Man is risking his life on the global stage. Contrast that with powerful Football Associations who are too scared have their players wear a colourful arm band.
Iran's Ehsan Hajsafi speaks out over conditions in his home country Man is risking his life on the global stage. Contrast that with powerful Football Associations who are too scared have their players wear a colourful arm band.
Yes is courageous, though he does play his club football in Greece, so he may not be going back to Iran anytime soon.
Who knows by the time he does the current regime may have been overthrown. The unrest is showing no sign of stopping.
Welsh are kings of choke. Both games vs Niederland in nations league the conceded last minute goals to lose it, and here they are again…. Game is not over until the whistle blows lads.
Apart from looking very good at times, Southgate’s first team haven’t done the job yet against a very impressive USA. In fact the USA have even had the better of the chances.
How long does he give them and who’s Southgate’s backup plan out of his options?
Knives will be out for Southgate you’d think, because it’s England. Edit: actually win and a draw they’re still topping the group, huh. Maybe criticism will be tempered, but they were shown up here.
4 points from 6 and still top of the group. Mount? Didn’t seem to do that much? Also, sticking with the 4 at the back or returning to the 5? United might get some interest in Slabhead with a few more games like that. Embarrassing draw, but not the pointy end yet.
Egland/USA look like they are going through at this rate. US 1-0 over Iran and in possibly the most boring game of footy the Welsh are holding the football super power of England to 0-0
So as poor as we were against USA and "boring" at other times, we go through top of the group as currently top scorers in the tournament, even more than Spain who won their first game 7-0. Senegal will a tough game. 8am Monday so will need to find another excuse to stay home from work.
The Welsh certainly didn't look like they were playing with nothing to lose. Would be disappointed as a Welsh fan.
England criticism is a bit over top... they were playing a team that was content with sitting back and defending. Sure enough once they broke through the flood gates opened. And look what happens when Southgate actually starts picking his best attackers...
USA deserved to go through. That's one of the most tense games I've felt - both sets of fans probably not used to that situation!
Is it a FIFA or an FA rule that players should get a yellow for asking for VAR? Farcical moments near the end culminating in one of Iran's players letting the ball run out while signalling for VAR. Mind you I thought the ref managed it well.
I've been generally impressed with the refereeing. Not just the standard overall but the willingness to allow more robust physical contests, which makes for a much better spectacle and also seems to have quelled at least some of the theatrical antics of previous cups.
I might just be imagining that of course, but it's a pleasure to see the aggrieved face of a player who has gone down screaming and clutching at a make believe injury only to see the ref ignore him and wave play on.
22 yr old Josh Sargent who start for USA, and is at Norwich - was at Werder Bremen II with Trevor Zwetsloot back in 2018/19.
Sargent did bounce between the 2nd team & Bremen first team (Bundesliga) that season.
To add on some more, a 17-year-old Sargent was one of 6 different goal-scorers as USA U20s beat NZ U20s 6-0 in the Round of 16 in 2017, scoring the first goal. Current USA captain Tyler Adams also played the full 90 that day in Incheon, while Cameron Carter-Vickers (who started today, and was a squad member in 2015 in NZ) and Luca de la Torre were both unused that day but feature in the current US World Cup squad. 10 of the 14 New Zealanders used that day are fully capped All Whites, with all the uncapped players being in the back five; James McGarry the odd one out.
The referee that day was Qatari Abdulrahman Al Jassim, who was also the referee for USA's first group game against Wales, becoming the first Qatari to referee at a World Cup. He has also refereed New Zealand a couple times since, in the 2-2 draw in Honiara against the Solomons in 2017, and in the scrappy 1-0 win over Tahiti in March this year. He was also fourth official for the Costa Rica match in June, so probably not a referee many of the players associate with fond memories. No player played all four of those matches, but Joe Bell played in three.
Of the match in 2015, which USA U20s won 4-0 at North Harbour, Carter-Vickers started, as did Kellyn Acosta, while Shaq Moore was an unused sub that day. Both Moore and Acosta came off the bench against Iran this morning. Beating the 2017 cohort, 11 of the 14 used by NZ that day are fully capped All Whites.
The referee for that game at North Harbour? Mr. Antonio Mateu Lahoz, who was, of course, the referee for today's game between USA and Iran. Amazing stuff.
The Welsh certainly didn't look like they were playing with nothing to lose. Would be disappointed as a Welsh fan.
England criticism is a bit over top... they were playing a team that was content with sitting back and defending. Sure enough once they broke through the flood gates opened. And look what happens when Southgate actually starts picking his best attackers...
USA deserved to go through. That's one of the most tense games I've felt - both sets of fans probably not used to that situation!
Is it a FIFA or an FA rule that players should get a yellow for asking for VAR? Farcical moments near the end culminating in one of Iran's players letting the ball run out while signalling for VAR. Mind you I thought the ref managed it well.
the wording of the relevant law is ... excessively showing the "TV signal" for a VAR ‘review’