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Underwhelmed

Underwhelmed

mhead bee said:
I am sure I had my first Guiness at 8am.

The second half versus Brazil was pathetic, even with two minutes to go we passed sideways on the edge of own area, we brought Teddy on and didn't even knock it up to him once. I was waiting for us to throw everyone up front and launch it in injury time but we played keep ball in our own area until the whistle went, really frustrating..
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Exactly as I remember it, accepting that 1-2 against Brazil wasn’t a disgrace which to me was a disgrace! If you’re going to lose in a one off game, go down fighting and having given it everything, we didn’t.
 

Underwhelmed

sonofabee said:
Exactly as I remember it, accepting that 1-2 against Brazil wasn’t a disgrace which to me was a disgrace! If you’re going to lose in a one off game, go down fighting and having given it everything, we didn’t.
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I was on holiday in Ko Sumui. Watching it in the room whist wife was down at the pool. She actually came up to check on me as she was concerned at the scream that drifted over the balcony when Seaman let that goal in.
 

Underwhelmed

RodBee said:
Is anyone else totally underwhelmed by the forth coming World Cup - or any World Cup?

I am already fed up with the pages of World Cup articles in the media and it has not started yet!

I usually book to be away for at least two weeks of a World Cup but this year made an error and will be at home.

Of course I want England (and had they been in it all of the other home nations too) to do well but have seen too many abject failures since watching 1966 to expect anything other than depressing play and results. I will watch England games and hope but as for the other matches, for example, Saudia Arabia v Russia, etc - no chance of any interest from me.

Roll on the fixture list being produced for 'our' football and then pre-season friendlies and the season to commence but for the World Cup I can only say thank goodness I have the box set of 'Soldier Soldier'.

Sorry lads!!
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Im bloody buzzing for it. Love a summer tournament and willing England on to win it ;)
 

Underwhelmed

Must say, I love the English summer sporting events, Test Match Cricket, Wimbledon.

The WC is a big bonus. As yet, the WC bug hasn't hit me, but it will once we get started.
 

Underwhelmed

At the moment I'm a bit 'meh' about the World Cup. As others have said, I don't watch PL football much so don't really have any affinity towards the players involved. Obviously I want England to do well but I won't be arranging my busy social diary* around England games.

Chances are, I'll end up watching more games than I don't but I don't feel the buzz like I used to.

* currently empty
 

Underwhelmed

Mikey Bee said:
At the moment I'm a bit 'meh' about the World Cup. As others have said, I don't watch PL football much so don't really have any affinity towards the players involved. Obviously I want England to do well but I won't be arranging my busy social diary* around England games.

Chances are, I'll end up watching more games than I don't but I don't feel the buzz like I used to.

* currently empty
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Even if you watched Premier League, quite a few of current squad haven’t played regularly for their clubs in the Premier League this season. Cahill was on the bench, Rose, Loftus Cheek and Welbeck were out injured for part of the season, Rashford isn’t Jose’ type of player and the Liverpool kid hasn’t played 20 games this season. All good for us as the less football they’ve played the more rested and fresh they’ll be.
 

Underwhelmed

sonofabee said:
Even if you watched Premier League, quite a few of current squad haven’t played regularly for their clubs in the Premier League this season. Cahill was on the bench, Rose, Loftus Cheek and Welbeck were out injured for part of the season, Rashford isn’t Jose’ type of player and the Liverpool kid hasn’t played 20 games this season. All good for us as the less football they’ve played the more rested and fresh they’ll be.
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Which kind of negates the point being pushed that we badly need a winter break for the sake of the England team as half of them at least need more games not across a whole season.
 

Underwhelmed

It's the biggest and best sporting event in the history of this planet, so no I'm looking forward to it
 

Underwhelmed

Started to get a bit more interested when me and the boys were filling out the entry forms for Smiffy's prediction competition..... "oooh, that should be a good game" etc.

I find watching the England games a bit of nause at home so always go out to the pub - at least there's a bit of an atmosphere there. The England v Wales game two years ago was quality - beer flying everywhere.
I agree with Maidenhead on the whole, though. I used to love the England games but my interest has definitely cooled since 2002, which was absolute sh*t from an England point of view.
 

