Russia 2018 - The World Cup thread

[Tuna]

9/9 in 59 seconds!

[leicsmac]

Got a full house too, though the last one ('34 and '62 finalist) took me about a minute and a half after the first eight had taken me about 45 seconds.

[Izzy]

51 minutes ago, StanSP said:

9/9  

 

23 seconds. 

 

I'm used to working quick  

My hero Stan 

 

I couldn't for the life of me remember who lost the '34 & '62 WC Final and even if I had remembered, I wouldn't have been able to spell it!

[StanSP]

Just now, Izzy Muzzett said:

My hero Stan 

 

I couldn't for the life of me remember who lost the '34 & '62 WC Final and even if I had remembered, I wouldn't have been able to spell it!

it helps that in several car journeys in life instead of playing your traditional car games, we play previous cup final winners (and similar football-related games/quizzes) and this has been one of them  

[davieG]

World Cup 2018: Everything you need to know in seven charts

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44388118

[RODNEY FERNIO]

Blimey looking at the chart this looks like its the 21st World Cup and 15 of these will have taken part in my lifetime. 

What an old git am I.

[KingsX]

In the mood for a long piece (and music vid) about the bloody inevitable?

 

 

 

"You've got to face the fact there may now be a meltdown. OK?," said a senior member of the squad this week. "I don't want anybody to panic during the meltdown. No panic. Pro bono publico, no bloody panic. It's going to be all right in the end."

 

Yes, it's time for another England World Cup campaign, and it doesn't matter that the senior member of the squad is Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, or that he happened to be talking about the Brexit negotiations, now into what seems like their ninetieth year, and with no end in sight.

 

An English World Cup campaign will almost certainly include a meltdown, and there will be panic, and introspection, and calls for something, anything, to be done to -- or by, or for -- somebody. But it's going to be all right in the end. It's just that as with Brexit, nobody knows when the end will be or whether any of you old enough to be reading this will live long enough to see it.

 

England's two friendly victories this past week, against a poor Nigeria team and a workmanlike Costa Rica, allowed the nation (or the nation's football commentators, at least) to accentuate the positive. The thumping header with which Gary Cahill opened the scoring against Nigeria got them excited about set pieces; more ominously, it earned Cahill the man-of-the-match award. The willing, likeable but tortoise-paced centre-back is not the recipient one might have been hoping for in a home game against Nigeria, with Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Raheem Sterling all up the other end.

 

In the game against Costa Rica, TV pundit and former England manager Glenn Hoddle enthused about the left-footed full-back Danny Rose putting a left-footed cross into the penalty area from the left side of the pitch. "Lovely to see," said Hoddle. "Natural."

 

Nothing came from the cross and if you have a season ticket at Rochdale, you've probably seen something similar in every home game this season but keep it to yourself. England need to keep morale high and if that means praising an international footballer for kicking the ball with his stronger foot, then so be it. Pro bono publico, no bloody panic.

 

for the rest: http://www.espn.co.uk/football/fifa-world-cup/4/blog/post/3520391/nick-hornby-england-support-at-world-cup-is-unbearable-hope-inevitable-pain

Edited 10 June 2018 by KingsX

[Kitchandro]

On 08/06/2018 at 08:33, Footballwipe said:

No suggestions from me but the BBC do need to up their game, ITV have ripped them a new one in the last two World Cups, though they did win the Euro 2016 opening titles battle so hopes are high!

ITV's was clearly better.

 

Not sure why BBC got an English girl to put on a terrible French accent, totally ruined it:

 

 

Meanwhile, ITV smashed it with a classic recognisable song (though no one took the time to record a decent version of it online:

 

 

 

[spacemunky]

I'm going to do England a favour this time. I'm leaving all my England shirts in the closet.

 

Bought a Brazil shirt today as they're a team I've always liked watching play.

 

Sorry in advance Brazil!

[RumbleFox]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/yashin?intc_type=mixedcards&intc_location=news&intc_campaign=iplayerfooter&intc_linkname=article_goalkeeper_contentcard6

 

Great article.  X

[leicsmac]

23 minutes ago, RumbleFox said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/yashin?intc_type=mixedcards&intc_location=news&intc_campaign=iplayerfooter&intc_linkname=article_goalkeeper_contentcard6

 

Great article.  X

 

On 07/06/2018 at 09:59, leicsmac said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/yashin

 

Fascinating article about probably the best keeper ever - yet a lot of people don't even know who he was.

[RumbleFox]

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

 

Reading threads before posting is for losers.......

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

On 08/06/2018 at 08:33, Footballwipe said:

No suggestions from me but the BBC do need to up their game, ITV have ripped them a new one in the last two World Cups, though they did win the Euro 2016 opening titles battle so hopes are high!

 

BRAAAAZIL BRAAAAZIL

 

Nothing beats this theme music though

 

 

[MC Prussian]

These 90ies ads and snippets are doing my head in. God only knows how we managed to survive the days of SD video - or grainy pictures.

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/sterling-media-criticism-makes-me-want-to-just-stay-home/ar-AAyuIfw?li=BBoPWjP&ocid=iehp

 

Feel for the guy.  We have such a toxic unhealthy relationship to our national team -  ''at any opportunity we will slaughter you''

 

Its been said by I forget which ex footballer and a few others, the media helps to make the fans toxic, our players are anxious enough, its just how it is with England these days

 

How are they supposed to go and play their heart out for their country when they get treated like they do in the press, compounded by booing.

