***Offishul Qatar World Cup 2022 Thread***

[briever]

55 minutes ago, Notts1874 said:

If you don't already know then you are best never knowing 😂😂😂. He basically sells vastly overpriced steaks to people who have more money than sense. 

 

Nathaniel Atkinson.

[Notts1874]

10 minutes ago, briever said:

 

Nathaniel Atkinson.

Footballers certainly fit into that group. I'd forgotten about the picture of Atkinson. 

[milky_26]

1 hour ago, Notts1874 said:

I didn't know about the minimum wage stuff but it doesn't surprise me. 

It was in lots of papers when it came to light when he was advertising for a new chef. The hourly rate was between £12.00 to £13.50 per hour. Yes above minimum wage but really poor considering the prices he charges 

[Luckies1874]

15 hours ago, Armageddon said:

What’s also great news is Southgate is staying on 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

 

Indeed. This won't be changing any time soon.

 

World Cups since 1966:

Brazil 3

Argentina 3

West Germany 2 Germany 1

Italy 2

France 2

Spain 1

 

European Championships since 1966:

Spain 2

West Germany 2 Germany 1

France 2

Italy 2

Portugal 1

Netherlands 1

Greece 1

Denmark 1

Czechoslovakia 1 

 

When you look at these lists you can only come to the conclusion that England are by far and way the biggest serial losers / failures in world football. It's not even close. It's not even debatable. Every major footballing nation on earth has had success, most multiple times since they won a rigged tournament in their own back yard. Yet the country with the noisiest, richest domestic league on the globe has won nothing in nearly 60 years. Glorious. 

[DETTY29]

3 hours ago, Maroon Sailor said:

 

Most of them would rather sit in a studio now getting paid for watching matches criticising the players and moaning at the officials.

With little to no desire to understand the laws of the game.

 

The Michael Stewart and Rory Loy / Tim English spat about our penalty is quite something to behold how much an ex player can slaver so much rubbish.

 

Edit - Ex players should work as referees so that they can understand when pros are at it but they can't go rogue and make up their own interpretation of the laws even more so than those officials who didn't play professionally.

Edited December 19, 2022 by DETTY29

[OTT]

1 minute ago, Luckies1874 said:

 

Indeed. This won't be changing any time soon.

 

World Cups since 1966:

Brazil 3

Argentina 3

West Germany 2 Germany 1

Italy 2

France 2

Spain 1

 

European Championships since 1966:

Spain 2

West Germany 2 Germany 1

France 2

Italy 2

Portugal 1

Netherlands 1

Greece 1

Denmark 1

Czechoslovakia 1 

 

When you look at these lists you can only come to the conclusion that England are by far and way the biggest serial losers / failures in world football. It's not even close. It's not even debatable. Every major footballing nation on earth has had success, most multiple times since they won a rigged tournament in their own back yard. Yet the country with the noisiest, richest domestic league on the globe has won nothing in nearly 60 years. Glorious. 

 

I wonder what the impact of being the richest league in the world has on the ability to develop homegrown talent? They undoubtedly produce good players, but is the talent pool really that deep? Maguire for example has been an absolute joke figure domestically for ages. Jordan Pickford and all the 'T-Rex arms' jokes, sure, they've got Kane, but who else? for all the money they have there are several international teams with less resources that you'd rate ahead of them comfortably. 

 

Foden and Bellingham are huge talents with massive futures, but England seem to lack a truly world class player and probably have done for decades. 

[leginten]

21 minutes ago, Luckies1874 said:

 

Indeed. This won't be changing any time soon.

 

World Cups since 1966:

Brazil 3

Argentina 3

West Germany 2 Germany 1

Italy 2

France 2

Spain 1

 

European Championships since 1966:

Spain 2

West Germany 2 Germany 1

France 2

Italy 2

Portugal 1

Netherlands 1

Greece 1

Denmark 1

Czechoslovakia 1 

 

When you look at these lists you can only come to the conclusion that England are by far and way the biggest serial losers / failures in world football. It's not even close. It's not even debatable. Every major footballing nation on earth has had success, most multiple times since they won a rigged tournament in their own back yard. Yet the country with the noisiest, richest domestic league on the globe has won nothing in nearly 60 years. Glorious. 

