FIFA World Cup of Horrors

[Yespage]

Mexico takes on South Africa to open the World Cup Final (it is called the Final... this just isn't the World Cup Final... Final). The tournament has been plagued with rife malfeasance as FIFA has been committing all sorts of fraud with the ticket sales. Hotel rooms have gone unfilled as the prices to attend a game and stay somewhere are through the roof. I swear this is impacting Mansfield, OH hotel rates which are higher than average for the Indycar race. And there is a broadening VAR presence which will ruin things as nothing worse now when scoring a goal and knowing you can't quite celebrate yet as they check to see if a player was offside by a pixel a half-hour ago.

The Group Stage used to mean something, but now 32 of the 48... yeah, 48 teams are going to the Knockout Round. Getting into the Knockout Round used to be a big deal, even for the US. But now... if you don't lose all of your group stage games, you get to move on. Oi! And this is avoiding all the political stuff!

I have never been so unexcited for a World Cup before. Every game used to matter. But FIFA be darned if they don't try to squeeze out every dime they can out of the players, refs, and fans.

 

[osu1991]

I have no interest in watching it this year.

 

[Yespage]

Mexico resolvingly man handle South Africa. Three red cards. I think the second one was a bit soft, more like a very cynical yellow.

The US play Paraguay today, which to me is the critical game for this group stage. Paraguay is currently 40ish in the FIFA rankings. Their friendlies since qualification have been mixed, but they come out of South America, so, they can't be ignored.

The US team is ranked 17th. I'm uncertain why. They are 2-0-3 in their last five games.

A win for the US would be critical as it would be a message that they kind of belong in the tournament. We'll be finding out if Pochettino was indeed the right manager for this squad. He has done well with higher end mid-majors.

 

[Ilya]

Goaaaal!!! ️

1 : 0 USA

2 : 0

3 : 0 in the first half!

 

[Yespage]

In control for about 95% of the half. A good start.

A shame FIFA made these games 95% less dramatic. Heck, a 3-0 win should get them to knockout round on its own.

 

[telstar_1]

Surprising Paraguay made it into the country. I mean given all the parasites there

 

[Ilya]

4 : 1 final score!
What a great game!

 

[Yespage]

Biggest surprise of game was what appeared to be more empty seats than one would expect for a US home game.

 

[Jimbo]

Biggest surprise of game was what appeared to be more empty seats than one would expect for a US home game.

Well, when prices are Beyond Ridiculous ...

Your comments about the Group Stage ... I'm hoping that College Football doesn't end up looking like that ... a few more expansions ...


Go USA

 

[osu1991]

I don't think empty seats is surprise to very people.

 

[harshness]

I don't think empty seats is surprise to very people.

That depends on where they get their "news".

 

[Yespage]

I don't think empty seats is surprise to very people.

For the US game, it is still surprising. Not as surprising as Australia beating Turkey or Scotland being ties in points with Brazil, but I didn't expect empty seats for US games.

 

[harshness]

but I didn't expect empty seats for US games.

You probably didn't understand what the impact of "flexible pricing" (institutional scalping?) would be.

It is what you get from a system where they model revenues based not on filling the seats, but on what the traffic is projected to bear.

Everything has become a "campaign dinner".

 

[TRG]

A friend of mine and his wife went to see the USA vs Parguay match in LA. He paid $3,000 X2 for tickets.

 

[Yespage]

Germany smacks "Curacao".
Netherlands and Japan put on a classic second half of a match.
Sweden blow past Tunisia.
Qatar under criminal investigation for stealing a point in a match they were completely outplayed by Switzerland.
Massive yellow shirt Ecuador supporting crowd disappointed in end as Ivory Coast is able to manage a late strike. It is always tough in these games. You really want both of them to take home three points, for their fans, their efforts, their nations who don't have remotely what we have.

 

[Yespage]

You probably didn't understand what the impact of "flexible pricing" (institutional scalping?) would be.

I would have assumed they would have shifted tactics when it wasn't working well. But FIFA gonna FIFA apparently. Crowd looked full for Ecuador v Ivory Coast in Philly.

A friend of mine and his wife went to see the USA vs Parguay match in LA. He paid $3,000 X2 for tickets.

I have Fox One for Indycar. I don't know if I would have paid $20 a month for the Fox One stream (as nice as it does look) to watch the US game. Forget thousands of dollars.

 

[harshness]

I would have assumed they would have shifted tactics when it wasn't working well.

"Well" is tied to revenue, and that doesn't necessarily equate to eyeballs.

I would guess that most of us would subscribe to a theory that the better their exposure, the bigger they'll win in the long haul.

Unfortunately, in today's climate, it is all about manipulating the market rather than having an eye on the future. Just pray that more sports commissioners don't have interactions with a certain world figure.

 

[Foxbat]

Say what you will, watching Messi and the rest of Argentina get past Algeria was some good foosball! I'm glad I didn't miss that.

 

[Yespage]

England v Croatia was quite entertaining. Not much in the way of upsets for 3 points in the first slate of games, but a number of unexpected draws for nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Cabo Verde.

 

[TRG]

Oh the humanity!!!

Scotland fans drink Boston dry as local bars run out of beer

The parent company of Sam Adams said its Boston Taproom ran out of the brand's flagship Boston Lager over the weekend because Scotland soccer fans drank four times as much as it typically sells.

www.espn.com