Underwhelmed

Mudbone said:
The WC is a big bonus. As yet, the WC bug hasn't hit me, but it will once we get started.
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England have killed the enthusiasm of most fans so the 3 month build up is largely ignored, the media and TV trying to show every WC program 24/7 and every advert being football related hasn't really happened like it use to as maybe they have seen what has happened. However when it starts I will watch every game and I will be on here every day moaning at the god awful standards of refereeing and how they are incapable of distinguishing a blatant dive or a player just "falling over" when touched from a real foul.

What drove me mad in the last WC was the initiative to not get the yellow cards out and you saw players getting away with murder and the best players were being kicked out of the game, I said it was only a matter of time before someone gets really hurt before Neymar was kicked out of the tournament with a fractured spine (he is a complete bellend who is more interested in doing a needless tekker in his own half, drawing a foul, getting in the players face and getting someone sent off then he is in scoring a brilliant goal but he didn't deserve that).

I wonder if Messi will turn up or will be a lazy bar steward as usual, who will be the surprise package that gets to the quarter final, who will be the team that cheats England and gets away with it, who will miss the penalty for England and who will get sent off for us. Will Germany be as good as last time, will France self implode again, is Pogba the most over rated player in the world and will he get booed by his own again, do Spain still have it. One brilliant thing is the boring, negative, cynical and somehow teflon Italians won't be there to ruin it all.
 

Underwhelmed

A Real Mysteron said:
It leaves me a bit cold from a team England point of view, but as an event it is a great thing.

Let’s hope England go out at the group stage so the country can enjoy the knockout rounds without the inevitable let down.
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oh sweet lord :(

what chance have we got with support like this eh lol lol
I personally hope England stay in as long as possible ;)
 

Underwhelmed

sonofabee said:
:sorted: Argentina was lunchtime and remember it kicking off outside our local wine bar in Weybridge with two stabbings which is unheard of usually.
The Brazil game we seemed to be happy to lose 2-1 and didn't even bother going for it in the second half, gutless and forgettable rather like Sven.
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the argentina one was mental...a load of us (mainly bees) went to Richmond at silly o clock to a pub there which was mobbed and when the teams came out they panned over to the 3 Brentford England flags altogether opposite the cameras....well you can imagine the scenes ;) lol lol
sonnyjim put his bees flag up over Richmond bridge after and it nearly kicked off with Fulham trying to untie it and throw it in the thames while we were all outside henrys....everyone running up there and Fulham legging it lol lol funny old day lol
 

Underwhelmed

sonofabee said:
Exactly as I remember it, accepting that 1-2 against Brazil wasn’t a disgrace which to me was a disgrace! If you’re going to lose in a one off game, go down fighting and having given it everything, we didn’t.
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the brazil one we were all over them first half and then suckerpunch goal and then a freak one....we should have won it and I reckon we'd have gone on and won the tmnt too....decent team that year ;)
we went to a pub in Chertsey at 6.30am and I was so fecked orf (and bladdered !) with the result I rang in sick and went to royal ascot straight after and ended up on my own there all day as sonnyjim got marooned on a train at Richmond all morning and as it was before everyone had mobiles, a couple of others I meant to meet weren't at arranged place so I bunked in and then bunked in to hospitality all day....lets just say it didn't end well but it was great fun for most of the day lol lol
 

Underwhelmed

mhead bee said:
England have killed the enthusiasm of most fans so the 3 month build up is largely ignored, the media and TV trying to show every WC program 24/7 and every advert being football related hasn't really happened like it use to as maybe they have seen what has happened. However when it starts I will watch every game and I will be on here every day moaning at the god awful standards of refereeing and how they are incapable of distinguishing a blatant dive or a player just "falling over" when touched from a real foul.

What drove me mad in the last WC was the initiative to not get the yellow cards out and you saw players getting away with murder and the best players were being kicked out of the game, I said it was only a matter of time before someone gets really hurt before Neymar was kicked out of the tournament with a fractured spine (he is a complete bellend who is more interested in doing a needless tekker in his own half, drawing a foul, getting in the players face and getting someone sent off then he is in scoring a brilliant goal but he didn't deserve that).