They used to have Spain to keep them company, but that small comfort disappeared a good while ago. They are now completely isolated in terms of being a (self-appointed) major international team who can’t win a trophy.

 

Add to that the fact that every match apart from one they’ve played to reach the two finals they’ve managed in their history has been at their home stadium, and the fact that their one success was down to a refereeing howler, and you have a very pleasing picture.

[Mikey1874]

3 hours ago, OTT said:

 

I wonder what the impact of being the richest league in the world has on the ability to develop homegrown talent? They undoubtedly produce good players, but is the talent pool really that deep? Maguire for example has been an absolute joke figure domestically for ages. Jordan Pickford and all the 'T-Rex arms' jokes, sure, they've got Kane, but who else? for all the money they have there are several international teams with less resources that you'd rate ahead of them comfortably. 

 

Foden and Bellingham are huge talents with massive futures, but England seem to lack a truly world class player and probably have done for decades. 

 

They definitely have good players.

 

But they lose good players too. Musiala choosing Germany for example. 

 

And as a few people said yesterday and during the tournament the English talk up their players and completely ignore the good young players in other countries. Portugal, France, Spain have scarily good players already in team and with plenty of players retiring soon opening up places in teams. 

[briever]

England has more in common with France than they think.

 

World Cup 2022: France's Kingsley Coman and Aurelien Tchouameni racially abused - BBC Sport

[briever]

4 hours ago, Luckies1874 said:

 

Indeed. This won't be changing any time soon.

 

World Cups since 1966:

Brazil 3

Argentina 3

West Germany 2 Germany 1

Italy 2

France 2

Spain 1

 

European Championships since 1966:

Spain 2

West Germany 2 Germany 1

France 2

Italy 2

Portugal 1

Netherlands 1

Greece 1

Denmark 1

Czechoslovakia 1 

 

When you look at these lists you can only come to the conclusion that England are by far and way the biggest serial losers / failures in world football. It's not even close. It's not even debatable. Every major footballing nation on earth has had success, most multiple times since they won a rigged tournament in their own back yard. Yet the country with the noisiest, richest domestic league on the globe has won nothing in nearly 60 years. Glorious. 

 

The fact its the richest league explains why they are serial failures.

[briever]

38 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

They definitely have good players.

 

But they lose good players too. Musiala choosing Germany for example. 

 

And as a few people said yesterday and during the tournament the English talk up their players and completely ignore the good young players in other countries. Portugal, France, Spain have scarily good players already in team and with plenty of players retiring soon opening up places in teams. 

 

One player - how many others are lost?

[Mikey1874]

1 hour ago, briever said:

 

One player - how many others are lost?

 

So firstly for context consider that Jack Grealish and Declan Rice are Irish nationals who chose to play for England. So it works both ways.

 

Last World Cup winner missed was Simone Perroti Italy 2006.

 

But more recently Erling Haaland (born in Leeds), Wilfred Zaha, Louis Saha, Giovanni Reyna (USA born in Sunderland), Victor Moses, Mikail Antonio, Alex Iwobi.

 

Not confimed but going to lose Hudson-Odoi.

[briever]

1 minute ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

So firstly for context consider that Jack Grealish and Declan Rice are Irish nationals who chose to play for England. So it works both ways.

 

Last World Cup winner missed was Simone Perroti Italy 2006.

 

But more recently Erling Haaland (born in Leeds), Wilfred Zaha, Louis Saha, Giovanni Reyna (USA born in Sunderland), Victor Moses, Mikail Antonio, Alex Iwobi.

 

Not confimed but going to lose Hudson-Odoi.

 

England are a poaching nation - a dual qualified player deemed good enough for England will always choose them.

 

Haaland isn't a player lost.  A dog born in a stable isn't a horse.

Zaha and Saha AFAIK were told by England they were not needed. Haven't heard of the others.

[Luckies1874]

3 minutes ago, briever said:

 

England are a poaching nation - a dual qualified player deemed good enough for England will always choose them.

