2022 FIFA World Cup - Qatar, November 21-December 18

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Brazil defeats Germany

A quick reminder...

I expect to happen what is usual: no national team wins 2 world cups in a sequence, so, I think France won't win. There were only 2 exceptions: Italy 1934-38 and Brazil 1958-62

In fact, the latest World Cup winners perform even worse than that:
Since 2002, the title holders usually don't even manage to advance to the knockout stage (with Brazil 2006 being the only exception).

Extramarital sexual encounter in Qatar is illegal, no matter the sexual orientation.

Does that mean same-sex couples are allowed to consummate marriage in Qatar? 😅

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It's hard to imagine a world where Austria is good at sport.

Skiing?

Fun facts
The 1998 World Cup in France was the first one to have 32 national teams and the last one to have Scotland, Austria, Romania and Bulgaria. These 4 national teams used to participate often until 1998. On the other hand, 1998 was the last one in which Portugal didn't go. Porgutal seldom went to World Cups in the 20th century.

Another fun fact: There is one team that won the World Cup twice despite winning one final only.

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Can we talk about that absolutely brilliant fake fans video though?

Really begs the question as to how dumb the Qataris think we all are?

Fake German fans of real football:

https://twitter.com/SabjiHunter/status/1592148211103420416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Real German fans of fake football:

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There a verrrrry much-talked about interview by German sports journalist Jochen Breyer within the framework of the documentary report "Geheimsache Katar" by state-TV broadcaster ZDF.
During the interview, Qatar's World Cup ambassador and former international soccer player Khalid Salman has described homosexuality as "haram" (a word that every German got to know in the meantime thanks to Islamisation) and as a "damage in the mind". The interview was immediately abandoned by the spokesman for the World Cup Organizing Committee by "proposing" that they should take a walk...

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FIFA bans Danish World Cup team from wearing jerseys with with the inscription "Human rights for all" during training (!) at the soccer World Cup in Qatar.
The Danish Football Association Dansk Boldspil-Union had spoken out against hosting the World Cup in Qatar. They wanted to set an example when it came to defending human rights during the tournament and had announced "critical messages" on the training jerseys. Two sponsors had agreed to forgo their logo on the shirts in favor of such messages.
Fifa, which bans all political messages, last week urged teams participating in the World Cup to "focus on football" and not drag the sport "into any ideological or political battle".
The DBU denies that the slogan "human rights for all" is a political message, but says it will abide by FIFA's decision in order to avoid fines and sanctions.

In the meantime, a Danish camera team was prevented from filming in Doha during a live connection. Security guards covered the camera lens, subsequently even threatening to destroy the device.
The Danish television journalist Rasmus Tantholdt from TV2 was apparently being interrupted in his live reporting in the run-up to the World Cup in Qatar, even though they were filming in a public place and even though he was able to produce an upgrade pass and his accreditation. Images that the broadcaster published on its website prove that incident.
According to the broadcaster, the reporter team had to wait half an hour before they were allowed to resume their work. The Qatari organizers of the FIFA World Cup apologized; the journalists were "accidentally interrupted," it said in a statement.

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And here is a snippet of FIFA President Gianni Infantino's infamously bizarre press conference, where he claimed he felt "Qatari", "Arab", "African", "gay", "disabled" and like a "migrant worker". Further, he accuses the Western World of double standard, insistently calling for Europe to apologize the next 3,000 years for what we have been doing the last 3,000 years instead of giving other countries moral lessons.

Oh, did I mention that Infantino is going to be re-elected as FIFA President next year owing to lack of opposition?

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So, I know it's the other gender and all, but does this mean England could be among the favorites for the World Cup this Autumn?

No, that comparison is flawed.

Firstly, the women's team is not the men's team.

Secondly, not only did the Englishwomen have the home-turf advantage (like their male colleagues had during the men's European championship last year by pure chance), thanks to the mismanagement of FIFA about 90% of the tickets of the sold-out Wembley Stadium were sold to English fans - which Chloe Kelly immediately exploited unsportswomanlike.

