World Cup 2018 hype, anticipation, consternation etc.

Saving 'Telstar Showponies' for the tournament itself. Anyway, there's a month to go, the squads are out, and so is Jack Wilshere. Let's do this.

This is a fingerlicking good squad:

France squad:

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Alphonse Areola (Paris Saint-Germain)

Defenders: Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris Saint-Germain), Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City), Benjamin Pavard (Stuttgart), Adil Rami (Marseille), Djibril Sidibe (Monaco), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)

Midfielders: N'Golo Kante (Chelsea), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), Steven N'Zonzi (Sevilla), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich)

Forwards: Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Nabil Fekir (Lyon), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Thomas Lemar (Monaco), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Florian Thauvin (Marseille)

No doubt they'll disappoint.

Presnel Kimpembe <--- excellent name

france my faves in both senses

ya i have only two senses dwi

That France squad is a bit um ow you say top heavy

Germany ftw again

rooting for a non-European win!

the thought of roberto martinez overseeing belgium win the world cup is pretty irresistible

of the other the other teams with a chance I would like to see uruguay do it, looks like their team is more exciting this year and if anyone deserves the platform of a world cup final to totally disgrace themselves it's suarez

I enjoyed this bit of absurd but ofc correct regionalism:

https://i.imgur.com/Nwm6LFE.jpg

Morocco

Goalkeepers: Mounir El Kajoui (Numancia), Yassine Bounou (Girona), Ahmad Reda Tagnaouti (Ittihad Tanger)

Defenders: Mehdi Benatia (Juventus), Romain Saiss (Wolves), Manuel Da Costa (Basaksehir), Badr Benoun (Raja Casablanca), Nabil Dirar (Fenerbahce), Achraf Hakimi (Real Madrid), Hamza Mendyl (LOSC)

Midfielders: M'barek Boussoufa (Al Jazira), Karim El Ahmadi (Feyenoord), Youssef Ait Bennasser (Caen), Sofyan Amrabat (Feyenoord), Younes Belhanda (Galatasaray), Faycal Fajr (Getafe), Amine Harit (Schalke 04)

Forwards: Khalid Boutaib (Malatyaspor), Aziz Bouhaddouz (Saint Pauli), Ayoub El Kaabi (Renaissance Berkane), Nordin Amrabat (Leganes), Mehdi Carcela (Standard de Liege), Hakim Ziyech (Ajax).

Would really like to see Morocco do well. As well as Senegal, who've got a decent squad too.

Ludo otm tbf, I'd welcome an Argentina win.

reasonable odds on argentina not making it out of their group

What's the worst-case scenario out of all the plausible winners? I can't think of many more joyless eventualities than a grinding Portugal win.

Also what are France's fullback options like given they're picking Mendy who has barely kicked a ball all season.

england

otm

I said plausible ffs.

Also lololol just realised David Luiz isn't in the Brazil squad.

oh god not this shit again, has it really been four years

Maybe a bit soon now but that France squad + 4 more years looks spooky.

Will be supporting the teams of my foreign pals (Peru, Senegal, Belgium, Sweden and Iceland) - hopefully one can make it to the quarters/semis (prob. Belgium I guess).

Wouldn't mind seeing England make it to the semis or final as I'm fond of most of their players, but I'd hate to see them win it.

Predict Belgium will do nothing. Brazil are favourites?

Also what are France's fullback options like given they're picking Mendy who has barely kicked a ball all season

For context, Debuchy was in strong contention.

This should be a fun World Cup as all the main teams look eminently beatable.

I'd like Mexico to do well. They're not necessarily a great side but if Hirving Lozano is in form they should be interesting.

Mexico is p good. If Lozano has to be in form, ok, but we're not letting him go for anything under $100 million ffs.

my favourite thing from the last World Cup was watching Mexico batter Croatia in a bar full of Mexican students

Nothing will ever beat that Brazil v Germany semi final. Nothing.

