EPTFootball (Soccer) Thread - Page 125
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sharkie
Austria18721 Posts
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WombaT
Northern Ireland27236 Posts
On April 25 2026 17:21 sharkie wrote: Well this is just a special world cup where capitalist country number one and capitalist organisation number one is meeting. I don't think the future ones will be so expensive to go FIFA set the ticket prices, not the host(s). It may be that they’re so high because FIFA think they can get away with it due to the location, and they’ll drop next time around however. Granted it’s yet another World Cup spread across 3 countries so that’ll add to expenses for the types of fans who want to try and follow their country through the whole tourney. I’ll also add that it wasn’t Europe’s turn in the cycle, so other Europeans didn’t, or couldn’t bid. But a majority European World Cup is fine so long as you attached an African country, apparently. Don’t get me wrong, Spain, Portugal and Morocco are all storied footballing nations, and I think we’ll get a cool World Cup, but FIFA’s constant bollocks is for me way beyond rolling the eyes and actively aggravating to the degree it detracts from the WC for me. They’ve expanded it to 48 teams purely to throw a bone to non-European confederations. I think it’ll make the tournament worse in a footballing sense, it also limits the pool of who can conceivably host the thing. And by throwing that bone FIFA get away with murder. They insisted that Australia had a bid ready within a week or so for an event 9-10 years in the future, and then just gave the thing to Saudi when the Aussies couldn’t do it, absolutely brazen shit. I can’t honestly remember if it was Qatar or Saudi, but anyway the FIFA technical committee grades various bid aspects. In one bid cycle Qatar/Saudi scored highest here in terms of football facilities/infastructure. Facilities that did not exist. Now, look if you commit to building x y or z, that should be factored in too don’t get me wrong, but you can’t assess them as exactly equivalent to facilities that do God FIFA suck | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland27236 Posts
On April 25 2026 16:26 KobraKay wrote: This is a tough one. Football is what a lot of people here use to escape the hardships of reality, so it is common that regardless of what happens around the ball rolling, it tends to be mostly ignored in the general public. Specific groups will for sure make noise about the US and Trump but that is not the focus now. WC focus usually only starts when the season ends as up to that point the title race and media fighting is fully focused on the league. People complained about ticket prices yes but not that much as far as im aware. Closer to the event i expect to see some debate about boicot should it happen or not, but with cRonaldo going to the WH not so long ago...the average football fan will not think about this im afraid. Perhaps it’s the circles I run in/consume content from, I’m surprised if the Portuguese aren’t showing some of the same At least here there’s not a huge boycott appetite, although I do think there’s more pushback than even Qatar got. Which was mostly from a moral objection(s), from what I’ve heard prices were reasonable and Qatar was a good host in domains like transport and not gouging tourists If I was to characterise the particular segment of the UK I’m talking about, I don’t think we’re at boycott levels. I think it’s more that people are sick of FIFA’s shite and enthusiasm for the World Cup is dropping in line with that | ||
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KobraKay
Portugal4370 Posts
On April 25 2026 20:59 WombaT wrote: Perhaps it’s the circles I run in/consume content from, I’m surprised if the Portuguese aren’t showing some of the same At least here there’s not a huge boycott appetite, although I do think there’s more pushback than even Qatar got. Which was mostly from a moral objection(s), from what I’ve heard prices were reasonable and Qatar was a good host in domains like transport and not gouging tourists If I was to characterise the particular segment of the UK I’m talking about, I don’t think we’re at boycott levels. I think it’s more that people are sick of FIFA’s shite and enthusiasm for the World Cup is dropping in line with that Well the average football fan in Portugal says that only those who dont actually like or watch football care about national teams, and that only changes when seasons end and specially our league is decided. Mentality shifts in that moment, people at that point start to equate patriotism with the support for the NT (which is something i hate because i only care about the teams that play well, not those that get by on ties or 1-0 park the bus regardless if they represent the piece of land that i happen to been borne in -> 2016 euro winners.....) So until then, full media focus is on the league and people wont care at all. In a couple of weeks ill report back what is the general feeling, as of now the sentiment i think is "errr the WC is this year?" Its hard to explain to non portuguese. Its also the sentiment that people only care if their club wins, they dont actually like football (its another cliche saying around here). | ||
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evilfatsh1t
Australia8916 Posts
On April 25 2026 20:59 WombaT wrote: Perhaps it’s the circles I run in/consume content from, I’m surprised if the Portuguese aren’t showing some of the same At least here there’s not a huge boycott appetite, although I do think there’s more pushback than even Qatar got. Which was mostly from a moral objection(s), from what I’ve heard prices were reasonable and Qatar was a good host in domains like transport and not gouging tourists If I was to characterise the particular segment of the UK I’m talking about, I don’t think we’re at boycott levels. I think it’s more that people are sick of FIFA’s shite and enthusiasm for the World Cup is dropping in line with that i dont disagree that fifa sucks and infantino is a cancer, but i also think its not 100% fifas fault that hype around the world cup is getting lower. personally ive already found with the olympics that its lost a lot of its prestige and interest. i think the world cup following suit isnt a massive shock in that sense | ||
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evilfatsh1t
Australia8916 Posts
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Jockmcplop
United Kingdom9958 Posts
16, 17 and 18 all winning the same week is absolutely shocking. Its more likely Newcastle get dragged back into this than any team gets relegated early. | ||
GTR
51667 Posts
enough said | ||
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KobraKay
Portugal4370 Posts
