The pundits don't rate the team, nobody likes the whole Qatar thing, the only headline is corruption, the bullshit vibe smells strong with Q trying to prove they are ok but they are absolutely not. Their answer to corruption allegations is to bribe fans to lie for them. It is not a global sporting event oozing the essence of sporting values of equality and inclusion. It is a nasty commercial monstrosity. I remember 1994 which was in the USA and they Soccered it and it smelled of shit. This one is worse.
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Well all this really. Maybe they’ll get Diana Ross to miss another open goal.
I believe the organisers are already well aware that the whole thing is a disaster. Now just a case of how bad is it going to be.
they only know how to throw $$ around. I wonder if they'll learn anything from the WC hosting experience. It would be nice if they did.
fook them and all associated with it frankly.
I shall abstain
I’m not experiencing it as low key, and I think a lot of the rightonerati are rather wishfully thinking when they claim it is low key.
Massively excited about it in childish manner. COME ON.
Thought apart from the final USA 94 was one of best world cups. Yes the us is commercial but it had a large grass roots football base and has/had massive potential. Indeed the US is much stronger now in the football world.
Holding the World Cup just doesn’t make sense. At least Russia was a footballing nation.
In Qatar.
In your head yeah Laz. But on the telly, in the media etc
I went to a couple of games in ‘94 and the atmosphere was great, although the stadium experience was as commercial as you would expect
People were more excited for USA 94 when we didn't even qualify .
It's a complete washout
It's a shame cos it's the last world cup to have the perfect 32 team format .
If England do well, the backdrop will soon be forgotten.
The backdrop will not be forgotten.
having the WC in November is just wrong. the domestic league ulus just getting interesting and then stops for a month.
*is just
What mr c said. Plus MLS was launched off the back of it so a lasting legacy
big ex pat communities cheering on Italy, Ireland etc
You can’t say that wasn’t a ‘proper’ World Cup
It’s just the sheer audacity of all of this. The FIFA officials with pockets full of cash shrugging their shoulders and telling us that there’s nothing we can do about it now so we should just ‘concentrate on the football’.
That west side story song still pops into my head every world cup after being so heavily used in the USA 94 coverage .
World cups should go to established footballing nations, the englands, germanys, italys, spains France, argentinas and brazils of the world or large nations which have potential for football e.g USA, South Africa and maybe controversially china. Not Qatar, hot dust ball, with a small population, no history of football and no likelihood of having one.
don’t think it’s any more or less key than normal
will probably be quite high Keys actually
Bollox keys
there are loads of downsides to awarding the world cup to Qatar, but uniting the woke and the Proper Football Men is one good thing
As FIFA have nobly said, think of the war.
1994 was utterly forgettable.
Best were Spain '82 and Italia '90.
The fact it is such a bag of shyt before it has even started makes me think we will probably win it. It's coming home (on the back of worked to death sub continental contractors).
Italia 90 had the lowest ever goals to game ratio and led to the introduction of the back pass rule and 3 points instead of 2 for a win.
Generally seen as a dull tournament
use them for beheadings
All world cups have their charm. This is charmless and vile. Will be worst attended and least watched world cup. No-one gives a fvxk. Asterisk on the trophy.
‘94 was a great tournament. Ireland doing a number on Italy, Bulgaria beating Germany. Brolin when he was thin. Hagi in his pomp. Loved it
Paul McGrath! (and his disallowed goal against Holland!)
yeah 86 to 94 was a great series of World Cups tbf tbf
In 94 the sponsors lobbied FIFA to widen goals by a foot to increase scores. They also decided that calling at football was confusing because they already had football in the USA and they agreed to people elsewhere in the world didn’t understand the word soccer or respect it or understand the rukes or objectives so they decided it should be called ‘goal game’.
ffs
Yeah but Gheorghe Hagi's 3rd quarter goaldown at Colombia was great.
‘78 was great, as most of the the matches were late evening kick offs, and it was the first major TV event broadcast from South America, where the crowds were fantastic. I remember a load of games were also brilliant.
1934 against the backdrop of Blackshirts was probably worse. 1962 was charmless; bad football, brutality, and underwhelming (Chile 3rd ffs). And at least it won’t have fooking vuvuzelas.
I thought you were a fully paid up member of the rightonerati laztah…
I remember the 1994 final being rubbish -
USA 94? Romario. Bebeto. Ponytailed chaps misses a penalty. Far cry from small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. Marvellous!
Match in 1994 that stands out for me most is Bulgaria v Mexico. For the last hour (including extra time) the players were going through the motions because everyone was shitscared of being sent off. Kremenliev had been red-carded for intercepting a pass, Garcia for a very minor foul that saw Stoichkov (I think) hit the deck three seconds afterwards. The ref was sent home after that match.
