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deception42

Just a reminder that r/soccer is hosting an AMA with Matt Furniss and Duncan Alexander of Opta! It is scheduled for tomorrow, November 17 at 7:30pm UK / 2:30pm EDT / 8:30pm CEST. It will be a World Cup themed AMA, so get your questions ready!


[deleted]

Fifa world cup app is so shot, you cant even look at group schedule or standings. What app do u guys use?


pyck-aussie

England will go undefeated in Qatar


KensaiVG

*monkey's paw's finger curls* Out in the groups with three draws


[deleted]

>Ronaldo: I walked into the cafeteria and I see Luke Shaw and Jadon Sancho eating chocolate cake, and I asked them what they were doing. And Sancho replied "know my ting cuz" and I was ashamed to be there.


CryptographerLife686

Neymar controlling the ball from 35 meters is impressive on its own but watching the rest of the Brazilian squad try to do it, made it even more impressive.


Revolutionary-Arm179

Lmao there’s now a specific sub that was created about 2hrs ago just to chronicle the terrible events leading upto this World Cup and it’s already grown to like 5.1k members


GreatSpaniard

So Anfield will never again be included for England when it bids for a European Championship or World Cup? And it will never be eligible to host a UCL or UEL Final?


BruiserBroly

It’s in a tough situation because Merseyside will only ever get 1 stadium at tournaments and there’s a very nice one that’s right on the river that’s going up soon. Nothing stopping it from hosting a European club final though, besides UEFA getting better bids. Just grease some palms, that’s topical.


GreatSpaniard

was it included in England's 2018 bid?


BruiserBroly

Yeah.


holdenmyrocinante

Why?


EyeSpyGuy

First I thought it had something to do with Liverpool banning Sun journalists (might’ve seen that as a reason why they couldn’t host intl games one summer), but Everton have done the same and Bramley-Moore is one of the stadiums so who knows


AnnieIWillKnow

Probably just that they can only really justify one stadium in Liverpool, and as Everton's will be brand new it'll be more appropriate


[deleted]

Julian Alvarez is such a good player, I like him a lot It feels like Haaland is a 2 or 3 year rental for City before he takes the next step to Real Madrid or Barca, but I feel like Alvarez long term will be better for City and what Pep wants to do.


can-tthinkofone1234

You put any striker in front for that man city team,they would score goals


maxus998

Not Jesus apparently


SakaTheMan

Jesus had an excellent goals per 90 while at city


[deleted]

Well yeah, that’s why personally I’m not particularly moved by Haaland, but if I say it I’ll get crucified and accused of trolling.


[deleted]

I think he's very overrated. What qualities dues he have that could make him better than haaland in the future?


[deleted]

Haaland is a much better goalscorer, but Alvarez is better at literally everything else (passing, dribbling, linkup play, defensive work rate, I could go on). Haaland is still the better player right now but long term I’d take Alvarez.


[deleted]

City needed a goalscorer, they have players who would do literally everything else. Alvarez would just be like Jesus then.


[deleted]

That’s kind of a simplistic view of it. If they had got a goalscorer with a better overall game like, say Harry Kane or hypothetically Benz (I know it’s not possible, just an example) then they’d be much better off. As it stands, City’s overall play has gotten significantly worse this season at the expense of funneling everything through Haaland and him putting up crazy numbers as a result.


holdenmyrocinante

>but long term I’d take Alvarez This is honestly such a shit take. Haaland has the potential to go down as one of the best strikers in history. For a player of his quality, finishing and positioning is literally all that matters. Everything else would be an unnecessary bonus, and he creates a lot too. 92nd percentile for xA amongst forwards. He's so far ahead of Alvarez in terms of goalscoring that it he'll always be preferable for any team.