But from what is reported essentially is someone involved in the decision of referees chosing and trying to make sure they would benefit inter in some games. But the games described are very few and some of them inter even lost, so he must have done a very poor job at what he was trying to do. Anyone has any further data? is this some sort of actual match fixing issue with the club or just some crazy guy going rogue? | ||
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WombaT
Northern Ireland27236 Posts
On April 27 2026 03:44 KobraKay wrote: Portuguese media says there is a scandal about to break in Italy with Inter and some referees. But from what is reported essentially is someone involved in the decision of referees chosing and trying to make sure they would benefit inter in some games. But the games described are very few and some of them inter even lost, so he must have done a very poor job at what he was trying to do. Anyone has any further data? is this some sort of actual match fixing issue with the club or just some crazy guy going rogue? I’ll almost certainly have more to go off come Monday where my 6/7 followed football podcasts all drop :p I imagine a few will definitely deep dive this. I did see this earlier on the BBC but it’s not massively in-depth It’s unclear from what I’ve read if Inter are themselves involved in a manner that would constitute a problem of sporting ethics. By this I mean applying pressure to have certain referees appointed themselves and colluding with authorities in that regard, versus the authorities deciding themselves to make appointments they think Inter would be happy with. I’ve still got an issue with the latter, but it’s not all that atypical in various European leagues (especially in Spain with Real/Barca. The former I’ve got a much bigger issue with, and I hope it isn’t the case. It is worth remembering that not all referees are created equal. If such a request was made but it was simply ‘we want the best’ ref I think it’s improper IMO, top clubs don’t have a god-given right in this domain, but nothing devastating. Full disclosure I am an Inter fan for those unaware, but not a myopic one. Just awaiting some more information for now. I’ll be pretty crushed if we have been actually cheating, especially given there’s no real need for it. Inter have comfortably been the best team in Italy for a good few years now | ||
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Harris1st
Germany7347 Posts
shitty games - travel times for teams, meaningless groupstage, amount of games, fatigue shitty for fans because it is so widespread, shitty atmosphere | ||
FlaShFTW
United States10530 Posts
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WombaT
Northern Ireland27236 Posts
On April 28 2026 04:52 FlaShFTW wrote: Under the radar but Bruno is now 1 assist from the assist record after the first half of United vs Brentford. He could very well break it with 4 games left. Paul Pogba was saying the other day he thought Fernandes would be in the Ballon D’Or conversation if he was playing for the blue side of Manchester (IIRC, if not them another top, top side) I find it kinda hard to argue against that. I know many don’t like the lad but he’s been pumping the numbers for years in a side that isn’t always especially functional. And just just the numbers, the eye test as well. He’ll lose the ball a bit sure but so, so often he’s the only one creating anything It would be remarkable if he got that record given it’s jointly held by Thierry Henry in a peak Arsenal side, and De Bruyne in a monster Man City side. No guarantees though! Mesut Ozil probably should have the record, he was at something mental like 13 or 14 assists before the New Year one season (may be wrong, going off memory), and he mostly played the rest of that season he wasn’t robbed by injury | ||
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sharkie
Austria18721 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany7347 Posts
On April 28 2026 06:01 WombaT wrote: Paul Pogba was saying the other day he thought Fernandes would be in the Ballon D’Or conversation if he was playing for the blue side of Manchester (IIRC, if not them another top, top side) I find it kinda hard to argue against that. I know many don’t like the lad but he’s been pumping the numbers for years in a side that isn’t always especially functional. And just just the numbers, the eye test as well. He’ll lose the ball a bit sure but so, so often he’s the only one creating anything It would be remarkable if he got that record given it’s jointly held by Thierry Henry in a peak Arsenal side, and De Bruyne in a monster Man City side. No guarantees though! Mesut Ozil probably should have the record, he was at something mental like 13 or 14 assists before the New Year one season (may be wrong, going off memory), and he mostly played the rest of that season he wasn’t robbed by injury Ozil was 15/16 yes. He ended with 19 like Bruno now. I don't see too much of Bruno but if you only watch highlights on YT, he is in there every game for sure. Probably the one guy that kept ManU alive for the last 6 years | ||
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evilfatsh1t
Australia8916 Posts
On April 28 2026 06:01 WombaT wrote: Paul Pogba was saying the other day he thought Fernandes would be in the Ballon D’Or conversation if he was playing for the blue side of Manchester (IIRC, if not them another top, top side) I find it kinda hard to argue against that. I know many don’t like the lad but he’s been pumping the numbers for years in a side that isn’t always especially functional. And just just the numbers, the eye test as well. He’ll lose the ball a bit sure but so, so often he’s the only one creating anything It would be remarkable if he got that record given it’s jointly held by Thierry Henry in a peak Arsenal side, and De Bruyne in a monster Man City side. No guarantees though! Mesut Ozil probably should have the record, he was at something mental like 13 or 14 assists before the New Year one season (may be wrong, going off memory), and he mostly played the rest of that season he wasn’t robbed by injury ive been saying this for years. bruno doesnt get the recognition he deserves because he plays for united. simple as that. my favourite stat of his is him reaching 100 goals and 100 assists for united in less games than cr7 at rm and messi at barcelona. that is an absolutely insane stat considering his competition and the fact that hes played in a shit united team almost his entire united career | ||
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Harris1st
Germany7347 Posts
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Harris1st
Germany7347 Posts
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sharkie
Austria18721 Posts
On April 28 2026 20:24 Harris1st wrote: On that note, I would like to change the scorer point system of football to that of hockey. That is just million times better and you really see with one glance who ios performing and who isn't What is the system there? And great shout-out for amiri | ||
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gTank
Austria2664 Posts
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