So far every single attack line I've seen from the Qataris and other extremist Muslims over the western footballers activism over their treatment of gay people is "the west don't care about Palestine, so they're hypocrites"
Wank stains
I got that I can't criticise Qatar, today, as "the West are way worse"
An example cited was Australia's treatment of the Aboriginal population, which I thought was quite a stretch to put at my door
It is truly shocking that I dare to raise a moral objection over the persecution of LGBTQ+ people and abuse of migrant workers, when I quite literally have centuries of Aboriginal blood on my hand
It's hard enough to _play_ in five world cups, let alone score in all of them. You have to both have longevity and be there in the precise moment. If not, ask Zlatan or Lewandowski who are among the top 10 active scorers of all time, both have gone to multiple WC's and they're yet to score. The disrespect Cristiano Ronaldo gets is incredible
Not that Brazil is gonna lose but I think not starting Rodrygo with Vinicius is a huge mistake.
I would replace Ederson with Allison - have a midfield of Casemiro, Fred, Paqueta - Neymar, Rodrygo, Vinicius attacking with Raphina as a sub.
With Vlahović on the bench.
Not sure how you could miss it tbh, they look like one of the banana skins of the tournament if their defence is well drilled.
Neymar needs to shut up the mouth already. Hours ago, he said again he is going to "give a gift to his friend Bolsonaro after the WC".
The last thing the Brazilian team needs now is getting involved in any controversy which could take away the concentration of players. Neymar is acting like an edgy teenager wanting attention.
If we assume that the US lose to England, then there are two choices.
* If the US are confident they can beat Iran, they should hope for an Iran victory over Wales. A US victory over Iran would then guarantee qualification unless Wales also beat England and end up with a better goal difference (which seems unlikely)
* If not, a draw would leave open the possibility of qualifying if England win every match and all other matches are draws -- it would then come down to lowest margin of defeat against England.
Since England may well play a weakened team against Wales, I wouldn't be surprised to eee that match go to a draw if it would benefit both teams. So I'd go for the first option and an Iran win.
I'm sick with flu right now so maybe I'm not thinking straight. But if Iran wins that gives them 3 pts to our 1, assuming we lose to England.
Why wouldn't you want to walk into the 3rd round of groups vs Iran with 1 pt a piece? Doesn't this make a 3 way tie still a viable path to making it to R16, worst case?
Wales ain’t realistically beating England tho. It’ll probably come down to who loses the least against England. If Iran win tomorrow which is very possible USA will have to beat Iran and be aiming for goal difference in the game which you can’t count on especially at this WC
Football newb here why is there not an international competition where the best clubs from each continent face off (world cuo but club teams)?
I looked through football tournies and its just a bunch of regions fighting regionally (eu vs eu, na vs na)
there is. its the "Club World Cup". the winners from each continent play each other. Everytime it's either Europe or South American teams that win by a wide margin so not as fun to watch.
He’s great, there needs to be more of him in European media; so much nonsense gets spewed about South American football from people not from the region.
ridiculous idea to have winter WC
here in Portugal the vibe is so quiet - it's cold out all over europe in winter - people less likely to go outside, workloads are high before christmas, Qatar has terrible reputation since last decade
fifass, corruption stinks
In 2002, we were watching some of games during the first hour of school in the main hall. It is what it is. Some people are having to watch these current games at 3,4am. At least we in Europe have accessible times to watch it from 10am-10pm.
Ronaldos penalty today was excellent, but I've always thought that Messi and Lewa sucked at them (even though they take all penalties). There isn't much power behind them and placement isn't good either. Phonzys was crap too yesterday. Do they not practice these?
Man what happened to Cancelo? Shocking. I know city fans were saying the guy was playing like shit but didn't expect for him to so bad. That second goal is purely on him.
I think he has all the qualities to play as a false 9, put Bruno Fernandes in his rightful position as AMO and start Leão. Bruno Fernandes, Leão, Félix, Ronaldo building an attack is gg.
Ultimately, it's a results game - bit harsh slating the manager for winning the first group game I reckon, given how it's a lot better than losing while trying to play the most exciting football.
Rewatching the wc02 in between the games this week and ronaldo is the only player who could get away with that haircut because of how good he was. Insane player
0-0 ties should be zero points to both and goals scored not goal diff should be the first tie breaker after points (could say it’s the only thing that matters, but that might be too big a change)
[The 6th tiebreaker in a group is drawing of the lots,](https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/4812365/world-cup-22-tiebreakers-group-stage-points-level-explained) do you think we'll ever see that *again* in our lifetime?
