Rocket man
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Wales/Cymru was awful in that match, Iran deserved the win. I thought it was never gonna come for Iran but thank goodness it did.
FIFA World Cup 2022
- Thread starter JamieBrown
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they know how to live football.
Rocket man
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Frustrating game for England against USA, England will take a point and clean sheet. Should now make the knockout rounds and will just need to beat Wales to top the group.
Zerocalcare
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Today the first matches of the second day of the World Cup have begun, here is the updated ranking of the points acquired by the participating federations:
:
Netherlands vs Ecuador = the draw doesn't hurt the Netherlands which, compared to Ecuador which will have to face a fierce Senegal, will have to deal with a scarce Qatar. However, the best calculation in football is victory. What if Qatar wanted to honor the competition, their nation and their fans and play with all their might? A prestigious victory against the Netherlands would be a nice consolation trophy for them. Therefore the Netherlands could find themselves from Heaven to Hell in an instant, giving the joy to both Senegal (which must win) and Ecuador (which can also afford to lose by a small margin).
Senegal vs Qatar = victory already written. Senegal was every way superior. But it must be said that the Senegalese goals were obtained more for the scarcity of Qatari players than for their skill. The goal conceded by Senegal against Qatar is not very auspicious. Senegal are an excellent national team but when they face better and more organized teams they will go home to rest.
Iran vs Wales = excellent victory for Iran which allows them to compete for qualification for the next round with 2 useful results out of 3 (they just have to avoid losing). Iran has also shown that in football it is better to lose one game and win the next than to draw twice like the United States. A real battle between the Iranians and the Americans is expected as the match will also acquire a powerful political value.
England vs United States = leaving aside the usual "It's Coming Home" mantra of the English (which brings more bad luck than good), tonight we saw an athletics competition and nothing more. The crowd that booed disappointed at the end of the race was an eloquent image. Perhaps England was a little more dangerous and risked less. What made the difference for the English is the technical gap. English players are stronger than Americans, more accustomed to playing on more prestigious stages. For the USA the best were Pulisic and Adams while goalkeeper Turner made my heart beat several times due to the too much confidence he had with the ball while the opponent was pressing it. The draw was more useful to England (which will still have to be careful of a Wales that has not yet been eliminated) than to the United States which should have won the game, even if it risked losing (even if the Americans had lost they would still have had to win against Iran).
Looking at the federations however, UEFA did not perform well today. Results not useful and goal difference worsened. The AFC however continues to remain competitive by gaining a position on COMNEBOL. But not all that glitters is gold. The goal difference remained unchanged. COMNEBOL loses a position but in the end continues to stay in good wake. All South American teams are still in the running to qualify. Improvement of the CAF thanks to the victory of Senegal which however won against a poor Qatar. I still wonder how Qatar could win the Asian Cup with competition from Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea and Australia. An answer? They bought it with money. Qatar, personal opinion, will fall into oblivion in football terms in the next few years. Returning to the CAF, let's see what the next matches will tell us. So far, apart from Ghana and Tunisia, I have been very disappointed with this federation. CONCACAF is rightfully last. The United States and Mexico are paying for their federation's lack of competitiveness. Someone in here wrote that it makes no sense to talk about the federations and instead there is a sense. When a federation is strong, when the matches are tough, instead of facing Jamaica, Honduras and El Salvador, your national team will have more opportunities to shine on the world stage. I hope that, following the example of Australia which has abandoned the OFC, the United States and Mexico and also Canada will join COMNEBOL but... after that the risk of not qualifying for the world becomes high. Will they have the courage?
The opinions of the great, wonderful, shining, beautiful, regal, powerful Zerocalcare end here. See you tomorrow for new updates
- UEFA (=) 27 points out of 48 available (7 wins - 6 draws - 3 defeats / 26 goals scored and 11 conceded / + 15 goals difference).
- AFC (+1): 10 points out of 21 available (3 wins - 1 draw - 4 defeats / 10 goals scored and 17 conceded / - 7 goals difference).
- COMNEBOL (-1): 8 points out of 15 available (2 wins - 2 draws - 1 defeat / 6 goals scored and 3 conceded / + 3 goals difference).
- CAF (+1) 5 points out of 18 available (1 win - 2 draws - 3 defeats / 5 goals scored and 7 conceded / - 2 goals difference).
- CONCACAF (-1): 3 points out of 15 available (0 wins - 3 draws - 2 defeats / 1 goal scored and 9 conceded / - 8 goal difference).
:Netherlands vs Ecuador = the draw doesn't hurt the Netherlands which, compared to Ecuador which will have to face a fierce Senegal, will have to deal with a scarce Qatar. However, the best calculation in football is victory. What if Qatar wanted to honor the competition, their nation and their fans and play with all their might? A prestigious victory against the Netherlands would be a nice consolation trophy for them. Therefore the Netherlands could find themselves from Heaven to Hell in an instant, giving the joy to both Senegal (which must win) and Ecuador (which can also afford to lose by a small margin).
Senegal vs Qatar = victory already written. Senegal was every way superior. But it must be said that the Senegalese goals were obtained more for the scarcity of Qatari players than for their skill. The goal conceded by Senegal against Qatar is not very auspicious. Senegal are an excellent national team but when they face better and more organized teams they will go home to rest.
