World Cup Qatar

[Skin em Ted]

10 minutes ago, David said:

It gets worse.

As well as the robe on Messi, Macron being on the pitch, Aguero with his John Terry impression.....a bloke that sprinkles salt on a steak got on the pitch to join in with the celebrations as well.

I dread to think who would be on the pitch if England won, Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Clarkson and Wayne Rooney?

 

 

My guess would be Matt Hancock, Delia Smith, Phil Schofield and of course John Terry.

[Day]

Just now, Skin em Ted said:

My guess would be Matt Hancock, Delia Smith, Phil Schofield and of course John Terry.

Good shout, don't forget Holly Willoughby, Philip and her would be ahead in the queue to lift the trophy 

[Mucker1884]

6 hours ago, enachops said:

We’ve witnessed the greatest World Cup final in living memory and you’re harping on about a technicality in the shoot out. Just take it for what it is and enjoy the game. 
 

That final was outstanding. I’ve never seen a game turn so quickly. Delighted for Messi as that seals his legacy. What a game. Highlighted football at its very best, so many twists, turns and drama’s. Absolutely brilliant game and it has to be said, a great finale for a fantastic World Cup!

... And to cap it all... I wasn't able to watch, and only caught the post match highlights/snippets!  ?

 

Wasn't aware I was "Harping on", but all the same, I will continue to do so, as and when I get the urge!  I take it you've never had a little whinge (ever!) about cheating in football?  Nice!   Really chuffed for yer.  ??

As for your delight in seeing Messi seal his legacy... which I don't directly begrudge him, of course... my thoughts were more in sympathy for close French family and friends, who were as gutted and tearful as we English have been known to be in the past.  Apologies for that!

 

?

[TuffLuff]

Not sure how I feel about the World Cup as a whole, the big plus point for me I think is I actually quite liked it in winter. A summer World Cup is great, you’ve got bbqs going on with the games, drinking etc etc but i quite liked coming home from work after listening to two games and knowing you’ve got a another to look forward to in the evening. I do think this World Cup will show that there is a want for more top level football to be available on terrestrial tv.

I think the other big plus is that it’s been a WC where the next generation is starting to come through and we had moments of individual brilliance. We are moving away from the era of Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar which I think is a good thing.

But, despite the tournament having its moments I don’t think some of the big games lived up to their billing (aside the final itself) and I think a team who weren’t that good have won it. Likes of Spain, Netherlands, England, Brazil, Portugal, Belgium and Germany will be kicking themselves because it was probably there for taking if they had stepped up. Don’t get me wrong there was some great games but I’m not sure there were enough to call it a great WC.

Another big issue I have is the amount of empty seats there has been throughout the tournament, and when your country was the one that missed out it all hits you a little on a nose. It shouldn’t happen anyway, but I find it a little insulting to see it in the Final. 

Then yes, we all have felt uncomfortable throughout about the human rights issues and everything else that goes into that tournament in Qatar but I’m uncomfortable with the image of Messi wearing a bisht to lift the trophy. It’s sport washing, and a great example of it. I didn’t watch the celebrations, but I hope Lineker and Neville pointed this out because if they didn’t can they really say that they “have learnt lessons from Russia” or “that they’d re going to discuss the big issues whilst there”?

So yeah I thought it had its moments but I don’t think it was a great tournament overall and I hope we don’t see it again.  As I said early on, I do think there’s a way to maybe have a winter tournament but I’m not sure whether it should be a World Cup. Maybe a better way is to have a winter break and in that break we can have the champs league group stages for a couple of weeks and have it more accessible than on BT? Just a suggestion…

[Foreveram]

43 minutes ago, David said:

Good shout, don't forget Holly Willoughby, Philip and her would be ahead in the queue to lift the trophy 

Joe Lycett pushing David Beckam off the podium to get in shot.

[Highgate]

Just now, Normanton Lad said:

I've seen every World Cup since 1966 and this was easily the best. I've not enjoyed watching football so much since the 1970s. Qatar did a great job and all the complainers are left with egg on their faces.  England and Germany tried to spoil it with political stunts but they just showed themselves up as fools. All the world laughed at them. Keep politics out of sport. What a disgrace for the BBC to ignore some of the closing ceremonies just so that we could listen to boring nonsense from so-called pundits who have nothing original to say.

