World Soccer XXXI: Golden Generation?

[ticapnews]

Is there some other geopolitical joke I’m missing? There are no more host countries left.

The child rapist war criminal is threatening to bomb FIFA HQ because all of the Belgian goals were scored by players who aren't from the United States. Therefore the goals shouldn't count.

"America won if you only count the goals scored by Americans."

 

[psych]

I don’t know what Telemundo paid, but they’ve got some very low budget ads for the World Cup. The best are the products who advertise entirely in English.

But it’s been great being entrenched in the language the last month. Just listening to the games has helped a ton on comprehension. Andres Cantor is a treasure to listen to, especially when Argentina is playing.

I love Telemundo. I haven’t watched any other channel for the World Cup. And his call when Argentina tied and then took the lead, lol. Dude was so hoarse and kept going.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

It’s funny article. Both faux and Telemundo are around the 5 mil viewers. And the article says that if faux gets the English speaking audience, it would be millions more. Let’s do the math-20% of 5M is 1M. Which is on the high side. I guess you pluralize a word when it’s a fraction of one, too.

The sentence is correct.

It didn't say it would bring in millions more per match. It said, "millions more viewers throughout the span of the World Cup." Which is true.

 

[Kepler]

I love Telemundo. I haven’t watched any other channel for the World Cup. And his call when Argentina tied and then took the lead, lol. Dude was so hoarse and kept going.

If this is what I am listening to on Peacock it's great. I have no Spanish so I get the emotion without having to listen to any derp.

 

[Kepler]

Is there some other geopolitical joke I’m missing? There are no more host countries left.

I had apparently edited my memory selectively to have Mexico beat England. The Times regrets the error.

 

[psych]

If this is what I am listening to on Peacock it's great. I have no Spanish so I get the emotion without having to listen to any derp.

Sí, senor.

 

[Slap Shot]

Just saw the Egypt goal that was disallowed. Yeah, that's a bullshit use of VAR. I was thinking it was a foul on the goalie or something, not something that happened all the way back on the other side of the field.

I haven't seen any of this, but would the foul in question normally have stopped the pace of play?

 

[SonofSouthie]

Prob won't do any good,

Egypt Makes Formal Complaint to FIFA After Controversial World Cup Exit vs. Argentina

Manager Hossam Hassan didn’t hold back after he felt his side was unfairly eliminated from the World Cup.

www.si.com

 

[unofan]

I haven't seen any of this, but would the foul in question normally have stopped the pace of play?

Only to the extent that any foul that is called results in a free kick. It was outside the box on the other side of the field, was not even a yellow card, and wasn't called on the field.

 

[ticapnews]

I haven't seen any of this, but would the foul in question normally have stopped the pace of play?

Not in this World Cup. The refs haven't called much. That they would use VAR to rule out that goal is ridiculous.

 

[Slap Shot]

Ok - then yeah that's awful.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Lost in a lot of kvetching over the USMNT, and really any discussion as we head into the quarterfinals, is that there’s a glass ceiling at the quarterfinals level for all the none power countries. It’s not just something affecting the USMNT but everyone else around the world too. Mexico had everything lined up for them and yet couldn’t pull it off. Japan has done everything the “right” way development wise and yet they’ve never been. Colombia made it once in 2014 but has struggled since.

Morocco seems to have the solution, but it’s a solution that’s unattainable for most countries: Have talent born in Europe and convince them to play for you.

For all of the discussion, for all of the back and forth on “how do we do this?” The reality is that nobody has the solution, beyond either “cheat” or “have generational talent”.

 

[ticapnews]

An all-Argentine referee team for the France-Morocco match today.

 

[Jimjamesak]

Brazil: “We lost because we have too many Evangelicals in our country.”

(Linking to a Reddit post because the original article is from The Times and paywalled)

The debate is loosely based on some truths. Since Brazil’s last World Cup victory, beating Germany 2-0 in Japan in 2002, the country has undergone a significant religious shift. Then, almost 80 per cent of Brazilians described themselves as Catholic. That figure dropped to about 55 per cent in the latest census. In 2002 just 15 per cent of the Brazilian population called themselves evangelical or Protestant, now it is more than 25 per cent.

