FIFA World Cup 2022

[Stavros]

The draw is not yet complete, but the shape that emerges has the bookies listing the top four favourites to win the competition -Brazil, France, England and Spain.

The venue may have been fixed, the games can not be, but so often teams that look good on paper, Portugal for example, fail to deliver.

As for the venue, if Qatar is anything like Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and I am told it is much worse, then there isn't much to do or see there, or it will just be football, fucking, and food. Assuming that the fucking is allowed, as the Qatari Government, in an Emirate where homosexuality is illegal, has said it will honour FIFA's policy of non-discrimination against LGBTQ+.

For those interested, the current betting odds can be found here-
World Cup Winner Betting Odds | Football | Oddschecker

[Stavros]

Since writing the above, the odds have changed slightly, as the top four favourites now are Brazil, Argentina, France and England. It doesn't look like Germany or the Netherlands are fancied, the same goes for Croatia, and Uruguay, who must be the most favoured to upset the predictions. Again, Portugal on paper ought to go far, but their performances in World Cups has been poor, while Belgium could just be too old to make it and there is little support for the two most likely African teams, from Senegal and Cameroon.

More odds here-
World Cup Odds 2022 | Football World Cup Outright Winner Odds (justbookies.com)

If you want to spend an hour or two working out who gets through the Group stages as winners and runners up and the perms after that, this link will help (I find it easier to read than the FIFA website).

2022 FIFA World Cup - Wikipedia

[Stavros]

To paraphrase Michael Caine -

Awarding the World Cup to Qatar was a mistake, but I've seen the house it built, and it's great!

Sepp Blatter says choosing Qatar to host World Cup was ‘a mistake’ | World Cup 2022 | The Guardian

[Stavros]

So much press coverage of the outrage that the FIFA World Cup is being held in Qatar where same-sex relations are illegal, corruption a way of life, deaths in construction common, human rights non existent.

This must be the same Qatar that owns, wholly or in part, London hotels, a proportion of the Supermarket chain Sainsbury's, Barclay's Bank, and so much more as listed and mapped in this link.

So, should the UK Government force Qatar to sell all its holdings in the UK? Or is it the case that 'we' denounce human rights abuses in Qatar, but welcome their money here?

How Qatar bought up Britain | Commercial property | The Guardian

[Stavros]

Oxford mathematics researcher predicts who will win the World Cup | Oxford Mail

[Stavros]

Here we go, here we go, earwig-o....

On y va on y va on y va...

Anyone going Dutch?

[Nikka]

Argentina!!!!

[Stavros]

Unworthy winners of a crap tournament. Some of the football was so poor the referee should have stopped the game and FIFA sent the teams home, but in the end it is all about money, not football. Messi is a fine club player, one of the best ever, but is a mediocrity for his country.

England have a serious, chronic problem -they can't convert penalties at crucial moments.

If the North America series is as bad as the Qatar version, it won't be worth watching. To weed out the no-hopers and the can't-be-bothered-right-now teams, all first matches should be knockouts, and any teams playing goal-less after 90 minutes forced to play until there is a result.

FIFA is destroying football, it is obsessed with money. Teams are using tactics that all but guarantee a lack of goals. and an endless sequence of players passing the ball back and across the field, never attempting to attack, a possession Football of Fear. It is rubbish, and it loses whatever enthusiasm people might have had for the game. Consider the thrilling, exciting, skills and goals of the Women in the Euros, and what a joy it was to watch.

I did not watch the final, I was in Vienna for Der Rosenkavalier at the Staatsoper. After all, if I want to be bored to stone, I can watch the football on YouTube, no repeats for the opera. And there were more skills involved, and commitment, and passion, and a result: a mesmerising, wonderful night at the Opera.

Argentina have never been able to match the quality of the team that won the cup in 1978, it is that simple.