FIFA World Cup 2018

[GA!]

1 hour ago, Liam Mk2 said:

Imagine how much more quality we will see in 2026 when there are 48 teams! 

Imagine Qatar opening proceedings in 2022. 

[DFF]

1 hour ago, Liam Mk2 said:

Imagine how much more quality we will see in 2026 when there are 48 teams! 

I've just had a quick look at the FIFA rankings and done a 'back of the beer mat' list to see who would potentially be there:
 

Spoiler

AFC (8): Australia, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, China, UAE
CAF (9): Tunisia, Senegal, Congo DR, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso
CONCACAF (6): Mexico, Canada, USA (all as hosts), Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama
CONMEBOL (6): Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Colombia
OFC (1): New Zealand
UEFA (16): Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Poland, Spain, Denmark, England, Netherlands, Wales, Italy, Croatia, Iceland, Sweden, Austria

If I've read it correctly, the final 2 spots are battled for in a 6 team play-off. The five non-UEFA confederations send one representative, and the confederation that is hosting gets 1 extra. Based on the FIFA rankings, we could theoretically end up the following in the play-offs:
AFC: Lebanon
CAF: Mali
CONCACAF: Honduras, El Salvador
CONMEBOL: Paraguay
OFC: Solomon Islands

Paraguay and Honduras would receive a bye / be seeded. 

 

[Gazz]

Already drooling at the prospect of UAE vs Burkina Faso.

[Tigerstyle]

Solomon Islands have been working hard for this one

[stokeriño]

Fuck the Solomon Islands. Vanuatu were robbed, I tell you.

[Lineker]

Fuck the Solomon Islands? Like, all of them? That could take time.

[Chris2K]

57 minutes ago, DFF said:

I've just had a quick look at the FIFA rankings and done a 'back of the beer mat' list to see who would potentially be there:
 

  Hide contents

AFC (8): Australia, Iran, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, China, UAE
CAF (9): Tunisia, Senegal, Congo DR, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso
CONCACAF (6): Mexico, Canada, USA (all as hosts), Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama
CONMEBOL (6): Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Colombia
OFC (1): New Zealand
UEFA (16): Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, France, Poland, Spain, Denmark, England, Netherlands, Wales, Italy, Croatia, Iceland, Sweden, Austria

If I've read it correctly, the final 2 spots are battled for in a 6 team play-off. The five non-UEFA confederations send one representative, and the confederation that is hosting gets 1 extra. Based on the FIFA rankings, we could theoretically end up the following in the play-offs:
AFC: Lebanon
CAF: Mali
CONCACAF: Honduras, El Salvador
CONMEBOL: Paraguay
OFC: Solomon Islands

Paraguay and Honduras would receive a bye / be seeded. 

 

Perhaps the worst thing is that the hosts of the next World Cup don't even register in any of those scenarios.

[OctoberRaven]

3 hours ago, Benjamin said:

Eurgh, what a boring ass first game. We were a lot more into whether the pub staff had stolen our last two pint stubs or not than the entire game. Who wants to cheer for either Russia or Saudi Arabia?

Donald Trump and Vince McMahon?

[gunnar hendershow]

Rather humored at the folks over here who took the day off to get drunk and watch one World Cup game, a game that at best was extremely lopsided.

[Meacon Keaton]

4 hours ago, Benjamin said:

Eurgh, what a boring ass first game. We were a lot more into whether the pub staff had stolen our last two pint stubs or not than the entire game. Who wants to cheer for either Russia or Saudi Arabia?

I was in the same boat. I didn't want to cheer for either, but I mean five goals, and a few of them were fantastic. I hope both lose the rest of their matches, but I at least have to tip the hat to Russia for this one. Putin is definitely fucking a bear tonight. 

[The Lusophone]

Gay World Cup fan suffers brain injuries in brutal attack

Fuck Russia. Scum.

[Benjamin]

Fuck, that's sick. Fuck Russia. 

1 hour ago, Meacon said:

I was in the same boat. I didn't want to cheer for either, but I mean five goals, and a few of them were fantastic. I hope both lose the rest of their matches, but I at least have to tip the hat to Russia for this one. Putin is definitely fucking a bear tonight. 

