FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - Knockout Phase

[LordCovington33]

Argentina might win, but France is pretty strong this year. England is playing great football too, and Brazil has a star-studded team - as usual.

[Mamba81p]

The fact is that the 2 best players in the world this year do not play just because of the calendar made for qatar.

the data you provided is very weak. You can't compare world cup years with non-world cup years. wtf is that. players have season ending injuries/surgeries in non-world cup years while in world cup years they do everything they can to make it. We don't have details on the type of injuries.

What I know and you keep denying the most obvious thing: a 3-4 week injury which is VERY common in soccer does not prevent a player from playing in a normal world cup.

Why are you getting so personal with this guy? You sound racist. Are you American?

You can make decent points without the racist overtones and the work jibes - you have no idea about his personal life and it's none of your business.

Your argument about injuries is partly valid but it's more the injuries that will come later in the year than now. Every World cup has players out injured and the 3 week layoff is not an argument ( they've just finished 9 months of matches at that stage). Claiming that Mané , Benzema and Pogba are the best players in the world really hurts your credentials.

I don't see any change in injuries due to the timing of the world cup tbh.

As a reference I will point to the "Marco Reus index":
Marco Reus has missed 2014, 2016(EC) 2018, 2021(EC) and 2022 due to injuries.
In 2021 he was actually available to play but decided not to take part because he felt his body wasn't ready for the wear and tear.
Conclusion: Big tournaments should be played in odd-numbered years as Marco Reus will at least be theoretically available in those.

Marco Reus playing time is a lottery unfortunately.

[Mamba81p]

Argentina might have found their team for the rest of the WC. Acuna clearly won the battle with Tagliafico, and I think they looked much better since they switched to 4-3-3 and removed Lautaro from starting 11

[Stannis]

so many people on twitterland mad as hell that this World Cup has been going so well, pretty funny stuff.

Yeah, I was told there would be live beheadings and stonings.

[Stannis]

by all accounts from people on the ground it's been an incredibly well run tournament and one of the safest, but of course that's not gonna stop the disgusting xenophobia and racism from western outlets that wanted the WC to fail so badly to seep thru.

Yeah, I have massive regrets not going to this world cup.

I was too young for Germany and South Africa. I wouldn't be going to Brazil and Russia. Definitely not Brazil alone.

But I heard nothing but good things from the people who went to this Qatar World Cup. People feel safe.

Another thing that is so cool is that the stadiums are really close to each other. So apparently you can take a bus/train for less than an hour to watch other games (I was confused how the FIFA president seemed to be at basically every game).

I went to the UEFA EUROs 2016 (set in France) to watch Albania. And I basically was only able to visit one city for a game. The cities were wide apart.

Next World Cup is America (West, East, and Midwest), Canada (Vancouver and Toronto) and Mexico. That is so spread apart so I think visitors will basically only be able to visit 1 or 2 cities.

[Fairview4Life]

Yeah, I was told there would be live beheadings and stonings.

Were you really though. Or is that just something you made up to ignore the actual criticisms of how Qatar treats gay people and migrant workers.

[Stannis]

It wasn't the first "bought" WC and it won't be the last so there is that. I also believe it was a mistake to hold it in November instead of during summer, but due to hazardous climate conditions this was the only option for players safety. We'll see just how big of an issue overloading the players schedule will be when the players start falling apart in January. Some have been injured even before. It is obvious there aren't as many fans as there usually are on this WC and that is due to non footballing reasons and it being out of holiday season. Football wise it is really good imho.

Yeah, I'm sure Qatar might have bribed the most.

But Germany, South Africa, Brazil, and most of all.... Russia had bribe allegations as well.

If you watched the FIFA documentary on Netflix, USA basically got their World Cup out of fear. Blatter, Platini, Jack Warner didn't get jailed, but USA got his fall guys and made and example out of them. In return, the FIFA leaders awarded USA out of fear lol.

[Fairview4Life]

The US world cup got the worlds largest economy with around 250 million people (at the time) significantly more interested and invested in soccer. Which is very good for the game globally. There are actual very good reasons to have awarded the world cup to the US in the mid 90's.

[EArl]

I was hoping for an English upset. Oh well there’s always next round.

Wouldn't be much of an upset to go out to a France team that's favourites to win the tournament.

That’s fair. I just like seeing the overreactions after a lost. I’ll probably be rooting for them against France though.

[Fairview4Life]

I was hoping for an English upset. Oh well there’s always next round.

Wouldn't be much of an upset to go out to a France team that's favourites to win the tournament.

That’s fair. I just like seeing the overreactions after a lost. I’ll probably be rooting for them against France though.

MBappe torching Maguire to win the game would probably be the best result for reactions.

