FIFA World Cup 2026

[Spekulatius]

1 hour ago, Paarslaars said:

https://9gag.com/gag/aXP5oAv

 

The dutch analysing the half-time show.

That show was terrible. I turned down the sound when Justin f’n Bieber showed up with a Guitar. Might as well let Trump dance a tango with Gianni.

 

I would rather watch some Bud commercials if they are decent.

[Gregmal]

The best game of the tourney by a mile was England France. The Final was a lopsided beatdown of MS13 lookalikes. What were the shots again? 20-2? Felt bad for the Argentina goalie, though...played a hell of a game, despite his teammates acting like thugs. 

[Parsad]

4 hours ago, Paarslaars said:

Seeing fat Ronaldo in a car with Madonna was just fkn weird...

 

Spain dominated every match, worthy winners. And proud Belgium was the only team capable of scoring against them 

 

The best chocolates and 7,000 types of beer powered Belgium!  

 

I didn't even recognize Ronaldo!  

 

Cheers!

[Parsad]

3 hours ago, Castanza said:

 

Madonna, Shakira, and the Muppets lmao what a bizarre way to "bridge the global entertainment gap." I'm honestly surprised those three are still popular globally? 

 

 

 

C'mon...Shakira's hips definitely did not lie!  It was the only part of the half-time show I thoroughly enjoyed!    Cheers!

[james22]

Why Soccer Is Boring

 

The Better Team Loses Almost Half the Time

 

One of the best ways to determine how much luck is involved in a sport is to measure how often the worse team beats the better one. If the favourite wins 80 per cent of the time, that’s a high-skill sport: the better side reliably prevails, and the remaining 20 per cent is luck. If the favourite wins 55 per cent of the time, you’re watching something closer to a coin flip.

 

 

 

 

 

https://archive.ph/vSNN3#selection-1033.9-1033.29

[Paarslaars]

Yes it is boring and that is why it is the most popular sport in the world. 

 

The above comparison makes no sense... has nothing to do with luck, has everything to do with the higher likelyhood of a draw. Especially in football you have higher chances to draw because only a few goals are scored per game, while in basketball draws are quite uncommon. Chances are just smaller to draw when you score 100 points vs 1 or 2 points per game. 

 

This means that small differences in skill level are insufficient to get a win in football... while in tennis (no draws) they are more likely to get you the win.

[Gregmal]

I think it's largely boring for the same reason a lot of people complained about hockey 20 years ago. The systems have skewed way too much towards defensive styles that abuse the current application of rules. As such, theres very little scoring. 

[SharperDingaan]

No different to hockey, when not playing in the world cup, the players are continually playing against each other in the various premier leagues around the world. When everyone plays at the top of their game, scores are low, and mostly 'cause of some kind of temporary breakdown.

 

When everyone has incredible ball control, and 'presence' in time/space; the outliers have to be true masters (Messi, Ronaldo, Gretzy, etc, etc) to score at the levels they do. They are; but most teams only have one/two at best, at the same time.

 

These things can be learnt, routinely are, and the 'unknowns' can get to be just as good (Cape Verde, Canada, Morocco, etc). But their best players don't stay at home; they go on to play in the premier leagues, routinely play against the best, and become part of the best.

 

The bigger the global pool that plays, and the more movement between teams, the better the game.

 

SD

Edited 4 hours ago by SharperDingaan

[james22]

5 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

I think it's largely boring for the same reason a lot of people complained about hockey 20 years ago. The systems have skewed way too much towards defensive styles that abuse the current application of rules. As such, theres very little scoring. 

 

Sure (it's not intrinsically boring).

 

But when the rules incentivize flopping, flopping is what you get.

 

 

 

[Gregmal]

1 minute ago, james22 said:

 

Sure (it's not intrinsically boring).

 

But when the rules incentivize flopping, flopping is what you get.

 

 

 

Yup, I mentioned it above to some ridicule...but when a super low probability event(just jogging through some random lines in a spot where an uncontested shot has sub 30% chance of being a goal) can get turned into a penalty kick(IE ~80% chance of scoring), on something highly discretionary...your system and rulebook is in major need of repair.  

[SharperDingaan]

12 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

I think it's largely boring for the same reason a lot of people complained about hockey 20 years ago. The systems have skewed way too much towards defensive styles that abuse the current application of rules. As such, theres very little scoring. 

