World Cup 2026

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Good game.
The ref doing well, not falling for the theatrics we've seen, and stopping a lot more no doubt.
We've not seen much end product from Paraguay. But they've some talented players just waiting for that break.
They've got under France's skin a bit. Blocked their through balls mostly; doubling up on the floor flanks and eventually reducing France to a few longer range efforts.
But it will be hard to keep it going. On the other hand, France will have more joy getting another body into that box. That might leave some space.

[Saint_clark]

Macarena FFS. The Americans should stop playing our sport altogether. 

[sockeye]

I had France down to win it all, so an upset here would be much welcome

 

[AlexLaw76]

That is a penalty all day

[Saint_clark]

4 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

That is a penalty all day

Really stupid from the defender, he was going away from goal heading towards more Paraguay players. After so long of being so perfect defensively he's badly let his team, and country, down. 

[Saint Pete]

Epic shithousery from Paraguay delaying the penalty but Mbappe still not phased! 

[Cuddles]

Paraguay taking the shithousery too far imo

[Saint Pete]

Yeah, the reffing too lenient to be fair. I'm all for trying to let the game flow but some fouls need to result in yellow cards to prevent it getting out of control. 

[die Mannyschaft]

Need 2 or 3 Paraguay players to red carded. Holding all the time out field and corners. Hacking players. The pen was a red card

[Saint_clark]

1 minute ago, die Mannyschaft said:

Need 2 or 3 Paraguay players to red carded. Holding all the time out field and corners. Hacking players. The pen was a red card

Don't be ridiculous.

[die Mannyschaft]

3 minutes ago, Cuddles said:

Paraguay taking the shithousery too far imo

Paraguay, Argentina allways been dirty Leeds type teams. 

That's a Beckham red card there 

[Gloucester Saint]

Argentinian shithousery without Argentinian flair and technical ability = Paraguay

[Cuddles]

Why is VAR not intervening lol

[Osvaldorama]

7 minutes ago, Cuddles said:

Paraguay taking the shithousery too far imo

I love it 

[obelisk]

We're seeing some real cheating in this game. Much of it unpunished.

[die Mannyschaft]

2 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

Don't be ridiculous.

Game is ruined by holding all leagues. VAR can see it, if 2 players grappling during corner and not letting go then yellow card for both, do it again then red. 

 

[Saint_clark]

1 minute ago, obelisk said:

We're seeing some real cheating in this game. Much of it unpunished.

When I saw at the start the ref was from Uzbekistan I wondered how qualified he was realistically going to be. 

[Saint_clark]

Just now, die Mannyschaft said:

Game is ruined by holding all leagues. VAR can see it, if 2 players grappling during corner and not letting go then yellow card for both, do it again then red. 

 

......what!?

[die Mannyschaft]

3 minutes ago, Cuddles said:

Why is VAR not intervening lol

VAR is just there to create controversy and more interest in the football product. Its like FA and FIFA just want more clicks on YouTube etc.VAR is completely useless. 

[Osvaldorama]

I hate France as much as the next man, but this refereeing has been horrendous.
 

Paraguay are proper shit houses.. it’s disgusting but I could watch it all day so I really hope they can equalise and send it to ET. 

This is the scary part about France tbf. They’re so, so good but also physical and unphased by this. You just know they’ll find a way through any challenge. I’ll be amazed if they don’t win the cup   

 

[Patrick Bateman]

5 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Argentinian shithousery without Argentinian flair and technical ability = Paraguay

Absolutely, hope France score a few more

[Saint NL]

One of the worst refereeing performances I've ever seen. 

[Saint Pete]

That Caceres lad is building up to a full on assault before the final whistle you sense! 

[die Mannyschaft]

4 minutes ago, Saint_clark said:

When I saw at the start the ref was from Uzbekistan I wondered how qualified he was realistically going to be. 

Probably fake coaching credentials 

[die Mannyschaft]

Can't see equaliser even with 10 mins added. 

Number 23 should have 5 yellow. 

