I thought we could do with a general WC thread that doesn't fall into the squad list, England matches, etc. I see on the BBC they're reporting that linesmen are not to raise their flag for tight offside calls, they expect the VAR system to do the work for them. I kind of see the point but I think that his could very easily lead to a lot of delays. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44459554
Oh cr*p, I completely forgot about VAR, (now not so excited). I think it's on the record that I'm totally against it but I suppose we'll find out for sure how it goes in the WC. At least with the benefit of being at home we can see the replays, but I understand that fans in the stadium won't see them until after the decision is made. Bonkers.
Question is when does an offside call not become tight - you can see assistants having different interpretations of it!
The interesting thing is going to be this retrospective carding using VAR. Apparently if something is spotted by VAR that the ref misses during the match, he'll get informed by the 4th official. So this is going to mean a surprise red card being issued at half time for example. That ought to be pretty chaotic!
Announced as Real Madrid manager one day - dumped by his nation a day before the start of the World Cup the next! Despite the best efforts of the players it seems the Spanish FA weren't happy with the fact he was in discussions with Madrid whilst preparing for the World Cup. Which way will this go - players revolt against the FA or like Italy in the past do well despite the upheaval?
It wouldn't be the first time a manager has got into a tournament with something lined up afterwards and won't be the last. I suspect it's to keep the Barca contingent happy, had he agreed to go to any other club outside of the big two, Valencia say, it wouldn't be an issue.
Get in. Savings start today. Just hope I'm alive to see it and we have a couple of games in LA to go to, (while we stay in Vegas).
Presumably it means all three host countries automatically qualify? The CONCACAF qualifying tournament is going to be wide open that for that year. Edit: Though, in fairness, I guess there will be about 96 countries in the World Cup by then.
Stand by for FIFA changing the rules - 100 minute matches divided into four quarters with time for three 20-minute advertising breaks.
Plus goals increased in size by 50% to reduce the boring middle of the park nonsense between touchdowns or "goals" as they used to be called.
We're having a big barbecue at casa Otter on Saturday as we prep for Peru's first World Cup match since 1982.
World cup predictions competition thread here if anyone's interested: http://wfcforums.com/index.php?forums/score-prediction-league.142/
You must be too young to remember Zaire in 1974. Playing Brazil and defending a free-kick in the best possible way.
Apparently that was part of a protest against the then government . https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/spor...the-bizarre-tragedy-of-zaires-world-cup-debut
I totally take back the posting of that video as an example of poor football. I had no idea whatsoever of those circumstances and am gobsmacked I'd not read of that before. Astonishing stuff. Thanks for posting the link wfc4ever.
