2022 World Cup knockouts: RIP four games a day

[7om]

It's mental the domestic football is basically back in full swing in 3 days.

I don’t think I can actually stomach “and it’s live” after this World Cup.

[Mike]

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[Shindig]

I barely catch live TV coverage during the season. I'm just glad I don't have to hear Sam Matterface unless we get a strong FA Cup run.

[niko_cee]

I don’t think I can actually stomach “and it’s live” after this World Cup.

Aren't you a Birmingham fan?

[Boydy]

Some Argie woman in the crowd got her tits out.

https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/zp4c4m/argentitties/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[Shindig]

Of all the countries to do that in.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Nice set.

[Lewis]

Even Barthez was a bit shit.

He would be the best 'keeper in the business these days with his distribution and pissing about on the ball. That mental handball outside the box at the Bernabeu is a top ten United moment.

[Dquincy]

So pleased Messi and Argentina won the world cup. Without doubt the best player to grace this planet and a deserved way to end his world cup involvement.

Reading through these past few pages and seeing the bitterness towards the argies. :drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

Completely agree. To watch the man fart is just footballtastico.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Only just seen the presentations (I have no desire to witness happy Argentines live), that black robe is a deeply sinister thing. It's the Qatari state taking control of posterity, saying fuck you football, your man does not get to lift the World Cup on his own terms, in his country's shirt, he lifts the World Cup in our robe, because this belongs to us.

Bad people, over there.

[Baz]

I thought he'd just nipped to Ann Summers on the way to collecting the trophy.

[niko_cee]

Having not watched much of this until it was quite far into ET [aforementioned travel plans proving an unexpected boon] I must have missed Gary Neville's political rant about workers' rights. Sounds pretty lol.

[Giggles]

Having not watched much of this until it was quite far into ET [aforementioned travel plans proving an unexpected boon] I must have missed Gary Neville's political rant about workers' rights. Sounds pretty lol.

They went balls deep into it before it on TV here too - great timing now that they've all made their money from it. Was a complete car crash of a segment.

[Lewis]

His justification for going over there was to 'raise awareness' of what Qatar are about, and then when we got it he just showed that he doesn't actually understand any of the issues by comparing it with workers here currently being on strike, as if the problem with Qatari building sites - as a reflection of Qatari society - is a matter of statutory sick pay and being allowed to get away from your desk and rest your eyes every couple of hours.

[Jimmy Floyd]

In fairness to him, he's become a prisoner of this 'Western hypocrisy' thing which has become so beloved of Muslims, as if their religion is much more than an organised cult to propagate the continued sexual, physical and emotional abuse of women on a mass scale. Collision of that with western values is a bit of a sore point for everyone involved.

That's why he has to mention Essex nurses getting pay rises in the same breath as enslaved migrant workers.

The correct answer was not to go there. I've enjoyed the football from back here, I'm sure he would have done too.

[Don]

Only just seen the presentations (I have no desire to witness happy Argentines live), that black robe is a deeply sinister thing. It's the Qatari state taking control of posterity, saying fuck you football, your man does not get to lift the World Cup on his own terms, in his country's shirt, he lifts the World Cup in our robe, because this belongs to us.

Bad people, over there.

Brah, let it go man, greatest ever world cup all thanks to banning poppers.

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[Lofty]

Quite amusing seeing Villa fans try and piggy back on Martinez's success here, based on his previous behaviour he's probably going to come back and demand a move to a better club :D

[niko_cee]

Wouldn't the operative difference there being the word 'after' ie not during the presentation as part of some mandated privilege? I'm with Jimmy on this, it's been one massive power play all along from the Budweiser to the mandatory nightwear, and everyone's just lapped it up whilst simultaneously furrowing their brows from time to time.

[Yevrah]

The 'West's' attempts at derailing this thing, or even shining a light on the issues have been pathetic.

So much so, fuck it, we've just had the best World Cup I can recall and without doubt the best final, so I'm all for holding it in the desert, in December, every single time now.

[Waffdon]

Yeah, December the way forward for me, Clive.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The population of the west doesn't want to hear about the issues (much in the same way that Newcastle fans don't want to hear about the Saudis being bad news, they just want expensive signings for their team, same with Chelsea/Abramovich back in the day before Offshore seethes at me), which the people trying to shine a light on them can't really do anything about. Football is pure escapism for most people and I've noticed in the discourse around this tournament how incredibly frustrated and upset many people become when any kind of reality intrudes on the fantasy world that football provides for them.

