World Cup 2022

[Exiled_Rover]

14 hours ago, ben_the_beast said:

I have to add Ronaldo Nazario to this list. Injuries curtailed his career at a young age. Up until his knee exploded he was, like Maradona not just up there with the best, but head and shoulders above.

BBC iplayer has a great documentary about him at the moment. A genuinely brilliant watch. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001ffsj

 

On the subject. Two others who stick in my mind are Ronaldinho and Neymar. Both players who never quite reached the levels of those already mentioned due to their mentality. But in terms of insane natural ability, absolutely astounding. 

He's the best player I've ever seen.

[joey_big_nose]

44 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He's the best player I've ever seen.

If I was to pick one player who I wished Id seen live since I started following football (about 1991) I think Id go for Ronaldinho personally. Dont think theres anyone who can beat him for pure entertainment.

Similarly just talking English players wish Id seen Le Tissier.

[only2garners]

You've just made me feel very old Joey, never having seen Matt Le Tissier live. He is the player who I've seen score the best individual goal at Ewood.

I also saw Pele, although by then he was past his best. For reasons I don't know he and his team Santos came to Hillsborough in February 1972 to play Sheffield Wednesday in a friendly - I was in my first year as a student there. It was due to be played on a midweek evening but it was the miners' strike and power cuts meant it had to be played in the afternoon. Still managed to get 37,000 on though.

[Silas]

I hadn't really looked at the fixtures properly till today. What a load of crap. Very little to interest me there.

Barring England's games, and I suppose the others in our group, the first games I actually want to watch don't start till next weekend when we have:

Sat 26th:

France v Denmark, Argentina v Mexico

Sun 27th:

Spain v Germany

Mon 28th:

Brazil v Switzerland, Portugal v Uruguay

 

I was all excited for the start of the WC, and now realise I have to wait a week till any decent ties. Gutted. 

[matt83]

21 minutes ago, Silas said:

I hadn't really looked at the fixtures properly till today. What a load of crap. Very little to interest me there.

Barring England's games, and I suppose the others in our group, the first games I actually want to watch don't start till next weekend when we have:

Sat 26th:

France v Denmark, Argentina v Mexico

Sun 27th:

Spain v Germany

Mon 28th:

Brazil v Switzerland, Portugal v Uruguay

 

I was all excited for the start of the WC, and now realise I have to wait a week till any decent ties. Gutted. 

Yeah I wouldn’t consider any more than 24 teams for a World Cup and 16 for a euros. Make it more interesting than a string of fairly dull one sides games (much like the qualifiers)

[Mike E]

Ok, now I'm interested...

 

[speeeeeeedie]

43 minutes ago, matt83 said:

Yeah I wouldn’t consider any more than 24 teams for a World Cup and 16 for a euros. Make it more interesting than a string of fairly dull one sides games (much like the qualifiers)

I agree. The 32 team format pits seed 1 v. seed 4 in the first group game which offers up some iffy games.

Qatar-Ecuador to open the World Cup is hardly exciting. 

As @Silas said, starting next weekend it gets interesting. Kicked off with England v. USA on Friday which is essentially a bank holiday over here. 2pm kick off. It's going to be great.

[speeeeeeedie]

15 hours ago, Armchair supporter supremo said:

Never said it wouldn't be massive there!! Just shit. 

Why would it be? Game times? Teams? 

[windymiller7]

2 hours ago, only2garners said:

You've just made me feel very old Joey, never having seen Matt Le Tissier live. He is the player who I've seen score the best individual goal at Ewood.

I also saw Pele, although by then he was past his best. For reasons I don't know he and his team Santos came to Hillsborough in February 1972 to play Sheffield Wednesday in a friendly - I was in my first year as a student there. It was due to be played on a midweek evening but it was the miners' strike and power cuts meant it had to be played in the afternoon. Still managed to get 37,000 on though.

Agree on the Le Tiss goal at Ewood.

I remember all 4 sides of the ground standing up to applaud it. Sheer class. Le Tiss was also very gracious & returned the applause to all 4 sides.

[joey_big_nose]

2 hours ago, Silas said:

I hadn't really looked at the fixtures properly till today. What a load of crap. Very little to interest me there.

Barring England's games, and I suppose the others in our group, the first games I actually want to watch don't start till next weekend when we have:

Sat 26th:

France v Denmark, Argentina v Mexico

Sun 27th:

Spain v Germany

Mon 28th:

Brazil v Switzerland, Portugal v Uruguay

 

I was all excited for the start of the WC, and now realise I have to wait a week till any decent ties. Gutted. 

Yes agree its bizarre how few good matches there are. Hard to understand really since its 32 teams still. I guess some teams with good pedigreenot qualifying has diminished the interest quite a bit (Italy, Nigeria, Sweden, Chile, Russia, Ivory Coast, Norway) and having the lack of a host to get excited about. But surely who was scheduling the fixtures could have found a good game for the first weekend?

Portugal v Spain in Russia really set the tournament going. You have to have one of those in the first few days.

[rigger]

3 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

If I was to pick one player who I wished Id seen live since I started following football (about 1991) I think Id go for Ronaldinho personally. Dont think theres anyone who can beat him for pure entertainment.

Similarly just talking English players wish Id seen Le Tissier.

George Best for me. Even when defenders just tried to hack him down, he kept going and more often than not it ended with a goal. 

