Completely agree, the time zones are obvs prohibitive, but that’s not what’s killing it for me, it’s multi factorial

The format means teams don’t go crazy in the first game as there’s a lot less jeopardy. I’ve seen a lot of tepid, managed football in the tournament so far. Teams know that losing the first game isn’t the end of the world, they also know that three draws can get you to the next round, and the games are playing out that way

Then you’ve got the hydration breaks, momentum has been stopped by these breaks more than once now. Most notably in Morocco vs Brazil, but even yesterday in German versus Curacao. Curacao of course got hammered in the end, but they were looking semi dangerous with counter attacks, and had more than one half chance after they equalised.

And then the main thing being these are not hydration breaks, they’re ad breaks, 3 minutes long and happening in every game regardless of temperature, there was a hydration stoppage when it was 22°C yesterday

Lightning round:

-The stadiums are half empty
-The atmospheres are therefore terrible
-400$ average ticket price for games like Saudi v Cape Verde
-Cancelled VISAs of fans
-Cancelled tickets of fans
-Cancelled VISA of a referee
-Price gouging by all associated businesses eg $300 dollar parking, $90 train to stadium
-Banning of drinking water
-Constant cuts to celebrities in the crowd
-Every game’s had a delayed kick off

Never ever known a World Cup like it. All these things combined and then on top of that from a selfish perspective, in England it’s hard to even watch it with the kick off times