World Cup 2026

[Turkish]

3 hours ago, Football Special said:

I remember when sky tried it back in 1992 we had a band on the pitch at The Dell vs Man Utd 

Must admit I enjoyed the half time show and hoping its something that could become a permanent feature at club football. 30 min half time, we could have Craig David driven onto the pitch by Iain Dowie and Nicky Banger 

Curiosity Killed the Cat i believe. Miming on a box on the pitch. Pre game there was a fireworks let off inside SMS. I guess this was the precursor to the fabulous light shows we now enjoy. 

[Gloucester Saint]

10 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Curiosity Killed the Cat i believe. Miming on a box on the pitch. Pre game there was a fireworks let off inside SMS. I guess this was the precursor to the fabulous light shows we now enjoy. 

What I remember more was the heavy rain which came down in the second half and then walking back to the bus stop in it after Dion Dublin’s last minute winner. Broke his leg badly next game v Palace and never really got another look in at Old Trafford. Very good career though. 

[S-Clarke]

27 minutes ago, iansums said:

Just read on BBC website that the odious little ginger Argie sub who provoked Belligham at full-time is a transfer target for Chelsea. That would give them two of the little wankers.

Makes sense, he's not necessarily a transfer target - just part of their multi-club player merry-go-round as he's at Strasbourg. He was previously at Brighton.

The link with Brighton/Chelsea is all a bit fishy too.

[Turkish]

11 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

What I remember more was the heavy rain which came down in the second half and then walking back to the bus stop in it after Dion Dublin’s last minute winner. Broke his leg badly next game v Palace and never really got another look in at Old Trafford. Very good career though. 

Excellent on Homes Under the Hammer too.

[badgerx16]

The Spanish FA have photoshopped Trump out of the pictures posted on their website.

[Sarnia Cherie]

38 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

The Spanish FA have photoshopped Trump out of the pictures posted on their website.

Speaks volumes. It's a wonder Trump wasn't wearing a Spanish kit, much like John Terry used to do. Hopefully the next World Cup will have a lot more dignity with Spain, Portugal and Morocco as hosts.  FIFA (Fixing It For Argentina) may bring out the US style tawdry razzmatazz at the matches in Argentina (naturally), Uruguay and Paraguay. At least Trump won't be President then and hopefully Infantino won't be anyway near it either.

 

[Gloucester Saint]

43 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Excellent on Homes Under the Hammer too.

Seems to pick up a lot of the Potteries and Midlands ones, sometimes Manchester.

I do watch some of the episodes on iPlayer to help get some inspiration for our house renovation.

[VectisSaint]

20 minutes ago, Sarnia Cherie said:

Speaks volumes. It's a wonder Trump wasn't wearing a Spanish kit, much like John Terry used to do. Hopefully the next World Cup will have a lot more dignity with Spain, Portugal and Morocco as hosts.  FIFA (Fixing It For Argentina) may bring out the US style tawdry razzmatazz at the matches in Argentina (naturally), Uruguay and Paraguay. At least Trump won't be President then and hopefully Infantino won't be anyway near it either.

 

Don't bank on Trump not being President in 2030. 

[Window Cleaner]

1 hour ago, Sarnia Cherie said:

Speaks volumes. It's a wonder Trump wasn't wearing a Spanish kit, much like John Terry used to do. Hopefully the next World Cup will have a lot more dignity with Spain, Portugal and Morocco as hosts.  FIFA (Fixing It For Argentina) may bring out the US style tawdry razzmatazz at the matches in Argentina (naturally), Uruguay and Paraguay. At least Trump won't be President then and hopefully Infantino won't be anyway near it either.

 

Spain and Portugal perhaps, Morocco?

Well their comportement was less than ideal in the last tournament they hosted.

[suewhistle]

41 minutes ago, VectisSaint said:

Don't bank on Trump not being President in 2030. 

Embalmed? On a life-support machine? 

I've a good bottle of English sparkling ready for when the junk food finally does him in..

[Osvaldorama]

Shame really, I know people have criticised it but personally I think it’s been a fantastic World Cup. 
 

But the final was ruined by Argentina being allowed to get away with so much. First time I’ve ever turned off a World Cup final. Went to bed instead of watching those little rats cry and dive. Also ruined by the half time show nonsense. As soon as Madonna came on I turned it off and went to bed 

[BARCELONASAINT]

Viva Espana!!! God i hate those cheating bastard Argies. Two World Cup titles in my lifetime is more than i could have hoped plus European Champions, what a great era.

 

[Window Cleaner]

12 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Shame really, I know people have criticised it but personally I think it’s been a fantastic World Cup. 
 

But the final was ruined by Argentina being allowed to get away with so much. First time I’ve ever turned off a World Cup final. Went to bed instead of watching those little rats cry and dive. Also ruined by the half time show nonsense. As soon as Madonna came on I turned it off and went to bed 

Yes, the foul by Paredes on Olmo was a straight red in any other match, well apart from this World Cup. It's just not understandable really. Something rotten in the state of FIFA.

[Gloucester Saint]

52 minutes ago, Window Cleaner said:

Yes, the foul by Paredes on Olmo was a straight red in any other match, well apart from this World Cup. It's just not understandable really. Something rotten in the state of FIFA.

