Qatar 2022 - The Thread!

[Pidesco]

Argentina have been serial bottlers at World Cups since 1990. They are just continuing a hallowed tradition.

[Malcador]

1 hour ago, InsaneCommander said:

What happened?! How did Saudi Arabia win against Argentina?

Renard's got the touch

[Malcador]

Poland's one uninspiring team.

Edited November 22, 2022 by Malcador

[InsaneCommander]

7 hours ago, Malcador said:

Renard's got the touch

Having 3 gols ruled out didn't help, but the offside was obvious.

[BruceVC]

14 hours ago, Malcador said:

Renard's got the touch

I thought we were all boycotting this WC because of the human rights abuses? It sounds like you guys are watching it?

[Gorth]

2 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I thought we were all boycotting this WC because of the human rights abuses? It sounds like you guys are watching it?

I haven't watched any games, but the Iranian players and spectators used the opportunity for some "anti government" behavior. But that is probably more for the politics thread (all the women wearing no headscarves, the players visibly refusing to sing the national anthem, signs and placards showing support for the demonstrations at home etc.)

 

Edit: The Danish journalist getting threatened by Qatari security is old news, but people wearing rainbow hats and scarves are being threatened at the entrance to the stadiums, Qatar backing down from previous promises of a tolerant and inclusive WC (making it a PR disaster, which bean in earnest when they suddenly changed their mind on allowing beer in the stadiums). In short, the Qatari government lying through its teeth and showing itself from its worst side, justifying the criticism of FIFA for allowing Qatar to buy the WC. At least Russia hadn't invaded Crimea yet when they were handed them the previous WC.

[BruceVC]

11 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I haven't watched any games, but the Iranian players and spectators used the opportunity for some "anti government" behavior. But that is probably more for the politics thread (all the women wearing no headscarves, the players visibly refusing to sing the national anthem, signs and placards showing support for the demonstrations at home etc.)

 

Edit: The Danish journalist getting threatened by Qatari security is old news, but people wearing rainbow hats and scarves are being threatened at the entrance to the stadiums, Qatar backing down from previous promises of a tolerant and inclusive WC (making it a PR disaster, which bean in earnest when they suddenly changed their mind on allowing beer in the stadiums). In short, the Qatari government lying through its teeth and showing itself from its worst side, justifying the criticism of FIFA for allowing Qatar to buy the WC. At least Russia hadn't invaded Crimea yet when they were handed them the previous WC.

Yes, I tend to agree. Also the WC in Russia people were on " best behavior " and I dont remember LGBT targeting or minorities being treated badly during the Russian WC?

[xzar_monty]

37 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

Yes, I tend to agree. Also the WC in Russia people were on " best behavior " and I dont remember LGBT targeting or minorities being treated badly during the Russian WC?

The obviously unverified but very plausible-seeming story is that Putin made it extremely clear to everyone that everything should be fine and dandy during the World Cup, otherwise things would get very nasty indeed for anyone who didn't obey.

(Hooray for the Iranian team and supporters, by the way!)

Edited November 23, 2022 by xzar_monty

[BruceVC]

22 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

The obviously unverified but very plausible-seeming story is that Putin made it extremely clear to everyone that everything should be fine and dandy during the World Cup, otherwise things would get very nasty indeed for anyone who didn't obey.

(Hooray for the Iranian team and supporters, by the way!)

Yes thats true,  for example the Neo-Nazi and Russian nationalist  groups in Russian were told to not harass or attack minorities on the subways or other places where fans could be found 

But the point being it created a WC that was relatively free from some of what we seeing in Qatar 

 

[Malcador]

4 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

The obviously unverified but very plausible-seeming story is that Putin made it extremely clear to everyone that everything should be fine and dandy during the World Cup, otherwise things would get very nasty indeed for anyone who didn't obey.

Seems pretty bog standard when hosting an event. 

[Malcador]

Germany is useless again.

[majestic]

Yes, that's just perfect. Come on Japan, just a couple more seconds!

[Malcador]

Worst part is all these weeb fans

Hopefully Belgium disposes of Canada later today, will salvage this day for me.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Malcador

[xzar_monty]

58 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Seems pretty bog standard when hosting an event. 

So in which other countries has the non-democratically "elected" leader reached out to his country's mafia and multitude of criminal gangs to stress that they should desist from all their activities for as long as the tournament lasts, so as to create a veneer of propriety in his country?

[Malcador]

17 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

So in which other countries has the non-democratically "elected" leader reached out to his country's mafia and multitude of criminal gangs to stress that they should desist from all their activities for as long as the tournament lasts, so as to create a veneer of propriety in his country?

Oh, so the method of how the leader was picked matters here.  But like people cleaning before company comes, countries do likewise. Brazil had their police "pacify" favelas and such before the World Cup - I've heard people talk about those ranging from Hearts and Minds to black bagging people.  Nothing so dramatic needed in 2006 or 2002 - maybe we can come up with some way to generalize those peoples to explain that

Not even sure a warning is really needed for that, the government in any country is the biggest gang in a way.  Should be understood that to embarrass them means a hammer will fall on you - sort of like how in many places there are unacceptable murder victims, heh - not to mention the vast security apparatus deployed for these events means starting trouble outside of their gaze is going to be difficult.  Will be interesting to see if any mass shooting attempts happen in 2026 though - someone upset their team loses going nuts with an AR-15 or something.

