World Cup 2022 General Tournament Discussion Thread

martingriff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119898229#Comment_119898229

Oh I am just going by what was said. I am not agreeing with it I still think it was onside. But hey its VAR and is very capable as we know in the PL of very bad and dodgy decisions

Headshot

It's been such an awful match. So much stop/start play with niggly fouls

Qatar have to be up there with one of the worse WC teams ever

martingriff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119898294#Comment_119898294

Whats the worst a host nation has done. Say they will be up there

Headshot

My god if feels like a minute cannot go by without that whistle been blown

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119898306#Comment_119898306

South Africa 2010 failed to get out of the group. The worst part was they introduced the world to Vuvuzela's. But Qatar are definitely a level below the average.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119898294#Comment_119898294

Yeah, definitely one of the worst hosts anyway. There's been a few proper horrendous teams down through the years though. Could see the Saudi's being rubbish this year too... they'll all have a bit of work to do to be worse than the Saudi's from our group in 2002 though - losing 12-0 across their 3 games.

I think historically there's a few proper stinkers too, like Zaire and El Salvadore, but in the modern era that Saudi team we faced will take some beating.

gormdubhgorm

Is there cut backs in RTE studio no chairs?

Headshot

Ecuador may regret their 2nd half performance if the group comes down to goal differences

Very poor half by them

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119898344#Comment_119898344

They were only chairless for the commercial break segue - were in a normal studio for the rest.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119898343#Comment_119898343

That Saudi team was so bad they actually let us score more than 1 goal against them at an international finals 🤣

TheRiverman

This match is so bad it's making Ronnie Whelan sound good.

Mr.Nice Guy

Depressing to think Ireland could only manage a 1-1 draw against Qatar over there. Even without Mane, Senegal surely beat them. Has a World Cup host ever gone out without picking up a point? On this evidence, I'd say it's a distinct possibility.

NIMAN

Cannot stand the po-face from Lineker and his ilk. Moaning and pushing all the negatives as soon as they came on.

Here's an idea Gary. If you hate it all so much, why didn't all the analysts stay at home, like the rte folk do? Only the commentators need to actually be out there. But hey, you'll just have to suffer 30 days in a 5 star hotel with a pile of your mates, all expenses paid. Just how many analysts have bbc taken out I wonder.

And we think rte can waste licence payers money.

martingriff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119898339#Comment_119898339

Ah now I had forgotten about that. South Africa did get 4 points and out by head to head. Qatar will not to that

NIMAN

Wouldn't it be ironic if Ecuador went out on goal difference.

Would serve them right for settling for a 2 nil win at half time. They didn't try a leg in the 2nd half.

Chardee MacDennis

Paddy Power had Qatar at 10-1 to be the lowest scoring team. After watching that, I’m annoyed I only put a fiver on it.

citytillidie

Damn reading twitter on the offside decision the number of people who don't know that you need at least two defending players between the ball and the goal line to be onside is laughable, looking back it is offside just. The keeper challenges the blonde haired attacker the ball hits the blonde haired attacker however the dark haired attackers leg is offside. This dark headed attacker plays it before the blonde haired attacker crosses it over with a bicycle kick so it is offside.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119899227#Comment_119899227

Blows my mind how many soccer fans still think it is 1 player - the keeper not 2 players

Cake Man

That result surely means Qatar's goose is cooked anyway. I'd say they would have gone heavy on targeting that Ecuador game for a win with it likely being the "easiest" of their three games. You'd imagine Senegal (minus Mane) will be a step up again (or at the very least, just as good as Ecuador) and the Dutch will put them to the sword. Will surely go down as the worst hosts.

Just noticed South Korea played UAE in a friendly today, winning 2-0. Didn't see a line up but jeez, that's cutting it a bit fine with their opener in 3 days time no? Big risk of an injury to someone for a nothing game.

McBain11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119899227#Comment_119899227

I'm at a loss here. Even though there are a lot of bodies close together when it hits the Ecuador players head, it looks to me like the only person relevant is the keeper. The keeper looks goal side of the attacker in every photo I've seen, one photo still looks like his leg is behind the Ecuador player, another photo still looks like his arse is level with the Ecuador player.

Why is the AI offside system focusing on the Qatar defender a couple of feet ahead of the goalkeeper? There is a defender (near the goal line) and goalkeeper behind that Qatar defender that the AI offside system is focusing on.

I find the whole thing bizarre. Either that or my sense of perspective is way way off (and I know that the camera angle can be deceiving).

citytillidie

Seen this dunno how accurate it is

https://twitter.com/ElGavii30/status/1594364113504772097

Weepsie

Yeah but the keeper is the one who played the ball....

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119899428#Comment_119899428

Their best hope might be that the Dutch don't care about the final game and they can snatch something to end on a high.

Some clash of culture in that game too. Parts of Amsterdam the combined clothes of 20 women would only have enough material for 1 burka. And if the Qataris thought Budweiser was a drug 🤣

callaway92

That first match was insanely flat. Doesn’t bode well, especially given that RTE commentary were actually in-stadium

Carcharodon

Iam really just sad after the game this morning, it’s not like we didn’t see it coming but still sucks when it happens. You could say it’s only soccer and not life or death but the reality of this tournament is that it has been life and death for those involved working on the tournament. The whole thing is so disappointing and hopefully the upcoming games turn it around as much as they possibly can on the football side as the ship has sailed on everything else

That game was soooo bad, just a bad weird game with one very bad team and another average team

chopperbyrne

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119899531#Comment_119899531

That image is from when the ball had reached the keeper and the Ecuadorian player, with a second Ecuadorian having his foot offside, but when the ball was struck initially, everyone looked onside, and that's what counts otherwise every ball over the top or through pass would be offside.

