Any of the Americans in here know anything about Cole Campbell that plays for Dortmund? Seems to have represented USA at all youth levels, no senior appearance and no American teams played for. We've been linked.
I mean, lots of people enter races with no chance of winning... Silliness aside, that would be an utterly bizarre move from Tonali.
Tuchel must have a personal vendetta against people like Lewis Hall, Trent, even the likes of Maguire if such a bang average CB is getting called up.
Why are replacing a full back with a centre back? Or does Chalobah play full back too and I’ve missed it?
I can’t believe there are Spurs fans saying we don’t need Tonali. Were they watching the last two years of Spurs?
Something I've been wondering about is when football will finally have the "the rest of the world has caught up to UEFA/CONMEBOL" reckoning, so to speak. Obviously, until someone from not those confederations wins I don't think we can say it's here. But, I'm keeping track of results just for personal observation and thus far we're at: UEFA/CONMEBOL vs The World Wins: 3 Ties: 7 Losses: 4
UEFA had over 50% of the slots back in 1978, it now has 33%. So progress there towards the meritocracy a "world" cup should be all about. That said, the group phase always throws up a shock or two, we all know as fans of this sport that Spain could easily go on an unbeaten run to the final now. I'll start really taking notice of this sort of thing once the knockouts start tbh. That's not me discrediting the achievements of Cape Verde, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, USMNT etc but I just think knockout football is a truer test of a teams mettle when it's the World Cup. Now, if Mexico beat England at the Azteca...
Oh, for sure. It's more "studious" in the group stages for sure. Morocco (4th, 2022), South Korea (4th, 2002), USA (3rd, 1930) being the only three to ever break through to even the semis shows the gap is still quite impressive. Now out of curiosity, I'm checking 2018's group stage for those two vs the world (it's a slow work day, haha): Wins: 20 Ties: 4 Losses: 4 They've already matched the losses from last time and we're not even through the first round.
Well, you've answered your own question! Breaking the losses down, I'd say Ivory Coast beating Ecuador is a big deal based on the latter having a great defensive record in qualifying. Australia's win is a big, big upset. USMNT beating Paraguay, despite the home advantage, is a far better result than anticipated (based on USMNT fan opinion which seemed shocked and Paraguay's record in the qualifiers). The one I'm not really surprised by is South Korea, as their best players all play for/have played for big clubs in European leagues. Also, as you've pointed out, they've done it before! Czechia, on the other hand, are in a deep regression after their golden generations. I mean, their best route to goals seems to be Coufal's long throws into the box. A far cry from Nedved and Rosicky.
It's funny, because to me it makes sense Ivory Coast, Australia, and the US got the wins. I think the ties are a lot more intriguing in this observation. Hell, Haiti probably shouldn't have lost to Scotland all things considered. It'll be fun to see how it all breaks out over the group stage and into the knockouts. The unexpected would be a lot more fun than Spain-England and Portugal-France semis, haha.
Oh, absolutely. I'm not sure if you remember that South Korea deep run? But it was pure bliss due to it happening at a home World Cup with a team full of personality. As they say, lightning strikes twice...
Wasn't there a bit of controversy around that run? Some questionable calls made in their favour or some feeling of fixing going on? Not that I was old enough to appreciate it at the time mind.
Worth remembering the CRAZY refereeing around that South Korea run. They got away with SO many dodgy calls, it’s honestly mad, and one of the referees was never allowed to referee again lol.