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

[NewYorkExpress]

First goal of the World Cup goes to Ecuador on an Enner Valencia penalty conversion.

[NewYorkExpress]

Qatar is playing a very physical game right now.

Almost twenty-five minutes in, and Qatar has already been shown yellow twice.

[Red Velvet]

OMG Ecuador is DESTROYING Qatar

Qatar about to become 1st host team to lose the opening game in World Cup history

[DavidB.]

Incredible how bad Qatar are. Far below expectations. Trained for six months and can barely deliver a successful pass.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Being the host does not guarantee you success. It entitles you to the (effectively) absolute right to host the games. It does not inherently give you anything else.

[Red Velvet]

I think besides Qatar being very bad, people didn’t give enough credit for Ecuador. They were a pretty tough team during CONMEBOL qualification games.

[parochial boy]

And imagine how bad they would be in footballers were subjugated to the same naturalisation policies as everyone else in the country.

[Santander]

And imagine how bad they would be in footballers were subjugated to the same naturalisation policies as everyone else in the country.

You could say the same about the Chinese ice hockey team or the Greek basketball team. Hell, getting Spanish or Italian nationality usually takes years of processing time even when eligible, but sports stars always magically get their passports in time...

[NewYorkExpress]

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).

[buritobr]

Ecuador made a blietzkrieg in the early 20 minutes and then slowed down. Enough to win easily and don't spend to much energy.

[Suburbia]

I will be watching the World Cup to see how far US men go in soccer.

American men in general don't care for soccer, looking at the way American sports personalities like Mike Francesa, Craig Carton, etc. have been making fun of the sport.

Look at how US women's soccer gets made fun of.

American men like football, baseball, basketball, hockey, NASCAR.

Shows how exceptional America is, because we ARE different than the world.

Like how baseball is the Dominican Republic's sport, hockey is Canada's sport, soccer is the rest of the world's sport.

When you have rightwingers like Alexi Lalas pushing for his fellow rightwingers to get into the sport, shows how far US men's soccer has to go..

Baseball is the leading sport in a hell of a lot more than just the Dominican Republic. Ice hockey is the leading sport in Finland and Latvia (maybe Belarus?) and basketball is the #1 sport in Lithuania and the Philippines (lol). Australia and Ireland have both indigenous sports and English sports. And South Africa has the racial divide that supports multiple sports. America is hardly exceptional.

Not to mention the US is actually a huge market for watching soccer. It's just playing professionally that is not on the radar.

With American men.....

[Lechasseur]

I will be watching the World Cup to see how far US men go in soccer.

American men in general don't care for soccer, looking at the way American sports personalities like Mike Francesa, Craig Carton, etc. have been making fun of the sport.

Look at how US women's soccer gets made fun of.

American men like football, baseball, basketball, hockey, NASCAR.

Shows how exceptional America is, because we ARE different than the world.

Like how baseball is the Dominican Republic's sport, hockey is Canada's sport, soccer is the rest of the world's sport.

When you have rightwingers like Alexi Lalas pushing for his fellow rightwingers to get into the sport, shows how far US men's soccer has to go..

Baseball is the leading sport in a hell of a lot more than just the Dominican Republic. Ice hockey is the leading sport in Finland and Latvia (maybe Belarus?) and basketball is the #1 sport in Lithuania and the Philippines (lol). Australia and Ireland have both indigenous sports and English sports. And South Africa has the racial divide that supports multiple sports. America is hardly exceptional.

Not to mention the US is actually a huge market for watching soccer. It's just playing professionally that is not on the radar.

I honestly think a Big part of that is because the MLS isn't the best league in the World, and Americans dont like the Idea of having to leave the country in order to play at the top level and top pay.

And MLS pay is very low compared to salaries in American major league sports.

[buritobr]

Do you know the indirect motive for the Brazilian soccer jersey being yellow?
Well, it's the color of the House of Habsburg
Let me explain: the color yellow was choosen in 1953, because of the color of yellow losangle in the Brazilian national flag.
The rectangle in the flag is green because it's the color of the House of Brangança, where emperor Pedro I (1822-1831) belongs, and the losangle is yellow because it's the color of the House of Habsburg, where consorte empress, the Austrian Leopoldina, Pedro's wife, belongs.

Austria played in the World Cup last time in 1998. Since the austrians can't see their national team in the world cup, they might support the Brazilian national team, because it carries something from Austria in the jersey.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

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.

[The Dowager Mod]

"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.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

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.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

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

[parochial boy]

"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.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

"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.

[The Right Honourable Martin Brian Mulroney PC CC GOQ]

I think besides Qatar being very bad, people didn’t give enough credit for Ecuador. They were a pretty tough team during CONMEBOL qualification games.

CONMEBOL teams in general should never be underestimated. Ecuador qualified ahead of the likes of Colombia, Chile, and Peru, all three of whom would be top teams in Asia and pretty competitive even in Europe.

[Santander]

Where is the actual outrage? We see plenty of "outrage" about Qatar, but it is all vaguely directed at the Qatari government (whatever that's supposed to mean) and FIFA (easy punching bag). When Qatar banned alcohol from stadiums, the outrage was all at the Qatari government, not at AB-InBev, the Western business sponsoring this supposed celebration of gay butchery and slavery. Nor any criticism of other usual suspects like Visa, Coca-Cola and Adidas. Instead of getting upset at players for not wearing a stupid armband, maybe people should be asking why the players are in Qatar enabling so-called "sportswashing" in the first place?

TV networks bid for media rights, sponsors queued up in droves, commentators didn't quit their jobs, prominent players didn't pull out, nobody is boycotting Qatar Airways, PSG gear remains fashionable as ever, and Anthony Blinken is in Qatar to "recognize Qatar’s important contribution to international sports diplomacy as it hosts the World Cup" and "reiterate U.S. appreciation for the long-standing partnership between the United States and Qatar".

The only logical thing to do at this point is to celebrate how successfully Qatar exposed Western hypocrisy and hope it accelerates the downfall of the West.

[Middle-aged Europe]

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.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

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?

[Torrain]

England: beat a top-20 ranked team 6-2.
USA: draws with a team who haven't qualified for the World Cup since 1950s.

[NewYorkExpress]

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).