Denmark (final 23 to be confirmed)

Goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester), Frederik Ronnow (Brondby), Jonas Lossl (Huddersfield), Jesper Hansen (FC Midtjylland).

Defenders: Simon Kjaer (Sevilla), Andreas Bjelland (Brentford), Mathias Jorgensen (Huddersfield), Andreas Christensen (Chelsea), Henrik Dalsgaard (Brentford), Jannik Vestergaard (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jens Stryger Larsen (Udinese), Jonas Knudsen (Ipswich), Nicolai Boilesen, Peter Ankersen (both FC Copenhagen), Riza Durmisi (Real Betis).

Midfielders: Christian Eriksen (Tottenham), Daniel Wass (Celta Vigo), Lasse Schone (Ajax Amsterdam), Lukas Lerager (Bordeaux), Mathias Jensen (Nordsjaelland), Michael Krohn-Dehli (Deportivo La Coruna), Mike Jensen (Rosenborg), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Southampton), Thomas Delaney (Werder Bremen), William Kvist (FC Copenhagen).

Forwards: Andreas Cornelius (Atalanta), Kasper Dolberg (Ajax), Kenneth Zohore (Cardiff City), Martin Braithwaite (Bordeaux), Nicklas Bendtner (Rosenborg), Nicolai Jorgensen (Feyenoord), Pione Sisto (Celta Vigo), Robert Skov, Viktor Fischer (both FC Copenhagen), Yussuf Poulsen (RB Leipzig).

I quite honestly got nothing. Eriksen is the good one.

decent chance he won't be too tapped out, what with tottenham not figuring among the end of season prizes

we got bendtner do do do do do do

sorry im still bitter

was gonna say at least Denmark has the Lord

It was quite heartening to find out Zanka and Lossl had made the squad, until I looked at the squad :p

joking of course!

In other completely SHOCKING news, Platini admits they tinkered with the draw in the past to get their 'dream final'

This page is updating with final rosters as they are announced: https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/05/15/world-cup-rosters-every-nation-russia-2018

bummed that Payet isn't gonna play, but I watched those tears Wednesday night, RIP

Payet has been pretty bad this season but it's great to see Thauvin make the cut.

I haven't watched the Premier League for two years because of some regrettable circumstances so I'm excited to see how this England team fares, packed as it is with promising inclusions like [squints at notes] functional left-back Ashley Young

Nainggolan and Icardi both miss out

Can someone explain Nainggolan/Martinez beef to someone who hasn't been paying attention?

Beef's been going on for quite some time. They just don't click. Nainggolan admitting to being a smoker didn't help. Still a pretty foolish decision imo, they don't have another player like him, but apparently Martinez thinks he's a bad seed.

it's gonna be so sad when germany wins it again

Nainggolan got sonned in a Martinez beef

Gonna miss him being out there looking like a Streets of Rage bad guy

Oh I guess Morata didn't make it either

Neither did Fàbregas, though that's not that surprising given Spains squad.

Icardi is a weird one: he eloped with Maxi Lopez' wife, tattood Lopez' kids' names on his own arms. Lopez being a very good friend of Messi, I'm sure that had something to do with it.

just a bit of ink, let's be cool

What's wrong with the Brazil squad this time? Looks fearsome on paper but I guess they'll contrive to flake out somehow.

I can't remember which I hate most, high-maintenance prima donna players or managers with their own fragile ego problems, that can't handle their best players. But I've always thought Martinez was a poseur and a nobhead. I think Mooy likes a ciggie or two as well, but he'll be deffo in the Aussie squad!

Yeah come on though, the Aussie squad are probably doing Jagerbombs in the dressing room.

is Red Bull a banned substance y/n?

