General discussion thread
- Thread starter Sassy Colin
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
What the hell is wrong with people
So far it's been pretty great, yeah. And even the Russia game showed Saudi first as a more dangerous team. Didn't last that long though.
Stadiums look lovely as well. Usually nice atmosphere with loud crowd...and I guess I as well do not notice too much the drone sounds.
Apparently it's a fake.
I liked it so far, especially the stadiums look great.
I still think there are not enough goals. 3x 1:0, 1x 1:1 and 1x 2:1 (2 penalties, one deflected shot). Even the Spain/Portugal match did not have many goals from open play / team goals, mainly set pieces or lucky punches.
Argentina and France were disappointing, I was hoping for a trashing from a big team. Alternatively, I would have taken a gung-ho 2:2 from matches without any big teams to make those more exciting for the neutral viewer.
Still hoping for Brazil and Germany to start banging them in.
And of course no big meltdown until now like Spain 1:5 Netherlands at the last WC.
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
I love that. Those kids will be telling that story to their grandkids.
Iran was great for me. I was in the pub with two friends originally from Iran. Ended up with about 30 people supporting them. Needless to say when they scored it went a bit nuts, I was celebrating like England had scored
The Portugal v Spain was just the icing on the cake!
The first three games were a bit drab, mostly because I had little or no relation to the teams involved. Since then, though, it has picked up. And the final two games of the group stage are are almost like mini-finals in and of themselves, so that makes for exciting stuff. Plus, there are lots of interesting teams (for me) still to make their mark: Germany, England, Sweden, Brazil, Japan...and Panama
What is interesting about Panama? Any good players to look out for?The first three games were a bit drab, mostly because I had little or no relation to the teams involved. Since then, though, it has picked up. And the final two games of the group stage are are almost like mini-finals in and of themselves, so that makes for exciting stuff. Plus, there are lots of interesting teams (for me) still to make their mark: Germany, England, Sweden, Brazil, Japan...and Panama
No, they're crap. But it's always interesting to see a completely new nation of limited ability - like Jamaica and Trinidad/Tobago in previous tournaments. There's always a sense of optimism and joy with those kind of teams, where you celebrate the one goal they'll score in the group stage.
I'm not as excited as others to be honest..I mean, the quality of football has generally been quite shit. Also, a lack of proper dribblers.
They’ve got a big ass ditch in the middle of the country that’s pretty cool.
For real though, they’re nicknamed “the Canal men”
Ricardo Ávila plays for Gent. Armando Cooper plays for Universidad de Chile. There’s a few guys who play for MLS clubs.
Almost the entire squad plays at smaller clubs in Central and South America.
I agree, some big names missed out.
Bale, Sanchez, Mahrez, Pulisic, Sane, Robben, Mkhitaryan, Pulisic, Payet, Martial
Those are some of the best dribblers in their leagues and the World Cup misses them big time
Plus, let's not forget the incredible Memphis Depay, very exciting at the WC 2014. Always good for 5 goal contributions in one match against some underwhelming opposition
In addition, they completely mess up the Pan-American Highway by not chopping down the rainforest and getting the job done connecting the north and south.
We can’t let Trump hear of this. He will Agent Orange the whole country.
Is that not euro 2016?
actually I think you could be right. Good spot.
Cheers!
What's the standard of play in MLS these days? Is it comparable to Eredivisie or SPL?
"Forget the Mexican wall. The real traitors are the Panamanians. Sad. But we've got great chemicals. The best. That road is going to be built, and the people of Panama are going to pay for it."It has improved. I’d say it’s comprable to a middle tier European league like the Eredivisie or Belgian Pro League at this point, yes.
Off topic, but...
The big thing is, while talent isn’t there yet in depth and in defense, there’s some good attacking players in MLS, leading to MLS outpacing Serie A and Ligue 1 in attendance figures now.
Been great so far. Great atmosphere it seems too.
Howard Webb on Canadian tv!
To summarise on what little we've seen it's been ace compared to like the last 5 major international tourneys for me.