[Patrick Bateman]

Paraguay are a bunch of cunts, deserved to lose that

[Patrick Bateman]

France v Morocco ... I can't call that, both quality 

Edited 10 hours ago by Patrick Bateman

[die Mannyschaft]

Well done France beat worst team in world cup so far, Paraguay just tried to get players sent off. Defensive low block didn't pay off as not enchanted created and often left with 3 at back. 

[Saint Pete]

Astounding that no Paraguay players yellow carded in the match. That ref should never get another game after that. Just did not do his job. 

[die Mannyschaft]

3 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Paraguay are a bunch of cunts, deserved to lose that

Useless tactics v France. worked v Germany but they were crap so resorted to trying to get players red carded. 

[die Mannyschaft]

1 minute ago, Saint Pete said:

Astounding that no Paraguay players yellow carded in the match. That ref should never get another game after that. Just did not do his job. 

South American corruption is still working well. We're VAR staff Italian?

[Osvaldorama]

Worst referee I have ever seen.  
 

It made it a great game, as it gave Paraguay a chance. But fuck me 

[Gloucester Saint]

France deserved to win. I think they were too keen to show they were ruffled at the end which might encourage Morocco and future opponents, although Morocco are x100 more talented than Paraguay and capable of turning anyone over.

Paraguay - well done on beating Germany but you can park a double decker bus every so often and your petulance and attitude actually undid all of the defensive discipline as that was a really silly penalty. He wasn’t scoring from there.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

It took a bit of the direct play, they lacked in the first half to get the penalty. While VAR was working on that, Almiron wiped himself out, racing up the pitch.

It was an example of how much energy they'd used, and they had little left when they needed a goal.

Galzara is the cheater's cheat of the tournament. The ref was clearly letting a lot go. In the first half this was mostly Paraguay, but a couple of France moments too. As it went on, it was clear the ref wasn't taking accumulated fouls into account. Let alone the little kicks or those hits across the chest. But then, on one of those, Kounde went down holding a face that hadn' t been touched. The ref wasn't impressed by any of that.

Like a lot of sides, France lacked anything central, and no real desire to get a ball in there to cause problems. As the tournament goes on, that will probably be less of an issue, until you need a goal to stay in it.

Well done to France, for not getting involved after the whistle. Paraguay had to go and moan at the ref instead. I noted the Beeb saying that the they were staying with the pics, basically so they could show any fighting, then tut about it.

 

[ChristopheVAFC]

Hello everyone,

As a supporter of Valenciennes and the French national team, let me tell you this:

That Paraguay team and that refereeing are a disgrace to world football, and I’m choosing my words carefully this morning.

Fortunately, real football came out on top last night!

 

 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

Conspiracy theory time. Infantino is absolutely desperate for the USA to do well at the world cup to appease his mate, Trump.

Obviously dodgy refereeing decisions in USA games will be under a lot of scrutiny. So the next best thing to do is try and ensure the other best teams in their half of the draw get knocked out. Happened with Germany already. Did their best to ensure France went out last night. Suspect Spain will be up against the ref tonight too. USA probably have enough to beat Belgium, so reckon they'll scrape through that.

[Osvaldorama]

 

7 minutes ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

Conspiracy theory time. Infantino is absolutely desperate for the USA to do well at the world cup to appease his mate, Trump.

Obviously dodgy refereeing decisions in USA games will be under a lot of scrutiny. So the next best thing to do is try and ensure the other best teams in their half of the draw get knocked out. Happened with Germany already. Did their best to ensure France went out last night. Suspect Spain will be up against the ref tonight too. USA probably have enough to beat Belgium, so reckon they'll scrape through that.

I don’t normally like accusing refs of corruption, as usually they’re just incompetent. 
 

But you do have to ask the question after last night. The refs performance was just so strange. There were clear elbows and punches thrown and the ref/VAR did nothing except book French players… insanity 

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, Osvaldorama said:

 

I don’t normally like accusing refs of corruption, as usually they’re just incompetent. 
 

