World Cup 2022

These are some sweaty Serbians.

Not seeing any brilliance yet from Brazil. But thatā€™s usually the case, so pretty normal. But I hadnā€™t seen Brazil play for 4 years so you never know if something different is going to happen.

Thereā€™s a bit from Richarlison. He needs to work on his knee slide though.

They appear to be making up for it now. What a goal!

Yeah that was beautiful.

RICHY!!!

That was some goal. Possibly this World Cupā€™s best goal, and in the first round. Wow.

I really love the energy by Iran and Wales today. At least in this first half. Nothing like facing elimination to make teams play more attacking football. Especially Iran.

Right after I typed that, Wales took over the ball, effectively for the rest of the first half.

Oh man, two Iran strikes on the posts just now. Jeez. How unlucky are they?

Iranā€™s strikers looking winded now. Theyā€™ve been running non stop so far, very high energy, but they seem to be running out of fuel now maybe? I wonder if they have good subs waiting?

Finally they have started doing short corners, Iran. Welsh players are so much taller, they should have been doing that from the beginning.

Welsh goalkeeper sent off, playing with 10 men now. Iran just missed a great chance though. I donā€™t think a win is in the cards for them today despite good effort.

It doesnā€™t look to me like the Wales goalie was doing anything other than trying to kick the ball. Is this just a case where high-kicking is such a no-no that heā€™s going to get a red card no matter the intent?

I donā€™t think intent matters. At least, thatā€™s what one of the commentators said last week, that they canā€™t judge intent, just actions.

Wow, Iran finally scores.

With Wales finally pressing for an attack, a counterattack ends up with a second goal for Iran.

Good for Iran, though the circumstances are sad for Wales.

I presume it was originally a foul for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity rather than violent conduct. The Iranian player gets a late touch on the ball that leaves Hennessey swinging at thin air.

The fact that it was a yellow at first makes me think the Ref saw it as a foul with a defender covering the goal and then VAR upgraded that to serious foul play.

Hennessey does look like Daniel-san trying to crane kick the ball out of the stadium.

Was just thinking this. If Wales are this bad against Iran, how bad must USA be to draw against them. I think England going to smash USA 10-0.

The U.S. played pretty poorly in the second half of their game. If they can play like they played in the first half, I think thereā€™s a possibility of getting a tie against England. I was just thinking, can they get through with 3 ties? Thatā€™s 3 points. If England beats Iran, I think the 3 points from 3 ties is enough to get the U.S. through.

Of course, that would mean actually getting the tie against England today, and weā€™ll soon see if that is possible. England played really sharp last week, I theyā€™re going to win today for sure.