It's perfectly possible to believe that the football was great, but the decision to award the tournament to Qatar in the first place still stinks.  It obviously was a corrupt decision, but that shouldn't surprise anyone when FIFA are involved as the organization is rotten to the core.  Qatar was a totally unsuitable host for all the reasons already discussed, but they did a decent job at holding the tournament from a logistics point of view at least. 

And yet I think it was an absolute feast of football culminating in a wonderful final match.  That's life, full of contradictions. 

I don't buy any of the suggestions that the matches themselves were fixed. But there are always conspiracy theories after any World Cup. I suppose FIFA have only themselves to blame for that. 

 

[Normanton Lad]

2 hours ago, David said:

Yeah I'm not sure the world really did laugh at England and Germany.

If we was to poll the World on the One Love armband, covering of the mouth or that robe they stuck on Messi at the end....my money is on the robe being the most laughable out of the three. 

Messi holding the World Cup should have been one of the most iconic photos of the game, yet it's been tainted now with something you would see in an Ann Summers catalogue.

It was an entertaining World Cup, no doubt about it, just not sure it will ever be able to hold the crown of being the best World Cup with the loss of lives, human rights issues and being played at Christmas.

Part of me is glad England didn't win it. 

Just hope a new trend hasn't been set and we see the winning captain at the US World Cup sprinkled with cheese and armed with an AR 15 as he collects the trophy.

They were laughing.

If diversity is such a good thing why can't we respect the cultural norms of Qatar. If everyone has the same laws and cultural norms then that's not diversity. Religion is very important to people in that part of the world and gay sex is prohibited by their religion. Why should the West try to force their cultural norms on the rest of the world.

Re. the loss of lives, as far as I know only three people died building the stadiums. In the early 1970s I worked on a construction site in the UK where more than three people died on site over about three or four years and that didn't even make the national papers. Many migrant workers have died building other things in Qatar but the death rate for migrant workers in Qatar is lower than that in their own countries. Most people brought up in the Third World have not had access to medical care as children and they are not as healthy as people in First World countries. A lot of migrant deaths in Qatar can be attributed to general ill health. A doctor who had done research in Central Africa told me that the average person there has so many parasites that it is amazing that they have the strength to do any work at all.

 

 

[Anon]

44 minutes ago, Normanton Lad said:

They were laughing.

If diversity is such a good thing why can't we respect the cultural norms of Qatar. If everyone has the same laws and cultural norms then that's not diversity. Religion is very important to people in that part of the world and gay sex is prohibited by their religion. Why should the West try to force their cultural norms on the rest of the world.

Re. the loss of lives, as far as I know only three people died building the stadiums. In the early 1970s I worked on a construction site in the UK where more than three people died on site over about three or four years and that didn't even make the national papers. Many migrant workers have died building other things in Qatar but the death rate for migrant workers in Qatar is lower than that in their own countries. Most people brought up in the Third World have not had access to medical care as children and they are not as healthy as people in First World countries. A lot of migrant deaths in Qatar can be attributed to general ill health. A doctor who had done research in Central Africa told me that the average person there has so many parasites that it is amazing that they have the strength to do any work at all.

 

 

I agree with the first paragraph. There were way more than three worker deaths building the stadiums though and the treatment of workers in Qatar is appalling. I'm not dismissing the counter points you make. It's true that construction sites are death traps in India/Nepal/Pakistan, but that doesn't excuse Qatar not being better.

[Day]

50 minutes ago, Normanton Lad said:

They were laughing.

The world is a large place, have you got any source on the numbers that were laughing? 

50 minutes ago, Normanton Lad said:

If diversity is such a good thing why can't we respect the cultural norms of Qatar. If everyone has the same laws and cultural norms then that's not diversity. Religion is very important to people in that part of the world and gay sex is prohibited by their religion. Why should the West try to force their cultural norms on the rest of the world.

