FIFA 2022 World Cup Group stage: Sponsored by Bud

[Ben]

Maguire is pants. :D

[Spikey M]

The Harry Maguire parody compilations will love that one.

[Foe]

They’re dominating without actually looking like scoring.

Which is unfortunate, given they need to win.

[Waffdon]

Why does Maguire always dribble like that lol

[randomlegend]

Henderson is also absolute wank.

[John Arne]

Wilson for Kane, please. Kane needs to stay forward, dropping back all the time results in Bellingham having no room in that space.

[Ben]

Kane is physically incapable of playing up top now. His future is probably in that Bellingham role, like Rooney ended up doing.

[Spikey M]

Kane has been playing this role for England for so long now that I can only assume that it's what Southgate wants from him.

[CJay]

Two very poor games of attack v defence.

Hoping for dramatic scenes in extended injury time.

The Danny Gabbidon x Tom Kerridge call is fantastic btw.

[Spikey M]

That would have been some goal.

[Giggles]

I found the USA game 5 minutes ago and I think the ball has been in play for about 20 seconds since.


Edit - finally :cool:

[phonics]

Judge Bellingham. Quite good.

[Lewis]

Kane is physically incapable of playing up top now. His future is probably in that Bellingham role, like Rooney ended up doing.

Ronaldo-like goal hanging seems the better bet. Wayne Rooney was bad enough in midfield, and he was a far better passer and playmaker to begin with.

[Pepe]

C'mon Iran.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Dest has actually been good in this game.

[7om]

Usa usa

[Jimmy Floyd]

The game needed that. The states are a very vanilla side, given how dynamic they are. If that makes sense. Like a sort of freedom fries South Korea.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That ball by McKennie to Dest was lovely. Picked him out great.

[John Arne]

Can we get Trent on for corners?

[Ben]

Ronaldo-like goal hanging seems the better bet. Wayne Rooney was bad enough in midfield, and he was a far better passer and playmaker to begin with.

Maybe but no manager since Mourinho has convinced him of that. He seems to want to be in midfield.

[Spikey M]

Can we get Trent on for corners?

The most important thing here is not shipping 4 goals due to a headless right back, so probably not.

[Lofty]

Iran averaging two goals a game in this tournament so might give them a tickle.

[John Arne]

The most important thing here is not shipping 4 goals due to a headless right back, so probably not.

Bring him on for Rashford, he won't do much harm left wing.

[Ben]

Maguire is everywhere in this half, and not in a good way.

[Spikey M]

Maybe but no manager since Mourinho has convinced him of that. He seems to want to be in midfield.

Or - again - that's where he's being told to play. Why would they keep picking him otherwise? and to be fair he assisted Son to the Golden Boot last year and he has a couple in this World Cup already.

I'd rather he was playing as a 9, but this is clearly how managers prefer him.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They haven't had many ideas in this half, Taremi was played in at one point but bottled it and squared hopelessly to a defender.

Will need to throw the full kitchen sink at it second half.

Have I missed anything on Countryfile on BBC1?

[Giggles]

Iran averaging two goals a game in this tournament so might give them a tickle.

Yanks should have had the cunts buried a few minutes ago so it's getting all set up for that very thing.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That is a lovely finish by Weah, shame he's offside.

[Giggles]

That's not offside. I thought they weren't meant to flag?

[Jimmy Floyd]

It didn't look very offside to the naked eye. The magical goal-deducting computers save Iran. Glorious finish, as it was against Wales.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That's not offside. I thought they weren't meant to flag?

They can after which is what he did.

VAR said he was off too it seems but it did look onside.

[Giggles]

They mustn't mow the pitch parallel to the end lines.

[Ben]

Or - again - that's where he's being told to play. Why would they keep picking him otherwise? and to be fair he assisted Son to the Golden Boot last year and he has a couple in this World Cup already.

I'd rather he was playing as a 9, but this is clearly how managers prefer him.

I take your point, so the manager should tell the wide players not to drill low crosses across the defence because the centre forward isn’t going to be there.

[Spikey M]

I take your point, so the manager should tell the wide players not to drill low crosses across the defence because the centre forward isn’t going to be there.

