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

[Santander]

This is the population and the age piramid of Uruguay. The country has only 620K men between 15 and 40 years old. It needs to find very good 26 soccer players in this small group in order to have a good national team. Uruguay's team overperforms.

They certainly do punch above their weight, but being a small country has its advantages in that the talent pool is much easier to scout, there are fewer academies and teams so they can play high-quality matches against each other, the players in the national team get a lot of experience playing with each other, and the manager gets to know the best team and each player's strengths/weaknesses very well.

It's not like in Africa, where you have large populations, but the infrastructure (sports or otherwise) is nonexistent, and you basically have to hope great players come out of the woodwork, minus the few elite academies on the continent.

[Santander]

I wonder who deserves more blame in this situation. The manager, who failed to impose control on the dressing room? Or the players, who let their egos destroy the team?

The manager is a bit of a clown (he got the Belgium job based on a lucky FA Cup win with a team that he got relegated and one good season at Everton immediately following David Moyes) but senior players need to take responsibility for their beefs.

[Zinneke]

Meanwhile, the Belgian squad have had a crisis meeting because the players apparently hate each other. Juicy details are being leaked. Kevin De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois "haven't spoken for years", strikers Romelu Lukaku and Michy Batshuayi are "not best friends" and Eden Hazard and Leandro Trossard ("everyone in Belgium thinks I should play" but Hazard is actually playing) also don't talk. In an interview, Hazard had apparently blamed the bad results on the old, slow center backs; after the Morocco game, center back Jan Vertonghen implicitly hit back by saying the lack of chances created "was also our fault, or not?" 🍿🍿🍿🍿 I expect this chapter to close after the Croatia game.

https://twitter.com/rtlinfo/status/1597287227008045056

I wonder who deserves more blame in this situation. The manager, who failed to impose control on the dressing room? Or the players, who let their egos destroy the team?

I don't think any of the players who were big megastars ever respected Martinez but they followed his tactics. I think the main issue though is the different backgrounds and attitudes towards the game you have in that squad. I don't think the linguistic cleavage is an issue (it probably doesn't help, but it is not the main issue), but rather there are certain clans and certain differing attitudes. I never understood for example why Hazard was made captain when the guy just doesn't radiate a professional attitude at all...then you remember that the ''vocal'' people in the squad were part of various clans (Kompany-Anderlecht clan vs Verthongen, Alderwereld - Ajax clan). Hazard was actually seen as an inoffensive figure so Wilmots gave him the armband. He's not the real captain though. I imagine someone like Lukaku would also find someone as nonchalant, and well, halfwitted as Batshuayi uniquely irritating. Its little differences like that that make the squad very mixed in terms of social background and overall mentality,

This is honestly a ''golden generation'' that on paper didn't exactly flop (3rd in a WC for us is big) but in practise you could see that, had they had more implication and effort, they could have gone further. Martinez is partly to blame for his byzantine formation and stubbornness sticking with old timers and out of form favorites (including many Anderlecht youth players for what must be a blatantly corrupt reason). However, a team of committed winners would have ousted the guy after Euro 2020 and demanded a bigger personality leading them. Instead they just look not bothered and its time to select people based on their willingness to play and integrate a system.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Not even a single point for Qatar. At least the other host country to not make it out of group stage, South Africa in 2010, managed to defeat France.

[lfromnj]

Rip pulisic's balls.

[President Johnson]

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

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The US defeats Iran and qualifies for the next round.

[President Johnson]

It's over! USA has won and advances to the round of 16. Congratulations!

[Santander]

Infidels played like crap and will be torn apart by the first real team they meet.

[NewYorkExpress]

It's over! USA has won and advances to the round of 16. Congratulations!

That's the good news. The bad news is we might not have Christian Pulisic for that game.

[PSOL]

Well, at least that means that people won’t have any entertainment and can focus on getting on the street.

[DavidB.]

Infidels played like crap and will be torn apart by the first real team they meet.

Which won't be The Netherlands. Fully expecting the U.S. to advance to the quarter finals against us. The Dutch squad isn't lacking creativity - the problem is Van Gaal refuses to give creative players (Berghuis, Lang, Simons, Frimpong) game time and prefers mediocre players who play it safe (De Roon, Klaassen, Koopmeiners). As a result, our football is un-Dutch and completely unwatchable. Lazy, defensive, result-oriented football, only successful because of glimpses of the class De Jong and Gakpo have. By contrast, the U.S. squad seems young, eager and energetic, and the squad looks coherent. One of the biggest surprises of the World Cup to me so far.

[NewYorkExpress]

We will be facing the Netherlands in the Round of Sixteen.

Given how well we did against England, I think we do well against the Netherlands, maybe take this one to penalty kicks, but ultimately, the Dutch are just too strong for us.

Predicting, Netherlands 2, United States, 1 AET.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The US defeats Iran and qualifies for the next round.