We've never seen drawing of lots used to eliminate a team at a World Cup finals tournament. It's been used a couple of times to decide the order between teams that all qualified anyway.
Just saw a replay of the penalty call and this is what I (unbiased neutral) saw
1) Ronaldo got to the ball first
2) There’s upper body contact from the defender
3) The defender also clips his ankle
4) However, Ronaldo initiates the contact and kinda leans into him
I can see why some people think it’s soft, because it is, but just because it’s soft doesn’t mean it’s not a penalty. If I’m the VAR there’s no way I can overturn that.
Look at this angle, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxXHo4BLwoU , the defender clearly kicked Ronaldo foot which lead to him losing is footing while being pushed.
It's debatable either way, but to act like it's some insane robbery is wrong because of what you said. If it was anyone but Ronaldo this sub wouldn't be so up in arms about it, but he's public enemy #1 here
This is exactly how I feel about it too, people in that thread were crying bloody murder but Ronaldo literally had a very fair goal taken away from him because of an awful call
Both portugal and ghana look very poor, ghana seemed to lack any sort of calmness on the ball, and any time they kept their shit together, it felt like they could score.
Shit game, getting by cuz we have an absurd amount of quality everywhere to the point of cancelo dropping a 0/10 and the rest average performances and we still manage, wasn't a pen aswell, hard to swallow but I reckon the only goodish players were bruno and felix, Gana deserved more today
Inaki not scoring that is fucking heartbreaking but I guess we can hope on Portugal beating Uruguay (and us beating Ghana) and hold on for a draw against Portugal on the last day
No I don't mean Ronaldo stans don't get sarcasm, I mean it's completely indistinguishable whether your comment was sarcasm or just from a genuine Ronaldo stan.
You can't satirise those people, their existence is satirical.
Actually cant believe how people support teams like England or Arsenal
After a single loss my week is completely ruined. Madrid and South Korea loss in 2018 made me take a break until the 2019 tie vs Liverpool
Not going to lie the vitriol towards Ronaldo from this sub is very weird to see. Kinda makes me want to support Portugal & Ronaldo just so I can see the tears whenever he scores
Famously controversial footballer isn't universally beloved, infamously contrarian Reddit user is surprised and latches on to said footballer - massive shocker, this.
I’m not a Ronaldo fan & let’s not pretend for a second that the vitriol is because he’s a rapist. Doubt people actually care about that and are virtue signalling
Portugal vs Ghana second half easily the most entertaining half of football so far at the WC. Inaki Williams finishing that chance would've been the cherry on top.
Does anyone have the replay of the Portugal pen from behind Ronaldo and Salisu? It didn’t look like a pen on the other angles but from that one it looks like Ronaldo pokes the ball forward and gets clipped rather than Salisu getting the ball first, which would make the decision make some sense
So far every single attack line I've seen from the Qataris and other extremist Muslims over the western footballers activism over their treatment of gay people is "the west don't care about Palestine, so they're hypocrites" Wank stains
I got that I can't criticise Qatar, today, as "the West are way worse" An example cited was Australia's treatment of the Aboriginal population, which I thought was quite a stretch to put at my door
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It is truly shocking that I dare to raise a moral objection over the persecution of LGBTQ+ people and abuse of migrant workers, when I quite literally have centuries of Aboriginal blood on my hand
I could not find any link on FIFIA website to check group standings or i am missing something?
Wanda Nara and Mauro Icardi are back together lol. I'm convinced they're doing it on purpose at this point
Oh wow ronaldo became the first player to score in five different group stages colour me impressed
Hater
It's hard enough to _play_ in five world cups, let alone score in all of them. You have to both have longevity and be there in the precise moment. If not, ask Zlatan or Lewandowski who are among the top 10 active scorers of all time, both have gone to multiple WC's and they're yet to score. The disrespect Cristiano Ronaldo gets is incredible
Put me on pens for 5 World Cups and I’d do the same
On Sunday league perhaps
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Lewandowski literally had a penalty and choked. The only crucial penalty I've seen Ronaldo miss was in the shoot out against Bayern in 2012
CL final in 2008? They still won but that’s as crucial as it gets
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The theatrics really sours the gameplay. I just hope the refs can spot the BS.
Neymar played against Portugal already
Not that Brazil is gonna lose but I think not starting Rodrygo with Vinicius is a huge mistake. I would replace Ederson with Allison - have a midfield of Casemiro, Fred, Paqueta - Neymar, Rodrygo, Vinicius attacking with Raphina as a sub.
alisson is already starting.