McAllister’s early foul was as yellow a card as you can get.

Arguable ref letting it go for both sides but escalation in Argentina’s behaviour when not shown an early yellow was an obvious to adapt.

[sadoldgit]

10 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

McAllister’s early foul was as yellow a card as you can get.

Arguable ref letting it go for both sides but escalation in Argentina’s behaviour when not shown an early yellow was an obvious to adapt.

My thoughts too. Shearer said that it was a yellow if later in the game, why? It was a yellow even if committed in the first minute. There is no excuse for fouls like that no matter how early in the game.

[East Kent Saint]

I gave up at half time , so many fouls by Argies were unpunished , when they fouled they rolled around claiming they had been fouled , pressing down on Spanish players shoulders when challenging for a header etc etc . In a proper run FIFA they would be charged   fined and banned from future competitions .

[Middlewordie]

I would like to see a detailed video analysis review of the reffing at this world cup. It was great to see them waving on play, but they'd clearly had some direction to not apply the laws of the game fully.

Lots of cynical professional fouls - straight yellows - were ignored. Taking people out in the air is a straight red in rugby, bit I saw three let go entirely in the final. I'd also like to see all the blocking stopped. You can shield the ball if you are in playing distance (less than 1.5m away?), otherwise it's obstruction. If you aren't running towards the ball and you run onto someone else's path as they go for the ball, its obstruction. If you run into contact with your arms out at head height, its dangerous play.

There is a great documentary to be made by interviewing all the refs from this world cup to find out how and why the refs got it so consistently wrong.

[Saint Pete]

7 minutes ago, Middlewordie said:

I would like to see a detailed video analysis review of the reffing at this world cup. It was great to see them waving on play, but they'd clearly had some direction to not apply the laws of the game fully.

Lots of cynical professional fouls - straight yellows - were ignored. Taking people out in the air is a straight red in rugby, bit I saw three let go entirely in the final. I'd also like to see all the blocking stopped. You can shield the ball if you are in playing distance (less than 1.5m away?), otherwise it's obstruction. If you aren't running towards the ball and you run onto someone else's path as they go for the ball, its obstruction. If you run into contact with your arms out at head height, its dangerous play.

There is a great documentary to be made by interviewing all the refs from this world cup to find out how and why the refs got it so consistently wrong.

I'm with you totally on the yellow cards. I saw several games where there was a total refusal from refs to apply the rules on what should be a yellow card. The ones that spring to mind immediately are Paraguay-France, England-Argentina and then the Final. In fact, pretty sure all Argentina games were subject to the same! Would be interested to know if there was an instruction to refs not to book players so much generally or if it was more selective than that. No-one likes to see matches decided by yellow/red cards but refs have to use them in the modern game to avoid teams like Argentina taking the piss like they did in this tournament. 

 

 

 

[Challenger]

8 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

The Spanish FA have photoshopped Trump out of the pictures posted on their website.

Don't blame them. Greatest sporting achievement in those players lives and there's an orange cunt in the photo.

[rallyboy]

Messi escaped a red card when he stamped on the Algerian.

That set the tone for looking after Argentina right through to the final, even to the point of a ridiculous five minutes of injury time on the incident-free 15 mins of extra time.

FIFA has much to explain.

 

[Sardonic Squirrels]

Wasn't fitting for a World Cup Final, not in the true sense.    Argentina for all their available talent decided to shut up shop for 120 minutes and take a chance on a penalty shoot out. They came quite near to actually accomplishing that.    Would have been a farce had anyone other than Spain not won that game yesterday. 

The overall tournament has been fun in parts but nothing at times like past competitions at least in terms of true excitement.   Hydration breaks, half time glamour shows and celebration music.   Too much americanised shit for some viewers.      Holding it in three separate countries was always a risk but thankfully Mexico and Canada venues didn't feature all too often. 

The best team won it you can argue but thought France were the most complete team in it until their semi final exit.   Up until then they really looked set to win it.    There were maybe too many teams participating right from the start that spoiled things to an extent and some of the kick off times were awkward for those outside North America.     The whole competition seemed to drag on such were the number of nations involved but feel in a sense relief that its over and we can return and focus on domestics in the UK leagues.  

Even now I'll not understand how Cape Verde escaped unbeaten in the group stages including both Spain and Uruguay and very nearly went on to eliminate ex holders and champs Argentina in a next round contest. 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

7 hours ago, rallyboy said:

Messi escaped a red card when he stamped on the Algerian.

That set the tone for looking after Argentina right through to the final, even to the point of a ridiculous five minutes of injury time on the incident-free 15 mins of extra time.

FIFA has much to explain.

 

I read that Pardes got a red card for his fighting at the end and then it was not recorded.

Not sure how reliable the report was but it wouldn't surprise me.

Also the Argentinian players turned their backs on the trophy lift. Talk about being sore losers.

[Lighthouse]

13 hours ago, Challenger said:

Don't blame them. Greatest sporting achievement in those players lives and there's an orange cunt in the photo.

You’d think the Spanish would be used to that, with all the Essex girls in Marbella.

[AlexLaw76]

That's bollox, but anyway...

[hypochondriac]

15 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

That's bollox, but anyway...

Shades of "fiery but mostly peaceful protests"