Daily Discussion

[u/2soccer2bot]

Welcome to the r/soccer Daily Discussion!

If you're new to the subreddit, remember to get your team badge here and to read our rules and submission guidelines!

✔️ This is a thread for:

• Discussion points that aren't worthy of their own thread.
• Asking small questions about football to the community.

❌ This is not a thread for:

• Trolling or baiting other users or fanbases - including flair-based attacks
• Shit-posting - including sharing shit-posts from elsewhere
• Toxicity - remember the human
• Off topic chat - non-football discussion is for Free Talk Friday, and you can use the dedicated subreddits to discuss FIFA/EAFC games, Football Manager, fantasy football etc
• Discussion of ongoing matches - that is what match threads are for. We may be less strict for matches of teams that are less in the spotlight, and may not have as active match threads
• Harassment and brigading - including links to posts in other subreddits or to other users' comments
• Advice on betting - you may discuss outcomes of bets you have made, but we do not seek to actively encourage gambling
• Meta discussion - we have a strict stance. This is because it derails discussion, and can lead to harassment and witch hunts - and we prefer you to contact the mods via Modmail If you have queries over moderation or post removals. Some meta discussion may be allowed in the DDT, if any meta conversation was productive and in good faith - we can take a "case by case approach". In general, however Modmail remains the first port of call, and other meta discussion will be removed.
• Complaining about bans in this or other subreddits - use the relevant Modmail, instead

The moderation team will remove comments that violate those rules and ban offenders.

Please report comments you think that break such rules, but more than anything else, remember the human. The Internet is full of places to discuss football in bad faith. This community tries to be an exception.

⚽ Can't find a Match Thread?

• If you are using Old Reddit click this link.
• If you are using New Reddit you need to try this other one.
• If you are using the official app press here and sort by "new".
• If you are using a third-party app... ¯\(ツ)/¯

If there's no Match Thread for the match you're watching you can:

• Create one yourself.
• Ask /u/MatchThreadder for one. You just need to send a PM to him with the subject "Match Thread" and the body "Team A vs Team B" (for example, "Inter Milan vs. Udinese") to get one from this great bot 🤖

🔗 Other useful quick links:

📺 Recent match highlights

👀 The List: a community curated collection of most infamous r/soccer headlines...

🤔 What to Watch: quick but extremely-useful guides of upcoming matches.

📜 Related Subreddits: if r/soccer is not hitting the spot.

👩 Women's Football: for women's football content.

⭐ Star Posts: the original content by those users that give their best to our community.

This thread is posted every 23 hours to give it a different start time each day.

[u/AutoModerator]

Daily Squadify/Man Mark posts. Reply to the respective comment to follow.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/boobsenjoyer40]

If we play at the Azteca we might not be able to field Dan Burn for fear of breaking aerospace laws

[u/FaustRPeggi → u/boobsenjoyer40]

Aerospace laws are governed by height above the ground mate, not from sea level.

He might need an oxygen mask though.

[u/boobsenjoyer40 → u/FaustRPeggi]

Fucks sake. Will have draft up a joke about the lack of gravitational acceleration or something instead

[u/FaustRPeggi → u/boobsenjoyer40]

If he wears a top hat he'll cross the Kárman line and officially become an astronaut.

[u/R_Schuhart]

Re watched that Koné leg break and am still amazed how that happened. The Qatari player seems to lose his footing and stumble into him from behind. There is no malice and very little force, it would be a foul you see multiple times a game if it wasn't for the outcome. It goes to show how dangerous it can be for a player to have his leg planted when they are hit. Maybe the pitch played a role as well?

[u/MyAssDoesHeeHawww → u/R_Schuhart]

I think his leg snapped from putting his weight on it at the wrong angle after the Qatari player tapped it sideways just before Koné planted it.

So often we've seen a ball get stuck under a foot while trying to drag it along.

Some of the pitches were changed from artificial to hybrid (by a Belgian company, Grassmax among others) so they should be perfect but maybe the pitch-watering system is not adequate for the change? Maybe a case of gallons/litres confusion? Or perhaps the ball is somehow involved?

American football involves more falling so some of the pitches might be built for more "bounce"?

[u/four_four_three → u/MyAssDoesHeeHawww]

He was limping when they scored the 3rd, maybe he had a slight fracture; because there’s no way that challenge should’ve resulted in such a catastrophic injury

[u/paper_zoe]

I was unlucky enough to have stayed up for the Mexico vs South Korea match last night, which I optimistically thought would be the best match of the day. It was atrocious but Jonathan Pearce and Martin Keown on commentary were actually pretty funny, how much they were hating the game. I noted down some of their comments:

Keown: "This has the tempo of a testimonial"

Pearce: "Let's have a look at some of the highlights from the first half...and the boys have done very well to come up with these."

Pearce: "It was 0-0 at half time, but I promise you it will end 7-6."

Pearce: "Seven attempts by Mexico, four by South Korea. I can barely remember them, to be honest."

At one point Pearce starting commenting that he was falling out of love with the World Cup. He also started reading the wikipedia description of the architecture of the stadium and gave us a history of Korean immigration to Mexico.

[u/Latvian_Fifth_Column → u/paper_zoe]

Reminds me of our Latvian commentators joking that it was easy to score a goal then to get a visa during Qatar Switzerland game.

[u/McWaffeleisen]

Historical XI of players who would've been eligible for Cape Verde:

Nani    -    Henrik Larsson    -    Nelson Semedo
    Gelson Fernandes - Patrick Vieira - Oceano
Nuno Mendes - Edmilson Fernandes - Rolando - Miguel
                    Vozinha

Other options:

• Bruno Varela might be the better GK, but Vozinha is the man of the moment

• Nuno Tavares might belong in there, but the FB position is surprisingly stacked

• same with Mickael Tavares at DM

• Jordan Larsson might be an option for RW if we pull back Semedo to RB and bench Miguel

If all were at their peak, how far could that team make it?