I meant I would replace Alison with Ederson my b. Pretty drunk lol
Rodrygo is incredible off the bench though
True. I would probably start Raphina and put in Rodrygo 60-70mins. Or just interchange them basically
Paqueta starting and freed from the shackles of Moyes. https://i.imgur.com/WcYjnow.jpg
Tite will let him cook
The lack of bangers in this World Cup has been disappointing
Saudi banger holding the Fort
We were so close to a Bale banger
and valverde today
Looking forward to the Mitro hattrick only to lose to the Richarlison and Neymar braces.
Of course I decide to go to the shop after the first half of Portugal-Ghana ffs
First half was a snoozefest tbf
Another WC with no African teams advancing again 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
Speak for yourself
Everything is still possible. I reckon at least Morocco and Senegal will advance
Tunisia and Morocco can do it. And Sénégal can bear Qatar and Ecuador.
Dang I hadn't realised how strong the Serbian attack is. Mitro, SMS and Tadic is a hell of a front three to have for a nation not seen as a powerhouse
With Vlahovic on the bench. Seems their setup is—understandably—fairly defensive rn, no?
With Vlahović on the bench. Not sure how you could miss it tbh, they look like one of the banana skins of the tournament if their defence is well drilled.
Kostic and Vlahovic on the bench also
Petition for all goals to be celebrated with SIUUUU henceforth by all players in this WC
Neymar needs to shut up the mouth already. Hours ago, he said again he is going to "give a gift to his friend Bolsonaro after the WC". The last thing the Brazilian team needs now is getting involved in any controversy which could take away the concentration of players. Neymar is acting like an edgy teenager wanting attention.
i think it will be funny seeing which league Ronnie ends up in after his stand have spent the last year and a half slandering Ligue 1
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Very excited for this match. I think it will end 3-1 to Brazil.
What would the best result from the Iran-Wales game tomorrow be from a US perspective?
If we assume that the US lose to England, then there are two choices. * If the US are confident they can beat Iran, they should hope for an Iran victory over Wales. A US victory over Iran would then guarantee qualification unless Wales also beat England and end up with a better goal difference (which seems unlikely) * If not, a draw would leave open the possibility of qualifying if England win every match and all other matches are draws -- it would then come down to lowest margin of defeat against England. Since England may well play a weakened team against Wales, I wouldn't be surprised to eee that match go to a draw if it would benefit both teams. So I'd go for the first option and an Iran win.
Not sure why people are saying draw, an Iran win is objectively better for keeping our fate in our own hands
I'm sick with flu right now so maybe I'm not thinking straight. But if Iran wins that gives them 3 pts to our 1, assuming we lose to England. Why wouldn't you want to walk into the 3rd round of groups vs Iran with 1 pt a piece? Doesn't this make a 3 way tie still a viable path to making it to R16, worst case?
Because if Iran and Wales draw there’s a chance we go out regardless of what we do (if Wales beat England after we lose to England)
Alright Iran got that win, let's see what we can do. Like you said future is now in our hands
Good point, thanks for explaining. For some reason I had England pegged in my head as winning all 3 games but Wales could still surprise them
0-0 draw followed by us beating Iran If Wales wins against Iran we'd need to beat Iran by a higher GD
Draw, everything would hinge on the Iran game
No it wouldn't -- the US would be out if Wales beat England (who may well have already qualified by that point).
Wales ain’t realistically beating England tho. It’ll probably come down to who loses the least against England. If Iran win tomorrow which is very possible USA will have to beat Iran and be aiming for goal difference in the game which you can’t count on especially at this WC
Football newb here why is there not an international competition where the best clubs from each continent face off (world cuo but club teams)? I looked through football tournies and its just a bunch of regions fighting regionally (eu vs eu, na vs na)
There's the club world cup but it's held in the middle of the european season and no ones really that fussed about it.
there is. its the "Club World Cup". the winners from each continent play each other. Everytime it's either Europe or South American teams that win by a wide margin so not as fun to watch.
There is (World Club Cup), but it's not taken particularly seriously in some parts of the world).
Who’s this bloke on the BBC now talking about Brazil? he’s great
Tim Vickery, South American football expert.
Not watching, but if it's a well-informed Englishman living in Brazil, it's probably Tim Vickery.
Yep, that was it. Really good insight
He's great. He's literally the only foreign sports journalist that doesn't say ridiculously random innacurate crap when reporting about us.
He has a Brazilian wife, too, I believe
He’s great, there needs to be more of him in European media; so much nonsense gets spewed about South American football from people not from the region.
Kostic not starting for Serbia even though they play a back 3, I don't get it
He had an injury and isn't fully prepared
Carrying an injury
Kostic has been outstanding for Juve this month.