At this point I can't see past Yevs view, which is that Southgate just doesn't see the problem.

[Disco]

All football punditry should have a Chesney Hawkes concert going on in the background.

[Lofty]

Sky have Iran 20/1 so fuck it, £10 for interest.

[Spikey M]

They should get Chesney in to help Guy Mowbray instead of these 2 fannies.

[Ian]

:rave:

[John Arne]

Bring him on for Rashford, he won't do much harm left wing.

You're welcome.

[Shindig]

I never knew he had that in him.

[Spikey M]

Lol

[phonics]

*Jimmy crying into a pack of Walkers Sensations*

“But… but.. the ball…”

[Ben]

These two will be back to the bench at the weekend.

[Lofty]

Southgate in?

[Ian]

Can't wait for him to get dropped for Mount in the next round.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

lol at Wales.

[Jimmy Floyd]

*Jimmy crying into a pack of Walkers Sensations*

“But… but.. the ball…”

Was the curse finally broken?

[Adramelch]

Southgate proving all the haters wrong, you love to see it!

Yev please don't murder me!

[Waffdon]

I was worried they were deliberately playing for Netherlands after that 1st half. Thank fuck France are going to be there waiting in the QFs

[7om]

Can’t wait for us to revert back to playing turgid shite in the knockout rounds.

[randomlegend]

I never knew he had that in him.

He's done it a few times before.

[Manc]

Switched off at HT. England won't lay a glove on a decent side.

[Spikey M]

Harry Maguire is being very Harry Maguire today.

[Ben]

Southgate extremely confident here putting Trent on the park.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Any word from Michael Sheen?

Iran-USA just bubbling. US need a second on the break or Allah is going to lay waste to them in the last twenty minutes.

[thommo]

Any word from Michael Sheen?

:D

I'm sure we'll see numerous platitudes in the coming days about how even being at the World Cup was the real victory.

[Pepe]

Daaamn that was it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Feed the kids and he will score.

[Shindig]

School dinners are coming home.

[Lewis]

Half a second more with that at his feet and Rashford would have made a shit pass to nobody. Shot clock ON.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That was nice from Sir Marcus but Danny Ward is a bum.

[phonics]

Danny Ward. Quite bad.

[Ian]

Rashers for the golden boot.

[7om]

Lol fuck off Wales.

[Pepe]

Southgate. :cool:

[John Arne]

Taremi 89th minute winner, please.

[Jimmy Floyd]

THE BALL just murdered Josh Sargent. Pulisic already dead. I quite fancy them if they play Holland but they need these runners.

[Waffdon]

Their midfield is genuinely decent, especially at international level. Could do with a decent striker though.

[Giggles]

Is this going back for a penno?

[Pepe]

Lol at Iran playing that free kick short.

[Giggles]

#USMNT are playing like they think Iran are late 90's France. Deserve to concede for such cowardice at this stage.

[Jimmy Floyd]

There's another goal in this and violence will follow.

[Spoonsky]

Nine minutes ffs

[Waffdon]

Iran scoring here would be incredible if not just for US Twitter crying about ‘ties’ and how they shouldn’t exist

[Pepe]

Doesn't the US qualify if they draw?

[Spikey M]

Ooofff

[Jimmy Floyd]

Iran scoring here would be incredible if not just for US Twitter crying about ‘ties’ and how they shouldn’t exist

I thought that sort of thing was a cliché, but I actually saw shitloads of it from US twitter after the first two American games.

[-james-]

"Shaq Moore" cannot be a professional footballer.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

VAR surely has to look at that.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Taremi's tried to cheat the ref there.

[Lewis]

It would be a very soft one, but you can see it. Give it. Give it.

[Spikey M]

Trying to blag a penalty for that :D

[Pepe]

VAR could consolidate itself here.

[Pepe]

Nah, VAR still shit.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Tried to steal another pen at the death :D

[Manc]

What a victory for Klinsmann.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Iran over the 90 minutes offered basically nothing, unfortunately. Americans a much better team. Desperately need a goalscorer, though. Have they got time to naturalise one before 2026?

[Giggles]

:cool:

I'll be very disappointed if the whole US team don't do a Klinsmann slide in front of Queiroz now.

