Is this one of the worst quality World Cups ever? | Probably not

[Offside]

Lack of perpetration and proper training together maybe leading to poor decision making and quality in the last third? That’s where it’s been really poor.

Some really great underdog wins have stopped this being the worst of all time. Maybe the knockouts will be better. The 2014 World Cup had one cracking group game after another but an awful knockout stage, this could go the other way.

 

[justboy68]

True this, what's going on in world football?

Seems like 20 or 30 years ago there were loads of goal scorers.

Reckon too many youngsters grew up wanting to be the next Messi (and failing because of course they can't match him) rather than focusing on becoming a more simple ruthless finisher (like Haaland). So many 'inside forward' or 'false 9' type players who can faff around on the ball a bit but lack quality in their end product.

 

[bosnian_red]

I'm hoping for a good knockout stage. Setting up for pretty easy paths to the quarters for all the giants where it could be:

Left side:

• Netherlands v Argentina
• Spain V Brazil

Right side:

• England v France
• Germany v Portugal

Would be very hard to argue that those just aren't the top 8 in the world. Probably Italy would have a fair shout but they fecked up the qualifiers so here we are.

 

[Shai-Hulud]

Teams are organised, and there are very few quality attackers. Little creativity.

 

[anant]

One of the most boring WCs I can recall. I barely think twice before skipping a game or heading to bed early now. Even the games involving top sides has been sub par

 

[TsuWave]

International football has been on it's last legs for like half a decade.

Champions League is the biggest stage of world football

club football >

 

[ExoduS]

Well that second Brazil goal against Serbia was creative.

 

[RacingClub]

As someone who enjoys watching games of high quality football it's been crap, sure there's been dramatic upsets (Saudi, Japan, Costa Rica etc) but that isn't what im after when it comes to the world cup.

I'll also admit to being less than enthusiastic about this world cup due to all the external factors so maybe that's playing into it but I've found the fast majority of matches boring and lacking in quality.

 

[AaronRedDevil]

Yeah ita been extremely shit. The Russia one was great. Lots of entertaining games on that one

 

[VorZakone]

Feels like everyone is so organised and robotic that there’s hardly ever any space as well. I suppose it’s good defending (or more likely poor attacking) but there’s barely been a single game that has been fun end to end stuff.

There's something to be said for the argument that football is becoming increasingly more athletic at the cost of actual footballing talent. So you got all these stamina wonders running around pressing for 90 minutes but fewer and fewer creative players.

 

[Solius]

There's something to be said for the argument that football is becoming increasingly more athletic at the cost of actual footballing talent. So you got all these stamina wonders running around pressing for 90 minutes but fewer and fewer creative players.

Yeah I was having a similar thought the other day. Everyone presses each other into oblivion but can’t actually put the ball in the net.

 

[PoTMS]

It could've been 5-4 in every game and you'd have people on RedCafe calling it the worst World Cup ever.

 

[Solius]

It could've been 5-4 in every game and you'd have people on RedCafe calling it the worst World Cup ever.

You literally wouldn’t. Do you disagree then? Think it’s been good quality?

 

[VorZakone]

It could've been 5-4 in every game and you'd have people on RedCafe calling it the worst World Cup ever.

Ehm...no?

 

[PoTMS]

You literally wouldn’t. Do you disagree then? Think it’s been good quality?

There's been more shocks than ever. Besides, the group stages are always shite, give it a chance. There's nothing that makes me think this is any worse than 2002/2006/2010/2018. It just stinks of recency bias.

I feel like the agendas and the negativity behind Qatar has just left a bad taste in people's mouth despite the football being no worse than usual.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

As someone who enjoys watching games of high quality football it's been crap, sure there's been dramatic upsets (Saudi, Japan, Costa Rica etc) but that isn't what im after when it comes to the world cup.

If you're after the highest quality football then yeah, fair enough, the World Cup probably isn't the competition where you'll get that.

Personally for me its all about stakes involved and the drama. If someone asked me why I love football I could easily show them the last 10 minutes of Wales vs Iran, as opposed to say a high quality 10 minutes of City vs Liverpool.

 

[balaks]

It's been grand so far.

 

[MUnchies]

Nah I am loving it. There is definitely quality and so many entertaining outcomes each game, the underdog countries have all stepped up win, lose or draw.