 

Haaland isn't a player lost.  A dog born in a stable isn't a horse.

Zaha and Saha AFAIK were told by England they were not needed. Haven't heard of the others.

 

Hoping that Elliot Anderson decides differently and he and Doak are both in the next squad.

[Luckies1874]

5 hours ago, leginten said:

They used to have Spain to keep them company, but that small comfort disappeared a good while ago. They are now completely isolated in terms of being a (self-appointed) major international team who can’t win a trophy.

 

Add to that the fact that every match apart from one they’ve played to reach the two finals they’ve managed in their history has been at their home stadium, and the fact that their one success was down to a refereeing howler, and you have a very pleasing picture.

 

 

Yep, very good point re Spain. It's not just that they have no trophies since 66 it's that all the real superpowers have numerous. In Europe; Germany 6, France 4, Italy 4, Spain 3 and then you have the big 2 from South America with 6 World Cups between them. It's amazing that this is given no thought south of the border, they remain convinced that it's next time, always next time, improving, getting closer, more great young players blah blah blah! Meanwhile the actual elite winners of the footballing world pass the major trophies around amongst themselves and occasionally a middle (or lower) tier country like a Portugal, Denmark or Greece go on an epic run but it's still never England. Never ever England. 

 

After yesterday's events it's interesting when you look at the last 6 World Cups now:

 

2002 Brazil

2006 Italy

2010 Spain

2014 Germany

2018 France

2022 Argentina 

 

Those are your true 6 elite powerhouse footballing nations.

 

The 8 World Cups before that:

 

1998 France

1994 Brazil

1990 Germany

1986 Argentina

1982 Italy

1978 Argentina

1974 Germany 

1970 Brazil

 

England aren't even in the conversation.

 

 

[Cade]

Benzema announces his retirement from international football.

 

 

[Maroon Sailor]

 

[Mr Elwood P]

2 hours ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

So firstly for context consider that Jack Grealish and Declan Rice are Irish nationals who chose to play for England. So it works both ways.

 

Last World Cup winner missed was Simone Perroti Italy 2006.

 

But more recently Erling Haaland (born in Leeds), Wilfred Zaha, Louis Saha, Giovanni Reyna (USA born in Sunderland), Victor Moses, Mikail Antonio, Alex Iwobi.

 

Not confimed but going to lose Hudson-Odoi.

So Haaland then.

[Morgan]

World Cup 2022 thread?

 

I’m going for Argentina.

 

What do you lot think?

[milky_26]

2 hours ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

So firstly for context consider that Jack Grealish and Declan Rice are Irish nationals who chose to play for England. So it works both ways.

 

Last World Cup winner missed was Simone Perroti Italy 2006.

 

But more recently Erling Haaland (born in Leeds), Wilfred Zaha, Louis Saha, Giovanni Reyna (USA born in Sunderland), Victor Moses, Mikail Antonio, Alex Iwobi.

 

Not confimed but going to lose Hudson-Odoi.

hudson-odoi has played at least one competitive game for england, qualifier for euro 2020 v montenegro

[Sooperstar]

Unfortunately the abiding memory of this world cup for me will be the atrocity which was the BBC Intro. Sounded like it was made by a 3rd year school pupil after necking a bottle of MD 20/20 and being let loose on a free mixing app on his IPhone 6.

 

 

 

 

[Bazzas right boot]

8 hours ago, OTT said:

 

I wonder what the impact of being the richest league in the world has on the ability to develop homegrown talent? They undoubtedly produce good players, but is the talent pool really that deep? Maguire for example has been an absolute joke figure domestically for ages. Jordan Pickford and all the 'T-Rex arms' jokes, sure, they've got Kane, but who else? for all the money they have there are several international teams with less resources that you'd rate ahead of them comfortably. 

 

Foden and Bellingham are huge talents with massive futures, but England seem to lack a truly world class player and probably have done for decades. 

 

They had  much better players in the recent past Scholes, Beckam, Gerrard,  lampard, shearer,  Cole , a cole, Campbell, ferdinand,  Rooney , Owen, Terry  etc and they individually are all better than what they have now.