[Spikey M]

I only watched the last 6 minutes, but of we're going with a "America STOLE that" narrative then I am down.

[7om]

Bye Iran. Bye Queeroz. Bye Taz.

[Waffdon]

I thought that sort of thing was a cliché, but I actually saw shitloads of it from US twitter after the first two American games.

Yeah, especially after the England game. Giving it all ‘it’s not a real sport god damn it!’

[Spikey M]

Robbed. Absolutely robbed.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Gammon burgers for dinner tomorrow :drool:

[Spoonsky]

We didn’t steal anything, but were cowardly and lucky against a pretty nothing team.

Goal at the end would have been sensational.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Berhalter is some charisma vacuum. Talking like a journeyman golf pro who has just won the 2005 Reno-Tahoe Open.

[Ian]

I thought that sort of thing was a cliché, but I actually saw shitloads of it from US twitter after the first two American games.

In my experience they absolutely fucking loathe them.

It's even better when it happens in one of their sports which are designed to make draws very much the minority and they still seethe their tits off on the rare occasions when it does.

[7om]

We didn’t steal anything, but were cowardly and lucky against a pretty nothing team.

Goal at the end would have been sensational.

:cool:

I actually like this team. Pace, youth and a decent defence. If they could just get someone prolific in that number 9 role they’d actually be dangerous.

[Waffdon]

I’m not even sure they need a prolific striker, just someone that resembles a footballer would do.

Definitely should be playing Carter-Vickers at centre half

[Spoonsky]

I do too and have a feeling they’ll raise their game for the Netherlands like they did for a England. They don’t seem to know what to do when leading a worse team at halftime, but then it’s unlikely they’ll be in that position again.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It feels like a team they're building for the home World Cup and if they happen to do anything here, all the better.

They have a lot more dynamism than the Dutch, will need to be able to score though.

[randomlegend]

Taz :harold:

[Jimmy Floyd]

As for England, as much as I'd like to rep Senegal, with Gueye suspended I think we'll have too much for them in midfield. That said, I think Cissé is a much cannier coach than Southgate, so if it turns into a shitfest then our chances might wane a little. Our best approach will be to open the game up, attack and back our 'quality'. Oh well.

[niko_cee]

England's main tactic going forward has to be to injure first choice 'keepers, we've put 9 past the second choices. Ward was absolutely horrendous on both Sir Marcus goals. Our set pieces are so bad having Rashford just torch them is probably the bets bet. Maybe it's a solid test of Jimmy's international ball striking theory, giving it a good whack is Rashford's main skill. Better than Henderson and Co coming up with that shite in the first half. Really need Trippier on the pitch at all times. Foden's delivery also awful.

Any chance at all to drop Foden into an 8 role?

[Waffdon]

Southgate’s not doing that in a friendly never mind a knockout game.

I’d assume he’ll go Sterling for Foden and Mount for Henderson if I had to guess.

[Waffdon]

1597696519075147776

:cool:

[Foe]

England will destroy Senegal. They’ve been seriously ropey at the back, any one of englands ten forwards could grab a hat trick if played.

Iran didn’t really show up in the first half at all, and weren’t too much better of what I saw of the second half. Unless they were piling on the pressure at the end they didn’t deserve to go through.

Netherlands looked pretty muted vs. Qatar so hopefully they struggle to lift their game in the next round.

[7om]

Love it when the Scottish and Welsh seethe. Your only hope is if we ever allow you to join us in a GB team.

[Waffdon]

China aren’t apart of Great Britain, m8

[Jimmy Floyd]

All joking aside, the Michael Sheen thing was actually quite interesting, in that I think England/English people can only get away with shows of undiluted patriotism at minimum semi-finals, probably final. No way any of our lefty actors start reading Shakespeare earlier than that, even in these times of The Woke Mister Southgate and Marcus Rashford on the scoresheet. In Wales it's now probably more frowned upon not to be frothingly patriotic.

Scotland probably somewhere in between.

[Lewis]

The only way you are allowed to get carried away with it is if you reference 'This England Team' when doing so, because then it looks like you're also supporting black people and school dinners, rather than just trying to get involved because we're actually good now.

