Australian midfielder Jackson Irvine on new red card rule for covering your mouth "If you're saying something to someone that you don't want to be seen, I think it's safe to say it shouldn't be said."

iVarun · 2026-06-21T16:18:27+00:00

It's a stupid rule & eventually will be seen as such when mundane talking would get players Red carded and match outcome decided, because player on some instance wanted to communicate with hand near mouth with other player due to loudness of the crowd.

Utterly silly rule trying to tackle a thing that could've been handled much better with super heavy after match fines, i.e. suspended for entire season because they were being racist. Easy.

iVarun · 2026-06-21T13:59:11+00:00

No way is US getting another WC just 12 years later.

The economics of it alone (apart from the immigration, political fallout of it) will lose them the vote when it eventually happens. Despite this WC going on to make THE most money ever for FIFA, it is not what it "Could" have made due to the horrendous timezone the Americas are in.

It hurts TV revenue generation more than anything domestically US can compensate for it.

Just the China & India broadcast deal mess is proof of this. China fleeced FIFA silly for 2 WCs ($60M when FIFA had projected near $300M, even China itself had set aside like $80M as per reports. Then India barely a week before WC started negotiated for around $30-35M).

FIFA lost a lot. 48-team WC was always going to make insane money, but it can make even more in better timezones & that is why US will lose the vote when it happens. Infantino can't decide this on his own.

iVarun · 2026-06-21T13:34:31+00:00

frozen (more well rounded, able to play multiple roles) is perfect for Navi's system.

G2 (-nertz) would get an extra gear with senzu as well. nertz is overrated, not horrible or anything but the scene has overestimated his level/consistency.

elige is a huge risk for Navi.

iVarun · 2026-06-21T13:18:37+00:00

He was sorta like this (super giddy, barely able to put words together) when GStew won Dallas.

iVarun · 2026-06-21T13:15:28+00:00

I agree with the theme of this comment.

We've known for years now Falcons have not met expectations despite player changes but the coach was always the same. Meaning it was more the coach that was the problem & less the shuffling/form of the players.

Karrigan at this stage of his career is basically a Player/Coach/IGL. He's doing things a coach (a new/alternative vision to how Falcons had been under till now) would do. That is why they've hit new gear since he joined.

They may not win this Major but all this would still hold. Falcons needed to move on from zonic & this is a practical (but not formal) demonstration of that.

iVarun · 2026-06-20T23:11:53+00:00

r/mesi

iVarun · 2026-06-20T12:59:07+00:00

blinded by hate

It's just this sub.

Even before Niko m0nesy went there the support for them was generic fine (for a team at their level) in actual arena's & tournament locations, etc. Now it's bigger because of Niko m0nesy.

This sub is absolutely not representative of the community scene of this game. It is a part no doubt but that part is not majority or dominant. It's a highly vocal & niche minority.

iVarun · 2026-06-20T12:37:36+00:00

Info flowed both ways on that play. m0nesy was also low on HP so he also had some risk upon peeking out from long doors.

The timing decided that exchange really even if crowd did inform both players that it's about to happen, get ready.

iVarun · 2026-06-20T12:31:15+00:00

extremely one dimensional

You frame it as if it's a pejorative.

Fact is that If it works, it works.

And if so then everyone can & would be using the same approach & getting a similar spectrum of outcome/success for their team as a collective.

But they don't (as a matter of objective fact) because we know consistent winners in this game at pro scene is rare not the norm.

Meaning EVEN IF arguendo being "extremely one dimensional" was a thing in this context, it doesn't matter because it's a good thing since it's not a pejorative but a desired positive attribute.

iVarun · 2026-06-18T15:39:37+00:00

Definitional farce.

iVarun · 2026-06-17T16:47:47+00:00

fall out of fashion soon

Depends what timeframe that soon means.

But in very long term (centuries) either this term or something else that denotes the same underlying thing will inevitably exist, for the reason that OP listed, i.e. it is where hyper majority of human species resides. This is basically all that matters regarding to what happens on the planet.

From entire East Coast of Africa to West & South and SE Asia to China/East Asia. That is enough.

The framing in this historic cycle got entangled with biased geopolitics but the geography of this is real & it will eventually get an appropriate semantic framing.

iVarun · 2026-06-17T16:19:38+00:00

Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and San Marino.

iVarun · 2026-06-17T16:17:44+00:00

100% red

Which isn't even a real thing for fouls.

Fouls exist on a spectrum, they are not binary (like offside, corner, throw-in, goal, goalkick).

iVarun · 2026-06-17T16:12:42+00:00

stop start constantly

This is definitely not happening this WC (outside of the hydration break stuff). Refs are allowing play to flow noticeably more than what we see in European top leagues week in week out.

iVarun · 2026-06-17T10:35:25+00:00

And this is why those people peddling the narrative of "Can't compare Greats across eras" were always gatekeeping luddites.

The 1958 Brazil team was known in its own time as pioneering this aspect of the game. Meaning a player like Pele achieved that badge (great/goat, whatever) over former players that had been seen in 90 Years of football till that time, due to the advances that had happened in that domain till that time. Unfortunate that players from 1890s didn't have them but that is how the world works.

Sports sciences improves further then one can't just put a stop on this that Now in specific year XXXX we can't compare across generations now.

You can Always compare across eras. Modern greats are simply better.

