ExiledAjax

Organisationally it remains abhorrent, but yeh I'd say about half the matches have been brilliant, and that's enough for me.

Nah. This is a great day. Wales pretty much out, Qatar out. Planets aligning for further good times tonight. Relax, enjoy it.

See below. Agreed, but also silly that Oceania don't get at least one fixed spot. I accept that this is changing with the expansion to 48 teams, but in my opinion there's room in 32 for a team from Oceania.

Or where there's not a single representative from Oceania. Yes New Zealand may not be world beaters, but surely every continent should get at least one spot.

All that money, all those years, Xavi, Tim Cahill, all that global scouting and farming players at the "Aspire Academy"...and your team is done over by Enner Valencia and Big Fammy Diedhiou. What a scene.

1 in 3.

Nope they sang. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63753096

JP making up for all that Semenyo Bath City chat last night

But weird watching Brasil playing the counter attack. Serbia look solid, dependable, unimaginative, reliable. No bad thing really but they'll need a spark from somewhere. Didn't Tadic once play an absolute blinder in a Champions League game? Swear he scored 4 in a game or something like that.

Technically not on the pitch at the same time as Cristiano Ronaldo, but I understand the sentiment.

The guy doing it has to be either Gas or a Bath fan. Every mention of Semenyo has been about how he played for Bath. Not a mention of the fact he a) was on loan from us when there and b) plays for us. Edit: Southport FC fan apparently, so knows Semenyo through non-league. Basically Gas then.

Subs working well here

At least Semenyo has now seen first hand what you have to do to get a penalty. Hopefully he can explain it to our squad when he gets back and we might finally get one in the new year.

Yeh I thought the Ghanaian got the ball there.

Hope Jonathan Pearce is doing Comms for this one It's ITV.

10/1 on for Kim as first scorer

I think if Cameroon can find their finishing boots they've got a goal in them. Mbuemo and Choupo-Moting look lively and dangerous when running at the Swiss defence. Just need to find the finish to beat Sommer.

Yeh it's pretty bad. When they're up the shady end it's pretty nigh on impossible for me. The socks help a little yes.

I presume the build up to Portugal v Ghana will focus on Semenyo. Cannot think of any other players in that game who have made any kind of news worth discussing recently.

Group F is absolutely anyone's for the taking after those four performances.

That goal is what spider-cam was made for.

Great route one free kick.

That will presumably be a report of the market capitalisation of their listing on the New York Stock Exchange. But, that listing is only of a small % of the total shares in the club. The vast majority of the shares in Manchester United PLC are unlisted shares held by the Glazers. They therefore are not reflected in that public market valuation. In a sale the unlisted shares can be valued at whatever the Glazers can get for them. Thus an overall valuation of £9bn is not unreasonable when the small % of listed shares (somewhere around 10-20%) is valued at £2bn.

I think your viewpoint has great merit. However, I also think that we are now in a position where it could be considered romantic to the point of idealistic. You quite rightly make the case for broadcasters to reassess their presentation of refereeing. However, I don't think it is realistic to expect broadcasters and pundits to redress their commentary in order to promote the positive referring decisions over the negative. I don't thin human nature takes us that way, I don't think the high stakes of international tournament football take us that way, and honestly I don't think the intellectual capacity of your average football pundit takes us that way. Whether contractually obliged to do so or not, I don't think Roy Keane or Ashley Williams are going to stick to a "balanced" presentation of refereeing decisions. Thus my earlier post started from an assumption that VAR will not be scrapped. I don't think it will realistically be completely scrapped, but I do think it could be reformed. My suggestion for that reform is a two-tier system of Laws, with each tier tailored to the tools that a referee at that level has at his disposal. Yes that would create a two-tier system, but I'd argue that we are already in that situation because referees at high-level football have very different tools available to them. Football needs to be a little bit adventurous in order to resolve this issue. I think it needs to critically assess it's fundamental structures - and that includes a proper assessment of the Laws and their current fitness for purpose.