Friday, November 25, 2022

That Tournament in Qatar

 Everything about this World Cup is an abomination and an outrage, except the actual football, which has been watchable.  Randomly:


The US allowed Wales a draw when a quick throw-in very late got the ball to Bale, and Walker Zimmerman chose to knock him down in the penalty area.  Stupid.  We drew with England today, and a win over Iran would see us through to the knockout round.  It won't be easy; a draw would do Iran very nicely and they will play for it.  The US is not a free-scoring team and will have to commit numbers forward, meaning the counter will be on.

It's a decent event for Arsenal players.  Turner was excellent in the US goal, Saka scored twice against Iran, Xhaka's Switzerland won.

The Dutch don't look so great.

Qatar is already knocked out, having lost its first two games.  They did score today.

Saudi Arabia shocked Argentina, and Japan upset Germany, scoring twice (after Tomiyasu came in) to turn it around.

4 comments:

  1. I thought the US had one of its best performances in its history against a very strong English lineup. Both sides had scoring chances that came to nothing but post balls.

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    1. I agree about how good we looked. England was rather toothless.

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  2. I wonder how many players on the Iran team would would ask for asylum if the tournament was elsewhere other than in Qatar? Iran has already threatened their families.

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    1. Iranians are more the "stay and fight" type. They had chances in qualifying trips to defect, but they're patriotic and won't bail. At least one is risking everything to show support for the protesters.

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