Topic: The Push Square Football (Soccer) Thread

Yes I've enjoyed what I've seen so far. Only managed to catch the Mexico and Canada games as I'm not staying up to the early hours unless it's a match I really need to see. Glad to see all the host nations get off to good starts and pretty impressed with how attacking the U.S. looked in the highlights.

It's probably a good job that I can't watch all of the games as I would almost certainly burn out with the amount of teams and matches this year. Not sure if I can hype myself into watching the Qatar Switzerland tonight though!

@nessisonett
Good luck to your boys in your first world cup match. Hope they do your nation proud.

@sorteddan At least we have Haiti first. Nothing worse than playing well against the big teams but still needing a result against minnows, it inevitably goes against you. It’s looking likely that 4 points will be enough so we’ll see.

Simple 3 points. Never in doubt 💀

@nessisonett Craig Burley's record has finally gone!

@JohnnyShoulder Surprised they didn’t chalk it as an own goal with that massive deflection to be fair! We seem to be public enemy number one with the Spanish speaking world but honestly, that ref was rubbish for both teams and while Haiti played well, they need to finish their chances or it’s all for nothing. Think in 4 years time they’ll be a good squad.

You heard it here first (and probably last): Norway's gonna be the biggest surprise this World Cup.
How do I know this? We just won a match and I can't imagine a bigger surprise than that

With Mbappe, Haaland and Messi all scoring it feels a bit like yesterday was the day the stars turned up.
Overall I've been enjoying what I've seen but think there are too many teams this year. Twelve groups is too many for me to even think about keeping up with. May become easier when teams are playing their second and third games and are in a must win situation.

I hear we've made Van Hecke of a signing.

I now absolutely understand why Senegal walked off the pitch to be honest. Morocco have twice now in this tournament scored early and then been utter toilet, being bailed out by the refs at every turn. I’m not totally convinced by the McGinn penalty shout but the McTominay one was a stonewall penalty. Without a doubt, when even the wee ITV referee woman says it is then it surely is, these referee pundit people just agree with their fellow refs about 99% of the time. Part of the issue though is that Clarke’s tactics are bizarre. I’ve always been a bit wary that we’ve done well in spite of him rather than because of him, our squad really isn’t one of the worst there and we do have PL-quality players. Frustrating.

I'm going to say it, but the hydration breaks are a joke...

@Oram77
Well in extreme heat and sunshine it is a good move for player health and welfare, especially for players residing in countries without such extremes in temperature.

In climate controlled, air conditioned stadia with closed roofs it's clearly something else... Shameless opportunity to squeeze in an ad break and unofficially make the game into four quarters. Let's hope the fans at the games keep on the chorus of boos to show their displeasure.

@sorteddan I understand it's there for players safety (some of the temperatures over are crazy!) , but in my opinion the managers shouldn't be anyway near the players as some of water breaks have completely changed teams...

@sorteddan The hydration breaks have also actually reduced things like goalies going down for no reason in order for the coach to get tactics to the players, since they get a chance each half to do so anyway. But they’re far too long and it’s obvious they’re just an excuse for adverts.

@nessisonett
Just hope domestic football doesn't follow suit and we can just put it down to an anomaly for this world cup only.

On a separate note, after reading you questioning Clarke's tactics... How do you (and other fans) feel about McBurnie being absolutely blanked? Did he upset the manager/squad in the past because I've been watching him all season and if he's not good enough to get in the squad then fair enough. But I've also seen Dykes play and think Ollie is much better (though I am fairly biased), even when he doesn't score he lets defenders know they've been in a game.

@sorteddan I’d have personally taken McBurnie over Dykes but I can sort of get why he’s not been picked. He was caught on camera slagging off Scotland and had to issue an apology plus whenever he did play for us, and we did give him chances, he never impressed. Clarke has his favourites.

What a dull game, we played it way too safe with the passes considering Ghana parked the bus from the very first min of the match...

The referees have been so lax this tournament. Agree that the Pickford one wasn’t a red card but that Konsa tackle is an absolute nailed on penalty and it’s crazy they missed it. There’s an argument to be made that he should have been off too, it was very much above the knee. Think England would have equalised even if Ghana got the pen though, it felt like a draw all game long.

@nessisonett Scotland fans are now in the awkward place, now having a vested interest in random games such Australia v Paraguay and Austria v Algeria to see if they are one of the best third-placed sides.