Great opener for the ruskies, seen decent passages of play in nearly all games, seen a genuine world class SHOW from a ex UTD player/product/genuine goat.....and underlining this we have a young England squad with a fresh approach, bags of potential ,exciting UTD products and the least pressure/expectation I've ever felt or seen in my adult life. If we go out and put on a show on Monday I'll be very excited. The national teams literally given me nothing since 96 I've been disinterested. 5-0 on Monday will be the perfect tonic for that
Great opener for the ruskies, seen decent passages of play in nearly all games, seen a genuine world class SHOW from a ex UTD player/product/genuine goat.....and underlining this we have a young England squad with a fresh approach, bags of potential ,exciting UTD products and the least pressure/expectation I've ever felt or seen in my adult life. If we go out and put on a show on Monday I'll be very excited. The national teams literally given me nothing since 96 I've been disinterested. 5-0 on Monday will be the perfect tonic for that
Howard Webb agreed with France pen. He's actually good on tv
I'd have the same reaction even if I met him now in my 30's.
Sad to hear of the gay couple being injured, we had 3 incident free days but now this. If they are more then it will, and should, overshadow and great football played in the pitch; can't have a world cup where fans fear for their safety.
Edit: One person replied that the story is a fake, can anyone else verify?
I agree it's been great so far. Lots of late winners and some top drawer goals already.
Looking forward to watching Brazil and Germany tomorrow. Think at least one of them will put on a show, most likely Germany
I love this World Cup so far. It's been progressing the best of the 2000s in my opinion (maybe on par with 2002). Caught this from the internet:
In the 2 days of World Cup we've already seen a country with a population of 330,000 draw to Argentina, Ronaldo score 3 against 2010's winners, Iran win their first game since 1998, two 90th minute winners & Messi have a penalty saved by a part time film director. Unreal.
In the 2 days of World Cup we've already seen a country with a population of 330,000 draw to Argentina, Ronaldo score 3 against 2010's winners, Iran win their first game since 1998, two 90th minute winners & Messi have a penalty saved by a part time film director. Unreal.
What's with the WC babes thread?
Messi or Ronaldo will never be this man. For better or worse, obviously.
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
This World Cup has been awesome so far
For better but definitely not for worse.
Why is a section of the stand above the tunnel on the top tier kept completely empty at every stadium?
Nice to see no nicknames on the back of shirts at this competition (With the exception of the obviously long names) Chicharito? he's a 30 year old man now, no need for cutesy pie names on the back of your shirt and that chap who plays for Huddersfield who tends to have Zanka or something along those lines has his actual surname.
So far every goal has been scored by players from European Leagues. Here is the count so far:
—13: La Liga
—4: Bundesliga
—3: Premier
—2: Premier League
—1: Süper Lig
—1: Serie A
—1: Eredivisie
—13: La Liga
—4: Bundesliga
—3: Premier
—2: Premier League
—1: Süper Lig
—1: Serie A
—1: Eredivisie
Is this the greatest World Cup ever?
Because remember virtually EVERYONE was saying the last WC was the GOAT, it romped away in a BBC poll as the best WC ever (poll was taken a day before the final).
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/so-far-this-is-the-best-world-cup-in-memory.392334/
The ironic thing is very few people call it the GOAT now, strange eh? Bit like those who called Rooney's overhead against city the greatest goal in English league history immediately after, a lot less say that now though.
Because remember virtually EVERYONE was saying the last WC was the GOAT, it romped away in a BBC poll as the best WC ever (poll was taken a day before the final).
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/so-far-this-is-the-best-world-cup-in-memory.392334/
The ironic thing is very few people call it the GOAT now, strange eh? Bit like those who called Rooney's overhead against city the greatest goal in English league history immediately after, a lot less say that now though.
Spain, Germany, France, Argentina, Brazil and Belgium might all end up in the same side of the brackets. I think we're going to end up seeing a lot of strategy in the final group games though since they're all going to be trying to avoid eachother.
Considering the fact that Spain, Germany, Brazil and Argentina didn’t win their opening games, I don’t think that they can strategize in their third games.
I think when the third matchday comes there will be plenty of teams who would rather finish second than first, if Germany and Argentina don't finish first in their groups then we should get a very unbalanced knockout stages with an easy bracket and a very difficult one similarly to what happened at the Euros.
I'm probably thinking too far ahead and plenty of things will still change though
Anyone else disappointed by the lack of variety with kit colours?
Everybody seems to either play in red or white. Even Portugal who used to be burgundy now play in red.
I don’t care how boring I am, this is a huge issue and it’s ruining the tournament for me.
Everybody seems to either play in red or white. Even Portugal who used to be burgundy now play in red.
I don’t care how boring I am, this is a huge issue and it’s ruining the tournament for me.