...::[The Footy Desk]::... (Part 2)

[Jason]

I'm guessing but I think it's a fair guess to say that illegal streaming is a far bigger problem for the PL (and CL) than it is Serie A.

 

As always piracy is a service problem and in England the reason why illegal streams are so rampant is because it costs a fortune to watch football legally in the country. None of the TV/streaming channels with the rights are wanting to do anything about this, however.

[smokeless6]

Yes, I don't doubt that this is a problem for any entity with broadcasting rights, no matter the thing that is being broadcast.

 

What I was pointing out was the effort to tie this to the quality of Italy's national team, which seems an excuse, rather than a genuine contributing factor.  Italy is failing repeatedly in international tournaments, and might miss this World Cup too. Focusing on things like stolen broadcast revenue is not the way to fix what is wrong I don't think. It's a deflection. 

 

In today's transfer rumors, and it ain't much....

 

Toon in for Rashford, according to reports. United have to hope he finds a home, and the player could do worse than Tyneside.

 

Gyokeres threatening to 'go on strike' if he doesn't get a move, to Arsenal or United

 

Villa and World Cup-winning keeper Emiliano Martinez is angling for a move to United

 

Darwin Nunez still wanted by Napoli, and the teams continue to negotiate. 

 

Leeds have been promoted and are linked with dozens of players

 

[smokeless6]

It's a beautiful thing

 

 

 

Other transfer news is happening but who cares?

[Jason]

Well as far as statement signings going I think that's #1 for the Premier League so far especially when you take into account the fee and who they were able to convince him to pass up.

 

With him and both fullbacks seemingly sorted if Liverpool can get a half decent goal scoring 9 in then I'd call that a really good summer window.

[smokeless6]

Agreed. A few weeks ago I identified my targets -- not that the club felt the same -- and it was both fullbacks, a new centerback and a striker. With Kerkez seemingly done,  it has been a good window already for Liverpool. They move fast.

 

Wirtz is a bonus, an incredible one at that, but a new midfielder (or forward, perhaps) was not on my list. I've been looking in to analysis of his recent play, and conclude there are few better as all-rounders than him. He presses, wins the ball, creates, runs hard and has an eye for goal. When you look at his analytics compared to all midfielders across Europe's top five leagues, he is in the top five in nearly everything. And for a position (whatever it turns out to be) that I hadn't thought we needed! But he is a special player and will make Liverpool a stronger side. Salah will surely benefit from a player like this alongside. If he stays healthy and sticks around he can be a Liverpool all-timer., 

 

So that leaves striker and centerback. Word is Quansah is on his way to Leverkusen, reciprocating the moves inbound. And if he goes, we are awfully thin at the position. Guehi is rumored to be a target and would fit the bill, but not sure this one will be done, or if the player wants to come.

 

Striker is anyone's guess, and Diaz could continue to get minutes there I reckon, and would allow the manager to get all of Diaz, Wirtz and Salah on the field along with the same midfield. Isak seems to be the priority but Toon are loathe to see him depart.

 

On the other side of the ledger I expect Nunez and Chiesa to leave soon, along with Quansah. Robbo is garnering interest from Atletico.

 

In other news....

 

Partey looks set to leave Arsenal on a free after negotiations fell through.

 

Barca have said a big signing is imminent but don't mention the player. Nico Williams is the popular guess.

 

Zubimendi to Arsenal is said to be done, and they won't miss Partey for long. With Jorginho gone too, the Gunners are also looking at Brentford's Christian Nørgaard.

 

Villa keeper Martinez said to be 'desperate' to move to Old Trafford

 

AC Milan have been in many rumors, amid a squad overhaul this summer, and are said to be willing to entertain offers for Leao, but want 90 million.

Edited June 21 by smokeless6

[smokeless6]

Turns out Pogba is signing with Monaco, a two year deal. Good for him, I hope he makes the best of it. Been a tumultuous few years.

 

United's Antony wants to return to Betis, but Fabregas' Como are trying to sign him(and plenty of others, too)

 

The reason Sesko had fallen off the rumors pages is reportedly due to outrageous salary demands. When even Arsenal are saying you are asking too much, you probably are.

 

Barcelona are linked with Roony Bardghji, a 19-year old playing for Copenhagen. All I know is he became a world-class superstar in my Football Manager save.

