Soccer World Cup is off and Running

[mike carey]

It has started. After all the debate and angst about the season, moving the tournament from its accustomed place in the northern summer, and the host, the Football World Cup is under way. Discussion about the politics is for another place, this forum is about the sport.

Qatar is playing Ecuador in the opener. Ecuador scored the first goal but it was disallowed on video evidence. They then won a penalty and scored the first goal that counts in the tournament.

After 40 minutes, Ecuador lead 0-2. There will be more closely watched games but this is the first and that has an interest of its own.

[BuffaloKyle]

The FIFA app crashed causing fans to not be able to access their tickets to get into the games:

https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/4808225/world-cup-chaos-englandus-fans-face-ticket-issues

[BuffaloKyle]

All the beer that Budweiser set aside to be sold at the world cup that was banned at the last minute will now instead be sent to the country that wins the tournament. Good thing the host country Qatar doesn't have a chance! 😆

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/22/business/budweiser-unsold-beer-world-cup

Edited November 22, 2022 by BuffaloKyle

[EZEtoGRU]

Is it just me or is this World Cup not generating the same level of interest that it normally would?  How full are the stands during the games?

[+ Lucky]

Cristiano Ronaldo is such a beautiful man. I could watch him all day, but I will never watch the Qatar show.

[mike carey]

I wonder what the atmosphere was like on Wednesday evening in the Amalienborg Palace as they watched Denmark in its final game in the Cup. I'm sure we'll never be told. The Crown Prince is an Olympian so I suspect he would have been watching.

That said, the final 16 has been interesting in its diversity and in the fall of some titans (leaving aside that North Macedonia had ended Italy's chance of even being in Qatar).

Three teams from Asia, two from Africa and South America and one from CONCACAF, with eight from Europe.

Two Europeans and two of the 'other' will progress to the quarter-finals. Who they will be, and who the other four will be starts to emerge on Sunday morning our time. I fear that Australia beating Messi, I mean Argentina, will require a miracle, and more than a small one.

[EZEtoGRU]

Australia and U.S. are out.  Can England survive tomorrow?  I am going to guess they will beat Senegal.

Still very little interest generated here in the US over these games this year.  It will be even less now that the US is out.  I was out in a busy bar here in small-town Michigan last night and literally no-one I was near to or speaking with mentioned the World Cup even once.  It's just a non-factor here.  I did partake in two other sports conversations however: one about baseball and one about hockey.  I wonder if interest in this year's games is as strong as ever in soccer powerhouse countries in Europe and South America?

[mike carey]

2 hours ago, EZEtoGRU said:

Australia and U.S. are out ...

Still very little interest generated here in the US over these games this year.  It will be even less now that the US is out.  I was out in a busy bar here in small-town Michigan last night and literally no-one I was near to or speaking with mentioned the World Cup even once.  It's just a non-factor here ... I wonder if interest in this year's games is as strong as ever in soccer powerhouse countries in Europe and South America?

It's been very different here. There were 30,000 people in Federation Square in Melbourne at 2am for the game against Denmark, and there were additional public sites with big screens for the final this morning. In Sydney there were also public sites where people gathered in large numbers. The final was at 6am, so not so wrenching as a 2am start. Sydney made public transport free from 4am to midday for people to go out for the game. (In Melbourne the fire brigade had to put out flares that had been thrown on the stage when Australia scored.) Aside from the public events, everyone seems to be talking about it, but no doubt interest will fade, but not disappear for the rest of the finals. It was football's once in four years moment in the sun.

The consensus here is that the Socceroos did far better than we had dared to expect. Two wins in the group stage, no clean sheets against us, progressing to the knock-out phase for only the second time, and having Argentina on the back foot for the last 10 minutes and coming close to equalising at the end. That after only qualifying in a penalty shoot out in an intercontinental playoff (against Perú).

Our dreams shattered (or to be more accurate our hopes again unfulfilled) it's now on to the qualification rounds for 2026. Or perhaps not quite, for both our countries. The women's world cup is in Australia and Aotearoa next year and both the Australian and US women's teams are more highly ranked than our men. (I heard that the US men's team reaching the round of 16 will result in a pay rise for the women (not just the men) because both teams' pay deals benefit from prize money from the men's tournament.) As was the case for the men's 2015 Asian Cup (which we won) Australia will certainly be focussed on the Cup for the weeks that it is on.

[mike carey]

Federation Square at 6.40am today (which is after the Messi goal):

The area was filled to capacity at 5am, that is, an hour before kick-off.

[mike carey]

France 3 - Pologne 1

Or Francja 3 - Polska 1

And the Polish goal was a Lewandowski penalty deep in time added on at the end of the game. A strong performance from France. On to England - Senegal!

[irfy]

Gutted, England lost in a very close game against France.