Football

[lasttrain929]

Cup of shocks and VAR decisions. But Brazil did look good.

Wales England game should be a cracker…..

[Timeblue]

Happier now Helmut83?

[Helmut83]

Nov 27, 2022 0:21:38 GMT Timeblue said:

Happier now Helmut83?

Not until we advance to round of 16 (and preferably not against France again).

We saw a better version of Argentina, but still quite far away from the one of the previous games to the World Cup. This Mexico team is about the worst they've had, and still it took a lot of work for Argentina to beat them. Hopefully against Poland it will be another step in the right direction.

[orioles70]

looks like America is going through, which means this team has met expectations
anything more will be gravy

[Timeblue]

Good performance from England especially in the 2nd half, Wales were poor though and haven't really played well all tournament. Onto Senegal now in the last 16 so a good chance to progress to the last 8. Well done USA for also progressing.

[Helmut83]

Nov 29, 2022 21:13:23 GMT orioles70 said:

looks like America is going through, which means this team has met expectations
anything more will be gravy

I think the US played way better than their results show, and this is something local commentators here have been saying too. Very good team with two big flaws:

- Too few goals to show for all their domination and good play, which makes them suffer unnecesarily at the end of the games. This is due to a lack of better forwards.
- They waste a lot of energy in dominating early in the game, so by mid-second half they are gassed and they end up defending and suffering.

Now they'll be playing for a big upset against the Netherlands.


On the other game, no surprises. You cannot questions the Welsh players' commitment, but you also need to have a little technique, to be able to make passes to your teammates, etc... and in this regard Wales was seriously lacking. I hope the experience of playing a World Cup after so long was good enough for their fans, especially for dillwyn .

England looked good in this first phase and should beat Senegal in round of 16.

[Horacewimp]

Sorry Wales went out dillwyn but I hope you had a great time and experience in attending the match and I’m sure you come away with some great memories.

[dillwyn]

We seriously under-performed but I am incredibly proud of them all.... this was our view

[Helmut83]

Wow, amazing! What a party it must have been!

What can you tell us about Qatar and the whole experiene, dillwyn ?

[Helmut83]

Now, things are finally beginning to shape up for Argentina. The team seems to have recovered its memory as for the first time in this World Cup they played as they had been playing before it. They controlled Poland almost at will. Let's see what happens against Australia.

[Timeblue]

Well done Japan! (the ball WAS in....)

[dillwyn]

Dec 1, 2022 5:24:21 GMT Helmut83 said:

Wow, amazing! What a party it must have been!

What can you tell us about Qatar and the whole experiene, dillwyn ?

In truth, we weren't  there long enough to soak up too much atmosphere as there was no affordable accommodation in Qatar (apart from fan village which was essentially a portacabin with a fan). We had therefore opted to stay for a couple of nights stopover in Dubai and take a one-hour flight to Qatar on the day.

Having never been to Dubai before, my instant reaction was it seemed an incredible mix of ramped-up displays of wealth interspaced with poorer less developed areas, just like a lot of cities I guess except on steroids. We also took the opportunity to visit/go up the world's tallest building which was very very busy and set in a shopping mall which was like a typical Saturday (rather like shopping malls used to be in the uk). 
We left Dubai on the day of the game, shared a plane with other fans as the games were happening all at the same time. There are small number of stadiums all relatively close to each other.

We passed two on the the way to ours. Whilst waiting for the plane,  my son totalled the passengers..10 Welsh, 9 Iranians, 7 Americans, 5 Saudi Arabian, 5 England, 3 Argentinian, 2 Senegalese fans and one very funny Brazilian. He kept gently mocking the one or two more vocal US fans who could only chant USA, USA USA (no songs) whenever the Iranians stopped singing. The Iranians were by far the most vocal, they were singing, chanting and generally enjoying themselves it helped everyone and kept everyone in good humour.

We travelled directly to the stadium by taxi when we got there (it was quickest and we wanted to take in as much as we could). The external fan park was empty compared to the space maybe 200-300 people, we opted to go back into yet another mall (built close the stadium) to grab a bite to eat. It was filled the Welsh and English fans all rubbing along together. Fast forward to the game, the queues to get in and security were a little slow to get through. They insisted on emptying my ruck sack completely but I understand they were trying to protect us all. The fan park directly outside the stadium was packed, there were quite a few alcohol-fuelled supporters (despite there being a no alcohol state and none for sale outside the stadium). there was a poor lady trying to generate at festival like atmosphere but that was less successful. Inside the stadium was clean, tidy and new. The welsh fans (known as the red wall) were in good spirits despite the expectation that this was the last game for us sung and were their usual happy selves. The game went as expected.. Wales were happy to sit back, England passed the ball around the back a lot and frequently tested the welsh team defence.  Wales bright defender Williams went off with concussion,  Bale went off with a hamstring injury, three other of the Wales best players all left the field and two early second goals killed off any dying hopes and the game petered out as expected. The welsh fans all stayed after the game to acknowledge the teams achievement of just getting us there and sung the national anthem to the players who were clearly gutted. After the match the queues for taxi and buses were horrendous, we managed to negotiate a deal with a waiting taxi driver and got out within 15 mins. We then spent a night in Qatar airport (which is incredible and by far the best airport ive ever been in)..including 95 shops, countless number of bars and restaurants and wooded walkways and quiet rooms where you could sleep. ... couple more images me in outside fan park and airport wooded walk way

Attachments:

[dillwyn]

looking good Helmut83?

[Helmut83]

Dec 3, 2022 22:53:57 GMT dillwyn said:

looking good Helmut83?

I wouldn't say so, Dillwyn. In the first half, absolutely nothing happened except for one single chance that Messi converted into a goal. In the second half the game was better, though the two goals came from accidents. Being honest, the fact that a relatively limited team like Australia pushed us to the brink (that chance at the very end was dramatic and could have changed the story) makes me nervous about having to face tougher opposition like the Netherlands. Credit to the Aussies though, not everybody was expecting them to put up such a spirited fight.

How did you see it? A neutral could probably provide with a clearer point of view.

[Helmut83]

By the way, thanks for your insight and pics, .dillwyn . Sounds like you had a good time despite the result and you got a chance to thank the players for qualifying. The wooden walkway looks very modern and fantastic with all those plants. Yeah, American fans still have a lot to learn in terms of chants, they still don't have the habit of creating and learning more ellaborate chants as happens in other places. They'll get there hopefully.

Let's see how it goes for England tomorrow. A harder test than they've had so far, even if still not elite level.