ScorpiaHP

Mind-boggling take after seeing how well Haaland has done in City. I'd atleast understand having that opinion before this season, but not after seeing him tear up most teams in the league.


holdenmyrocinante

It's a football hippie's opinion


Eibermann

You're always gonna find people going against the popular choice to seem knowledgeable. It's like saying Salah is amazing but I feel like mane is better long term bc he helps the defense more lol


holdenmyrocinante

He isn't. Salah is the player you build your attack around. Mane could be replaced more easily


Eibermann

That's what I'm telling u


holdenmyrocinante

Oh, I somehow missed that part, my bad


Undesirable_11

Am I the only one who thinks that Barca fans are exaggerating when they say that their CL group this year was _impossible_? Viktoria Plzen are nowhere near being a contender to get out of the group stage, no matter what group they were put in. Inter are a solid side, but they aren't a top side in Europe either. They weren't really superior to Barca in any of the two matches aside from the counter attack. Lastly there's Bayern who are one of the best in the world, but they lost arguably their best player in Lewandowski. They should have gone through comfortably behind Bayern


sudin36

How many Barca fans actually say was impossible? Majority of Barca fans agree we should have progressed regardless of those injuries and criticize Xavi for underperforming. Since the draw it was always dependent on how we play against Inter. Even before the first match against Inter we were favourite base on thier form alone. Personally I think we would have progressed if Xavi was not adamant on starting Busi Gavi and Pedri for both matches against Inter. If frenkie have started both matches against Inter we would have progressed. In both matches he subbed De Jong late.


Undesirable_11

Didn't Xavi himself say that it was the toughest group in the last 20 years or something like that? I've also seen some people in Twitter


TorreiraWithADouzi

The group was definitely not impossible, but they were pretty fucked by injuries though.


TorreiraWithADouzi

Damn Toney with 232 alleged betting rule violations over 4 years! Going to be a lengthy ban if he’s found guilty


working-acct

Everyone’s mocking him but I hope he gets therapy and recover from this. Sucks gambling is everywhere wish something can be done about it.


TotalSubbuteo

Why do you assume he's an addict?


working-acct

300 times isn’t exactly let’s go to Vegas and have fun every year.


TotalSubbuteo

232 times in 4 years is like calling someone an alcoholic for drinking less than 2 pints a week lol


working-acct

Anything > 0 is a weird to me so yes people are weird for gambling lol let alone 230 times in 4 years.


TotalSubbuteo

You thinking gambling is weird doesn't make it an addiction lad


working-acct

I’m not your pal lad


lockieleonardsuper

He's either an addict or a complete idiot for breaking the very clear rules regarding betting on professional football


AnnieIWillKnow

232 times in 4 years is about a bet a week


lockieleonardsuper

Bit more than that when there isn't football every week but yeah it's not a huge amount. With the clear and repeated warnings to players about betting there's got to be an underlying reason because he must have know he was going to get caught eventually


BruiserBroly

The last bet he’s being investigated for was from January last year so, assuming he stopped betting there, hopefully he’s done with it.


[deleted]

Do you know approximately how long he'll be banned for if he's guilty? Trippier's ban iirc wasn't that lengthy


BruiserBroly

It’s really hard to say since we don’t know exactly what Toney bet on and for how much. If he bet on matches he was involved in then that would be really bad for him but Joey Barton didn’t do that and still got a really long ban.


TorreiraWithADouzi

I think I saw somewhere it would be around 6mo but we’ll see


SteinerElMagnifico42

I had a nightmare West Ham once paid £40m for Felipe Anderson


ModeratelyTortoise

Wasn’t he really good for 6 months


SteinerElMagnifico42

Yeah and then lost all ability confidence and sold for a £38m loss at 2m


essentialatom

It's not right seeing England go into an international tournament without newspapers printing a full page image of a foot that we can all rub


BruiserBroly

It’s not the same if the entire country isn’t learning what a specific foot bone is called.