Iran vs Wales = excellent victory for Iran which allows them to compete for qualification for the next round with 2 useful results out of 3 (they just have to avoid losing). Iran has also shown that in football it is better to lose one game and win the next than to draw twice like the United States. A real battle between the Iranians and the Americans is expected as the match will also acquire a powerful political value.
England vs United States = leaving aside the usual "It's Coming Home" mantra of the English (which brings more bad luck than good), tonight we saw an athletics competition and nothing more. The crowd that booed disappointed at the end of the race was an eloquent image. Perhaps England was a little more dangerous and risked less. What made the difference for the English is the technical gap. English players are stronger than Americans, more accustomed to playing on more prestigious stages. For the USA the best were Pulisic and Adams while goalkeeper Turner made my heart beat several times due to the too much confidence he had with the ball while the opponent was pressing it. The draw was more useful to England (which will still have to be careful of a Wales that has not yet been eliminated) than to the United States which should have won the game, even if it risked losing (even if the Americans had lost they would still have had to win against Iran).
Looking at the federations however, UEFA did not perform well today. Results not useful and goal difference worsened. The AFC however continues to remain competitive by gaining a position on COMNEBOL. But not all that glitters is gold. The goal difference remained unchanged. COMNEBOL loses a position but in the end continues to stay in good wake. All South American teams are still in the running to qualify. Improvement of the CAF thanks to the victory of Senegal which however won against a poor Qatar. I still wonder how Qatar could win the Asian Cup with competition from Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea and Australia. An answer? They bought it with money. Qatar, personal opinion, will fall into oblivion in football terms in the next few years. Returning to the CAF, let's see what the next matches will tell us. So far, apart from Ghana and Tunisia, I have been very disappointed with this federation. CONCACAF is rightfully last. The United States and Mexico are paying for their federation's lack of competitiveness. Someone in here wrote that it makes no sense to talk about the federations and instead there is a sense. When a federation is strong, when the matches are tough, instead of facing Jamaica, Honduras and El Salvador, your national team will have more opportunities to shine on the world stage. I hope that, following the example of Australia which has abandoned the OFC, the United States and Mexico and also Canada will join COMNEBOL but... after that the risk of not qualifying for the world becomes high. Will they have the courage?
The opinions of the great, wonderful, shining, beautiful, regal, powerful Zerocalcare end here. See you tomorrow for new updates
Iran has shown that they are a good team, as I wrote earlier. That match with England was certainly not the right indicator of how good the team really is. Wales left quite a bad impression in these two matches + the red card at the end made everything even worse.
Qatar....regardless of the fact that they are the home team,they are definitely the weakest team on this championship. I don't like to be rude, but realistically, they didn't show anything.
The Netherlands....I love this team but so far, it is underperforming. Ecuador pretty much outplayed them today and they deserved to win. Of course will pass the group stage but they really need to step up when the most important matches come.
As for England and the USA...I think are also potential dark horses. A very good and compact team. It won't be easy for anyone to take points from them.
Qatar....regardless of the fact that they are the home team,they are definitely the weakest team on this championship. I don't like to be rude, but realistically, they didn't show anything.
The Netherlands....I love this team but so far, it is underperforming. Ecuador pretty much outplayed them today and they deserved to win. Of course
will pass the group stage but they really need to step up when the most important matches come. As for England and the USA...I think
are also potential dark horses. A very good and compact team. It won't be easy for anyone to take points from them.
ShoeFlo
Well-known member
Today I cross my fingers for:
(don't care a lot though), Saudi, ( 
) and
Pretty interesting day. Match of the day is vs ... I am curious to see whether Denmark can repeat the performances in the Nations League where they beat France twice
Even more interesting is how Argentina recovers from their flop defeat and on the other hand if Saudi Arabia can build on their surprising success
(don't care a lot though), Saudi, ( ) and Pretty interesting day. Match of the day is
vs ... I am curious to see whether Denmark can repeat the performances in the Nations League where they beat France twiceEven more interesting is how Argentina recovers from their flop defeat and on the other hand if Saudi Arabia can build on their surprising success
ShoeFlo
Well-known member
Asian teams in WC
Zerocalcare
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, in the wake of the enthusiasm, could surprise us again by beating or drawing with . If I had to choose a winner, however, I would say which has physicality and quality in its game DNA. is always a tricky and unpredictable team. I wouldn't be surprised if wins or draws against but I don't think it will. The Albiceleste this time will not underestimate the opponent and will play with all its quality.The situation in group C would be as follows:
4 points, 3 points, 3 points and 1 point. In the next round will take the lead of the group and will win against . It will be the goal difference to decide who will go through. Will Lewandowski be able to repeat his great club performances in the national team? In group D instead, compared to the previous one, I have preferences. I hope
beat and win against . The ranking would be this: 4 points, 4 points, 3 points and 0 points. Thus the group would become more exciting. In the next round, will close the qualifying practice while will have to face a who will play "the match of their life" and who could eliminate them by surprise (although later the Tunisian players could risk exclusion from the World Cup after being accused that they bought drugs from Damiano of the Måneskin and snorted it in the locker room 
). Seriously, for me is a great team with excellent solutions in attack and in midfield but the match against , in my opinion, was deceptive. The French lick with the ball was slow and the defense wasn't excellent (they even risked drawing 2-2). Only the technical gap between the French and Australian players allowed the former to clearly triumph over the modest latter.These are my predictions and my preferences (obviously both not politically correct
- I like to sincerely express my thoughts 
). Let's see what will happen 