2022 Qatar World Cup


ElJavi76

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There’s two sides to this coin… there’s the part where an ultra conservative religion is at the fulcrum of all of this beer and armband fiasco. Misguided as they might be (please see your calendars… i

The thing that makes holding the WC in Qatar different, at least to some, is the direct connection between human rights violations and the competition.  The stadiums, with one lone exception, and near

After Australia's 1-0 win over Tunisia tonight (Australian time), someone conveniently updated goalscorer Mitchell Duke's Wikipedia page as per the following... Mitchell Thomas Duke (born 18 Janu

Group E is where the action is. If Spain beats Germany today… the Germans could be in big trouble after Costa Rica shocked everyone with the win against Japan. As crazy as it sounds, CR who looked like absolute amateurs against the Spanish in that 7-0 thrashing, are now the only CONCACAF team with a W so far. Oh yeah and there’s NFL football today too. My Bills won on Thursday (barely) so I’m going to watch the Spain v Germany over the football early. 

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In case you are wondering why the final two games of these Group games are now played simultaneously (i.e. that is, at the same time), please enjoy the video linked above. The Disgrace of Gijón is considered one of the worst games of football of all time. At the time, in mid-1982, it caused a lot of upset. After viewing this clip, I'm confident you'll be now glad about the scheduling times for the upcoming Group games.

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Group C comes down to the wire today. Mexico has yet to score a goal but they’re facing SA. Ironically, SA beat Argentina who needs to get past Poland today. They better hope Lewandowski doesn’t wear his dancing shoes today. Lots of drama for one of the favs. 
 

Saw a great meme online yesterday of Messi pulling all of Argentina with him. The other side was all of the Portugal team pulling Cristiano. The Portuguese football federation actually asked FIFA to review his not goal. They claim they have evidence it was his and not Bruno’s. The Adidas people answered by stating that there’s technology in their ball to determine if the ball was flicked or not. They say it wasn’t. I’ve always been a Cristiano over Messi fan. (#HalaMadrid) This is quite interesting tho. 

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So close for Mexico but in the end KSA ended up playing spoilers. They beat Argentina and kept Mexico from moving forward. In the end Argentina and Poland advance. 

Congrats to the Aussies. You’re rewarded by having to face Messi. Knockout round is where the real fun begins. 
 

Cheers!

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I'm still in shock as to what occurred overnight in Group D. I mean Australia beat Denmark AND Tunisia beat France. Both games 1-0. Okay, I know France rested players but who saw those results coming? 😲

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3 minutes ago, JohnS said:

I'm still in shock as to what occurred overnight in Group D. I mean Australia beat Denmark AND Tunisia beat France. Both games 1-0. Okay, I know France rested players but who saw those results coming? 😲

i thought we had a good shot v denmark. they had one loss and a draw v tunisia, who we beat. goals thin on the ground for them. needed to stay strong, defend well and have a bit of luck. will need a lot more of all that v messi et al. 

if big harry is not playing premier league or equivalent next season, a lot of scouts need to change career. 

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Croatia-2.jpg.b6e20354bb2d881059895b7e35aa4407.jpg

Penalties can be so exhilarating, yet heart-breaking, depending who you support. Well done to Croatia and commiserations to Brazil.

What goes around, comes around as they say, I suppose. I remember the first World Cup Final to go to penalties like it was yesterday.

Below is an excellent article by Ed Aarons in today's Guardian. It discusses the English Football team as the online site is British, still, it offers an interesting historical insight into penalties at the World Cup.

Curse of the eighth penalty: World Cup shootouts by numbers

Statistics show the effects of building pressure as the shootout goes on and pinpoint the one most likely to be missed

Despair for Marquinhos and delight for Croatia after the defender misses the eighth penalty in Friday’s shootout to send Brazil out of the World Cup.
 
Despair for Marquinhos and delight for Croatia after the defender misses the eighth penalty in Friday’s shootout to send Brazil out of the World Cup. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images

According to Maxime Bossis, it was an error that would never have been made these days. “No one told me he always dived on the same side. It was another world,” said the former France defender in an interview in July. “Today a coach or a player would have come to tell me: ‘Watch out, he always dives to his right!”

It is more than 40 years since Bossis entered the history books as the first player whose miss in a World Cup penalty shootout led – via an opponent’s successful spot-kick – to his country’s elimination. Introduced by Fifa for the 1982 tournament in Spain to replace the policy of replaying a drawn game, the first took place in Seville and saw – you guessed it – West Germany emerge victorious against France.

“The coach gathered us around and asked: ‘Who wants to take one?’” remembered Alain Giresse, who succeeded with the first penalty in a World Cup shootout. “Players were already taking off their boots and saying: ‘Not me!’”

The goalkeeper Harald Schumacher, having escaped a red card for his vicious body slam on the substitute Patrick Battiston during normal time, denied Bossis with the 11th penalty of the shootout after Uli Stielike had become the first player to miss with the sixth – West Germany’s third - and France’s Didier Six had also had one saved with the seventh (France’s fourth). As Stuart Pearce will testify, Six set off quite a trend.

In 32 World Cup shootouts up to the end of the last 16 in Qatar, teams have been far more likely to miss their fourth penalty than any other, with 22 instances so far (36%) including England’s Stuart Pearce in 1990. The dreaded fifth penalty, unsuccessful for Chris Waddle in that shootout, and for David Batty in 1998, fares only slightly better with a 35% miss rate.