They kept on showing shots of Putin and who I think was the crown prince of Saudi? I don't understand why they think their global audience would want to see that. 

[gunnar hendershow]

9 minutes ago, Benjamin said:

Fuck, that's sick. Fuck Russia. 

They kept on showing shots of Putin and who I think was the crown prince of Saudi? I don't understand why they think their global audience would want to see that. 

There's one person I know of who lives about an hour away from me in Washington, DC who was very happy to see his two dads on the TV.

[Lineker]

Henderson, Maguire and Young in pole position for England’s World Cup opener

 

England’s provisional starting XI (3-3-2-2): Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier, Henderson, Young; Lingard, Alli; Sterling, Kane.

[Lineker]

Quote

The World Cup kicked off at 4pm on Thursday afternoon – but not for some people streaming the match on ITV’s website, who missed the start of the tournament.

Viewers reported that the online streaming service showed an advert for a betting company as host Russia’s opening match against Saudi Arabia got underway in Moscow.

All 64 World Cup matches are being shown live on British TV, with ITV and BBC splitting the rights to show the matches on both their traditional channels and respective online services.

BBC journalism trainer Marc Blank-Settle expressed surprise viewers “missed the kick-off of the first game because ITV Player was showing an advert” and said it was “not a problem you’ll ever get with the BBC”.

ITV also attracted complaints about the quality of its online stream, with some viewers suggesting they would instead use illegal pirated streams, apparently to obtain a better-quality picture. Viewers also pointed out that the audio volume on the ad-supported service was automatically louder during commercial breaks, with one suggesting on Twitter it made it hard to watch the football “on the sly at work”.

A spokesperson for ITV said it was investigating why viewers missed kick-off: “For a small number of viewers watching the Hub on PC and mobile the scheduled ad break overran by 30 seconds due to a technical issue and we are investigating how this happened.”

The glitch only affected individuals watching on a computer and iPhones, with people streaming the match on Android phones unaffected.

ITV’s issues with livestreaming the opening match of the World Cup now stretch back almost a decade. In 2010 it launched an experimental web service named ITV Live which buckled under the demand of people attempting to watch hosts South Africa open the tournament with their game against Mexico. 

Four years later the broadcaster was back with ITV Player. However, once again, the stream collapsed after viewers attempted to watch Brazil open the tournament, with a spokesperson attributing the outage to “unprecedented numbers of users during this game”.

There were no reported issues with the main broadcast on ITV1, with fans focusing on the commentator Clyde Tydsley’s observation during the match that “Stalin had a proper ‘tache”.

[Benjamin]

3 hours ago, Switzerlineker said:

Henderson, Maguire and Young in pole position for England’s World Cup opener

 

England’s provisional starting XI (3-3-2-2): Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier, Henderson, Young; Lingard, Alli; Sterling, Kane.

Exciting!

[Kaney]

11 hours ago, PolaMDK said:

Probably just change my name to the worst international team I can think of.

EnglaMDK.

😘

[stokeriño]

9 hours ago, Switzerlineker said:

Fuck the Solomon Islands? Like, all of them? That could take time.

For this, I can make the time.

[Cronge]

9 hours ago, Benjamin said:

Fuck, that's sick. Fuck Russia. 

They kept on showing shots of Putin and who I think was the crown prince of Saudi? I don't understand why they think their global audience would want to see that. 

Of course, fuck Russia. Since we have some people that are homophobic, let's brand the entire country's population that way as well.

Also, let's not talk about most of our people being friendly and mingling with fans from all around the world, no matter the nationality, the color of their skin, or the sexual preferences - something I saw with my own two eyes and not once either. Instead, let's point all of the attention towards those that go attacking others and say "fuck the entire country" because of that.

Edited June 15, 2018 by Cronge

[Colly]

To be fair, I think most commentators are saying the same thing, that the people have been fantastically welcoming. The issue is that the homophobia and racism is at very least tolerated and at worst encouraged by the Russian establishment, and for that reason I think it's utterly fair to criticise it since it leads to this. Much in the same way that Brexit has led to a groundswell of emboldened racists in the UK. 

I don't often agree with him, but Boris Johnson's quote about England being at the World Cup because we have no issue with Russia as a nation, moreso the Kremlin, felt pretty spot on.