 

United's frustration at signing a striker continues to grow and now Moises Kean is being linked.

 

AC MIlan continue to look to bring in Granit Xhaka, 10m is the reported fee.

 

Nicolas Jackson is suddenly mentioned everywhere, following his straight red in the CWC. Chelsea must be probing around for potential suitors.

 

Rodrygo seems surplus to requirements at Madrid and seems likely to leave. This is a player for Arsenal I think.

[Mr. Sindacco]

This thread's moving at 2014 pace. That's pretty cool

I really like the new Club World Cup. My team are Inter Miami (as my mom's from Florida) and they've done pretty good so far. We play Palmeiras tomorrow.

The Brazilian teams are very, very impressive. I always rated the Brazilian league highly, but the surprise they offered in this competition blew me away. I do think these teams could easily hold their own in the Champions League now- previously I assumed they were of Europa League caliber.

I appreciate the rest Liverpool will get from not participating in this, but I feel sad that we missed out on such an awesome competition.

And we signed Florian Wirtz. We should be favorites to win the league next year, and defend our title.

Wirtz, Gravenberch, Alexis has potential to be the best midfield we've had in the Premier League era. Gravenberch & Alexis would give that late 2000s Alonso/Gerrard lineup a run for their money. But it also has the potential to end with Florian Wirtz on loan to Aston Villa, you know how football can be. Meanwhile in the Champions League, Barcelona have the best team in the world right now, and they're signing Nico Williams, so they're also going to be a very scary team in that competition.

Lots of options at striker for Liverpool. Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting CP is my favorite right now. Julian Alvarez is a good shout, and Hugo Ekitike seems athletic. Victor Osimhen for Darwin+Chiesa+17m also seems possible, but I rate Darwin a little too highly to let him go in such a deal. Darwin+Chiesa on their own, I'd hear it out. Marcus Thuram also looks awesome, classic false striker with ridiculous work ethic. Who would've thought Lillian's son would grow up to be that? 

Edited June 23 by bananaking13

[Jason]

Interesting to hear someone who is positive about the cup.

 

I still think it's a farce. I watched 1 or 2 games and they were dire one sided affairs. Maybe I'll watch the semis or final I dunno, but yea, this to me feels like a glorified pre-season cup except it's not pre-season.

 

I also worry about what this means for the players schedule. You've got this one year, the World Cup and Euros, there's also stuff like the Nations League and Concaf etc. It's getting the point that top level players will be playing football for 90%+ of the year, it's madness. Everyone needs a break at some point, including fans.

[Mr. Sindacco]

54 minutes ago, Jason said:

Interesting to hear someone who is positive about the cup.

 

I still think it's a farce. I watched 1 or 2 games and they were dire one sided affairs. Maybe I'll watch the semis or final I dunno, but yea, this to me feels like a glorified pre-season cup except it's not pre-season.

 

I also worry about what this means for the players schedule. You've got this one year, the World Cup and Euros, there's also stuff like the Nations League and Concaf etc. It's getting the point that top level players will be playing football for 90%+ of the year, it's madness. Everyone needs a break at some point, including fans.

Depends which games. South American teams have turned up, Al-Hilal turned up against Real Madrid, in one instance Inter Miami did as well. Auckland City are mismatched. I still like that they are part of this. The money they will get will help them out in the next 4 years, and will hopefully convince some of the top A-League teams to move to their league.

For context, New Zealand's national team is ranked #86. There are zero Auckland City players in their team or called up in the last 365 days. The rest player for Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix, two New Zealand teams that play in Asia's football system. They were a decent-ish side 10 years ago when they finished 3rd at the club world cup, but I have no idea what changed since then- maybe somebody from New Zealand can weigh in.

I also like the cultural value it has. People in the States here think it's a huge deal- just like the old Club World Cup. People in the Middle East, North Africa & Latin America do as well. I'm starting to see teams in Europe taking things more seriously.

[Jason]

European club owners are taking it seriously cause Fifa are throwing sh*t tons of money around which can benefit all those clubs in the transfer market. Everyone else in Europe... not so much interest at all. Maybe it'll come in time, but I think most of us Europeans are looking at it and thinking we need this tournament as much as we need a chocolate fireguard.