[niko_cee]

I’d assume he’ll go Sterling for Foden and Mount for Henderson if I had to guess.

If he brings Sterling back he needs taking to the nearest Saudi embassy. You'd think it would be Saka if he wants to replace Foden with workrate.

Don't think he'll stray from the 'control' Henderson offers unless he thinks Phillips can play 70 minutes.

[Don]

Nowhere near the disappointment of 2018 tonight, possibly because we really deserved it then but this time it was all a bit desperate. Would have fancied our 2-man team all day in this group if we'd had Azmoun fit.

USA will be easily dismissed by the dutch. Don't rate Senegal but England look dodgy so hopefully some BLM might will overpower the gammons.

[Baz]

https://www.rllmukforum.com/uploads/monthly_2022_11/A9F04B52-7486-4036-B525-AD3A9A011199.thumb.jpeg.22eb44f80dcf5c8c0f52a534da 6422e0.jpeg

[Jimmy Floyd]

Just watched the England highlights. I bring glad tidings, which is that it appears Marcus Rashford is the first to work out how to strike this ball (it has to be whipped through the instep - laces need not apply). Others will also work it out as the tournament goes on, but having one in your team opens up so many more ways of scoring goals than are available to other teams.

If all teams had had three weeks of build up as they normally would, I think you'd see the goal average being a lot higher.

[Yevrah]

First half bilge, second half much better, so we’re about 50% good to shit so far. Probably better than I expected in all fairness to waistcoat.

As for Senegal, if we play football we should beat them, but perhaps worryingly we should also beat them if we go all Gareth and try to nick a goal. There’s enough quality in the side to pull that off so I guess it’s what I’m expecting.

[Ben]

Henderson will retain his place and Rashford and Foden will be back to warming the bench.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, no chance Foden starts. He has his blueprint for playing a middling team and a better team and there’s no way he’s deviating from that.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If he doesn't start Rashford he's a moron. He just hit the upper half of the goal from a free kick, fucking Messi hasn't come within five yards of doing that.

[Yevrah]

True, but he only made the changes in the first place as we were basically through.

[Yevrah]

Well that and to give Henderson some game time should our opponent warrant him dropping Bellingham for him.

[Ben]

It took him two years to get out of the habit of picking Welbeck. Sterling and Saka are his men and I'll be pleasantly surprised if he deviates from that.

[Shindig]

Honestly, the win against Iran probably gave Southgate the chance to dull things up and treat one/both of the other games as defensive training. Wales have been shocking, though. They looked shell shocked for the first half against USA and never really recovered.

[Waffdon]

Saka is far better than Rashford so I’ll be pleasantly surprised if the latter is rocking up in knockout matches

[niko_cee]

I'm almost certain it will be Saka and Rashford, with the latter on all freekicks. :sick:

[Spikey M]

Just think yourself lucky Kane isn't on free kicks and corners like the last one.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If we shit our way to the World Cup with Kane scoring 0 goals, like Stephane Guivarc'h in 1998, then I'll admit it: Southgate should be knighted and Wembley renamed Southgate in his honour (one for the Londoners there).

[Ben]

Turns out Guivarc'h only played four games for Newcastle, which surprised me. He's one of those that's engrained in my memory, but that might be from playing as Auxerre on one of the old Champ Man games when they had a mighty squad: Guivarc'h, Mexes, Djibril Cissé, Fabien Cool (:cool:), Kapo, Tainio, Boumsong.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I played so much as Auxerre on 01/02 that I even remember the fringe players. Helder Esteves, Jean-Sebastien Jaurès, Kwami Agboh, and of course the great Amdy Faye who went on to be shit for multiple English sides.

[Ben]

I must have played as them on 00/01 I think. I seem to remember Guivarc'h being a free transfer on 01/02 and anything earlier would probably predate Mexes and Cissé. Amdy Faye was great though.

[Spikey M]

Falkirk > Auxerre.

Mark Kerrs Barmy Army.

[Waffdon]

I hate that cunt.

[Spikey M]

:D why?

I know nothing about him in the real world.