 

Back in the day, 'Tiger Williams' was always a joy to watch, especially if you could also scrape up enough for the ticket to attend a game in person. Never a dull moment, assured of a shake up, and the antics were always quite something. Sadly, all banned now 

 

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2025/9/the-tiger-ice-hockey-goon-spent-3971-minutes-in-the-penalty-box-during-his-nhl-career

 

SD

[LC]

I wish pro sports would use their data: 1000s of hours of footage and referee decisions; to design and train real time AI referees.

 

Completely objective, perfect camera angles...players and teams would adjust quickly...would improve a lot of games i think. 

[james22]

1 hour ago, Paarslaars said:

Yes it is boring and that is why it is the most popular sport in the world. 

 

[Gregmal]

3 minutes ago, SharperDingaan said:

 

Back in the day, 'Tiger Williams' was always a joy to watch, especially if you could also scrape up enough for the ticket to attend a game in person. Never a dull moment, assured of a shake up, and the antics were always quite something. Sadly, all banned now 

 

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2025/9/the-tiger-ice-hockey-goon-spent-3971-minutes-in-the-penalty-box-during-his-nhl-career

 

SD

Yup, myriad rule changes ruined this stuff. It used to be a great asset to have an agitator with some skill. Shit, Claude Lemieux(rip), Essa Tikkanen, etc. 

[james22]

6 minutes ago, LC said:

I wish pro sports would use their data: 1000s of hours of footage and referee decisions; to design and train real time AI referees.

 

Completely objective, perfect camera angles...players and teams would adjust quickly...would improve a lot of games i think. 

 

+1

 

Human error or bias should never be "part of the game." 

[Jaygo]

1 hour ago, james22 said:

 

 

Lol this is hilarious. Maybe you just don't like soccer. If you don't see the beauty in the game that's fine and.  I for one think it is spectacular because I have played for my entire life and I know the intricacies and what good really is.

 

With admitted bias I thought the Spain v France game was incredible. To shut down the worlds best offence shows that Spain is playing an elevated game. I don't think there is any comparison at this point and I think this win will push back the flow towards power and speed over skill and football IQ. 

 

I will say the past 15 years of sub par leagues full of shit players adopting the possession tactic has made the game slower and less exciting. Watching Pedri or Dani Olmo cycle the ball with their D like it is on a string is exciting. Players from Toronto FC trying to keep possession in their half and involve their goalie only to get scored on is pretty awful. The joke when that happens is Pep Guardiola has blood on his hands. Lower tier teams in the Premier league struggle with this as well. 

 

The game is not perfect and a much stricter policy on embellishment that combines financial penalties, in game consequences and public shame would go a long way to help. 

 

 

[james22]

24 minutes ago, Jaygo said:

Lol this is hilarious.

 

[Paarslaars]

3 hours ago, Gregmal said:

I think it's largely boring for the same reason a lot of people complained about hockey 20 years ago. The systems have skewed way too much towards defensive styles that abuse the current application of rules. As such, theres very little scoring. 

 

Too much dirty stuff is actually allowed, that is the problem. Defenders get away with so much, it stops great football.

Have a look at indoor football where this stuff isn't allowed, just a gorgeous sport.

[tnathan]

1 hour ago, Jaygo said:

 

Lol this is hilarious. Maybe you just don't like soccer. If you don't see the beauty in the game that's fine and.  I for one think it is spectacular because I have played for my entire life and I know the intricacies and what good really is.

 

With admitted bias I thought the Spain v France game was incredible. To shut down the worlds best offence shows that Spain is playing an elevated game. I don't think there is any comparison at this point and I think this win will push back the flow towards power and speed over skill and football IQ. 

 

I will say the past 15 years of sub par leagues full of shit players adopting the possession tactic has made the game slower and less exciting. Watching Pedri or Dani Olmo cycle the ball with their D like it is on a string is exciting. Players from Toronto FC trying to keep possession in their half and involve their goalie only to get scored on is pretty awful. The joke when that happens is Pep Guardiola has blood on his hands. Lower tier teams in the Premier league struggle with this as well. 

 

The game is not perfect and a much stricter policy on embellishment that combines financial penalties, in game consequences and public shame would go a long way to help. 

 

 

+1 I actually thought the spain / argentina game was great too (aside from argentina playing dirty). Watching a good team (spain) consistently move the ball, find space is great to watch