Kiith

Looks like England and the other countries won't be wearing the one love armband.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/63699477

Degag

I’m not a fan of these gestures in sport like taking the knee, armbands etc. They should just let sport be sport but; this looks incredibly weak from England/Wales.

Hypocrisy of the highest order from FIFA too of course.

citytillidie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119901026#Comment_119901026

Why would you go out and let your captain get booked at the start of each game? FIFA pulling out all the stops to stop any gestures

gucci

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119901149#Comment_119901149

Not like Harry Kane would ever pick up a yellow for diving 😁

crushproof

England XI: Pickford, Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Rice, Bellingham, Mount, Shaw, Saka, Kane, Sterling

Iran XI: Beiranvand, Moharrami, Hajsafi, Mohammadi, Jahanbakhsh, Pouraliganji, Taremi, Cheshmi, Karimi,Hosseini, Nourollahi

Can't believe Southgate is keeping faith in Maguire.

Regarding the One Love armband, if they were so passionate about then surely they'd all stand together and get yellow carded each time? Appalling but not surprising from FIFA but at the same time the players have given in easily here.

McDermotX

BBC lads still enjoying the trip anyway.

Relax brah

Absolutely travesty of a WC. Doesn’t feel like the same buzz you’d get every 4 years

This will be the end of FIFA’s corrupt hierarchy

Mr.Nice Guy

Can't believe he left Foden out. I picked him in my fantasy team. Doesn't look a good England team to me but should still be too strong for Iran.

TheMilkyPirate

Can we all give it a rest with the stuff outside football. Yeah we get it. I honestly couldn't give two ****. People will say I'm a **** for that but there is much much worse going on in the world every single day. And all them idiot pundits couldn't care less either they just have to make it seem like they do to save face. I just want to enjoy a world cup and some good football.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119901317#Comment_119901317

Good luck with that..

McDermotX

Southgate very quiet on the armband stuff. Nothing to do with me etc, concentrating on football

It's very easy to be critical and brave when there's no real sacrifices to be made, but when push came to shove, the reality came through. Every single one of those players had the choice, the football associations had a choice, they took the choice to go to Qatar and not make a real, proper stand.

Now the awful Alex Scott is on with her armband. Probably use that with her next photo op with Putin.

breezy1985

I doubt England will win this handy but is there much chance they don't get 3 points in the end ?

Kiith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119901251#Comment_119901251

Hah, not a chance. Fifa don't give a **** what we think. Simple fact is no teams boycotted the tournament, no major sponsors withdrew their advertising, and there has been **** all backlash for any of this.

Why would Fifa bother changing anything?

Degag

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119901149#Comment_119901149

Because all these gestures mean feck all if you won’t stand up to a bit of adversity.

As another poster said, all nations should have stood up if it trully meant anything to them.

AdamD

Clearly the knives are out, imagine being angry with the players rather than FIFA in this scenario...

Mr.Nice Guy

I didn't want the World Cup to go to Qatar and would have backed a decision to move it after Blatter and co. moved on, but it's here and it's time to get on with it. Let's be honest, it's a bit rich for Irish people to be jumping on our moral high horses when homosexuality wasn't decriminalized in this country until 1993, and the last of the Magdalene Laundries was only shut down in 1996. We hosted sporting events and Eurovisions etc. and I don't recall any boycott campaigns against us.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119901414#Comment_119901414

Yup, quite an embarrassing move from them… this actually gave them the opportunity to make it into something more than a token gesture.

Would’ve loved to see the whole team go out with rainbow armbands instead of just doing it with the captaincy - give the ref the very tough and terrible looking decision of if he’s going to dish out 11 yellow cards right away. It would have looked so bad, and so blatant, I think they’d have gotten away with it.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119901273#Comment_119901273

Some lad to throw off the bench though. And he isn't the only one on that panel could make big difference.

gucci

10 mins to go and England are 3-0 up in the final (Harry Kane with a hattrick obviously) will he come over to the sideline and switch his armband and take a yellow?

castletownman

There is a reason no high profile player has come out in England (or any other major league to my knowledge). Homophobia is still an active problem in the game and no political gesture of an armband will amend that.

The teams don't care enough really to make a stand against Fifa. What if every player wore an armband. Would everyone be booked?

Maybe captains will wear the armband in the last game before cards are wiped.....

The world cup is too important for LGBT /migrant rights to get in the way. That's the truth.

Also tbh, putting it all on the players is probably a bit of a cop out from the FAs.

martingriff

The BBC trying to justify Maguire was ridiculous at the end

~Rebel~

Fair play to the couple of Iranian players who took the knee too - much bigger deal for them to do it, especially being in the minority of their countrymen doing it.

martingriff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119901251#Comment_119901251

Don't hold your breath but would not be surprised is Infantini was to leave on the quiet in the next couple of months for another job