Peter Anderson ⚽️Well, surprise, surprise, but this World Cup is turning out to be a cracker. 

After all the initial furore around Qatar and its human rights issues, the football is finally making its mark. On Friday night, one of my mates was telling me that his son is working in Doha and that the place is pumped for having the World Cup. Muslims view it as their World Cup, and certainly Saudi Arabia and Morocco are making themselves known. Both their football teams and their fans have lit up this tournament. We can debate Islam's shocking world view till the cows come home, but the Middle-East deserve a World Cup like every other region in the FIFA world. And if Qatar got it through corruption, we should remember that Blatter is gone. Few, with the exception of Blatter's bank manager, are happy about the situation, but it is what it is. Let's get on with the footy.

England got off to a flier, and then flopped against the US . . .  and then got slaughtered by the English press. Nothing new there, then! Southgate left Foden - the one player that you would bet on to open up a tight defence - on the bench. Southgate showed in previous tournaments that he lacks the tactical nous to cut it at this level, and I don't expect England to suddenly start ripping up any trees in Qatar. Quarter finals at best?

Wales on the other hand are already doomed. It is clear that their success was largely down to the influence of Bale and Ramsey. With these two now firmly over the hill, Wales look like a spent force.

The weekend produced some first-class entertainment. Saudi Arabia played Poland off the park but still lost 2-0. The Saudis looked sharp and fit, urged on by a fanatical support buoyed by their victory over Argentina. Argentina then beat Mexico 2-0 in a high-pressure thriller on Saturday night, saving their World Cup, for now at least. Saturday also saw Mbappé showing us what all the hype is about with two goals against Denmark. What a great Saturday on the sofa. I watched three games and all three were top drawer entertainment.

Sunday was nearly as good! Again, I watched three games and none of them disappointed. Morocco tanked an aging Belgian team, roared on by an amazing Moroccan support. Then Croatia put down a marker for World Cup glory by outclassing the impressive Canadians. Croatia looked very good; the other favourites will have taken note. The night was rounded off by Spain drawing 1-1 with the Germans. The Germans looked awful. Playing with the 33-year-old Thomas Muller as lone striker, they never looked like scoring. I have been used all my life to German teams that manage World Cup games super well and then rely on their superb strikers to nick one or two and win the game. I am old enough to remember Gerd Muller and Klaus Fischer, Rummenigge and Klinsmann, Bierhoff and Klose. This German team pose no such threat. Spain were one-nil up and cruising when Germany threw on their unknown number 9, Fullkrug, who duly scored the equaliser and saved the Germans from an early exit. Given Japan's earlier defeat, this group is wide open and the Spaniards missed a glorious opportunity to top the group and send the Germans home.

All in all, a great weekend of footy providing top-quality entertainment. None of the groups are decided yet and some of them will go down to the wire. There is still a slim chance that this World Cup may be remembered more for the football and not for the politics. As it should be.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

Cracker

Peter Anderson ⚽️Well, surprise, surprise, but this World Cup is turning out to be a cracker. 

After all the initial furore around Qatar and its human rights issues, the football is finally making its mark. On Friday night, one of my mates was telling me that his son is working in Doha and that the place is pumped for having the World Cup. Muslims view it as their World Cup, and certainly Saudi Arabia and Morocco are making themselves known. Both their football teams and their fans have lit up this tournament. We can debate Islam's shocking world view till the cows come home, but the Middle-East deserve a World Cup like every other region in the FIFA world. And if Qatar got it through corruption, we should remember that Blatter is gone. Few, with the exception of Blatter's bank manager, are happy about the situation, but it is what it is. Let's get on with the footy.

England got off to a flier, and then flopped against the US . . .  and then got slaughtered by the English press. Nothing new there, then! Southgate left Foden - the one player that you would bet on to open up a tight defence - on the bench. Southgate showed in previous tournaments that he lacks the tactical nous to cut it at this level, and I don't expect England to suddenly start ripping up any trees in Qatar. Quarter finals at best?

Wales on the other hand are already doomed. It is clear that their success was largely down to the influence of Bale and Ramsey. With these two now firmly over the hill, Wales look like a spent force.

The weekend produced some first-class entertainment. Saudi Arabia played Poland off the park but still lost 2-0. The Saudis looked sharp and fit, urged on by a fanatical support buoyed by their victory over Argentina. Argentina then beat Mexico 2-0 in a high-pressure thriller on Saturday night, saving their World Cup, for now at least. Saturday also saw Mbappé showing us what all the hype is about with two goals against Denmark. What a great Saturday on the sofa. I watched three games and all three were top drawer entertainment.

Sunday was nearly as good! Again, I watched three games and none of them disappointed. Morocco tanked an aging Belgian team, roared on by an amazing Moroccan support. Then Croatia put down a marker for World Cup glory by outclassing the impressive Canadians. Croatia looked very good; the other favourites will have taken note. The night was rounded off by Spain drawing 1-1 with the Germans. The Germans looked awful. Playing with the 33-year-old Thomas Muller as lone striker, they never looked like scoring. I have been used all my life to German teams that manage World Cup games super well and then rely on their superb strikers to nick one or two and win the game. I am old enough to remember Gerd Muller and Klaus Fischer, Rummenigge and Klinsmann, Bierhoff and Klose. This German team pose no such threat. Spain were one-nil up and cruising when Germany threw on their unknown number 9, Fullkrug, who duly scored the equaliser and saved the Germans from an early exit. Given Japan's earlier defeat, this group is wide open and the Spaniards missed a glorious opportunity to top the group and send the Germans home.

All in all, a great weekend of footy providing top-quality entertainment. None of the groups are decided yet and some of them will go down to the wire. There is still a slim chance that this World Cup may be remembered more for the football and not for the politics. As it should be.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.

4 comments:

  1. Unless the English team emulate Ramsays men of 66, Peter, the press will always give them a hard time, often undeserved other times deservedly. But certainly not always warranted.

    Caoimhin O'Muraile.

    ReplyDelete

  2. Some question the fairness of the tournament

    This reinforces the suspicions Caoimhin has long held about VAR.

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  3. Even my son is now questioning the authenticity of this World Cup - after the penalty denied to Uruguay today. WTF does the game have VAR for if it is such a disservice to the sport?

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  4. A WC paid for by brown envelopes has to be expected to have a few dodgy VAR/penalty calls. In defense of VAR there has always been dodgy calls....The Japanese goal FIFA say the whole of the circumference ...Look at ball the next time your team take a corner. Most of the time the ball looks well outside the 'corner zone'

    ReplyDelete