Men's Football FIFA World Cup 2022

[heywoodu 16,460]

54 minutes ago, Makedonas said:

I have not watched much of this World Cup compared to what I usually do. Some thoughts though:

 

1. It really stinks to not have your country there. Many Greeks complained about our team in 2010 (group stage) and 2014 (Round of 16), and always being negative and saying that it would be better to avoid embarrassment and not qualify. Well, I wonder what these 'Greeks' think now, because for me I would rather lose in the group stage every time than not qualify at all. I hope we will be back in 2026 but it will be difficult...

 

I much more enjoyed the tournaments without the Netherlands in the past twenty years than the awful Euro 2012 where there was almost literally not a single moment of joy as a Dutch fan (like, not even a moment of hope or some cheering or something). There's not as much hype when not qualifying, sure, but there isn't much hype for most things anyway nowadays and going out in the group stage with only losses and draws is just one big disappointment  

[heywoodu 16,460]

54 minutes ago, hckošice said:

 

Pretty sure our dutch friend meant the quarterfinal, which will be played in fact on Friday

Yeah, I did take a little glass of something nice for every Dutch goal and a glass of nice American 35% Southern Comfort after the final whistle, but I'm not that far away to make that mistake  

[rafalgorka 1,821]

13 minutes ago, Makedonas said:

I am flattered that you included Greece 

 

We definitely could make it. Tsimikas (Liverpool) and Vlachodimos (Benfica) are elite in my opinion. I think we need another 2-3 players to be at that level, and Chatzidiakos (AZ Alkmaar), Mavropanos (Vfb Stuttgart), and Pavlidis (AZ Alkmaar) all seem to be heading in that direction to play for big European clubs, all are having very good seasons and seem to be taking their games to the next level.

 

And of course I still have faith in Retsos if he can finally stay healthy, as well as some of our veteran players who are solid like Bakasetas, Fortounis, Pelkas...

 

Strikers Fountas and Giakoumakis are streaky but when in form they know how to find the back of the net very often.

And what you think about  ? You think they have any chances to qualify when there are 16 european teams?

[Makedonas 2,262]

8 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

I much more enjoyed the tournaments without the Netherlands in the past twenty years than the awful Euro 2012 where there was almost literally not a single moment of joy as a Dutch fan (like, not even a moment of hope or some cheering or something). There's not as much hype when not qualifying, sure, but there isn't much hype for most things anyway nowadays and going out in the group stage with only losses and draws is just one big disappointment  

For us we have only made the World Cup three times in our history, so just being there is a big achievement although our fans had very high (and sometimes unrealistic) expectations since Euro 2004 so anything else was seen as a disappointment. We also have a recency bias of making the World Cup, whereas prior to 2010 we only ever qualified once.

 

In 2016 I was obviously upset that Greece didn't qualify, but thought it would be nice for once to watch the tournament without stress. However, after a while I feel left out 

 

Our national team has been in shambles since 2014, we had many players doing well for top European clubs but either not playing for the national team or playing a lot worse for the national team, and a lot of drama with coaches etc. We just won our Nations League group, so hopefully we are on the right track again.

[Makedonas 2,262]

12 minutes ago, rafalgorka said:

And what you think about  ? You think they have any chances to qualify when there are 16 european teams?

No, I do not.

 

Perhaps they can aim to make a 24 team Euros but even that will be difficult for them.

[hckošice 16,613]

It is 6:00 AM tomorrow in and 16:00 in almost yesterday

 

Just a dumb fun fact, seeing nobody is comenting the match so far here

[Monzanator 5,113]

1 hour ago, Makedonas said:

I am flattered that you included Greece 

 

We definitely could make it. Tsimikas (Liverpool) and Vlachodimos (Benfica) are elite in my opinion. I think we need another 2-3 players to be at that level, and Chatzidiakos (AZ Alkmaar), Mavropanos (Vfb Stuttgart), and Pavlidis (AZ Alkmaar) all seem to be heading in that direction to play for big European clubs, all are having very good seasons and seem to be taking their games to the next level.

 

And of course I still have faith in Retsos if he can finally stay healthy, as well as some of our veteran players who are solid like Bakasetas, Fortounis, Pelkas...

 

Strikers Fountas and Giakoumakis are streaky but when in form they know how to find the back of the net very often.

Ah yes, Giakoumakis who played half a season with Górnik Zabrze before going on to become Eredivisie top scorer Best chance to have a Paulinho-like career - from ŁKS Łódź to Barcelona

[hckošice 16,613]

Apparently the coach forbade the players to use the words fatigue and pain, just as he forbade the use of the word France after the loss in the first match. 

 

Moreover, before today´s duel, he banned the word Messi. Players could only use the word player in place of the name Messi during interviews with journalists for example.

 

you must love that aussie-dna

Edited December 3, 2022 by hckošice

[heywoodu 16,460]

8 minutes ago, hckošice said:

Apparently the coach forbade the players to use the words fatigue and pain, just as he forbade the use of the word France after the loss in the first match. 

 

Moreover, before today´s duel, he banned the word Messi. Players could only use the word player in place of the name Messi during interviews with journalists for example.

 

you must love that aussie-dna

That sounds so petty 

 

Have some confidence, jeez. Why focussing so much on things like pain and Messi

Edited December 3, 2022 by heywoodu

[Monzanator 5,113]

And this guy Messi scores