IMO, Ian Darke and Landon Donovan should be the #2 announcing team behind John Strong and Stuart Holden.
I would agree, except that I really can't help but be distracted staring at whatever it is that crawled up on LDo's head and died.
I will not be commenting on Eloy Room. I will just be slowly sipping my beverage with an amused look on my face.
Jon Champion on BBC: "This game has come alive. Now it's time for the second half hydration break." What a joke. Just rip the band-aid off and go to 4 quarters of 25 minutes each for the next World Cup.
And maybe give each team a timeout per half or quarter. That way, before a big free kick, a team could call timeout to strategize, and the broadcast could go to another commercial break!
I'm honestly not sure what I find more annoying at this point: The hydration breaks, or the people acting like they've never seen hydration breaks before and they're a completely new innovation. No, I do know. I'm over this. Hydration breaks are good for the game. We know too much about nutrition and the human body at this point to think that the game is somehow better off for running people ragged. If the hydration breaks didn't happen, we'd just be substituting them for an increased number of mid-game stoppages in the last twenty minutes where players go down cramping and we have to wait for the trainers to come attend to them or for other players to help them stretch. Now there have been some games in this tournament so far that wouldn't have had them if not for the edict that they be universal. That might seem a little silly, but this is an outdoor sport being played in North American climate in June and July. The number of games where they WILL be necessary will by far outweigh the others by the end. Deciding to have them in every match makes things more uniform and everyone knows what's happening so there's no surprises. Is there a cynical aspect to it as well because it builds in opportunities for commercials? Sure. Although not all broadcasters are doing that. But while it was a bit of a shock to the system to see those commercials during the first match, all that they really deprive us at home of is a chance to watch a couple replays. The breaks happen whether the commercials do or not, so I don't really give a damn what the networks do with the time. I've seen a lot of complaining about how they break up the flow of the game. That's valid. You know what else breaks up the flow? Goalies getting injured. I'm not seeing people lobbying for rule changes to get the backup keeper out there to speed the game up. You know what breaks up the flow? HALFTIME. Let's just play a straight 90; breaks are for wimps. You know what breaks up the flow? Substitutions. Get rid of 'em. Real men play the whole game. Let's just be honest about what this is: Self-righteous people longing for the old days who can't handle the fact that things change. If Fox wasn't going to commercial during these breaks, most people wouldn't give a damn. The commercials just make them more noticeable than they were before.
CIV are legit Dark Horses. Norway. Ecuador. Colombia. Japan. Senegal. I think most people would have a top 10 of: France, Spain, Argentina, England, Portugal, Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, and Morocco. Add thise 6 to the top 10 and the 3 hosts, and you are nearly at 20. That is where I'd have started pre-tourney. Irrespective of groups and brackets and such. Certainly a couple others I may have liked a bit better than the rest of the field, but IDK how deep they can go. Uruguay. South Korea. Austria. Croatia. That is 24. The Swedes have to be feeling great after G1 and I'd certainly put them in a "best of the rest" category. Türkiye, certainly, and Paraguay, possibly, would have been there before the tourney started. But I'd still put both in with a chance at the knockouts. The Swiss draw with Qatar was disappointing as well, and they looked off on that penalty we've still not seen the VAR on. Along with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czechia, Scotland, Australia, and Iran. Though that is 4 from Group D and they cannot all make it. That is 32. But I am not concinced at all anyone one that list does make it. Other contenders: Egypt, Saudi Arabia Algeria, Congo/Uzebekistan winner + Panama/Ghana winner. I'd lean Congo & Panama. Haiti were clearly better than Scotland but are in a world of hurt now. My guesses at Rd32 halfway thru game 1s: Group winners: Mexico, Canada, Morocco, USA, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, France, Argentina, Portugal, England. Seconds: South Korea, Switzerland, Brazil, Australia, Ivory Coast, Japan, Iran, Uruguay, Norway, Austria, Colombia, Croatia. 8 best 3rds: Senegal, Ecuador, Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Congo, Algeria, Czechnia, Panama.
2023 ECF would have looked drastically different if Acosta and mates would have gotten a 3 minute breather halfway through. We don't run the wheels off of them staring in the 75th if they had a lengthy break half a dozen minutes earlier. The game is absolutely better off when the better conditioned team wins.
Cape Verde into half even with Spain. I think they can hang with the Saudis and perhaps even Uruguay.