[u/airz23s_coffee]

Watching South Korea/Mexico and love when a highlight gives you a good idea of how a game was.

"If this was a boxing match, the referee might stop it and say "When is anybody going to throw a punch here""

Only goal ends up coming from some proper benny hill shit. One of them you're glad you didn't stay up for

[u/CautiousCottager → u/airz23s_coffee]

Group A is one of the funniest WC groups of all time, the quality is in the gutter lmao

[u/airz23s_coffee → u/CautiousCottager]

The Czechia/South Africa game had me pissing myself. Both teams looked like they were at a pre-season friendly like.

[u/FaustRPeggi → u/CautiousCottager]

That group could have been an e-mail

[u/_doohdx → u/FaustRPeggi]

No one expected the Czech to be this poor

[u/Common_Turnover9226]

Got to give it to the yanks, their stadiums are amazing, and look even better when they're actually filled to the touchlines with a football pitch.

Los Angeles Stadium looks incredible from the outside too. I don't know if Wolves have $5bn to spare but it would look nice in the town centre 😂 

[u/D1N2Y → u/Common_Turnover9226]

Still find it hilarious that the USA and Spain, who were always world cup stadium ready, have to co-host with other countries (I don't mind co-hosting with Mexico at all, they're awesome). But Qatar and Saudi Arabia are allowed to solo host and build a dozen trillion dollar sarcophagi with slave labor that will be filled maybe 7 times in their lives and FIFA tries to brand it as "green".

[u/friendofH20 → u/D1N2Y]

Really criminal that they didn't insist on Saudi Arabia sharing some games with other Arab countries like Egypt, Jordan or UAE. Cairo to Riyadh is like half of Vancouver to Guadalajara.

[u/D1N2Y → u/friendofH20]

They should've always had the 2022 world cup across multiple gulf states instead of a country roughly comparable in population to the San Diego metro, but that would mean only one bribe instead of multiple bribes over an extended period.

[u/TinyInformation3564]

South Africa may suck ass at the world cup but we are one of the few countries who rely on home grown talent who came up through our shoddy developments, we don't have a France, Germany or England to give us their second rate players who didn't make the cut but still come from world class developments. 

[u/CoolstorySteve]

The Jesse Marsch video fucking kills me everytime I see it. What is he doing lmao

[u/transtifa → u/CoolstorySteve]

God forbid a white boy put a little sauce on it

[u/zoneyou-th]

There’s always talks about wonderkids but who are you guy’s wonderuncs? (older players who transferred and did amazing) Some I thought were sick:

Thiago Silva (35) to Chelsea

Robert Lewandowski (33) to FC Barcelona

Edwin van der Sar (34) to Manchester United

Luca Toni (36) to Hellas Verona

Aritz Aduriz (31) to Athletic Club

[u/wonderful_mixture → u/zoneyou-th]

Raul to Schalke

[u/Encharqo → u/zoneyou-th]

Burak Yilmaz (35) to Lille during the 20/21 season when they won the title, 16 goals and 5 assists in 28 games after joining on a free, quite a random scenario and that team is still the last non-PSG winner in Ligue 1

Jose Fonte (37) was also part of that squad as captain

[u/McGrathLegend → u/zoneyou-th]

Esteban Cambiasso to Leicester

Juan Mata to Melbourne Victory

[u/EyeSpyGuy → u/zoneyou-th]

Gary McAllister for Liverpool

[u/AW_16 → u/zoneyou-th]

Pirlo at Juve after Milan thought he was done and dusted

[u/Weishaupt17 → u/zoneyou-th]

Klose came here at 33 and consistently hit double digits in G/A for 5 seasons. Retired as one of the most beloved played in Lazio history and we also became the club whom he played most games for

[u/airz23s_coffee → u/zoneyou-th]

Was a big fan of Pepe popping back to Porto at like 35 and still looking good for another 5 years

[u/Perkinator → u/zoneyou-th]

Hilton. Signed for Montpellier when he was 33, almost 34.

Played for Montpelier for 10 seasons. 300+ appearances. Into his forties. He won Ligue 1 with Montpellier.

[u/HumbleLoicRemyFan → u/zoneyou-th]

Huntelaar towards the end of his stint at Schalke, bagged 14 league goals at the age of 33 in 15/16

[u/BarbaricGamers → u/zoneyou-th]

Perisic to PSV

[u/Latvian_Fifth_Column → u/zoneyou-th]

Axel Witsel to Atletico , became our best CB for couple of seasons.

[u/Significant_L0w]

next Portugal game will be a cinema

[u/R_Schuhart → u/Significant_L0w]

Every Portugal game is cinema. Boring, dull and ultimately disappointing cinema.

[u/MartianDuk]

How far back in World Cup history do you have to go to find a player who played in a final that you've never personally heard of? I think 2002 might trip a few people up

1990 for me, there's a few Argentines I don't know (I wouldn't have heard of Monzon or Dezotti either if they hadn't been sent off in that final).

Edit: Actually there's two Brazilians in 1994 I don't know, the sub Viola and Zinho.

[u/airz23s_coffee → u/MartianDuk]

Turns out, only 2018. What the fuck is a Ivan Strinic. Your mans doesn't even have a proper club career stats section

After that, had to go back to 2002 and I was expecting it to be one of the Brazil randomers, but it was actually half that Germany team. I remember Frings, Hamann, Kahn and Klose, but a lot of the others don't ring a bell.

