[WakeyTerrier]

Fine margins make the difference, had Kane put that penalty away I'm convinced we would've gone on to win that game. By the way what planet was that ref on not giving that in the first place.

The whole experience has been fantastic. The Welcome given by the locals, the ex pats and all the migrant workers and volunteers nothing short of warm and welcoming. Happy and proud to be hosting the World cup.
Fans of all nations having a football party and all getting on together.
Transport to and from the ground pretty much spot on apart from the odd bus driver not knowing the way, I mean how do you miss a big massive tent shaped stadium in the middle of nowhere. Seriously though when we went to the West Bay bus hub before kick off there were 3 busses with fans boarding and another 39 all sat waiting to be called forward/ This scene was repeated all the other bus hubs and stadiums dotted around Doha. The Metro, clean and efficient. You never had to wait more than 2 minutes for a metro train which normally ran from 6am to 3am the following morning and by the way if you're a women all the locals get up to offer you the seat.
Stadiums, unfortunately we only managed 5 of the 8
Khalifa International Stadium
Al Thumama Stadium
Education City Stadium
Al Bayt Stadium
Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium
All fantastic stadiums, and all strangely over capacity when the crowds were announced. When we asked the ex pats about that they said when FIFA stipulated the minimum capacity's the Qatari's built them bigger but told FIFA they were the minimum that they had requested. All of them air conditioned, in fact our first visit to Education City was like a fridge on the concourse and cold in the seating area's, we couldn't wait to leave. The only ground we felt hot was the Khalifa which has a lack of cover.
Accommodation, ok we payed a premium and stayed in an apartment in the West Bay area and it was faultless. Very good standard with helpful staff but from speaking to other in lesser accommodation they were all happy with what they had got.
Food and drink, despite what everyone was told you could get a beer in a lot of hotel bars but it's expensive. Food was good too and it could be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. From the Chicken Shawarma guy on the corner for £3.70 to the expensive Steakhouse £50 plus. Friday is the start of the weekend and so hotel bars/restaurants offer a Friday brunch deal. Either all you can eat or drink or both. Did it twice during our stay and on both occasions had to go lie down afterwards because I'd eaten and drank so much my belly hurt.

Would i recommend Qatar as a place to go on Holiday...probably not right now.
Would I recommend going on a cruise around the middle east that involves a couple of days stopping in Doha...yes
Would I recommend having a stopover in Doha for a couple of days enroute to/from holidays...yes

[Devongone]

Kante has been fit so little recently the best he could ever have hoped for was the bench. Pogba seems to be closing in on a Dele Alli decline and wouldn't have made the squad for fear of him doing a Ronaldo. Benzema would be a loss to anyone but he's heading towards ancient. The other Hernandez had to do better than his bro', doing worse just wasn't on. Nkunku does look like a real loss, on the scale of a Reece James. Him for Dembele could be a game changer. Kimpembe has been struggling to keep Upmecano out of the team anyway, who shouldn't be judged on the England game. I don't think their record recently suggests any French XI would be much better than England at the moment.

Having watched Unai Simon keep goal for Spain I begin to see why Bounou was rated best keeper in Spain. De Gea or Raya would have been better bets. Unfortunately coaches are now selecting keepers on who can do a Cruyff turn, rather than who can catch.

Here's a question, has ANY Manchester City player had a decent World Cup?

A second question, have France looked good against anyone other than a bunch of red-faced Aussie triers yelling strewth mate?

[ritchiebaby]

Glad you enjoyed it, Wakey, and your opinions have re-inforced mine from 3 years ago.

[0762]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/fifa-wor...400ae6ff9f

That theory makes sense, a risk worth taking by Luis Enrique! I also think FIFA already know who the winner of the World Cup actually is and I base that cynical view on the highly questionable VAR-dodgy ref-FIFA reticence antics of the past three days incl today. The words "match-fixing" have arisen on a number of random occasions from different footie contacts. Over a week ago, I previously asked, "Who will be the next casualty of this highly questionable system of ref officiation"? That view is still strong after viewing a form of refereeing that can have a huge bearing on a team winning or losing a footie match and a legitimate goal can be dismissed by eg offside by millimetres, an insult to the whole integrity of the sport of footie. Some of this dodgy officiation is downright embarrassing TBF!!

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/fifa-wor...fbcc485542

Netizens and suspect decision-making; hmmm, curious eh!

PLUS

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/fifa-wor...e2ab6de81e

FIFA's dream World Cup final eh!!

[Devongone]

You want to come second in your group so you win your first game scoring seven and then in the game you need to lose you go a goal up.

If you believe that there's a guy in Nigeria who needs your bank details so he can transfer £3,000,000 into your account and you'll be able to collect the interest that accrues whilst it rests there for 3 months until his Uncle who is a Prince, comes over to visit you. He's a nice guy but he uses a few strange sounding phrases.

I bet FIFA could hardly wait to have a nation of 4 million people, none of whom is apparently a goal-scoring forward, in their semi final with a chance of grabbing another 0-0 and winning on penalties (on which the referee usually allows their keeper to break the rules anyway!)

[theo_luddite]

Talk about milking it, 45 minutes after the penalties finished they get round to giving out the medals and whatever the (a)trophy is called these days in Doha. That's almost as long on average as it takes Town to have a shot on target.