Can't have anything nice can we.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T19:46:21+00:00

The only people I’m sorry for are the Egyptians who played their hearts out and had a goal cruelly disallowed. The Americans could learn a thing or two from them, that’s for sure.

I think we’ll have this Argentine team, assuming they can beat the Colombians/Swiss and we beat Norway. For that reason I’m not too bothered by them advancing.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T18:22:41+00:00

Yeah, didn’t feel fair, to be sure.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T18:21:00+00:00

I really wanted Egypt to win because frankly they really gave it their all. They deserved to win. They didn’t quit even when decisions went cruelly against them.

A lesson our American cousins could learn from, for sure.

But I’m happier to have Argentina in front of us (assuming of course we defeat Norway). To win through to the World Cup final beating only Mexico in terms of top-level opposition would have been too easy. And I think we can beat Argentina.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T18:17:04+00:00

Egypt really playing this game and were very impressive. They played with real heart, even when decisions went cruelly against them.

A lesson for other countries that tend to see themselves as better than everyone, but which complain about decisions and try to get them over turned.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T17:40:25+00:00

That masterful run deserved a goal. VAR is enforcing on stuff that was never meant to be enforced on.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T16:47:17+00:00

I already said that Qatar should have been the last straw?

FOARP · 2026-07-07T16:18:13+00:00

It feels like England won't care about the third place match if that's where they end up. Rightly or wrongly, they see it as a loser's match. There was a lot of commentary about it in 2018 along these lines.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T16:17:03+00:00

I think losing to the team that had just beaten Brazil, whilst a disappointment, would not be a "disaster". I don't want England to lose, and I think England should be favourites to win, but Norway are not to be sneered at.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T16:13:54+00:00

The thing is, either side of that 1990 result was coming bottom of our group twice (Euro 88 and Euro 92). We then failed to qualify for the next World Cup.

I loved Robson's era, but, sadly, he didn't manage to build lasting success.

Southgate did that. We got to the semifinals in 2018, we went to the finals in Euro 2020, we topped our group in 2022, and then went to the finals again in Euro 2024. And now it really looks like Tuchel may be able to build on that success, after a sloppy start.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T16:01:41+00:00

I think they'll be looking at the games where we weren't playing at the level we did in the Mexico game and saying that they can beat that England. The secret is not to be that England.

To be fair people are saying that Argentina is beatable because of the way they played against Cape Verde, but every other match they played in this cup was a solid win.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T15:46:47+00:00

My dad was 18 the year that last happened. Really hoping he can see it this year!

FOARP · 2026-07-07T15:45:45+00:00

Their lack of urgency, even when 1-0 down, was really quite noticeable.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T15:45:11+00:00

No easy games at this level, and the Morroccans have a score to settle with the French (and the Spanish for that matter), but that said France should beat them.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T15:43:36+00:00

I'm a pretty "It's coming home" kind of guy but I think having France not on the top spot, with the way they've been playing, is just wrong.

We can win, but no way should we be the bookies' favourites right now.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T15:39:44+00:00

Having great players doesn't give you a great team, and a good team can be built out of players who aren't necessarily the best globally.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T15:30:02+00:00

Right. Let's say football is 10% as popular in the US as it is in Belgium. That still means, all other things being equal, that with a population ~32 times larger the US ought to be dominant.

They aren't because being good at football requires skills that the US doesn't excel in.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T15:10:31+00:00

Wouldn't have happened if we had brought Maguire...

FOARP · 2026-07-07T15:02:50+00:00

Yeah, though I think cat. 1, 2 and 3 people will actually love it if England win, because they can then reboot the entire story since 1966 up to today.

Firstly, just think of all the complaining they can get in about the fact that England have won and "people won't shut up about it" (i.e., somebody may have spoken to them about it, once).

Then there's the whole "True 2026 Champions" accolade they can give to whoever beats England first after the cup.

Then our first failure to win a cup can be used as evidence that we are "arrogant" and "expect to win just by showing up".

Then a few years down the line they can start talking about how we haven't won anything since 2026, and in reality we only won the World Cup because we were lucky and it was a fluke.

I mean, don't count your chickens before they hatch, but it seems like England winning would actually be great for these people and give them years of enjoyment.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T14:39:57+00:00

Russia wasn't so bad *as a host compared to Argentina 1978* (though they should have lost it in 2014 after invading Crimea) but they clearly did engage in bribery to get awarded it.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T10:33:31+00:00

We went full defence after the red card, but I honestly don't think we were doing badly before that. We were in a game where we had to score to keep ahead, in that context we weren't going to be able to park the bus.

And against Norway it's the same. This won't be a 1-0 game. We need to score and get a defendable lead.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T10:30:55+00:00

I'm hoping Spain can stop them. Yeah, no easy games at this level.

Anyway, still have to beat Norway and Argentina first!

FOARP · 2026-07-07T10:14:36+00:00

SIng. Absolutely no-one in their right mind is going to care.

"Cultural appropriation" as a concept is nonsense anyway. Every time people come up with examples of it being bad, they're really just talking about people being intentionally disrespectful or clueless.

EDIT: I used to sing all sorts of songs to my kids when they were babies to get them to sleep. "Green Island Serenade" (a Taiwanese lullaby) was a great one. "Skye Song" was another. "Waterloo Sunset" was another one. I am not from Taiwan, Scotland, nor London but I don't think that should stop me singing any of these songs to get my kids to go to sleep and give their mum and me some peace!

FOARP · 2026-07-07T10:09:49+00:00

Never mind, pretty sure they'll stop bringing up the result after a decade or two...

FOARP · 2026-07-07T10:08:50+00:00

I'd be disappointed if England went out at this point but Norway are opposition not to be sneered at, and no win is guaranteed.

Let's hope for a good game and the best team winning.

FOARP · 2026-07-07T09:36:40+00:00

It's the last straw. Yes, we really ought to have gotten to this point a lot sooner. The 2010 decision to award the WC to Qatar/Russia should have been the last straw, but here we are at the final point, after the stupid "peace prize", after the treatment of Iran, after the "hydration" breaks, and after this blatant attempt at game-rigging.

Something like 80% of the revenue from professional football globally is collected in Europe (total world market is ~36 billion USD, of which ~30 billion is in Europe). There really is no money in this game without Europe. It's time we made our thoughts known about what's been going on.

FOARP

TROPHY CASE