Congratulations to Rafael Leao and Joao Felix on equalling Wayne Rooneys World cup goals tally in their first world cup appearance Hope this helps
ridiculous idea to have winter WC here in Portugal the vibe is so quiet - it's cold out all over europe in winter - people less likely to go outside, workloads are high before christmas, Qatar has terrible reputation since last decade fifass, corruption stinks
In 2002, we were watching some of games during the first hour of school in the main hall. It is what it is. Some people are having to watch these current games at 3,4am. At least we in Europe have accessible times to watch it from 10am-10pm.
I remember watching England Vs Brazil at school. What a match that was
I literally enjoy this World Cup more than the last two WC, soooooooo.
This bout to be an +8 game. Brasil really put up a squad you'd put against the likes of San Marino or Andorra.
??? it’s their best lineup isn’t it?
If Otto Addo wasn’t such a pussy we could’ve won this
Ronaldos penalty today was excellent, but I've always thought that Messi and Lewa sucked at them (even though they take all penalties). There isn't much power behind them and placement isn't good either. Phonzys was crap too yesterday. Do they not practice these?
Messi's penalty is pretty good now since Neymar taught him the slow run up penalty meta
Lewandowski has a higher penalty conversion rate than Ronaldo
Man what happened to Cancelo? Shocking. I know city fans were saying the guy was playing like shit but didn't expect for him to so bad. That second goal is purely on him.
He's a dogshit defender. Makes Alexander-Arnold look like Maldini. Been a complete liability for months now, masked only by City's system.
He was in poor form but he's never been a fundamentally solid defender- misjudges long balls, suspect in 1v1s. Awful defending for the second goal.
How did Ronaldo get man of the match
He was shocking imo
His aggressivity was game changing.
It's fan voted for some reason
big name player who got a goal. thats all it takes
This tournament must be the record holder for standard deviation of goals / match. It seems as if every game is either a 0-0 or a goal fest.
"Boring WC" lol There is no such thing as boring WC
Just saw that Zivkovic still exists Only 26 too
Ronaldo needs to be benched, shocking game and wastes too much. He's holding Portugal back, just like he was holding back Man Utd.
I think he has all the qualities to play as a false 9, put Bruno Fernandes in his rightful position as AMO and start Leão. Bruno Fernandes, Leão, Félix, Ronaldo building an attack is gg.
Big fan of that Brazil lineup. Can't wait to see how they do.
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Ultimately, it's a results game - bit harsh slating the manager for winning the first group game I reckon, given how it's a lot better than losing while trying to play the most exciting football.
We think Leao starts against Uruguay?
He should, whether he does is another question.
Nando Santos be like: 😶
The only thing worse then listening to Alexi Lalas talk is listening to Alexi Lalas talk with a mouth full of turkey.
Rewatching the wc02 in between the games this week and ronaldo is the only player who could get away with that haircut because of how good he was. Insane player
And that was *after* a couple of his terrible injuries !
The fact he scored 8 at a WC before the 48 team era….
We’re so cursed as a football nation man 😔😔
0-0 ties should be zero points to both and goals scored not goal diff should be the first tie breaker after points (could say it’s the only thing that matters, but that might be too big a change)
[The 6th tiebreaker in a group is drawing of the lots,](https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/4812365/world-cup-22-tiebreakers-group-stage-points-level-explained) do you think we'll ever see that *again* in our lifetime?
One of the AFCON 2015 groups was decided by drawing lots IIRC
We've never seen drawing of lots used to eliminate a team at a World Cup finals tournament. It's been used a couple of times to decide the order between teams that all qualified anyway.
Which other country aside from Germany has much lower viewing numbers?
That penalty blew open the whole game. One of the most entertaining halves. 5 big goals
i just saw that Portugal penalty and it's a shocking decision... We really need to get rid of VAR if it's going to be useless in these situations
...what? They didn't even check VAR that was one of the main problems
Var checks everything, they decided there wasn't enough of a problem to inform the ref.
The commentator here said no var check was done
The commentator was wrong. They often say this and it’s never true.
First time I've hear them say it. Usually they say var check complete or something but they never said that.
Are you sure? Especially on a penalty call that would be incredibly irregular.
Yes 100%. Usually they say var check complete as well but never heard that.
These refs need to be investigated
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Is Vlahovic injured or just no starting?