[Waffdon]

https://youtu.be/Pye5rueBDx0

4.08

Cunt

[Spikey M]

:D fuck me.

Safe to say he didn't quite live up to his CM potential, anyway.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Wonder how much cash he had on the match.

[John Arne]

If you need some footy to watch before the World Cup games kick off....

Vietnam are playing Dortmund right now...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odTv4C7SGLg

[Waffdon]

Mandanda; Disasi, Konaté, Varane, Camavinga; Fofana, Tchouaméni, Veretout; Coman, Kolo Muani, Guendouzi.

France trying to help their brothers in arms, Tunisia, with that team. Did Veretout not get relegated with Villa? :D

[Jimmy Floyd]

Steve Mandanda? Are you shitting me? I thought he'd been through QPR and out the other side about 7 years ago.

[-james-]

I've genuinely never heard of Randal Kolo Muani or Axel Disasi.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's not a team to get the Rassemblement National on board, that's for sure.

[Dave.]

France destroying everyone's World Cup fantasy football teams.:moop:

[Waffdon]

I kept Mbappe on the off chance he got started but had plenty in reserve. Got rid of 1st teamers from other countries already through as you get a wildcard and unlimited transfers on the knockouts.

I’ve never heard of the two blokes James mentioned either. Swear they weren’t even in the squad announcement. 5 centre mids with Camavinga at left back should see Khazri run riot

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've genuinely never heard of Randal Kolo Muani or Axel Disasi.

Genuinely, who are they?

[Jimmy Floyd]

I remember reading about Randal in the Guardian squad profile page I linked to, and as a result starting a theory (I like theories) that the Bundesliga is now just a convenient repository of biggish clubs for the English and French to plonk their young attackers in for a bit of first team development.

[Waffdon]

Yeah anyone with a bit of pace will look good there. Or a better player than they are anyway

[Manc]

Genuinely, who are they?

Disasi is Monaco captain. Muani is a new one on me. Definitely doesn't play in Ligue 1.

[Pepe]

Not even close mate.

[Giggles]

Google?

[Jimmy Floyd]

He plays for Eintracht Fwonkfort.

Getting 'On ya Socceroos!' vibes from this game.

[Danny]

https://youtu.be/Pye5rueBDx0

4.08

Cunt

Scottish Gerrard

[Lewis]

He plays for Eintracht Fwonkfort.

Getting 'On ya Socceroos!' vibes from this game.

'Mate. We're only a small country mate...'

[Waffdon]

Scottish Gerrard

84th minute when 1-0 up in a cup final. Absolute shambles.

[Pepe]

France B looking pretty dodgy.

[-james-]

They'll stick Mbappe on with 25 to play and he'll bag a couple when the Tunisians get desperate.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Denmark are pretty patterns and little else. No goalscorer. Twenty years ago they'd have Ebbe Sand to bring off the bench, but no one produces goalscorers anymore.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Nice goal from Khazri.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Aussie Aussie Aussie, oi oi oi.

[Manc]

Great goal from Leckie.

[Waffdon]

The commentary for that Australia goal was pathetic.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Amazingly similar goals, in a way.

Another few from the Aussies please to send France into 2nd.

[Waffdon]

Imagine Saudi’s win and we have them or Australia in the QFs lol

[Lewis]

Aussie Aussie Aussie, oi oi oi.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie
Oi, oi, oi

[Lewis]

The good old days, when Australians called this 'wogball'. Now they pretend it's great.

[Pepe]

Denmark doing worse than Tunisia lol.

Scrap my 16 teams WC with half of them being European idea. Four spots only for Europe (Italy, France, Germany, Spain). England can have a playoff against Argentina.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The good old days, when Australians called this 'wogball'. Now they pretend it's great.

The entire team look like trendy baristas and play for Hibs. I don't know what to make of any of it.

[Baz]

Imagine Saudi’s win and we have them or Australia in the QFs lol

Who?

[Waffdon]

Denmark haven’t even bothered to try and throw men forward in any of the 3 games. Pathetic stuff all round.

[Waffdon]

Who?

The general public as a viewing spectacle. Saudis will face Australia if Saudis finish top of their group so one of them will be guaranteed to be in QFs

[Jimmy Floyd]

Denmark haven’t even bothered to try and throw men forward in any of the 3 games. Pathetic stuff all round.