Costa Rica were spanked 7-0 by Spain, they come back and win 1-0 vs Japan who beat Germany 2-1
Saudi Arabia with a shock win against Argentina, Poland then beat them with Lewandowski scoring his first ever World cup goal
Ghana vs Portugal was very entertaining 2nd half with a 3-2 scoreline and a near feck up by their keeper to make it 3-3 last kick of the game.
Brazil introducing themselves with a beautiful display against Serbia topped by a beautiful goal by Richarlison
Iran getting spanked 6-2 by England and deservedly beating Wales 2-0 in the dying minutes of stoppage time.
Mbappe doing what Mbappe does
Ronaldo (feck him) making history scoring in 5 world cups etc etc

Not to forget United players are doing great Maguire, Shaw, Rashford(Scored already), Martinez, Casemiro, Bruno with Antony, Fred, Pellistri, Hannibal all featuring at some point.

 

[Plant0x84]

Muchos grande pantusos. A WC in the middle of the season clearly doesn’t work.

 

[2mufc0]

You won't ever get CL standard football at the world cup esp at the group stages the quality of players varies so much in most teams. I don't feel it's been worse than any other WC recently, been some poor games but also some great ones.

 

[bosnian_red]

You won't ever get CL standard football at the world cup esp at the group stages the quality of players varies so much in most teams. I don't feel it's been worse than any other WC recently, been some poor games but also some great ones.

People aren't asking for CL quality. Part of what makes these tournaments great is that normally it's more end to end, less tactics and more individuality. This has just been a struggle for anything for most of the games.

 

[Remember the geese]

Aside from a few shining lights, this tournament is generally a mixture of some genuinely poor sides, with a sprinkling of historically good teams who are underperforming/past their best. For a long time now, I think that the game in general has lost much of it's spontaneity and intrigue in exchange for a perceived increase in efficiency and control. Essentially sucking a lot of the fun out of the sport. When it works well, with truly top players, it can lead to incredibly dominant, but tedious performances. It feels like you're watching the same game on repeat. Thanks Pep

 

[Rhyme Animal]

Quality was always gonna be lacklustre when holding a WC in the middle of an already packed season.

Ludicrous decision, don’t even really view it as a legit WC tbh.

 

[AshRK]

Lack of skill is pretty much evident. Also, tactically most of the teams including the so called big teams like england Belgium dutch even france just play boring brand of football.

2018 started off great but then the KO games were piss poor. I hope this is reverse where the Group stages are boring but the real fun begins in KO.

 

[AndySmith1990]

It's rubbish overall. You see far higher quality in the PL and CL

 

[2mufc0]

People aren't asking for CL quality. Part of what makes these tournaments great is that normally it's more end to end, less tactics and more individuality. This has just been a struggle for anything for most of the games.

I think we have had some exciting games, but as I mentioned before a lot of teams are afraid to lose. It also seems a lot of the teams prefer the physical defensive style, but that has been a trend in general for a while now.

 

[RacingClub]

If you're after the highest quality football then yeah, fair enough, the World Cup probably isn't the competition where you'll get that.

Personally for me its all about stakes involved and the drama. If someone asked me why I love football I could easily show them the last 10 minutes of Wales vs Iran, as opposed to say a high quality 10 minutes of City vs Liverpool.

Yeah I agree and am definitely holding it to too high a standard (even though id take high quality over highest) but as I don't have any emotional investment in the vast majority of teams it's hard to experience it in any meaningful way.

I would definitely choose the 10 minutes of peak City vs peak Liverpool a couple of years ago but it's different strokes for different folks.

Also I do enjoy some of the drama for example I would probably prefer a high quality game with drama vs a high quality game with no drama.

I'm not really a "hater" I just find it lackluster thus far with Mbappes performances for France being my personal highlight so far.

 

[Rektsanwalt]

Awful world cup so far

 

[SilentWitness]

Too many sides and managers are clinging on to big names that are too old to cope with the energy and tenacity of the modern game. Additionally there are so many teams with terrible managers that set up sides like Argentina and England horribly which makes them look far worse than they actually are. I think it’s been a good WC so far for drama though. Lots of upsets and open groups.

 

[NinjaZombie]

International football has been on it's last legs for like half a decade.

Champions League is the biggest stage of world football

club football >

I used to feel this way but I've come to like international football because you see less stacked teams of the world's elite players all playing for just a few teams, which is what you get in the CL. There's also a more emotional connection there in international football.

 

[Idxomer]

I'm hoping for a good knockout stage. Setting up for pretty easy paths to the quarters for all the giants where it could be:

Left side:

• Netherlands v Argentina
• Spain V Brazil

Right side:

• England v France
• Germany v Portugal

Would be very hard to argue that those just aren't the top 8 in the world. Probably Italy would have a fair shout but they fecked up the qualifiers so here we are.

