FIFA World Cup 2026
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4 members have voted
June 27th, 2026 at 4:56:23 PM
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Quote: DRichQuote: SOOPOOQuote: toolypShame! Matches in gameday #3 are fake. Both teams play for a tie to advance. Mockery of a competition. FIFA should find a way to avoid such situations. hit the cheaters with big fines.
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Cha Ching for those that took advantage of that knowledge.
Also, the teams not playing their best players! France did and Norway didn’t. The USA put in their scrubs against Turkey.
Expanding to 48 teams was only about $$$. 72 games to eliminate 16 bottom feeders. A zero-zero tie is considered a great result for many teams. Anyone taking Cape Verde over Argentina?
Fun fact. Praia is the capital of the small island nation. Only real ‘city’ (over 100k people) in Cape Verde. So you would expect it to have more players on the national team from there than any other city. You’d be wrong. There are six ROTTERDAM born players…. Only 4 from Praia….
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I bet someone $10 I could point out Cape Verde on a map, within 1000 miles, and lost. I thought it was off the coast of Africa, in the southern Indian Ocean.
Interesting fact: There are weekly direct flights between Providence Rhode Island and Praia Cape Verde.
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The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
June 27th, 2026 at 5:01:48 PM
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Quote: billryan[
I bet someone $10 I could point out Cape Verde on a map, within 1000 miles, and lost. I thought it was off the coast of Africa, in the southern Indian Ocean.
I only knew it was further north than that because it is only about a 6.5 hour flight from Providence.
You can't know everything, but you can know anything.
June 27th, 2026 at 5:06:20 PM
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Quote: DRichQuote: billryan[
I bet someone $10 I could point out Cape Verde on a map, within 1000 miles, and lost. I thought it was off the coast of Africa, in the southern Indian Ocean.
I only knew it was further north than that because it is only about a 6.5 hour flight from Providence.
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I didn't even get the ocean right.
The older I get, the better I recall things that never happened
June 27th, 2026 at 5:26:31 PM
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Quote: DRichQuote: billryan[
I bet someone $10 I could point out Cape Verde on a map, within 1000 miles, and lost. I thought it was off the coast of Africa, in the southern Indian Ocean.
I only knew it was further north than that because it is only about a 6.5 hour flight from Providence.
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Oh wow an american who is proud of his own ignorance. Like a 4 year old celebrating he just shat himself.
June 27th, 2026 at 5:43:12 PM
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Quote: billryanQuote: GenoDRPhQuote: SOOPOOQuote: toolypShame! Matches in gameday #3 are fake. Both teams play for a tie to advance. Mockery of a competition. FIFA should find a way to avoid such situations. hit the cheaters with big fines.
link to original post
Cha Ching for those that took advantage of that knowledge.
Also, the teams not playing their best players! France did and Norway didn’t. The USA put in their scrubs against Turkey.
Expanding to 48 teams was only about $$$. 72 games to eliminate 16 bottom feeders. A zero-zero tie is considered a great result for many teams. Anyone taking Cape Verde over Argentina?
Fun fact. Praia is the capital of the small island nation. Only real ‘city’ (over 100k people) in Cape Verde. So you would expect it to have more players on the national team from there than any other city. You’d be wrong. There are six ROTTERDAM born players…. Only 4 from Praia….
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No different than when a MLB teams sets their rotation after making the playoffs and rosters expand to 40 players. No different than when a NFL coach pulls his starters after making the playoffs. WC teams played their best players in the early games, which is why they won and qualified for the knock-out rounds with 1 or 2 games left to play. Win early, make the knock out rounds, rest the key players for health and/or yellow card reasons and go in to the next round fully loaded and ready to go. As a fan, I'd rather see my team win early and make the playoffs than have them struggle and press to have to win game 4 to earn the last seed. The teams earned the right to rest their starters. As for the ticket buying fan, they bought tickets to see their team compete, not to see any one player or players.
I assume your expanded pool objections also apply to NCAA D1 basketball, wild card MLB teams, the possible expansion of NCAA D1 football playoffs.
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One big difference is that people are paying playoff prices for the tickets, and a non-base television audience is watching what is advertised as the world's best.
I'd argue the fans bought tickets to see the team that won its way into the tournament, not their understudies.
In any event, we are now in the knockout stage so its pedal to the medal from here on out.
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People pay full price for MLB games in Sept and Oct when the rosters expand to 40 and the other teams are eliminated. And the ballpark is sold out anyway. People pay full price when the NFL team locks up the number 3 seed and rests their starters. And the stadium is sold out regardless. Let my team win big, early and often and coast in to the next round.
