Would be interested
Qatar is such a great place: they are paying for fans to travel and stay for the World Cup!
“Now, say nice things about our country.”
OK, enough about questionable Qatar queries.
MESSI!
Someone unpaywall this, please.
BC Government has extended the hours that bars are permitted to be open in the province during the World Cup tournament. However no alcohol will be permitted to be served for the early morning games. My breakfast beer days are over so no hardship for me.
Alright, it was needed to be said, from the top:
“Shut up and play!!”
I’d rather see this from the top: “We fucked up, took bribes from a shitty country (four in a row, actually), and now they are balls deep up our ass. We apologize. From now on, the World Cup will always be held in the USA, the most awesome country in the world with plenty of stadia to play soccer in.”
"At FIFA, we try to respect all opinions and beliefs, without handing out moral lessons to the rest of the world. One of the great strengths of the world is indeed its very diversity, and if inclusion means anything, it means having respect for that diversity.
In the play I saw recently, there is dialogue along these lines. The final word of that dialogue was, “No matter who you are disrespecting when you do it.”
CONMEBOL getting some of that sweet sweet Qatar money, wants everybody to shut up and play.
Need some “FIFA, you suck!” banners being flown.
Qatar apparently directly contacted fans from supporters groups and offered them airfare/tickets/spending $ if they would snitch on any unfavorable comments made about Qatar. This allegedly includes some members of the American Outlaws (among many others)
“Well, now that I’m not in charge anymore, yes, Qatar was a mistake.”
Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA when Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup hosting rights in 2010, told Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger that “Qatar is a mistake,” adding that “the choice was bad.”
Was he speaking from his bribe-bought yacht?
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Canada plays a friendly against Bahrain on November 11. It will be a team made up of MLS players against the Bahraini squad.
“Hey, keep the talk about soccer!!”
OK, here is a 538 article on “Groups of Death.”
I think “Group of Death” should also include those in which three teams are top-notch, while the fourth is merely someone to relax against. I mean, only two teams advance, and if there are two other teams in your group as easily capable of advancing as your own team, that’s some shit luck there.
In the past, did they not separate teams into pots by World Ranking? If that was the case, then Groups of Death would be much more likely, like in 1970 when powerhouse Brazil was in the same Group as the defending champions England.
Splitting into pots by rank as they do now, definitely lowers the difference in ELO. But it all makes me wonder how their ELO is made in the first place, relative to World Rankings.
Meanwhile, USA play England and two teams nearly evenly ranked with them in ELO. to USA, it is a Group of Death.
I agree. The classic group of death is when 3 high quality teams are fighting for two spots. Whether the 4th team is ranked 40th or 140th shouldn’t matter
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Sort of surprised he mentions Group E as a candidate. Spain and Germany are certainly powerhouses, but with the top 2 in the group expected to crush the other 2 (Japan, Costa Rica) I don’t think that qualifies as a group of death despite a high average ELO rating.
Like you, I think one good example of a group of death is 3 quality teams. I think Group B with the US is another possible way to define one with all teams more evenly matched. All 4 teams with world ELO rankings between 14 and 26 is pretty tight. England is certainly the favorite, but the other 3 clustered with rankings 22-26 creates tough matchups with no easy patsy.
Neither side impressed in a 2-2 draw but it looks like Canada has another budding star in 20 year old Kone. The squad for Qatar gets picked tomorrow and he should be on it. CF Montreal will probably lose him to EPL next year.
I’ve missed the last few games of Iran on TV. Don’t know any of their players so won’t pretend they should compete against us w world clas talent up front and in MF. Our D is not strong but we should kick their ass.
People shouldn’t pretend to know Iran by what they read.
Operation “Hide the beer”
Wednesday, November 23
02:00 PM EST
Belgium vs. Canada (FIFA World Cup)
- FOX,
- Telemundo,
- fubo TV,
- DirecTV Stream,
- Peacock Premium,
- Vidgo,
- Sling Blue
Sunday, November 27
11:00 AM EST
Croatia vs. Canada (FIFA World Cup)
- FS1,
- Telemundo,
- fubo TV,
- DirecTV Stream,
- Peacock Premium,
- Vidgo,
- Sling Blue
Thursday, December 01
10:00 AM EST
Canada vs. Morocco (FIFA World Cup)
- FS1,
- Telemundo,
- fubo TV,
- DirecTV Stream,
- Peacock Premium,
- Vidgo,
- Sling Blue
Looks like every single match is televised on Fox or FS1.
Final matches of a group SHOULD be on simultaneously, so I’m a bit curious about some of those times.
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Thanks. The challenge may be watching the Thanksgiving Sunday game as the 11 am start time may interfere with the Thanksgiving dinner sit down. Also I will be the only soccer fan in attendance.
I agree the third games of the Group stage will be played at the same time for each Group.
I see that some are not “starting” at the same time, but there might be pre-game yakking.
Dinner at 11AM? What up wi’dat?
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