Martinez mistake has been saying he's leaving Radja out for "tactical reasons", which obv isn't true and has the nation up in arms now.

van Marwijk looks a bit austere and disciplinarian - cue some pic of him eyeballing some vodka in the dressing room with a bifta!

van Marwijk looks a bit austere and disciplinarian

This is a very kind way to describe someone who looks run down and suicidal tbh

There's a perpetual weariness in his dead eyes that I'm sure will bring the Aussies great success.

idk there is a fairly big spectrum between having a permanent smiley demeanour and the full Praljak, he seems a bit glum i suppose!

Oof. He's got a good record though, unbeaten in 20 matches w/ Spain.

Spain appoint Albert Celades (manager of Spain U21) as new head coach.

Big Sam will be devastated.

another cruelly overlooked young English manager

Can/US/Mexico is so much better than Russia or Qatar.

Russia - no
Qatar - the moon would be better, everybody knows this

otm and otm

US has had it too recently, Canada barely counts as a footballing nation, Mexico would be great but logistics and security mean they're only planning to do a limited number of games there iirc.

Mexico, Costa Rica and Trinidad, i could get behind.

horrible government aside Russia's football history more than justifies them having the World Cup, i assume you were just on a centrist troll trip Fred

No games in Vladivostok is some BS

Rostov-on-Don tho

Not having to get up at 3am to watch them play in Vladivostok is good, however.

The fact that there are 15,000 Peruvians getting on buses to go to the Republic of Mordovia fills me with great joy.

hierro in!

15,000?! That's immense. How many England fans are expected to travel over?

10,000 iirc, though a further 1250 have been banned from doing so.

Supposedly Uruguay/Argentina joint bid is a tap in for the centenary in 2030 too. Hard to resist but pretty shit on CAF nations if so.

So happy waking up to this news! The World Cup is coming home 🇺🇸 #United2026 https://t.co/qaq0eAoxif

— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) June 13, 2018

lol

It's not a 'centrist troll trip' to not want Russia to get another big sports event six years after freaking Sochi, lol. And them getting the one UEFA slot in 12 years is bullshit :( And corrupt as fuck.

as opposed to the US which so rarely hosts big sporting events?

don't think of the Winter Olympics as a big sports event btw :)

You're not from the North ;)

Just kidding, Denmark is famously rubbish at the Winter Games and our Nordic Neighbors won't shut up about it. Fuck the Winter Olympics.

In our own way we're all from the North Fred

was gonna say

anyway of all the European big dogs Russia was probably due

Brazil corrupt as it gets, no opposing bid for 2014 it was so sewn up, WC and Olympics 2 years apart. BAU. France got Euro 16 because Platini.

2018 thread yanks

New thread only required if an excellent new thread name justifies it IMO - hype, anticipation, consternation continue throughout the tournament.

...and consternation, like class, is permanent.

we'll need a new thread for the knockout stage as well

We could use a quote from the Spanish federation guy. "Above everything is acting in the right way."

no irish, no yanks, no clogs

love it

thread title should clearly be 'судья и мыло' - 'turn the referee into soap'

VAR? DA TSAR (shit, this is hard)

liking spirallis

Yes, that's a winner imo

another vote for Spiralli's

It's perfect.

Someone start the thread already because

https://platform-static-files.s3.amazonaws.com/HawkEye/photo/2016/05/20/47ec47ab-d86f-42fd-b100-1e0b4cc5050e/160519LP5726.jpg

HE'S READY

A video assistant referee, yesterday

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/styles/full/public/image/man-who-fell-to-earth-the-1976-006-bowie-seated-in-front-of-bank-of-televisions-00m-ezc.jpg?itok=5fUll2ht

The Man Who Fell to Earth Clutching His Face When the Ball Hit Him in the Midriff.

People will say Lopetegui's not that type of manager but he's done the Spanish FA there and they have every right to retaliate

Yep. It costs the FA € 2 million too, it seems, which was the release clause RM now won't have to pay anymore since he's free.

why is video ref zooming in on their behinds?

Start the thread on ILE by the way, this is a terrestrial tournament.

ya

also spirallis name tick

No Irish, No Yanks, No Clogs - FIFA World Cup 2018