FIFA WC 2026

[The Hound]

Koeman played traditional 4-3-3 in group games and scored 10 goals. 

Probably got scared of Morocco and resorted to a back 5 yesterday, a move that his senior player Frankie de jong criticized in post game interview. The better team won though, they didn't let Netherlands touch the ball once they scored. 

 

And this was an incredible penalty save 

 

 

 

Edited June 30 by The Hound

[vvvslaxman]

3 minutes ago, G_B_ said:

 

There is nothing wrong. But from a social engineering pov when does a national team simply not represent the population as a whole?

 

Qatar are at the WC purely based on ringers.

Dual citizenship can easily bring more foreign players come and play for India. I heard they are working "sports passport" to deal with this. But it still only allows OCIs

 not complete foreigners

 

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/have-an-indian-ancestor-a-new-proposal-could-soon-let-you-play-sport-for-india

[G_B_]

17 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Dual citizenship can easily bring more foreign players come and play for India. I heard they are working "sports passport" to deal with this. But it still only allows OCIs

 not complete foreigners

 

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/have-an-indian-ancestor-a-new-proposal-could-soon-let-you-play-sport-for-india

 

i dont  think it will change our fortunes too much. I think Pak and BD have this in place already,  Morocco Algeria etc have lots of players embedded in the French Dutch and Spanish systems from the ground up.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_diaspora

 

But to be fair if it does not burn reso,urces then there is no downside. Worth a shot in all things, not just football. I am looking at the Olympics.

[putrevus]

So guys who know lot about VAR, was the Germany's second goal a goal or correctly ruled foul. Should players and coaches be allowed to challenge like they do in other sports.

[Vickydev]

Happy that Holland got eliminated. Crap team not worthy of their history

[vvvslaxman]

7 minutes ago, Vickydev said:

Happy that Holland got eliminated. Crap team not worthy of their history

 

The Orange Army is probably the most dedicated fan base in world football, traveling across the globe to support their team. Before the match against Tunisia, around 36,000 Dutch fans marched through downtown Kansas City, bringing the city to a standstill. Despite their incredible support, they eventually started booing their own team because of its overly defensive style of play.

[Vickydev]

15 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

The Orange Army is probably the most dedicated fan base in world football, traveling across the globe to support their team. Before the match against Tunisia, around 36,000 Dutch fans marched through downtown Kansas City, bringing the city to a standstill. Despite their incredible support, they eventually started booing their own team because of its overly defensive style of play.

Yeah also another reason should be that disgusting shade of Orange they wore. Deserved elimination

[vvvslaxman]

3 minutes ago, Vickydev said:

Yeah also another reason should be that disgusting shade of Orange they wore. Deserved elimination

yea.. it was terrible. They had better jersey in the past

[Gollum]

3 hours ago, Singh bling said:

France hardly has ethnic frenchmen playing for them . Their entire team from 98 is built around foreigners 

Yeah but I think the immigrants in France are naturally good in football, many from North and West Africa. 

 

In Germany most of the immigrants are Turks, Iraqis, Kurds etc. 

 

If you get more immigrants from Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, likelihood of success in long distance running improves. 

Edited June 30 by Gollum

[Gollum]

3 hours ago, G_B_ said:

I am glad India is not wasting resources on football. Ultimately the best Asian showing is a semi in the World Cup cup in 2002 when hosts South korea had some very dubious calls. 

 

The futureof football is with west Africa (Nigeria Senegal, Invory Coat and Ghana have a median age of 18) and Western European nations with imports from Africa. Once these west african side reach a median age of 25/30 (Morrocco median age is 30) then they will seriously challenge after reaching critical mass. This remains the truth. They will be aided by imports from Western Europe. Look at Morocco, 4/5 key players all came through Eruopean system. Argentina will continue to be a force as the only overwhelmingly white team.

 

India should focus on cricket, hockey and 15-20 Olympic  medals. That is a reasonable return. Individual sports like chess can be a cherry on the top.

 

Enjoy watching football. Its a very good game to watch. I watch it. But its not our thing or an Asian thing. The number of world cups won by India and Japan are the same. 0. Will continue to be the case. China realised this long time ago and diverted resouces into winter olympic sports.

Great post. 

 

China has been pragmatic about this football thing. They seemed to show ambition till early 2000s but probably realized that it is not worth it. They are fixated on summer and winter Olympics. In football, they are targetting women's football which is a low hanging fruit, India too should do the same. 

