On November 07 2025 02:01 evilfatsh1t wrote: how do we end up with these clowns anyway. i havent been happy with a single thing fifas done in god knows how long now
Democracy baby. FIFA is kinda structured like the UN, if the UN didn’t have arbitrary vetoes.
Which is a nice idea, in theory. In practice you see shitty or outright corrupt decisions made time and time again, but because FIFA can dangle extra World Cup spots, they can flip enough national FAs who go ‘hey we’ll take that’ and that is sufficient.
I highly doubt everything was above board at all times, but Blatter I think did somewhat strike a balance, up until the Qatar decision which was a complete farce. Starting rotating the World Cup across continents wasn’t a wholly bad thing prior.
It is worth noting that, while not exactly beloved in many places, FIFA is way more unpopular in Europe than elsewhere generally.
Infantino is something else though, my god. A podcast I follow that’s alas paywalled broke down his most recent bout of Trump bootlicking and, eugh the man is such a toad. Posted below if anyone is curious, it really is something.
On said podcast, they made the point that Infantino has got high on his own supply. That it’s not merely cynical corruption and power but that he actually believes in the sacred mission of FIFA, and it’s not merely competently administering a sporting body. I think they’re onto something.
It’s like a StarCraft caster thinking they’re the main attraction at an event and not the players and the game
Not much better schadenfreude than watching Richarlison act like a nobhead celebrating too early only for his team to instantly concede. Reminded me of Jota a few seasons back.
On November 09 2025 10:55 DropBear wrote: Not much better schadenfreude than watching Richarlison act like a nobhead celebrating too early only for his team to instantly concede. Reminded me of Jota a few seasons back.
Most dislikeable player in the prem for me
I was thinking the same thing. But also its weird because his off the field personality is apparently one of the best, like he's a very very community driven person and is loved by all, but his on the pitch antics are awful.
It's really frustrating when almost the exact same goal has been given for ManCity but for Liverpool it's VAR worthy incident and the goal is taken back. Liverpool were not playing good but they deserved that 1-1 at half time
On November 10 2025 23:49 MJG wrote: I dislike the supposed nuance around "interfering with play" when deciding if someone is offside.
If a player isn't interfering with play then they shouldn't be on the pitch.
They can’t not be interfering with play. Their very presence in some area will naturally dictate defensive movements, and even if it’s subtle, they are.
There’s a better way to do this, although I guess it’s hard to grab all the edge cases.
substitute "interfering" with "impeding". i feel like that should rule out cases like van dijks goal and still adequately capture the actual offside cases where the gk or another player has been affected by an offside player
I'm fine with pretty strict interpretation of the offiside rule. I can see someone standing on the edge of your view making you rethink or hesitate briefly and that'll make all the difference on top level. In that sense I do think a lot of offside players influence the outcome even if they're not directly involved.
The biggest thing for me once again the consistency and clarity. I wish they would articulate the key points that affected the decision and then we can all build common ground and language on how to interpret various situations. I just fear next week something similar is going to have a completely different outcome and we'll be even more confused.
On November 11 2025 02:33 Bacillus wrote: I'm fine with pretty strict interpretation of the offiside rule. I can see someone standing on the edge of your view making you rethink or hesitate briefly and that'll make all the difference on top level. In that sense I do think a lot of offside players influence the outcome even if they're not directly involved.
The biggest thing for me once again the consistency and clarity. I wish they would articulate the key points that affected the decision and then we can all build common ground and language on how to interpret various situations. I just fear next week something similar is going to have a completely different outcome and we'll be even more confused.
The key point = "It was a Liverpool goal vs Man City and I am Michael Oliver"
On November 11 2025 02:33 Bacillus wrote: I'm fine with pretty strict interpretation of the offiside rule. I can see someone standing on the edge of your view making you rethink or hesitate briefly and that'll make all the difference on top level. In that sense I do think a lot of offside players influence the outcome even if they're not directly involved.
The biggest thing for me once again the consistency and clarity. I wish they would articulate the key points that affected the decision and then we can all build common ground and language on how to interpret various situations. I just fear next week something similar is going to have a completely different outcome and we'll be even more confused.
The key point = "It was a Liverpool goal vs Man City and I am Michael Oliver"
we suck anyways. deserved loss but also fuck Michael Oliver. I still find it astounding that in a world of countries owning clubs, a ref can go to said country to get a massive paycheck, then go back home and ref said country's team and there not to be a massive conflict of interest.
On November 07 2025 02:01 evilfatsh1t wrote: how do we end up with these clowns anyway. i havent been happy with a single thing fifas done in god knows how long now
Democracy baby. FIFA is kinda structured like the UN, if the UN didn’t have arbitrary vetoes.
Which is a nice idea, in theory. In practice you see shitty or outright corrupt decisions made time and time again, but because FIFA can dangle extra World Cup spots, they can flip enough national FAs who go ‘hey we’ll take that’ and that is sufficient.
I highly doubt everything was above board at all times, but Blatter I think did somewhat strike a balance, up until the Qatar decision which was a complete farce. Starting rotating the World Cup across continents wasn’t a wholly bad thing prior.
It is worth noting that, while not exactly beloved in many places, FIFA is way more unpopular in Europe than elsewhere generally.
Infantino is something else though, my god. A podcast I follow that’s alas paywalled broke down his most recent bout of Trump bootlicking and, eugh the man is such a toad. Posted below if anyone is curious, it really is something.
On said podcast, they made the point that Infantino has got high on his own supply. That it’s not merely cynical corruption and power but that he actually believes in the sacred mission of FIFA, and it’s not merely competently administering a sporting body. I think they’re onto something.
It’s like a StarCraft caster thinking they’re the main attraction at an event and not the players and the game
Haaland with 14 goals in 7 qualification games! Final hurdle passed - we're not gonna lose by 9 against Italy. Really wondering how far this team can go in the actual tournament - I don't really think there's a single team where we don't have a plausible shot at winning. Just hoping for no injuries on any of the irreplacable players - Haaland, Ødegaard or Berge.