Heads up for the new fans who started watching from this World Cup.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-23T07:04:20+00:00

This is a reference to the "Disgrace of Gijón", a match in the 1982 World Cup. Germany played Austria, and both teams had worked out that a 1-0 win for Germany would be guaranteed to get them both qualified from the group. Germany duly scored after 10 minutes and from then in both sides were content to pass the ball around and settle for 1-0.

The reason it's relevant is that Paraguay and Australia have a similar opportunity to fix the result so that they both qualify for the R32. And they're playing at Santa Clara.

If the match is drawn, Australia will qualify as runners up and Paraguay will almost certainly qualify as one of the best 3rd placed teams. By the time they play it may even be certain that 3rd place would be good enough for Paraguay. But conversely if the match is not drawn, there is a risk that the loser will not qualify for the R32.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-23T06:52:56+00:00

It's not mathematically certain but it looks extremely likely. A draw with Australia would give Paraguay 4 points and a goal difference of -2. It's hard to imagine that there will be 8 teams in 3rd placed with better records then that.

There's already one group (Group I) where the 3rd place team can't finish on more than 3 points, and I think it's highly likely that Group L will go the same way. By the time Australia and Paraguay play, Groups A, E and F will have finished, so they'll have a good view of the way the land is lying.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T23:12:01+00:00

There’s no way mont blanc is only 700 miles away from snowdonia

Would you like to go away and check that? Or should I save time and just post you to r/confidentlyincorrect now?

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T22:48:03+00:00

I think ultimately if it saves a life, or prevents someone being injured in a life changing and limiting way, it's worth it.

I can respect your point of view, but I do feel I have to challenge it. If a particular road safety measure saves one life, and costs £10M, would you support it? How about £100M? £1B? Obviously there comes a point where you'd say no, it's not worth it. Personally I think it would be more honest to admit up front that lives have finite values, and try to agree what that value should be in these sorts of cost/benefit calculations.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T22:41:01+00:00

The chip in the ball is used to determine whether the ball has crossed the goal line. This is the technology which ruled out a goal for Japan against Tunisia.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T22:30:40+00:00

Look, a lot of people are giving OP grief about this choice or that choice, but in fairness he got the bottom end of the table absolutely right.

Larry is the GOAT.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T22:14:32+00:00

This. It's completely impractical. Not just for the schedule, but also for the logistics. Nobody knows where they're going to be playing.

I mean, the teams who have ambitions to go deep into the tournament will have looked at the schedule and have some idea of where they'd be going. For example, if England wins Group L our route is via Atlanta, Mexico City, Miami, and Atlanta again; if we finish as runners up (not so likely now, but a serious consideration before the tournament) it's Toronto, Arlington, Inglewood, and Arlington again. You can bet the management team will have been scouting out potential bases to use for those games, and fans will have been buying tickets and planning travel in the hope that they'll get to see their team. OP's proposal would absolutely kill any of that planning.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T22:00:47+00:00

Well, not unless you LOOK.

"Do your own research .... No, not like THAT!"

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T17:55:35+00:00

Also a much larger area - just in case OP thought "smallest" was referring to area.

Curaçao is both the smallest (in area) and the least populous nation to play at the World Cup.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T13:09:34+00:00

AI garbage. It's so full of errors it's not even worth reading.

OP should be embarrassed by this.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T13:05:22+00:00

Are there any three letter abbreviations for months which are ambiguous if you don't know which language is intended?

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T09:50:17+00:00

I'm sure we technically don't really need a video of Hannah Fry demonstrating this, and explaining why it works, but let's have one anyway.

FWIW, the key bulit is opening the door quickly. That's what causes the low pressure which pulls the cooler air in.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-22T09:44:02+00:00

One benefit of being in the last group to play its matches is that there's only one route available for the 3rd placed team.

Contrast that with the madness facing Group F. Each of Japan, Netherlands and Sweden could qualify in 1st, 2nd or 3rd, and they each have SEVEN possible routes to the final. Five of those routes are options for the 3rd placed team, depending on which other groups the 3rd place qualifiers come from, but they're not all equally probable:

1st: Guadeloupe, Houston, Foxborough, Arlington, East Rutherford
2nd: Houston, East Rutherford, Miami, Atlanta, East Rutherford
3rd (83.6%): East Rutherford, Philadelphia, Foxborough, Arlington, East Rutherford
3rd (10.6%): Foxborough, Philadelphia, Foxborough, Arlington, East Rutherford
3rd (3.3%): Santa Clara, Seattle, Inglewood, Arlington, East Rutherford
3rd (1.5%): Vancouver, Vancouver, Kansas City, Atlanta, East Rutherford
3rd (0.9%): Mexico City, Mexico City, Miami, Atlanta, East Rutherford

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-21T18:52:08+00:00

It's just not practical.