We should, I posted earlier in the topic that I don't believe we should enter other countries and forcing our culture on them.

Absolutely no arguments there, however they fed FIFA and competing countries a lie, reversed promises made the night before the opening game.

That's not acceptable, the World Cup is a global competition, thousands spent to watch your country play, to book your tickets and hotels having been sold a and getting b, it's not right.

Surely it works both ways as well, why was the robe forced on Messi before being handed the trophy? 

Since when has any country done anything like that?

Let's not forget the World Cup is a tournament played in June/July, the entire Football calendar being torn apart to suit Qatar.

50 minutes ago, Normanton Lad said:

Re. the loss of lives, as far as I know only three people died building the stadiums. In the early 1970s I worked on a construction site in the UK where more than three people died on site over about three or four years and that didn't even make the national papers. Many migrant workers have died building other things in Qatar but the death rate for migrant workers in Qatar is lower than that in their own countries. Most people brought up in the Third World have not had access to medical care as children and they are not as healthy as people in First World countries. A lot of migrant deaths in Qatar can be attributed to general ill health. A doctor who had done research in Central Africa told me that the average person there has so many parasites that it is amazing that they have the strength to do any work at all.

Come on, the original figure was 400+, then prior to the World Cup trying to change opinions they ran with the 3 number, now it's back to 400+ as the tournament is over.

The World Cup was great, not because of Qatar but the football on the pitch, off the pitch, was a disaster which is why it can't be considered to be the best ever outside of Infantino's office and the Middle East.

[Bris Vegas]

That robe was ridiculous.

You wanted that iconic photo of Messi lifting the trophy with his teammates donning the Argentina shirt.

Interesting to see what Messi does now. He comes across as somebody who just loves football and wants to win trophies, rather than personal records.

His contract us up at PSG in the summer.

A big if, but if he can help PSG win their first CL, it would be a fairytale ending in Europe. 

The next few years though he could just play where he wants, free of pressure.

 

 

[Mr. P]

[DarkFruitsRam7]

A lot of miserable barstewards in here!

[DarkFruitsRam7]

37 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

That robe was ridiculous.

You wanted that iconic photo of Messi lifting the trophy with his teammates donning the Argentina shirt.

Interesting to see what Messi does now. He comes across as somebody who just loves football and wants to win trophies, rather than personal records.

His contract us up at PSG in the summer.

A big if, but if he can help PSG win their first CL, it would be a fairytale ending in Europe. 

The next few years though he could just play where he wants, free of pressure.

Newell's Old Boys?

Edited December 19, 2022 by DarkFruitsRam7

[Van der MoodHoover]

10 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

But no doubt FIFA and all of the pundits who have pocketed their bloody money will be telling you its the best game you've ever seen.

Exactly so..... I was watching artistry, genius etcetc

 

And it will be all the better when it becomes an annual 128 team tournament........ ?

[Ram-Alf]

2 minutes ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

 

 

And it will be all the better when it becomes an annual 128 team tournament........ ?

That'll be the 2078 Final in Antarctica...Faroe Islands Vs Pitcairn Islands 

[Normanton Lad]

3 hours ago, David said:

The world is a large place, have you got any source on the numbers that were laughing? 

No one could afford to do a statistically meaningful survey about what all the people in the world think about anything. That doesn’t mean you can’t talk about people might think otherwise we’d be silent on most topics. My belief is based on a thought experiment.

LGPT rights is a thing mainly confined to American, other English speaking countries and Western Europe. That population is small compared to the rest of the world. It is probably only about a third of the population of India alone.  In my thought experiment I just imagined a random person in somewhere like India, Nigeria or Indonesia watching the German protest and asking what it was all about. On hearing that the Germans are demanding that people should be able to change sex at will or marry someone of the same sex I would assume that these people would burst out laughing at the absurdity of it.

In terms of the world population we in the West are a small fringe group with offbeat ideas.

