Serbia could (for a change) have a good World Cup so I am excited, though it'll be weird watching it in November and December.
How excited are you about the World Cup?
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Excited for the USMNT but the timings are such that I won’t be able to watch most of the games.
Looking forward to it, less so than usual but will watch plenty of it for sure
Don't mind it being in Qatar but moving to winter and disrupting the season is shite
Don't mind it being in Qatar but moving to winter and disrupting the season is shite
It was probably a rather positive take. Way out of place on here.
I would have preferred the poster to explain rather than the childish “er, no” remark, though.
Excited. Actually wanting the season to end asap so it can start. I always enjoy international tournaments. The fact my kids are more into football now makes it better.
Doesn’t this happen every tournament? In 2002 for example, England had so many injuries they had to play Trevor Sinclair!
The fact that it is being organized in a country with absolutely no footballing tradition or significance on the world stage makes it feel like a glorified friendly being organized for an Emir's amusement rather than the biggest sporting event in the world.
It was a non serious response to a non serious statement.
There’s no way on earth that you genuinely believe that the accusations of humans rights abuses in Qatar are all based on a Daily Mail article?
Unfortunately I think not many will, if any at all. Footballer's live sheltered lives, short on life knowledge and big on money, hidden away from the corporate side of things. Most footballers will say that it's the politicians and the journalists that have to speak up, not them.
In the current geopolitical situation, politicians from across the West will stay quiet. Europe needs Qatari gas to keep the heating on and no one will want to ruffle any feathers.
The best we can hope for is that such an awarding never happens again.
I may have got the newspaper wrong.
What are you basing it on? Have you been there? Is it worse than Russian and USA human rights and did you / will you kick up a fuss about those World Cups too?
Just how I feel. I'm usually not much into it, but for me it feels like the women's tournament in the summer was so much more the true football tournament of this year, so my interest is satisfied and I won't care about this world cup.
Even the articles that initially published it have a clearer breakdown. “6500 deaths” in the headline, but only 3 were actually whilst working on construction.
It’s like saying “1 billion deaths since the start of covid”, but in the article it says “only” 3 million were from covid.
Stop getting angry at tabloid headlines.
I think it's more the human slavery people are a bit annoyed about.
Yeah. I’ll miss the World Cups at those traditional footballing nations like South Korea, South Africa and Russia. Bring on those football hotspots USA and Canada in the next World Cup.
But they keep stating the fake death toll. I think these people need to get their arguments straight.
Do you feel the same about USA and Canada hosting?
How many people do you require dying in the building phase to be concerned by it then mate?
We need a poll in this thread.
I'm gonna say I can't be arsed and object to it all morally and then once the first match comes on telly I'll end up watching them all like a proper hypocrite.
You’re coming out with an amazing amount of bollox in this thread. Have you ever actually watched a World Cup before? If you paid attention you would have seen how often teams from Russia, South Korea and the African continent have played a big part in the tournament over the years. Even the USA have been involved in some notable games. The USA women’s team have won their tournament.
When was the last time you saw a gulf state team do well in a World Cup tournament?
I think any death is concerning. However, accidents happen and on a large construction site, over a 10+ year period, 3 is unfortunate but not out of the ordinary. Mate.
I don’t agree with numbers being exaggerated or manipulated to go with someone’s pathetic, selfish agenda because the World Cup is not in their ideal location.
There's a huge difference between Qatar and those two. For starters, the level of football is significantly higher. Qatar are quite easily going to be the lowest level team at a World Cup ever. The only chance they have of avoiding 3 losses is freak results or the ref's/var being massively in favour like SK in 2002. They are currently in the middle of a 5 month training camp (They removed all the players from the league since about June in preparation for the World Cup) and depsite that they still lost 3-0 to Croatia u23s last month, beat Guatemala reserves 2-0 a couple of days ago due to two mythical pens and couldn't beat Jamaica's D team back in July. USA and Canada have both qualified previously and are currently a reasonably high level in football.
In terms of how the countries feel about football, there have been top level games in Qatar that have 36 fans at them. The crowds are generally low, it isn't a football country. USA and Canada are quite clearly massively different to Qatar.
Not really excited at all, the most disinterested in a world cup I have ever been. I do wonder if the fact its right in the middle of the main football leagues seasons that I follow and not the exciting end to the football calendar its been in the past that has me so lacking in interest. I couldnt even tell you when it starts.
Instead of being celebrated in its own right its competing with major leagues, European cup competitions and domestic cups for news space in media.
In the past I always knew what the opening game was to be, I have no idea this time.
Instead of being celebrated in its own right its competing with major leagues, European cup competitions and domestic cups for news space in media.
In the past I always knew what the opening game was to be, I have no idea this time.
Not excited at all to be honest. Being in Qatar and the background to it all is really off putting, I'm struggling to overcome that.
Not to mention the fact that I'm expecting the football to be fairly poor. There's literally one week between the last club game and the WC kicking off. With barely 2 or 3 training sessions to prepare, and players carrying all manner of knocks and niggles from the most intense period of club football I can remember, I think the standard will definitely suffer.
That said my 10 yo is really keen, its his first WC since getting into football. He knows all the stats, has got his panini book and all that, so we'll be following it together. Maybe some of that excitement will rub off as the tourney goes on.
Not to mention the fact that I'm expecting the football to be fairly poor. There's literally one week between the last club game and the WC kicking off. With barely 2 or 3 training sessions to prepare, and players carrying all manner of knocks and niggles from the most intense period of club football I can remember, I think the standard will definitely suffer.