It would be great if we get those and much better than 2018 which had Uruguay, Sweden, Russia and England in the final 8.

 

[balaks]

Nah I am loving it. There is definitely quality and so many entertaining outcomes each game, the underdog countries have all stepped up win, lose or draw.

Costa Rica were spanked 7-0 by Spain, they come back and win 1-0 vs Japan who beat Germany 2-1
Saudi Arabia with a shock win against Argentina, Poland then beat them with Lewandowski scoring his first ever World cup goal
Ghana vs Portugal was very entertaining 2nd half with a 3-2 scoreline and a near feck up by their keeper to make it 3-3 last kick of the game.
Brazil introducing themselves with a beautiful display against Serbia topped by a beautiful goal by Richarlison
Iran getting spanked 6-2 by England and deservedly beating Wales 2-0 in the dying minutes of stoppage time.
Mbappe doing what Mbappe does
Ronaldo (feck him) making history scoring in 5 world cups etc etc

Not to forget United players are doing great Maguire, Shaw, Rashford(Scored already), Martinez, Casemiro, Bruno with Antony, Fred, Pellistri, Hannibal all featuring at some point.

Yeah I agree. Plenty of great stuff happening. Not sure what people are expecting really. I've watched every world cup since 1982 and this one is not bad at all so far.

 

[Abraxas]

I'm not convinced, you hear these shouts about the quality every time. Maybe the entertainment is poor but the quality of play is probably better.

I think all you're seeing is that more and more teams, even the lesser lights are more professional, play at a higher level, are more athletic, and can press well. Most teams implement modern methods now.

Which means that sometimes if the forward quality or creativity isn't top notch then you get scrappy games with a lot of turnovers of the ball. Some of these nations have never had many top players so that's normal. Doesn't mean they're shitter quality, it means the games are played at a higher level and there isn't the space.

 

[therealtboy]

It could've been 5-4 in every game and you'd have people on RedCafe calling it the worst World Cup ever.

They moan about everything. The World Cup has been fine. If the quality is down it’s more down to the teams not being as good as they were in the past and the players not as good. Managers too. Not because it’s in Qatar in November.

 

[Norman Brownbutter]

Pretty much this, I was reading "worst WC ever" for Russia one too, and we shall read this every WC. This one is better than last one for me.

I dont remember anyone saying Russia was bad. I remember people taking issues with Russias shitty LGBT attitudes, no one disagreeing, and that the tournament was actually really good.

 

[HypeMerchant]

I was just looking at the 2018 WC group stage results and theres plenty of 0-0, 1-0, 1-1s there as well.

Overall I have found this to be a pretty entertaining tourney so far.

 

[yumtum]

Football has become far too regimental at club level with one, maybe two players having the burden of scoring which doesn't translate well when players go to their country and they're all system players playing in an unfamiliar system with no focal point.

There's no individuality in players in the modern game, they're all the bloody same with just slightly varying skill levels and stamina.

 

[Solius]

There's been more shocks than ever. Besides, the group stages are always shite, give it a chance. There's nothing that makes me think this is any worse than 2002/2006/2010/2018. It just stinks of recency bias.

I feel like the agendas and the negativity behind Qatar has just left a bad taste in people's mouth despite the football being no worse than usual.

Shocks don’t indicate quality though do they? If anything it shows a lack of it from the bigger teams. The Costa Rica goal is an example today, absolutely awful shot with hardly any power, somehow goes in because the Japan keeper was even worse and jumped too early. It was just rubbish!

As I said in the OP. I want this to be good. I’m happy when there’s goals but sometimes you have to admit it’s just a bit crap.

 

[Powderfinger]

There's something to be said for the argument that football is becoming increasingly more athletic at the cost of actual footballing talent. So you got all these stamina wonders running around pressing for 90 minutes but fewer and fewer creative players.

More athletic but also much more tactically structured at the highest level. Many good technicians but very few true flair players anymore.

So you start with that as the baseline then you have a World Cup in which the players are knackered, the teams haven’t been coached to play the kind of structured technical football that dominates at club level, and you don’t have flair players to rescue drab matches by doing it their own way.

 

[VorZakone]

Football has become far too regimental at club level with one, maybe two players having the burden of scoring which doesn't translate well when players go to their country and they're all system players playing in an unfamiliar system with no focal point.

There's no individuality in players in the modern game, they're all the bloody same with just slightly varying skill levels and stamina.

Georgia's Kvarathskelia brings lots of individual skill, too bad he isn't present at this WC.