They look like they're playing spreadsheet football. Probably works across league seasons, don't bother in tournaments. Just have a goalscorer and give it to him.

[Waffdon]

This commentator needs to stop saying Harry Souttar wasn’t good enough for Celtic and left them when he was a youngster. Just factually incorrect. He left them on his own accord as his brother was only travelling to Dundee from Brechin for training and he didn’t want to trek all the way through to Glasgow.

[Baz]

This commentator needs to stop saying Harry Souttar wasn’t good enough for Celtic and left them when he was a youngster. Just factually incorrect. He left them on his own accord as his brother was only travelling to Dundee from Brechin for training and he didn’t want to trek all the way through to Glasgow.
If Collins was 12m, Souttar’s easily worth 20m.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Denmark join Switzerland, Slovakia and Slovenia on the banned list. Just don't bother coming back, lads.

[Manc]

Hideous effort from Denmark.

[-james-]

The Anglosphere. :cool:

[Spoonsky]

France :harold:

[Waffdon]

He was being linked with that sort of price last year before his knee went. Doesn’t look like it’s made much of a difference to him but then I’m not sure it would for someone that doesn’t really rely on pace. Looks a perfect player for your ‘low block’ teams.

[Spoonsky]

Tunisia will feel absolutely robbed by Denmark there. Beautiful win nonetheless.

[Lofty]

Mental finish in the Tunisia match there.

[Don]

Only thing dark horse-like about this Danish effort was the steaming pile of shit horses serve up.

[Spoonsky]

They needed another near death experience to rally them.

[Waffdon]

France :harold:

Was genuinely confused why you were laughing at them having not realised the goal had been chopped off. I went back onto the stream and swear the commentator said it was full time so I closed it again.

What was it chopped off for?

[Jimmy Floyd]

I swear I watched the stream for about five minutes and it was still counting.

[Lewis]

Graham Arnold seems like a Good Bloke.

[phonics]

Denmark have always been awful. The only reason people gave them the time of day is that someone almost died last time.

[Lofty]

Was genuinely confused why you were laughing at them having not realised the goal had been chopped off. I went back onto the stream and swear the commentator said it was full time so I closed it again.

What was it chopped off for?

Griezmann was offside in the build up and drifted back just before he got the ball. Comical they then had to play again for a minute.

[Waffdon]

1597998515577573377

Makes a change from seeing these videos and folk throwing Piss/Carling in the air for no reason

[Lewis]

Limbs mate. Footie limbs. Might keep doing Movember until Christmas me haha.

[Waffdon]

Haha rebellious stuff mate. You’ve inspired me to rock up at the local and order some milk. Cheers boss man

Might even shout ‘faggot’ to some random on the way to top it off

[niko_cee]

Glad Australia won as it would have been pretty poor for Tunisia to advance like that.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Yeah, properly wank from France. Hope they get stuffed by whoever comes out of this group C melee.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Haha rebellious stuff mate. You’ve inspired me to rock up at the local and order some milk. Cheers boss man

Might even shout ‘faggot’ to some random on the way to top it off
Lol at an ethnic too.

[Giggles]

The Anglosphere. :cool:

When are you Greek again KikoJr?

[Lewis]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63805284


A man is reported to have been killed by security forces in northern Iran, as anti-government protesters publicly celebrated the national football team's elimination from the World Cup. Activists said Mehran Samak was shot in the head after he honked his car's horn in Bandar Anzali on Tuesday night.

Fair enough.

[Ben]

That’s disgusting from Denmark, like.

[Waffdon]

Huge fan of this Henry Martin bloke who is apparently Mexican and starting tonight.

Edit: Ben White been sent home

[Pepe]

He also started against Poland.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The Poland manager is the most Polish-looking man I've ever seen. He couldn't look more Polish if his job was to polish poles in Warsaw.

[Pepe]

Green shorts. :sick:

[Pepe]

:face:

[Giggles]

I'm putting up with a woman commentator to watch Pepe's lot.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Green shorts. :sick:

Viva la lucha.