 

That said I do think there's some potential in the idea of an actual competitive event between a global selection of teams so the only time European clubs play these teams isn't just in friendlies, but the way this has been done, the inviting of teams like Inter Miami (sorry lol) is all just very odd. It feels like a money making scheme first and an actual attempt at creating a new meaningful competition second.

[Mr. Sindacco]

It's a bit late and I apologize for the brief tangent, but I want to talk about something really cool that happened in football recently and I noticed it didn't really do much in this thread.

I support the USMNT in international football as I was born in the States, however, my father wasn't- My father was born in Uzbekistan, and moved here after the USSR fell in 1991. So historically, I've supported Uzbekistan's national team for nearly 20 years and kept up with it, and we recently qualified for the World Cup for the first time this month.

It's a cool achievement, and it's great that we're finally recognized. We have always been an underdog in Asia, beating the bigger sides sometimes & taking out the minnows, but we never reached the World Cup finals until now. Our boy Khusanov is potentially going to be in City's best 11 next season and we have players across Europe. A lot of people think Central Asia as a whole is having a sporting renaissance (Georgia has blown up in multiple sports including this one in the last 4 years, for example) but in reality we have always been great and just needed a push to reach the world cup. I'm confident if Asia still had 4 spots in the World Cup, we'd have qualified too. We play brilliant football, have a lot of exciting players, we're not a typical world cup performing team in terms of profiles, but we'll give it what we got.

 

Our league is not bad either, and there's a lot of room for growth for this league. I'm excited to see this national team in North America next year, and if both my countries end up clashing, I might end up having to support my dad's country.

 

30 minutes ago, Jason said:

European club owners are taking it seriously cause Fifa are throwing sh*t tons of money around which can benefit all those clubs in the transfer market. Everyone else in Europe... not so much interest at all. Maybe it'll come in time, but I think most of us Europeans are looking at it and thinking we need this tournament as much as we need a chocolate fireguard.

 

That said I do think there's some potential in the idea of an actual competitive event between a global selection of teams so the only time European clubs play these teams isn't just in friendlies, but the way this has been done, the inviting of teams like Inter Miami (sorry lol) is all just very odd. It feels like a money making scheme first and an actual attempt at creating a new meaningful competition second.

Back to the topic, true, I think the competition has a lot of potential but it could hurt club football greatly and I will always root for the UCL's success as a competition over this one's. The idea of waiting 4 years for the greatest club competition is very flawed. Scheduling issues aside I genuinely believe this would be a better idea if it happened every year, sure there's a few issues like how will the teams be selected, but those aren't the primary issue at hand.

That said, I like the cultural clash happening in the CWC, I like the styles of football & squad building coming together, and I like seeing the different players from different parts of the world play in this. It's not a horrible idea but it's badly executed. I also think there's too many trophies in football, and I'm scared if this ever picks up pace, whether in a one year or four year qualification format, it might kill the Champions League. If we're killing the Champions League, let's do it in the one year format.

And our kids might grow up to think Messi & Ronaldo could never do it in a cold 10AM kick off at the NRG Stadium in Houston, but who knows. Maybe 40 years from now we'll talk about how Lamine Yamal could never do it at a 15:34 PM kick off in the intergalactic cup.

Edited June 23 by bananaking13

[Jason]

18 minutes ago, bananaking13 said:

It's a bit late and I apologize for the brief tangent, but I want to talk about something really cool that happened in football recently and I noticed it didn't really do much in this thread.

I support the USMNT in international football as I was born in the States, however, my father wasn't- My father was born in Uzbekistan, and moved here after the USSR fell in 1991. So historically, I've supported Uzbekistan's national team for nearly 20 years and kept up with it, and we recently qualified for the World Cup for the first time this month.

It's a cool achievement, and it's great that we're finally recognized. We have always been an underdog in Asia, beating the bigger sides sometimes & taking out the minnows, but we never reached the World Cup finals until now. Our boy Khusanov is potentially going to be in City's best 11 next season and we have players across Europe. A lot of people think Central Asia as a whole is having a sporting renaissance (Georgia has blown up in multiple sports including this one in the last 4 years, for example) but in reality we have always been great and just needed a push to reach the world cup. I'm confident if Asia still had 4 spots in the World Cup, we'd have qualified too. We play brilliant football, have a lot of exciting players, we're not a typical world cup performing team in terms of profiles, but we'll give it what we got.