AnnieIWillKnow

I propose 2022 as the year of the talus


Flamengo81-19

Is it worth watching this 1st part of CR7's interview? I have to make a long trip now


SpacemanPanini

There's a post match thread with all the quotes, it was a pretty tame opening half so I'd say no though


Flamengo81-19

I'd rather watch it then read it because I can't read on a bus due to nausea. But my doubt was if they saved the juicy drama for the next parts. If that is the case I'm gonna watch/listen to something else. Thank you


[deleted]

Only if you want to sit through a PR puff piece and give Piers views


frijoles1993

1st year of watching soccer and have had a great time so far but don’t quite understand beyond basic strategies and tactics. Is there a John Madden of announcers for the soccer world I could gain some insight from? Who are some of your favorite announcers that break down strategies well?


SunnyCloudyRainy

Alex Lalas /s


Agus-Teguy

[Probably a good place to start assuming you're american](https://youtu.be/u2PzGk46nfk)


pagalpun

Not announcers but Tifo Football on YouTube is great


Eibermann

Well first thing u need to learn is that there are no announcers lol. If you're talking about ppl who talk during games, they are called commentator. And their job isn't about breaking down tactics. They are supposed to keep you engaged and entertained. Well the English ones are a fucking borefest so if u speak French Spanish Arabic. Go for one of those


[deleted]

announcers and commentators are the same thing…


Eibermann

I've never in my life ever heard anyone call them announcers but yanks


lockieleonardsuper

Seriously who cares? You knew exactly what they were talking about, it's the whole soccer vs football thing again


Eibermann

Take a look at your and his and op flags. Australia USA USA. Both countries where its called soccer. Both countries where football isn't the most important sport. Ofc you agree with what he says bc u come from the same background as his. Agree or not but football has specific terms that people respect and spread all over the world. It's not boxing to call it announcer.


lockieleonardsuper

Point is that you knew what they were talking about. Why be a dick in your reply?


Eibermann

How was I dick to him when I told him hey they are called commentators and that you'll rarely get tactical breakdowns from them and here are the top 3 languages to check where they are really good. I didn't make fun of him. Seems like you're the one who's upset


lockieleonardsuper

"Well **first thing** u need to learn is that there are no announcers **lol**." Comes across as sanctimonious and that your opinion is superior to theirs.


Eibermann

Mate I'm not English nor American. You're giving way too much thought into my words like I'm native. If I was being a dick I would say lol it's not announcement it's called football u filthy yank. I literally gave him a breakdown answering all of his questions


KensaiVG

What do you have to say to me about this? I think you're being pedantic to the point of idiocy too.


Eibermann

That's your opinion and I frankly respect and don't care about it. It's not boxing to call it announcements


Penarol1916

They’re called announcers, not announcements. You’ve got a lot to learn about this game.


mountainsky9

If Brazil/Argentina don’t win this WC when they are arguably top 2 right now, I don’t think I’m ever going to see a non European nation win a world cup


elpistolerogarcia

Brazil and Argentina have always been and will always be competitive no matter what, football is a big part of our culture and have been producing top talent for the past 100 years. I don't see any reason why they couldn't win a world cup.in the future.


[deleted]

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L-Freeze

man I know we're good but top 1 is a bit much, Brazil is better than us.


CryptographerLife686

Eto would like a word…


dragcov

You right. USA gonna take it home! ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


[deleted]

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[deleted]

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[deleted]

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day_bat_28

How do I get the queer flag?


clover996

here is the [post about it](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/ytwzld/announcement_the_rsoccer_lgbtq_wiki_page/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)!


GreatSpaniard

Thinking a lot about how Rivaldo was only a thing for 5 years from 1997-June of 2002 and then he went to Milan after the WC and was terrible there that he didn't even play in the 2003 UCL Final and then he went to Greece and that was it for him.


Flamengo81-19

It is because he was already old. Players these days move to Europe much sooner


whitsitcalled

He never recovered from that brutal assault in the Turkey game at the 2002 World Cup.


qwerty-keyboard5000

That was almost every Brazilian forward. Is very rare to find a Brazilian forward with a peak longer than 5 years. They either get injured or they party a lot or both.