I wonder if Messi will turn up or will be a lazy bar steward as usual, who will be the surprise package that gets to the quarter final, who will be the team that cheats England and gets away with it, who will miss the penalty for England and who will get sent off for us. Will Germany be as good as last time, will France self implode again, is Pogba the most over rated player in the world and will he get booed by his own again, do Spain still have it. One brilliant thing is the boring, negative, cynical and somehow teflon Italians won't be there to ruin it all.
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Mate, I can't agree, the supermarket Ads are great and show our National players in a really good light for once as human and likeable? Brentford is more important to me now than England because I can relate to it better and until recently I've despised a lot of the high profile English players but prepared to give this current group a chance as most seem ok.

While there will always be cheats, dodgy refs, strange decisions, outrage and sending offs, isn't that exactly why we watch it? I love the World Cup, it's been the subject of some of the most scandalous corruption and outrageous knobbling from the very first one in the 30's right through to Qatar winning the right to stage the next one. Who can forget the lengths Mexican secret police went to ensure the best football team in the World going into the 1970 World Cup didn't retain the trophy, from framing our Captain on a theft charge to poisoning the keepers food the night before the quarter final?

From Grabowski inventing diving in the 1974 final and conning Jack Taylor, Argentina fixing the qualifying match in 1978 vs Peru to win 6-0, in 1982 the disgrace in Gijon (West Germany vs Austria), the snarling midget hand of God in 86, to the Argies handing Brazil players drugged water bottles in 1990, to the drug crazed snarling midget in 1994, to Ronaldo and whatever happened in 1998, to the refereeing that saw Italy and Spain somehow knocked out with two disallowed goals and South Korea making the semi finals in their own tournament in 2002. There are so many other incredible stories that are so far fetched to be untrue but the point is that no matter how atrocious the decisions or sniff of corruption attached to it, the World Cup finals are the most fantastic footballing event on the planet and me and millions and millions of others will be watching excited as I was when as a 7 year old I watched us beat play Brazil and Germany on the telly back in 1970.

The Russian and Qatar bidding process stinks to high heaven and it deserves to flop to teach FIFA and corrupt government officials a lesson but bet it won't, if anything I expect it to be sterile and boring as Putin won't allow it to fail or call into question his regimes ability to stage a major event. During it I expect we'll have less access all areas than for a long time and so expect anything untoward won't come to light or be reported until after it's all done and dusted.

Roll on June 14th
 
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Underwhelmed

sonofabee said:
Mate, I can't agree, the supermarket Ads are great and show our National players in a really good light for once as human and likeable? Brentford is more important to me now than England because I can relate to it better and until recently I've despised a lot of the high profile English players but prepared to give this current group a chance as most seem ok.

While there will always be cheats, dodgy refs, strange decisions, outrage and sending offs, isn't that exactly why we watch it? I love the World Cup, it's been the subject of some of the most scandalous corruption and outrageous knobbling from the very first one in the 30's right through to Qatar winning the right to stage the next one. Who can forget the lengths Mexican secret police went to ensure the best football team in the World going into the 1970 World Cup didn't retain the trophy, from framing our Captain on a theft charge to poisoning the keepers food the night before the quarter final?

From Grabowski inventing diving in the 1974 final and conning Jack Taylor, Argentina fixing the qualifying match in 1978 vs Peru to win 6-0, in 1982 the disgrace in Gijon (West Germany vs Austria), the snarling midget hand of God in 86, to the Argies handing Brazil players drugged water bottles in 1990, to the drug crazed snarling midget in 1994, to Ronaldo and whatever happened in 1998, to the refereeing that saw Italy and Spain somehow knocked out with two disallowed goals and South Korea making the semi finals in their own tournament in 2002. There are so many other incredible stories that are so far fetched to be untrue but the point is that no matter how atrocious the decisions or sniff of corruption attached to it, the World Cup finals are the most fantastic footballing event on the planet and me and millions and millions of others will be watching excited as I was when as a 7 year old I watched us beat play Brazil and Germany on the telly back in 1970.

The Russian and Qatar bidding process stinks to high heaven and it deserves to flop to teach FIFA and corrupt government officials a lesson but bet it won't, if anything I expect it to be sterile and boring as Putin won't allow it to fail or call into question his regimes ability to stage a major event. During it I expect we'll have less access all areas than for a long time and so expect anything untoward won't come to light or be reported until after it's all done and dusted.

Roll on June 14th
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Good post. 1970 apart, the wins are remembered by the winners, but the disasters and cheating are remembered even more than the great games by the losers and the masses.
 

