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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 11, 2018 14:31:14 GMT
I am not aware of any rabid football fans here, but here we are -- it's starting this week. I'm sure we'll find something to say about various events, incidents, scandals...
Here are the first four matches.
s19.postimg.cc/hivvh4jv7/FIFA_1.jpg
Actually, I find the first match interesting because Russia and Saudi Arabia have about the very worst teams participating in the World Cup. In the world rankings, Saudi Arabia is #67 and Russia is #70.
Just for the record, the top five teams in the world are: 1. Germany 2. Brazil 3. Belgium 4. Portugal 5. Argentina
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 11, 2018 17:03:20 GMT
There has already been an amusing little event concerning the Mexican World Cup team.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 12, 2018 15:28:45 GMT
Belgium in the top 3. If at least we could play as a team.... I profoundly dislike soccer and I hate fans, who come and jump and say 'we won' when all they did was drink beers, burp and stuff chips in between shouts when 'their' team scores. Well, I guess you see what I mean :-) My wife, being more intelligent watches some games. Now, just for fun, here the ten comandments of the Maradona Church (120-200.000 adepts...) : Ten Commandments[edit] The "Ten Commandments" of the Iglesia Maradoniana are:[2] 1.The ball is never soiled. 2.Love football above all else. 3.Declare unconditional love for Diego and the beauty of football. 4.Defend the Argentina shirt. 5.Spread the news of Diego's miracles throughout the universe. 6.Honour the temples where he played and his sacred shirts. 7.Don't proclaim Diego as a member of any single team. 8.Preach and spread the principles of the Church of Maradona. 9.Make Diego your middle name. 10.Name your first son Diego. Source : wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iglesia_Maradoniana
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 12, 2018 16:15:25 GMT
Jeez, when you think of what he looks like now!
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Post by lagatta on Jun 14, 2018 14:50:50 GMT
I am glad to see that there is a footie thread. I live in Petite-Italie,our old little Italy, though it has become little everywhere now. What it does mean is lost revenue for caffès, restaurants and bars in the area. There will still be huge parades for different sides when we get into the elimination period. "Little Portugal" is just south of here and they will drive or walk north on boulevard St-Laurent to tease Italy fans, though this is just a game as there is absolutely no animosity here among montréalais of Italian and Portuguese descent.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 14, 2018 18:02:02 GMT
Okay, fabulous imperial Russia trounced Saudi Arabia 5-0. I sense great things in the offing.
I was in a café with a friend at the end of the official time and the score was 3-0 on the omnipresent screen. In the time it took my bus to take me home, Vladimir Putin proved that his team was the best... at least for the first match.
We're still in the funny part of the competition before we start feeling serious about it.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 17, 2018 4:55:38 GMT
Tiny Iceland was not crushed by mighty Argentina -- that made everybody happy here.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 17, 2018 16:52:50 GMT
So, the world champions and #1 football team in the world just lost to Mexico. Interesting.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 17, 2018 18:18:29 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 17, 2018 19:58:20 GMT
And now Brazil has stumbled. This is already becoming almost interesting.
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Post by fumobici on Jun 17, 2018 20:05:06 GMT
Good day for me, Mexico in a real cupset defeat of defending champion Germany and then Switzerland stealing a point from Brasil. This tournament never gets old for me.
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Post by breeze on Jun 17, 2018 21:16:16 GMT
The Mexican team thrilled me with their ability to steal the ball and to block Germany's close-in shots. If they can play like that throughout the tournament I'll be rooting for them to win.
Don't tell my old loves Spain, Brazil, and France that I'm so fickle.
I also want Messi to do well.
We no longer have the ability to watch every game and that's a relief.
An even bigger relief is no vuvuzelas. You think I'd be over that trauma by now, but I'm not.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 18, 2018 6:16:10 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 18, 2018 6:33:41 GMT
A small artificial earthquake detected in Mexico City Ha ha ~ saw that on fb last night, complete with a seismic read-out. I was wishing that I was at home to hear the happy ruckus. an amusing little event concerning the Mexican World Cup team Also saw this on fb last night:
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Post by mossie on Jun 18, 2018 7:47:02 GMT
This game is a damn nuisance, one goes in for a quiet meal to discover the match is on a big tellie, full blast. And the two teams playing are from countries you either don’t care about, are have never heard of.
