🏈Sports [MEGATHREAD] FIFA World Cup

[tamikadk]

What team are you supporting btw?

Romania since I'm Romanian. But since my shitty country is not here I usually root for Italy or Germany. But since Italy are garbage and Germany are gone, I would have liked the Dutch or Belgians to win. But since the Dutch have beaten themselves in order to make the Moroccoans seem better than they are, I will have to root for Belgium now.

And that's not because of how great Belgium are or because I like them (I actually don't like Belgium either), but it's because I like KdB more than anybody else on this planet seems to like him anymore, and I really feel sorry for the guy because he's one of the last true legends of football, I feel like with his retirement and with Lewandowski gone I feel like football is dying... maybe it's just me that has this feeling, but that's how I feel. So, I basically root for Belgium because of one player, I really feel that KdB deserves a trophy and more fame than he's gotten, I feel like everyone's cast him aside just because he's aged and it's not fair. That's not how I like to treat the legends of football, as soon as they lose their powers I shit and spit on them like the brainwashed idiots do. Not me...

And - if through some miracle - Belgium don't dispose of the fraudster americans, then I will root for any (and I literally mean ANY European team that's left at that point... ok, except for Spain, let me say that ) because I got the feeling that this WC has been very anti-Europe, I never saw so much hate towards Europeans at this WC in 40 years of me watching the sport. And I don't understand why, because clearly Europe have the most (and constantly best) teams in the world. If it wasn't like that, then nobody would hate us so much, I don't see anyone hating on Curacao, Haiti or New Zealand. So it must be our success that's triggering the scumbags then...

And if our success is why everyone's hating on Europe, then doesn't it make sense that we should have MORE European teams at this WC instead of less (like many seem to want to happen?). And no, I don't mean that we should get more teams at the detriment of Africa or Asia (although there's a point to be made here, too). But we could have not had Curacao, Haiti or Panama for example...

And going back to the point about Africa / Asia vs Europe... how have African and Asians performed at this WC? Africa have had 9 teams in this round of knock-out and what's happened to them? 6 of them are already eliminated, 1 qualified, 2 more still left to play today (Egypt and Ghana), which I assume 1 of them will get knocked out too (probably Ghana if I were to guess...)

And Asia I didn't check but they probably aren't better either since their best team (Japan) got eliminated by Brazil.

So, why shouldn't we see Poland or Denmark instead of Curacao, Haiti or even Panama (with all due respect to Panamanians who are a decent team but nothing more, they've always been butchered at WCs)?

But anyway, I digress...

As I was saying, if USA eliminates Belgium, I will root for any other European team except for Spain... and I will also root for Brazil too, I think the Brazilians are long overdue a WC trophy, so I want them to win if Europeans (except for Spain) don't. I just don't want to see Argentina win again, enough with that 1-man, anti-football team!

I keep hearing content creators on YT brag about how they like open play and matches with lots of goals and etc... which I agree, teams that play open, direct on goal style of football and which are offense-oriented and score a lot of goals are fun to watch as a neutral. So, I can understand, and agree with this, no problem! But then don't come and tell me how Argentina are amazing just because Messi scores all of their goals, because - when Messi's not in form - the Argentinians are a hard watch, I always get bored watching them struggle to create beautiful football, with Argentina it's Messi or bust since everyone seems to bash England by saying that England are Kane or bust then we can say the same thing about Argentina if we were to be fair, no?

Anyway (and with this the rant is over), since most of my favorite teams are gone, rightfully or not, from this WC, I will root for these teams (in this order):

Belgium
Norway (too bad they're playing Brazil, I will be so torn in this game)
Brazil
Switzerland
England

And if none of these teams win in, then I will root for Egypt, Colombia, or Canada (although I don't see the Canadians beating Morocco tomorrow) I genuinely don't mind any of these teams winning it all even if the odds for that happening being low...

And if Egypt or Colombia don't win it either, fine! Let me throw Portugal or France in there too (in THIS order), and if none of them win it either and - somehow - the final is Argentina vs Spain I will not even bother watching this final, especially since the scumbags intend to extend the halftime to 30 minutes so they can put some halftime show in it... bleah! I'm not watching that... I will watch the highlights though, just to cross the WC off my list of things that I've completed and just because it's good, generally speaking, to have 1st hand experience with such major global events. But I will definitely not care about any of those teams, I can say this much

 

[TheVigilante]

Good to see you included England and Brazil but damn France have a solid squad and they have players who are super fast on the counter attack it's mind blowing with the amount of pace the players got

All the three coaches are top notch so we will see

About Romania I am familiar about the previous players like Mutu and Chivu but I would love to date Romanian ladies anyday

 

[tamikadk]

Good to see you included England and Brazil but damn France have a solid squad and they have players who are super fast on the counter attack it's mind blowing with the amount of pace the players got

of course I had to include them, I also include Spain in top 5 favorites of winning the WC despite me being a big Spain hater (again, I am speaking from a FOOTBALLING standpoint here, please don't come at me as I don't have anything against the Spanish people, it's just that I don't like their passing-based football, that's all!)