Underwhelmed

sonofabee said:
Mate, I can't agree, the supermarket Ads are great and show our National players in a really good light for once as human and likeable? Brentford is more important to me now than England because I can relate to it better and until recently I've despised a lot of the high profile English players but prepared to give this current group a chance as most seem ok.

While there will always be cheats, dodgy refs, strange decisions, outrage and sending offs, isn't that exactly why we watch it? I love the World Cup, it's been the subject of some of the most scandalous corruption and outrageous knobbling from the very first one in the 30's right through to Qatar winning the right to stage the next one. Who can forget the lengths Mexican secret police went to ensure the best football team in the World going into the 1970 World Cup didn't retain the trophy, from framing our Captain on a theft charge to poisoning the keepers food the night before the quarter final?

From Grabowski inventing diving in the 1974 final and conning Jack Taylor, Argentina fixing the qualifying match in 1978 vs Peru to win 6-0, in 1982 the disgrace in Gijon (West Germany vs Austria), the snarling midget hand of God in 86, to the Argies handing Brazil players drugged water bottles in 1990, to the drug crazed snarling midget in 1994, to Ronaldo and whatever happened in 1998, to the refereeing that saw Italy and Spain somehow knocked out with two disallowed goals and South Korea making the semi finals in their own tournament in 2002. There are so many other incredible stories that are so far fetched to be untrue but the point is that no matter how atrocious the decisions or sniff of corruption attached to it, the World Cup finals are the most fantastic footballing event on the planet and me and millions and millions of others will be watching excited as I was when as a 7 year old I watched us beat play Brazil and Germany on the telly back in 1970.

The Russian and Qatar bidding process stinks to high heaven and it deserves to flop to teach FIFA and corrupt government officials a lesson but bet it won't, if anything I expect it to be sterile and boring as Putin won't allow it to fail or call into question his regimes ability to stage a major event. During it I expect we'll have less access all areas than for a long time and so expect anything untoward won't come to light or be reported until after it's all done and dusted.

Roll on June 14th
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Spot on. Love the WC and for the first time in ages we have a group of young England players who I feel it's easy to get behind.

The one shame for me is that the first match looks so dull (consider the first game in 2014 was Brazil V Croatia) but I think things will start to come to life over the weekend with Spain V Portugal on Friday night, Iceland - Argentina on Saturday and Germany - Mexico on the Sunday.
 

Underwhelmed

Underwhelmed

sonofabee said:
Mate, I can't agree, the supermarket Ads are great and show our National players in a really good light for once as human and likeable? Brentford is more important to me now than England because I can relate to it better and until recently I've despised a lot of the high profile English players but prepared to give this current group a chance as most seem ok.

While there will always be cheats, dodgy refs, strange decisions, outrage and sending offs, isn't that exactly why we watch it? I love the World Cup, it's been the subject of some of the most scandalous corruption and outrageous knobbling from the very first one in the 30's right through to Qatar winning the right to stage the next one. Who can forget the lengths Mexican secret police went to ensure the best football team in the World going into the 1970 World Cup didn't retain the trophy, from framing our Captain on a theft charge to poisoning the keepers food the night before the quarter final?

From Grabowski inventing diving in the 1974 final and conning Jack Taylor, Argentina fixing the qualifying match in 1978 vs Peru to win 6-0, in 1982 the disgrace in Gijon (West Germany vs Austria), the snarling midget hand of God in 86, to the Argies handing Brazil players drugged water bottles in 1990, to the drug crazed snarling midget in 1994, to Ronaldo and whatever happened in 1998, to the refereeing that saw Italy and Spain somehow knocked out with two disallowed goals and South Korea making the semi finals in their own tournament in 2002. There are so many other incredible stories that are so far fetched to be untrue but the point is that no matter how atrocious the decisions or sniff of corruption attached to it, the World Cup finals are the most fantastic footballing event on the planet and me and millions and millions of others will be watching excited as I was when as a 7 year old I watched us beat play Brazil and Germany on the telly back in 1970.

The Russian and Qatar bidding process stinks to high heaven and it deserves to flop to teach FIFA and corrupt government officials a lesson but bet it won't, if anything I expect it to be sterile and boring as Putin won't allow it to fail or call into question his regimes ability to stage a major event. During it I expect we'll have less access all areas than for a long time and so expect anything untoward won't come to light or be reported until after it's all done and dusted.

