FIFA World Cup 2018

[Gazz]

Oooooh Oooooh Ooooh

*puts on sports science nerd cap*

It's because red is the colour with the highest contrast against green (i.e. the pitch), so it is easier to detect red stimuli against a green background than any other colour and the stimulus is stronger, therefore your brain can interpret where your red-wearing team mates are easier, quicker and with more accuracy.

[Meacon Keaton]

 

[METALMAN]

10 minutes ago, PolaMDK said:

Oooh
England won a shoot out
Oooh
Colombia are knocked out
Oooh
Scotland feeling sad todaaaaay
1, 2, 3, 4

@Spainanite @metalman

No we aren't :/

https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/scotland-the-only-part-of-the-uk-feeling-happier-1-4742697

[Lineker]

3 minutes ago, Gazz said:

Oooooh Oooooh Ooooh

*puts on sports science nerd cap*

It's because red is the colour with the highest contrast against green (i.e. the pitch), so it is easier to detect red stimuli against a green background than any other colour and the stimulus is stronger, therefore your brain can interpret where your red-wearing team mates are easier.

So why are Arsenal shit?  

[Colly]

 

 

[Owen]

Croatia's still winning the whole thing.

1 hour ago, OctoberRavenO said:

IT'S COMING HOME

IT'S COMING HOME

TELL THE WORLD THAT IT'S COMING HOME

LET THE PAIN

WASH AWAY

SOMETHING SOMETHING ABOUT YESTERDAY

That's not the right song!!!!

[Moses Julep]

1 hour ago, Moses Julep said:

@Spainanite told me if England win the shoot-out he will change his name to ENGLAND_AND_RANGERS_AND_SPURS_4LYF. 

Let's hold him to this. 

Ahem.

[VerbalPuke]

Congratulations England, you’re my second favorite.

[GoGo Yubari]

7 hours ago, Switzerlineker said:

Sad life, dad life, same thing.

Hey @GoGo Yubari Mark Geiger is indeed really shit.

I see the #GeigerShow hashtag has been real active today on Twitter.  Even an ex-MLS player has chimed in to sum up the collective feelings of American fans towards him. it's funny because his comparatively decent 2014 World Cup gave him this brief window where he was regarded as the best referee in North America, and he just gradually squandered it.

Anyway, hooray England! Now I get the team with a whole bunch of Spurs players against the team with one Sounder in the quarterfinals, what fun.

[Arjen Robben]

Amazing this.

 

[Lineker]

Turns out that Vardy was due to take the fifth penalty rather than Dier - but he actually suffered a groin strain during extra time and is now an injury doubt for Sweden on Saturday. 

[stokeriño]

Guys, I'm a bit concerned.

In all of the getting carried away over England winning a penalty shoot-out, we seem to have forgotten that this is one of the signs of the impending Apocalypse.

As we're told in Revelations chapter 6:

Quote

'And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Eric Dier, and Hell followed with him.'

 

[MDK]

Just now, Sto Kerea said:

Guys, I'm a bit concerned.

In all of the getting carried away over England winning a penalty shoot-out, we seem to have forgotten that this is one of the signs of the impending Apocalypse.

As we're told in Revelations chapter 6:

 

[Malenko]

Great editing skillz.

[Kaney]

[MDK]

Just now, Spainanite said:

[Kaney]

Amazing.

[MDK]

[LUKIE]

Sweden is gonna win.

[Lineker]

Quote

Mikel John Obi was told that his father had been kidnapped and would be killed if he reported anything – just hours before he led Nigeria into their final World Cup group phase tie against Argentina.

The Nigeria captain received the shocking news as he travelled on the team bus to the stadium in St Petersburg last Tuesday. A family member called him and told him that he had to call the kidnappers on a designated number. When Mikel did so, he was ordered to pay a ransom.

Mikel has told the Guardian that he could not confide in anyone at the Nigerian Football Federation – partly because he did not want to be a distraction before the game – and how he asked himself whether he had the strength to play.

Pa Michael Obi was abducted in south-east Nigeria as he travelled to a funeral along the Makurdi-Enugu expressway from Jos. The police in Nigeria were able to secure his release but Mikel said his father was tortured during a week-long ordeal and is currently receiving emergency treatment in hospital. It is the second time that he has been kidnapped, with the first one being in August 2011.

Mikel tried to put the trauma to one side and he played the 90 minutes against Argentina. Nigeria lost 2-1 to a late Marcus Rojo goal to exit the tournament. A 1-1 draw would have seen them qualify for the last 16.

“I played while my father was in the hands of bandits,” Mikel said. “I had to suppress the trauma. I took a call four hours before kick-off to tell me what had happened.

“I was emotionally distraught and I had to make the decision about whether I was mentally ready to play. I was confused. I did not know what to do but, in the end, I knew that I could not let 180 million Nigerians down. I had to shut it out of my head and go and represent my country first. I could not even inform the coaches or NFF staff and only a very tight circle of my friends knew.