[Evenacus]

It wasn't the first "bought" WC and it won't be the last so there is that. I also believe it was a mistake to hold it in November instead of during summer, but due to hazardous climate conditions this was the only option for players safety. We'll see just how big of an issue overloading the players schedule will be when the players start falling apart in January. Some have been injured even before. It is obvious there aren't as many fans as there usually are on this WC and that is due to non footballing reasons and it being out of holiday season. Football wise it is really good imho.

Yeah, I'm sure Qatar might have bribed the most.

But Germany, South Africa, Brazil, and most of all.... Russia had bribe allegations as well.

If you watched the FIFA documentary on FIFA, USA basically got their World Cup out of fear. Blatter, Platini, Jack Warner didn't get jailed, but USA got his fall guys and made and example out of them. In return, the FIFA leaders awarded USA out of fear lol.

If you search a bit you will find lots of allegations regarding WC host applications form the 90's on. The main idea of FIFA is always money ( bucks, dough whatever you wanna call it). The issue is also with the delegates of national and regional associations, especially those coming from smaller undeveloped countries which are more prone to corruption.

[Evenacus]

Go Croatia! Though Japan has been great and deserving, I believe Croatia has enough to send them back home.

[magik9113]

This was my most anticipated game this round. Hardest to predict

[Stannis]

Watch on YouTube

Actual players that know what they are talking about

TV theatrics. This energy wasn't here 18 months ago when Qatar officially decided switch the WC to winter.

It's fair criticism. However, these players should be criticizing their respective federations who pocketed the Qatari money and bend the knee to them. But they won't do that, because it's all about the $$$$$

[Stannis]

If you search a bit you will find lots of allegations regarding WC host applications form the 90's on. The main idea of FIFA is always money ( bucks, dough whatever you wanna call it). The issue is also with the delegates of national and regional associations, especially those coming from smaller undeveloped countries which are more prone to corruption.

Yep. The 1 country, 1 vote, will keep FIFA corrupt.

I remember the Albania Federation having an important vote to keep Platini as the UEFA president. He flew to Albania and promised that UEFA will build new stadiums and facilities and a whole bunch of other stuff. Never happened lol.

[G R E Y]

Again with the pounding drums hhhhhggggnnnghhhhh

[Evenacus]

If you search a bit you will find lots of allegations regarding WC host applications form the 90's on. The main idea of FIFA is always money ( bucks, dough whatever you wanna call it). The issue is also with the delegates of national and regional associations, especially those coming from smaller undeveloped countries which are more prone to corruption.

Yep. The 1 country, 1 vote, will keep FIFA corrupt.

I remember the Albania Federation having an important vote to keep Platini as the UEFA president. He flew to Albania and promised that UEFA will build new stadiums and facilities and a whole bunch of other stuff. Never happened lol.

Love the story, sounds like something that old crook would do.

[HIF]

Wouldn't be much of an upset to go out to a France team that's favourites to win the tournament.

That’s fair. I just like seeing the overreactions after a lost. I’ll probably be rooting for them against France though.

MBappe torching Maguire to win the game would probably be the best result for reactions.

I'd suggest that it will be old man Walker pocketing MBappe whilst Maguire marshalls Giroud. Going in as underdogs help England. tbh MBappé is not such a big step up from Rashford or Saka on their good days. The advantage that England has is in midfield. A Bellingham, Foden, Maddison midfield with a CDM to back them up would trouble France.

England have a chance if they go in willing to fight toe to toe with France. Sitting back and England will lose but attacking and they could cause the upset some of us want.

[Stannis]

you and others like you seem to be the only ones thinking that it is awesome. And you love avoiding the reasons why it is not awesome

Not sure how we are judging this World Cup.

From what I've seen from people I know that are there and random random fans on social media, fans are loving it. It's compact, great hospitality, and safe.

I've never been to a World Cup. But I went to the EUROs 2016 for a game. And I honestly was let down. The city was dirty, and some of the rudest natives I have experienced.

As far as the performance, R16 has been poor so far. But the group stage was incredible. And there's still a lot of football left in the knockout stage before I form an opinion.

[Stannis]

you and others like you seem to be the only ones thinking that it is awesome. And you love avoiding the reasons why it is not awesome

Not sure how we are judging this World Cup.

From what I've seen from people I know that are there and random random fans on social media, fans are loving it. It's compact, great hospitality, and safe.

I've never been to a World Cup. But I went to the EUROs 2016 for a game. And I honestly was let down. The city was dirty, and some of the rudest natives I have experienced.

As far as the performance, R16 has been poor so far. But the group stage was incredible. And there's still a lot of football left in the knockout stage before I form an opinion.

And I just want to add, I really don't know what defines a "great world cup performance". I think this is filled with lot of bias and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Biggest example, Germany's 7-1 victory over Brazil. What that a "good performance"? Certainly a memory. But I wouldn't call that good & competitive football lol. Yet, I wouldn't trade that memory for a 4-3 nail-biter.

Some people like drama (more drama in pre-VAR games imo), some like competitive games, upsets, blowouts, defensive soccer, attacking soccer, etc etc.