Keep if friendly please 
Who’s interested?
What country are you from, how do you rate your counties chances?
Anyone watching for the first time?
Views on the new rules etc.
Discuss…
I am based in the UK (England) of course hoping for overall victory, but realistically would be hoping to reach the Semi Finals. Also great to see Scotland representing the UK also.
Watching as much as I can. Didn’t have the US pegged for getting out of the group based on recent play, pleasantly surprised by first game. Advertising…oops…hydration break is annoying but probably a good idea for player health/safety.
US here. Just got back from Ireland, though (and probably heading to Scotland on vacation next year).
Realistic expectation is to make round of 16, maybe 8. Anything beyond that would be significant overachieving.
I watched Argentina’s Lionel Messi score three goals last night. Mark my word, that guy is going to be good some day…
Coincidentally, this just popped up in my rss an hour ago:
I’d be happy with a round of 16 or 8 too. First game was an eye opener.
Messi…yawn. Tired of Inter Miami and MLSsi.
I hear you. Being tired of Messi is kind of like being tired of Michael Jordan. Plenty of people were tired of him, too. (My now sister-in-law was so tired of all the MJ fans in school that she sought out the anti-MJ, and settled on Clyde Drexler.)
I’m a newly-minted huge fan of Christian Pulisik and Folarin Balogun. They really looked good, but … it’s only one game.
I have not invested time in learning much (yet), but I thought Paraguay was supposed to be a “not horrible” team, so for them to have so much success in game 1 was eye-opening, I agree.
We’ll see if Pulisik is healthy and if Balogun can continue his magic. We can only hope so.
xkcd remains undefeated in the cartoon space.
Seems to be a little injury-prone. Kinda like this guy.
As long as it’s only a flesh wound.
BTW, as impressive and positive as the first US game was, my favorite moment of all was the yellow card reversal for “simulation” (ie, diving), against the Paraguay player.
I sincerely hope this reversal is a trend that will serve to discourage players from diving, which I find so ruinous to my enjoyment of the game.
Same…players are spending more time rolling on the grass than a litter of puppies. Watching a guy take a little nick on their ankle, only to go into a 3 1/2 revolution barrel roll (coupled with covering their face in their hands)…yeah, bad acting.
I DO think they should increase the penalty for “simulation”, aka diving. Because that is a pre-planned intentional event.
Some yellow-card offenses are just a timing thing where a player thought he could get there, but the other player out-quicked them, and they ended up a tad late, but not really intentional.
But diving? In my world, Red-card minimum, ideally with a 3-game or maybe 50-game suspension as well.
(I used to advocate for it to be a capital offense with summary execution on the spot, but some people felt that might be a tad bit much.)
(Also, note that if you watch women’s international soccer, the amount of diving is WAY less. They play through contact, instead of instantly diving.)
Could probably do something like a yellow for 1st offense, 1 game suspension for 2nd, 3 for 3rd and then double it every time after that (6,12,24). Bet you’d get less of this:
That is the perfect gif.
At the end he gets up like, “wait, no one was looking?”.
Yup…roll around in agony and then when play’s already gone back the other way (and no call is forthcoming), they jump to their feet as if nothing happened.
EDIT - might want to change your account to “hkane”. He’s got a brace at the half against Croatia.
Growing up in the US soccer (football to some 
) was pretty low on my list of interests. The 2022 WC Final turned that on its head and remains one of the best sporting events I’ve ever watched.
This year, I decided to dive headfirst into the hype and was fortunate enough to get a taste of the action attending yesterdays France vs. Senegal match. The atmosphere was incredible and unlike anything I’ve experienced at a domestic sporting event.
I’ll admit in the first half I was wondering where the Mbappe I last saw was (may have been yelling some very American things), and the second half completely blew my socks off.
Needless to say I plan to continue to chase the magic of it all and attend as many fan fests as I can over the coming weeks, cheering especially hard for both France and the USA.
Unfortunately, some teams would never have enough rostered players. Italy, for one, comes to mind…
Go Australia
Australia v US is on Saturday but its 3am for me 
they could have picked a better time for that one
How inconsiderate 
