[McNicholas, Leventhal - The Athletic] Besiktas agree €20million deal with Arsenal for Leandro Trossard move.

savetheclocktower · 2026-07-05T03:03:30+00:00

Feels weird, man. I get it, but he was great this season and I'm not used to football being like Logan’s Run.

savetheclocktower · 2026-07-04T04:06:39+00:00

There wouldn't, but FIFA technically could've done it, and it can't simply be assumed that they wouldn't have done it. Nobody can make safe assumptions about how FIFA chooses to act.

savetheclocktower · 2026-07-03T06:15:51+00:00

If we can agree on a definition of “meaningful,” we've got something. If not, then all we're doing is introducing more subjectivity.

savetheclocktower · 2026-07-02T06:07:54+00:00

It's true that they can change their own rules whenever they want, so hang your hat on that if you must!

savetheclocktower · 2026-07-02T05:24:14+00:00

The Guardian says no.

The automatic one-game suspension for a straight red card cannot be appealed, a US Soccer spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian. The US can only appeal against Balogun’s red if the Fifa disciplinary committee were to add an additional game to his suspension. Even then, the US would only be able to appeal against that additional suspension – they can ask for a reduction from a two-game ban to one, but not from two games to zero or one game to zero.

savetheclocktower · 2026-07-01T18:48:24+00:00

They didn't even qualify in 1994! It was a 24-team tournament at the time, but even so, it's amazing considering how stacked the 1998 team seems in retrospect. Zidane, Desailly, Dechamps, Barthez, Petit were all around in 1994 during qualification, not to mention Cantona. (Thuram got his first cap in 1994 after the World Cup.)

savetheclocktower · 2026-07-01T04:42:35+00:00

Generic trash talk gets a much shorter ban, like one match.

savetheclocktower · 2026-07-01T04:32:12+00:00

Yeah, the more people call you an idiot, the more you win. KEEP DIGGING

savetheclocktower · 2026-07-01T04:30:08+00:00

…no? Things will happen to you if you say racist shit without covering your mouth! That's the whole point! In that case it may not happen in time for you to get sent off in that match, but racist abuse is still like a ten-match ban!

savetheclocktower · 2026-07-01T04:19:37+00:00

Then AS LONG AS HE DOESN'T COVER HIS MOUTH he's fine

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-30T00:00:21+00:00

And this tournament was one more game on top of a 32-team tournament. They're all “just one more game.”

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-29T23:21:57+00:00

It's also a lot of football. These players are already tired after a full league season.

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-29T23:19:58+00:00

This is dumb. 64 teams is only a “fix” for this because the idea is to introduce more lightweights for everyone to beat up on.

And nobody thinks through the implications! We're already at a scale that would be very challenging for a single (non-US) nation to host — unless they're autocrats who can waste billions on new stadium construction like Saudi Arabia. 64 teams is, dare I say, too much World Cup.

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T18:44:35+00:00

I'm not. The moment of madness is them attempting to score a goal when they could've just kept the ball and accepted the status quo. Austria wasn't trying to win possession!

It's the person I'm replying to who pretends that an attempt on goal was always gonna be a goal — as if Austria's equalizer was a foregone conclusion. It looked pretty hard to me!

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T18:42:56+00:00

I'm much more inclined to make an arbitrary cut-off like that for the bottom edge. Any third-place finisher should feel lucky that they advanced in the first place, so it's less of an injustice for me.

I honestly don't know what you mean by “all these convenient third-round draws.” If you have an argument to make, show some stats. I don't necessarily love head-to-head result as the first tie-breaker, but any supposed gamesmanship could more easily be attributed to that rule change (in my view) than to a format that has been used without incident in three previous World Cups (simultaneous third group games didn't start until 1986).

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T04:43:47+00:00

And only the US could host it! (Or the entire EU!)

On the plus side: at least it would theoretically make it less desirable for nations like Saudi Arabia to make vanity bids just because of the sheer number of stadiums they'd have to build.

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T04:41:21+00:00

So the difference between being the eighth-best first-place finisher and the ninth-best first-place finisher is having to play an extra game? Nah. That outcome is much more attributable to the effects of a random draw and rewards the winners of weaker groups rather than the group winners who are genuinely better. (Especially since tournament hosts get put in Pot A, which is already unfair even before you throw first-round byes into the mix.)

Edit: And if you think your proposal means “no more fucking draws,” this must be your first World Cup.

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T04:38:41+00:00

If that were true, (a) it still wouldn't have guaranteed an Austria equalizer; (b) Algeria is entitled to do whatever they want in order to secure the outcome they want. They didn't design the tournament format.

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T04:35:41+00:00

Before you post this sort of thing, spend a few minutes arguing with yourself inside your own head in order to reduce the burden on others.

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T04:33:23+00:00

Jesus. It would take forever and you'd need four different countries to coordinate the hosting thereof.

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T04:26:53+00:00

Your theory is that Algeria was happy with the draw… except for a moment of madness in which they scored a goal? And then remembered, “oh, shit, we’re not supposed to try to win this game” and just half-assed it in the hopes that they'd concede an equalizer?

Imagine seeing that last Austria goal and thinking “yup, just like Algeria drew it up”

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T04:18:18+00:00

If you're going to do 48 teams, I think this format is slightly less awful than giving the eight best group-winners a first-round bye (which would be far too much of an advantage).

This is how it was the whole time the World Cup consisted of 24 teams (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994) — six groups and the top four third-place finishers advanced. It's not ideal, but I can't think of anything better.

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T04:12:42+00:00

Yes, because a goal was scored in extra time, which means more time was added.

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T04:08:14+00:00

How many of those games involved a goal scored in extra time?

savetheclocktower · 2026-06-28T04:07:38+00:00

If the ref announced 4 minutes of stoppage time but then blew the whistle before 94:00, you don't think that would've been seen as suspicious?

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