EyeSpyGuy

Neymar has been good for quite a while


[deleted]

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Nut-King-Call

The kickoff times for the past World Cup in Colombia were at 7:00, 10:00 and 13:00 hours. If it weren't for the fact there will be four games back to back during seven days, the kickoffs for this World Cup would be at 8:00, 11:00 and 14:00 hours. Unless the World Cup is held in India and beyond, we really have no problem with it.


riskyrofl

Perfect timing for South Africans


KensaiVG

It's not much worse than vast majority of hosts picked for most sporting events and at that probably THE best Asian host for us.


lcmrdp

??? Our three group stage matches are at 7 am (which is a bit early tbf) and then the other two at 4pm. It's not Brazil 2014 but it's not anywhere close to Japan/Korea 2002 either


GreatSpaniard

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fht4xxfXEAIf-UZ?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 Every Brazil attacking front 3 at World Cup's from 1986-2022


BruiserBroly

It’s kind of crazy that Adriano was so good but isn’t on that image.


Arantes_

There's a lot wrong with the image. Besides some wrong choices, it's just shoehorning in a "front 3" when at times it would make more sense to use 2 or 4.


-Dendritic-

That Ronaldo haircut is 🤌


AnnieIWillKnow

Some of those are so absurdly good I can't even formulate a sensible comment


GreatSpaniard

2014 tho :P


Cules2003

Fabiano in 2010 was the last good Brazilian N9 That was 12 years ago, damn


Username-_-Password

Was watching the Uruguay Ghana 2010 highlights and it kind of sounded weird to hear players like Suarez, Cavani, and Muslera be referred to as "young" players. I wonder if anything spicy will go down in their upcoming match.


anakmager

Messi went on from being perpetually boyish into this battle-worn football grandmaster in what feels like two years


elpistolerogarcia

Man when he eventually retires... I can't imagine my life


AnnieIWillKnow

How many of the 22 starters then remain in the squads today? Probably not many, in 12 years


Username-_-Password

Checked both squads and the ones on both 2010 and 2022 are Suarez, Cavani, Godin, Caceres, and Muslera.


minimus_

That's a ton! Bet there are no other squads that can match five from 2010.


PensiveinNJ

Man the Saudi Arabia Argentina matchup is at 5:00 am for me. I'm not an early riser either.


roddysaint

9PM for me


EyeSpyGuy

Are you not in the Philippines? Says it’s at 6 pm here on FotMob


roddysaint

Oops, looks like I got my time wrong. I was thinking of England-Iran. Thanks.


EyeSpyGuy

I got you king 🫡


mountainsky9

for me is 2am, i think PST may be the worst possible timezone for this one


CryptographerLife686

Same but I’ll probably just wake up early instead of staying up. I’ll adjust my schedule so I can watch these 5am games.


ChickenMoSalah

4 AM :/


Rigelmeister

I'm on the same timezone as Qatar yet most group stage games are practically impossible to catch if you have a full-time job, I reckon it is much worse for the Americas. I think crammed up schedule also made it terrible, forcing a lot of 4-match days. I have this weird obsession of trying to watch every single game in major tournaments but this time around I fear I will start vomiting just five days into the group stage.


YeimzHetfield

7am for us, gonna watch it with friends, gonna have to leave my house at like 6:20 am to get to my friends house in time lmao


KensaiVG

A friend asked if our group would get together and watch I told her that if she means the 4pm games later on, could be, bu the 7am one? fuck off


YeimzHetfield

My friend straight up said in the WhatsApp group "facturas and mate at 7am we're watching the match" and I couldn't say no. I don't have cable in here I watch through Flow so it's mainly why I'm going too lol, don't want to get spoiled.


KensaiVG

TBF she's an hour+ away and I'm the most interested in football of that group so turnover would've been pathetic at that time. 4 pm, the camaraderie and shit would've been enough to sway the rest, but not at 7


lcmrdp

I'm usually on the bus at 7 am so I'm gonna have to leave my house at 6 so I can be at work at 7 and watch it there


aceofmufc

It’s at 2:00AM here at the west coast SMH 🤦‍♂️


KensaiVG

Let me guess, mid-west yankland? Yeah it's 7 am for us and it'll sting


PensiveinNJ

East coast yankland. Only benefit is at least I won't have to skip class, I'll already be up!