But you do have to ask the question after last night. The refs performance was just so strange. There were clear elbows and punches thrown and the ref/VAR did nothing except book French players… insanity 

I know the refs have been, rightly, encouraged to keep the game flowing and stop the constant provision of free kicks as players dive so much.

But fecking hell, the ref last night belongs at the World Cup as much as Djed Spence

[Tamesaint]

11 minutes ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

Conspiracy theory time. Infantino is absolutely desperate for the USA to do well at the world cup to appease his mate, Trump.

Obviously dodgy refereeing decisions in USA games will be under a lot of scrutiny. So the next best thing to do is try and ensure the other best teams in their half of the draw get knocked out. Happened with Germany already. Did their best to ensure France went out last night. Suspect Spain will be up against the ref tonight too. USA probably have enough to beat Belgium, so reckon they'll scrape through that.

The sending off of USA player Balogun for not very much in the last USA game puts paid to that theory.

[pingpong]

Scared to send mbappe off, probably due to his status and importance to the cup.  It's that big team bias all over again, I thought var was supposed to reduce that.

[Saint Billy]

I hope the FA guys watched that game to determine the real meaning of cheating, witnessed by millions and yet goes unpunished. 

Not a guy on a iPhone miles away watching a training session, these Paraguay idiots were trying to injure and take out players but everyone turned a blind eye.

[Window Cleaner]

1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

 

I don’t normally like accusing refs of corruption, as usually they’re just incompetent. 
 

But you do have to ask the question after last night. The refs performance was just so strange. There were clear elbows and punches thrown and the ref/VAR did nothing except book French players… insanity 

The ref was from Ouzbékistan,what can he possibly know about serious football.

FIFA have introduced far too many aspects into this cup that have absolutely no real value. Joke teams, joke officials and joke playing conditions.

They need to reduced everything by 25 percent.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Fucking hell, some of the pearl clutching on here is worse than those chumps in the BBC studio. Nothing about the French over reacting and pretending they were hurt, the worst being Mbappe. Bloke hardly touched him and “chappers” (or whatever his name is) was crying like a big girl “Beckham got sent off for that”, nothing about Mbappe trying to get the bloke sent off for it. 

What were Paraguay supposed to do, try and out play the French? There wasn’t a bad tackle in the game, just a bit of afters to try and goad the French into responding, a tactic that’s as old as the hills.
 

The BBC chumps are supposed to be neutral, they highlighted the Paraguay over reactions, but nothing when the French did it. That one bloke with the dodgy hair & Hart, saying how great it was Mbappe was laughing at them, I was hoping someone would take one for the team, and chin him. As for messing up the penalty spot, that’s common practice in Europe, but as soon as a South American does it, they come over all moral.
 

The best team won, and deserved to win. But save get off your moral high horses FFS.

[Patches O Houlihan]

26 minutes ago, Window Cleaner said:

The ref was from Ouzbékistan,what can he possibly know about serious football.

FIFA have introduced far too many aspects into this cup that have absolutely no real value. Joke teams, joke officials and joke playing conditions.

They need to reduced everything by 25 percent.

The thing is before the tournament you would have called Cape Verde a joke team, but they came back twice against the world champions in a knock out game, (the CV 2nd was amazing) and the winning goal for Argentina was an OG that bounced off several heads.

I've sailed into Cape Verde; they haven't got a pot to piss in. Fair play to them I say. 

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

56 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

The thing is before the tournament you would have called Cape Verde a joke team, but they came back twice against the world champions in a knock out game, (the CV 2nd was amazing) and the winning goal for Argentina was an OG that bounced off several heads.

I've sailed into Cape Verde; they haven't got a pot to piss in. Fair play to them I say. 

Agreed to an extent. Though I also didn't expect Macclesfield to beat the FA Cup holders last season, but they did. Doesn't mean I think they should expand the Premier League to 100 teams to accommodate them.

Also, I've been to Macclesfield. They probably do have a pot to piss in but generally I think the locals prefer to do it up the walls of their local Londis.