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Ffs Southgate’s 3-4-2-1 formation with 7 defensive players… against fucking Switzerland… the most cautious and overrated manager in football
General Football Nonsense
Dreadful game.
Flights, hotel and tickets confirmed for Madrid.
Roll on the Bernabeu!
Idris Elba whoring himself out.
Jermaine Jenas too.
Why do I find myself yet again thinking this group should be a cakewalk but in reality will probably be England up to it’s usual standards? Iran on the opening day has a Hendo bore draw written all over it!
Yeah, can’t wait for Shitgate’s dynamic 3-5-2 against the mighty Persians.
England v USA. Decent board bants to look forward to
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ScottBailey Why do I find myself yet again thinking this group should be a cakewalk but in reality will probably be England up to it’s usual standards?
It will be a cakewalk. England have been fine in recent tournaments.
The first knockout round should be easy enough as well.
The only kicker is a likely Quarter-Final tie vs France.
Here’s the groups for easy reference if you missed the WC 2022 draw… Still need to slot in the playoff spots.
GROUP A
Qatar
Ecuador
Senegal
Netherlands
GROUP B
England
Iran
United States
European Playoff (Wales vs. Ukraine/Scotland)
GROUP C
Argentina
Saudi Arabia
Mexico
Poland
GROUP D
France
Intercontinental Playoff 1 (Peru vs. UAE/Australia)
Tunisia
Denmark
GROUP E
Spain
Intercontinental Playoff 2 (Costa Rica vs. New Zealand)
Germany
Japan
GROUP F
Belgium
Canada
Morocco
Croatia
GROUP G
Brazil
Serbia
Switzerland
Cameroon
GROUP H
Portugal
Ghana
Uruguay
Korea Republic
loopdokter how are you feeling about Belgium and Croatia? Tough group! Surely no expectations?
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Canada got quite a good draw if you ask me.
Canada vs. Belgium
Belgium are obviously the biggest threat in this group. They’re the first proper top 5 FIFA ranked team we’ll have played in ages and this will be the acid test of how good our squad really is (or isn’t?). I’m actually really excited to see how well or we perform against Belgium, considering we’re on the upswing of our Golden Generation and they’re on the tail end of theirs. Belgium have seriously under-performed at tournaments considering the wealth of talent they have. Part of me wonders if they’re suffering from the same thing the English did in the late 1990s and 2000s where the pitch wasn’t big enough to contain the egos. Belgium win this one - but just - 2-1.
Canada vs. Croatia
Croatia are aging, but they tend to perform well in major tournaments. I like our chances against them, but not sure if we’ll win. I’m guessing a draw in the range of 1-1 - maybe 2-2. I see Croatia really struggling with our pace on counter-attacks seeing as we’ve probably got some of the fastest attacking players in the entire world. There’s also another added layer of intensity because several players who play on the same club sides like Beşiktaş (Cyle Larin, Atiba Hutchenson provided he stays fit at 39, Domagoj Vida) and Lille (Jonathan David, Ivo Grbić) will be playing against each other. Canada’s #1 keeper, Milan Borjan was born and partially raised in Serbia and plays there too, so there will be a big push for him to perform well against Croatia. In addition, my next door neighbours emigrated from Croatia in the 1980s, so it will be fun ribbing them a bit if Canada win.
Canada vs. Morocco
I think Morocco have it tough with this one. This is our ‘bye’ game and is where we need to to make up things on goal differential. We have to absolutely pump Morocco and I think we will. The Atlas Lions have been pretty solid in the lead up to their qualification, but I see our style of play dominating theirs. 3-1 Canada.
If we get out of this group, it will be on goal differential and probably come down to the wire. I like our chances against Croatia and Morocco, but I’m not sure we’re quite good enough to beat Croatia outright yet. Belgium are my biggest concern and we’re going to have to every player defend, defend, defend and catch them out on quick counter attacks - of which we’re very capable with our pacy wingers and strikers.
I can’t fucking wait for this!
…Herdman is a geordie!
loopdokter the eternal optimist! You could pass as English 
Good luck to your boys, but can see you getting whalloped by both Belgium and Croatia. Peresic is still a weapon and Modric is somehow still of fire.
Consett actually. …But Geordie enough. Beth Priestman, who’s now in charge of the women’s team and is an understudy of Herdman, is also from Consett. They know each other from back in the UK. 
He’s a fucking legend. He’s an amazing tactician and motivator and has done more for the beautiful game in this country than anyone else that I can think of. First it was the women’s side and now the men. He’s managed to get players who were about to play with traditionally much better sides to be capped by Canada.
Literally the games are now outdrawing hockey in terms of attendance and viewership. We’re finally a footballing nation!
Loopster already predicted they’ll get through the group stage, without even knowing the make-up of the actual group at the time, which is quite the bravado considering they’ve not qualified for a WC in over three decades.
loopdokter Consett actually. …But Geordie enough.
…FFS 
, lifelong Toon fan, he’s a Geordie alright.
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ScottBailey the eternal optimist! You could pass as English
If I were English I’d say we’d be going out on penalties - again!
I don’t think we’re going to get slapped back into the Stone Age by Croatia, although I do accept that we might take a good kicking from Belgium - but I still think we’ll be competitive in the group.
The one advantage I have over the Europeans on here is that I’ve seen Canada play in person in World Cup Qualifiers and also nearly every game they’ve played in the final rounds - along with the build up over the past four years. You guys as far as I’m aware wouldn’t have had their games televised, whereas the European, South American and African games were televised here.
I’m a football junkie. I watch loads, play, ref and for a long time I didn’t believe because of how shit we’ve been for so long. John Herdman said we were going to qualify for the World Cup in 2018 when he was hired and the press nearly laughed him out of the room. I firmly believe now.
If we can beat Mexico and draw with them at the Azteca in Mexico City, we are good enough to beat or draw Croatia.
I understand the hesitancy in believing, but the US also ranks higher than Croatia in FIFA (which I’m aware can be contentious) and we also drew with them in the US and beat them - without our best player in Alphonso Davies.
Another thing worth considering is that last year we scored the most goals of any team in FIFA and jumped the highest amount in rankings over any country as well. We also had to play the largest number of games to get to Qatar as well and STILL finished atop of CONCACAF and only lost two games in the entire process.