Roll on June 14th
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Every word :sorted:

I like the adverts, I just don't think we see such a song and dance as we used to. After 96 everybody wanted a piece of it and the whole country went football mad, it was trendy to like football and every game was a proper night out with the girls dressing up and painting their faces. Since then it has become less and less trendy and now it is back to same old football boys enjoying it and all the football totty and people going for the night out has gone. Had we done well in a tournament since then it may have continued but I think a lot of part timers don't see it as trendy anymore.

However I shall watch every game and have a proper moan about the refs and the cheats as that is half the fun.
 

Underwhelmed

mhead bee said:
Every word :sorted:

I like the adverts, I just don't think we see such a song and dance as we used to. After 96 everybody wanted a piece of it and the whole country went football mad, it was trendy to like football and every game was a proper night out with the girls dressing up and painting their faces. Since then it has become less and less trendy and now it is back to same old football boys enjoying it and all the football totty and people going for the night out has gone. Had we done well in a tournament since then it may have continued but I think a lot of part timers don't see it as trendy anymore.

However I shall watch every game and have a proper moan about the refs and the cheats as that is half the fun.
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agree with all of that......I actually prefer it now that the great unwashed aint that bovvered anymore...my England/Brentford flags are nearly ready to be hung out the windows of the house...much to mrs vftbs displeasure lol lol lol
 

Underwhelmed

mhead bee said:
Every word :sorted:

After 96 everybody wanted a piece of it and the whole country went football mad, it was trendy to like football and every game was a proper night out with the girls dressing up and painting their faces.
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:sorted: It certainly did go mad. Supermarkets were rammed full of England tat, flags on cars were almost obligatory. Normal life DID stop for England football matches.
 

Underwhelmed

Darren J said:
:sorted: It certainly did go mad. Supermarkets were rammed full of England tat, flags on cars were almost obligatory. Normal life DID stop for England football matches.
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Agreed......and reckon it will happen again, next time we get to Q/F or beyond.......which could be this year!!!!!
COME ON!!!!!
 

Underwhelmed

It's not just the England team creating the feeling of let down and why bother, after lampards 'goal' against Germany wasn't given I felt betrayed and even when we don't balls it up ourselves there's something or someone ready to intervene
 

Underwhelmed

sonofabee said:
Who can forget the lengths Mexican secret police went to ensure the best football team in the World going into the 1970 World Cup didn't retain the trophy, from framing our Captain on a theft charge to poisoning the keepers food the night before the quarter final?
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I think that's just Mexican food for you.:shrug:
 

Underwhelmed

mhead bee said:
Every word :sorted:

I like the adverts, I just don't think we see such a song and dance as we used to. After 96 everybody wanted a piece of it and the whole country went football mad, it was trendy to like football and every game was a proper night out with the girls dressing up and painting their faces. Since then it has become less and less trendy and now it is back to same old football boys enjoying it and all the football totty and people going for the night out has gone. Had we done well in a tournament since then it may have continued but I think a lot of part timers don't see it as trendy anymore.

However I shall watch every game and have a proper moan about the refs and the cheats as that is half the fun.
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:imwith:
 

Underwhelmed

Looks like the locals dont have too much interest or are being priced out. plenty of emtpy seats at the Egytp game and the Iran game doesnt look full either.
 

Underwhelmed

Isleworth_Bee said:
Looks like the locals dont have too much interest or are being priced out. plenty of emtpy seats at the Egytp game and the Iran game doesnt look full either.
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Kinda. There are massive discounts for locals but these are for small sections of the rubbish seats. EG: https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/ticketing/ticket-categories.html

But the rest of the tickets are about £80-£160 for just the group games. Even more for later on.

So probably priced out a fair chunk of the locals but definitely not all of them, it's well within their buying power looking at local avg salaries/costs. I wonder if tons of tickets were bought up by tours/packages/etc and nobody wanted to travel to Russia.
 

Underwhelmed

TW1Bee said:
Can't wait for the real football start........on August 4th. ?
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Eh ?
Did you watch Casualty last night or the epic 3-3 draw between Spain and Portugal.
If the former...i worry for you...
 