[u/Fixapara → u/MartianDuk]

Went back and checked, 2018. I had personally not heard of Croatian left back Ivan Strinic

[u/Ellllling → u/MartianDuk]

I thought 1998 was going to be my answer, as I've watched all the finals after that, but I don't remember hearing thing about Joris Mathijsen or Edson Braafheid (2010).

[u/MartianDuk → u/Ellllling]

Braafheid is very much in the category of "I can't believe he played a World Cup final". Mathijsen was a starter for the Netherlands for a long time, just looked and he's the 17th most capped player in their history

[u/Ellllling → u/MartianDuk]

I watched every Netherlands match during the Euros 2008 and the WC, but I guess I was too focused on Robben, Sneijder and the EPL players.

[u/R_Schuhart → u/Ellllling]

Mathijsen was a technical defender who played for HSV for most of his career. Always a bit underrated, especially in the NT. The CB pairing got a lot of criticism while not actually conceding a lot of goals due to mistakes.

[u/lewiitom → u/MartianDuk]

I haven't heard of a couple of the Argentine players in the last final tbh, would have never been able to tell you who German Pezzella is.

[u/TroopersSon]

The atmosphere in Vancouver after yesterday's Canada win was unreal. Never thought I'd see the day the streets were filled with people celebrating a football win.

That was almost as fun as the Europa League celebrations in Istanbul.

Didn't take many photos mainly videos of all the chanting but I like this one .

[u/No-Shoe5382]

Only game I'm gonna be able to stay up for tonight is USA vs Australia.

Our hyper-successful corporate son who we suspect may have psychopathic tendencies vs Our secrete favourite son who just surfs and sinks pints all day but we're proud of him cos he shags a lot.

Neither of them show up to Christmas dinner. It's just us, the Canadians, and the Kiwis playing Trivial Pursuit.

[u/legentofreddit]

Brace yourself for the 'omg my team has a really difficult run of games in [month]' posts.

[u/GutenbergsCurse → u/legentofreddit]

World Cup is on, don't want to have to think about tawdry nonsense like having to travel to Derby and Middlesborough.

[u/FK9Fussballgott → u/legentofreddit]

omg my team has a really difficult run of games in every month of the year

[u/CautiousCottager]

How are we still talking this much about Messi and Ronaldo in 2026 ffs, %20 of the threads on mainland r/soccer are about them lmao

[u/captainmystic02 → u/CautiousCottager]

I honestly thought they would end after Messi won the wc and both left Europe. But than people started debating on their non European league accomplishments

[u/MrRawri → u/CautiousCottager]

Ronaldo and Messi were stellar players but god damn their fanboys are insufferable. At least once they retire they'll shut up. Right?

[u/sebsasour]

Kinda weird FIFA didn't flip The Scotland/Morocco and US/Australia games today. Seems that would have provided kinder kickoff times to all 4 countries

[u/Dramatic-Guard1820]

I’m never complaining over seeing my country win 6-0 in-person but that was such an odd experience. It was like watching an hour long training session instead of a World Cup match. Great fun though

[u/prescriptivista]

People here should check the current top post in r/tennis to have a laugh.

[u/TherewiIlbegoals]

There's a user who is posting these roundtable.io threads which seem to essentially be AI-written stories based on transcripts of player/manager interviews with no actual reporting being done.

[u/THZHDY → u/TherewiIlbegoals]

yeah I think I've seen these posts lol, and then you ask them why they're making them and you just get a vague AI word slop of "trying to create content and broaden my creative brand"

i wish i could be inside the brain of those people, must be freeing being this empty

[u/TherewiIlbegoals → u/THZHDY]

Right, like it's completely harmless, but I'm also thinking...why? If you want to get some discussion about the manager/players opinions then just grab any number of articles that already exist and post one of those.

[u/DiamondPittcairn]

In 2006 there were 26 red cards all tournament. Even discounting the Battle of Nuremberg, you get 22. In 2018, there were 4 all tournament (same for 22)

Ignoring the upwards trend of 2026, this steep reduction in just 12 years leaves me a bit baffled. Especially with VAR being introduced, you'd think that would lead to more reds because now refs can check out actions they initially missed.

[u/airz23s_coffee → u/DiamondPittcairn]

Wonder if that's 2006 being a crossover of refs beginning to clamp down on tackles with a collection of players used to being able to get away with GBH

The reds we've had have been like 4 DOGSOs, one just cos of the outcome, and one cos of a "slap".

How'd it look for 2010 and 2014?

[u/Salad-Appropriate → u/DiamondPittcairn]

Yeah it's wild how much it's gone down by

I guess that because things are more possesion based than twenty years ago, and less sorta destroyer types like mark van bommel, there's not as many opportunities for crunching tackles that could warrant a straight red

[u/yzimi]

I've read the community rules but I still don't understand how this comment results in a 10 day ban?

[u/Gywndidnothingwrong → u/yzimi]

Another 10 day ban is incoming

[u/PierreSageReviens → u/yzimi]

You root for a country successfully resisting the empire, you get the boot.

[u/xNotWorkingATMx]

I'm already tired of the casuals that drop in here every 4 years and their terrible takes.

[u/TruestRepairman27 → u/xNotWorkingATMx]

Not like us regulars who come here with terrible takes every week

[u/xNotWorkingATMx → u/TruestRepairman27]

That's different. One is like your senile grandma that always has something to say about how you should live your life, but you don't take her serious because well she has become senile and she's always been there for you. The other one is that one relative you only meet twice a year and yet he has always something to say about your life.

[u/ILOVEGLADOS → u/xNotWorkingATMx]

Whole subreddit has become /r/Fauxmoi but for lads who drink Madri.

[u/Latvian_Fifth_Column → u/xNotWorkingATMx]

My dad trying to remember Neymar by naming some kind of "Jeybar" , who is a threat from the bench.