[Reggie Greenwood]

4 minutes ago, Normanton Lad said:

No one could afford to do a statistically meaningful survey about what all the people in the world think about anything. That doesn’t mean you can’t talk about people might think otherwise we’d be silent on most topics. My belief is based on a thought experiment.

LGPT rights is a thing mainly confined to American, other English speaking countries and Western Europe. That population is small compared to the rest of the world. It is probably only about a third of the population of India alone.  In my thought experiment I just imagined a random person in somewhere like India, Nigeria or Indonesia watching the German protest and asking what it was all about. On hearing that the Germans are demanding that people should be able to change sex at will or marry someone of the same sex I would assume that these people would burst out laughing at the absurdity of it.

In terms of the world population we in the West are a small fringe group with offbeat ideas.

Is that you Donald ? 

[kevinhectoring]

21 hours ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

Congratulations to MacAllister - the first Scotsman to win the World Cup. 

Well if he’s picked to play away at Charlton on Wednesday he’ll probably still be drunk. Perhaps he’ll be rested ? 
 

He was (after Di Maria and excluding their GOAT)  Argentina’s second best player. His pass for the second goal was ounce perfect 

[AndyinLiverpool]

17 minutes ago, Normanton Lad said:

No one could afford to do a statistically meaningful survey about what all the people in the world think about anything. That doesn’t mean you can’t talk about people might think otherwise we’d be silent on most topics. My belief is based on a thought experiment.

LGPT rights is a thing mainly confined to American, other English speaking countries and Western Europe. That population is small compared to the rest of the world. It is probably only about a third of the population of India alone.  In my thought experiment I just imagined a random person in somewhere like India, Nigeria or Indonesia watching the German protest and asking what it was all about. On hearing that the Germans are demanding that people should be able to change sex at will or marry someone of the same sex I would assume that these people would burst out laughing at the absurdity of it.

In terms of the world population we in the West are a small fringe group with offbeat ideas.

The Germans were demanding nothing of the sort, of course.

[Day]

25 minutes ago, Normanton Lad said:

No one could afford to do a statistically meaningful survey about what all the people in the world think about anything. That doesn’t mean you can’t talk about people might think otherwise we’d be silent on most topics. My belief is based on a thought experiment.

LGPT rights is a thing mainly confined to American, other English speaking countries and Western Europe. That population is small compared to the rest of the world. It is probably only about a third of the population of India alone.  In my thought experiment I just imagined a random person in somewhere like India, Nigeria or Indonesia watching the German protest and asking what it was all about. On hearing that the Germans are demanding that people should be able to change sex at will or marry someone of the same sex I would assume that these people would burst out laughing at the absurdity of it.

In terms of the world population we in the West are a small fringe group with offbeat ideas.

Yeah I mean look, I won't pretend or even guess as to what percentage of the world would have laughed. Even in America you will find people that don't support same sex marriages, I'm sure you will also find in countries where it's illegal, there would be support for it.

Either way, I personally have no interest in changing laws in other countries, if I wanted to go to Scotland but could only do so if I wore a skirt and dye my hair ginger, I would comply or simply not visit.

I'm not a fan of using football to push political and human rights issues, I don't believe the One Love armband would have made zero difference. 

I believe the German protest was for being silenced. Denmark also protested in their own way with the muted kit designs.

My issues are more with the backtracking over what was agreed, I'm not sure Budweiser would be happy for one either.

For what it's worth, zero arrests of England fans over there is some achievement, and watching reports from content creators most seem to have enjoyed their stay over there.

I still don't think it was a suitable location when you factor everything in, likewise if it went to Antarctica.

In a world where climate change is becoming a real issue, they had to start from scratch building stadiums spending billions, some of which will go on to be demolished as the game is not at that level to warrant having them remain.

Are they the first country to build and abandon stadiums, no, but surely it would make sense to host the global tournament that can welcome all fans, have the majority of the infrastructure in place?

Qatar, in my opinion would have been better building facilities to bring on younger players, attract top coaches over and build the national game, the stadiums would have followed naturally and not rushed under poor conditions.

Anyhow, I'm waffling now, you're obviously entitled to your opinion that it was the best ever World Cup, I just personally can't agree.