World Cup 2022

Auggie said:
Croatia wins the 1st match to be decided by penalties.

Brazil looking like a machine early in their match. Really rooting for a Brazil v France final.
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That's the final I picked for the only notable pool I'm a part of. It was probably a pretty popular choice but I assume I'm in the minority for picking France to win.
 
I watched a little Morocco v Spain and that was a raucous pro Morocco stadium, because of geography it was very much a rivalry game for Morocco. Portugal would be something similar so a lower bracket quarters of England v France and Morocco v Portugal would be compelling from a political view point.
 
Auggie said:
I watched a little Morocco v Spain and that was a raucous pro Morocco stadium, because of geography it was very much a rivalry game for Morocco. Portugal would be something similar so a lower bracket quarters of England v France and Morocco v Portugal would be compelling from a political view point.
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Whaaaa? its a football game not a political contest.

do you know what politics is?

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JackEd said:
What a goal by The Netherlands and both teams genuinely hate each other. I love it.
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The refs yellow card got a workout in this one. 15 total yellows were shown. Some bad blood in this one?
 
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Make that 17 yellows, WC record. Someone said there were yellow cards given out during the PKs.
 
Auggie said:
Make that 17 yellows, WC record. Someone said there were yellow cards given out during the PKs.
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I saw at least one. Looked like the Netherlands players were trying to get into the Argentinan players heads late in the PKs, so I think one of them probably got a yellow.

Two great, exciting games today. That second half of the Arg-Ned game was incredible.
 
eastisbest said:
Is there a rule that soccer announcers every five minutes at least have to state how exciting or how much drama we're seeing?
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They keep hoping it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It rarely is. Having said that, the Friday quarter finals were exciting.

I do love the English announcers. Some interesting phrasing. For example, today when a defender made a simple play to clear the ball from the box, he said "he dispatched that with very little ceremony." As the game drew near the end, he said "For the fans and players of Morocco, I'd imagine every second seems a minute, and every minute seems an hour." Ah, the English...
 
Ian Darke and Derek Rae are excellent play-by-play guys.

I’d much rather listen to Ian Darke and Landon Donovan call the biggest matches over John Strong and Stu Holden. I’m sure FOX wants an American as their lead play-by-play man (remember the Gus Johnson experiment?), but Ian Darke is by heads and shoulders the best soccer play-by-play guy.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
By the way, what are people’s thoughts here on the shocking death of Grant Wahl? Any chance something underhanded happened, as alleged by his brother? He did make some waves with his critical reporting about Qatar as host and when he was briefly held by security for wearing a rainbow t-shirt to the US’s first match.

I know he had briefly gone to the hospital for bronchitis, but still odd for an in-shape 48-year-old to just collapse and die. I guess that almost happened with Christian Eriksen a few years ago, but that was while playing a match.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
AEW Champion said:
By the way, what are people’s thoughts here on the shocking death of Grant Wahl? Any chance something underhanded happened, as alleged by his brother? He did make some waves with his critical reporting about Qatar as host and when he was briefly held by security for wearing a rainbow t-shirt to the US’s first match.

I know he had briefly gone to the hospital for bronchitis, but still odd for an in-shape 48-year-old to just collapse and die. I guess that almost happened with Christian Eriksen a few years ago, but that was while playing a match.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
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Grant Wahl was an excellent journalist and will be missed. Probably the best known US soccer writer and well liked by his peers from around the world. Of note his big break was he was the reporter who wrote the original Lebron James SI cover story dubbed the chosen one.

Of course there had to be some sort of poison involved. Fit dudes just don’t fall back and die. I wouldn’t trust an autopsy performed in Qatar either, they need to get the body home asap and run one in the US.
 
Auggie said:
Grant Wahl was an excellent journalist and will be missed. Probably the best known US soccer writer and well liked by his peers from around the world. Of note his big break was he was the reporter who wrote the original Lebron James SI cover story dubbed the chosen one.