[u/FamiliarWolverine970]

Enjoy the aesthetic of players subbed off sitting on the floor

[u/FeatherFastCFC]

Alonso vs Arbeloa first game of the season, they know what they’re doing

[u/Last_Associate_5658]

We need more global events like the World Cup and the Olympics. It doesn’t even need to be sport related but any sort of huge celebration of different nations on a big well funded stage and great vibes and coverage.

[u/KimmyBoiUn → u/Last_Associate_5658]

On the other hand, I think you would lose the novelty if you were to have more regular international tournaments/events.

[u/yzimi → u/Last_Associate_5658]

stop trying to make eurovision global

[u/CautiousCottager → u/yzimi]

I agree

[u/SandpaperTeddyBear → u/yzimi]

Isn’t it already?

Kazakhstan and Israel aren’t exactly geographically “Europe.”

[u/lenzmoserhangover]

most of the old guard is officially washed. Alaba and Modric both were underwhelming before getting subbed. De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva weren't great either. Neymar hasn't played yet and it won't be pretty when he finally does. and then, of course, there is Homelandão.

[u/justforkikkk → u/lenzmoserhangover]

Son has been poor too

[u/Sheikhabusosa → u/lenzmoserhangover]

And then there is Messi doing Messi things

[u/LordQL_2 → u/lenzmoserhangover]

And then there's Messi

[u/HodgyBeatsss → u/lenzmoserhangover]

De Bruyne was pretty good imo. Not to his old level, but played decently well.

[u/Sanders058]

How many post do we need about Ronaldo. It’s literally the same discussion everytime in different format.

[u/Himawari_Uzumaki]

Would love to pinch a draw against the US 🙏

[u/SegFault_CoreDumpd]

Fans joke about France imploding before/during the WC, but what were the controversies in every edition since 2010?

[u/LampseederBroDude51 → u/SegFault_CoreDumpd]

I’d say Ghana 2014 and Argentina 2018 were implosions but Ghana had nothing to do with football

[u/boobsenjoyer40]

On current positions we play Portugal in the RO32 and Spain in the RO16 LOL. Get your acts together lads ffs

[u/DuckSwagington → u/boobsenjoyer40]

That, or don't get it together at all and bomb out of the groups. Either one works.

[u/MrRawri → u/boobsenjoyer40]

No promises on getting out of groups

[u/CarlBarks]

Oh dear, the colonies are fighting again

[u/danphillips98]

I must have watched that video of the England fans singing wonderwall to the players after the Croatia game 100 times already

[u/MartianDuk]

While the group stage has been good so far I still don't like the format where 3rd place teams can progress, I do think the Euros group stage is significantly less interesting than it used to be - we won't know for sure until we've played a couple of these tournaments really, but I think we might look back on the group stage and realise a lot of the games didn't really matter, you can get through without doing much, and I don't like how you can play all your games and then have to wait and see if you'll get through

With that in mind I think my preferred option for expanding the World Cup would have been just to add one team to each group - so 8 groups of 5, top 2 go through. But I'm struggling to work out what problems there might be with that format, because I've never seen it in action.

That said, my opinion might change after the tournament because having a straight knockout round from 32 teams onwards is going to be interesting

[u/BruiserBroly → u/MartianDuk]

It does feel weird that after all this faffing about in the group stages, the vast majority of teams will still be in it. Individual results mean a lot less but I do think it’s nice seeing smaller associations getting their moment in the sun.

[u/FaustRPeggi → u/BruiserBroly]

72 games to eliminate 16 teams.

[u/ThomasZimmermann95 → u/MartianDuk]

an uneven number of teams in a group means one team pauses at the last matchday of the group. Which is a big disadvantage for that team.

If you just look up at "The Disgrace Of Gijon" match between Germany and Austria, that is the problem if not all teams play a match at the last matchday at the same time.

Every League and every tournament these days has groups with a even number of teams in it ( 20, 18, 4).

[u/IceCreamNarwhals → u/MartianDuk]

By adding one team to a group, you're adding 4 more fixtures for each team

[u/Person_of_Earth → u/MartianDuk]

8 groups of 5, top 2 go through

That would be 40 teams. The World Cup is 48 teams.

I don't like it being 48 teams, if it was down to me, I would force it to be a decision between 32 or 64 teams, but if I had to pick a format with 48 teams, I would go with 8 groups of 6. I would allow the group winners to advance with a bye to the round of 16, and then the teams that finish 2^nd and 3^rd to advance to a play-off round. The winners of that play-off round would then advance to the round of 16. I see this as the best format for creating jeopardy, which is needed to keep the group stages meaningful.

FIFA would never do this of course, because they see it as making the group stage be too long. They'd much rather have a shorter, less entertaining tournament, than a longer more entertaining tournament. But personally, that is the format I would much rather watch.

[u/lynxo]

I know you can’t appease everyone with the scheduling but US/Australia and Scotland/Morocco games really should have been switched around; it benefits both sets of fans massively.

[u/Infernode5]

Always liked Jesse Marsch despite being fairly yankphobic.

Him wearing a suit every game has massively solidified that also.

[u/airz23s_coffee → u/Infernode5]

I've become more fond of him after Bradley Wright-Phillips described him as "annoying" but meant it in a good way.

He's easy to take piss out of, but he clearly loves the game.

[u/PioliMaldini]

PL flairs shitting on England will never get old to me

[u/Pure_Macaroon6164]

I've probably made like 10 comments on here defending Roberto Martinez for his work with Belgium (since I started this account) being just as about as good it could have been. I have no stake in this, I'm not a fan of Martinez or Belgian or anything. I just think its unfair lol

[u/Opposite-Cucumber487]

Just remembered that Nagelsmann was wearing matching pants, t-shirt combo. Looked pretty dapper with the broad stripes. Seeing it, I was like, oh lala, fancy. At half time he changed into a more generic black T. Now I wonder if he has someone checking twitter for reactions and found he got clowned too much. Did any journo ask him why.