The growth of Protestantism has been especially visible in Brazil’s national squad — where many of the star players actively advertise their faith. Of the current selection, at least 20 out of 26 players are evangelical Christians.

The most prominent is the striker, Neymar da Silva Santos Jr, who had a playboy reputation before he was baptised and “born again” in 2017. Since then, he has taken to posting Bible verses on his social media. Marcos “Marquinhos” Aoás Corrêa, the captain, and Vinicius Junior, the Real Madrid star, are known to be practising Catholics.

During a post-match interview after the Norway defeat, one of the youngest members of the Brazilian side, the 19-year-old striker Endrick Felipe Moreira de Sousa — who missed a crucial goal opportunity at the end of the first half — said he knew God was on his side throughout.

“It was a moment when I could have done better. I didn’t, but I thank God for the opportunity,” he said.

That take did not go down well with some pundits. “I wish so much that the players of the Brazilian national team had Catholic guilt: remission of sins, repentance, penance … the evangelical guilt is too conformist and permissive; they outsource everything to God and take responsibility for nothing,” posted Pedro Rosano, a Brazilian football journalist.

As ridiculous as it may seem on the surface, there might be some truth to this. If all of your mistakes are just simply chalked up to “Gods will” then it can lead to a pretty bad mentality for the game and stifle much needed mental growth.

Edit: It’s fascinating reading some of the discussion and seeing that this might not just be a Brazil problem but also Colombia and weirdly a player or two on Germany.

 

[ticapnews]

FIFA have given Jarell Quansah a two-game ban following his red card against Mexico.

Obviously Prince William has a phone call to make...

 

[Kepler]

Lost in a lot of kvetching over the USMNT, and really any discussion as we head into the quarterfinals, is that there’s a glass ceiling at the quarterfinals level for all the none power countries.

Croatia has got the answer.

I am assuming the following are the power countries: Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, France, England and Spain (terrible WC histories),

Edge Cases: Uruguay (freaks), Netherlands (in decline -- did they have a generational talent in the 70s?)

That leaves these countries as having broken the F4 since 1994:

• Croatia
• Sweden
• Portugal (Cristiano Ronaldo)
• Belgium
• Turkey
• South Korea (cheat, er, host)
• Morocco

 

[Jimjamesak]

Croatia has got the answer.

I am assuming the following are the power countries: Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, France, England and Spain (terrible WC histories),

Edge Cases: Uruguay (freaks), Netherlands (in decline -- did they have a generational talent in the 70s?)

That leaves these countries as having broken the F4 since 1994:

• Croatia
• Sweden
• Portugal (Cristiano Ronaldo)
• Belgium
• Turkey
• South Korea (cheat, er, host)
• Morocco

Croatia does not have the answer for a country like the US. They fall into the category of “European, had a generational talent (Modric)”.

It’s no mistake that the two non-European teams on that list cheated, either the “host and bribe” method or the “let the Europeans do the work and profit” method (and South Korea is a corrupt mess). It’s become next to impossible for a non-European country not named Brazil or Argentina to join in, and Brazil has declined enough that it’s questionable for them while Argentina will be an interesting watch post-Messi.

There just seems to be this glass ceiling for non-European countries. Mexico has been at it for half a century with robust cultural and economic investment, yet they haven’t made it. Japan is “doing it right” with a three division professional setup with promotion and relegation that focuses on development and community engagement that has come continental success while exporting talent regularly to European leagues, yet they still can’t win a knockout round game. The other South American countries can’t seem to find the consistency despite decades of effort from Colombia and Uruguay. Everyone is seemingly trying but no one has the solution, and honestly no one may ever find it.

 

[ticapnews]

Mbappe penalty saved!

 

[ticapnews]

Including shootouts, Yassine Bounou has conceded just two goals from the nine penalties he's faced at the World Cup (four saved, three missed)

0-0 at HT.

 

[ticapnews]

FRA 1 - 0 MAR
Mbappe 60'

8 at the tournament.
20 in 20 World Cup games.