FIFA WC 2026

[Vickydev]

Yesss. 2-2

[vvvslaxman]

Out"heighted" a Dutch lol no mean task

[vvvslaxman]

This is a world class foot ball match . Best of this year so far

[Vickydev]

Boys in blue deserved to win. Those oafs from Holland played ugly

[Lord]

Not sure who to support 

 

 

[rollingstoned]

A decade or even half a decade back I'd know the best players of every team, remember taking newspaper cut outs of the fixtures and checking up on it every day before SM era. Be buggered if I knew even the best players in every powerhouse team now. Playing a lot of football manager back then helped to know even who the best upcoming players were. 

Edited June 15 by rollingstoned

[Suhaan]

3 hours ago, Lord said:

Not sure who to support 

 

 

Husn walo ka Vishwa Cup

Edited June 15 by Suhaan

[Gollum]

3 hours ago, rollingstoned said:

A decade or even half a decade back I'd know the best players of every team, remember taking newspaper cut outs of the fixtures and checking up on it every day before SM era. Be buggered if I knew even the best players in every powerhouse team now. Playing a lot of football manager back then helped to know even who the best upcoming players were. 

Same here. Never liked club football, but come WC time I would know starting XI of every team, their recent record, formation, manager etc. Last WC I followed like that was in 2006. Was in Bengal that time and all my schoolmates were WC fanatics, effect rubbed on me.

 

Football, F1, NBA, tennis, I used to religiously follow back then. Bahut time tha tab. Funnily though I started following chess only from the 2008 Olympiad (and became a fanatic only from 2010, Sofia match), uske pehle sportstar tak hi seemit than mera chess knowledge, woh bhi half-baked.

 

A real pity that I missed out on peak Vishy years. When I look back, he was like Sachin in 90s, and till late 00s. Especially 90s. In fact even greater I'd say because we were nobodies, he was our first GM. He won 4 Chess Oscars during the reign of Kasparov (97, 98, 03, 04), got robbed at least 3 times, and 1st non-Soviet guy to win that since Fischer (Russians hated acknowledging others in chess, can see that even today). Kramnik won one in the year he dethroned Kasparov. Warna 1985 se leke 2004 tak Kasparov was the undisputed king. 

Edited June 15 by Gollum

[rollingstoned]

17 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Same here. Never liked club football, but come WC time I would know starting XI of every team, their recent record, formation, manager etc. Last WC I followed like that was in 2006. Was in Bengal that time and all my schoolmates were WC fanatics, effect rubbed on me.

 

Football, F1, NBA, tennis, I used to religiously follow back then. Bahut time tha tab. Funnily though I started following chess only from the 2008 Olympiad (and became a fanatic only from 2010, Sofia match), uske pehle sportstar tak hi seemit than mera chess knowledge, woh bhi half-baked.

 

A real pity that I missed out on peak Vishy years. When I look back, he was like Sachin in 90s, and till late 00s. Especially 90s. In fact even greater I'd say because we were nobodies, he was our first GM. He won 4 Chess Oscars during the reign of Kasparov (97, 98, 03, 04), got robbed at least 3 times, and 1st non-Soviet guy to win that since Fischer (Russians hated acknowledging others in chess, can see that even today). Kramnik won one in the year he dethroned Kasparov. Warna 1985 se leke 2004 tak Kasparov was the undisputed king. 

I followed football like a religion - supported Man UTD - in teenage years leading upto mid-20s from when interest began tapering, the kind where you'd go all tribal online over. For around a decade until middle of last decade I didn't follow cricket much Infact. Average Joe is more interested in international footy esp world cups but generally due to how often they train the quality of club football is better. 

Personally though it might be a combination of age and nostalgia but I feel quality of football also was better and more enjoyable from around late 90s to late 00s. Personally for me it peaked there. Too much data and tactics has made the game feel mechanical for me with a lot of individual brilliance being sanded away along with the game itself feeling 'globalized' and fake as hell, without even going into var and nonsensical handball rules that has made the game soft as hell.

The guy I most enjoyed watching still remains Ronaldinho, even more than Messi imo. 

Ofc this revisionism is nothing new, im sure there are people in the 80s and before who felt the game pre commercialisation in the 90s was better but still. This is a personal opinion which people may disagree with but that's okay lol. I still follow United and EPL but without any emotional investment which is good in a way as I can just dispassionately enjoy the game. 

There's probably also a life lesson in there somewhere in how seriously you should take something I suppose lol. 

Edited June 15 by rollingstoned

[Gollum]

 

Curacao bol ke ek desh hai, ek hafte pehle mujhe pata chala. 

 

1.56 lakhs population. Next time some Indian football fan blames cricket, ek tamacha milega mere taraf se. 

 

 

[Lone Wolf]

9 minutes ago, Gollum said:

 

Curacao bol ke ek desh hai, ek hafte pehle mujhe pata chala. 

 

1.56 lakhs population. Next time some Indian football fan blames cricket, ek tamacha milega mere taraf se. 

 

 

Having proper diet and better living standards kinda Trump India's population excuse.

