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Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2026 9:10 pm
by 5thhorseman
Why is the acronym for Morocco MAR when there's no "A" in Morocco?

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 12:54 am
by Per
5thhorseman wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2026 9:10 pm Why is the acronym for Morocco MAR when there's no "A" in Morocco?
But there is an A in Maroc, which is what they call themselves in French, AND in al-Maghrib, which is what they call themselves in Arabic.

Not everyone speaks English. :look:

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 12:58 am
by Per
Two major upsets last night, both Germany and the Netherlands eliminated! :shock:
Aaronp18 wrote: Mon Jun 29, 2026 8:52 pm Does anyone actually want to play Canada?
Sweden does! 8-)

Playing Canada would mean we have eliminated both France and Paraguay and have made it to the quarter finals, so yeah - that's the dream!

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 5:02 am
by Cookie La Rue
Per wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2026 12:58 am Two major upsets last night, both Germany and the Netherlands eliminated!
One major upset, just Germany. Really amazing how bad a team can play with 75% ballpossession and creating so few chances. That's an art.
Maroc is a good team and the Netherlands were not the big favourite. They were lucky to reach the shootout. Just 30% bp and only 3 shots on goal. Maroc had much more chances to decide it before.
Good luck for Sweden, they'll need it. Also Canada.
Quarterfinal will be Maroc vs France pretty sure.

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 5:41 am
by Topper
Could Germany/Paraguay be labelled civil war?

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 8:26 am
by Cookie La Rue
Regarding rough play? No. I've seen dirtier.

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 10:12 am
by Per
Now watching the ivory trade battle! During the Middle Ages the Norwegians, with their colonies on Iceland and Greenland had cornered the European ivory market. Not sure why Europeans could not access the African market at that time.

Then at some point in the 15th century African ivory reached Europe again and the walrus tusk market died.
So at that point in time the Ivory Coast clearly defeated Norway. Let’s see how it goes tonight!

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 10:25 am
by Per
Fucking commeltcial break.

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 11:10 am
by 5thhorseman
Cookie La Rue wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2026 5:02 am One major upset, just Germany. Really amazing how bad a team can play with 75% ball possession and creating so few chances. That's an art.
I haven't followed their national team for a while, but it seems they didn't have any game breakers. No Jurgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthaus, Mesut Ozil, or Miroslav Kloser. Not even a Schweinsteiger. Amazing how on a team of 11, just having one quality player can make such a difference. Germany was just ordinary this year

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 12:14 pm
by Cookie La Rue
"for a while" 🤣 12 to 30 years.
Germany is ordinary for 12 years now.
But don't misunderstand me, most playing "ordinary". Just watched Norway Ivorycoast. The same shit football. The greatest WC of all times is the baddest. No quality at all, just glimpses of excellence.

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 2:25 pm
by Per
I like that the crowd always boos the commercial breaks.

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2026 4:02 pm
by Per
Well, pretty much as expected. We would have needed a few lucky bounces to put up a fight. France is too good.

But I have high hopes for the future. Potter has made wonders with this team, but he wasn’t given enough time. I think we may have a pretty good team for the next Euro. Hopefully Kulusevski will be back then too.

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 8:18 am
by 5thhorseman
Cookie La Rue wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2026 12:14 pm "for a while" 🤣 12 to 30 years.
Germany is ordinary for 12 years now.
But don't misunderstand me, most playing "ordinary". Just watched Norway Ivorycoast. The same shit football. The greatest WC of all times is the baddest. No quality at all, just glimpses of excellence.
You got it man. I moved back from the UK 16 years ago so that's when I stopped watching footy and got back into hockey.

That 19-year-old on Mexico looked pretty good. The entire team looked strong but maybe that was just Ecuador. Some say Norway is the dark horse but that would give the nod to Mexico.

England match coming up shortly. A whole lot of averageness in that team as well.

At least we have France vs. Argentina in the final to look forward to.

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 9:58 am
by 5thhorseman
The colour commentator in the England DR Congo match is very good. Lots of insightful observations and all over the England players for their mistakes. Refreshing when this job usually goes to someone with an English or Scottish accent but not much interesting to say.

Re: 2026 FIFA World Cup

Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2026 10:52 am
by donlever
England not a great team for sure but Harry Kane is a helluva striker.