[bluebruce]

3 hours ago, matt83 said:

Yeah I wouldn’t consider any more than 24 teams for a World Cup and 16 for a euros. Make it more interesting than a string of fairly dull one sides games (much like the qualifiers)

I feel this argument is a bit like saying the FA Cup should only be the Prem and maybe the Championship.

I like that lesser footballing nations get their chance to shine on the world stage. It instils a bit of pride and can promote interest in football. Sometimes it helps certain talents be found that otherwise wouldn't be. And it leaves open the potential for some giant killing and shock results.

I also think those lesser footballing nations are often better than given credit for. I think the global profile of the game and interest in playing has risen, standards rising with it, but people are often stuck in old fashioned views of how good these countries are, along with a view that if a country's players aren't featuring in the top European leagues they must be shit.

It's very unlikely any of these sides will win the whole competition (mind you, who fancied Greece to win the Euros that time?), but I bet there are at least some shock results this WC.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I was reading an article earlier “ Pick the best Welsh footballer “ - no Mike England in the list but room for Aaron Ramsey and Ryan Giggs. As I recall it Giggs missed as many games as he played.

[Silas]

19 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

I like that lesser footballing nations get their chance to shine on the world stage. 

I get your sentiment, but I've just got to be honest, and out of the games I can watch this week when not at work (barring our group), I'm left with:

Qatar v Ecuador, France v Australia, Belgium v Canada, and Brazil v Serbia.

Not really getting the juices flowing. And I'll be very surprised if any of the underdogs shine in those games.

I think there's some very boring games there, and a couple whitewashes.

Will be happy to be proved wrong and look foolish tho.

[bluebruce]

15 minutes ago, Silas said:

I get your sentiment, but I've just got to be honest, and out of the games I can watch this week when not at work (barring our group), I'm left with:

Qatar v Ecuador, France v Australia, Belgium v Canada, and Brazil v Serbia.

Not really getting the juices flowing. And I'll be very surprised if any of the underdogs shine in those games.

I think there's some very boring games there, and a couple whitewashes.

Will be happy to be proved wrong and look foolish tho.

Yeh if people don't fancy watching certain fixtures that'll brook no argument from me, personal taste (and I'm probably in the same boat, bit busy this week). But I think it's in the wider interests of football to have it in the current format.

I'd say of the ones you listed, Qatar and Serbia might spring a surprise. Qatar as the host nation...yes they're abysmally bad but you should never rule out a home nation, and Ecuador are nothing special. Serbia's style might cause problems for Brazil if they're disciplined (admittedly I'm thinking of old Serbia, not seen them play in years...again one of the benefits of more nations at a WC).

Anyway when it gets to the knockout stages you'll see more exciting games on offer. And if you don't, it's because some of those underdogs have sprung a surprise.

[bluebruce]

32 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I was reading an article earlier “ Pick the best Welsh footballer “ - no Mike England in the list but room for Aaron Ramsey and Ryan Giggs. As I recall it Giggs missed as many games as he played.

Giggs - 64 caps

Mike England - 44 caps

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

56 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Giggs - 64 caps

Mike England - 44 caps

Wales weren’t playing against Treasure Island and Transylvania back in Mikes day.

[Riversider28]

I play table tennis every Monday afternoon. I won’t be changing my schedule for England v Iran.

[bluebruce]

38 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Wales weren’t playing against Treasure Island and Transylvania back in Mikes day.

🤣🤣🤣

[rigger]

2 hours ago, bluebruce said:

I feel this argument is a bit like saying the FA Cup should only be the Prem and maybe the Championship.

I like that lesser footballing nations get their chance to shine on the world stage. It instils a bit of pride and can promote interest in football. Sometimes it helps certain talents be found that otherwise wouldn't be. And it leaves open the potential for some giant killing and shock results.

I also think those lesser footballing nations are often better than given credit for. I think the global profile of the game and interest in playing has risen, standards rising with it, but people are often stuck in old fashioned views of how good these countries are, along with a view that if a country's players aren't featuring in the top European leagues they must be shit.

It's very unlikely any of these sides will win the whole competition (mind you, who fancied Greece to win the Euros that time?), but I bet there are at least some shock results this WC.

If it rubs the salt into Scotlands wounds,  I am all for it.

[Ianrally]

3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I was reading an article earlier “ Pick the best Welsh footballer “ - no Mike England in the list but room for Aaron Ramsey and Ryan Giggs. As I recall it Giggs missed as many games as he played.

I saw that too. An absolute disgrace not to o have Mike in that list. It’s a wonder they didn’t have that no mark Max Boyce in there. 

[Armchair supporter supremo]

6 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Why would it be? Game times? Teams? 

Americans. 

[oldjamfan1]

4 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I was reading an article earlier “ Pick the best Welsh footballer “ - no Mike England in the list but room for Aaron Ramsey and Ryan Giggs. As I recall it Giggs missed as many games as he played.

I assume John Charles won it?

 

[Ianrally]

20 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

I assume John Charles won it?

 

Unfortunately not. The Gentle Giant came second to that bloke with a knot on his head. The Welsh have no sense of history I’m afraid. 

[bluebruce]

On 16/11/2022 at 12:44, joey_big_nose said:

Yeah but Iran are next level. Its a current perception rather than something historical.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/25/military.iran

Iran must be absolutely loving the group they've been given then. Us, the 'Great Satan' USA, and even Wales are part of Great Britain. Short of Israel being in there it couldn't be much more of a hate fest for them.