Nobody understands the migrant worker stuff anyway, as demonstrated by Gary Neville's shameless comments. As for the gay stuff, this is a sport where Justin Fashanu was hounded to death 25 years ago and there are still regular terrace chants along with an undertone of homophobia that runs through the whole culture, so there's no hope there either.

However, you can't blame those journalists/people who have attempted to provide context. There is always context, but the gulf states are objectively more repressive and brutal than the West so the moral equivalence they've been trying to push just doesn't stack up.

[Lofty]

Isn't Mexico not much better for homophobia, maybe Pepe can confirm? Whether that will be mentioned by the media for 2026 who knows.

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_by_country_or_territory

This page resides in my bookmarks, a handy guide. 'Homophobia' is everywhere, obvs.

[CJay]

Isn't Mexico not much better for homophobia, maybe Pepe can confirm? Whether that will be mentioned by the media for 2026 who knows.

Yeah and people still get executed in the US of A. I think there may have been some issues regarding race and political violence there recently too?

But I’m sure journalists will be qualifying all praise of the tournament in the same manner in 2026.

[Lofty]

And the fella running the show in sweet innocent Canada blacked up that time.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Thinking about it, the fact that England 'took a knee' but cowered away from wearing the One Love armband is a horrible reflection on Kane/Southgate and whoever else at the FA was responsible for both decisions. I know your Linekers and Nevilles will say footballers don't deserve to be put in that position, but if you want to represent your country I'm afraid that's part of the deal.

Of course the reason is that the squad feels affected by the race issue but knows nothing of the LGBT stuff, which generally explains most things.

[SvN]

I missed the entire final as I was driving back from a visit to my wife's family. When I realised the clash about a week ago, I decided to just live with it because the final is always boring shite anyway. So of course, it ends up being the best final of all time.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The Arab and a warehouse guy are having a schoolyard level Messi v Ronaldo debate. The warehouse guy has just dropped 'We don't know if Messi could cut it in the Premier League'. Arab has fucking lost it, swearing and everything. Messi means more to him than his family, his country or any team.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

A wet and windy night in Stoke would ruin Messi.

[Lewis]

Footballers don't deserve to be put in that position, but England/the FA put themselves in it so lol at them. It was the most obvious thing ever as soon as they started doing it in 2020 as well.

[Magic]

I missed the entire final as I was driving back from a visit to my wife's family. When I realised the clash about a week ago, I decided to just live with it because the final is always boring shite anyway. So of course, it ends up being the best final of all time.

Peak beta behaviour.

[Offshore Toon]

I was unexpectedly sat down in a restaurant 20 minutes before kick off and I forced us to go to a pub. Alphashore.

[Waffdon]

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He even laughs like a Scottish junkie :D

[Magic]

I was unexpectedly sat down in a restaurant 20 minutes before kick off and I forced us to go to a pub. Alphashore.

Playing the game holmes. :cool:

[Pepe]

Isn't Mexico not much better for homophobia, maybe Pepe can confirm? Whether that will be mentioned by the media for 2026 who knows.

I would say that it is a lot better than fucking Qatar. I mean, people who hate the gays still exist, just as everywhere, but the Mexican government won't go around telling people to not wear rainbow colors.

[Pepe]

Brah, let it go man, greatest ever world cup all thanks to banning poppers.

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Ouissal Harize| وصال حريز
@OuissalHarize
���� Muslima| Editor
@misbar_en
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@Durham_uni

Shocker.

[Don]

The whites have been found out for their racism on this matter (along with many more revolving around their general hypocrisy) by all corners amd it's beautiful to see.

[niko_cee]

I hope France isn't as racist as England.

I was going to say they don't care about football/sport enough for any of that, but . . .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64031272

[SincereTheRebel]

The whole competition was fantastic. I didn't think I would see C. Ron or Messi ever lift a world cup. Glad it happened though. Nothing to hide from those old farts now who claimed they needed it to be the top 3 selected.

[SincereTheRebel]

Both C.Ron and Messi should be top 5 on everybody's list.

[Dquincy]

And the fella running the show in sweet innocent Canada blacked up that time.
Don't see the issue with that. Fancy dress.

[Lewis]

Those of us making the Ronaldo case all these years could cite 1) him doing it for different teams; and 2) his superior big game performances. This probably puts that one to bed and makes him the best of this era, but BEST EVER is a bit of a pointless discussion. You can barely compare modern football to nineties football, let alone sixties football. GREATEST EVER is different, and that will always be Pele, for the same reason[s] that nobody will ever be bigger than the Beatles.

[Dquincy]

Ronaldo being a massive cunt should count against him though.