Thirdly, the final game was rigged: The video assistant did not decide on penalty in the 26th minute after a handball by Leah Williamson near the goal line despite checking it.
Ironically, it was the second time that a Germany cs. England match was rigged; during the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final in England, a goal was wrongly given to the English team, which eventually led to the victory of England. While the term "Wembley goal" did not prevailed there, it became the most prominent example of a ghost goal in the German sports coverage.

And finally, Alexandra Popp, who had scored for Germany in every game of the European Championship up to that point and drew level with Beth Mead in the top scorer ranking, was surprisingly unable to take part in the final due to a muscle pulled shortly prior to the final.

Oh, btw, congratulations to England's Dutch manager Sarina Wiegman, who won a second consecutive UEFA Women's Championship, the first to do so with two different countries.

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Just before the England national team's first game, there is an uproar about the One Love captain's armband. There are fears of "sporting sanctions", such as a yellow card for captain Harry Kane, who was supposed to wear the captain's armband on Monday, according to media reports, a few hours before kick-off. Association boss Mark Bullingham spoke in a radio interview of a dynamic situation. Wales, which meets the USA on Monday evening, could also withdraw at short notice after the threat of sanctions.

Germany, England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland have instructed their team captains not to wear the One Love armband at the World Cup in Qatar. “FIFA has made it very clear that if our captains wear the armbands on the pitch, they will impose sporting sanctions. As national federations, we cannot put our players in a situation where they face sporting sanctions, including dismissals. That's why we asked the captains not to wear the armbands at World Cup games," the associations said in a joint statement, as reported by the BBC.

FIFA justified the ban on the "One Love" captain's armband with the World Cup regulations recognized by all participants. In a statement, the association explicitly emphasized Article 13.8.1 of the Equipment Rules: "For FIFA finals, the captain of each team must wear an armband provided by FIFA." follow all known rules.

The DFB has now commented on the ban on one-love pads at the World Cup in Qatar. “We are witnessing an unprecedented event in World Cup history. We will not carry out the confrontation brought about by FIFA on Manuel Neuer's back," said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. The association also announced that fines would have been accepted. "However, we cannot put our players in a situation where they are warned or even forced to leave the field." The DFB is "very frustrated with the FIFA decision".

It should be noted that it's pretty common for the captain of a soccer team to wear a rainbow armband. The One Love armband was already a compromise, not to say a sellout.
It rather looks like the worst-possible all-party coalition formed for the purpose of a German government that a statement for love and peace.

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The Iranian team refused to sing the National Anthem of their mullah regime.
The IRIB paused the live broadcast during that subversive scandal.

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"The captains of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands will not wear the OneLove anti-discrimination armband in their World Cup opening games after confirmation that their captains would be given yellow cards if they took part in the initiative."

Cowards.

Why not mention the fact that the Switzerland captain was going to wear it too?

Granit Xhaka is actually a practising Muslim, so it would have been an especially poignant symbol given the context.

I did.

Germany, England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland have instructed their team captains not to wear the One Love armband at the World Cup in Qatar. “FIFA has made it very clear that if our captains wear the armbands on the pitch, they will impose sporting sanctions. As national federations, we cannot put our players in a situation where they face sporting sanctions, including dismissals. That's why we asked the captains not to wear the armbands at World Cup games," the associations said in a joint statement, as reported by the BBC.

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The captains of European teams won't wear their - much maligned, because already watered-downed - diversity arm bands. The players of the Iranian national team won't sing their own national anthem. Seems the European players were afraid of the consequences... the consequences being not imprisonment or house arrest, but to lose multi-million Euro contracts or something. Congrats.

You're trolling, right?

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Ecuador destroys Qatar 2-0, as the hosts become the first host team to lose the opening match of a World Cup. (Even South Africa didn't lose their opening match to Mexico in 2010).