Underwhelmed

SmiffyBee said:
Eh ?
Did you watch Casualty last night or the epic 3-3 draw between Spain and Portugal.
If the former...i worry for you...
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I watched the golf, popped into the cricket and just had an occasional glance at the football. May be my advanced age but apart from watching England ( and being generally underwhelmed) I don’t bother with the World Cup or the Euros. I was very fortunate to be at Wembley in the Summer of 1966 so everything else has paled into insignificance!!
 

Underwhelmed

The Pipe said:
I watched the golf, popped into the cricket and just had an occasional glance at the football. May be my advanced age but apart from watching England ( and being generally underwhelmed) I don’t bother with the World Cup or the Euros. I was very fortunate to be at Wembley in the Summer of 1966 so everything else has paled into insignificance!!
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Come on the Pipe.
Where's your international spirit ?

Pump up the 3 lions, sing e for England, we're Rons 22 !
Bit of Vindaloo. It's coming home.
Crack open the Stella.

#Kane2Reign

Goodnight Vienna
 

Underwhelmed

Underwhelmed

SmiffyBee said:
Come on the Pipe.
Where's your international spirit ?

Pump up the 3 lions, sing e for England, we're Rons 22 !
Bit of Vindaloo. It's coming home.
Crack open the Stella.

#Kane2Reign

Goodnight Vienna
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Ok then, I will look out my old copy of “ World Cup Willy” Now that was a song????
 

Underwhelmed

The Pipe said:
Ok then, I will look out my old copy of “ World Cup Willy” Now that was a song��������
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......and “Back Home”......
 

Underwhelmed

Underwhelmed by the theme tune to itv coverage!! Not exactly nessa dorma (sp) is it !!
 

Underwhelmed

RodBee said:
Is anyone else totally underwhelmed by the forth coming World Cup - or any World Cup?

I am already fed up with the pages of World Cup articles in the media and it has not started yet!

I usually book to be away for at least two weeks of a World Cup but this year made an error and will be at home.

Of course I want England (and had they been in it all of the other home nations too) to do well but have seen too many abject failures since watching 1966 to expect anything other than depressing play and results. I will watch England games and hope but as for the other matches, for example, Saudia Arabia v Russia, etc - no chance of any interest from me.

Roll on the fixture list being produced for 'our' football and then pre-season friendlies and the season to commence but for the World Cup I can only say thank goodness I have the box set of 'Soldier Soldier'.

Sorry lads!!
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I felt the same in the build up but now it's started I can't wait for the next game to come along.
 

Underwhelmed

I've watched all 17 games so far (barring 40 minutes of the first half of the Brazil v Switzerland game as I was out for dinner with my son for Fathers Day) and while some games have been less good than others (I nodded off for a bit during the first half of Sweden v South Korea) I'm enjoying it. Plenty of good football, the odd surprise (how well Russia are doing, Mexico deservedly beating Germany, Japan's performance against Colombia) and no 0-0s (although both Egypt v Uruguay and Morocco v Iran ought to have been).
 

Underwhelmed

AB said:
I've watched all 17 games so far (barring 40 minutes of the first half of the Brazil v Switzerland game as I was out for dinner with my son for Fathers Day) and while some games have been less good than others (I nodded off for a bit during the first half of Sweden v South Korea) I'm enjoying it. Plenty of good football, the odd surprise (how well Russia are doing, Mexico deservedly beating Germany, Japan's performance against Colombia) and no 0-0s (although both Egypt v Uruguay and Morocco v Iran ought to have been).
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I have watched them all bar most of the first one due to a school meeting and I have enjoyed most of it. However I am starting to get a bit weary of it now, the constant diving in some of the games, all the falling over whenever there is the slightest coming together is becoming highly tedious and making it hard to watch and the refs who are so used to it blow up every time. How many times does a player watch the opponent over his shoulder, wait until he is in touching distance and then fall over. I have to listen to Danny Murphy saying things like, oh yes, a bit late there or clever play by the forward. What it really is is constant cheating that is such an ingrained part of the game the pundits and the ref just go along with it.
 

