The World Cup Thread

[EspaDa]

Wow, Spain gave an utterly disgraceful performance today. They fucking can't shoot. I'm happy for Russians to go through, they will be knocked out in quarterfinals anyways. Croatia underperformed today, I was fucking disenchanted with their style, but they came good in the end. Pity for Denmark, they were relentless and hard-boiled today. They were the better team and got defeated at the end of the day. Nonetheless, it was a match of the keepers. Both presented great shot-stopping skills.

 

[no country for old wainds]

yeah, schmeichel's been keeper of the tournament IMO

nobody from this side of the draw is likely to win the WC, the best teams are all on the other side (brazil, france, uruguay and belgium are all better than croatia/england/colombia IMO). weird how it's turned out.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

I was so ready to laugh at England when Henderson missed his PK, but then Colombia choked. Oh well, I thought England were the better team for the 90 minutes and Colombia were fortunate to get to extra time in the first place. It’s crazy how disproportionate the two sides of the brackets are. Like NCFOW said, the four best teams are all on the same side of the bracket.

 

[Dak]

I bothered to try to watch the Col v Eng game and fuck, Col were the biggest of flopping fags ever, and the refs enabled it. As someone who has a less than ambivalent interest in soccer, this game didn't do anything to improve my impression of the state of the professional sport. The English team played poorly towards the EOR, and the Col team played as if the refs would help them, and the refs appeared to (I have read some mainstream articles to confirm that my sport/league-ignorant impressions were correct). Fortunately, ENG won, but I don't have any well-wishes on their future performance. FIFA is a corrupt org (confirmed multiple times over), and the sport mostly sucks, and bothering to watch a game here or there confirms my biases even in the recaps. People who physically respond in extremes to these games are lol worthy. May as well be WWE fans in the US.

 

[no country for old wainds]

lol. you watched literally the worst game of the tournament for that shit, good choice

 

[Dak]

lol. you watched literally the worst game of the tournament for that shit, good choice

Maybe, but there's been a ton of articles about "shithousery" in the last several days, and it's not only those two teams.

 

[Onder]

I have to agree with Dakryn here, the sport itself is flawed in a lot of ways.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Great to see Brazil and their frontrunning fanbase (not actually Brazilian fans, but the "I like the Cowboys, Lakers, Yankees, and Brazil" bunch) get knocked out. My Belgian friend literally shed a tear at the end of the game. I'm really hoping Belgium or Croatia wins the World Cup this year. They have teams that are talented and those nations have never won the cup before. I exclude Sweden and Russia because I think they would be rather embarrassing champions.

 

[Dak]

I'm pulling for Croatia probably. But my investment is low.

 

[no country for old wainds]

problem with croatia is there’s a lot of corruption behind the scenes and some of their star players are on trial for perjuring themselves to protect the villain in charge of it all, so even a lot of croatian people don’t want them to win and have staged protests during games etc.

personal biases aside i think it’d be slightly embarrassing for international football if france or belgium doesn’t win, the other two aren’t world cup winning calibur. belgium are also the one entertaining side left so it’ll be cool if it’s them. i think we’d have a better chance against belgium than france though. my prediction right now is france to beat england in the final.

p.s. ronaldo to juve confirmed!

 

[rms]

only watched one france game, the last one, but they seemed fun

 

[Phylactery]

Since Argentina got knocked out I’ve been supporting Belgium. Although my interest is limited. I’m keeping up with Wimbledon more than the football personally.

 

[rms]

really can't get behind tennis. watched serena this morning at the gym and just don't see it

 

[Phylactery]

Watch the men's instead. Women's tennis is notoriously much more one sided and less competitive. Grand Slam final matches even in women's are usually an easy victory in favour of one player. 6-2 6-2 scores in finals are not uncommon!

 

[Dak]

problem with croatia is there’s a lot of corruption behind the scenes and some of their star players are on trial for perjuring themselves to protect the villain in charge of it all, so even a lot of croatian people don’t want them to win and have staged protests during games etc.

FIFA is rampantly corrupt so while I get not liking corruption, from the outside this seems like a random example to pick on.

personal biases aside i think it’d be slightly embarrassing for international football if france or belgium doesn’t win, the other two aren’t world cup winning calibur.

This makes no sense to me on two levels: 1. Where's the fun in supporting a known quantity that isn't your team rather than the underdog (maybe this is an american thing only?) and 2. If a team wins the world cup, then they are by definition winning caliber.

 

[Baroque]

first time caring at all about the world cup, what type of corruption? and

1. Where's the fun in supporting a known quantity that isn't your team rather than the underdog (maybe this is an american thing only?)

personally supporting other teams like france and england because of ancestry

 

[Dak]

first time caring at all about the world cup, what type of corruption? and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_FIFA_corruption_case
https://nypost.com/2017/11/20/fifa-corruption-trial-reveals-secret-bribes-and-death-threats/
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/09/28/soccers-culture-of-corruption/

This fall, following the FBI’s investigations, the US Department of Justice will sentence or put on trial over a dozen mostly Latin American soccer officals. Swiss prosecutors are conducting about twenty-five separate investigations of suspected corruption linked to FIFA and World Cup bids. But most of the heat is now off FIFA itself. Hardly any journalists cover the organization regularly. The US may pipe down while it prepares a joint bid with Mexico and Canada to host the World Cup in 2026. And the Trump administration doesn’t seem very exercised about foreign corruption.

Admittedly, the scandals have hurt: FIFA is struggling to fill sponsorship slots for the Russian World Cup. But the organization’s costs remain low, and it still operates much as it always did, though probably now with fewer Miami bank accounts. Most of the people who reelected Blatter in 2015 are still around, still seeking patronage. Putin is preparing his World Cup.

personally supporting other teams like france and england because of ancestry

I get that, but then France is a longtime English foe as well.

 

[Dak]

Down go the redcoats.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

England is out. Fuck yeah! I’m so tired of this “coming home” bullshit. The first time England don’t humiliate themselves in a major tournament since 2006 (OK, they were adequate in the 2012 Euros) and all their fans start acting as if the title is their birthright. Peace out. You won’t be missed.

I’d be cool with either France or Croatia winning the final, but am definitely rooting for Croatia. I’d love to see a country that small win the cup and some of those vets on that team like Modric, Mandzukic, and Rakitic would make worthy champions. France is the stronger side, but Croatia have a real grit to them.

 

[Phylactery]

England aren’t even going to finish 3rd - Belgium will annihilate them!