 

Thing which scare most people is India will likely inherit first world problems without becoming rich in the first place.

It's a doomed land unfortunately 

[Gollum]

Just now, Lone Wolf said:

Having proper diet and better living standards kinda Trump India's population excuse.

 

Thing which scare most people is India will likely inherit first world problems without becoming rich in the first place.

It's a doomed land unfortunately 

Bhai kuch bhi bolo, 1.56 lakhs kahaan hai, 1.56 billion kahaan hai. Factor of 10,000 bhai.

 

Poverty, HDI, malnutrition can't be an excuse. I am sure we have at least a 10 million strong population with first world nutrition, wealth, support system. 

 

I thought Guam and Maldives beating us was bad, this is worse. 

[rollingstoned]

4 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Having proper diet and better living standards kinda Trump India's population excuse.

 

Thing which scare most people is India will likely inherit first world problems without becoming rich in the first place.

It's a doomed land unfortunately 

Curacao has lot of players playing in Dutch leagues. its like the Caribbean teams basically who all have Championship and League 1 players.

[rollingstoned]

3 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Bhai kuch bhi bolo, 1.56 lakhs kahaan hai, 1.56 billion kahaan hai. Factor of 10,000 bhai.

 

Poverty, HDI, malnutrition can't be an excuse. I am sure we have at least a 10 million strong population with first world nutrition, wealth, support system. 

 

I thought Guam and Maldives beating us was bad, this is worse. 

Give Arsene wenger the keys to the kingdom and see what he does, he clearly sees something else he wouldn't have said what he did. 

[Lone Wolf]

Just now, Gollum said:

Bhai kuch bhi bolo, 1.56 lakhs kahaan hai, 1.56 billion kahaan hai. Factor of 10,000 bhai.

 

Poverty, HDI, malnutrition can't be an excuse. I am sure we have at least a 10 million strong population with first world nutrition, wealth, support system. 

 

I thought Guam and Maldives beating us was bad, this is worse. 

It's unfortunate but Netherlands have significant control over this country and its like Bhutan but with even more control over it.

Lot of these guys play Dutch league and have exposure to premier league as well.

 

I can personally attest that India can become a superpower in a sport like Volleyball at least... I have seen lots and lots of uber talented kids leave that sport coz of lack of incentive exposure and stuff and focus on education.

 

Sports in India are challenging to pursue sometimes.

 

Football I guess we are also unfortunate that top draw talent also doesn't exist.  Corruption at federation level is a coping mechanism atp

[Lone Wolf]

7 minutes ago, rollingstoned said:

Curacao has lot of players playing in Dutch leagues. its like the Caribbean teams basically who all have Championship and League 1 players.

Yeah mentioned it in this thread... They have sufficient exposure required 

[Vickydev]

2 hours ago, Gollum said:

Bhai kuch bhi bolo, 1.56 lakhs kahaan hai, 1.56 billion kahaan hai. Factor of 10,000 bhai.

 

Poverty, HDI, malnutrition can't be an excuse. I am sure we have at least a 10 million strong population with first world nutrition, wealth, support system. 

 

I thought Guam and Maldives beating us was bad, this is worse. 

Lack of grassroots in place is the biggest issue. Football is uber competetive, players cant be developed if they start playing 12 years of age...they need to start at age of 6-7. The money and foresight to train players and organize tournaments at that level isnt there, most tournaments in India start at u12 and people have to travel long distances (apart from couple of states in NE like Mizoram,Manipur who have number of local youth tournaments)

 

But then also there is age cheating when a talented 10 year old will have to compete with 14-15 year olds in u12 selections, lose out because of size. Then that 15 year old stinks when they get to senior level because the only reason they made that far was size advantage which they have now lost. Its a vicious circle of doom.

 

Only solution is a shortcut for now to include OCIs. They have access to better nutrition, coaching and training from a young age. 

[Austin 3:!6]

Upcoming matches boys:

 

Spain vs Corbo Verde - 9.30 PM IST

Belgium vs Egypt - 12.30 AM IST

Saudi Arabia vs Uruguay - 3.30 AM IST

Iran vs New Zealand - 6.30 AM IST

 

[Suhaan]

4 hours ago, Lone Wolf said:

It's unfortunate but Netherlands have significant control over this country and its like Bhutan but with even more control over it.

Lot of these guys play Dutch league and have exposure to premier league as well.

 

I can personally attest that India can become a superpower in a sport like Volleyball at least... I have seen lots and lots of uber talented kids leave that sport coz of lack of incentive exposure and stuff and focus on education.

 

Sports in India are challenging to pursue sometimes.

 

Football I guess we are also unfortunate that top draw talent also doesn't exist.  Corruption at federation level is a coping mechanism atp

 

Curacao has access to players who are born or raised in Europe but hold dual citizenship

The core of their squad doesn’t just play in a localized league,they are products of world-class Dutch academies like PSV, Ajax etc and play in leagues like the Eredivisie, English Championship, or the Premier League like winger Tahith Chong

[vvvslaxman]

Next decent match will be France vs Senegal