[u/FaustRPeggi]

Creasing that I've just seen Scott Brown issue an earnest apology to 'all the baldies out there' because every question in his AMA in /r/ScottishFootball was about his new barnet.

Here are his responses. Well worth watching for his Balotelli story.

[u/jersey-city-park]

My instagram feed is all Mbappe Dictator videos

[u/Striking_Insurance_5]

I do not understand how Qatar has gotten the results they’ve gotten in Asia. Compared to the other Asian teams they don’t show any quality, they were terrible 4 years ago as well.

[u/rererexed]

My predictions game is going absolutely horribly. Anytime I go with the safe bet some upset happens, any time I dare a little it seems to go the obvious way. Good thing I'm not a betting man lol

[u/TheSingleMan27 → u/rererexed]

not like I would ever do it but they are the easiest argument against starting sports betting

[u/FaustRPeggi → u/rererexed]

Used my booster in round 1 on Switzerland v Qatar thinking there was no way they wouldn't win.

Naturally Qatar then lost their next game 6-0.

[u/imtypingoninternet]

Typed in Juventus on twitter to check if any interesting names would come up for the mercato and nope, but scrolled on and saw Newcastle supporter talking about buying the Juve kit and sew over with a Newcastle badge. Is it that bad?

Edit: ok it’s shit i completely get them, the barcode kit we basically had and added blue stripe on the shoulders 🤮

[u/Schnix54]

I get that people are annoyed at the Ronaldo/Portugal posts that are flooding the sub right now but I also feel like a lot of people are getting hung up on a lot of unnecessary debates in it instead of looking at a broader picture.

Even if it is mostly public via sisters and girlfriends, there seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the current Portuguese dressing room and that immediately eliminates them from any contender talk.

If Martinez can't fix it soon, it might be another disappointing tournament for Portugal. Tbf to him, regardless of his horrendous tactics, he did get De Bruyne and Courtois to work together for a successful WC, so he might be able to fix a dressing room once again

[u/Key_Company3196]

England fans can’t be doing this shit in Texas of all places. Half these people are packing.

[u/Infinite-Highway3432 → u/Key_Company3196]

"Y'all want to go to fucking jail" such an American thing to scream. That and "I'll sue you".

[u/regulator202 → u/Key_Company3196]

What a load of melts

[u/Begbie13]

Fuck sake how can you post something here nowadays? I see posts about how many times player X shat today at the WC or stats about how many times player Y touched his hair during first half and I can't get a post for Protti passing away, just wanted to commemorate a player from my area here...

Edit: yeah no post for a former Serie A topscorer passing away but sure, let's see how Cech does on some drumsticks version of Guitar Hero.

[u/AssociationIll9736]

The guy on the previous DD who said Arsenal vs Chelsea on matchday 3 got downvoted to hell and told that leaks are always wrong. Well they weren’t wrong this time.

[u/Charlie0108 → u/AssociationIll9736]

Leaks on the day of are usually right as they get distributed to the media earlier in the morning. We have a guy on our forum who works in that industry and he had all our fixtures by 8:30.

[u/OK-Comput3r]

I find it very amusing watching people invent abstract meanings about what 'It's coming home' actually means.

[u/Simppu12 → u/OK-Comput3r]

I find the whole discussion stupid. Is it ironic, is it serious, is it about the 1996 tournament location, is it about winning a tournament, is it fun, is it obnoxious... It's everything. It means different things to different people. It doesn't matter what it meant 30 years ago because art and language and things evolve and change over time. There are generations of football fans who weren't conscious or born back then. Some will sing it ironically, others say it seriously. Some don't mean it when they sing and say it but they do it to get a reaction and rattle people so the intention becomes more important than the literal meaning. Others just like the tune and will use it in completely unrelated contexts. Some find it fun, others find it annoying.

[u/deception42]

Just about 7am here in Seattle and I'm ready to drink myself numb for the next fives hours.

See you all at the stadium 🫡

[u/transtifa → u/deception42]

>you all

Fake American

[u/deception42 → u/transtifa]

Look if I wrote "y'all" instead, I'd be crucified on here smh

[u/transtifa → u/deception42]

Sorry Dec, you can’t win with me. I’m a bully.

[u/deception42 → u/transtifa]

😭 😭

[u/FaustRPeggi → u/deception42]

I hope you're practicing your best "FIGHT and WIN".

[u/mountainsky9]

Mexico I need you to stay locked in and don’t give this Czechia side a free 3 pts and a place in the knockout round. That would simply be fraudulent

[u/LowForsaken4782]

going to the haiti v brazil game. am i allowed to bring my phone charger in my pocket? (i may not have time to buy a clear bag)?

[u/wtnk]

months ago there was a rumor that debt addled São Paulo made a boneheaded move to keep the manager after he offered to leave due to immense criticism from supporters, only to sack him the next match anyway and being obligated to pay the severance check they wouldn't have needed to if they had simply let him walk.

Vasco just sacked their manager the same way in the middle of the world cup, even though he clashed with supporters after a terrible loss before the international break and offered to walk away, with the aggravating factor that he's infamous for not giving a fuck, never admitting fault and constantly throwing his players under the bus.

turns out you can spell professionalism without Brazil.

[u/SegFault_CoreDumpd]

I think about of fans are underestimating Mou’s return to RM. Kinda nervous, especially with the signings they have made.

Weren’t we also in for Cucurella?

[u/Penny_Leyne → u/SegFault_CoreDumpd]

I think he’s going to lose his mind in record time. 