That said my 10 yo is really keen, its his first WC since getting into football. He knows all the stats, has got his panini book and all that, so we'll be following it together. Maybe some of that excitement will rub off as the tourney goes on.
Feels like a really long international break. Will probably end up watching some games, but I'm guessing not nearly as many games as with the summer world cups.
Going to hinder ten Hag's work over the season.
Or we can disappoint. Watch us beat Brasil and then lose to Swiss and Cameron. It could happen to us.
Yes of course, according to the Qatari government anyway.
I usually love a World Cup. But this year...Too much shit going on behind the scenes to enjoy it. Im even a big Christmas guy, and thought maybe having loads of football on over the festive period would be awesome. But I just cant bring myself to care. It's nice that my country is boycotting it by getting knocked out in the qualifying rounds .
This Is just one tainted to feck tournament. It should never have went to Qatar. And it should have been pulled once all the corruption came to light, or after all the deaths while building the stadiums came to light. Can anyone really enjoy this knowing that people died just to play here? 6500 people have died since Qatar won that award. In contrast when London held the Olympic Games in 2012, ONE person died. Ive seen so many news stories trying to cover it up as well. Explaining the amount of deaths away as just par for the course and it's totally natural to have 20 - 30 year olds die of "natural causes"...by the thousands...all while doing the same job, in the same place. Totally nothing at all to see here....
.This Is just one tainted to feck tournament. It should never have went to Qatar. And it should have been pulled once all the corruption came to light, or after all the deaths while building the stadiums came to light. Can anyone really enjoy this knowing that people died just to play here? 6500 people have died since Qatar won that award. In contrast when London held the Olympic Games in 2012, ONE person died. Ive seen so many news stories trying to cover it up as well. Explaining the amount of deaths away as just par for the course and it's totally natural to have 20 - 30 year olds die of "natural causes"...by the thousands...all while doing the same job, in the same place. Totally nothing at all to see here....
Oh so the World Cup is only for teams who have done well in the past? Quite an elitist take there, Boris. Hopefully this will promote and improve the football and opportunities in the area. It is, after all, a WORLD Cup. Qatar aren’t terrible anyway, and their club teams have been involved in world club cups. I don’t know the stats, but they’re unlikely the lowest rank team in the competition and there have been much worse teams in the past.
By the way, the USA womens team didn’t get through their qualifiers
What do you base it on? Stevoc’s instinct based on what?
Quality control
I usually love a World Cup. But this year...Too much shit going on behind the scenes to enjoy it. Im even a big Christmas guy, and thought maybe having loads of football on over the festive period would be awesome. But I just cant bring myself to care. It's nice that my country is boycotting it by getting knocked out in the qualifying rounds
This Is just one tainted to feck tournament. It should never have went to Qatar. And it should have been pulled once all the corruption came to light, or after all the deaths while building the stadiums came to light. Can anyone really enjoy this knowing that people died just to play here? 6500 people have died since Qatar won that award. In contrast when London held the Olympic Games in 2012, ONE person died. Ive seen so many news stories trying to cover it up as well. Explaining the amount of deaths away as just par for the course and it's totally natural to have 20 - 30 year olds die of "natural causes"...by the thousands...all while doing the same job, in the same place. Totally nothing at all to see here....
One person died in London in the 12 years leading up to the Olympics? The 6500 is including families, not just the workers.
A bit less, as I am not going for the first time since 2006. Will watch all the games and actually think the timing is perfect. There's plenty to do during summer but feck all during November.
USA has a decent footballing tradition and they qualify for world cups regularly plus like it or not its a country that is front and center on the world stage culturally, politically and economically. The entire population of Qatar would barely fill the big house in Michigan.
Which one's your favourite? I've always been a fan of Raphael.
Oh so the World Cup is only for teams who have done well in the past? Quite an elitist take there, Boris. Hopefully this will promote and improve the football and opportunities in the area. It is, after all, a WORLD Cup. Qatar aren’t terrible anyway, and their club teams have been involved in world club cups. I don’t know the stats, but they’re unlikely the lowest rank team in the competition and there have been much worse teams in the past.
By the way, the USA womens team didn’t get through their qualifiers
To me it doesn't matter much how successful the host is. I even like that for some countries it could be an awesome way to finally get a spot at a world cup and maybe due ro home advantage even have a decent run.
But other things matter to me much more. To experience it fully as it should be, it has to be in the summer. That's simply how it should be to be able to follow and celebrate it outside and not having to cuddle in your home while watching it.
And what do I expect from the host? Being open to football culture is a huge point. It's ecstatic, it allows people to express and experience themselves and Qatar is hugely limiting that due to their ancient morals.
And on top of that they aren't even able to have enough hotels, a lot of fans will have to stay in Dubai and fly to Qatar for each match. That's just ridiculous. The US might not be the biggest football nation, but they are a huge sports nation and due to that are perfectly used to the requirements huge events like a world cup have.
Barely watched the last one, this one is a must-miss.
NT football has been in a pretty poor state for a long time.
NT football has been in a pretty poor state for a long time.
I don’t think we should write them off because it’s not popular. Surely the World Cup will promote football in the area and increase attendances in the long term. Should we scrap womens football because league attendances are poor?
Qatar are only ranked 9 places below Canada, and are above South Africa, and well above Panama who England played at the last World Cup. It’s a blinkered view to assume they are rubbish.
How did I know you were going to reply with some shit? At this point youre coming off as propaganda puppet for the Qatar government, mate. 6500 isnt even the final number. It's a guess. The number is probably FAR higher. And as I said, saying men in their 20s and 30s are dying of natural causes is fecking laughable. Be gone with your nonsense, young man.