That’s a very understandable sentiment. They always seem to have trouble scoring, and the back line seems prone to lapses. But there are other times that they look like a legitimate team. It would be helpful to get the injuries behind them, but that’s true for everyone.
That’s what Putin says. But Ukraine showed up with Stingers.
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Any good soccer podcast recommendations?
The Guardian Football Weekly (there’s actually two a week) is not bad as a generic soccer podcast (with a UK/Premier League bent, of course). It has too much of a big club bias for my sensibilities, but they’re pretty funny albeit with a quota of in-jokes that you’ll have to catch up on.
I’m partial to the Five Year Plan podcast, but that’s because it’s about Crystal Palace.
Echo the guardian football weekly. It’s fun and if you half follow the premier league it’s quite informative.
ETA: Ringer FC is alright too, but I usually just listen to the Guardian
Here’s one of the Guardian’s podders - Max Rushdon - on how to handle a problem like Qatar.
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What is really weird about this World Cup, more than others is that almost all of the teams except maybe 4 others (who will be close too - about 30 minutes away) will all be in the same city of Doha, where the other 6 stadiums are all located.
Not sure I have seen a WC in my lifetime that was not in different cities in the host country. I bet it is going to make for a safety nightmare.
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It’s almost as if…now stay with me here…it was a fucking corrupt stupid idea to have the tournament in Qatar in the first place.
Seriously, though. My preference would be for the teams to boycott these games. As a fan, I wouldn’t go anywhere near the place. They’re relaxing the drinking laws in certain locations - i.e. allowing alcohol consumption which is otherwise completely prohibited - but fans will have to get to/from those locations. The police are going to be brutal and it’s going to get ugly.
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Nobody could have foreseen that there would be problems with holding the World Cup in Qatar. Nobody.
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Nobody expects the Qatari Inquisition!
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Case in point: the FA Cup semi finals are being held over the Easter weekend this year. The FA has steadfastly avoided this weekend in the past because travel is usually disrupted when advantage is taken of the 4-day weekend to get major engineering work done. But, because the World Cup will be in December/January because it’s hot in Qatar in July, the entire northern hemisphere football calendar has been shifted forward, meaning that the semi finals had to be played during the Easter weekend.
And, to the surprise of no one, almost the entire intercity rail system is shut down for all 4 days. Now, because the FA insists on hosting the semi finals at Wembley - something that I hate with a passion (they used to be held at a neutral stadiums geographically appropriate to the teams) - Liverpool and Man Citeh fans will now have to get from their home cities to London without rail travel as an option.
Even the mighty Crystal Palace faithful have a logistical problem getting from south London’s Concrete Catalonia to north London, because trains into central London are shut down and the tube famously doesn’t come south of the river. Crystal palace has already sold out its allocation of 37,000 seats. Chelsea ticket sales are languishing at just over 10,000, but their fans will all helicopter in, I presume, comfortable in the knowledge that all the spare Stinger missiles are in Ukraine.
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Alcohol is not forbidden in Qatar, it’s just limited to licensed establishments, such as hotel restaurants and bars. Expats can buy alcohol through a permit system, though how likely a non-hotel restaurant and/or bar is likely to get a permit is up for debate. Consuming in public in a non-licensed establishment is illegal. Actually, the alcohol laws in Qatar are not a whole lot different than most of Texas. I think they’ve relaxed the laws somewhat to allow selling of beer at the stadiums, within licensed areas. And on a side note, Qatar Airways has the best wine selection of any airline I’ve flown.
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Thanks! I thought there were more severe restrictions than that.
So FIFA fines and sanctions the Mexican football federation because their fans yell a gay slur during matches
FIFA is also holding the World Cup in a country where being gay is a CRIME.
Chef Kiss
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Money’s a hell of a drug.
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All I care about is that Scotland get into tournament, and that Liverpool beats City tomorrow.
You’ll Never Walk Alone (except if your Neil Armstrong, then it was pretty much to him or Buzz)
Not WC but footie related…
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Wow! Normally players are only cut when they blow out a knee…
I shudder to think about all of the teams I could have been dropped from…
FA Cup about to start! Up the Reds!