 

ROI in football is bakwas. Every 4 years, a section of Indians tune in to watch the WC and whine about our sorry state, who cares? We already have two team sports in cricket and hockey (hopefully volleyball also becomes a thing one day, I see lots of passion for it starting from schools and colleges), let us just throw more resources there and relentlessly target Olympics glory. 

[Vickydev]

These NFL stadiums are absolutely magestic, fully air conditioned.

 

To think their college football stadiums are even bigger in capacity

[Gollum]

I think I said it yesterday. The best India can do in 15-20 years time is reach the level of present Iraq, Uzbekistan....if a lot of things go right. It is not worth it.

 

I would rather see an India with:

- (assured) 20 Olympic medals

- absolute domination in cricket

- consistent top 3 in hockey

- chess dominance

and some individual success in tennis, MMA, motorsports, golf etc.

 

That is achievable in 20 years time. 

 

Let us not go around chasing unrealistic targets and set ourselves for disappointment. 

[Gollum]

2 minutes ago, Vickydev said:

These NFL stadiums are absolutely magestic, fully air conditioned.

 

To think their college football stadiums are even bigger in capacity

Americans take college sports so seriosuly, very competitive about it. Not just football and basketball which are more inward-looking, their Olympics dominance stems from the quality of NCAA. 

[Gollum]

3 hours ago, putrevus said:

Just curious,  Is there anything wrong with Ethinics playing for these countries? Why is this even an issue otherwise.

 

3 hours ago, G_B_ said:

 

There is nothing wrong. But from a social engineering pov when does a national team simply not represent the population as a whole?

 

Qatar are at the WC purely based on ringers.

Not just Europe. Countries like Qatar, Saudi, Bahrain, Kuwait literally purchase athletes from Africa to boost up their numbers in international competition. They have no role in their development, just get the finished products.

 

You can see that effect more prominently in Asian Games where these ME countries dominate track events with these Africans, and boost their final tally. Once upon a time, India used to do very well in track events in Asian Games, but now they have to win sprint events against West Africans, and long distance against Kenyan origin folks.

[putrevus]

8 minutes ago, Gollum said:

 

Not just Europe. Countries like Qatar, Saudi, Bahrain, Kuwait literally purchase athletes from Africa to boost up their numbers in international competition. They have no role in their development, just get the finished products.

 

You can see that effect more prominently in Asian Games where these ME countries dominate track events with these Africans, and boost their final tally. Once upon a time, India used to do very well in track events in Asian Games, but now they have to win sprint events against West Africans, and long distance against Kenyan origin folks.

I am glad these things are making  money and fame for the athletes.Their talents are being useful for their families and themselves.When an Engineer or Doctor can go and settle in USA or Europe become their citizens after getting basic training in their home countries.

 

If India has to do something in Olympics then they have to overcome these challenges in Asian Games.

[Gollum]

11 minutes ago, putrevus said:

I am glad these things are making  money and fame for the athletes.Their talents are being useful for their families and themselves.When an Engineer or Doctor can go and settle in USA or Europe become their citizens after getting basic training in their home countries.

There should be some transfer fee when it comes to poaching. I don't mind athletes moving to greener pastures but the respective federations should get financially compensated for developing the players. 

 

This is an issue even in chess where USA has poached Caruana (Italy), Wesley So (Philippines), Aronian (Armenia), Dominguez (Cuba) with a very measly transfer fee. The Filipinos especially are very upset because they invested a lot in making So an elite player, only for him to be picked up by a billionaire from USA.  

[putrevus]

27 minutes ago, Gollum said:

There should be some transfer fee when it comes to poaching. I don't mind athletes moving to greener pastures but the respective federations should get financially compensated for developing the players. 

 

This is an issue even in chess where USA has poached Caruana (Italy), Wesley So (Philippines), Aronian (Armenia), Dominguez (Cuba) with a very measly transfer fee. The Filipinos especially are very upset because they invested a lot in making So an elite player, only for him to be picked up by a billionaire from USA.  

Japanese baseball has done just that, if American teams want their baseball players, they have to pay fees and it is open to all teams, highest bidding team is given permission to sign the player.

 

Best player in the world is Ohtani.Everybody wins , old team, new team and player himself.

Edited June 30 by putrevus

[Lone Wolf]

@Gollum thoughts, Aussies obviously very dominant across major team sports 

Pakistan till 1994 used to dominate hockey scene. So thay have 4 hockey WC's + 1 CWC.

Basically like US dominating Basketball 

 

Edited June 30 by Lone Wolf

[Stan AF]

Nice goal 

[vvvslaxman]

Amazing amgazing individual goal