About 70% of the paid Qatari claqueurs left the stadium after the first half-time.
FIFA didn't show those emptied stands, of course...

https://twitter.com/berger_pj/status/1594387866297061376?s=20&t=AlxEm9KebgBX...

Well, there go our chances of getting out of this group.

We needed to pick up three points against Wales, knowing we won't get any points against England, to even get second (I can't see Wales losing to or drawing against Iran after Iran's horrible performance against England).

No one's talking about the record extra time?

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Meanwhile FIFA has demanded that the Belgium team remove the word "love" from the collar of their away shirt, sources have told ESPN. A source told ESPN that FIFA was not even open to negotiation and categorically refused to discuss the matter with the Belgian federation.

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The German team should have just departed and spare themselves that ignominy, including their token gesture that already serves as a meme template on social media... 😒

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What's the German word for "schadenfreude"?

What's "Schadenfreude" in English?

😉

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Although I didn't want to watch it, we did have an event at the office and since most employees did participate (including my boss, who's usually not a huge soccer fan) so I joined as well. Germany actually dominated the game for most of the time, including many missed chances. Towards the end, however, the German effort totally collapsed. I think we're already on our way out. Spain - which is the next match on Sunday - is a much tougher one than Japan.

To build a bridge to politics: German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who by virtue of her office is also the sports commissioner of the federal government, attended the German-Japanese match, where pulled a Rosa Parks; Faeser was placed to sit alongside FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Wednesday. So she wore the OneLove armband that Infantino's FIFA banned.

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I hope all the USMNT players are wearing "it's called soccer" undershirts for the unlikely event of beating England.

What is genuine football called in Canada anyway? Do you call it like your neighbors or like your King?
Do you Canadians also play American football or only Canadian football?

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US leading 1:0 against Iran now. USA! USA!

I wonder who your president was rooting for... 🤔

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DiVeRsItY™ WON




OH SNAP❗❕❗

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Since the World Cup has 32 national teams, there is a curse for the national teams which defeated Brazil

France 1998: eliminated in the 1st round in 2002
France 2006: eliminated in the 1st round in 2010
Germany 2014: eliminated in the 1st round in 2018
Belgium 2018: eliminated in the 1st round in 2022

Only Netherlands 2010 escaped this curse.

Germany has solidarity to Italy.

When Italy fails to qualify for the World Cup, Germany fails to qualify for the 2nd round.

Why can't Argentina win this year's FIFA World Cup?

Spoiler alert! Click Show to show the content.

Show

Because Poland did not win the match for third place during the last tournament.

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And tonight diversity did win.

What a beautiful team.

I'm unironically relieved that Germany's little sister destroyed Russia's colony yesterday, thereby coming a step closer to winning our proxy war. Congratulations! 🙌🏻
It was fun to see how our enemies bit on Granit, who showed them his balls of steel.

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And tonight diversity did win.

What a beautiful team.

Oops? That didn't age well... 😏 😂

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I found a different weird statistic. In every tournament under our manager, we eventually lost to the winner of the tournament.

2018: we lost to France who became world champions
2020 euros: we lost to Italy who became European champions
2020-2021 Nations League: we lost to France who won

Who did we lose to right now?

Yes Morocco.

I wonder if there will be riots in Belgium again for the third time in a row after a soccer match with or without the involvement of the Red Devils.

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I extend my congratulations to Argentinia. Usually I don't watch much soccer, but had a chance this time around. I'm just glad I didn't prefer a team, so it was less nervous after this specific match. For sure one of the most interesting ones I've ever seen.

That said, I don't really like deciding matches by penalty shots. Always feels that the result more depends on luck than anything else.

Do you know how draws were decided prior to the (German) invention of penalty shootouts?

PS: The winning country is called Argentina in English.

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2014: Angela Merkel (center-right)

"center-right" 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