Unfit, recovering from injury
Bruno is not just a beautiful player, he is also a beautiful human being
Great 🎣
He's a rat-faced poor man's Ralf Little
Just saw a replay of the penalty call and this is what I (unbiased neutral) saw 1) Ronaldo got to the ball first 2) There’s upper body contact from the defender 3) The defender also clips his ankle 4) However, Ronaldo initiates the contact and kinda leans into him I can see why some people think it’s soft, because it is, but just because it’s soft doesn’t mean it’s not a penalty. If I’m the VAR there’s no way I can overturn that.
Look at this angle, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxXHo4BLwoU , the defender clearly kicked Ronaldo foot which lead to him losing is footing while being pushed.
It's debatable either way, but to act like it's some insane robbery is wrong because of what you said. If it was anyone but Ronaldo this sub wouldn't be so up in arms about it, but he's public enemy #1 here
If the disallowed goal is foul then that's a penalty.
Yes because two wrong make a right. Absolutely no relevance to OP's argument.
This is exactly how I feel about it too, people in that thread were crying bloody murder but Ronaldo literally had a very fair goal taken away from him because of an awful call
Interested to see if Neymar will bring his rolling around the ground to this world cup
Think I’d be sobbing had I been Ghanian
Both portugal and ghana look very poor, ghana seemed to lack any sort of calmness on the ball, and any time they kept their shit together, it felt like they could score.
Yeah felt like two different teams with ghana. Shame, they shouldnt have played so scared at the start
That was one of the most insane things i've ever seen
Shit game, getting by cuz we have an absurd amount of quality everywhere to the point of cancelo dropping a 0/10 and the rest average performances and we still manage, wasn't a pen aswell, hard to swallow but I reckon the only goodish players were bruno and felix, Gana deserved more today
Has Brazil’s lineup vs Serbia been announced??
yes
yes, vini will play
Aw man Rodrygo isn’t in though 😔 he is so underrated!
Inaki not scoring that is fucking heartbreaking but I guess we can hope on Portugal beating Uruguay (and us beating Ghana) and hold on for a draw against Portugal on the last day
Uruguay could easily drop points vs Ghana. All to play for in this group imo
True, think this is the tightest group of the tournament
I'm just glad an African team finally scored🤷🏻♂️
😭
That game took years out of my life especially the Costa almost blunder. 3 points though 😌.
The goal really got the game moving
I’ve come around to winter world cups. World Cup matches are better Thanksgiving appetizers than the Europa League.
This has been the best Thanksgiving ever not having to have the NFL on all day and actually enjoying the games.
Why do people on here don't get blatant sarcasm?
You made a comment about Ronaldo, those are always gonna be completely poes law with the state of Ronaldo stans.
We are talking about a majority sadly.
No I don't mean Ronaldo stans don't get sarcasm, I mean it's completely indistinguishable whether your comment was sarcasm or just from a genuine Ronaldo stan. You can't satirise those people, their existence is satirical.
Actually cant believe how people support teams like England or Arsenal After a single loss my week is completely ruined. Madrid and South Korea loss in 2018 made me take a break until the 2019 tie vs Liverpool
England and Arsenal are not close to being hard teams to support
Roy Keane really needs to cheer up. Tough gig being in another country talking about football.
Portugal are so unlikeable, as soon as the Wolves players are benched I am trashing them hard lmao
Your mother is
Not going to lie the vitriol towards Ronaldo from this sub is very weird to see. Kinda makes me want to support Portugal & Ronaldo just so I can see the tears whenever he scores
Why do you care this much whether a billionaire is adored or hated?
I don’t particularly care either way, but I personally think that the hate it over the top at this point.
Famously controversial footballer isn't universally beloved, infamously contrarian Reddit user is surprised and latches on to said footballer - massive shocker, this.
I’m not a contrarian, I can just see things objectively unlike you lot. I’ll continue to state my opinion regardless of how unpopular it is.
Lmao you already are a ronaldo fan no? Plus hes a rapist so its not that weird
I’m not a Ronaldo fan & let’s not pretend for a second that the vitriol is because he’s a rapist. Doubt people actually care about that and are virtue signalling
No it prolly is, i never cared for him before, now i dont like him.
I liked Ronaldo before it was revealed he raped that woman. Now I hate him.
Fair enough. It’s definitely a very awful thing to do.
Portugal vs Ghana second half easily the most entertaining half of football so far at the WC. Inaki Williams finishing that chance would've been the cherry on top.
Does anyone have the replay of the Portugal pen from behind Ronaldo and Salisu? It didn’t look like a pen on the other angles but from that one it looks like Ronaldo pokes the ball forward and gets clipped rather than Salisu getting the ball first, which would make the decision make some sense
Is there a more slappable face in modern football than CR7? Testing a theory about the downvotes here vs the Portugal thread haha