World Cup - who are you pulling for?

I find that in the World Cup the teams I root for are generally out after the first round. Other than the U.S. I like Denmark, Ghana, Netherlands and Belgium. 

I'm not a big fan of how much influence the refs can have over the match, but I suppose that can be the case in any sport.

Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia today is a shocker. I just wish some underdogs make it to the finals. Watch Ecuador, Senegal, Ghana.

Of course Netherlands is always a favorite of mine, Portugal, England and Germany. 

Saudi Arabia's win is one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history.

Then Tunisia holds Denmark to a 0-0 draw. Not a good day for the favorites.

The goalie for Tunisia made a couple of remarkable saves. I can't figure out when it's considered a handball either, because it looked like Tunisia had a handball in the box, but it wasn't called. 

I think it would be much more entertaining without offsides, IMO. 

Beautiful to see the Iranian team refusing to sing the anthem. I'd gladly trade the endless coverage of Trump with more coverage of the brave Iranian women and their male supporters.

jfinnegan said:

The goalie for Tunisia made a couple of remarkable saves. I can't figure out when it's considered a handball either, because it looked like Tunisia had a handball in the box, but it wasn't called. 

I think it would be much more entertaining without offsides, IMO. 

Without the offside rule, you just get strikers standing around in the box waiting for the ball to go their way, classic goal-hanging, it's boring as heck.

I think they got away with that handball because it seemed to bounce off the player's chest first and he wasn't attempting to use his arm to hit the ball, but yeah, there's a lot of ref discretion involved with handball calls.

I'm looking forward to France v Australia this afternoon to see if the underdog stories keep coming.

ridski said:

Without the offside rule, you just get strikers standing around in the box waiting for the ball to go their way, classic goal-hanging, it's boring as heck.

I think they got away with that handball because it seemed to bounce off the player's chest first and he wasn't attempting to use his arm to hit the ball, but yeah, there's a lot of ref discretion involved with handball calls.

I'm looking forward to France v Australia this afternoon to see if the underdog stories keep coming.

That would be nice. I still haven't gotten over the Henry handball that wasn't called that knocked Ireland out of the World Cup. 

I suppose you're right with regards to offsides. Maybe don't let them hang down there. 

I didn't think it should have been called a handball, but I have seen players called for less than that. 

The last couple of matches were pretty sloppy. Very few good crossing passes and set pieces.  

Sadly it looks like France are just playing the better football right now. Here's hoping the Aussies can pick up some energy for the second half.

It looked good for ten minutes. France has a lot of talent, plus the Aussies were poorly defending. The 1st goal by France it looked like 3 guys were wide open to head the ball. 

ridski said:

Sadly it looks like France are just playing the better football right now. Here's hoping the Aussies can pick up some energy for the second half.

Fairly certain you are originally from England.

”France are.” Americans would usually say “France is.”

I have a coworker who is from South Africa and uses the same tense. Is it odd to you that we’d say “France is?”

To me, France is one country, hence “is,” rather than “are.”

Please explain.

France has (have?) way too much talent for Australia today.  But Australia still has a good chance since Tunisia and Poland ended in a draw.

jimmurphy said:

ridski said:

Sadly it looks like France are just playing the better football right now. Here's hoping the Aussies can pick up some energy for the second half.

Fairly certain you are originally from England.

”France are.” Americans would usually say “France is.”

I have a coworker who is from South Africa and uses the same tense. Is it odd to you that we’d say “France is?”

To me, France is one country, hence “is,” rather than “are.”

Please explain.

France is a country.  The team, however, consists of 11 players who are playing very well indeed

jimmurphy said:

ridski said:

Sadly it looks like France are just playing the better football right now. Here's hoping the Aussies can pick up some energy for the second half.

Fairly certain you are originally from England.

”France are.” Americans would usually say “France is.”

I have a coworker who is from South Africa and uses the same tense. Is it odd to you that we’d say “France is?”

To me, France is one country, hence “is,” rather than “are.”

Please explain.

Here you is: https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2022/03/23/my-team-is-winning-or-are-they/

I haven’t caught all the details of the game but I can report Gold Coasters (that is, Queenslanders/Australians in the State of Queensland who live around Surfers Paradise, Coolangatta etc) were pretty disappointed in our team’s performance. Losing to France made it worse for them. 
(being born to a French mum, in Victoria, I really didn’t mind who won as long as they played their best and played fair)

jimmurphy said:

”France are.” Americans would usually say “France is.”

Where do you stand on the Miami Heat, the New York Liberty or the Philadelphia Union? Even Yanks can be divided on are/is after team names like those.

ridski said:

Here you is: https://www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2022/03/23/my-team-is-winning-or-are-they/

Thanks ridski.

Japan looking formidable this morning.

That was a very entertaining match. Germany isn't the same without a Schweinsteiger on the team.

Spain just trounced Costa Rica. That was painful to watch in the end.

jimmurphy said:

ridski said:

Sadly it looks like France are just playing the better football right now. Here's hoping the Aussies can pick up some energy for the second half.

Fairly certain you are originally from England.

”France are.” Americans would usually say “France is.”

I have a coworker who is from South Africa and uses the same tense. Is it odd to you that we’d say “France is?”

To me, France is one country, hence “is,” rather than “are.”

Please explain.

The legendary '20s running back Red Grange was the commentator on college football games in the '50s and '60s. He was popular with fans, though his grammar and syntax were far from perfect.

Once, someone was pointing out Red's more common mistakes to his broadcaster partner, such as his habit of saying "The team ARE coming on the field."
Red's partner defended him, telling the critic that the plural form was how they said it in England.

The critic snapped back, "Yeah? Well Red didn't go to Oxford. He went to Illinois."

I know some of you watch Bluey, just as some of you know how good a few of our actors, production folk, music legends etc are. 
Have you heard of Jimmy Rees? The Guy Who…

Japanese fans stayed after the game with Germany to clean up. Bravo!

joanne said:

I know some of you watch Bluey, just as some of you know how good a few of our actors, production folk, music legends etc are. 
Have you heard of Jimmy Rees? The Guy Who…

make England sing….”it’s coming home “… 

Jaytee said:

Japanese fans stayed after the game with Germany to clean up. Bravo!

Japanese fans do this every tournament. The world is a better place for Japanese fans.

Decent result for the USA against favored England.
However, the USA must win versus Iran to advance.

yahooyahoo said:

Decent result for the USA against favored England.
However, the USA must win versus Iran to advance.

While both teams played well, the US midfield shut us down every time, leaving us with few chances. Despite the result, it was an entertaining match. USA should do well against Iran, but as it's playing at the same time as the the England v Wales game, I won't have a chance to watch it.

My neighbours are really enjoying the Tunisia v Australia game   I can hear every fumble and missed goal as if I were in their living rooms 

Oops - blank like my thought bubble

I’m not sure about this…

Speaking of Wales, Ridski, I believe commiserations are in order as we beat them in the UK? Or am I confused again? There’s too much Big Sport on at the moment for me to handle in the untimely heat (expecting yet another day over 90°F and it’s not yet full summer)