 

The crowd towards Sterling during the Euros were awful and it was not warranted.  Never going to win anything or even do remotely well with support like that

[Footballwipe]

34 minutes ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

 

BRAAAAZIL BRAAAAZIL

 

Nothing beats this theme music though

 

 

1998 definitely the best TV WC in terms of TV intros from BBC or ITV, both seriously high quality and great in completely different ways. I was only eight (remember listening to Tunisia on the radio in my classroom!) but that whole month must've been utterly epic. Quality intros, quality matches. Peak.

[RoboFox]

Loving some of the kits this time around.

Lots of geometric shapes. A serious amount of throwbacks to the late 80s and 90s. 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44372211

[davieG]

World Cup 2018: England supporters have bought fewer tickets than Australia, Peru and Colombian fans

 Jamie Johnson 
12 JUNE 2018 • 9:30AM
As England prepare to board the plane to Russia, the number of fans following them has nosedived, with English World Cup ticket sales sluggish compared to other nations and twice as many sold to fans of Colombia.

Heightened political tensions between the UK and Russia, fears of racism and homophobia and the high cost of travel to the World Cup appears to have put some fans off, with just 32,362 tickets being sold to England supporters.

This number puts them 10th on the list of countries that have purchased tickets with 2,403,116 sold globally.

Russian fans have bought nearly half of them, with 871,797 - nearly 10 times as many as second place USA with 88,825. The USA did not qualify for the World Cup, and neither did China, whose fans have bought 40,251 tickets.

Ahead of England is Australia (36,359 tickets sold), Peru (43,583 tickets sold) and Colombia (65,234).

In Brazil at the 2014 tournament, England fans bought around 58,000 tickets.

As it stands, international demand accounts for 54 per cent of ticket sales, but they remain on sale until July 15.

Over 60,000 tickets have been sold to Colombia fans CREDIT: FERNANDO VERGARA/AP
Sales have been slow across the board and more than 100,000 tickets, which were previously reserved for other Fifa constituent groups, were made available on the Fifa website on a first-come, first-served basis on Friday evening.

Tickets were available for all matches.

The Foreign Office's official guidance on visiting Russia says: "Due to heightened political tensions between the UK and Russia, you should be aware of the possibility of anti-British sentiment or harassment at this time. If you’re currently in Russia or due to travel in the coming weeks, you’re advised to remain vigilant, avoid any protests or demonstrations and avoid commenting publicly on political developments."

Earlier this week, Danny Rose said that he asked his family not to travel to Russia to see him play because he was worried about racial abuse.

“I’m not worried for myself. But I’ve told my family I don’t want them going out there because of racism and anything else that may happen,” he said.

“I don’t want to be worrying, when I’m trying to prepare for games, for my family’s safety.

“My dad’s really upset. I could hear it in his voice. He said he may never get a chance again to come and watch me in a World Cup. That was emotional, hearing that. It’s really sad. It’s just how it is. Somehow Russia got the World Cup and we have to get on with it.”

England kick off their world cup campaign against Tunisia in Volgograd on Monday June 18, before travelling to Nizhny Novgorod to face Panama and then Kaliningrad to take on Belgium on June 28.

[Blue ROI]

21 hours ago, Footballwipe said:

1998 definitely the best TV WC in terms of TV intros from BBC or ITV, both seriously high quality and great in completely different ways. I was only eight (remember listening to Tunisia on the radio in my classroom!) but that whole month must've been utterly epic. Quality intros, quality matches. Peak.

I'm a big fan of Aztec Gold from 1986 myself.

 

 

[Blue ROI]

Reading the Irish examiner world cup preview last night and the profile on France was interesting.

 

N'Golo Kante was rated as the most important player in their squad.

 

The 4th favourites or so for the world cup. It's incredible to think how we spotted him and given how underwhelming we've been at times in our history how ahead of the curve we were. More so given that in 2014 Mahrez was our only player at a World Cup since 2002.

 

[Ted Maul]

30 minutes ago, Blue ROI said:

Reading the Irish examiner world cup preview last night and the profile on France was interesting.

 

N'Golo Kante was rated as the most important player in their squad.

 

The 4th favourites or so for the world cup. It's incredible to think how we spotted him and given how underwhelming we've been at times in our history how ahead of the curve we were. More so given that in 2014 Mahrez was our only player at a World Cup since 2002.

 

We've come such a long way. Last season was ultimately disappointing, but we're treading new ground in many areas- international players being one of them. It's going to be great to have 2 players featuring for England this year, never mind the other 8 to keep an eye on.

[shen]

23 hours ago, RoboFox said:

Loving some of the kits this time around.

Lots of geometric shapes. A serious amount of throwbacks to the late 80s and 90s. 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44372211

I dislike a lot of the number fonts. The rectangular ones?

Don't mind throwbacks, but World Cups always throw up some interesting and fresh jersey ideas and except for the ridiculous Nigerian shirt, I feel they lack originality and innovation.

[Jaspa]

Mbappe might've just sprained his ankle . . .

 

edit : some places are saying it's just a knock others coming out with out of the Tournement.

 

 

Edited 12 June 2018 by SpazticChicken

[Blue ROI]

5 hours ago, Ted Maul said:

We've come such a long way. Last season was ultimately disappointing, but we're treading new ground in many areas- international players being one of them. It's going to be great to have 2 players featuring for England this year, never mind the other 8 to keep an eye on.

10 players from the club involved is staggering.

 

Would have been great for Ireland involved only for Erikssen but Leicester adds a bit of interest. If there was one more player I could have said I will be supporting Leicester City's XI!

[MC Prussian]

@kushiro may be able to verify this, but from what I've been told by our media outlets surrounding the friendly last week, the Japanese national team is followed by roughly 150 journalists for the pre-World Cup and tournament phase. 150!