Underwhelmed

mhead bee said:
I have watched them all bar most of the first one due to a school meeting and I have enjoyed most of it. However I am starting to get a bit weary of it now, the constant diving in some of the games, all the falling over whenever there is the slightest coming together is becoming highly tedious and making it hard to watch and the refs who are so used to it blow up every time. How many times does a player watch the opponent over his shoulder, wait until he is in touching distance and then fall over. I have to listen to Danny Murphy saying things like, oh yes, a bit late there or clever play by the forward. What it really is is constant cheating that is such an ingrained part of the game the pundits and the ref just go along with it.
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have liked all your posts on this theme so far, and fully agree here. i do still love football, and am positively giddy about the world cup, but i do find myself (yet again) thinking "i don't know if i can take much more of this". the wife watched a couple of minutes last night and then said "why do you watch this?!" - obviously, she's clueless, but still, there is a point in there. i wish they'd get on top of all of this, but it seems to be an accepted part of the game :(
 

Underwhelmed

mhead bee said:
I have watched them all bar most of the first one due to a school meeting and I have enjoyed most of it. However I am starting to get a bit weary of it now, the constant diving in some of the games, all the falling over whenever there is the slightest coming together is becoming highly tedious and making it hard to watch and the refs who are so used to it blow up every time. How many times does a player watch the opponent over his shoulder, wait until he is in touching distance and then fall over. I have to listen to Danny Murphy saying things like, oh yes, a bit late there or clever play by the forward. What it really is is constant cheating that is such an ingrained part of the game the pundits and the ref just go along with it.
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I think this is something that's been there for a while but perhaps being focused on more due to VAR. As far as I'm aware, VAR isn't used to punish diving (perhaps it should be), only to spot actual fouls which may have been missed by the ref while naturally focusing on another part of play (although the spear tackle of Kane would have been a red card offence in rugby, let alone a foul and penalty in football, so there's a way to go yet). It might just be too much change all at once to use the full power of VAR like that (doing so and ending up with games having three or four penalties would change the character of the game massively). But it is probably coming and it will be up to teams and players to adjust over time.

In the last couple of games the refs have been much tougher on letting players roll around on their own while letting play continue rather than immediately stopping play so things might be developing very quickly behind the scenes on the officiating front.
 

Underwhelmed

AB said:
In the last couple of games the refs have been much tougher on letting players roll around on their own while letting play continue rather than immediately stopping play so things might be developing very quickly behind the scenes on the officiating front.
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For me one positive across all the games has been that the refs seem to be trying to let the game flow and have little time for the obvious play acting "fall overs" and "roll arounds" that is so endemic of the game these days.
 

Underwhelmed

Stanley said:
For me one positive across all the games has been that the refs seem to be trying to let the game flow and have little time for the obvious play acting "fall overs" and "roll arounds" that is so endemic of the game these days.
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I've watched about half the games and with the exception of the borderline cheat in our game, think the refs have been pretty decent, fairly anonymous and prepared to let the game flow.
 

Underwhelmed

Complete borefest. Considering how much these clowns get paid to play football, there's very little of it being played. Mexico have been the only bright spot. The rest has been a right bag of *****.
 

Underwhelmed

hairman said:
Complete borefest. Considering how much these clowns get paid to play football, there's very little of it being played. Mexico have been the only bright spot. The rest has been a right bag of *****.
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You're either

(a) Mexican
(b) Only watched games involving Mexico
(c) unable to enjoy international football spectacles

I think this World Cup has been great.
No trouble whatsoever.
Some very even games, unexpected results, in general good use of VAR and refereeing.
Hardly any red cards contributing to the competitive games.

Iran nearly sprang a surprise tonight despite being massively outplayed. Thank goodness they weren't in England's group !
 

Underwhelmed

Would prefer the 24 team format where 4 best placed 3rd teams go thru. Keeps the groups alive.
 

Underwhelmed

SmiffyBee said:
You're either

(a) Mexican
(b) Only watched games involving Mexico
(c) unable to enjoy international football spectacles

I think this World Cup has been great.
No trouble whatsoever.
Some very even games, unexpected results, in general good use of VAR and refereeing.
Hardly any red cards contributing to the competitive games.

Iran nearly sprang a surprise tonight despite being massively outplayed. Thank goodness they weren't in England's group !
Click to expand...

You should get yourself down to a place called Griffin Park. There's a little club called Brentford FC that plays there. They play some cracking football, the vast majority of matches are pretty exciting and puts most of the World Cup dross to shame. Try it, you may like it.
 
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