As for France... well, they're the last empire this planet will ever see, one way or another, and the thing with empires is that they pillage and plunder everything, so obviously that they're stacked with quality and pacey players that have been brought in from their current or former colonies.

I mean, look at their front 4 (front 6 if we also include Barcola who has Togo lineage, and Ryan Checki who's of Algerian descent if memory serves me well)...

Mbappe... Cameroonian father
Doue... Ivorian lineage
Dembele (current Ballon d'Or winner)... has Senegalese mother
Olise... Nigerian father, Algerian mother

Not to mention previous France legends like Zidane (also of Algerian descent), or current players like Kante (Malian lineage), Upamecano (Senegal), and many others that I don't remember at the moment...

So - like to admit it, or not - France are stacked and had to be included in the top favorites (actually I see them favorites #1 at this WC, and I saw them like this before the WC started, not now like some plastic fans consider them after having watched them dismantle everyone...)

And yeah, the French offense is pacey, only Italy in their glory days (2006) would be able to stop this French team, otherwise I don't think anyone else is capable of doing it if the French are motivated, cerebral, and fire on all cylinders. They just can't be stopped

All the three coaches are top notch so we will see

If you mean Tuchel and Ancelotti, I agree. If you include Deschamps in here I disagree, but this might be my personal bias against this guy who has always had stacked teams at his disposal, and with such rosters you can't correctly assess the quality of a manager.

Which brings me to the nuisance Pep Guardiola who seems to have mesmerized everyone and their grandmother. But you're all missing the context: Guardiola has always had blank checques to transfer in the players he's always wanted, and when you have 11 ballon d'or contenders on the pitch it's pretty hard not to have success... especially in long competitions like the EPL where you have a shit-ton of time to adjust, analyze, improve, etc... Not to mention the blank cheques part too...

I would love to see the "great" Pep winning a trophy in any top 5 league with a mid-table team. If he manages to do that with the limited budget and with the players (that have limited skills) that he has available to him without lucking his way in... now that's when I will openly admit that Pep is great. But until that happens... let's not forget that Pep had been booed by his own fans when he coached Barcelona around 2010-2012 (don't remember the exact season, sorry) when - despite of inheriting a great Barcelona team from Rijkaard - he had still managed to piss his own fans off with the meaningless passes in the middle of the pitch around minute 60-65 when his team needed a win and they were playing at home (at Camp Nou) against a low table team (again, I don't remember who that was, sorry about that but I don't remember such details, especially since I'm not fond of Spanish football in general, and I tend to never watch it...), but instead of attacking the goal to score and win (it was 0-0 at that time btw) he was busy passing the ball between Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets 30 times a second like an imbecile... so yeah, his own fans have started booing the shitty tiki-taka style at that point, and I loved every moment of it

But anyway, even the Catalunyan fans have booed his shitty style of play (no wonder the garbage Pep likes garbage players like Doku who can only dribble but not do anything else that's meaningful in a game and in critical moments, I've seen Doku cruise past 4-5 opponents only to trip all over his own feet when he was about to make the final pass or cross in the box... or he'd send the ball into the Solar system, or give the ball away to opponents, etc... what an idiot, useless player, holy crap! And that loser is one of Pep's favorite players for Man City... or used to be, I think Pep has left City in the meantime...)

So yeah... the mighty Pep who's inherited a perfectly-oiled machine when he moved from Barca to Bayern. He'd basically parasited on Jupp Heynckes' (now THAT is a great manager that no one remembers or gives flowers to) work who's taken a mediocre Bayern Munchen team that's been in total disarray and with low morale and turned them into the best European team in 2013 when they've won the treble...

And then came Pep after Heynckess had to leave and in came Pep to fraud his way to the Man City cartel by leveraging Jupp Heynckess' work. And we all know what's happened at Man City, basically every season he'd transfer $500 million worth of players (I think during 1 of the seasons that he's managed City he'd spent over $1 billion in transfers, so yeah... money laundering at its best)...

But anyway, I derailed again, sorry about that! What I wanted to say is that I see Deschamps in the same position with Pep: he's the lucky beneficiary of a stacked roster full of ballon d'or contenders. And with such rosters it's impossible not to win a WC, even accidentally if for no other reason. At some point the players themselves get pissed and start winning to satisfy their own egos and to spite you, I've seen this many times in 40 years of watching football, so I know that this is a thing in football.

So no, I don't include Deschamp in the list of great coaches. Tuchel and Ancelotti are there, though... along with Heynckes like I said, also with Simone Inzaghi, Jurgen Klopp, and a few others that I don't remember at the moment... even our recently deceased Mircea Lucescu has been better tactician than Pep or Deschamp, the problem with Lucescu is that - except for 2-3 decades ago when he's managed Inter Milan (although I don't remember whether he's been successful with Inter) - he's never managed big clubs. But the clubs that he's managed (Besiktas, Galatasaray, and Sahtior) he's always had success with... although, let's be real: with Sahtior Lucescu had been in the same position as Pep has been with Man City (ie. he's had unlimited money to bring quality players in, which is why - at some point - 9 out of the starting 11 Sahtior players have been Brazilians ) ...

