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Two weeks until the World Cup


benjii
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5 minutes ago, cloggy saint said:

'82 is probably my favourite despite '78 being my first. Not really true or fair to say England were a bit shit. We were knocked out undefeated and were without arguably our 2 best players in Brooking and Keegan until the final game against Spain where Keegan came agonisingly close to winning it.

Yeah, we weren't bad but I think it stems from the disappointment more than anything.  Actually forgot we won our first three games.  That second group stage was weird.

Other thing about world cups is the amount of countries in it - a lot more boring group games now it's up to 32.  2026 is supposed to have 48 isn't it?  That's mental.

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12 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

Yep 12 groups of 4 I think. Might be decent to blast over to the States and Canada for some games.

I thought I heard 16 groups of 3. If so that's nuts. Who's going to watch Jamaica vs India or whatever. 

12 x4 makes more sense. But this is FIFA.

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82 was my first. I lived near Andover in those days.  I remember watching Scotland vs Brazil on a little black and white. Had to go to bed during the first half. Woke up thinking Scotland had won 1-0.

86 I watched as many games as possible but it was 90, 94 and 98 that I enjoyed the most (would have been 16, 20, 24) and my absolute favourite was 1990. 

Edited by OttawaSaint
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7 hours ago, alehouseboys said:

Although I was around for '66 I can't remember anything about it other than what I've seen on TV. 1970 was the first I was aware of and seemed so exotic, coming from the other side of the world, as you say, grainy pictures and commentary that sounded like it was coming down the telephone.

But 1974 was the best for me (the famous Cruyff turn replicated/attempted by so many of us kids the following weekend in matches), I can still name so many of the players from the big teams, even some of the lesser nations! Haiti and Zaire getting tonked, 30-yard screamers, gutted England never made it.

Loved them all up to the '90 but (after being shit early on) that semi-final defeat remains one of my most painful moments in football.

Like the FA Cup years earlier, the 'magic' began to weaken after Italia'90 and then Mexico. I will be staunchly England during Qatar but, other than being able to watch a bit of live football on cold dark days, has about as much appeal as the League Cup at the moment.

Yes 1974 was also special, the Dutch side were great to watch with their Total Football. The two other things from that WC I remember were the fantastic stadium at Dortmund, and an incident when Brazil played Zaire. Brazil free kick outside the penalty area and  Zaire lining up their wall, ref blows his whistle for the kick to be taken and a Zaire player just sprints out and boots the ball upfield.

1978 - had lost its sparkle for me, although the ticker tape welcome onto the pitch was something new, and I remember watching Argentina with Kempes and a bloke Leopoldo Luque ripping a defence apart, they looked and played like FRank Worthington on steroids. Strange though that in 1974 most people wanted Scotland to do well, but that had gone in 1978 largely due to Ally McLeod's bragging about 'Scotland would definitely get a medal' , and at Hampden Park in the Home Internationals where the jocks kept up a song of 'they did' nae qualify ...' .  After that we watched on happily as they crumbled.

 

Edited by Badger
Correct memory blur !
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8 hours ago, whelk said:

Italia90 best tournament in my lifetime. I expect someone will say how fortunate etc. but not been repeated since IMO

Really? Awful final between two awful teams.

Spain 82 for me was one of my favourites, with Italy-Brazil one of the best matches I've seen. I enjoyed Italy deservedly beating Germany in the final as well. 😀

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4 hours ago, Winnersaint said:

 

On a Saints related note would have been good to see Micky Channon in a WC but failing to qualify in 74 and 78 meant that was never to be. Also Ossie, obviously then with Chelsea, made two appearances as sub in group games. 

Yes, have often though this.

Also, a great shame that Kevin Keegan only managed about 20 minutes as a sub in a WC final series despite twice being European Footballer of the Year.

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What links are there likely to be with Saints at the World Cup? Ex players included.

Mane - Senegal

Yoshida - Japan

Bednarek - Poland

Boufal - Morocco

Salisu - Ghana

Hojbjerg - Denmark

Lovren - Croatia

Bale - Wales

Are there any more? I don't think Cedric gets in the Portugal squad these days, and surely Denmark have found some better CB's then Vestergaard. Caleta-Car for Croatia?

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2 minutes ago, The Cat said:

What links are there likely to be with Saints at the World Cup? Ex players included.

Mane - Senegal

Yoshida - Japan

Bednarek - Poland

Boufal - Morocco

Salisu - Ghana

Hojbjerg - Denmark

Lovren - Croatia

Bale - Wales

Are there any more? I don't think Cedric gets in the Portugal squad these days, and surely Denmark have found some better CB's then Vestergaard. Caleta-Car for Croatia?

Lavia and Bella Kotchap got mentioned for Belgium and Germany 

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