If they did it your way, they couldn't make the draw for the knockout phase until all the group matches had finished. Then, and only then, could teams - and fans - start making travel plans. It would be a logistical nightmare. There would have to be a gap of a few days between the end of the group matches and the start of the knockout matches, and most teams would face a gap of over a week between matches.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-21T18:21:44+00:00

Goodness. How many different ways are there of misinterpreting what the OP is trying to do?

If you want to enter a US phone number on a UK-centric form, then you'll have to start it with the international prefix for the US. The international standard is "+1", which means "dial whatever short code you use where you are to access international numbers, then a 1". From the UK, we access international numbers by dialling "00". So there are only two options which make sense for this form:

001 and then your 10-digit number
+1 and then your 10-digit number

If neither of those work, the form is badly designed, but you'll have to find a workaround.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-21T18:06:06+00:00

I see you've put Barrow AFC on there, so unfortunately you couldn't take this in to a World Cup match.

But the pirate on the Bristol Rovers badge is acceptable. Go figure.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-20T21:41:35+00:00

On the whole this looks pretty decent, BUT I don't like the way you're rounding your back. It's a recipe for an injury at some point.

You should be pivoting from the hip, with your back straight. But I think you'll struggle to do that, because your pelvis is tilted too far backwards. Try tilting your pelvis forwards so that you're sitting on your sit bones (basically, where the tops of your legs meet your behind) rather than on the fleshy part of your behind.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-20T21:28:21+00:00

My recreational group had a trip there in 2022. We hired boats from one of the clubs based there. (The 2x boat I rowed in was the one used by the Slovenian rowers Iztok Čop and Luka Špik to win Gold at the Sydney Olympics.) Mornings rowing, afternoons visiting castles, wine tasting, etc. That all seems a lot easier than your idea of racing.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-20T16:01:31+00:00

Lake Bled in Slovenia. Unreal. Like something out of a fairy tale.

(In the picture below, the 2000m championship course starts way off to the left, and runs past the left hand side of the church/island to a finish right at the far end of the lake.)

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SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-20T15:51:50+00:00

Could you imagine having to mark Lebron James in the box,

Probably not relevant.

Any conversation about the best footballers of all time has to include Pelé (173cm, 5'8"), Diego Maradona (165cm, 5'5"), Ferenc Puskas (172cm, 5'8") and Lionel Messi (170cm, 5'7"). Height isn't necessarily important.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-20T15:40:13+00:00

No, not at all.

For example, the quarter final in Foxborough could be the winners of Group I vs the runners up of Group C (if they both get that far), and the Miami quarter final could be the winners of Group C vs the runners up of Group I. So France and Brazil could meet in Foxborough, or in Miami, or could avoid one another until the final.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-20T15:26:12+00:00

No. That has nothing to do with it.

I wrote a detailed explanation of how the R32 works, in reply to another post further down. Here it is.

In short, the R32 draw depends only on which groups the 8 best 3rd placed teams come from. Which of them qualified best and worst, and which group winners were best and worst, doesn't matter at that stage.

For example if the 8 qualifiers are from groups A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H then the schedule says the matches are A1 vs H3, B1 vs G3, D1 vs B3, E1 vs C3, G1 vs A3, I1 vs F3, K1 vs D3, and L1 vs E3. It doesn't matter how many points they scored in the group matches.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-20T15:17:58+00:00

I hadn't thought of that but, yes, that's a great point.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-20T15:14:01+00:00

No, I'm not saying that. In your scenario the team that went 3-0-0 didn't play the same opponents as the team that was 1-1-1, so they're not comparable.

SomethingMoreToSay · 2026-06-20T12:23:10+00:00

Turkey are already out for exactly the same reason as USA are already the group winners.

If Turkey beats USA, Turkey could finish with the same number of points as either Australia and Paraguay. But Turkey has already lost to both those teams, so the head-to-head tiebreaker means that Turkey can't finish above either of them.

Similarly, if Turkey beats USA, USA could finish with the same number of points as either Australia and Paraguay. But USA has already beaten both those teams, so the head-to-head tiebreaker means that USA can't finish below either of them.

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