 

Sako, fodden, Bellingham all have potential  but they had better players in the past imo, by quite a distance. 

 

Outside Kane none of their players would get near a top club.

 

They are over rated individually and due to the inflated epl status get over hyped.

A backbone of Pickford,  Maguire, Henderson/ Rice  and kane is pretty poor.

 

Southgate does well with them and to get them within  a pk of the euros and a pk from taking France to a draw is the best they can expect. 

 

Vastly over rated,  but Southgate has made them a decent side.

 

 

[DETTY29]

3 hours ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

They had  much better players in the recent past Scholes, Beckam, Gerrard,  lampard, shearer,  Cole , a cole, Campbell, ferdinand,  Rooney , Owen, Terry  etc and they individually are all better than what they have now.

 

 

And even then outside of a qualifier, the 5.1 win in Germany, how often did that team win 'big' games.

 

Does Beckham's last gasp free kick against Greece count?

 

Scholes against Scotland?

Edited December 20, 2022 by DETTY29

[Naisys Tackle]

5 hours ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

They had  much better players in the recent past Scholes, Beckam, Gerrard,  lampard, shearer,  Cole , a cole, Campbell, ferdinand,  Rooney , Owen, Terry  etc and they individually are all better than what they have now.

 

Sako, fodden, Bellingham all have potential  but they had better players in the past imo, by quite a distance. 

 

Outside Kane none of their players would get near a top club.

 

They are over rated individually and due to the inflated epl status get over hyped.

A backbone of Pickford,  Maguire, Henderson/ Rice  and kane is pretty poor.

 

Southgate does well with them and to get them within  a pk of the euros and a pk from taking France to a draw is the best they can expect. 

 

Vastly over rated,  but Southgate has made them a decent side.

 

 

 

What?   

 

Foden, Walker, Grealish, Henderson, Alexander Arnold, Stones and Phillips all play for two of the best teams in the world.  And that's not even including Arsenal Chelsea or Man Utd players.

[Naisys Tackle]

1 hour ago, DETTY29 said:

And even then outside of a qualifier, the 5.1 win in Germany, how often did that team win 'big' games.

 

Does Beckham's last gasp free kick against Greece count?

 

Scholes against Scotland?

The smashed Germany in the Euro's last year and beat a good Denmark side.  Beat Croatia too. 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Robbies Tackle

[Bazzas right boot]

3 hours ago, Robbies Tackle said:

 

What?   

 

Foden, Walker, Grealish, Henderson, Alexander Arnold, Stones and Phillips all play for two of the best teams in the world.  And that's not even including Arsenal Chelsea or Man Utd 

 

I did mention Sako, Grealish and Foden have potential. 

Did Arnold play?

 

The other guys are average when compared to their French, Spanish, Italian,  Brazilian,  Argentina etc equivalents.

Only Kane imo plays in these teams.

That's the comparison here, not Scotland.

 

Grealish was £100m.

That's highly inflated imo for a player of his quality and sets expectations too high.

 

Tbh, their performances show they aren't good enough when they play the better teams.

 

Guys like Gerrard, Lampard  and Scholes were far better than the likes of Henderson, Rice and Grealish.

Although,  Southgate does  makes them a decent unit.

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Bazzas right boot

[briever]

9 hours ago, Maroon Sailor said:

 

 

Wrong Aussie, as always they have to sneak in some English player.

[Bazzas right boot]

3 hours ago, Robbies Tackle said:

The smashed Germany in the Euro's last year and beat a good Denmark side.  Beat Croatia too. 

 

They never smashed Germany ffs, they beat them.

 

2-0 and iirc Germany missed a doozy at 0-0.

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Bazzas right boot

[kila]

Did we ever hear anymore about the Saudi boy that got the knee to the face and flown to Germany?

 

[Sooperstar]

1 hour ago, kila said:

Did we ever hear anymore about the Saudi boy that got the knee to the face and flown to Germany?

 

Had successful surgery apparently.

[Jeff]

Stones.... wtf.

