Lurker > Sheep007

The "VAR, VAR!" chant really got me. Bit surprised that wasn't given.

ctesjbuvf posted...

Pedri was also very good when Spain reached the semis of euros last year as well, but both have been making themselves known at Barca often (too often) being compared to Iniesta and Xavi. They're also the most recent two receivers of basically all young player awards for 21 and 22 respectively.

Yeah, I've known they're acclaimed, just not seen much of them and didn't watch as much of the Euros as I would have liked. And I'm normally hesitant to judge players based on winning awards (I had to watch a season of Renato Sanches at Swansea which I am still yet to recover from). I knew they were young but how good they are at that age is insane.

After the Morocco/Croatia draw my updated predictions actually have Canada getting out of the group! But I don't think they'll get anything against Belgium.

I've not seen much of either Gavi or Pedri before, but they both look incredible players. I don't know if it's just the opposition, but Spain are much better than I expected. It's been pretty laid back from them most of the game, too.

I will argue to my death that Poland's potential to disappoint is a power higher than any other.

ctesjbuvf posted...

This didn't age well

Fucking knew it the second he stepped up. The Polish national team exists only to disappoint in the most underwhelming and straightforward way possible.

Hardcore_Adult posted...

Poland look like they fancy it.

Come again?

We were worse in the second stage of that half, but my god are we bad. Mexico suck too but we just aren't doing anything or even making an attempt to get forward. Zielu and Lewy anonymous. Ochoa should be in a retirement home but I'll be shocked if he has to make a save. Pathetic. I don't even know what it is sometimes, Wales were shit yesterday but at least tried.

ctesjbuvf posted...

Okay so

We got a corner, then the referee had to check for possible penalty, it was not given (fine), but then we did not get the corner and instead a goal kick was given? What was up with that?

When watching that footage I presume the referee saw that the last touch came off a Danish player and changed that decision to the correct one despite not changing anything else.

masterplum posted...

Stoppage Time
Penalty Kicks deciding ties
Red cards resulting in ejections
Flopping

Some of these aren't all that traditional and were brought in because they were necessary to make the game more playable.

First one I agree with, stopping the clock would make more sense and I think that will probably happen soon. It's a massive pain in amateur matches, but I'd genuinely like it.

Penalties are a great way to settle ties and when they were brought in tournaments become much more playable. Replays were the old method, but some teams getting forced to play an extra entire game (which often still won't be decided) is awful. The half an hour of extra time at the end of fixtures is a good compromise, if neither team can pull ahead by the end of that, penalties are better than any other solution. Before it came around, time-limited tournaments would literally draw lots to decide the winner, and I think penalties are pretty much the best way to decide things that's easily available.

Red cards are absolutely fine. I don't see any better way to deal with violent or dangerous play, and the last one isn't even a rule. It's even been reduced in recent years by some rule and refereeing standard changes (at least in my opinion).

masterplum posted...

I would like soccer so much more if they overhauled some of the dumb rules it has because tradition

Genuinely curious, which rules? I'm fine with offside being decided the way it is, any part of the body that can be used to score is a pretty sensible metric all things considered. Flawed but any way of deciding offside would be.

I expect Argentina to still go through. The group is wide open now, but I do think Argentina will win both of their remaining games.

To anyone who didn't watch that, Saudi Arabia were genuinely spectacular. Phenomenal defending, tactically brilliant especially in the first half and a couple of gorgeous goals. That's one of the most tense games I've ever watched as a neutral (even if I had some stake in it).

SA looking very good money to ruin Poland's tournament by the second game, as is routine. What a fucking vile group, and we haven't even started playing yet.

Fuck me.

Saudi Arabia look much better than I expected. Just lacking the final ball but they've been almost going toe to toe with Argentina. I expect they'll get caught out on that offside trap sooner rather than later, though.

Probably a fair result. The US had one dominant half and Wales had one dominant half, but neither had a ton of chances. We need to play like we did in that second half constantly, though. Playing as scared as we were won't cut it against Iran, let alone England or if we make it out of the group. Negatives aside, it's fuckin surreal to see Wales score at a World Cup. I genuinely never expected this in my lifetime. Smallest team population-wise to qualify for the tournament against the biggest. I think we're set up well to have a shot at the last 16 now, much rather play England last than second.