Of course there had to be some sort of poison involved. Fit dudes just don’t fall back and die. I wouldn’t trust an autopsy performed in Qatar either, they need to get the body home asap and run one in the US.
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Yes they do, all the time. Particularly when they've extended themselves as he said he did. Plus, different place, different bugs. I still remember sitting in 110 degree heat shivering uncontrollably.

There were hundreds if not thousands who tried to defy the rules in some way or another, they're not falling over. And don't look past it's not unusual anywheres to give a pill and send out the door, particularly a healthy dude.

It's an obvious conspiracy to jump on but autopsies are real. If someone tried something, unlikely it was at the hospital and unlikely it won't be figured out.
 
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I express my condolences to Mr. Wahl. None of us will know how he passed unless there is an autopsy done in the US. That being said, fit people pass away to soon all the time. I’d hope it’s just natural and the family can get some closure.
 
Auggie said:
So I get the history of the sport in that it is one of the oldest that uses a clock and because of limited technology back in the day they just let it run and had added stoppage time. Nowadays why not have an official time keeper with a visible stoppage clock so everyone can see what the actual stoppage time should be? I also don't get the let a play continue at the end of a period and only blow the whistle when there is a pause in the action, could you see a NBA game let an extra pass or two with a bucket in after the buzzer?
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Same reason it doesn't stop when the clock hits zero in football or rugby, you get as much time as the last play takes after the time limit is reached. Basketball has the score still count while the ball is in the air while Hockey or Lacrosse the score has to happen before time expires.
 
Auggie said:
I guess now we know why Reyna wasn't getting much playing time:

www.espn.com

Sources: US almost sent Reyna home from WC

United States midfielder Giovanni Reyna was almost sent home from the World Cup in Qatar due to a lack of effort in training, sources told ESPN.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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It's a bad look all around. Reyna is 20 years old and obviously needing to mature a bit. The coach should know better than to air this stuff publicly or acknowledge such things in the event of some kind of leak.

I'm pretty disappointed in the rumors that Berhalter could be back for another cycle. He doesn't deserve it. The team never looked up to its skill level under him and his in-game managing was not up to par, IMO. There are a lot of good coaches in the world to pick from, and it's a young team that will be hitting its prime in 2026 - there would be no shortage of coaches wanting to lead the team. Hell, I'd rather have Arsene Wenger if it meant not having to watch Berhalter anymore.
 
Best case scenario for the USMNT may involve Jesse Marsch getting sacked from Leeds sometime in the near future.
 
Crusaders said:
It's a bad look all around. Reyna is 20 years old and obviously needing to mature a bit. The coach should know better than to air this stuff publicly or acknowledge such things in the event of some kind of leak.

I'm pretty disappointed in the rumors that Berhalter could be back for another cycle. He doesn't deserve it. The team never looked up to its skill level under him and his in-game managing was not up to par, IMO. There are a lot of good coaches in the world to pick from, and it's a young team that will be hitting its prime in 2026 - there would be no shortage of coaches wanting to lead the team. Hell, I'd rather have Arsene Wenger if it meant not having to watch Berhalter anymore.
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eastisbest said:
Is there a rule that soccer announcers every five minutes at least have to state how exciting or how much drama we're seeing?
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They have to try and convince themselves as well as the viewers....if it was truly exciting they wiuldnt have to say it
 
Auggie said:
Grant Wahl was an excellent journalist and will be missed. Probably the best known US soccer writer and well liked by his peers from around the world. Of note his big break was he was the reporter who wrote the original Lebron James SI cover story dubbed the chosen one.

Of course there had to be some sort of poison involved. Fit dudes just don’t fall back and die. I wouldn’t trust an autopsy performed in Qatar either, they need to get the body home asap and run one in the US.
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His wife has now said that after autopsy, it was determined to be an aortic aneurysm.
 
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