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Northern Ireland27236 Posts
On June 12 2026 16:01 evilfatsh1t wrote:
theres been a lot of negativity and doubt about korea this year (and rightly so) within korea but im glad we didnt choke this first game. if we had lost to czech the entire squad and coaching staff would be forced to swim back to the country
Isn’t that what the Iranian team have to do between games?
I’m assuming you’re an Aussie of Korean extraction then aye? Must be quite nice to have a World Cup where you’ve two teams to root for!
My da being called Angus one can probably guess which team that isn’t the sadly Northern Ireland may be my pick
How was the atmosphere at that game? It was pretty banging for Mexico but I mean, it’s a host game in Mexico so that’s to be expected. I’m worried with all that’s swirling around that stadiums won’t be really pumped in a lot of games, and yeah one is just watching on TV but you really do notice its absence
Gotta echo Drone, man South Africa really were dreadful. You could see aspects of the gameplan, but even playing ‘Dycheball’ (a term a bit unfair to Sean Dyche), there just didn’t seem a way into the game for them. If you wanna play that style, I think it’s a totally legitimate albeit not sexy option, but you have to execute. When they did have opportunities on the break, or even were just trying to pump the ball up to forwards, they were massively misplacing passes. Mostly overhit, the odd one in the other direction.
The amount of balls they hit like 20 metres too long and straight to the Mexican keeper to just sweep up and chill was mental.
Maybe just a bad day at the office for them, these things do happen. And I think a World Cup should have a healthy mix of the world at it, so no sour grapes here. But even relatively shite European sides like Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland could play better than that with a similarly less ambitious gameplan.
Hopefully for the Saffers it’s just an aberrantly poor performance and not indicative of their actual abilities. And hopefully for the tournament it’s not reflective of too much either. I think given how the expansion of places was done and how they’re distributed geographically we might see quite a few mismatches in this group phase
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On June 12 2026 18:59 WombaT wrote:Show nested quote +On June 12 2026 16:01 evilfatsh1t wrote:
theres been a lot of negativity and doubt about korea this year (and rightly so) within korea but im glad we didnt choke this first game. if we had lost to czech the entire squad and coaching staff would be forced to swim back to the country Isn’t that what the Iranian team have to do between games? I’m assuming you’re an Aussie of Korean extraction then aye? Must be quite nice to have a World Cup where you’ve two teams to root for! My da being called Angus one can probably guess which team that isn’t the sadly Northern Ireland may be my pick How was the atmosphere at that game? It was pretty banging for Mexico but I mean, it’s a host game in Mexico so that’s to be expected. I’m worried with all that’s swirling around that stadiums won’t be really pumped in a lot of games, and yeah one is just watching on TV but you really do notice its absence Gotta echo Drone, man South Africa really were dreadful. You could see aspects of the gameplan, but even playing ‘Dycheball’ (a term a bit unfair to Sean Dyche), there just didn’t seem a way into the game for them. If you wanna play that style, I think it’s a totally legitimate albeit not sexy option, but you have to execute. When they did have opportunities on the break, or even were just trying to pump the ball up to forwards, they were massively misplacing passes. Mostly overhit, the odd one in the other direction. The amount of balls they hit like 20 metres too long and straight to the Mexican keeper to just sweep up and chill was mental. Maybe just a bad day at the office for them, these things do happen. And I think a World Cup should have a healthy mix of the world at it, so no sour grapes here. But even relatively shite European sides like Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland could play better than that with a similarly less ambitious gameplan. Hopefully for the Saffers it’s just an aberrantly poor performance and not indicative of their actual abilities. And hopefully for the tournament it’s not reflective of too much either. I think given how the expansion of places was done and how they’re distributed geographically we might see quite a few mismatches in this group phase
Bafana Bafana was absolutely dreadful. Anybody expecting much from them was in for a rough ride, but they managed to underperform their very low expectations.
The Spanish commentary said it was because the coach set them up in a different way from usual (apparently they usually play some 4-2-3-1 formation, and now they were 4-4-2 or so), and it just backfired terribly. I assumed they know more than me, but regardless of the reason, Mexico walked all over them except for maybe 10 minutes at the end of the first half. And other than Quiñones and Jiménez, who were almost constant threats, Mexico looked pretty flat as well (not their fans, though, the Azteca looked and sounded amazing).
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On June 12 2026 18:59 WombaT wrote:
Hopefully for the Saffers it’s just an aberrantly poor performance and not indicative of their actual abilities. And hopefully for the tournament it’s not reflective of too much either. I think given how the expansion of places was done and how they’re distributed geographically we might see quite a few mismatches in this group phase
Like I said, maybe there'll be some spark after groups. But the groups are the most boring snoozefest ever played
- shitty teams
- extremely missmatched games
- nobody of note will exit anyway because 2/3 of teams will continue.