The thing about USA 94 was watching matches at 6am. Far better when timezones are at least vaguely aligned so matches are in the afternoon or evening here.
I may be misremembering but wasn’t there some issue in ‘94 with players using bags of water - the type you used to get at the fair but without the goldfish in them?
wtf was that about?
Oh yeah, the Florida games were played in 40 degrees and 70% humidity or something horrific
Awarding the event to Qatar at least showcased the corruption at FIFA. Decent documentary on Netflix on that topic, including an interview with my former boss.
2002 was a good event: S.Korea getting to the SF (with an asterix), France losing the opening match to Senegal, Ronaldo, beating Argentina etc.
it was genuinely part of their bid that they were going to dismantle the stadiums and rebuild them in African third world countries, I sh!t you not.
I remember vaguely caring about the result in 2002 between England and Brazil.
Seaman, Mills, Campbell, Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Beckham, Scholes, Butt, Sinclair, Owen, Heskey.
Marcos, Roque Junior, Lucio, Edmilson, Cafu, Gilberto, Ronaldinho, Kleberson, Carlos, Ronaldo, Rivaldo.
I once had dinner at the FIFA HQ in Zurich.
I was amazed to see the Jules Rimet cup on a table in the middle of the dining room.
US '94 was a good tournament, just a bad final.
This one I couldn't care less about though, but will watch some, I'm sure. England v. US and England v. Wales should be fun.
A lot of people shaming their local pubs on Facebook for screening games. They'll show their support for gay rights by going to the pub for a quiet £6.50 pint then get some cans and watch the second half at home.
Given it's football, a sport where all male players are completely heterosexual, it seems quite a neat fit with Qatar. No hidden homosexuality or hypocrisy in either.
Did anyone ask whether homosexual people were all that interested in international football. Maybe they prefer other sports.
I went and asked them, and like all other subjects they are all in agreement that they all like Barbara Streisand and Kylie more.
homosexual people are not all the same, you know. Some like football, some don't, some couldn't gaf. Just like when women are referred to as a homgenous lump, they are all individuals and like or don't like all sorts of things.
TF said it better...
Qataris are not all the same. Some of them don't like homosexuals. Some of them don't like women.
no-one said they were
I thought you were the head of the rightonerati
hehing at certain reputed predilections of cultures located between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf...
I have to say this tournament has aroused only a modicum of interest whereas usually I am well up for it! It has been a disaster ever since FIFA in their infinite wisdom, decided to award it to a country with no footballing history, no stadia or infrastructure and thereby forced it to invest 30 billion for a 4 week tournament. And then what when its all over..... an absolute waste of money, a stupid interruption of Europes football season in air conditioned stadia! You couldn't make this up! But then again its FIFA so we should have expected it..... I wish we knew who had pocketed the bribes.... and the fact that the UK, who invented the game and last hosted it in 1966.. could have put on this show at very little cost because we already have what we need in this country because of the Premier league.... the most watched football league in the whole world. What does that say about FIFA!!!
It's only a matter of time before the Arabic owned clubs owned set up a breakaway league in the Middle East and Asia. Unlimited cash. Players will follow the money just like the golfers. Do they really want to stick around in the UK being taxed at 50%. We won't watch it of course but that's not the point. Everyone outside of Europe will.
Did a bot write the post above?
(not u okto)
I rote that myself.
heh. U knoz I ment the izuizRizuaint postr.
That's the Qataris: strong on penalties.
The decision to ban beer at the stadia shows the Qataris for what they are. Shifty. Inept. Children.
You do realize everyone who doesn't support a "big club" will be feckin laughing their tits off if this happened...
No. First world cup I watched was 1974. I've loved them all. I will of course watch this one too (sorry), but yes, certainly the most low-key build up I've ever experienced.
The only World Cup I found a bit tiresome was South Africa - and that wasn’t a reflection on the country as a host but more the “winter” nature of it and most importantly the vuvuzelas. Also working in USA while it was happening fvcked it for me a bit.
this world cup is going to be sh1te. We all know it. We’ll all watch it with a vague sense of excitement but in our heart of hearts we all know the players will be dropping like flies, the football will be insipid, and the hosts will find a new way to anger us every day while the FIFAtrash cheer.
What this guy said 100%. And there’ll be a lot more where this comes from - whether it’s gay fans, cohabitees, Jews, etc.
When they killed all the forrin indentured workers, I never spoke up because I'm not forrin.
When they said being homosexual was a disease of the mind, I never spoke out because I'm not with the gays.
But when they banned the beer, I caused a right stink on Twitter, cos you can't watch footy without a pint. Am I right, lads?
But I didn't say anything too loudly in case they came and chopped my head off.
Engerland. Yay.
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