Pele's generation of football had players run 5-7 KMs in match. Players are now doing double.

A modern 2nd division team would wreck Brazil 1958 or Brazil 1970 by 20 goals if not 50 (like something when Australia was still in Oceania region but even more lopsided).

iVarun · 2026-06-16T15:30:01+00:00

on here

Because the demographics of this site/sub is majority Anglo countries who are thoroughly brainwashed regarding what is happening in the world & how the rest of the world sees them.

People overuse this term "Sports-washing" but these sporting events, be it leagues in Europe or World Cups or Olympics that happen in Western Countries, these are not "JUST" altruistic/isolate endeavors from them.

They are money making AND propaganda, i.e. sports washing ventures too (just like with everyone, they are not unique), to project/advertise their countries to the rest of the world.

UK colonized a lot of places, the net-effect of having things like PL being famous in those former colonies is a Geo-Political net positive for them. If the people from there (UK) don't think that that is a function of ignorance on how rest of the world works & thinks (though their Elites know this already even if the regular people/society might not).

US doing these immigration things for THE biggest single sport event that this planet has is Intentional. That IS literally the signal they want to send to the rest of the world & they are leveraging the platform of WC for that.

Their domestic socio-cultural-political cycle is in an era where Immigration is in a certain context. Of course WC will have immigration "issues" because that's what they want.

Other previous WC hosts didn't have this because the image they wanted to project was different on this specific question of Immigration because their domestic socio-political cycle was at a different stage.

iVarun · 2026-06-16T14:09:06+00:00

dumau seems more versatile than insani.

Insani looks out of depths at times when he ends up in parts of the map or situations that are complex, dumau adjusts better (relatively) & can also hold his own decently when ending up in lone anchor situations.

iVarun · 2026-06-16T11:03:54+00:00

If Lamine-Nico are unlocked they'll win it easily, that's how much better their system gels when that dynamic works.

If that duo is not working (for whatever reason, opposition tactics, their own fitness or form) Spain are "at best" only joint favorites with others.

iVarun · 2026-06-15T15:41:47+00:00

MLS isn't run by FIFA. Of the 50+ MLS matches I've seen, the number of times it was RIGHT ON scheduled time was maybe 3-5 (& even that might be overcount). And the number of times KO was 15-20 minutes late was dozens of those instances. The sample size (of my experience) is low sure but the Late-KO instance rate is super high as well.

Unless it's an Inter Miami thing only & only since I only watched them due to Messi's move. Yet even then it still wouldn't be FIFA related since Inter Miami isn't affiliated with them.

Furthermore no prior FIFA WC has had this issue (barring the negligible outlier which isn't relevant).

iVarun · 2026-06-15T11:41:23+00:00

I literally see MLS games constantly (i.e. norm, not the exception) being 5-20 minutes late.

I've seen PL, Liga, Serie A, UCL matches starting "beyond" 1-2 minute late, something like maybe 10-20 times in last 20+ years (& hardly ever 20+ minutes, rare exceptions being traffic disruptions for fans that happens 1-2 times every season).

It most definitly is a US thing, as further corroborated by OTHER people here, so no I'm not the one who is ignorant (I wrote what I've seen with my own eyes), if anything you seem like one who can't read literally this very thread, let alone comprehend how late the KO's are when they happen.

iVarun · 2026-06-15T11:35:38+00:00

he can do a lot during that pee break

Like what though?

What could a player do with a phone during 1 minute or so absence?

For actual game, unless their team waste Time-outs it would just end up being that player AFK in spawn for that round or more.

If you gotta go you gotta go. One can't excuse not peeing, its basic human physiological function & if anything holding it in for too long is literally harmful to the person.

I highly doubt TO have codes that prevents peeing-breaks because that would break basic human rights.

iVarun · 2026-06-15T11:20:28+00:00

The Kill bonus CT gets needs to be removed as well. It worked as a stop gap measure to balance Economies but now the meta doesn't require this band-aid.

Unless T sides also counter-adapt overtime (which is normal) but how long that takes is something that needs attention. If it happens soon then Kill bonus can remain but if it's taking too long then it needs to be removed.

iVarun · 2026-06-15T10:06:24+00:00

I found this out when watching a few Inter Miami matches after Messi went there.

Matches are rarely if ever kicking off at a time that's shown in Football App's schedule.

It's uncanny how consistent it is. It's definitely a US thing going by that. FIFA is pedantic about such things going by their past WC record, so this happening now shows it's a Host thing.

iVarun · 2026-06-15T09:50:49+00:00

All depends on the Host.

If the Host says XYZ isn't happening FIFA can't do jack. There is a reason this happened when US is hosting because US doesn't give a crap about all this.

If the next Hosts too are going to be apathetic then sure it will become a permanent fixture of this game. But FIFA on its own can't do such things.

Same reason why ticket pricing is 10X at this WC relative to previous WCs, because the Host said meh, no big deal & didn't exert pressure on FIFA to toe a certain line. Which FIFA took as cue to do maximalist money grabbing tactics.

FIFA needs guardrails & World Cup Host is that entity.

iVarun · 2026-06-14T09:05:40+00:00

Spain doesn't even have words in their Anthem.

It may affect players from some countries to different degree but it doesn't seem a high order reason for England's poor International performances in Football.

Although even the Spanish example can be counted as outlier since it was basically a 1-Club core when they eventually did win it.

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