-> games don't count for anything
I even think the Ro32 will mostly suck as well.
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The ones criticising Mexico: wasn't that because they just had no reason to do more? Don't forget no one has ever played such a long tournament. You really have to manage your energy... especially in the Mexican city games
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On June 12 2026 18:59 WombaT wrote:Show nested quote +On June 12 2026 16:01 evilfatsh1t wrote:
theres been a lot of negativity and doubt about korea this year (and rightly so) within korea but im glad we didnt choke this first game. if we had lost to czech the entire squad and coaching staff would be forced to swim back to the country Isn’t that what the Iranian team have to do between games? I’m assuming you’re an Aussie of Korean extraction then aye? Must be quite nice to have a World Cup where you’ve two teams to root for! My da being called Angus one can probably guess which team that isn’t the sadly Northern Ireland may be my pick How was the atmosphere at that game? It was pretty banging for Mexico but I mean, it’s a host game in Mexico so that’s to be expected. I’m worried with all that’s swirling around that stadiums won’t be really pumped in a lot of games, and yeah one is just watching on TV but you really do notice its absence Gotta echo Drone, man South Africa really were dreadful. You could see aspects of the gameplan, but even playing ‘Dycheball’ (a term a bit unfair to Sean Dyche), there just didn’t seem a way into the game for them. If you wanna play that style, I think it’s a totally legitimate albeit not sexy option, but you have to execute. When they did have opportunities on the break, or even were just trying to pump the ball up to forwards, they were massively misplacing passes. Mostly overhit, the odd one in the other direction. The amount of balls they hit like 20 metres too long and straight to the Mexican keeper to just sweep up and chill was mental. Maybe just a bad day at the office for them, these things do happen. And I think a World Cup should have a healthy mix of the world at it, so no sour grapes here. But even relatively shite European sides like Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland could play better than that with a similarly less ambitious gameplan. Hopefully for the Saffers it’s just an aberrantly poor performance and not indicative of their actual abilities. And hopefully for the tournament it’s not reflective of too much either. I think given how the expansion of places was done and how they’re distributed geographically we might see quite a few mismatches in this group phase
yeah im born and raised aussie but my affinity for the motherland is far greater.
south africa i suspect has struggled with the same thing as the czech team, altitude.
korea made a big deal about arriving well in advance of the tournament in order to condition themselves for the high altitude environment. both czech and south africa however arrived a day before their games. the quality in the team is lacking already but their preparation has been non-existent. according to many ex players, the effect the high altitude has is significant and honestly it was clear as day with the czech team at least that they were physically struggling even in the 1st half.
the lack of altitude adjustment would also explain all the poor passes and such. a lot of korean ex pros have spoken about the struggles in fitness but also the differences in ball trajectory because the ball travels different at that altitude.
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On June 13 2026 18:38 evilfatsh1t wrote:Show nested quote +On June 12 2026 18:59 WombaT wrote:On June 12 2026 16:01 evilfatsh1t wrote:
theres been a lot of negativity and doubt about korea this year (and rightly so) within korea but im glad we didnt choke this first game. if we had lost to czech the entire squad and coaching staff would be forced to swim back to the country Isn’t that what the Iranian team have to do between games? I’m assuming you’re an Aussie of Korean extraction then aye? Must be quite nice to have a World Cup where you’ve two teams to root for! My da being called Angus one can probably guess which team that isn’t the sadly Northern Ireland may be my pick How was the atmosphere at that game? It was pretty banging for Mexico but I mean, it’s a host game in Mexico so that’s to be expected. I’m worried with all that’s swirling around that stadiums won’t be really pumped in a lot of games, and yeah one is just watching on TV but you really do notice its absence Gotta echo Drone, man South Africa really were dreadful. You could see aspects of the gameplan, but even playing ‘Dycheball’ (a term a bit unfair to Sean Dyche), there just didn’t seem a way into the game for them. If you wanna play that style, I think it’s a totally legitimate albeit not sexy option, but you have to execute. When they did have opportunities on the break, or even were just trying to pump the ball up to forwards, they were massively misplacing passes. Mostly overhit, the odd one in the other direction. The amount of balls they hit like 20 metres too long and straight to the Mexican keeper to just sweep up and chill was mental. Maybe just a bad day at the office for them, these things do happen. And I think a World Cup should have a healthy mix of the world at it, so no sour grapes here. But even relatively shite European sides like Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland could play better than that with a similarly less ambitious gameplan. Hopefully for the Saffers it’s just an aberrantly poor performance and not indicative of their actual abilities. And hopefully for the tournament it’s not reflective of too much either. I think given how the expansion of places was done and how they’re distributed geographically we might see quite a few mismatches in this group phase yeah im born and raised aussie but my affinity for the motherland is far greater. south africa i suspect has struggled with the same thing as the czech team, altitude. korea made a big deal about arriving well in advance of the tournament in order to condition themselves for the high altitude environment. both czech and south africa however arrived a day before their games. the quality in the team is lacking already but their preparation has been non-existent. according to many ex players, the effect the high altitude has is significant and honestly it was clear as day with the czech team at least that they were physically struggling even in the 1st half. the lack of altitude adjustment would also explain all the poor passes and such. a lot of korean ex pros have spoken about the struggles in fitness but also the differences in ball trajectory because the ball travels different at that altitude.