 

Did they not watch Girouds winner?

[Unknown user]

14 hours ago, Mikey1874 said:

 

So firstly for context consider that Jack Grealish and Declan Rice are Irish nationals who chose to play for England. So it works both ways.

 

Last World Cup winner missed was Simone Perroti Italy 2006.

 

But more recently Erling Haaland (born in Leeds), Wilfred Zaha, Louis Saha, Giovanni Reyna (USA born in Sunderland), Victor Moses, Mikail Antonio, Alex Iwobi.

 

Not confimed but going to lose Hudson-Odoi.

 

I don't know about Grealish and Rice being Irish nationals, they were both born and 100% raised in England as far as I'm aware.

[briever]

3 minutes ago, Smithee said:

 

I don't know about Grealish and Rice being Irish nationals, they were both born and 100% raised in England as far as I'm aware.

 

Probably got Irish passports post Brexit.

[Luckies1874]

3 hours ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

I did mention Sako, Grealish and Foden have potential. 

Did Arnold play?

 

The other guys are average when compared to their French, Spanish, Italian,  Brazilian,  Argentina etc equivalents.

Only Kane imo plays in these teams.

That's the comparison here, not Scotland.

 

Grealish was £100m.

That's highly inflated imo for a player of his quality and sets expectations too high.

 

Tbh, their performances show they aren't good enough when they play the better teams.

 

Guys like Gerrard, Lampard  and Scholes were far better than the likes of Henderson, Rice and Grealish.

Although,  Southgate does  makes them a decent unit.

 

 

 

 

Good post. 

 

Timing is everything in football too. This set of England players, lauded from the hills, have still won nothing despite a period of very mediocre teams from the historical elite. The players in your last paragraph are indeed way better than their current contemporaries but faced significantly better sides. I would have been far more fearful they would have had a chance in this World Cup and certainly would have won the Euros (at home) if the stars had aligned. The 2022 version have blown 2 almighty opportunities in the last 18 months and there is every chance they won't get any better ones as some of the big nations inevitably head into a better cycle again. 

[Bazzas right boot]

3 minutes ago, Luckies1874 said:

 

Good post. 

 

Timing is everything in football too. This set of England players, lauded from the hills, have still won nothing despite a period of very mediocre teams from the historical elite. The players in your last paragraph are indeed way better than their current contemporaries but faced significantly better sides. I would have been far more fearful they would have had a chance in this World Cup and certainly would have won the Euros (at home) if the stars had aligned. The 2022 version have blown 2 almighty opportunities in the last 18 months and there is every chance they won't get any better ones as some of the big nations inevitably head into a better cycle again. 

 

Yip, England are ok but for prospective Morocco bettered them in progress and performances at the WC.

 

 

 

 

[milky_26]

1 hour ago, Smithee said:

 

I don't know about Grealish and Rice being Irish nationals, they were both born and 100% raised in England as far as I'm aware.

Parents or grandparents are Irish and they both played for the Ireland youth sides, possibly up to u19/21 level

[DETTY29]

4 hours ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

I did mention Sako, Grealish and Foden have potential. 

Did Arnold play?

 

The other guys are average when compared to their French, Spanish, Italian,  Brazilian,  Argentina etc equivalents.

Only Kane imo plays in these teams.

That's the comparison here, not Scotland.

 

Grealish was £100m.

That's highly inflated imo for a player of his quality and sets expectations too high.

 

Tbh, their performances show they aren't good enough when they play the better teams.

 

Guys like Gerrard, Lampard  and Scholes were far better than the likes of Henderson, Rice and Grealish.

Although,  Southgate does  makes them a decent unit.

I still think the golden generation didnt have a player that could dictate, not just a game, but several in a short space of time.

 

Gerrard and Rooney, could say feck this, I need to do it in my own or Beckham a wonder free kick.

 

England strongly believed they had the best squad at the WC.....but you still need that genius who could be any of a sweeper, midfielder, 10, striker...

 

Not convinced either generation had, has.