Suppose England will be thrashed tonight, they are an ill disciplined mob of overpaid poseurs.
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Post by questa on Jun 18, 2018 8:57:15 GMT
Aren't they all, Mossie, Aren't they all?
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 20, 2018 14:21:27 GMT
So, it appears that Morocco is the first team to be eliminated from the World Cup. That will calm my neighbourhood a bit. North African hearts will continue to beat for Tunisia for awhile. Egypt isn't considered to be part of "North Africa."
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 21, 2018 19:34:22 GMT
Argentina v Croatia isn’t for the faint hearted.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 22, 2018 0:08:21 GMT
What anglophones call "North Africa" is the Maghreb; the area north of the Sahara and west of the place (in Libya) where the desert meets the sea. Obviously Egypt is also Northern African, majority Muslim and mostly Arabic speaking, but culturally very different from the Maghreb (the west, the sunset).
Now Argentina seems on its way out, leading to greater dismay among the Italy fans who fell back on Argentina with so many players with Italian surnames.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 26, 2018 5:05:10 GMT
As always, politics has reared its ugly head in the competition. Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shiri were fined 8,600 euros each for making the sign of the Albanian eagle when scoring against Serbia. Stephan Lichsteiner was fined the same amount for also making the gesture. The team captain was fined 4,300 euros for not keeping his boys in line. Clearly, peace has not yet come to the Balkans, because the Croatian federation was fined 11,260 euros for fights by its supporters. The Serbian federation was fined 47,000 euros for discriminatory posters, and the president of the Serbian federation was fined 4,330 euros for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Meanwhile, in more traditional (mis)behaviour, the Argentinian federation has been fined 91,000 euros for its supporters throwing things, fighting and homophobic chants. Frankly, fines like this please me because in the old days it was considered perfectly normal for everybody in the sporting world to behave like louts. They even took pride in it. Just for the record, here is the Albanian eagle gesture that costs 8,600 euros. ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/621D/production/_102171152_mediaitem102171151.jpg
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 27, 2018 16:02:53 GMT
Now it gets interesting. World champion Germany was eliminated today, 0-2 against South Korea. It is the first time in history that Germany was ejected during the first round. I wonder who the Germans will support now.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 27, 2018 19:42:27 GMT
They will support Belgium. We are nice, neighbours, drink beer and have the same colours on our flag. Who else ?
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Post by lagatta on Jun 27, 2018 20:16:22 GMT
Yes, I was thinking Belgium too. Though this was a terrible blooper: www.cbc.ca/news/politics/belgian-royals-flag-1.4573188Don't miss the Hallo or whatever "people" stuff linked to in the article. It is hilarious. Some of the press stories made it sound as if there were large German rather than Belgian flags in central Ottawa. Usually protocol staff gets that right for far more obscure countries. Quite a few Belgians here.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 27, 2018 21:23:53 GMT
They will support Belgium. We are nice, neighbours, drink beer and have the same colours on our flag. Who else ? I will also support Belgium as soon as France loses. Belgium has already been designated as one of the principal favourites.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 28, 2018 13:11:25 GMT
The hope of an entire continent lies on the shoulders of Senegal this afternoon. If Senegal does not beat Colombia, the last team from Africa will have been eliminated in the first round.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 28, 2018 16:45:02 GMT
And so the continent of Africa has left the World Cup. Four continents left.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 29, 2018 17:55:41 GMT
Then again, lots of people say that Africa is still in the World Cup because France is still present.
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Post by mossie on Jun 29, 2018 18:50:25 GMT
Here people have been brought down to earth because of the defeat inflicted by Belgium. At leats it will stop the popular press getting excited about us breezing through the rest of the tournament and winning the Cup.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 29, 2018 19:04:27 GMT
France always expects to lose. That's why it was so astounding 20 years ago when they actually won the World Cup. There is always a little glimmer of hope but nothing more than that. If France beats Arentina tomorrow there will obviously be a bit more optimism -- until the next opponent is announced.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 30, 2018 16:11:29 GMT
And so, Kylian Mbappé has become the new superstar of French football.
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