Monzanator

Offside? The fix is IN?

Three minutes in and Ecuador leads!

So much for those 1-0 bribes for Qatar

3 minutes ago, LDOG said:

The bird from 98 was pretty iconic, at least when I was a kid. But maybe it's just my nostalgia.

Was it a rooster? I was in high school back then and I remember watching Denmark vs South Africa (the one with 3 red cards IIRC) while in the middle of a heavy drinking party

28 minutes ago, Gianlu33 said:

It's a ghost or what? 

It's a persinified Arabic headdress as the mascot. It does look like a ghost but at least it's something recognizeable. I can't recall any of the World Cup mascots since the tri-color figure at Italia 1990

The only Qatari player I can pick from the top of my head is Ro-Ro and he's in the starting line-up!

Roll on with Ro-Ro! Hopefully he doesn't sink like those cargo boats...

Bring back Jorge Campos and the parrot jersey!

Logan Sargeant finished 4th in the F2 standings so he has enough Super License points to make F1 debut for Williams.

in 6th & 7th with Popovic & Ljutic!

1 hour ago, phelps said:

ask  Peru 1978  

or  vs  in 1982 

 

not to mention FIFA itself fixing a lot of matches in the years thanks to corrupted refs ( Korea 2002, but also  vs  in 1986,  vs  in 1990, the 1966 Final...just to name the first games coming to my mind).

Let's don't forget losing 0-1 to  so they wouldn't have to be in the semi-final group in 1974

They said he might miss the opening match and now I see he left the training session so maybe it's something more serious?

3 hours ago, Agger said:

Yeah. If 6500 dead migrant workers didn't show FIFA what a disgrace this is, I'm sure ruining the relationship with one of FIFA's sponsors will help FIFA understanding what a huge mistake this is! 

But then again... Infantino's press conference doesn't show any understanding. God, I'm embarrassed as a football fan!

Nobody in Poland would even consider Budweiser a "beer" though. The who ra-ra stuff will go away sooner rather than later, does anyone remember the protests in 2014 when Brazil was under presssure to "hide" some of the favela poverty? Yeah, does anyone remember that eight years later? Will anyone care about Qatar's Islamic rules in 30 days time? Of course not. So let's don't pretend any uproar here will change anything because it won't.

Daniele Orsato was selected as the opening match vs  referee.

Nominations for the Sports Personality of the Year 2022 in Poland (aka 88th Przeglad Sportowy Plebiscite).

1. Fabian Barański, Mirosław Ziętarski, Mateusz Biskup, Dominik Czaja, rowing
2. Paweł Fajdek, athletics
3. Hubert Hurkacz, tennis
4. Natalia Kaczmarek, athletics
5. Kajetan Kajetanowicz, rallying
6. Anna Kiełbasińska, athletics
7. Małgorzata Kołdej, rugby seven
8. Dawid Kubacki, ski jumping
9. Bartosz Kurek, volleyball
10. Robert Lewandowski, association football
11. Aleksandra Lisowska, athletics
12. Adrian Meronk, golf
13. Piotr Michalski, speed skating
14. Aleksandra Mirosław, sport climbing
15. Karolina Naja, Anna Puławska, Adrianna Kąkol, Dominika Putto, K-2 500 m, K-4 500 m, sprint canoe
16. Wojciech Nowicki, athletics
17. Mateusz Ponitka, basketball
18. Kamil Semeniuk, volleyball
19. Pia Skrzyszowska, athletics
20. Magdalena Stysiak, volleyball
21. Adrianna Sułek, athletics
22. Iga Świątek, tennis
23. Katarzyna Wasick, swimming
24. Katarzyna Ździebło, athletics
25. Bartosz Zmarzlik, speedway

Final results will be in the first week of January. The winner should be either Świątek or Lewandowski. My money is on Świątek

Old fashioned dunk by Sochan last night...

Mohammed bin Salman granted immunity by the USA    So much for Joe Biden trying to play hardball with Saudi Arabia. He's a senile old clown alright.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63671947

Oh yes, the unnamed insider sources  What happens if Ecuador wins 3-0? Will those insiders come forward with full names? Obviously not...

More NFL games in Germany coming up...

23 hours ago, phelps said:

Probably he read the news about Dale not making the World Cup team this year...🤔

 

But then Sivert Bakken has been stopped for health reasons until January (at least) and Dale has been chosen as a late replacement.

He might have missed this last part.

 

I wonder what's the thing with Bakken? I assume he has asthma on paper like every Norwegian skier so maybe this is one case where symbicort has side effects

Canada beat Japan 2-1 in friendly played in Dubai.

3 hours ago, mrv86 said:

See @Monzanator? You’ll only need Lewandowski to score a lonely goal to beat Mexico.

 

Then your park the bus defense should do the rest. Mexican playera could score a goal between the Arc de Triomphe.

We literally had 27% ball possession vs Chile Yeah, that was an ideal match for Michniewicz's stupid tactics so I wonder if he gets lucky enough to repeat it vs Mexico. Probably not

As you might suspect, we've had a number of memes showing up in the last few hours

Polish PM called an emergency meeting for 9 pm which is now...

Djokovic will be allowed to play AO next season as the new Australian government overturned the 3-year visa ban. Guess nobody gives a hoot about the COVID and vaccines anymore

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/novak-djokovic-allowed-to-play-australian-open-after-visa-ban-overturned-20221115-p5byk8.html

Team Mexico. Raul Jimenez is in despite not playing since August.

Ochoa & Guardado will be in their 5th WC finals in a row which brings that total to four players (Messi & C.Ronaldo are the other two).