Edited December 20, 2022 by DETTY29

[TexasAndy]

I agree with posts above about overrating this current England squad.  Just wanted to add that they were predicted QF pre tournament by most English pundits claiming that they were not strong enough defensively.  I don't know why they became all so superior because ultimately Maguire was done by a cross and England went out.  

[Sooperstar]

37 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

Parents or grandparents are Irish and they both played for the Ireland youth sides, possibly up to u19/21 level

Worse than that for banter king Rice - he played multiple times for the Ireland Senior team.

[Homme]

On 19/12/2022 at 12:13, A_A wehatethehibs said:

For me definitely the best game I’ve ever seen. When I say “best” I am talking about the very best players in the world slugging it for the absolute biggest prize there is.
 

I have never seen the 2 absolute best teams slug it out for the W like that. Especially in extra time. So often it gets cagey. That had absolutely everything you love about our sport. Bite, sportsmanship, great goals, individual + team play, great saves, powerhouse midfield play, brick shithouse defending, missed big chances, comebacks, top managers and subs, drama. There was absolutely no fear of losing from either team. 

 

I never wanted it to end. It was the type of game where I thought, bring back replays. Let those 2 teams give us another 90
 

Yes you might see that type of game at lower levels but there is a different energy when it’s the best of the best, deciding who gets that solid gold trophy. 
 

A heavyweight clash for the ages.

 

It's easy to get carried away but I've maintained since the final whistle that is the greatest game of football I have ever watched.

[Bazzas right boot]

27 minutes ago, TexasAndy said:

I agree with posts above about overrating this current England squad.  Just wanted to add that they were predicted QF pre tournament by most English pundits claiming that they were not strong enough defensively.  I don't know why they became all so superior because ultimately Maguire was done by a cross and England went out.  

 

Tnf, they were ultimately done as Kane( never misses a pk) hit the moon with a penalty.

 

Shame. 

[Sooperstar]

This ***** needs shooting.

 

 

 

[Unknown user]

2 hours ago, milky_26 said:

Parents or grandparents are Irish and they both played for the Ireland youth sides, possibly up to u19/21 level

Fair enough, but they wouldn't fit the profile of Irish nationals who've been poached to play for England - they're both English and basically went with Ireland until England wanted them.

[Sooperstar]

4 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Shooting's a bit much.

 

Maybe just asalted.

I'd have him on a stake.

[jambopilms]

.

Edited December 20, 2022 by jambopilms

[jambopilms]

 

[Naisys Tackle]

12 hours ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

They never smashed Germany ffs, they beat them.

 

2-0 and iirc Germany missed a doozy at 0-0.

 

You can smash teams 2-0.  They should have won 4 or 5-1.

[Naisys Tackle]

12 hours ago, Bazzas right boot said:

 

I did mention Sako, Grealish and Foden have potential. 

Did Arnold play?

 

The other guys are average when compared to their French, Spanish, Italian,  Brazilian,  Argentina etc equivalents.

Only Kane imo plays in these teams.

That's the comparison here, not Scotland.

 

Grealish was £100m.

That's highly inflated imo for a player of his quality and sets expectations too high.

 

Tbh, their performances show they aren't good enough when they play the better teams.

 

Guys like Gerrard, Lampard  and Scholes were far better than the likes of Henderson, Rice and Grealish.

Although,  Southgate does  makes them a decent unit.

 

 

 

 

You said only Harry Kane is good enough to play for one of the best teams in the world.  All the players I named actually do - right now. 

[Bazzas right boot]

13 minutes ago, Robbies Tackle said:

 

You said only Harry Kane is good enough to play for one of the best teams in the world.  All the players I named actually do - right now. 

 

I meant national teams as per my post when I menrioned the other national teams. 

 

Also, if club football some of these guys like Grealish and Maguire don't start very often.

 

 

 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Bazzas right boot

[Bazzas right boot]

10 minutes ago, Robbies Tackle said:

You can smash teams 2-0.  They should have won 4 or 5-1.

 

You can, but they never.

Germany missed a chance verging on a sitter iirc as well.

 

If that's a smashing,  you must have enjoyed us smashing killie 3-1