General World Cup News/Discussion

[narduch]

Qatar beat Honduras 1-0 in another friendly yesterday 

[narduch]

Pogba confirmed out of the World Cup due to injury 

[lamptern]

On 10/27/2022 at 2:25 PM, RS said:

This is strange. TSN wouldn't even be producing the games, they'll just be receiving the world feed from FIFA (which will be produced in 4K).

AND they have a 4K channel in use. Mediocre and pathetic would be words far from describing them accurately. I wonder they were not even asked about it from media.

Edited October 31, 2022 by lamptern

[red card]

Japan is first to announce their 26 man World Cup squad. 

13 were at Tokyo Olympics. 20 play in Europe. In 2010, only 4 played in Europe. 

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2022/11/01/soccer/international-soccer/japan-2022-world-cup-squad/

Edited November 1, 2022 by red card

[johnyb]

^

Edited November 1, 2022 by johnyb

[Bohdan]

Hello guys, where I can sell my tickets for WC, I am from Ukraine, and can't go, but have 2 tickets for Canada-Croatia, please help me.

 

[Free kick]

On 10/31/2022 at 8:37 AM, narduch said:

Qatar beat Honduras 1-0 in another friendly yesterday 

Odd.  The Qatar team that I saw playing against Canada looked like they couldn't have beaten Surinam or Haiti. Honduras played in the Ocho.  

[Kadenge]

4 hours ago, Free kick said:

Odd.  The Qatar team that I saw playing against Canada looked like they couldn't have beaten Surinam or Haiti. Honduras played in the Ocho.  

Honduras finished last in WCQ though. Based on their play during WCQ,  I would say Haiti and Surinam performed better  prior to the Octo. That NL away game in Honduras was literally a washout.

[Free kick]

20 minutes ago, Kadenge said:

Honduras finished last in WCQ though. Based on their play during WCQ,  I would say Haiti and Surinam performed better  prior to the Octo. That NL away game in Honduras was literally a washout.

Good point.  they only got in because they were gifted a spot in the Ocho.

[red card]

Argentine ad from their sports network that will be showing the World Cup.

Ilusión Argentina de Fútbol

 

[Free kick]

Mexico is remarkably consistent at the World cup.  So much so that they own records for Consistency

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

Marca has put together a list of all injuries leading up to the World Cup. Our group has amongst the least. Argentina and France have problems. Error not putting Kennedy as OUT, they didn't include Osorio as doubtful. Still a useful overview.

https://www.marca.com/futbol/mundial/2022/11/05/6363d1ed268e3e3b588b459e.html

[red card]

The world feed commentators that TSN will likely use ex Canada matches are much better than previous World Cups. Thankfully no John Helm who is a legend but at 80 is past his prime. I believe this might be the first time all matches will be called by duos.

With Peter Drury working for NBC, he's free to do the World Cup as the No. 1 announcer. There are also a number of announcers/analysts that work the Prem's world feed. For the first time, there will be female analysts including a NWSL manager. A con is that there won't be much style differentation and fulsome global perspective as nearly all are British and have worked or do work in the British media.

Analysts working the world feed will consist of 12 total people working in duos. The six groups are: Peter Drury and Alan Smith, John Roder and Casey Stoney, David Stowell and Lucy Ward, Daniel Mann and Andy Townsend, Simon Brotherton and Matt Holland, and Kevin Keatings and Efan Ekoku.

https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/world-cup-commentators-for-world-feed-broadcasts-revealed-20221102-WST-406571.html

Edited November 5, 2022 by red card

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

14 minutes ago, red card said:

The world feed commentators that TSN will likely use ex Canada matches are much better than previous World Cups. Thankfully no John Helm who is a legend but at 80 is past his prime. I believe this might be the first time all matches will be called by duos.

With Peter Drury working for NBC, he's free to do the World Cup as the No. 1 announcer. There are also a number of announcers/analysts that work the Prem's world feed. For the first time, there will be female analysts including a NWSL manager. A con is that there won't be much style differentation and global perspective as all are British and have worked or do work in the British media.

Analysts working the world feed will consist of 12 total people working in duos. The six groups are: Peter Drury and Alan Smith, John Roder and Casey Stoney, David Stowell and Lucy Ward, Daniel Mann and Andy Townsend, Simon Brotherton and Matt Holland, and Kevin Keatings and Efan Ekoku.

https://worldsoccertalk.com/tv/world-cup-commentators-for-world-feed-broadcasts-revealed-20221102-WST-406571.html

Decent group.  Can do without Smith and Roder is boringly competent. I like Townsend, Holland and Ekoku and their partners are good.  Haven't heard much from the rest as far as I know. 

[SthMelbRed]

Just now, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

Decent group.  Can do without Smith and Roder is boringly competent. I like Townsend, Holland and Ekoku and their partners are good.  Haven't heard much from the rest as far as I know. 

Andy Townsend is the Pound Shop Tim Sherwood, and if you know how little I think of Tactics Tim, you'll see that that's an even bigger insult than it seems on the surface. I really hope we get Drury and Smith for our matches.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

11 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

Andy Townsend is the Pound Shop Tim Sherwood, and if you know how little I think of Tactics Tim, you'll see that that's an even bigger insult than it seems on the surface. I really hope we get Drury and Smith for our matches.