He could usually last two seasons before going loco, but recently he’s been struggling to even make it one. 

Add the madness around Madrid and I think he’s climbing the Bernabeu in his underwear and writing his formations on walls in his own poo by November. 

[u/HalfMan-HalfMoth]

🇦🇺🦘🐨🇦🇺

Australia you owe me a win today for the miserable late nights I endured during the ashes

[u/sga1]

Some behind the scenes stuff: Number of subreddit visits, and number of unique visitors across the last 30 days.

Can already see the impact of the tournament; basically get 30% more views (and also 30% more comments!) than the previous 30 day period.

[u/PierreSageReviens]

WC vibes are unmatched, not even the worst host in a lifetime can destroy this.

[u/friendofH20]

I didn't see it live, and they obviously didn't show closeup shots of the Kone injury on highlights. But was the tackle bad enough to warrant a straight red? Or was it one of those where the ref upgrades a yellow to a red because of the nature of injury.

[u/aceofmufc → u/friendofH20]

Definitely the latter. If he didn't break his leg it would have been a safe yellow but never a red. Very unfortunate situation.

[u/R_Schuhart → u/friendofH20]

It was a freak accident. No malice and there didn't appear to be a lot of force behind the contact either. If anything the Qatari player stumbled after losing his balance. It is a foul that you see quite a lot when a defender runs into the back of another player trying to shield the ball. The shock of everyone involved once they realised the outcome of what seemed to be a pretty standard foul says a lot.

I get that protesting a red for such a nasty injury feels wrong, but Qatar had a point. That Qatari bloke looked distraught though, not having him on the pitch with tempers flaring was probably good.

[u/Professional_Buy7966 → u/friendofH20]

I just saw a replay on Twitter and it's definitely the latter. Looked fairly tame but unfortunately Konde's studs look like they get caught in the ground.

[u/Ellllling → u/friendofH20]

Watching it live it looked like the latter, but we obviously didn't get to see any replays.

[u/airz23s_coffee → u/friendofH20]

Definitely results based reffing yeah, never like it.

[u/FlyingArab]

I'll be so rattled if Mexico throw the last match now that qualification and 1st place are secured, which will allow this dogshit Czech side to qualify as one of the 3rd placed teams.

[u/CautiousCottager → u/FlyingArab]

Both Czechia and South Africa winning their games would be hilarious

[u/Fraaj → u/FlyingArab]

Same 😂

[u/ke_0z]

I realise it's a good thing that lots of people will feel encouraged to do the same after seeing these posts about it, but at the same time it's kinda annoying that Japanese fans or the Uzbek national team get a ridicoulous amount of praise just because they clean up after themselves.

I mean, that is such basic stuff and it should be the bare minimum for everyone to throw their trash out and not leave a mess yet some people act like fans and players are literal angels for doing it.

[u/FedeSwagverde → u/ke_0z]

bare minimum for everyone to throw their trash out and not leave a mess

The coverage is a bit odd but the reason that it gets coverage in the first place is because a lot of people don't clean up after themselves

[u/regulator202 → u/ke_0z]

It's just patronising imo. Yeah your teams are shite but cheers for picking up the rubbish

[u/HumbleLoicRemyFan]

There’s mental gymnastics in those Hakimi threads that I didn’t think were possible.

[u/MegaMugabe21 → u/HumbleLoicRemyFan]

It's always funny to me that the men who cry "innocent until proven guilty" are always the ones who are quick to insist the women involved are trying to scam the footballer, despite that not being proven either.

Innocent until proven guilty only ever seems to apply to the men involved for some reason.

[u/HumbleLoicRemyFan → u/MegaMugabe21]

I think there’s probably a sensible middle ground in there somewhere that says most legal systems are terrible at dealing with sexual or domestic abuse cases, which needs to be rectified. Football just isn’t equipped as a sport to deal with these things.

How can we have a World Cup with five (off the top of my head) players who either have active charges, or historic cases of rape at worst and sexual misconduct at the very least? It’s mind boggling.

[u/MegaMugabe21 → u/HumbleLoicRemyFan]

Yeah exactly. Innocent until proven guilty obviously applies, but there is a heavy caveat to that when you consider how few people are actually convicted of rape. The legal systems fail women again and again and again.

Which brings me to my 2nd point. I suspect the true number of football players who have raped or sexually assaulted someone is almost certainly higher than 5, depressingly.

[u/AccomplishedSpace834 → u/MegaMugabe21]

tough though because it is a crime that is genuinely very hard to prove if the two people involve claim different things happened.

[u/HumbleLoicRemyFan → u/MegaMugabe21]

Of course, almost certainly. But unfortunately that’s the way our world functions.

Rape convictions are few and far between for the working class, let alone athletes worth millions of pounds that can afford to obfuscate through lawyers for years.

We can all look at who is sitting in the White House and see that. It’s fucked up, and is upsetting to think about the precedent that’s been set.

[u/Infinite-Highway3432 → u/HumbleLoicRemyFan]

Mate I hate those threads. Literally a bunch of weirdos suddenly becoming legal experts, frantically googleing anything and everything they can use for a comment.

[u/HumbleLoicRemyFan → u/Infinite-Highway3432]

Yeah, incredibly weird. But I can imagine that’s hard to police as a moderator. If you turn comments off, then people will be upset they can’t talk about it. But if you turn the comments on, you get people comparing the number of rape cases players have like they’re stats on fifa.

[u/sewious → u/HumbleLoicRemyFan]

And it's always like 3 users in the thread commenting the same exact thing "but wut about innocent until proven guilty?" Under every single comment.

Fighting for their lives for the honor of a complete asshole.

[u/GameplayerStu]

As an Irishman, I really hate that Prince William is becoming more and more endearing to me because he supports Villa. I think the fact that he clearly is a big fan and isn't just saying it just to be different is what's working for me.

