Honestly, I think most Argentines have Italian descent….. This is translated from Italian wiki…. Lionel Messi was born at the Hospital Italiano Garibaldi in Rosario to Jorge Horacio Messi, a steelworker and Celia María Cuccittini, a cleaning lady, Messi is of Italian descent: his father's great-great-grandfather Angelo Messi migrated from Recanati in 1883, and his maternal great-great-grandfather Raniero Coccettini migrated from San Severino Marche in 1899. He is also a distant relative of former Italian boxer Luca Messi, with whom he shares family origins. Messi is the father of three children, Thiago, Mateo and Ciro, who were given birth by his partner Antonella Roccuzzo in 2012, 2015 and 2018 respectively. He has two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matías, and a younger sister, María Sol, and is a cousin of footballers Maxi and Emanuel Biancucchi.
What will be the first country not in South America or Western Europe to win this thing? Gotta be USA right? Who knows when though...
So many people through the years including Maradona and Pele have went on record as saying the World Cup is fixed. Since 1930 only 8 countries in the world have won the coveted trophy. I wouldn’t put it past FIFA that the tournament isn’t fixed. All the great players come from CONMEBOL and UEFA and the money is invested in them. As long as the great players come from those two confederations , I don’t see how anyone else (from AFC, CAF, CONCACAF and Oceania) will be allowed to join the club. The USA, Mexico and maybe even Canada , with the money they have, could potentially put their resources together and make some type of noise at the World Cup but I don’t see a 3rd or 4th place finish in the immediate future.
I am pretty unaware of the political problems in Argentina, i only know they are in terrible financial hurt, but I don’t know why. Unfortunately, the WC and the WC winning countries have a horrible record of sportswashing.
After this world cup, you might want to bet on Morocco, Korea Republic, Japan, maybe Senegal, maybe KSA? We weren't that great, sadly. We didn't knock off any giants, though we did play Enguland well. Morocco played well the whole tournament. Fell down a bit their last game. KSA might be a long shot. Their players are almost all in their domestic league. So they organized them as a team in the league, and they played together a lot. If they do that next time, and they improve their coaching and training a bit, they should do better. Go USA!!
This is the only journalism article I’ve seen about staying at one of the tent villages. Terrible that FIFA allowed this to happen to fans, and I hope we do better as hosts in 2026 https://www.whatahowler.com/a-day-at-the-fifa-fan-tent-village/
I'm surprised they pulled this off at all (all those tents and crates in a different part) with running water nearby and electricity to everything. It's a logistics nightmare. That the only real issue mentioned in the article was the bus didn't run is amazing (I'm sure there were many other issues). When you book a tent in the desert I'm not sure you'd expect more.
I found some google reviews as mentioned in the article. The link might only work in Chrome… One of the fans says this tent village was not a “FIFA-approved” site, and therefore that is why there was no free shuttle to the metro. But I thought all accommodation had to be booked through FIFA in order to buy a ticket and get into Qatar. Anyhow, very sad for these fans. To stay 25 miles away from Doha was obviously a bad idea, as it would be equivalent to staying in San Mateo County to visit SF. But I assume rooms were so hard to get that people had little choice. I don’t really understand why this was not covered more by the media. I don’t know what percentage of the hotel rooms were in these tent villages. https://www.google.com/search?q=Quetaifan+Island+Fan+Village+reviews&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS755US760&oq=Quetaifan+Island+Fan+Village+reviews&aqs=chrome..69i57.3593j0j7&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#lkt=LocalPoiReviews&lpg=cid:CgIgAQ==&trex=m_t:lcl_akp,rc_f:nav,rc_ludocids:3335628168566654178,rc_q:Qetaifan%20Island%20Fan%20Village,ru_q:Qetaifan%20Island%20Fan%20Village,trex_id:sLDAv
Complaining about $20 meals? What did people expect? Breakfast was included in the rent. A deal! I remember looking into Brazil for the WC and seeing prices ~1000/night and reading about people planning to sleep on the beach. If you want a resort experience, a WC is not the place to get it!
The good news is that in four years time (actually, in 3 1/2 years time), those who live in the Bay Area - particularly those in the South Bay and on the Peninsula - won’t have to worry about any of that to attend FIFA World Cup games at Levi’s Stadium. GO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES!!! GO USA!!! VAI BRASIL!!! -G
Well, for $200 a night, i would expect a lot better than what was described. After all, this village wasn’t in Doha, it was in the equivalent of i don’t know, Colma! All those people got fairly ripped off, IMHO, and they get my sympathy
More likely a rented room in someone’s hovel. My guest room might be available in exchange for a free game ticket.
Wow weird news about Gregg Berhalter. I kind of feel for him and I kinda don't pic.twitter.com/421kvOoQBj— Gregg Berhalter (@GreggBerhalter_) January 3, 2023
I hear George Santos has the inside track on the USMNT job based on his experience playing on Santos and coaching Brazil’sOlympic squad. At least that’s what he told me!
I'm glad everything worked out for Greg (by his own account) but the wife forgiving her husband after he abused her shouldn't be the evidence we use to decide if he's been rehabilitated or not. Women often return to their husbands even after repeated abuse.
The reported 25-year marriage with no recidivism is a factor that should be considered. I’m no fan of Berhalter but this seems a nothing burger without additional adverse info.
The something-burger isn't what Berhalter did, but who is doing the blackmailing. I'm dreading that coming out.
Sorry, this is just pathetic muckraking. Someone wanted to blackmail him and the worst thing they could dig up was his losing his temper 30+ years ago? (Not that any kind of abuse is acceptable. I remember being in counseling with ex, when he acknowledged occasionally losing his temper and slapping me, and the (female) therapist had us both stand up and said "notice a size difference?" -- I really don't think that had occurred to him, and he assumed she'd be sympathetic because I can be so annoying.)