Yea, if FIFA can spend money, they'll do it for sure. And if they can get someone else to spend a bunch of money for them, they'll absolutely do that at every chance.
Dallas airport is under construction currently and it's a massive project. Miami, I think, got this out of the way a few years ago. My only issue is it doesn't make any sense at all for refs to go from MIA to Seattle, San Fran or Vancouver when it would've been a much shorter flight to EVERY SINGLE WC city from DFW. and the timezone issue for a ref is easier from DFW than MIA
Yeah, I agree with all that but I still think "Miami is just better than Dallas for a month" wins out. The average referee is coming to the United States for 3-4 weeks and will do 3 games in that span. There's a lot of down time. On the travel side, you do also have a weather issue in the summer for DFW that you don't necessarily get in MIA. Neither place is immune to t-storms, but I think historically DFW is a lot more prone to groundstops and delays. 1994 HQ was in Dallas, I believe, for what that's worth.
I'm enjoying the cameras mounted on the referees. I don't know if its the lense, but they seem to get really close to the play.
Dallas was training camp for the last Gold Cup, because the CONCACAF referee delegation was staying in the same hotel that the referees for USYS South Regionals were in. That created some very cool crossover opportunities!
General comment on timekeeping. What's the most stoppage time we've seen? +3 should be baked into every half. Have we had more than +7 total? So we're back to just tacking 4 minutes or so on every half and pretending 2022 never really happened? If anything, we might be taking a giant step back because pre-2022, you still were seeing longer stoppage time from VAR timekeeping, albeit not in the double digit range like we did in Qatar. Something to keep an eye on. If any half has a VAR review and subs, it shouldn't be less than +8. If a match also has any sort of timewasting, you start to get to a world where second halves should be +10 by default. Yet...
My guesses would be: 1. The hydration breaks are making players less prone to take a break of their own making by staying down after a foul (or non-foul). I’ve talked with players before who’ve noted that they’re sometimes not simulating but just too tired to pop back to their feet straight away. 2. Law changes aimed at speeding the game along are making a slight impact. 3. It’s hot and everyone wants to go home. (The last is obviously tongue in cheek.)
Funny, because I buy 3 more than 2 and 1. The only other thing I could add is that some substitutions are occuring during the hydration break, so that reduces the number of stoppages. And we've only had one OFR and no real long VAR checks yet. So maybe the +8-+10 is coming.
That all seems reasonable. Once we get a game with a three-minute VAR check and some serious time-wasting, we’ll see if we’re back in the 8-10 range.
Same with those darn Canadians. Those darn immigration laws. It’s almost like they are a sovereign nation too.
A local place near me owned by a woman who also works with DC United and the Washington Spirit>>>Five Guys>>>Any other place mentioned above
5 guys has gotten so expensive. At that price point, we've been hitting up Swizzler lately when going to DC United or nats games. I have so many unpopular opinions, but one of my most is that in and out is just okay, and their fries are terrible.