 

Our league is not bad either, and there's a lot of room for growth for this league. I'm excited to see this national team in North America next year, and if both my countries end up clashing, I might end up having to support my dad's country.

 

That's awesome. As an Englishman tournament qualification is almost always a given so it's expected every 2 years we'll have an international tournament to travel to, but for the smaller footballing nations you can tell it's not a given and that it really means something when they qualify. They always have some of the best travelling support at any tournament, just the purest of good vibes and a happy to be there attitude, which is what it's all about in the end. And yea, that part of the world is producing some great talent these days too.

 

19 minutes ago, bananaking13 said:

Back to the topic, true, I think the competition has a lot of potential but it could hurt club football greatly and I will always root for the UCL's success as a competition over this one's. The idea of waiting 4 years for the greatest club competition is very flawed. Scheduling issues aside I genuinely believe this would be a better idea if it happened every year, sure there's a few issues like how will the teams be selected, but those aren't the primary issue at hand.

That said, I like the cultural clash happening in the CWC, I like the styles of football & squad building coming together, and I like seeing the different players from different parts of the world play in this. It's not a horrible idea but it's badly executed. I also think there's too many trophies in football, and I'm scared if this ever picks up pace, whether in a one year or four year qualification format, it might kill the Champions League. If we're killing the Champions League, let's do it in the one year format.

And our kids might grow up to think Messi & Ronaldo could never do it in a cold 10AM kick off at the NRG Stadium in Houston, but who knows. Maybe 40 years from now we'll talk about how Lamine Yamal could never do it at a 15:34 PM kick off in the intergalactic cup.

 

Yea like I said the whole global tournament with teams who have never played competitive games against each other actually playing competitive games is, on paper, pretty cool. But yea I'm far from convinced by this format, by the scheduling, by the motivation behind it from Fifa.

 

Maybe in 20-30 years young fans will watch it with excitement but to the older generations in Europe I think it's a giant "wtf is this sh*t?" for now lol.

[smokeless6]

The Kerkez deal is done and dusted, for 40m. Liverpool needed to replace TAA and upgrade at left back and they've done so emphatically. Very pleased with the club's business thus far. Still need outgoings, and some are reportedly percolating, and hopefully bring in a top striker but that's hard this window, since so many clubs are looking for the same.

 

Not much else that looks solid at this point.

 

United are now looking at PSG's Warren Zaïre-Emery, and the club are reported to be a little closer to Mbuemo

 

Juve want Nicolas Jackson

 

Arsenal have stepped up talks over Brentford's Norgaard

 

The biggest news for me is Lyon's relegation due to financial mismanagement. This is a massive blow to the club and the sort of thing that can be very difficult to recover from. Maybe they will bounce straight back, but if not, it could be a mighty fall.

Edited June 26 by smokeless6

[Mr. Sindacco]

18 hours ago, smokeless6 said:

The Kerkez deal is done and dusted, for 40m. Liverpool needed to replace TAA and upgrade at left back and they've done so emphatically. Very pleased with the club's business thus far. Still need outgoings, and some are reportedly percolating, and hopefully bring in a top striker but that's hard this window, since so many clubs are looking for the same.

 

Not much else that looks solid at this point.

 

United are now looking at PSG's Warren Zaïre-Emery, and the club are reported to be a little closer to Mbuemo

 

Juve want Nicolas Jackson

 

Arsenal have stepped up talks over Brentford's Norgaard

 

The biggest news for me is Lyon's relegation due to financial mismanagement. This is a massive blow to the club and the sort of thing that can be very difficult to recover from. Maybe they will bounce straight back, but if not, it could be a mighty fall.

As a Liverpool fan, yeah, this window has been immense. 

That said, if we cannot renew (or sell even) Konate before the end of this summer, we are very screwed. Konate's our VVD replacement when the time comes and our only good CB other than him. Trent leaving I can accept, but if Konate is gone that confirms this club has no ambition whatsoever.

We need a new striker & center back, but it is only if the Konate situation is not resolved this window is a failure.

And now that you bring it up, there's a few players we can loot from Lyon. World Cup winner (and the first to do it from the MLS!) Thiago Almada or Malick Fofana would be excellent.

