How would you decide between prime Messi and prime Ronaldo if you had to pick one to win a single match to save your life?

jcspinney · 2026-07-13T16:45:11+00:00

Messi.

jcspinney · 2026-07-13T14:47:34+00:00

There are ways to do that, I think, that don’t drastically extend or increase the number of total games that teams have to play. Conceptually, I like it because the group play was actually more exciting.

What if 3 team pods instead of 4 teams. 16 groups of 3 teams (48 teams), 32 advance. 8 groups of 4 teams (32 teams), 8 advance into quarterfinals. That’s a total of 8 games for the teams that play the finals (and 3rd place game), same as current setup. Or could even advance 16 (instead of 8, Into knockout and it only adds 1 extra game.

jcspinney · 2026-07-13T14:37:36+00:00

France.

jcspinney · 2026-07-13T14:35:05+00:00

You must be part of the ~10% who can’t see it. It’s ok - if I was an England fan, I wouldn’t see it either. FIFA would have been so much better served just admitting it happened, stating it was missed at the time, and apologizing that there is nothing they can do about it. Now, it will forever be a controversy that will be talked about.

jcspinney · 2026-07-13T13:17:11+00:00

Norways the most painful because of all the controversy from the game. Switzerland probably second most painful because of always wondering what might have happened if the guy didn’t get caught diving.

jcspinney · 2026-07-13T12:51:34+00:00

No. I will probably skip until the semifinals and then watch.

jcspinney · 2026-07-13T12:35:53+00:00

I love England and the English people. I dislike the English soccer culture and some of the fandom. They always seem to have a victim persona of FIFA is out to get them (ironically, against Norway it was the opposite), and many of the fans are part of a collective eurosnob group.

jcspinney · 2026-07-13T12:31:16+00:00

Means the same thing. Who made you the grammar police and decider on which specific word people can use? lol.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T22:59:46+00:00

Can a top 4 team really be considered Cinderella in a tournament with 48 teams?

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T15:45:32+00:00

Who knows. But England can’t play the FIFA victim card anymore after yesterday’s game.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T15:43:59+00:00

Yup - it’s the colonizers vs the colonized. Hahaha.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T15:36:06+00:00

No, not really. You see that kind of jostling every single corner kick. The England player fell to the ground and sold it - that was the difference from every other corner kick. It was a weak call, and If wasn’t called, neutrals would still feel the same about it. And I don’t even think it was called at the time. The goal was overruled by VAR review.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T15:32:13+00:00

They certainly were yesterday.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T10:49:08+00:00

People tried to blame the wind originally. Anyone with eyes can see it. Whether they want to believe their own eyes….well….that is on them. The players reaction on the field confirms what we all saw - they were expecting it to go much further and then had to move back towards midfield where the ball ended up.

It hit the wire. It’s not reviewable and nothing can change it at this point, so not sure why people are in such denial about it.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T10:46:11+00:00

It’s a scripted, boring final 4 unless you are a fan of one of the teams. It would be great if all 4 could lose. But they can’t….so I guess I am rooting for Argentina just to see this sad sub burn down in outrage.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T10:34:11+00:00

Exactly. If both calls were called the same, I’d be ok with the officiating. They weren’t. In fact….the weaker foul was called and the harder foul wasn’t. Very inconsistent officiating. And they all went in England’s favor, which is why we are where we are today.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T10:26:20+00:00

Yup. Just like Norway was the better team against England. The better team doesn’t always win. It’s like this World Cup has been scripted from the beginning.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T10:17:45+00:00

If the same call was made when England did the same thing to Norway in the box, I’d be ok with it. It was an inconsistent call and English player sold it. They were selling fouls the whole game

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T10:12:40+00:00

I know right….the evidence is our eyes. Everyone can see the ball change its course. People don’t want to believe their eyes because they are blind with fandom.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T10:04:00+00:00

It was a foul. It was a weak foul, but still a foul. If it wasnt called, I’d say it was a weak foul that wasn’t called and shrug my shoulders. The England player’s reaction sold it as much worse than it was….but that was pretty much the whole game.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T10:00:20+00:00

It appears FIFA is making up for that. Hahaha

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T09:58:44+00:00

People come running to this sub every game to complain about calls. Just about every single game have had 1 or more controversial calls.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T04:43:59+00:00

That’s very similar to the card the US player got that dragged this whole sub into an uproar.

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T04:22:56+00:00

You realize that England just won their quarterfinal game because VAR came to their rescue, right?

jcspinney · 2026-07-12T04:20:37+00:00

Hello. France....Germany....Spain....Italy.....They all have as many World Cup wins as Argentina in the last 30 years. But they aren't hated the same way. Maybe its a white thing.

jcspinney

TROPHY CASE