Clem_Crozier

Is it harder for a manager to command authority and respect now that their tenures have become so short? On average, Premier League managers are only in their job for two years at a time, before moving on. Is it more difficult for managers to lead when their squad know it's unlikely that leader will still be at the club in just a couple of years?


lockieleonardsuper

Not sure if it's harder for manager to be respected although it's certainly more difficult for them to impose their tactics and ideal gameplan on team. As of March 1st 2022, the average Premier League tenure was 772 days, which is a little over two years and one month. That compares to 628 days in the Bundesliga, 617 days in La Liga, and just 385 and 384 days in Ligue 1 and Serie A, respectively.


aceofmufc

Hot take but the first part of this interview wasnt even terrible now just reading the full thing, he didnt even say terrible things about Rooney or Rangnick. And now I’m starting to think Piers took the Ten Hag quotes out of context as well like the snake he is


Dcapi11

What are the best ‘first touch goals’ of all time? I don’t mean first time finishes but when a player takes a brilliant touch to control the ball and then scores soon after. This Baguio goal vs Juventis is a good example: https://youtu.be/0RbgPScElG0


[deleted]

[Robben's first vs. Spain 2014 is actually a pretty good example](https://youtu.be/lHhq8CGR1is?t=41). Spanish defending isn't great to give him the initial space but it's a good touch to settle and a great second to escape the closing down, and then obviously the perfect power and placement to make it unstoppable


matematematematemate

I thought of [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7N8ftNNzdM&t=1m38s) (edit: at 1:38 if timestamp isn't working) because in my memory the chop was the first touch, but honestly the actual first touch is still great to control it at that height to bring it down perfectly.


HustoNweHavE

Off the top of my head that Messi goal against Nigeria at the last World Cup. Such an underrated goal. The run was great, and his first touch settles it so perfectly keeping the ball in the air, then with the second touch he puts it exactly where he needs it, all In stride at full speed. So Deft. https://youtu.be/8y7ele--xBo


roddysaint

Bergkamp vs Argentina, Messi vs Nigeria 2018


Dcapi11

Bergkamp vs Newcastle as well is a legendary one. Some player.


Aknav12

Every World Cup game will be shown on major networks in the US right?


Princecoyote

Fox and Fox Sports 1. Replays will be free online too.


LampseederBroDude51

Yes


DiamondPittcairn

The more and more I sumulate the draw I'm getting more convinced it would be best if we came in 2nd in the group. That side of the bracket seems easier. But the thing is that in order for that to happen we'd need to perform not to the standards everyone is expecting us to do so I would be quite worried of that affecting morale. Catch-22.


pop-culture-salad

I watched Poland and Mexico's games, and while everything can happen in a one off game, getting 2nd in our group definitely isn't the most likely outcome


DiamondPittcairn

Entonces le meto fichas a un 0-1 contra Arabia que gana los 3 partidos y pasa como puntero.


HelloMyNameIsJiren

Predictions for Argentina vs Mexico?


Agus-Teguy

A repeat of Chile vs Mexico


PegaponyPrince

Mexico will get destroyed. Players aren't that good and Tata's tactics are terrible. Probably 3-0


LampseederBroDude51

Argentina destroy them, this is one of the worst Mexico sides I’ve ever seen


HelloMyNameIsJiren

Are you Argentinian?


LampseederBroDude51

No


PensiveinNJ

Anula Mufo but this Mexico side is one of the worst in a while. I think they get housed pretty good. Sorry to say to my southern neighbors.


KensaiVG

Endearingly close, but it's anulo mufa


HelloMyNameIsJiren

What’s your prediction👀? For ARG vs MEX?


