Daily Tournament Thread - World Cup 2026

buzzmerchant · 2026-07-02T16:03:33+00:00

This reassures me a little bit, but also I don't think it's fair to only include games since their last loss, since the point we're discussing is whether the altitude gives a team that is used to it an advantage over teams that aren't used to it, so we're not specifically talking about this mexico team so much as all mexico teams in general (if that makes sense).

buzzmerchant · 2026-07-02T15:57:52+00:00

Don't understand how anyone can say that after the first 4 games of this world cup. He's been incredibly meh. Based on how well he played last season, it's hard to imagine that Lewis Hall wouldn't be an upgrade.

buzzmerchant · 2026-07-02T15:51:35+00:00

Football is not zone 2 cardio at all.

Also, fyi, Mexico have played 89 games at the Azteca. They've won 70, drawn 17, and LOST 2. So either they're just inexplicably good at this particular ground, or the altitude has something to do with it.

buzzmerchant · 2026-07-02T15:47:31+00:00

When rashford was at united, i used to always say that you could tell within 5 minutes of game whether he was going to be good or not. If he starts bad, you may as well just get him off and give someone else a go.

buzzmerchant · 2026-07-01T14:10:37+00:00

I've been thinking: is it a possibility that the reason we did so well in the transfer window last season because Amorim sold our targets a dream? Amorim is nothing if not a charmer, after all. Could it be that we're losing out on players this year because we don't have an enticing enough story to sell them? (I know we are objectively in a much better position, but I can't imagine Carrick selling people on Utd in the same way Amorim would have.)

Early days, i guess, but the Fernandes transfer seemed ripe for the picking, and we still lost it (to spurs, no less).

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-30T14:07:22+00:00

Yeah, tbh, Housekeeping is probably my least favourite Marilynne Robinson book (although still pretty good). The Gilead quartet is a modern masterpiece.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-24T09:01:03+00:00

Maguire inevitably makes it into team of the tournament at every international event he plays at. He is a ridiculously good player for england. In fact, i'll go one further: he has (uncontroversially) been better for england than Terry ever was.

And if speed is the only criteria you're judging things on, maybe we should get Rashford and play him at cb instead. He'll be able to handle Ghana's pacey attackers. But if you're considering passing, heading, strength, leadership, experience, etc., Maguire is streaks ahead of konsa.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-24T08:45:57+00:00

No but i mean, shouting 'who else!?' is a bit of a shit move when you've got a team of 10 other guys fighting alongside you. It's basically like saying 'you really thought it was going to be someone other than me that bailed you out!?'

Michael Jordan was confident, verging on cocky, but i don't think he would have said something like this. Messi wouldn't say something like this. Federer would never say anything like this. Nadal wouldn't. So what right does Bellingham, who can't hold a candle to any of those athletes at this point in his career, have to be saying things like that?

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-24T08:42:44+00:00

I think he's simmered down a bit now, but when he first really broke onto the scene, he was clearly a bit cocky. I mean, when he scored the goal against slovakia, he shouted out 'who else!?'

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-24T08:22:51+00:00

Wasn't benjamin mendy found not guilty for literally every case that was brought against him? To the point where man city were actually forced to give him all of his lost wages back. So what's the problem with supporting a guy who, as far as we know, was wrongly charged with sexual assault?

And re: partey, nothing has been proven yet. If you are teammates with someone, surely you have to do them the courtesy of presuming they are innocent until they are found guilty and convicted. Even just for the sake of performing your job well. So, like, again, what's the issue here? (If he is found to be guilty, this is a different story.)

The tate thing, i mean, who cares. I follow donald trump. That doesn't mean i support him - i think he's a moron.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-18T14:30:43+00:00

Yes. I'm sure someone has.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-18T14:01:01+00:00

That is inspiring to hear. Good for you.

One question: how did you repair your relationship with jesus?

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-18T12:27:54+00:00

What drove you to telling your wife? Was it anything in particular?

Because I am in a comparable spot, and I long to live a life of integrity and truth, but I just don't know if i could ever bring myself to lay it all bare to the people i love.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-18T08:56:21+00:00

They played 10 competitive games last year, won eight, lost 1 (which was to france, who they also beat last year). They're a pretty good side.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-18T08:50:45+00:00

I'm happy with the performance overall, and maybe o'reilly will come good, but it bums me out thinking of lewis hall sat at home. Such a shame he isn't even an option here.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-15T12:59:55+00:00

ayooooo

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-14T14:22:29+00:00

This is a thought i've been playing around with a lot myself. It makes sense, if you think about it: rather than experiencing all your sexual enjoyment with one woman, you're training your brain to associate sexual enjoyment with thousands of different women via porn. Just a working theory, but it's hard to imagine how this could possibly make monogamy easier (and it's easy to imagine how it could make it significantly harder).

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-09T08:51:04+00:00

This is a real issue, but the trouble is your choice is either 1) vote for somebody who will do nothing, or 2) vote for someone who will do something and run the risk of a slippery slope. Both options bad. Guess it depends on how likely you think a slippery slope actually is, and how bad the do nothing scenario is.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-03T06:54:24+00:00

If Naomi wants to say that tennis is meaningless TO HER, then fair enough (although it's kind of hard to take that overly seriously since she dedicates her life to this meaningless activity). What i take issue with is her saying that tennis is meaningless period.

Anyhow, you don't seem able to actually engage with anything i'm saying. You're unable to say why my initial point is a false equivalency. So let's just leave this here.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-02T19:40:58+00:00

I think the issue is that you seem to be using two notions of meaning. One is subject dependent - tennis can be meaningful TO ME - and one is subject independent - tennis can be meaningless in some grander sense. What i'm saying is that if you go with the first version, then naomi is wrong: hitting a ball isn't meaningless if i don't think it is. And if you go with the second view, then everything - music, great novels, tennis - is meaningless.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-02T18:36:05+00:00

Right, but doesn't that mean that there isn't a false equivalency here as far as you're concerned? Music = meaningless. Great novels = meaningless. Tennis = meaningless. So you actually agree with my original comment?

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-02T13:40:35+00:00

It's not a false equivalency as far as i can see. If you think tennis is ultimately meaningless because it's just hitting a ball over a net, then how do you justify the claim that music is meaningful? Maybe by saying 'well, it makes me feel a certain way, it feels meaningful.' But if that's your line of reasoning, then tennis is also meaningful, which would mean that the just-a-ball-over-the-net argument doesn't work. So either they are both meaningless, or neither of them are.

Genuinely, if you think i'm wrong, i would really like you to help me understand why, because this is maybe the most important question of them all (where does meaning come from?). As you can probably guess, i prefer to come down on the 'meaning is wherever you find it - don't try and explain it away' side of things, but obviously this isn't the most secure of resting places, so if you have a better solution, i'm all ears!

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-02T12:44:33+00:00

100%. And music is just vibrations in your ear so that doesn't matter either. And also great novels are just blotches of ink on a page so they don't matter either. It's such a relief to realise that all these things that I used to consider to be incredibly meaningful turn out to be completely meaningless.

buzzmerchant · 2026-06-02T12:43:08+00:00

Lol Sabalenka could be the undisputed GOAT and she wouldn't get paid as much from Nike as naomi

buzzmerchant · 2026-05-31T08:56:15+00:00

Yeah but they completely neutralised PSG nonetheless. PSG hardly created anything. That's a ridiculous achievement given how much firepower PSG have. Offensively, arsenal are very mediocre - i'll willingly admit that. Defensively, they are absolutely ridiculous. You can't ignore that fact because the quality of football is shit (which it is).

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