You happened to be wrong, but that's not new and not a big deal .  Sherwood is so biased its not funny.  But Liverpool fans probably don't notice biased commentators because so many of them tell them what they want to hear.  What was Lawro's record predicting 'Pool unbeaten again?

Edited November 5, 2022 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[SthMelbRed]

Just now, WestHamCanadianinOxford said:

You happened to be wrong, but that's not new and not a big deal .  Sherwood is so biased its not funny.  But Liverpool fans probably don't notice biased commentators because so many of them tell them what they want to hear.  What was Lawro's record predicting 'Pool unbeaten again?

I don't care about any of their club allegiances. Lawro's shit. Beglin's shit. Both are ex-Reds. I don't like Townsend or Sherwood because neither ever says anything particularly insightful, and I find that Essex accent excruciating, to boot. 

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

3 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

I don't care about any of their club allegiances. Lawro's shit. Beglin's shit. Both are ex-Reds. I don't like Townsend or Sherwood because neither ever says anything particularly insightful, and I find that Essex accent excruciating, to boot. 

Need to learn a bit about accents, mate.  Townsend was born south of the River, grew up south of the River, his first club was south of the River. That's London (South) through and through. 

[red card]

Henry Bushnell of Yahoo Sports with a longish article providing context around the claims of deaths & slave labour conditions in relation to Qatar World Cup. He says misinformation conceals the true scandal.

 

- The widely regurgitated line about thousands of deaths stems in part from misreadings of a 2021 Guardian article... (The article did not state that those 6,500 were stadium workers, and later noted that there were 37 deaths "directly linked to construction of World Cup stadiums.")

- According to Qatari government figures, over 17,000 migrants of all nationalities have died in Qatar since 2010.

- What’s misunderstood is that, while some of those 17,000-plus helped build the World Cup...less than half of the country’s expats work in construction...The reported deaths cover Qatar’s entire migrant population of over 2 million. 

- In the U.S., for example, out of a random sampling of people aged 25-44, you’d expect 3,280 of every 2 million to die in a single calendar year, based on 2019 government data. There is nothing inherently scandalous about thousands dying in Qatar over an entire decade.

- According to Qatari officials, three people have died in work-related accidents while actively building World Cup stadiums. But dozens more have died while employed at those stadium sites. And hundreds, possibly thousands have died while employed on other construction projects that technically aren’t under the World Cup umbrella, but might not be happening if Qatar didn’t need to build $200 billion worth of infrastructure to host the World Cup.

- Over half of migrant worker deaths in Qatar have been attributed to “unknown causes,” or “natural causes” or “cardiovascular diseases” — explanations that experts find woefully insufficient...As Amnesty International and others have said, Qatar has failed to “adequately investigate and certify thousands of migrant workers’ deaths.” 

- There is no proof that the government has actively covered up the true causes of deaths....The world’s richest-per-capita country essentially built the 2022 World Cup by exploiting some of the poorest humans in some of the world’s poorest countries. The kafala system — the modern iteration of which stems from British colonialism {used in Gulf countries to largely build oil infrastructure in the 50s} — required those humans to sign away their rights to Qatari companies in order to obtain visas. 

- The workers kept on coming because even meager Qatari salaries — often in the range of US$3,000-$4,000 per year — could be transformative back home. Some 80% of South Asians live on less than $5.50 per day. 

- “While there have been improvements,” Amnesty wrote last year, “weak implementation and enforcement of these reforms mean that progress has been slow and legal changes have not yet fully translated into better protection for all migrant workers.” 

- “The legal abolition of kafala [was] really impressive,” and reforms were “very ambitious.” But to truly dismantle an exploitative system that has been engrained for decades, you can't just do it with the stroke of a pen.” You have to have a “plan for the progressive deconstruction of it,” and you have to “work on the attitudes that underpin the system.” You have to dismantle Qatar’s “de facto caste system based on national origin” Bahrain was the first to legally abolish kafala in 2009 but have been criticized for not enforcing compliance on companies.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by red card

[narduch]

Qatar beat Panama 2-1 yesterday 

[Free kick]

Gab Marcotti's picks.  He has Canada advancing.  He has a Bel-Bra final.

 

 

[Free kick]

Great piece!   IMHO, he hit out of the ballpark with these comments.   The time to complain about playing the world cup in Qatar in Nov., and about worker's rights, and Human rights, etc etc was 10 years ago when the world cup was awarded to Russia and Qatar. When they had never previously awarded two world cups in one voting session.   What could possibly have been not known twelve years ago?   That its hot in Qatar?  that you will have to build many stadiums in a desert climate condition?  

 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Free kick

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 hours ago, Free kick said:

Great piece!   IMHO, he hit out of the ballpark with these comments.   The time to complain about playing the world cup in Qatar in Nov., and about worker's rights, and Human rights, etc etc was 10 years ago when the world cup was awarded to Russia and Qatar. When they had never previously awarded two world cups in one voting session.   What could possibly have been not known twelve years ago?   That its hot in Qatar?  that you will have to build many stadiums in a desert climate condition?  

 

The point is: Russia had taken foreign territory and then annexed Crimea and they were gifted with a World Cup too. But the Brits obsess over Qatar, hypocrisy and racism is a tasty cocktail they make very well.

[red card]

We are still here, despite everyone and everything. Even though it's dark around us, we're ready for the break of dawn!

 

[Free kick]

Sends a chill up up the spine.  Between that and that inspirational speech from michael sheen. 

Edited November 8, 2022 by Free kick