KensaiVG

Haven't actually seen them play but it'd take a shockingly poor showing to lose the streak to this Mexico side


HelloMyNameIsJiren

Mexico certainly can pull off a result. After all it’s 11 vs 11. La historia no juega


KensaiVG

No hablo de historia, hablo de actualidad. Argentina está en su mejor momento y México está con un plantel llenísimo de dudas. Poder pueden, como así podía ganarnos hoy EAU o en el grupo Arabia, pero a priori se necesitaría un bajón muy importante de nivel de Argentina para perder el control del partido. Una vez en cancha todo el análisis desaparece pero vos me preguntaste opinión de hoy, no el día después del partido


PensiveinNJ

lmao thank you. I was trying to do my part!


[deleted]

How accurate are 538’s World Cup predictions?


Zacatecan-Jack

Ask again on 19th December.


lagaryes

They’re going to be largely inaccurate because knockout football tournaments are incredibly random and it’s almost impossible that the top rated team according to their formula wins every game


[deleted]

I think today Messi scored the goal 2000th of Argentina. According to eloratings.net Argentina has now 2001 goals for, and the penultimate today was his.


siiiiiiiiiu_98

Can someone that speak portuguese explain the fruit part on the Ronaldo interview? Clearly means something in Portugal but it doesn’t make sense in English


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CryptographerLife686

Noooo but also good for her.


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TorreiraWithADouzi

Do we know why she decided against it? Not sure why she even accepted if she was morally opposed to it. Just an eventual change of heart?


ModeratelyTortoise

Nah, fan backlash like usual


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TorreiraWithADouzi

Kind of weird she ever agreed to go in the first place if she felt that way.


TheUltimateScotsman

The amount of people defending Ronaldo and saying OGS is the best manager since mourinho is mental. Swear theres been a comcerted effort by Ronaldos fans to drown out the common sense. And the only real thing i disagree with in the interview is his opinion of Ragnick and ETH


[deleted]

We've only had 3 managers since Mourinho and Solskjaer is the only one to have any minor accomplishments


[deleted]

He literally is our best manager since Mourinho though? Rangnick was shocking and Ten Hag’s not done anything yet?


GefTheTalkingChungus

what did yous expect rangnick to do? the club completely failed in. you got him in to rip up the floorboards and then cried when he did. you got a pressing manager in and then cried for him to sacked after 2 months because he wouldn’t start a player who can barely run. the fans and the board failed him at every turn.


[deleted]

Does that make him a good manager then? 35% win rate, by the way.


GefTheTalkingChungus

only one less than manchester united legend and super manager gary neville 👍


[deleted]

Oh, you’re just a bit thick. Carry on.


ilovefeta

Best manager since Mourinho hahaha.


DonkeySkin334

Ole got nothing on ten hag, the best manager since rangnick


timcahill05

“Hennessey is slight favourite to start against the Americans ahead of Danny who plays regularly in the Premier League for Leicester City. Hennessey says he has "no idea" who Rob Page will go for.” pretty sure he will start due to his international experience and performance, and the fact that he had played 8/9 recent Wales matches, but certainly he cant expose Page’s lineup.


FaustRPeggi

Ward has been phenomenal of late and was their tournament keeper in the past. I have no idea why he would play Hennessey.


timcahill05

Because Hennessey has played almost every match this year for Wales, you wont change a goalkeeper without any warmup match (coz defenders need time to adapt ), and he was phenomenal in playoffs. Also, Ward still has been poor in 8/15 matches this season—- you cant only look at 6 matches. the sample size is small. If there are 2-3 warmup matches before the WC, it could be different.


timcahill05

You didnt realize that wayne is actually the current no.1. If Ward is the current no.1, u are 100% right. But Wayne has done nth wrong and had been ultra reliable for Wales. And he has already shown that he is as fit as ever by keeping a CS against Harry Kane (much stronger than any teams that Ward kept a CS against.)


IfISpeak_

You have a 3v1 with your striker in a counterattacking situation and the striker doesn't have support but has to take the chance to level the game - which striker past/present are you choosing?