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.
General Football Nonsense
Consett actually. ā¦But Geordie enough. Beth Priestman, whoās now in charge of the womenās team and is an understudy of Herdman, is also from Consett. They know each other from back in the UK. 
Heās a fucking legend. Heās 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 womenās side and now the men. Heās 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. Weāre finally a footballing nation!
Loopster already predicted theyāll get through the group stage, without even knowing the make-up of the actual group at the time, which is quite the bravado considering theyāve not qualified for a WC in over three decades.
loopdokter Consett actually. ā¦But Geordie enough.
ā¦FFS 
, lifelong Toon fan, heās a Geordie alright.
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ScottBailey the eternal optimist! You could pass as English
If I were English Iād say weād be going out on penalties - again!
I donāt think weāre 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 weāll be competitive in the group.
The one advantage I have over the Europeans on here is that Iāve seen Canada play in person in World Cup Qualifiers and also nearly every game theyāve played in the final rounds - along with the build up over the past four years. You guys as far as Iām aware wouldnāt have had their games televised, whereas the European, South American and African games were televised here.
Iām a football junkie. I watch loads, play, ref and for a long time I didnāt believe because of how shit weāve 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 Iām 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.
Unbroken1 ā¦FFS
Hehe. At this point he could be Scouse for all I care considering all heās done for us. I think you missed the cheek of my reply. When you listen to him talk itās pretty bloody obvious!
Echo Loopster already predicted theyāll get through the group stage, without even knowing the make-up of the actual group at the time, which is quite the bravado considering theyāve not qualified for a WC in over three decades.
Eh? In this thread? I donāt recall having said that personally but donāt deny that may have sounded like something that would have come out of my mouth whilst riding the high of our success! Haha.
2022 World Cup Participants (Ordered based on world rankings)
FIFA ranking Team Odds to win
1 Brazil +500
2 Belgium +1100
3 France +650
4 Argentina +1100
5 England +700
7 Spain +750
8 Portugal +1200
9 Mexico +10000
10 Netherlands +1600
11 Denmark +2800
12 Germany +900
13 Uruguay +5000
14 Switzerland +8000
15 United States +10000
16 Croatia +5000
18 Wales (playoff) +20000
20 Senegal +10000
21 Iran +35000
22 Peru (playoff) +25000
23 Japan +20000
24 Morocco +20000
25 Serbia +8000
26 Poland +10000
27 Ukraine (playoff) +15000
29 South Korea +25000
31 Costa Rica (playoff) +100000
35 Tunisia +25000
37 Cameroon +20000
38 Canada +25000
39 Scotland (playoff) +35000
42 Australia (playoff) +40000
46 Ecuador +20000
49 Saudi Arabia +50000
51 Qatar +20000
60 Ghana +20000
101 New Zealand (playoff) +100000
loopdokter Weāll see what the groups are like next Friday, but I honestly feel we can get out of the group stage with the way weāve been playing
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Itās semantics, but feeling like and actually saying we will are quite different to me.
Thatās fine. Iāll roll with it. Iām not walking back my stance! I have faith in this side. The hard work WILL pay off.
I predict weāll score pur fist goal, win our first game and get out of our group too. So there. Last time in 1986 we did none of these things and I know Herdman is very competent at making our lads hungry to achieve.
loopdokter Please explain to me the North American way of stating odds in hundreds. Brazilās odds are 5-1 right? Is it to avoid fraction calculations like those in European odds? (5-2, 11-4 etc etc)?
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vinnyt77 itās in relevance of a fraction, so 50,000 chances to 1 that they will do x. Donāt quote me on that because I donāt bet on sports based upon odds or really at all, but thatās my understanding.
The board must be happy that Iāve brought Loopstick back to our warm bosom.
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Who would have thought it would only take Canada to qualify and we have our very own Richard Keys spilling his football knowledge all over the board like vomit over Romford High Road on a Friday night
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loopdokter itās in relevance of a fraction, so 50,000 chances to 1 that they will do x. Donāt quote me on that because I donāt bet on sports based upon odds or really at all, but thatās my understanding.
Well I am going to quote you on that, because even a cursory glance at the numbers alongside what you posted earlier will show that youād have to be absolutely retarded or with zero knowledge of a tournament whatsoever to recognise that what you posted as your āunderstandingā is clearly nonsense.
For what you said to be right, then the favourites for the whole tournament, Brazil, would only be expected to win the tournament once in every 500 hypothetical tournaments?! Even though there are only 32 teams? Ermmmmā¦.
As @vinnyt77 pointed out, Brazilās odds are 5-1 to win, and the US odds show how much youād be expected to win if you bet $100 on the option.
loopdokter If I were English Iād say weād be going out on penalties - again!
If weāre lucky!
Englandās next games against Germany and Italy in this upcoming shit show of a competition (Nations League) will further solidify Southgateās 10 men behind the ball approach as weāre played off the park as always. Itāll have us well prepared to play out nervy one goal games against Iran, USA and other in the World Cup. Zero faith in this melter of a manager.
Christ itās going to be a long World Cup isnāt it? 
SM001 will be if Hendo goes
ScottBailey You need to see a doc mate! This Hendo obsession is breaking you 