Edited June 27 by bananaking13

[smokeless6]

Centerback is a problem. With Quansah going and Gomez seemingly not rated by the manager, then recruits need to come in and there are a few being mentioned -- Hato, Guehi, etc -- which will cost far more than they are bringing in for Quansah. With Konate unsigned for next season, and Madrid hoping to get him on a free, it's a crucial time to get the future of the back line sorted. It would be good if Konate would sign an extension, which would simplify things

 

I think Elliot is probably going to be sold to help balance this window. His path is blocked, which is both good and bad for the club. His stock is rising as he is impressing in the under-21 Euros. This was to be his time to break in to the first XI, but it doesn't look like this is going to happen. If a club offers a suitable fee I think you have to take it and he needs to play. He started two Premier League games last year, both after the title was won. That isn't going to change unless there are more sales in midfield and I'm not hearing anything about that.

 

It's been a good window but it will not be in balance, if they don't shift a few off the books.

[Mr. Sindacco]

Al-Hilal have just beaten City & Fluminense have just beaten Inter. Really impressive stuff- Hilal showed up with a team of Saudi players & Ruben Neves in defense and still put together a strong victory. Fluminense on the other hand are a super impressive team. Their goalkeeper, Fabio, is 44 years old and was in the squad for the 2004 Copa America (which Brazil won) and 2006 World Cup, and their star center back & captain, Thiago Silva, needs no introduction. 

I really like this. These are stories we wouldn't have been told otherwise and since the level of football in these countries is so high, they do deserve a platform to play at. I think this competition is fundamentally flawed, but there's a positive side to it as well. FIFA have historically made good sporting decisions so I'm willing to keep the faith, I hope they manage to balance this competition out without nuking club football globally. 

[TonyRyodan]

Its a lose-lose situation for Brazilians and I imagine for many others, if they lose, it's expected; if they win, it's because of the heat and the European season. 

 

Its been watched with excitement here, but not something like libertadores, champions league and by far nothing like WC.

 

I am watching some games since this is on YouTube for free, and I like how Abel and Renato are very different in organizing their teams. Not sure how far Palmeiras and Fluminense can go, but it has been interesting to see till now.

 

Botafogo was my favorite among the Brazilians, and they are out now. Guess Real Madrid is going to take it.

Edited July 1 by TonyRyodan

[Jason]

The European season being well and truly over is definitely part of the reason. Remember the Qatar World Cup and how good it was? The greatest final possibly in WC history, if not football history? It was no coincidence we got a WC like that in the middle of the European season.

 

Like I've said I think the idea of it is good but the execution is terrible. No European club, manager or players want to play in this which Fifa knows, hence why they dangled $100m or whatever it is in front of them which made the owners change their tune.

 

This is meant to be every 4 years so when you add an international competition (Euros, Copa, WC, etc) plus things like the Nations League, the schedule is just nuts. Top level players will be lucky to get a proper summer break every few years. Fifa will be incredibly lucky if this tournament comes and goes without at least one ACL or hamstring snapping, they'll be praying neither happens cause it could be a PR nightmare if so.

 

4 hours ago, Mr. Sindacco said:

 FIFA have historically made good sporting decisions so I'm willing to keep the faith, I hope they manage to balance this competition out without nuking club football globally. 

 

Fifa's corrupt as all f*ck and makes almost all of it's decisions based on how much money they can make. We thought Blatter was corrupt, and he absolutely was, but Infantino is shamelessly corrupt.

[TonyRyodan]

42 minutes ago, Jason said:

Remember the Qatar World Cup and how good it was?

I do remember.

[Mr. Sindacco]

7 hours ago, Jason said:

Fifa's corrupt as all f*ck and makes almost all of it's decisions based on how much money they can make. We thought Blatter was corrupt, and he absolutely was, but Infantino is shamelessly corrupt.

Let me play devil's advocate for a little bit.

• VAR was very poorly received initially at the 2018 World Cup, but it ended up becoming a pivotal part of football 
• Expanding women's football ended up paying off, I know the most conservative gym-bro guys who actively watched women's football during the world cup & euros 
• Longer additional times at the end of each game made football more enjoyable to watch and actively fought against stereotypes this sport faces with issues like diving & time-wasting.
• 5 subs ended up benefitting everyone on the long term
• The Winter world cup in 2022 ended up becoming the best edition of it

Decisions like expanding the WC format and whatnot are strange, but I'm willing to stay put.