France’s Maxime Bossis trudges away after West Germany’s Harald Schumacher saved his penalty during the sides’ 1982 World Cup semi-final shootout

France’s Maxime Bossis trudges away after West Germany’s Harald Schumacher saved his penalty during the sides’ 1982 World Cup semi-final shootout. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

But if there is a specific penalty to avoid then it appears to be the fourth penalty for the team going second – as Brazil’s Marquinhos found out to his cost against Croatia on Friday. Before that match the eighth total penalty in a shootout had been missed 11 out of 29 times (38%) – more than any other of the regulation 10. According to statistics from Gracenote also running to the end of the last 16, only the 11th and 12th penalties – at 50% – are more likely to be missed, although only one shootout has gone that far since the first in 1982: when the failure of Romania’s Miodrag Belodedici to score sent Sweden to the semi-finals in 1994.

The overall success rate from shootouts is 69% (294 penalties in total with 203 scored and 91 missed), but that figure goes above 70% for the first three rounds (penalties one to six) and drops drastically after as the pressure builds.


Success rate by order of penalties taken in all World Cup shootouts
Total shootouts: 32, with the first in 1982
First penalty taken by each team 73%
2nd 72%
3rd 70%
4th 64%
5th 65%
6th 50%

England’s win over Colombia on penalties in 2018 finally broke their duck in World Cup shootouts at the fourth attempt. Their opponents on Saturday, France, have progressed twice from World Cup quarter-finals in shootouts: in 1986 against Brazil and in 1998 against Italy on their way to becoming champions.

But just as Gareth Southgate’s side lost the Euro 2020 final to Italy on penalties, more recent memories are not so good for Didier Deschamps after Kylian Mbappé was the culprit in the last-16 defeat against Switzerland at the same tournament. And there was 2006 when David Trezeguet’s miss saw Italy triumph in the World Cup final.

Should it come down to penalties on Saturday, winning the toss could be vital given recent trends. Morocco’s victory over Spain in the last 16 in Qatar and Croatia’s over Brazil made them the only teams in the past nine World Cup shootouts to win after taking the first penalty, although overall about half have done so.

There could also be a few surprises in Southgate’s list of penalty takers. Of squad members who have taken five or more in all competitions, including in shootouts, since the start of the 2013-14 season, Harry Kane leads the way with 60 out of 69 successful penalties (87%). Callum Wilson is next with an 85% success rate and the defenders Harry Maguire and Eric Dier make the top five with 83% and 80% respectively.


England squad's top five penalty takers by success rate
Minimum five penalties; in all competitions since 2013-14 season

Harry Kane 87%
Callum Wilson 85%
Harry Maguire 83%
Marcus Rashford 82%
Eric Dier 80%

Raheem Sterling (50%), Kieran Trippier (60%) and Mason Mount (70%) have the lowest success rates but Marcus Rashford (82%) and Bukayo Saka (75% from four penalties) – who were racially abused after missing against Italy last year – could potentially expect to be called upon again.


England squad's bottom five penalty takers by success rate
Minimum four penalties; in all competitions since 2013-14 season

James Maddison 71%
Mason Mount 70%
Kieran Trippier 60%
Conor Coady 50%
Raheem Sterling 50%

But perhaps Jordan Pickford is Southgate’s secret weapon. The goalkeeper may not have saved a penalty in regular play for more than two years but he kept out two in the Euro 2020 final and scored the decisive spot-kick in the Nations League third-place playoff against Switzerland in June 2019. “If called upon I’ll take one,” he said before the victory over Senegal. Just make sure it’s not number eight.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/dec/09/world-cup-penalty-shootouts-by-numbers

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Well, we didn't see that coming... I think that Brazil played better than Croatia most of the time. We had plenty of opportunities to strike yet we failed. With that being said, Croatia had the mental advantage when the extra time ended. What disappointed me the most was Neymar hiding himself from shooting a penalty, he should have been the first and set an example and show the team some spirit. Now we've wasted a excellent team and a good opportunity to win a sixth time. 

Congratulations, Croatia. Now, I'm supporting Argentina. Let's go!

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Charles Dickens' novel, "A Tale of Two Cities" begins famously with the line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". Surely the Argentina-Netherlands Quarter Final today was the 'best of games and the worst of games', at the same time! Counter the many fouls, free kicks, stoppages, yellow cards with the drama and entertainment and you can't claim you were bored after watching it!

The Netherlands incredibly tied it to send it to extra time. I feel they were right to complain about Argentina's second goal which resulted from a penalty that should never have been given, but to their credit they stayed focused and took the game to penalties.

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Well the quarters provided plenty of excitement  Still don’t get why managers Don’t send out their best for first pk - Neymar never got a chance. Managers overthinking. Can’t believe Kane missed it that bad. 

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4 hours ago, Boxer31 said:

Well the quarters provided plenty of excitement  Still don’t get why managers Don’t send out their best for first pk - Neymar never got a chance. Managers overthinking. Can’t believe Kane missed it that bad. 

That’s where Argentina make it count. Messi although it’s not the best at PKs, he set the tone and made a symbol for their entire team presenting himself as the first one to shoot and praising his team after he score to take morale sky high.

England vs France was the WC best match so far in my opinion. England was dominating France and I felt so bad when Kane lost the chance to equalize everything and take it to overtime. 
 

Right now, all that is left for me is to dream about the unpredictable final: 🇭🇷 vs 🇲🇦 

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I'd love to see the Casa Blanca Express take it out. They are so fit and defend brilliantly and jumping jacks in the box. Although I believe France just look too slick and very quick up front and deserve to be favourites. No offence to the Croatians but they are so stoic they are quite boring to watch. Disappointed Brazil are out. They are so slick and entertaining on attack. This is just from a casual observer who has no real emotional investment in the matches. Cheers. Enjoy.

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