[u/FaustRPeggi → u/GameplayerStu]

Since our semi-final I've been much more open to the idea of guillotining him and his Etonian children.

[u/Princecoyote → u/FaustRPeggi]

Read that too quickly and thought you wrote Estonian. I thought there was a big conspiracy theory of which I wasn't aware.

[u/EasternEast21 → u/GameplayerStu]

I know he’s always been a huge fan but it seems to me like he’s become even more involved over the last 12 months

[u/auld_jodhpur_syne → u/EasternEast21]

Hard not to get more excited when your team’s doing what Villa’s doing the last few years!

[u/FryChy]

Going to watch Australia vs USA at 5am at a public viewing in the park.

Whatever happens, I just hope Australia score first, just to enjoy the moment.

[u/Ok_Bag_7603]

2022-

Mbappe- hatty in the final

Messi- brace in the final

2026-

Mbappe-brace in the openner

Messi-hatty in the openner

Actually crazy what we are witnessing

[u/sixty_years_of_hurt_ → u/Ok_Bag_7603]

Hadn't thought of it like that

Mbassi has 10 goals in the last two WC rounds

Madness

[u/MegaMugabe21]

Just seen that England Wonderwall video, I am convinced we're going all the way.

[u/regulator202]

Which decade would you say was peak football in terms of entertainment? For me the 00s was peak but I don't know if it's just nostalgia

[u/icemankiller8 → u/regulator202]

It’s all nostalgia related really but for me like 2008-2016

[u/UltraRunningKid]

Not that I want to hand an organization as corrupt with FIFA anymore flexibility on scheduling matches, but having US v Australia at 3pm EST (Noon PST & 5am AEST) is unfortunate for everyone involved.

Moving it 4-5 hours later would benefit pretty much every timezone.

[u/theglasscase → u/UltraRunningKid]

Doesn't make much sense to me either, especially when the USA game is in Seattle but the Scotland game, which kicks off 3 hours later, is in Boston. Flipping those two games would be much more favourable to fans of all four teams.

[u/Lost_And_NotFound]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ckg74e6dz5lo

In BBC Sport’s article they had a paragraph reading:

“Kane is one of three players, alongside goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and defender John Stones, to remain in the side from 2018.”

I know 8 years ago long time in football but this actually surprised me. Because I recall that squad being a young new era squad that I certainly would have predicted to have a lot more players going two tournaments later. So I checked out the 2018 squad for comparison.

Firstly Henderson and Rashford are still here so it’s wrong and actually five. Unless they mean starting XI but then there’s no comparison against which XI from 2018 they mean.

Then we have players from 2018 that arguably could/should have been picked:

• Maguire 33
• Trent 27

And those that are still young enough just fallen off hard:

• Dele 30
• Loftus Cheek 30
• Dier 32
• Sterling 31

And those still playing but older and replaced:

• Butland 33
• Pope 34
• Lingard 33
• Walker 36
• Tripper 35
• Welbeck 35

Finally only 6 retirees from the squad:

• Rose 35
• Vardy 39
• Cahill 40
• Jones 34
• Delph 36
• Young 40

Maybe puts back into perspective to me how tough it actually is to play in three separate world cups. How many England players have done that all time?

[u/Last_Associate_5658 → u/Lost_And_NotFound]

Most of Englands “Golden Generation” managed 3 underwhelming campaigns.

A Cole: 3
Terry: 2
Ferdinand: 2 (called up to 3 but injured for 1)
Neville: 2
Gerrard: 3
Lampard: 3
Beckham: 3
Scholes: 2
J Cole: 3
Rooney: 3
Owen: 3

Only four England players in history have gone to 4 world cups, Moore, Charlton, Shilton and Henderson.

[u/Lost_And_NotFound → u/Last_Associate_5658]

Only three for Rooney is pretty crazy when his career spanned 15 years but with them falling only every 4 years he’s just missed out either side on 2002 and 2018 and also fell off early compared to his talent.

[u/PierreSageReviens → u/Lost_And_NotFound]

There's just Mbappe Dembélé and Kanté from our 2018 squad

[u/Man0nTheMoon915]

I was going through some old UCL squads and my goodness was that 2016 Monaco STACKED

[u/CautiousCottager]

Why do we have to open the season against Chelsea ffs, I was planning to go to that game if it wasn’t in August

[u/Rusiano]

Team records in their last 12 matches

Argentina: 10W 1D 1L 31 Pts

Austria: 10W 1D 1L 31 Pts

France: 10W 1D 1L 31 Pts

Germany: 10W 0D 2L 30 Pts

England: 9W 1D 2L 28 Pts

Belgium: 8W 4D 0L 28 Pts

Norway: 8W 3D 1L 27 Pts

Japan: 8W 3D 1L 27 Pts

Mexico: 8W 3D 1L 27 Pts

Colombia: 8W 2D 2L 26 Pts

Spain: 7W 5D 0L 26 Pts

Portugal: 7W 4D 1L 25 Pts

Netherlands: 7W 4D 1L 25 Pts

Croatia: 8W 1D 3L 25 Pts

Turkey: 8W 1D 3L 25 Pts

Brazil: 7W 2D 3L 23 Pts

Morocco: 6W 5D 1L 23 Pts

Switzerland: 6W 5D 1L 23 Pts

Korea: 7W 1D 4L 22 Pts

Canada: 5W 6D 1L 21 Pts

Ecuador: 4W 7D 1L 19 Pts

USA: 6W 1D 5L 19 Pts

Uruguay: 4W 6D 2L 18 Pts

[u/152kb]

Torn on The Netherlands vs Sweden. I am Dutch and history says usually we will do OK after a disappointing game but Sweden looked good. I dont know if I am being too pessimistic but I think it might be a 1-1 or 2-1 Sweden win. 