Depends on where in SA they're from, but anywhere on the Highveld is the same altitude as Mexico DF, so they could just train in Jo'burg and be fine. Pretty sure that's exactly what they do: Jo'burg is high, and arid: exactly the conditions you'd expect in Mexico city. The main difference would be the current temperature, which in Jo'burg is the middle of (subtropical) winter, and Mexico is a subtropical summer.
And if you say they all play for European clubs and are unclimatized, that is even more so for the Mexican players 
E: nvm about that hypothesis. They weren't training in Jo'burg, their training camp was in Pachuca, Mexico. 2400m altitude and they were there for around 2 weeks. So I was wrong, but so were you. All of this to say that Bafana Bafana was just bad, and Hugo Broos cocked it up further, experimenting with strategies the team hadn't adequately practiced.
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ah i didnt realise they had a training camp elsewhere in mexico.
no excuses for south africa then lol.
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On June 12 2026 22:23 sharkie wrote:
The ones criticising Mexico: wasn't that because they just had no reason to do more? Don't forget no one has ever played such a long tournament. You really have to manage your energy... especially in the Mexican city games
im not sure mexico is in a position to do that. not sure what will happen but they might end up in a situation where they would need goal difference to become one of the 3rd places that advance.
or not because so many of them get through that it doesnt matter.
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United States10530 Posts
Finally free from my temp ban xd
Mexico did not impress me all that much. Some nice moments but really should've been clobbering that poor South African side. I had them third in this group and that prediction feels a lot better now.
Korea, what a performance. Czechia gonna be the Arsenal/set piece machine team this tournament and they're very good at them but Korea definitely deserved the win.
Canada had their chances but missed so many good opportunities and ultimately came out of it with only a draw.
USA looked incredible, given that its a pretty poor Paraguay side. Across the board, USA just totally dominated. Great off ball movements and fluidity. Poch has got that team setup really well. I'm starting to believe.
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Lol Switzerland. Took Qatar 95 minutes to punish their piss poor defending and even worse finishing, but they got it done!
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51667 Posts
more games of this world cup i watch the more i loathe the hydration break. it fundamentally turns what was a game of two halves into a game of four quarters.
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Norway28875 Posts
Yeah the hydration break sucks ass.
But this is a great game. It's the first game I was excited for, and it's really delivering the goods. Morocco has a fantastic starting lineup, Norway played a friendly against them a week ago and we were getting dominated the first half/ until subs happened, at which point they became a lot less good.
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United States10530 Posts
On June 14 2026 07:29 GTR wrote:
more games of this world cup i watch the more i loathe the hydration break. it fundamentally turns what was a game of two halves into a game of four quarters.
MURICA BABY, time to teach the world how to play true football in four quarters.
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Difficult to implement something else than water breaks tho?
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51667 Posts
NESTORY! what a fucking first touch for our first goal.
win against turkiye was unexpected to be honest - definitely puts us in pole position to at least get out of the group in 3rd.
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Norway28875 Posts
On June 14 2026 12:24 sharkie wrote:
Difficult to implement something else than water breaks tho?
The issue is making them mandatory for every match, which is clearly motivated by wanting another advertisement break.
No issue with a short water break when it's 30+ degrees.
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Oh is it longer than Brazil waterbreaks?
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On June 14 2026 18:05 sharkie wrote:
Oh is it longer than Brazil waterbreaks?
Point is they're not water breaks, they're ad breaks. They have them in games when it's 21-22C and games played in a fully closed and temperature controlled stadiums. Sometimes the players and ref are in position to restart play and they have to wait for the go ahead from the FIFA broadcasting liaison so the Doritos ad doesn't get cut off.
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On June 14 2026 18:19 Dan HH wrote:Show nested quote +On June 14 2026 18:05 sharkie wrote:
Oh is it longer than Brazil waterbreaks? Point is they're not water breaks, they're ad breaks. They have them in games when it's 21-22C and games played in a fully closed and temperature controlled stadiums. Sometimes the players and ref are in position to restart play and they have to wait for the go ahead from the FIFA broadcasting liaison so the Doritos ad doesn't get cut off.
WTF
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EPT
