The Official FIFA World Cup 2022 Megathread

[PuntsWolf]

Hwang was decent. Few good moments for sure and better than any game he’s had for Wolves.

Son on the other hand was woeful and normally the elite players in the weaker nations standout and carry them a bit. Wasn’t the case at all today.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I think only the Dutch can really get in the way of that as I don’t think Croatia will beat Brazil.

 

[Charlie Wolf]

Can you imagine how garbled Lage's "wisdom" must have been after being translated to Korean?

yeh, may as well have been speaking Chinese

 

[Alan]

yeh, may as well have been speaking Chinese

"Jeff, you hired me to translate from English to Korean... But I can't tell what language this Bruno guy is trying to speak"

 

[Mel Evo]

I think only the Dutch can really get in the way of that as I don’t think Croatia will beat Brazil.

Agreed, and I could see it happening. Hope not though as I think Brasil beat the Dutch comfortably whereas Argentina bring a whole load more motivation to the tie and we'd have more of a game on.

 

[jd1981]

To be fair I’m more impressed with Brazil as a defensive unit. I think they’ll make the final comfortably as they’re a step above all the sides on their side of the draw.
On current showing I don’t think they’re any better than France, Spain or England.

 

[The Bion]

Personally I'd agree Brazil/England/France are probably 'Tier1' at the moment, basically because of firepower.

Any of the other teams on Brazil's side could do a job on them if things break their way, Argentina maybe have the best chance due to their familiarity (they did beat them in the Copa final last year - albeit a year is a long time) and there's always a chance Messi can pull something out the bag. So long as the game is tight and they can be kept at arm's length there is always a chance, however unaesthetic or unpopular it might be.

Looking forward to Spain-Morocco tomorrow, I'm absolutely not ruling Saiss and co out.

 

[Alan]

Brazil/England/France/Spain, probably. Hard to pick one of them as clearly better than the other three, IMO.

Definitely that group is the class of the Cup so far, though, for me.

 

[Mel Evo]

Brazil/England/France/Spain, probably. Hard to pick one of them as clearly better than the other three, IMO.

Definitely that group is the class of the Cup so far, though, for me.

Just a shame we're going to have to watch them settle it on the pitch when we could be watching Paraguay V Greece though eh?

 

[Alan]

Just a shame we're going to have to watch them settle it on the pitch when we could be watching Paraguay V Greece though eh?

Fair play, Mel, fair play.

 

[Mel Evo]

Fair play, Mel, fair play.

I'm in no place to talk Alan, regularly ignoring doubtless superior fare to watch some nonsense like Cadiz V Elche. Anyway, I AM looking forward to these quarter finals

 

[Alan]

I came off a little strong earlier, I think.

It's not that I won't find the remaining matches enjoyable, but there's nothing left at the tournament that will properly tug at my heartstrings (short of a Moroccan Miracle™ tomorrow).

Different levels of enjoyment.

 

[Tony Towner]

Late to this but the unfancied nations aren't going to beat the more established ones with open expansive football throughout a tournament which means the dream only becomes a reality with turgid football like Greece played in the Euros. They won the tournament on merit but watching it was acid to the eyes

 

[Alan]

Late to this but the unfancied nations aren't going to beat the more established ones with open expansive football throughout a tournament which means the dream only becomes a reality with turgid football like Greece played in the Euros. They won the tournament on merit but watching it was acid to the eyes

Aye, one more clarification I'd like to make.

The gap in quality is real, and I'm not saying I wish the standard of the game was lower to make it easier for the smaller nations. I'm saying more that I wish the gap in quality had shrunk a lot more than it seems to have done.

This stage of the tournament forces me to grapple with the reality that the chasm remains enormous.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Assuming tomorrow’s games both go to the favourites (and there is no certainty of that then I would rank the final 8 as follows:

Tier 1: (no particular order) France England Spain Brazil
Tier 2: Argentina Netherlands
Tier 3: Portugal Croatia

 

[Mel Evo]

I think you have grounds for optimism Alan. Only a few months ago the reliable voices of reason (callers to football phone-ins, and the hosts, and most of the fourth estate) had England down as an absolute sack of shit led by a complete clown. Now those same sharp minds point out we've bridged the enormous chasm to the extent we've practically won the World Cup already, led by a complete genius. At that rate of change you can start knitting your half and half Bolivia / Mali scarf for the next World Cup final with confidence now.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Late to this but the unfancied nations aren't going to beat the more established ones with open expansive football throughout a tournament which means the dream only becomes a reality with turgid football like Greece played in the Euros. They won the tournament on merit but watching it was acid to the eyes

Disagree with this. In a Leicester-winning-the-league sort of way, Denmark stumbled into Euro 92 through the back door completely unprepared and we’re about as unfancied as it gets, yet won the thing playing some beautiful football. They grew into it and by the time they got to the final they played Germany off the park with very open expansive football.

Granted it’s exceptionally rare but it can be done.

 

[jd1981]

Disagree with this. In a Leicester-winning-the-league sort of way, Denmark stumbled into Euro 92 through the back door completely unprepared and we’re about as unfancied as it gets, yet won the thing playing some beautiful football. They grew into it and by the time they got to the final they played Germany off the park with very open expansive football.



Granted it’s exceptionally rare but it can be done.

Far different format back then though only had to play 5 matches and 2 in knockout.
Had they had to go through 4 knockout matches chances are they’d have stumbled into a better side.
Could easily have gone out on penalties in the semi final too.

 

[Tony Towner]

Disagree with this. In a Leicester-winning-the-league sort of way, Denmark stumbled into Euro 92 through the back door completely unprepared and we’re about as unfancied as it gets, yet won the thing playing some beautiful football. They grew into it and by the time they got to the final they played Germany off the park with very open expansive football.

Granted it’s exceptionally rare but it can be done.

It was an 8 team tournament with 2 knockout games including the final.

Edit as JD said

 

[EpsomWolf]

Far different format back then though only had to play 5 matches and 2 in knockout.
Had they had to go through 4 knockout matches chances are they’d have stumbled into a better side.
Could easily have gone out on penalties in the semi final too.

All ifs and buts.

PoInt is they were a small footballing country, turned up unprepared and unfancied, played attacking football and won it.