This is so much better. Still a goal in this for us.

Dreadful first half from us. Our lopsided midfield is hurting us so bad, and Ramsey and Bale both don't have the legs to win challenges anymore, unfortunately. Lots of pace in this US side and we aren't dealing well. We have some decent options off the bench in attack and always have a chance from set pieces but I'm not too optimistic right now.

ctesjbuvf posted...

Made a pretty good impact this game too. Except to see him start from now on.

Yeah, wasn't sure he would even be fit enough to come off the bench but I'd expect them to top the group if he can start v Ecuador.

Getting nervous for Wales v US already. Very evenly matched game on paper, I think our midfield is shaky but the defense is strong and Bale is still one of the best big-game players in the world. I'd probably take a draw given our more favourable fixture order.

Senegal v Netherlands has been alright, just kinda lacking in quality. Senegal are giving the Netherlands too much time to organise and their forwards have too much to do with such a defensive midfield, while the Netherlands just aren't good enough going forwards. They're missing Depay badly, he was really the difference maker the last few times I saw them. De Jong or even Weghorst would probably give them more up front than Janssen.

Ecuador look really tidy. Gonna back them to win this game regardless, they'll get at least one even more indisputable goal.

Usually normal, but the one above easy for hack and slash combat sorta games (think Witcher or Souls style combat), the one below hardest for any JRPGs, and the hardest difficulty to start on racing and shooting games, but I'll turn them down if I need to.

Also, I'll usually turn difficulty up if higher difficulties add more interesting mechanics or stuff like better AI, but turn it down if the only thing it changes is enemy health pools.

pezzicle posted...

They can beat Morocco and draw against Croatia IMO

Just need to not get thrashed by Belgium in the opening game

Honestly, I think Morocco are a fair bit better than Canada on paper. They've had to get a new coach right before the tournament and with Harit out probably look a fair bit worse, but I think I'd still back Morocco especially if Davies is out. Don't really think either stand much chance against Belgium or Croatia, but I'd love to be wrong.

Switzerland v Serbia is also gonna be a tense game that I'd call a rematch. Lots of Albanian-descent players in Switzerland and last World Cup there was a pretty nasty atmosphere after the celebrations.

Here's my hot predictions for this World Cup (and some more lukewarm ones).

First off, Japan are gonna finish dead last in their group (sorry MZero).

Portugal and France will also be out in the group. South Korea and Australia are both surprise qualifications. Qatar don't lose every game, and it ends up overall a good world cup for the Asian teams.

Wales qualify from their group despite only beating Iran. Either the US or England bottles it in the last game. Football social media is an active cognitohazard during each game of group B, but the games themselves are all so boring that nobody remembers a thing about them.

One of Denmark or Belgium will make the final, if they top their groups.

Poland to fail to win against Saudi Arabia somehow and bomb out before the second game. This one is not even up for debate, it is factually inevitable.

Switzerland will make the quarters, and everyone will talk about how good they seemed before forgetting about it a few months later.

Brazil thrashes a European team in the quarters, before in turn getting thrashed by Argentina in the semis. Or they lose to Belgium again, depending on the draw.

Argentina to win the whole thing. I feel like Messi is finally gonna plot armour his way to it. Everyone talks about how one side of the draw is so much stronger than the other, and the team (probably Argentina) from the stronger side win a really dull final after scoring early.

Starlight Revue up next? Glad to see it so high, I always feel like it's weirdly underrated even by the people who've watched it.

I really wanna join this one. Might struggle to finish but god there's some good movies here.

Espeon posted...

Isnt The Naked Gun a major spoof movie?

Naked Gun is a big one, yeah. Also a parody of cop movies but in a very different way to Hot Fuzz.

If that satire list goes ahead I'll definitely try and take part bc damn it looks good.

Glaceon > Umbreon > Leafeon > Sylveon > Jolteon > Flareon > Vaporeon > Espeon

I like all of them, none of them are bad and basically all of them are pretty great. I used to absolutely hate Vaporeon with a passion but I've substantially warmed up to it and Umbreon in the last couple years. Using them as Wish abusers in Showdown and Radical Red made me inordinately attached to them and also want to make stall teams around them.