LDOG

What match have you been watching I wonder.... he's doing everything.

I believe they are ranked inside the top 10 in almost every summer olympic team sport, so yeah. Only W volleyball and hockey outside. No one else has that.

[hide] Knockout Stage December 3rd - December 18th, 2022 Third-Place Match Date & Time (GMT +3) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 December 17th 2022, h. 18:00 Croatia 1 2 Morocco Final Date & Time (GMT +3) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 December 18th 2022, h. 18:00 Argentina 2 1 France [/hide]

It doesn't have much meaning... it's like you're accompanying the rhythm of the song, nothing else. But it has become an habit among the people here when they cheer for anything (sport teams, musical groups, politician rallies, anything that has a "fanbase").

If there is relatively strong contact and the keeper misses the ball it's very unlikely the ref will be forgiving. You're just giving him the perfect excuse. Just like Perisic handball in 2018. Nowadays they are giving those 100% of the time. Just seems to be the current criteria, favor the attacker.

There is no way France won't win.

Slave trade wasn't as massive in the southernmost parts of America compared to caribbean/Brazil. In Argentina afro descendants are just too mixed at this point (they weren't that many to begin with and a lot of time has passed since african migration was a common thing) so they are indistinguishable from the mestizo and european majorities.

Yeah I thought it was very exaggerated but players often will look for anything to motivate themselves. Also, maybe the usual dutch bluntness is not well received or understood in some places. Here you simply don't point out weaknesses of opponent players/teams before a game. Even if it's something mild and evident like "Messi doesn't press". You are expected to always "stay humble" and only praise them or not say anything.

France and Morocco is actually an european derby. Very few people with a birth certificate signed in african soil will enter that pitch.

[hide] Knockout Stage December 3rd - December 18th, 2022 4 Nations, The Winners of each Semfinal will qualify for the Final. The Losers of each Semifinal will play the Third-Place Match. Semifinals Date & Time (GMT +3) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 December 13th 2022, h. 22:00 Argentina 1 0 Croatia December 14th 2022, h. 22:00 France 2 0 Morocco [/hide]

We get a retry against Croatia and France. This time with a keeper and something resembling a defense lol

Racial/socioeconomic/colonial oppression often strengthens bonds between countries that have those experiences in common. Especially if it has happened in relatively recent times. With some exceptions it's common to see arabs support each other, likewise latin americans.

Very similar in concept to our 2nd goal vs England in 1998. Well done.

The insults I shouted today to Pezzella and Tagliafico. I don't think I have ever lashed at someone like this Thankfully only one friend was witness to my shameful behavior. PS. The ref is a piece of shit.

Let's see if Croatia can resist these 30 minutes. Clearly they have given up on scoring and are too tired.

[hide] Knockout Stage December 3rd - December 18th, 2022 8 Nations, The Winners of each Quarterfinals will qualify for the Semifinals. Quarterfinals Date & Time (GMT +3) Nation 1 T1 T2 Nation 2 December 9th 2022, h. 18:00 Croatia 0 2 Brazil December 9th 2022, h. 22:00 Netherlands 0 1 Argentina December 10th 2022, h. 18:00 Morocco 0 3 Portugal December 10th 2022, h. 22:00 England 1 2 France [/hide]

-with 48 teams and 12 groups the quality teams would be much more evenly distributed in different groups. -Japan should have improved their world ranking during the previous 4 years in order to get an easier draw. -we should avoid seeding weak teams like Qatar in the highest pots. Everyone, even host teams, should be seeded according to their world ranking.

Personally I would do it this way: -12 groups of 4 teams each. -1st, 2nd and the best 8 3rd placed teams advance to a round of 32. -after the group phase all 32 teams that advance are ranked by their performance in group stage (like in the recent men's volleyball WCh) this creates an incentive for every team to do their best every match. -but you don't make the KO brackets just from that: you separate the teams into 4 pots and conduct another draw before the knockout stage. This is important in order to make sure you won't see teams trying to "pick" opponents by getting a specific result in their last group game. Knockout stage draw format: Pot 1: Top 8 performing group winners. Pot 2: 4 remaining group winners + top 4 performing group runners up. Pot 3: 8 remaining runner up teams. Pot 4: the 8 3rd placed teams. Teams from pot 1 can only draw teams from pot 4 in this draw. Teams from pot 2 only draw teams from pot 3. You also make sure all pot 1 teams are drawn into different Quarterfinal brackets (which is basically what we're doing in the current world cup format with the top 8 seeded teams before the tournament). Convoluted? Yes. But this is the fairest thing they can do I think.

best chance of a gold (or rather, medal of any kind) is clearly in rowing men's lightweight double sculls.

It could be 12 groups of 4 teams, it's not decided yet.

Yeah intro has no lyrics. Sometimes they jump straight to the end from the intro and athletes make a face like saying "oh shit I have to sing" because they thought it was only the intro.

W of course.

The full anthem is played here in every ceremony so it's the other way around, 99% of people know the entire thing. The short versions in sport are the unusual event for us. And it's weird because when the music starts we don't know what to sing inmediately because some sports decide to play the intro, some the end, some play a weird combination of both with fast tempo...

Our anthem is almost 4 minutes long. At sport events only either the intro or the last stanza is played.

We don't have 5. Basically just the hockey teams and the BMX freestyle guy can even dream of a medal of any kind (and none are main favorites). Maybe the rugby team if they have good week, it's a bit of a random sport.