 

Now yes it's profit driven but you have to keep in mind this is how football is. When this sport was at its most profitable and its most monopolized era (Which I'd say was the 2010s, when players like Coutinho, Dembele and Griezmann went for 9 figure fees), we saw some of the best football imaginable. 

 

I saw an argument today from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, former player & Bayern's former CEO, that the players themselves have put themselves in this fixture congestion. I surprisingly agree. If the players/FIFPRO, clubs and FIFA all came to the table together and negotiated a new game plan, we'd see no fixture congestion because players and clubs will have agreed to cap their salaries off somewhere. This is perfectly do-able. 

And while we're at it, I think other competitions in Europe are responsible for some problems. Take England for example, there is no reason the League Cup should exist in 2025. It serves nothing and adds nothing. If you win the FA Cup or the league, you are the champion of England, if you win the league cup, you are the friendly cup winner.

Super Cups are cool. The OG club world cup was also cool as a formality. I don't mind those too much.

Cut one international break, maybe revert back to the old CL format (though I like the current one, surprisingly..), do a one time 1 month break because footballers are still reeling from the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, take 10 points off Everton just to f*ck with them. who knows?

[Mr. Sindacco]

Edit. Saying Bayern's former CEO's name got my post flagged and it must be approved now. That's just special

[Jason]

7 minutes ago, Mr. Sindacco said:

Let me play devil's advocate for a little bit.

• VAR was very poorly received initially at the 2018 World Cup, but it ended up becoming a pivotal part of football 
• Expanding women's football ended up paying off, I know the most conservative gym-bro guys who actively watched women's football during the world cup & euros 
• Longer additional times at the end of each game made football more enjoyable to watch and actively fought against stereotypes this sport faces with issues like diving & time-wasting.
• 5 subs ended up benefitting everyone on the long term
• The Winter world cup in 2022 ended up becoming the best edition of it

 

AFAIK absolutely none of these have anything to do with FIFA.

 

VAR was implemented by the leagues and local FA, in the PL it was voted for by the clubs although that's largely because the PL is owned by the clubs, so virtually every change needs to be voted for by the clubs (14 votes for the change are needed if I remember right). It was something that had been discussed for over a decade before it was finally introduced and since it's come into football it's become possibly the most divisive thing in the sport, there are European leagues that have voted to remove it and there's growing calls for that in the Premier League too.

 

Women's football exploded after the 2022 women's Euro's, which for one is a UEFA competition but was also a perfect storm as it was won by England in England which brought a ton of eyes on it with mainland Europe also benefiting from this, but it is the English WSL that by far has benefited the most financially AFAIK. In any case, women's football has grown because of the money being invested into it, money that has nothing to do with FIFA and everything to do with local FA's, government grants and the clubs investing in their women's teams.

 

The longer injury time thing, globally, is handled by IFAB, not FIFA. FIFA does have voting power in IFAB but they are separate things and FIFA cannot change the rules without the approval of multiple UK-based FA's. Also while I'm not sure what other leagues are doing I can say that in the PL the guidelines (they were only ever that) have been dropped and we've now gone back to more traditional stoppage times.

 

5 subs is a domestic league thing/FA, not a FIFA thing. In the PL it was voted for by the clubs, it was not enforced by FIFA. It's usually a league by league basis, even within a countries footballing pyramid.

 

The Qatar World Cup was quality in terms of the football because it was mid season for the vast majority of the elite players which was a necessity because you could not realistically play a World Cup in the Middle East in July, but it's match day experience for fans was mixed IIRC. Also let us not forget that Qatar even getting the WC is still shrouded in talk of corruption, in the FIFA sheet detailing the bids England and the USA were by far away the strongest bids but both were dismissed in favour of Russia and Qatar.

 

FIFA are a corrupt organisation who have done far more damage to football than good in the past 20 years. The CWC is their shameless attempt at making their own Champions League because they want another cash cow and are jealous of UEFA having the CL. They'll paint it as some prestigious tournament but for them it's all about the money.

[TonyRyodan]

I think fifa had an important role with VAR in 2018, helping to popularize the idea, something like what happened with yellow and red cards in 1970

 

Regarding women's football, wasnt fifa who forced Brazilians teams to also have female teams? Not sure, maybe was the government idk. The Women's World Cup helped to popularity the girls here, even though we've never won this trophy 

 

How is it at europe? Every female football post at social media has a LOT of prejudice, like people saying women should wash dishes and so on

[Jason]

VAR was inevitable, it was building up for years, the question was being asked as early as the early to mid 2000's in England. It was being trialed all over before the WC, in England it was being tested in domestic cup games before the WC. It's not really right to pin its adoption on FIFA, and again it's a massively divisive topic.