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Malcador

[xzar_monty]

If you propose that the government in countries such as South Africa, Germany, South Korea, Japan, France, the United States or Italy is "the biggest gang in a way" and thus an equal of the multitude of criminal gangs in Russia, then sure, we're not going to have a sensible conversation, since we're once again entering the territory of "there's essentially no difference between Russia and anything else".

[Malcador]

5 hours ago, xzar_monty said:

If you propose that the government in countries such as South Africa, Germany, South Korea, Japan, France, the United States or Italy is "the biggest gang in a way" and thus an equal of the multitude of criminal gangs in Russia, then sure, we're not going to have a sensible conversation, since we're once again entering the territory of "there's essentially no difference between Russia and anything else".

Yes, exactly, I was saying the governments of those countries is the same as the 'Ndragheta or Yakuza.  The force a government can bring to bear when it decides to - especially these days where you dress things up as "terrorism" - was the point of that, not that difficult a concept to grasp about why that would deter most criminals from acting up during a prestige event.

Funny that you mention Italy, friend was telling me on how OC there took on the state in the 90's the other day, I'll have to read up on that.

 

edit : OG, hah, too much gangsta rap for me.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Malcador

[Malcador]

Well, satisfied with Canada's loss, Belgium sure made a hash of it

[InsaneCommander]

14 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I thought we were all boycotting this WC because of the human rights abuses? It sounds like you guys are watching it?

I haven't watched any games yet. That was why I was curious about Argentina.

So many surprises so far. I'm betting on South Korea tomorrow. And let's see if Brazil is everything the players think they are.

[xzar_monty]

10 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

I haven't watched any games yet. That was why I was curious about Argentina.

So many surprises so far. I'm betting on South Korea tomorrow. And let's see if Brazil is everything the players think they are.

It's hard to think of watching the games in this tournament. Lamentably.

I'm not counting on Brazil. They've got attacking prowess for sure, but as Argentina so aptly demonstrated, that doesn't amount to much if you can't defend properly -- although it has to be said that the Brazilian goalkeeper is up there with the very best, unlike the Argentinian one.

When I played the game, I was good at long shots and free kicks and had a fair bit of technique with them(*), so I'm rooting for Xherdan Shaqiri of Switzerland who has demonstrated some serious skills with that stuff. I won't watch the game, though.

 

(*) Obviously at a level that's utter rubbish compared to the World Cup, but good at the level I was at.

[InsaneCommander]

26 minutes ago, xzar_monty said:

I'm not counting on Brazil. They've got attacking prowess for sure, but as Argentina so aptly demonstrated, that doesn't amount to much if you can't defend properly -- although it has to be said that the Brazilian goalkeeper is up there with the very best, unlike the Argentinian one.

Neither am I. Every World Cup is the same thing: the press, the fanatics and at least half the people I know think Brazil is the best and will almost certainly win. Not that I think Brazil is bad, but the preparation is not done seriously, so even if we had the best players I don't think we would be the favorite.

The Brazilian Football Confederation, that manages the national team, doesn't care abou being prepared, they only want to get rich. For example, they sold the rights for the friendly games to a company in exchange for great profits. The result? Lots of useless games against very bad teams. No offense, but there are barely any games against the best countries or traditionally strong teams, something you would expect of someone wanting to be prepared.

They are also arrogant and think Brazilians are the best. Try to suggest a good coach that was not born in Brazil to manage the team. People get offended. There are two Portuguese men that have done a very good job in some teams here in recent years (Jorge Jesus and Abel Braga) and they are considered as possible substitutes for the current coach. But you'll see a lot of people angry with the idea, despite both of them having shown much more competence with preparing their teams and using modern tactics. Basically, their teams were considerably above any of the others when they were/are working here. Any championships without knockout games were easily won by them.

Edit: Not to mention we have two players that are nearly 40 years old. It doesn't look good on the coach for choosing them.

Edited November 23, 2022 by InsaneCommander

[ShadySands]

16 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I thought we were all boycotting this WC because of the human rights abuses? It sounds like you guys are watching it?

I am. I haven't watched a minute of it, and other than me clicking in this thread, have been able to easily avoid it.

Edited November 23, 2022 by ShadySands

[Malcador]

57 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

They are also arrogant and think Brazilians are the best. Try to suggest a good coach that was not born in Brazil to manage the team. People get offended.

Think that's true for all the major footballing nations, point of pride to have a domestic coach.

[BruceVC]

Guys its the US vs Iran tonight and I should we all watch it to support our American forum friends like @Gfted1, @ShadySands@Hurlshort@rjshae @Keyrock @kanisatha  @Amentepto name a few

I think the points been made strongly about the human rights issues in Qatar, there have been loads of protests and necessary attention on this WC. So who is with me ...go US for tonight  

Edited November 29, 2022 by BruceVC

[ShadySands]

Pass