FIFA World Cup

[gbandit]

Eurgh, thought Kane being dim would help him there but he obviously couldn’t handle it there 

[Ronaldo]

Hopefully that’s Kane never going to be the same again. Top 4 is ours.

[Disco]

Can’t remember four QFs as close as those mind. An arsehair between both teams in all four games.

[Mike]

Been an absolutely class tournament, tbf.

[cubaricho]

4 minutes ago, Mike said:

Been an absolutely class tournament, tbf.

Other than our boy Grant dying, I agree.

 

And as much as I loathe this being in December, I think this being mid-season, and the players being fit and ready to go, has to be factored in to the entertainment factor.

[Yorkie]

Yeah. I absolutely love how competitive international football is, and it constantly feels like it's getting closer and closer. At something like a World Cup, all but the very weakest sides now have squads with at least a sprinkling of players who feature at the highest club levels; whether that's in European club competition or just at teams who play in reputable/the best domestic leagues. 

 

There is of course an issue with the lopsidedness of wealth and progress - with everything funnelled towards Europe, and then funnelled again towards a small number of leagues, and then funnelled again to England - but the quality across this competition really demonstrates a rising tide worldwide imo. I assume it's a lot to do with globalisation and the ease of which it is for the best coaches and technicians to work far away from home/ their home set-ups.

[ponsaelius]

First round of matches had some of the worst football I’ve ever seen. But it’s definitely been class from pretty much then on out.

[ponsaelius]

8 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

Yeah. I absolutely love how competitive international football is, and it constantly feels like it's getting closer and closer. At something like a World Cup, all but the very weakest sides now have squads with at least a sprinkling of players who feature at the highest club levels; whether that's in European club competition or just at teams who play in reputable/the best domestic leagues. 

 

There is of course an issue with the lopsidedness of wealth and progress - with everything funnelled towards Europe, and then funnelled again towards a small number of leagues, and then funnelled again to England - but the quality across this competition really demonstrates a rising tide worldwide imo. I assume it's a lot to do with globalisation and the ease of which it is for the best coaches and technicians to work far away from home/ their home set-ups.

 

A lot of it is down to FIFA significantly relaxing their nationality rules over the last couple or decades, too. It used to be that even U21 games tied you for good. Now full friendlies don’t lock players in and even players with competitive caps have been given amnesty to switch at times. It has contributed to much greater depth and more players able to play international footy in some form.

 

Morocco have about half the squad drawn in from the diaspora - many of them key players.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2022 by ponsaelius

[Yorkie]

7 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

Morocco have about half the squad drawn in from the diaspora - many of them key players

 

Didn't know that; just looked it up and yeah there's loads. I can't decide if I think that 'matters' or not (and to what).

 

Didn't Qatar try and take the piss and FIFA had to step in? Ailton was it, a few years back?

[ponsaelius]

It doesn’t matter at all imo. It’s very much a good thing. Stops big countries hoarding loads of players and allows players to play for different set ups at youth level without feeling the need to commit at such a young age. Citizenship and national identity is very nuanced thing and shouldn’t be completely rigid.

 

Obviously there is limits, like has been tried to exploit in the past. But generally now I think it is about right what is allowed and what isn’t.

 

 

[Kid Icarus]

I still keep forgetting matches are on because it feels unnatural having a World Cup at this time of year.

 

It's been good. Not 2014 level, but still very good 

[ponsaelius]

2014 wasn't as good as 2018 or this one imo. Group stages were great and the background was glorious technicolour but the knockouts were generally a big disappointment.

[Kid Icarus]

6 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

2014 wasn't as good as 2018 or this one imo. Group stages were great and the background was glorious technicolour but the knockouts were generally a big disappointment.

2014 is my favourite World Cup tbh, I thought it was fantastic throughout. Loved it. Whatever any other matches might have lacked was made up in that 7-1 as well 

[Vinny Green Balls]

1 hour ago, Kid Icarus said:

2014 is my favourite World Cup tbh, I thought it was fantastic throughout. Loved it. Whatever any other matches might have lacked was made up in that 7-1 as well 

and that van Persie header to put the sword in Spain and became a meme.

[Vinny Green Balls]

My favorite World Cup is probably 1994 for the reason that we went to a bunch of games. The Brazil U.S. game in the round of 16 was a hell of an experience. We were right in front of a samba line.

 

Also, seeing that fucking special Romania team play with Hagi working his magic. That loss to Sweden in the QF was heartbreaking.

[Deuce]

2 hours ago, Mike said:

Been an absolutely class tournament, tbf.

Next one is gonna be insane.

[cubaricho]

12 minutes ago, Tomato Deuce said:

Next one is gonna be insane.

It’s coming home baby. 

[Vinny Green Balls]

16 minutes ago, cubaricho said:

It’s coming home baby. 

and right before the fascist takeover

[cubaricho]

1 hour ago, Vinny Green Balls said:

and right before the fascist takeover

DeSantis being the president will sting a bit yeah.  

[Yorkie]

One for the Daft Questions thread but why is the population of a country stacked against the success of its national team? I don't really see how it has any relevance. Croatia is a developed country where football is massively popular and is also surrounded by countries where it's massively popular there too. How is it astonishing that out of a pool of 4 million they've found 11 who are really good?

[tgarve]

4 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

One for the Daft Questions thread but why is the population of a country stacked against the success of its national team? I don't really see how it has any relevance. Croatia is a developed country where football is massively popular and is also surrounded by countries where it's massively popular there too. How is it astonishing that out of a pool of 4 million they've found 11 who are really good?

Because it’s all relative , with a pool of 40 million you would expect to find 110 rather than 11 players ? 

[Yorkie]

I'm arguing that it isn't all relative though; I think it's a really simplistic way of looking at it and has little to no relevance. China and India are the most populous nations on the planet but their national football teams are nowhere to be seen. Obviously if it's a really tiny nation, then sure. Like it's no great surprise that Liechstenstein don't have a brilliant team; but once you're into the several millions surely it's no longer about population?

[triggs]

Obviously a big football mad country has more chance of being good than a small football mad country

[Yorkie]

Oh, that's that solved, then!

[Marko NUFC]

52 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

One for the Daft Questions thread but why is the population of a country stacked against the success of its national team? I don't really see how it has any relevance. Croatia is a developed country where football is massively popular and is also surrounded by countries where it's massively popular there too. How is it astonishing that out of a pool of 4 million they've found 11 who are really good?

Because in my opinion it does show what resources the country has to produce 11+ elite footballers. 

 

To give you an example Croatia has 125.000 registrated football players (amateur and pro) while England 1.400.000 which is more than 10x more players you have than us.

 

Now if we take into consideration facilities where we cannot match you and also investments that England puts into football which we can only dream of, we can count ourselves extremely lucky to find 11 elite players that can beat your 11 elite of the elite players. Its not easy to find from our "pool" world class players in comparison to England or other bigger countries.

 

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Marko NUFC