Partridge's Tournament: 2017 Confederations Cup

[Diable Rouge]

To paraphrase his famous quote, the Confederations Cup is the competition the World Cup could have been. Of course, Wales could have been here had they faced Germany in last year's Euro final, and surely Ronaldo will be excused the trip to Russia, but our Oceanic members will take a particular interest in proceedings.

Group A:

Mexico
New Zealand
Portugal
Russia

The two European nations will start as favourites, but Mexico have looked impressive in CONCACAF qualification, and could well progress if the Lusophones are disinterested.

Group B:

Australia
Cameroon
Chile
Germany

One presumes the South Americans will be most engaged, after somewhat uneven World Cup qualification, a complaint common to the Socceroos. That said, Germany should still claim the second semi-final berth.

[Ray de Galles]

Far from being excused, Ronnie's had some new boots done up special for it:



Yes, that does say 'Campeones' above CR7.

[ad hoc]

Yes, that does say 'Campeones' above CR7.

I believe it actually says Campeġes

[Ray de Galles]

Whatevs. Tomayto, tomato.

[jwdd27]

How long have football boots had those ankle guards?

In my day.. (cont. p94)

[Ray de Galles]

It's a kind of integrated sock thing, I think.

Actuall football socks don't go down to the toe now, do they? They are some kind of tube of material that stops somewhere around the ankle and have a sort of base layer thing lower down/underneath.

[imp]

Human Rights Watch this week released a report citing the number of deaths during construction of Russia's World Cup stadiums at 17:

"Human Rights Watch visited seven World Cup stadium sites in 2016 and 2017. We documented the exploitation of construction workers, including: non-payment of wages; three- to four-month delays in payment of wages; workers required to work outdoors in dangerously cold temperatures well below freezing; and a failure to provide work contracts and other documentation required for legal employment. Building and Wood Workers’ International, a global trade union, reported 17 worker deaths on World Cup stadium sites.

"During its research, Human Rights Watch consistently encountered an atmosphere of intimidation, suspicion, and secrecy when trying to document conditions for workers on World Cup sites. In the most serious case, local police detained a Human Rights Watch research consultant as he tried to speak to workers outside of the Volgograd Arena. Authorities addressed the representative by name, which suggests that he was under surveillance."

Please do not watch this pointless Putin-PR bollocks of a tournament.

[Mr Beast]

I haven't been watching but yesterday's Portugal v Mexico match up was crying out for this clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZjtX1QrYW4

[Uncle Ethan]

Australia being spectacularly bad against Germany's B-team. Can't keep the ball. Too many players out of position. It's like watching England all over again.

[ursus arctos]

To be fair, Germany did go brainless for several periods just to keep it interesting.

[Wouter D]

New Zealand take the lead versus Mexico! They've been the better team for almost all of the first half.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Having watched a bit of the portugal Russia Game, I must say that given a favourable draw, some sympathetic referees, every single bounce of the ball, 23 new players, a fuck mountain of performance enhancing drugs, and at least three walk overs, Russia might make it out of their group at their home world cup.

Mexico got two goals back, and it's all really kicked off, i think I counted six red card incidents. Not a single booking.

Oh wait we're going to the TV refs.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

hahaha. After watching a brawl on the video, the referee gives a single yellow card.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Then in dribs and drabs he give out two more yellow card. There were punches elbows and headbutts. It was like the football version of the last couple of minutes of blazing saddles.

[Wouter D]

That video referee bit was slapstick.

Too bad that that NZ ball that hit the bar didn't go in near the end.

[imp]

Bloody hell, two teams are actually taking this thing seriously?

[Jah Womble]

Hate to say it, but there have actually been one or two half-decent games in this.

As for the tournament being a 'Putin ego-w*nk', well, it's not really, is it? It's just the precursor to that (having become a convention ahead of each World Cup) - and at present his team really ain't cutting it. The best hope is that, following their inevitable Group-phase elimination, the home fans' behaviour somehow deteriorates to the point that they're stripped of next year's tournament. (Clue: that isn't going to happen.)

As for the VAR, it ain't going to work any time soon while tens of thousands of spectators have to sit and watch the ref staring into the sky for what seems half an eternity. Get some clarification out there for the proles.

[Diable Rouge]

When mentioning the country of Alexis Sanchez, can one safely pronounce it in the traditional English-language manner of "Chilly", or a la George Hamilton, has the modish castellaño "Cheel-ay" now become standard?

[Patrick Thistle]

Far from being excused, Ronnie's had some new boots done up special for it:



Yes, that does say 'Campeones' above CR7.

Every time I try to like him he finds a new way to be a twat.

[Cal Alamein]

A couple of beautiful headers from Mexico.

Adios Russia.

[Ray de Galles]

Every time I try to like him he finds a new way to be a twat.

Oh come off it, they're brilliant. Most modern players would do the same.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

If you're going to get pissed off by some of the silly things ronaldo does, I think you're in danger of missing the big picture. of course he's a lunatic. You have to be a bit odd to do what he does.

meanwhile the prospect of this not being a preparation tournament for the 2018 world cup grows apace.

There's only four players in the current squad that were at the 2014 world cup. (Akinfeev, Zhirkov, glushakov and I think Semedov) but bizarrely the squad is almost the same age as the the 2014 squad, and there are only five players who are 25 or under. Which would suggest that this current Russian squad is basically the second 23 players in Russia in 2014.

Either way this could get very messy. Fifa can look the other way on the Ukraine apparently, but this is something that is going to be extraordinarily difficult to ignore.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Oh dear. A german player and a cameroon player go for a high ball with their feet. The German gets there first, the Cameroon player arrives a little later, and it gets a bit ugly. The Ref Then checks the Video replay, and turns around and sends off the wrong cameroon player. Then has to go and check the video again, and then sends off the right player. Oops.

then about a minute later Werner scores a Miroslav Klose goal to make it 2-0. Can lashed one into the top corner in the first half.

[ursus arctos]

A lot of the issues with this implementation of VAR could be eliminated by just keeping the on-field referee out of it, as is the case in most other sports that have a better replay system.

Just have someone competent review the video and tell the on-field referee what the call should be. Their diva egos will recover.

[Jupp04]

Oh dear. A german player and a cameroon player go for a high ball with their feet. The German gets there first, the Cameroon player arrives a little later, and it gets a bit ugly. The Ref Then checks the Video replay, and turns around and sends off the wrong cameroon player. Then has to go and check the video again, and then sends off the right player. Oops.

then about a minute later Werner scores a Miroslav Klose goal to make it 2-0. Can lashed one into the top corner in the first half.

Actually Demirbey did the first goal, not Can