Imagine if someone had said at, maybe, the 2002 World Cup that in 20 years' time there would be a World Cup and Argentina would have a starting midfielder who played for Brighton & Hove Albion.

[Pepe]

If Mexico does not make it, I think that I would like to see the Saudis finish first.

[Pepe]

Viva la lucha.

Imagine if someone had said at, maybe, the 2002 World Cup that in 20 years' time there would be a World Cup and Argentina would have a starting midfielder who played for Brighton & Hove Albion.

Believable. They have been overrated for very, very long now.

[Pepe]

Some proper shit in there:

https://www.thesoccerworldcups.com/rosters/2002_argentina_players.php

Still, all of them better than the current lot, probably.

[thommo]

Believable. They have been overrated for very, very long now.

It's that combined with the fact Brighton had only just topped the 3rd tier in 2002, and were about to get immediately relegated back down to it.

What I'd give for a Poland win here.

[Waffdon]

Calling them overrated for a while is an odd time to say it after they eventually win an international trophy.

[Pepe]

They are shit and I am not hearing otherwise.

[Ben]

El Santo will dust them lad.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

No way that's a pen.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If they give that as a penalty, you might as well stop the World Cup now and just get Ronaldo and Messi wanking each other off for the next fortnight, as that's clearly what FIFA want.

[Manc]

:facepalm:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That's a joke.

[Pepe]

Fuck VAR.

[Boydy]

That's a ridiculous penalty decision.

[Lewis]

I would like Argentina out, but lol at Mahow. Tough one.

[Lewis]

What a save.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

:harold:

Great save.

[Boydy]

:lol:

Slap it up ye, Argentina.

[Dave.]

What a save that is.

[Jimmy Floyd]

lolololol. Fuck off you little rat.

[Cord]

I struggle to recall a more ridiculous penalty decision than that.

So lol at him missing it.

[Pepe]

:harold:

[Waffdon]

That penalty :D

[Waffdon]

Messi really is quite dogshit at penalties. Average players are just better at them for whatever reason.

[CJay]

Poland aren’t going to last long playing like this. So unambitious.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The only way you could give that penalty would be for violent conduct, in which case Szczesny would have been booked or worse. It's a nonsensical decision. A sign of what we can expect from the officials in the remainder of the match. These guys NEED Messi in the latter stages.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Sir Henry Winter has given it 'Decisions must be made regardless of a player's status'. He knows.

[CJay]

Messi really is quite dogshit at penalties. Average players are just better at them for whatever reason.

I think he’s statistically average at them - just above 75%, which seems to be about average according to Google.

[Pepe]

The Saudis are shitting the bed, but I do not see how this team will ever score. They are all just so useless up front.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Poland really need to show some ambition. We're losing if we keep playing for 0-0.

[thommo]

That really was a brilliant penalty save. Poland need to wake up a bit in the 2nd half though, asking to throw it playing the way they are.

[Pepe]

If they didn't try for a single minute against Mexico, there is no way that they try against Argentina.

[Manc]

A goal for KSA and we riot.

[Pepe]

A goal for KSA and we riot.

Ooof.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Balls.

[Dave.]

Regardless of the penalty farce, I want Argentina to win here. Poland offering nothing - the ultimate anti-football team.

[Pepe]

Polol.

[Pepe]

:cool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Good news for us.

[Waffdon]

Mexico are going out in the last 16 for about the 10th time in a row, aren’t they? :D

[Pepe]

Mexico are going out in the last 16 for about the 10th time in a row, aren’t they? :D

Let's hope. :drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

I bet the Poland coach will gamble here on a 1-0 defeat being good enough, when his team are one goal away from playing Australia in the last 16.

Some of these managers just despise risk.

[Pepe]

Daaaaamn. :drool:

[Pepe]

Is that the first proper long ranger of the tournament?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

What a goal for Mexico.

[Shindig]

It's a massacre.

[Waffdon]

Yeah, I thought the keeper was poor at first but that’s a ridiculous free kick

[Pepe]

Shiiiiiii

[Waffdon]

Lewandowski missing the sitter for 3-0 in the last game might come back to haunt him

[Pepe]

If only that idiot Messi had scored his PK...