2022 FIFA World Cup

[JayhawkCO]

Wow, if you got up early this morning you got to see quite the upset!

xG had the game at something like 2.8 - 0.2.

[GaryV]

a throw-in that was taken with a foot that was over the line

Law 15

have part of each foot on the touchline or on the ground outside the
touchline

This rule strikes me as being the equivalent to holding in football. It happens all the time but only gets called when it's blatant.

The picture Bruce posted shows the foot on the line. So there's nothing to call.

[thspfc]

Make it two embarrassing losses to Asian nations for Germany in their last two World Cup games. They were burned on the counter several times, including the two goals. Even so, what really killed them was finishing. They created more than enough chances to win the game. 26 shots may well be a tournament high for any team, and it's not like they were all 25-yard prayers.

[JayhawkCO]

Make it two embarrassing losses to Asian nations for Germany in their last two World Cup games. They were burned on the counter several times, including the two goals. Even so, what really killed them was finishing. They created more than enough chances to win the game. 26 shots may well be a tournament high for any team, and it's not like they were all 25-yard prayers.

Having Timo Werner miss the WC through injury is hurting them for sure.

[Scott5114]

Qatar is screwing this world cup up badly. Now, two days before the tournament starts, they announce no beer in the stadium. Budweiser, the official beer sponsor, has to be none too pleased.

The shitshow keeps getting worse and worse. And FIFA is acting like it's all rainbows and unicorns, too. Watch them ban women and LGBTQ+ people from the stadiums next.

They're not banning LGBTQ people (because how would you be able to tell), but they are banning people from wearing rainbow apparel.

Given that the US team is of questionable odds to win anyway, maybe it would be best if we demonstrated how much the First Amendment matters to Americans by bowing out of the tournament.

[CtrlAltDel]

Qatar is screwing this world cup up badly. Now, two days before the tournament starts, they announce no beer in the stadium. Budweiser, the official beer sponsor, has to be none too pleased.

The shitshow keeps getting worse and worse. And FIFA is acting like it's all rainbows and unicorns, too. Watch them ban women and LGBTQ+ people from the stadiums next.

They're not banning LGBTQ people (because how would you be able to tell), but they are banning people from wearing rainbow apparel.

Given that the US team is of questionable odds to win anyway, maybe it would be best if we demonstrated how much the First Amendment matters to Americans by bowing out of the tournament.

I don't know. Nothing the Qataris have done violates the First Amendment, since it has not yet been incorporated against foreign governments. 

[Scott5114]

Qatar is screwing this world cup up badly. Now, two days before the tournament starts, they announce no beer in the stadium. Budweiser, the official beer sponsor, has to be none too pleased.

The shitshow keeps getting worse and worse. And FIFA is acting like it's all rainbows and unicorns, too. Watch them ban women and LGBTQ+ people from the stadiums next.

They're not banning LGBTQ people (because how would you be able to tell), but they are banning people from wearing rainbow apparel.

Given that the US team is of questionable odds to win anyway, maybe it would be best if we demonstrated how much the First Amendment matters to Americans by bowing out of the tournament.

I don't know. Nothing the Qataris have done violates the First Amendment, since it has not yet been incorporated against foreign governments. 

No shit?

Here, let me rephrase it.

Given that the US team is of questionable odds to win anyway, maybe it would be best if we demonstrated that the right to free speech is more important to America than soccer.

[Poiponen13]

Also important to detail that 6,500 migrant workers from South Asia have died in Qatar since December 2011. 37 of them were related to stadium construction, but the organizing committee classified all but three as being "non-work related". Given that these migrant workers are barely allowed to leave their overcrowded accommodations, this is extremely suspect.

Not particularly excited about this edition, given the situation. The winter timing has already knocked around the schedules for leagues, with MLS having to kick off in February to compensate for the loss of their expected November playoff slots. 2026 will at least be a normal one.

Normally MLS starts in late February/early March, so they would probably start on 25 February in 2023.

[thspfc]

Qatar is screwing this world cup up badly. Now, two days before the tournament starts, they announce no beer in the stadium. Budweiser, the official beer sponsor, has to be none too pleased.

The shitshow keeps getting worse and worse. And FIFA is acting like it's all rainbows and unicorns, too. Watch them ban women and LGBTQ+ people from the stadiums next.

They're not banning LGBTQ people (because how would you be able to tell), but they are banning people from wearing rainbow apparel.

Given that the US team is of questionable odds to win anyway, maybe it would be best if we demonstrated how much the First Amendment matters to Americans by bowing out of the tournament.

I don't know. Nothing the Qataris have done violates the First Amendment, since it has not yet been incorporated against foreign governments. 

No shit?

Here, let me rephrase it.

Given that the US team is of questionable odds to win anyway, maybe it would be best if we demonstrated that the right to free speech is more important to America than soccer.

We should have skipped the Olympics too then?

[NWI_Irish96]

Boycotting is a tricky venture. Yes, you send a message by boycotting, but you also lose the platform to speak out against the inequality you're protesting.

The inherent problem with FIFA is that the majority of its membership are poorer African, Asian and other small nations who are never going to play in a World Cup but get the huge money it provides. Those nations aren't going to vote to take away a World Cup from a place like Qatar.

Sounds like Europe might force the issue by considering leaving FIFA to form their own organization, which would be the end of FIFA.

[CtrlAltDel]

Qatar is screwing this world cup up badly. Now, two days before the tournament starts, they announce no beer in the stadium. Budweiser, the official beer sponsor, has to be none too pleased.

