) Japan must be fuming, beat Germany, in a great position, then lose to the worst team in the competition.

4th tier. WSL top tier, Sunderland in the 2nd tier, and then one more league between them and Newcastle.

Normally 98+9 would be WTF, but totally normal in this tournament. And another even later!

Deserved, to be fair.

Not in the World Cup I don't believe. Chile with 3 draws in 2018 is the lowest I can see.

9 mins

This has been a fantastic watch. Probably the best match of the tournament thus far as a (relative) neutral. Interesting to see how much injury time there will be. Thought there would be far more than 4 min in the first half.

Feel sorry for any 'morals for me, marra' human rights activists (since 7th October 2021) boycotting this tournament. Could be one of the most surprising days of football ever.

The best price for a Saudi win was 28/1 when I looked last night. Crazy to even be in this position in the 94th minute.

I love how committed they are. Some cracking tackles going in.

Absolutely insane. Feel sorry for those boycotting the tournament. They didn't look too bad in the first half, not out of their depth, but never saw this turnaround coming in a million years. Crazy, crazy match. Probably still end up 4 or 5-2, but it's been epic.

WOW!

You'd be fuming if you had Martinez top goalscorer

It's been an enjoyable day of football. Attendances might not be full, and often exaggerated, but once the action gets going, they just feel like normal matches. On a selfish note, as an armchair fan, I'd far rather it was here and matches at convenient times than somewhere where they would be played during the early hours. 4 matches tomorrow.

It should be pronounced as it looks, but as a Tynedale lad, I'm so used to calling it Belling-jum (after the North Tyne village), so takes some getting used to

When would the last time Newcastle had two players on the pitch for England at the same time?

Poor Callum.

Must admit, I can't wait for this to start now. A more traditional, bigger, less controversial location would have obviously been preferable, but once the matches start, I'm sure it will just feel like a normal tournament, and while I do have most of the paywall channels, it's great that there'll be so much live football on normal TV. In fact, selfishly, while I'm sure somewhere like Australia could do a great job hosting this, and would be a better experience for those attending, as an armchair fan, I'd actually probably prefer this to be in Qatar with matches at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm UK than like 12am, 3am, 6am, 9am, in the same way I'd much rather Fury vs Usyk happened in Saudi than Las Vegas (if it couldn't be in the UK). I've never had an issue watching big events in the Middle East on TV, long before our takeover, so won't be having them now. Hopefully the conditions / temperature etc. won't have too much impact on the football on display. The players blatantly want to be play, all those Brazilian selection videos, recent Maddison and Wilson interviews etc. players potentially saving themselves over the weekend, so they will be treating it as a normal tournament, and after a few days, I'd imagine pretty much all the ITV/BBC build up will be focussing on the actual football. I'm starting to watch a lot more build up shows (that focus on the football) so am definitely getting the bug now.

VERY surprising. You'd just naturally think they'd have figures in line with Man Utd and Man City - should be a big bonus for them.

Na, I purposely left him out because then I'd have to include the likes of Hannibal, Alex Telles and loads of other on loan players who currently aren't too relevant to their parent club, plus he isn't officially our player yet. It was mainly just to show how many current players other teams are losing and the impact it might have on their respective clubs. He will definitely be an added interest to Newcastle fans though, and will be great to see him feature against the likes of France.

I wonder if Eddie's high flying, free scoring, expectation surpassing Mags were brought up?

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