“I was told that they would shoot my dad instantly if I reported to the authorities or told anybody. I also did not want to discuss it with the coach [Gernot Rohr] because I did not want my issue to become a distraction to him or the rest of the team on the day of such an important game. As much as I wanted to discuss it with the coach, I could not.

“Thankfully, my father was safely released on Monday afternoon. I thank the police authorities for their rescue efforts and the support I’ve received from friends and family members. Unfortunately, my dad is now in hospital receiving emergency treatment as a result of the torture he received during his capture.”

Russia has sent out a fresh invitation to Theresa May to lift her ministerial boycott of the World Cup after England beat Colombia to reach the quarter-finals.

So far, Downing Street has said the prime minister’s resolve is not cracking, and the boycott by British ministers and members of the royal family – imposed after the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury in March – stands.

Speculation as to what May might do if England reached the final was classified as premature. Extending her cagey Brexit negotiating tactics to a wider field, a Downing Street source said she was taking each game as it comes.

Sweden, whom England are due to meet in Samara on Saturday, have proved less resolute. The British government had believed Sweden’s prime minister, Stefan Löfven, had given a commitment that no Swedish ministers would attend any of their team’s games for the duration of the tournament.

But the excitement at Sweden’s progress out of the group stages, and now a hot ticket to the Sweden-England quarter-final on Saturday, appear to have proved too much for Löfven. Some things – beating England to win a place in a World Cup semi-final, for example – are more important than politics, it emerged.

May’s interest in football is passing, unsurprisingly since her local team Maidenhead United plays in the lowly Vanarama National League. The last time she attended a professional game – at Wembley with the French president, Emmanuel Macron – it was largely an act of political solidarity in the wake of terrorist attacks in France in 2015. Her presence is chiefly remembered for her inability to sing along with the Oasis hit Don’t Look Back in Anger.

The Swedish foreign minister, Margot Wallström, insisted her country had been consistent and its solidarity boycott only ever extended to the opening ceremony or group stages.

She told the Swedish tabloid Expressen: “We’re in another situation now. Football should be something that unites. Denmark will also send people, and the UK won’t object to us travelling there. Exactly what they will do understandably depends on what happens in the football. I don’t think they’ve decided. We will continue to cheer for our team.” Announcing the change of heart, she said the whole of the government wanted to be in Russia.

Earlier, the sports minister, Annika Strandhäll, recently featured in a Swedish football shirt, had said she did not plan to attend any games in in Russia.

She said: “I am deeply concerned about the political situation in Russia, especially in terms of democracy and human rights. The government has said not to participate in the opening ceremony and I do not plan to attend a game in Russia.”

The British ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, attended the game against Colombia on Tuesday night, as well as the group stage game against Panama in Nizhny Novgorod, technically not a breach of policy as the boycott applied only to government ministers and royals.

Since the start of the tournament the British embassy in Moscow has struck a careful tone, trying to engage respectfully with the World Cup while maintaining the official position. Before England’s first game against Tunisia in Volgograd, the deputy ambassador, Lindsay Skoll, joined fans at a wreath-laying ceremony at a war memorial in the city, and spoke positively about Russia’s World Cup effort. “The warmth of the welcome here has been absolutely outstanding. All the fans have commented on that and Volgograd seems delighted to welcome everybody,” he said.

Before the Colombia game, Bristow and Skoll hosted two members of an LGBT fan group at their residence for breakfast. Posting a photograph on Twitter, the official embassy account wrote that “football is for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation”.

Overall, Russia, which is overseeing a deadly bombing campaign in south-west Syria that has killed more than 200 civilians, has been delighted with the World Cup, the friendliness of the crowds and the patriotism unleashed by the success of the Russian team, which has also reached the quarter-finals.

As England scored the winning penalty on Tuesday night, the commentator on Russian state television yelled: “England will remember the World Cup in Russia for the rest of their lives! Down with propaganda! Down with the British press who told their fans not to come!”

The chirpy Russian embassy Twitter feed has been sending out congratulations to the English team, inviting English fans to travel to the country, and speculating on the prospect of a Russia v England semi-final.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is due to return to Russia for the final on 15 July after holding a bilateral meeting with Donald Trump in Helsinki.

Advance warnings by the British Foreign Office over the threat of violence to British fans appear to have reduced the number of English fans travelling to Russia, although low expectations about the team’s performance also played a role.

British diplomats flew to Moscow in advance of the World Cup to advise their opposite numbers that they had a duty of care to English fans, especially gay men and lesbians who might be targets for attacks.

The closure of a British consulate in St Petersburg as part of the tit-for-tat expulsions in the wake of the Salisbury controversy has been deferred by Russia in recognition of the need for English fans to have access to consular advice. Russian and English police forces have also been co-operating in advance of the game.

The Russian embassy has put the UK political class’s churlish attitude to the World Cup down to sour grapes and a traditional anti-Russian approach. British politicians “cannot forgive our country for Britain’s failure to obtain the right to host the 2018 World Cup”, a press officer said. “The English, by the way, lost not only to Russia, but two other candidates as well.”