The shitshow keeps getting worse and worse. And FIFA is acting like it's all rainbows and unicorns, too. Watch them ban women and LGBTQ+ people from the stadiums next.

They're not banning LGBTQ people (because how would you be able to tell), but they are banning people from wearing rainbow apparel.

Given that the US team is of questionable odds to win anyway, maybe it would be best if we demonstrated how much the First Amendment matters to Americans by bowing out of the tournament.

I don't know. Nothing the Qataris have done violates the First Amendment, since it has not yet been incorporated against foreign governments. 

No shit?

Of course. I apologize for any confusion here.

[mgk920]

If you are in a country that is not your own, you abide by their rules and customs.  It is very simple, regardless of whether or not you agree with them.

Mike

[Scott5114]

If you are in a country that is not your own, you abide by their rules and customs.  It is very simple, regardless of whether or not you agree with them.

Mike

Right, which is why, because their rules and customs are egregious, I think our representatives shouldn't be in that country. FIFA should have never put the World Cup there.

(fuck the Olympics too if they pull the same garbage.)

[NWI_Irish96]

The hosts didn't even last six days before being eliminated from contention.

[JayhawkCO]

The hosts didn't even last six days before being eliminated from contention.

Really good investment they made there. Their one goal today was really nice though.

[Ted$8roadFan]

The hosts didn't even last six days before being eliminated from contention.

Earliest exit by a host nation in the 92-year history of the World Cup. 

[JayhawkCO]

The hosts didn't even last six days before being eliminated from contention.

Earliest exit by a host nation in the 92-year history of the World Cup.

Well, there's only been one other host nation not to make it and the second game is the earliest a team can be eliminated.

[1995hoo]

England have still never beaten the USA in the World Cup. USA are 1—0—2 against them (won in 1950, tied in 2010 and today).

[thspfc]

The draw would feel a lot better if we didn't still have to beat Iran. Realistically I think we should win, but at this tournament anyone can beat anyone and anyone can draw 0-0 with anyone. Iran will be sitting deep knowing they only need a draw.

Nonetheless, even if we don't get through, a result against England shows that we can at least be competitive with the world's top nations.

[NWI_Irish96]

The draw would feel a lot better if we didn't still have to beat Iran. Realistically I think we should win, but at this tournament anyone can beat anyone and anyone can draw 0-0 with anyone. Iran will be sitting deep knowing they only need a draw.

Nonetheless, even if we don't get through, a result against England shows that we can at least be competitive with the world's top nations.

The biggest obstacle is going to be that Iran can advance with a draw and it's really hard to beat a team in that situation, even if you're the better team.

[JayhawkCO]

If we can't beat a team much less talented than us that's parking the bus, we don't deserve to advance anyway.

[Scott5114]

I feel like a 0—0 tie should count as a loss for both teams. If you go out and play a hard game and the score ends up 1-1, then yeah, count it as a draw, because you played the game and tied. But a 0—0 score is exactly what you would end up if both teams went out onto the pitch and just stood there on their phones for an hour without touching the ball.

This is especially true since there are apparently situations where someone can advance by tying (I don't know the game mechanics that cause this, but that seems squirrelly to me). Making it so a team has to at least score 1 point to advance would at least limit how much tanking a team could do. (Get your 1 point, and then tank–hey, you might even win on accident!)

[JayhawkCO]

I feel like a 0—0 tie should count as a loss for both teams. If you go out and play a hard game and the score ends up 1-1, then yeah, count it as a draw, because you played the game and tied. But a 0—0 score is exactly what you would end up if both teams went out onto the pitch and just stood there on their phones for an hour without touching the ball.

This is especially true since there are apparently situations where someone can advance by tying (I don't know the game mechanics that cause this, but that seems squirrelly to me). Making it so a team has to at least score 1 point to advance would at least limit how much tanking a team could do. (Get your 1 point, and then tank–hey, you might even win on accident!)

Scott, I agree with your opinions almost 100% on this site. No. For a hundred different reasons I could type, no.

[Scott5114]

I mean, I'd be interested in some of the reasons. I get that most 0-0 games are just matters of evenly matched defense and offense, but if a team is in the position that a tie is all they need to advance, what is the incentive to even field an offense, versus just loading the field with good defenders?

Keep in mind that I'm looking at this through the lens of a game designer, not someone interested in athletics. "Never incentivize not taking the game seriously" is generally sound advice when one is designing a set of game rules.

[US 89]

This is especially true since there are apparently situations where someone can advance by tying (I don't know the game mechanics that cause this, but that seems squirrelly to me).

How this might happen:

Each group has four teams in it. Top two advance to the next round, as determined by points. For each group stage match, a win gets you 3 points, a draw gets 1, a loss gets 0. Let’s say the group stage goes down like this:

Logan beats Oklahoma, 3-0
Cleveland draws McClain, 0-0
Logan beats Cleveland, 2-0
Oklahoma draws McClain, 0-0
Logan beats McClain, 1-0
Oklahoma draws Cleveland, 1-1

Looking at points, Logan is clearly the group winner and advances with 9 points. Everyone else has 2 points, so we need to move on to the first tiebreaker, which is goal differential, to determine who else advances. Essentially, this is the number of goals a team scores minus the number of goals a team concedes. In this case, that is +6 for Logan, -3 for Oklahoma, -2 for Canadian, and -1 for McClain. So McClain wins that tiebreaker and advances to the next round, despite never scoring a goal in the group stage.