But this detail aside, Lucescu has had better success with less money than Pep will ever dream of having... or Deschamps too. I've seen Deschamp coach Juventus many years ago and he's never impressed me, which is why I've never understood why France have stopped to such low level of hiring a manager for the national team like Deschamps. But I guess that it's true what they say: some people can only fail upwards, so luck is one helluva a drug if you have it. And both Pep and Deschamps (and Roberto Martinez of Portugal, too apparently) have a ton of

Anyway... Tuchel and Carlo yes, Deschamps no!

About Romania I am familiar about the previous players like Mutu and Chivu but I would love to date Romanian ladies anyday

Mutu has been one of the wasted talents (I think he's snorted cocaine or something, and this had ruined him... he was playing for Chelsea at that time IIRC)... And Chivu is indeed one of our later (later, as in AFTER our golden generation had retired) legends. A very humble, consistent, hard working, and intelligent player... he's won the title with Inter Milan (as a coach I mean) last season actually.

I don't consider Chivu a good manager (I think Lucescu has been bigger than Chivu), but I do hold him close to my heart as a human being. I always put people before footballers in my hierarchy of great footballing legends, which is why I like Kevin de Bruyne and which is the sole reason for which I want Belgium to win this WC... or why I always liked Pirlo, or Lahm, or Frank Lampard, etc. more than more flashy (and probably better) players like Mbappe, Penaldo, Maradona, etc..

You can call me crazy if you want, I don't care. But for me players like Maldini, Kaka, Pirlo, Shevchenko (basically, the mighty Milan of the early 2000s) are way bigger footballers than Messi, Penaldo, Yamal, etc...

As for our ladies, yeah, they're stunningly beautiful, delicate... they're very feminine that is, I admit! But many of them (especially in big, cosmopolitan cities like Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, etc) have become fiercely materialistic and arrogant, I don't like their personality anymore even if physical-aspect wise they're still stunning...

Anyway, treat yourself to whichever one you like, I don't care, I'm a celibate anyway and I intend to die like that

 

[Octavia]

Egypt - AUS
1-1

 

[Octavia]

My dude is shooting for the moon with that first penalty.

Australia don't go home yet.


Cheeky penalty by Salah

 

[Octavia]

My dude is shooting for the moon with that first penalty.

Australia don't go home yet.


Cheeky penalty by Salah

Australia is gone from WC

 

[tamikadk]

Australia is gone from WC

they're one of those teams that play to the level of their opponents (ie. when they're the underdogs they outperform, but when they're the favorites they underperform). Weird team, you can never bet on this type of teams...

And the even weirder part is that both them and Egypt were at the same level (in my opinion that is, I don't care what the bookies said, I have my own eyes, brain, and footballing experience to be able to have my own god-damn CORRECT opinions) before the kick-off, which made this game even harder to call one way or the other...

Anyway, still plenty of Anglophonic nations left in this WC, so let's not mourn the Aussies

 

[Octavia]

they're one of those teams that play to the level of their opponents (ie. when they're the underdogs they outperform, but when they're the favorites they underperform). Weird team, you can never bet on this type of teams...

And the even weirder part is that both them and Egypt were at the same level (in my opinion that is, I don't care what the bookies said, I have my own eyes, brain, and footballing experience to be able to have my own god-damn CORRECT opinions) before the kick-off, which made this game even harder to call one way or the other...

Anyway, still plenty of Anglophonic nations left in this WC, so let's not mourn the Aussies

Argentina getting a free win later today

Even though I really hope cape verde wins

 

[tamikadk]

Argentina getting a free win later today

Even though I really hope cape verde wins

yes, and yes. I am literally rooting for Cape Verde too because I never liked Argentina. I just don't see it happening, though, there's difference in everything between these 2 (fitness levels, WC experience, talent, mentality, roster depth, you name it...)

I'd be shocked if it's not at least 2-0 (more likely 3-0) at HT so that the Argentinians can rest their starters in the 2nd half. This WC, man... has been engineered so much to favor an Argentina - France rematch, and to propel USA as far as possible that it puts to shame even the 2002 WC. I've been having the gut feeling that it's going to happen exactly like this since few days before the tournament started, and I am still not feeling right in my gut. This WC has been anything but fair play

Anyway, I think that both Argentina and Colombia will win tonight... and tomorrow starts the round of 16 with Canada vs. Morocco. I will root for Canada, but if Morocco get their shit together they'll eat up the Canadians for breakfast...

 

[Octavia]

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[tamikadk]

well, how about that! Argentina - Cape Verde 1-1 in minute 75... I didn't see this coming ... Go, Cape Verde!