So, does Iran now torture and kill the players and their families since they lost to the evil US?  They might.

[NewYorkExpress]

Infidels played like crap and will be torn apart by the first real team they meet.

Which won't be The Netherlands. Fully expecting the U.S. to advance to the quarter finals against us. The Dutch squad isn't lacking creativity - the problem is Van Gaal refuses to give creative players (Berghuis, Lang, Simons, Frimpong) playing time and prefers mediocre players who play it safe (De Roon, Klaassen, Koopmeiners). As a result, our football is un-Dutch and completely unwatchable. Lazy, defensive, result-oriented football, only successful because of glimpses of the class De Jong and Gakpo have. By contrast, the U.S. squad seems young, eager and energetic, and the squad looks coherent. One of the biggest surprises of the World Cup to me so far.

The Netherlands game reminds me of the England game in the group stage. The U.S can put in a great performance, maybe take it to extra time or even penalties, but ultimately the Netherlands just have too much talent on the pitch for the U.S to actually win (especially if Pulisic can't go).

[GenerationTerrorist]

Congrats to our colonial cousins. Fancy you guys to beat the Dutch, to be honest.

I'm very worried about Senegal on Sunday, because it is the sort of game we fully expect to win and then somehow screw it up. See; Iceland 2016.

[Lechasseur]

Literally none of the England team except maybe Trippier could make the Brazil starting XI, and only a few would even make the bench.

This isn't how you spell Bellingham.

Otherwise fully agreed. England are always among the most overrated squads.

Oh absolutely

England aren't going past the quarter finals, and I just laughed when I was watching on Sky Sports all these Premier League Managers talking about England winning the World Cup.

Like this team is worse than the one 4 years ago, if they couldn't get past the semifinals in 2018 there was no reason for them to do so this year.

Really I can only see Brazil or France winning this World Cup (still thinking Brazil will win).

[Santander]

Literally none of the England team except maybe Trippier could make the Brazil starting XI, and only a few would even make the bench.

This isn't how you spell Bellingham.

Otherwise fully agreed. England are always among the most overrated squads.

Oh absolutely

England aren't going past the quarter finals, and I just laughed when I was watching on Sky Sports all these Premier League Managers talking about England winning the World Cup.

Like this team is worse than the one 4 years ago, if they couldn't get past the semifinals in 2018 there was no reason for them to do so this year.

Really I can only see Brazil or France winning this World Cup (still thinking Brazil will win).

Spain is up there, too. They were the only team to outplay Italy at the Euros and are still mostly playing well. The problem with France is the tactics are rather negative and they can be rather mercurial (sh**t in the Nations League, for example). You always get the sense France has a loss in them, which you don't get at all from Brazil.

[Suburbia]

Pulisic is a patriot.

Also, England is not overrated, they have Mount and Kane, etc. Those are talented guys.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

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

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

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

Great to see the USA holding down the fort for the "soccer" nations. Had they not won today, our only hope left would be Australia, and this is like the one sport that Aussies aren't good at.

In seriousness though, I don't see the US getting past the Netherlands. The yanks have a good team that in hindsight genuinely had a shot at winning all three group games, but they struggle to find the net. Two goals in three games is not inspiring form. The Dutch haven't been super impressive either (I didn't watch the Qatar game, but anyone could have beaten Qatar anyway) but with the USMNT struggling to score, the Netherlands absolutely have more than enough attacking quality to put an end to American hopes.

[buritobr]

Tweet of a Brazilian comedian:

"Hey, Wales!
Show your independence certificate otherwise we will send the squad of Sergipe in the next World Cup"

Sergipe is the smallest Brazilian state in land area

[Mike88]

The Portugal-Uruguay match had a TV audience of 5,6 million viewers, 54.1% of the Portuguese population, one of highest audiences ever:

Portugal, who beat Uruguay 2-0 in their second game of the World Cup in Qatar, secured qualification for the round of 16 without having to go with the usual calculator for the last game against South Korea. A very disputed game with a lot of aggression, sometimes in excess, but which ended up smiling for Portugal with the goals appearing in the second half, both by Bruno Fernandes. The game was broadcast on RTP1 and was seen by a total of 5.3 million viewers, corresponding to an average audience of 3.6 million and a share of 66%. On Sport TV, the game was watched by a total of 296 thousand viewers, with an average audience of 188 thousand and a 3.5% share.

In cumulative terms (RTP1 and Sport TV), the Portugal x Uruguay match reached a total audience of 5.6 million viewers, corresponding to an average of 3.8 million viewers and a 69.5% share.
(...)

[Santander]

Oz  

Seriously, this Australia team is so bad but they are getting results in a good group. Almost the entire team plays at a very poor level.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The middle east didn't get much of a home turf advantage. While they didn't bomb as hard as 0 point Qatar, both Saudi Arabia and Iran didn't make it out of group stage either.