 

As for the women's game, I have no idea what you're referring to in Brazil but in England it is not mandatory to have a women's team, so it doesn't sound right to me, if it's a thing I would surely say it's not a FIFA thing. In terms of popularity it's Europe where the women's game is exploding, the NWSL (USA) was the main driving force for a good while, with the French and German leagues dominating in Europe but post 2022 Euros there's been a huge pivot. Barcelona have been the best in the world for a few years and England has seen a ton of investment from clubs, Chelsea's women's team just got a £20m investment from Serena Williams and her husband for example. Arsenal just beat Barcelona in the CL final this season just gone. Again, pinning any of this growth on FIFA would be wide of the mark IMO, not to mention FIFA have been sponsoring the women's WC with Saudi sponsors and sh*t like that, despite the fact that homosexuality is banned in Saudi Arabia and women's football has by far away the most publicly gay athletes out of any sport in the existence, many of the absolute top players are openly gay.

 

FIFA's leaders simply don't give a sh*t, they'll do anything for money.

[TonyRyodan]

I only saw VAR being implemented heavily around the world after 2018. The NBA has at least used replay to help referees since 2002, in football not even that, never understood the reason tho

 

I remember a goal wrongly disallowed for offside by Messi in which he shows the replay to the referee on the stadium screen and they both laughed, the referee could do nothing

 

Edit. Here at 00:00

 

 

Edited July 2 by TonyRyodan

[Jason]

VAR started to be brought in officially around then, yea. But the point is that it was something that was building up for years and had been trialed all over the place, the WC was the first major use case of it but to say it brought into the sport because of FIFA is missing the forest for the trees somewhat. FIFA can't and don't mandate VAR, it's typically only the top level leagues in the country with it as it's costly, and the addition of technology to assist referees was a talking point for over a decade before then.

 

Also again, it is probably the most divisive thing in world football right now. It's not out of the realm of possibility that it gets removed in some capacity in England in the coming years, or at least has some major changes to how it works and how it's used.

 

FIFA are the governing body for international football but they do not micromanage it and most things don't really come about because of them. Local FA's and the league (if they are managed independently) will manage themselves.

[TonyRyodan]

Well I will never get why is divisive besides the costs

[Jason]

Well it is just a tool, however major parts of European football are going through a refereeing crisis. The quality of refs right now is an absolute mess and in England there's been some gigantic errors despite having VAR, we've had periods where multiple weekends in a row we've had major ref errors that VAR is meant to solve.

 

Which then asks the question why have it as if it's not being used to make the right decisions some would argue it's not worth having, because VAR slows down the game and can impact the atmosphere in the stadium, and in some peoples opinions it can take the "magic" out of certain moments.

[smokeless6]

On 7/1/2025 at 9:39 AM, TonyRyodan said:

Its a lose-lose situation for Brazilians and I imagine for many others, if they lose, it's expected; if they win, it's because of the heat and the European season. 

 

I don't see it like this, and those unfancied sides like Fluminense are getting their proper due. I don't see anyone saying they've gotten so far because of the conditions, or because they Euros are tired. They've succeeded because of their quality and commitment

 

The CWC isn't perfect, there are a few things that could be improved or maybe altered in the future. 

 

The key though is every team taking the competition seriously, and that has been the case. The European heavyweights have done.

 

I've enjoyed the tournament so far. Some upsets, surprises, some good matches. It's always interesting to see inter-league play and be able to compare them on the same pitch. Too much football? Yeah, probably, they should have had a break. But for a neutral like me, it has been entertaining.

 

Edited July 2 by smokeless6

[Jason]

I watched the Madrid - Juve match last night and ehhhhhh. First half was good but they were both flagging in the second half and once Madrid scored it felt like Juve went into vacation mode honestly.

 

I think the owners have instilled it on the managers to take it seriously but the commitment from the players at the European clubs has been a bit all over. There's also been a lot of game management going on especially in the group stages even in the first half to manage fatigue, partly cause of the heat and partly because these players have just finished a full European season.