No Irish, No Yanks, No Clogs - FIFA World Cup 2018

If Belgium do what, on paper, they're capable of, they should go all the way

England might do something on paper

Sort of nominal support but through a lens of comically exaggerated caterwauling

this is our culture you're talking about

The only teams who have looked particularly convincing in the knockouts are France, Brazil and Uruguay and the winner is pretty obviously going to come from one of those three. I've booked Friday afternoon off because that game looks like an absolute belter.

Brazil and Uruguay conceding just the single goal so far still too.

and France conceding FAR too many

A lot of people also seem to be forgetting that Sweden finished top of Germany's group and knocked out the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying.

A bit of luck on the day and any of the teams on this side of the draw are capable of reaching the final.

Their performances make it easy to forget tbf.

A lot of people also seem to be forgetting that Sweden finished top of Germany's group and knocked out the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying

otoh they were the only team beaten by germany in their group, were beaten and drew against the netherlands in qualifying, and only just knocked out italy after a draw and a one nil

Also these are pretty much the worst Italian and Dutch teams of our lifetimes.

And possibly the worst Swedish side too.

david goldblatt on the englishness of the england team

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/alternative-nation-180705052626559.html

he's also got a cracking podcast which has had some good content from round the world for the wc

https://gameofourlives.fm/

bar the obligatory tacked-on remoaning that's a good piece, there are definitely aspects of it that have crossed my mind in the run-up to the tournament. this

The football so far is not the stuff of which a new epic or enlightened English narrative can be weaved

little diamond of realness really gives the article legit credibility.

I saw some wank-stain from the Mail saying lefty Corbynistas aren't getting behind Ingland because they are snobbish about working class culture. Anyway commiserations to w/c ppl suffering the double blow of needing charity food-banks to get by and also being financially excluded from "their own culture" as well!

i remember when football was working class culture then Joy Division made that England Rap record and Ray Parlour had a perm and it was gone, gone

also what the fuck would the Mail know about football or culture also loving your club more than England is a long honourable football tradition, would still swap a 10-0 annihilation of England on Saturday for a good season for Wolves in the Prem

I remember the good old days when you'd get beaten to death if you wore face paint or a jester hat!

I always imagine if I was an ISIS hostage kept in a cage for months, I'd be dying to know how Town are doing in the league. International football.. meh whatever!

Patriotism is love of country. The success or failure of a small group of rich men in a covertly violent game full of cheating, ham acting and sneaky assaults has no bearing at all on the standing, liberty, wealth or security of the country those men claim to 'represent' . https://t.co/PvjTXKRD8r

— Peter Hitchens (@ClarkeMicah) July 5, 2018

Patriotism is love of country. The success or failure of a small group of rich men in a covertly violent game full of cheating, ham acting and sneaky assaults has no bearing at all on the standing, liberty, wealth or security of the country those men claim to 'represent'.

hang on is he talking about football or foreign policy?

the Catholic Church in England and Wales iirc

That is possibly the worst World Cup take of all of them on multiple levels.

Real patriotism is about bombs iirc.

those men claim to 'represent'.

WOOF

a small group of rich men in a covertly violent game full of cheating, ham acting and sneaky assaults

this is the Cabinet ffs

how dare u a few of them are women

I'd argue that football has a pretty huge impact on the standing of the UK (or England at least). The Premiership is one of the few things that people round the world actually like about this country.

the car is on fire and there's no driver at the wheel, clive

and the huge prem wage bills must be tipping up a fortune into HMRC, even with all the tax evasion schemes.

lol Nick

A+

I'd argue that football has a pretty huge impact on the standing of the UK (or England at least). The Premiership is one of the few things that people round the world actually like about this country.

― Matt DC, Thursday, July 5, 2018 11:57 AM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Most def. Success or otherwise of England team has little to do with that though?

hoo is clive and wat is nick b's reference pls

oh wait, clive tyldesley? doh

nick's reference is a david squire cartoon

*squires

Images from England v Norway set to the lyrics of 'The Dead Flag Blues' by Godspeed You! Black Emperor: pic.twitter.com/8rcbkP1lia

— David Squires (@squires_david) September 6, 2014

haha, I hadn’t actually seen that before

ilx has mocked squires for stuff like that iirc but some of his stuff is p good and ilx-y. narcissism of not having a guardian deal

phitch is right: patriotism is clearly unnecessary to get behind the team

squires did a lovely shawshank wenger one

now quite interested to remember which dweebs hated on him

I didn't know that cartoon (just knew the GY!BE lyric) but that's ace

TWP panel is amazing

now quite interested to remember which dweebs hated on him

― imago, Thursday, July 5, 2018 11:27 AM (eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

turns out it was nakhers and myself

-_-

I'm going to go out on a limb and say his output might be varied enough to merit a few different reactions

So we had a sweepstakes in the work, £5 a pop, 32 teams picked, sealed in envelopes till the quarter finals. The envelopes have just been opened... guess who I got? Here's a clue, they're still in it.

sealed in envelopes i can understand, but until the quarter finals?

(here everybody was saying which team they had before all the tickets had been picked, which just seems wrong)

Good idea waiting till the QFs I think. Everyone is excitedly going round, asking who got Brazil, who got France, who got er ... England.