[Shindig]

One of the things I get from watching old finals is seeing that talent emerge. Pele in 1958 looked like he'd been airdropped in from the future.

[Don]

The magic of this game is alive, I've watched that Messi feint that gets him past Gvardiol a lot this last week and just pulled it off and finished it with an incredible strike approximately an hour ago in these strange saharan wind conditions. Of course they won't talk about it because Messi is white and I'm not but absolute scenes.

[Raoul Duke]

Best final, not the best tournament. To be the best tournament it needs to be not in fucking winter

[Lofty]

There was an anecdote about Ronaldo carrying a list of his achievements around with him to show people, which if true automatically disqualifies him from the running.

[Ian]

There was an anecdote about Ronaldo carrying a list of his achievements around with him to show people, which if true automatically disqualifies him from the running.

Oh god, I forgot I'd heard this quite recently. Was it a coach or something who he'd not worked with before?

[Lofty]

Someone who coached him at Sporting when he was a teenager.

[Jimmy Floyd]

There's a very definite sense of pathos with Ronaldo now that wasn't there even six months ago. The lone and level sands (of Saudi Arabia) stretch far away.

[Kikó]

There was an anecdote about Ronaldo carrying a list of his achievements around with him to show people, which if true automatically disqualifies him from the running.

He's basically that Harold bishop emoji.

[John Arne]

:d

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[Spikey M]

Shame it wasn't cheese wire.

[Jimmy Floyd]

'Messi decapitated during World Cup celebration' would be a fun end to the year.

[Lofty]

Martinez's agent making hay while the sun shines I see, talking up a Serie A move.

[SincereTheRebel]

'Messi decapitated during World Cup celebration' would be a fun end to the year.

Martyr.

[Yevrah]

Because it takes longer and so the calendar shrinks.

Apparently not.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64032538


However, the tournament will still be played out within five weeks from mid-June 2026

[Jimmy Floyd]

12 groups of 4 would be 104 games, if you do that in the same time frame it will be 5 or 6 games a day in the group stage.

[Baz]

Better book that off.

[Dquincy]

Shame it wasn't cheese wire.
Imagine if that was a power line. He'd be electrifying...like he is when he graces a football pitch.

[Dquincy]

Another reason to be glad they won.

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[Yevrah]

Thank fuck they won, I needed a wank but couldn't find any material whatsoever on the internet before seeing that.

[Ian]

Quincy's gonna shit a kidney out when he finds out about porn.

[Dquincy]

Knew you guys would love it. Lads. :cool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Phwoar.

Lads, lads, lads.

[Lewis]

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I lolled out loud at that penalty noise.

[SincereTheRebel]

One of the things I get from watching old finals is seeing that talent emerge. Pele in 1958 looked like he'd been airdropped in from the future.

What game was this, the final?

[Jimmy Floyd]

https://twitter.com/AdamCrafton_/status/1605942333626757121

The link goes to a very interesting article which covers every conceivable point of view (including some less expected ones), however would you just look at the comments. A seething mass of people (many of them Arab/African, but plenty of 'gammons' too) who feel enlivened and enabled in expressing their homophobic views in response to a guy posting an article he's written. I remember a similar phenomenon when Michael Holding gave his address about racial history on the cricket. There's so much frustration and anger out there about people's escapist bubbles being penetrated.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the progress made since the 1960s ends up being rolled back in my lifetime.

[Giggles]

Razing all arab nations to the dirt and taking their wealth and resources should be the next step. They've proven they deserve no better.

[Lewis]

'Hello. I'm here to make your escapist bubble all about the things I care about.'
*intolerance*
'Woah woah what's going on?'

[Don]

Imagine if these societies spent as much time and effort in helping their young identify their gender, not needing to send off their grandparents to care homes and not spending more time with dogs than their own mothers. Crusty arseholes are a minor.

[Shindig]

What game was this, the final?

Yes. Two goals against the Swedes and seemed to be at the heart of everything.

[wullie]

Morocco shirt turned up, she's a beauty

[Shindig]

Just in time for the semi-final.

[Waffdon]

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Did the Leicester player shag all the opponents’ sisters or something. Bloody hell

[Pepe]

Some people are savages.

[Baz]

Wolves number 10 about 4 foot, squaring up to everyone like he’s Tyson Fury.

[Max Power]

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Did the Leicester player shag all the opponents’ sisters or something. Bloody hell

Alves (super talent btw) is a bit of piss taker/showboater so there is an indication that is was “retribution” for that as pathetic as it sounds.

[SincereTheRebel]

Yes. Two goals against the Swedes and seemed to be at the heart of everything.

I watched it and it was ridiculous.