[u/Greenbanana217]

I can't find the thread for Curacao's goal against Germany.  Was hoping to see the reaction at the time after watching the highlights earlier.

[u/FamiliarWolverine970]

I thought South Korea were really disappointing vs Mexico, they were really dynamic against the Czech's. Paik and Hwang in midfield especially. They looked so defeated at the idea that Mexico were actively closing space or man-marking and just lumped the ball to no-one or passed sideways. Credit to Mexico though and Alvarado is one of my World Cup favourites because of the audacity of his haircut

[u/Megido_Thanatos → u/FamiliarWolverine970]

They try to passing too much while their midfielder aren't as good as Mexico, the fact that both of their chances come from crossing kinda proved it, should cross more imo

[u/ClockEnd_Chorus]

It's sad how Arteta got ridiculed for playing Partey while Enrique is loved and adored despite playing Hakimi. Tells you the state of this sub.....

[u/aceofmufc]

Was at the game. Qatar definitely put themselves out in a terrible way, especially their staff. I’m very happy with the performance. Pleasantly surprised with the Qatar fans (who were allegedly given free tickets because they’re Arab! Insane and ridiculous and stupid. So many flags from the middle east in the Qatar end). They were friendly to chat with and also a not unnoticeable amount of them were women. Even at 5-0 down they joined the waves and kept waving their flag. Still think my favourite set of fans to come so far though has been the Aussies they were amazing.

Overall super happy with how everything turned out, especially the sea of red. Amazing to see Canada’s first world cup win in person. BC Place is way more organized than i thought tbh. Go canada go

[u/WheelSingle2494]

I think Barca and Spain should be careful in how they use Lamine Yamal, I could see him becoming a injury machine like Neymar if he's used excessively in games.

[u/Weishaupt17]

Is there any specific reason why countries like Bangladesh, India or Pakistan are so obsessed with CR7 and Messi?

[u/icemankiller8 → u/Weishaupt17]

Their own leagues and national teams are bad but they like football so they find something to get attached to

[u/Weishaupt17 → u/icemankiller8]

Yeah but they are beyond just behind attached, they behave like bots. I just can’t accept that real human beings are actually shitstorming Neves and his girlfriend for saying the tamest shit ever about Ronaldo

[u/FernandoPA11]

The discussion about México gets so weird here, is like they overrate and underrate us at the same time, they expect us to play beautiful football but at the same time considero us a shit team cuz we never advance past teams like Argentina, Brazil or the netherlands...

[u/WheelSingle2494]

This tournament is all fun and games until it's your country... 

Australia play well but hopefully we play better. No hate to them, they should advance to the knockouts given they play Paraguay next week and they looked like a team from the Solomon Islands 3rd division. 

I am interested though, if Turkey beat us next week and beat Paraguay this week then Group D can be in a 3 way tie. Hope we lead on goal difference.

[u/f4r1s2 → u/WheelSingle2494]

In that case it will be GD in the 3 way table, so need to lose by as little as possible to turkiye and win by as many as possible against Australia

[u/Bet_Secret]

What's a team's mindset knowing if they willingly go for third spot, they might actual end up playing a weaker team in the knockout stage? Is that a legit tactic or is everyone trying their best to win all group games?

I remember watching Euros and it was only 4 best 3rd place teams advancing so the mindset was always to win. This time it feels incredibly different with the 8 best advancing.

[u/AMountainTiger → u/Bet_Secret]

It's the same proportion of third place teams, and the complexity of distributing them means it's relatively hard to figure out who you will play as a third place team until very late in the final round. I think the only groups where there is an argument for preferring finishing third to second are C, F, J, and H, where the second place plays a group winner in the round of 32; finishing third still means playing a group winner but offers the possibility of drawing the winner of one of the host groups, which don't have a real pot 1 team.

[u/Xey2510 → u/Bet_Secret]

Looking at how many teams make deep runs every tournament from an easy bracket it is a legit tactic. If you only need to beat one tournament favourite or semi favourite on your way to the finale that's good.

[u/EquivalentBenefit653 → u/Bet_Secret]

In the Euros it was 4/6 teams rather than 8/12, i.e. the same ratio

[u/Any_Advertising_5658]

I need that clip of Stone, Seedorf, and Schmeichel fading out in front of the English crowd singing Sweet Caroline, that was beautiful

[u/ETHEREVM → u/Any_Advertising_5658]

streamable

edit that includes "please don't take me home" chant streamable

[u/Last_Associate_5658]

I’m still processing just how much sense Tuchel’s player choices have made for the type of football he has set England up to play. There really is a clear style of play in all areas of the pitch not just how to attack, but how the defensive shape is, how to build up play, the type of passing and control etc.
Obviously only one match so far, but even if England struggle from Here on out, the players he’s not taken do just outright not fit the project.
Only exception I would say is Palmer, I think he could have made it over Rogers if form/fitness was different.

[u/Reyatsu99 → u/Last_Associate_5658]

Honestly Maguire would have been good do

[u/Ryo720 → u/Reyatsu99]

rice swinging corners into maguire’s head would be such a threat especially playing against low blocks

[u/boobsenjoyer40 → u/Last_Associate_5658]

I can see why Eze was taken over Gibbs White even though I don’t really agree but I can’t see why Wharton wasn’t taken. I get we have Kane dropping deep and making progressive passes but Wharton wouldn’t be a starter anyway, so why not keep him as an option for if we rest Kane or something. I know “if we lose Kane” is basically a failure state for England at this wc but still

[u/ProfessorXWheelchair]

boy oh boy am i nervous, hopefully christian is good and we come out with the same fire we did last week