Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Republicans in disarray!

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Good lord, these people are nuts.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

This blog will pay for itself.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

I was promised a recession.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

You are here: Home / Open Threads / World Cup Open Thread, Day 3, Morning Games

Reader Interactions

48Comments

  3. 3.

    tobie

    I’m in Germany but I will be rooting for Mexico when they play Germany on Sunday. It’s an amazing year when Australia and Iceland qualify and Italy and the Netherlands don’t.

  4. 4.

    Alain the site fixer

    Anyone else enjoying the Volkswagen ads imploring Americans to support other teams? Clever idea!

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    @tobie:
    When Australia were in the Oceania confederation they always qualified for the World Cup. They had professional players, up against teams from small island nations, consisting of part-timers and amateurs. I believe they hold the World Cup record for margin of victory in a qualifying match, something like 40-0. They have since joined the Asian Football Confederation, where the better teams are more on their level.

  6. 6.

    tobie

    @Amir Khalid: I know the Aussies are sports-obsessed but 40-0 is a crazy margin of victory in football. Glad Australia has been placed in a more appropriate geographical league. Viel Spass beim Anschauen der Spiele!

  10. 10.

    Amir Khalid

    @tobie:
    You have to consider the vast difference in standard between the Socceroos and their opponents at the time.

  11. 11.

    Steeplejack

    Greetings, fellow fútbol fans and curious drop-ins!

    One of the interesting things about this World Cup is how spread out it is. Matches in the usual Russian cities, of course, but also in, for example, Sochi in the south, Saransk in Mordovia (Peru-Denmark, noon EDT today) and Kaliningrad (Croatia-Nigeria, 3:00 p.m. EDT today). This current match between France and Australia is in Kazan.

    The other match today is Argentina-Iceland at 8:00 a.m. EDT in Moscow. That game is on Fox. The others are on Fox Sports.

    Russia’s major “European” cities are six hours ahead of EDT. Kazan is seven hours ahead, so it’s just past 2:30 p.m. there now. The temp is a beautiful 66°, although mid- to high 70s is more typical now.

    This site has a pretty good map (click to embiggen), as well as links to the individual cities with slightly pufftastic descriptions. Note: Kaliningrad is out in the middle of nowhere on the map because it’s actually in a small enclave between Lithuania and Poland.

    I don’t have a pooch in this hunt, so I’ve been watching the matches just as a fan of the game. I’m sure I’ll be drawn to some plucky underdog team as the narrative progresses.

    Yesterday my hair cutter told me that a Korean barbecue place in Annandale is going to open early Monday morning for the 8:00 a.m. EDT match between Korea and Sweden. I’m semi-seriously thinking about going to that.

    I need to find a good roundup/​analysis of the different groups and the favored teams. I haven’t been paying much attention. I’ll report on what I find.

  12. 12.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Amir Khalid:

    31-0 against American Samoa in 2001.

    The Socceroos (yes, soccer) made it to Russia by the skin of their teeth. Their form hasn’t been impressive, but still we can always hope.

    The local game has been struggling against the more popular forms of football, a decent result (even 2-1 loss) against France would be just what they need to generate some interest in the game.

  13. 13.

    Platonailedit

    Aussies are playing football, rugby and cricket matches, all today. Talk about sports obsessed nation.

  14. 14.

    Tony Jay

    That second French goal seemed to take the wind out of Australia’s sails for a while, but they’re giving it a good go late on. 5 mins of injury time, all the Aussies need is one chance. France certainly haven’t impressed me in this game.

  18. 18.

    zhena gogolia

    Please don’t tell me that’s a Ukrainian woman singing that she’s “united by love” with Mother Russia. I guess I have to watch it.

  19. 19.

    zhena gogolia

    @zhena gogolia:

    Okay, it’s an Uruguayan singer dressed as a kliukva-laden Russian woman singing in English, Spanish, and very weird Russian. Total kitsch but not as bad as I thought.

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    @Amir Khalid:

    It’s the Las Vegas version of Russian peasant festive clothing.

    ETA: I call it “kliukva,” which literally means “cranberry” but is used by Russians to mean “Russian folk kitsch.”

  22. 22.

    Steeplejack

    Just past 3:00 p.m. in Moscow as Argentina-Iceland gets started. Sunny, 74° and 32% humidity. Nice weather for the match.

  24. 24.

    Gin & Tonic

    @zhena gogolia: So the Cyrillic does get moderated. I thought that was fixed. Anyway, just compared the Russian and Ukrainian words for “cranberry” – which has nothing to do with fútbol, sorry, folks.

    Off to do yard chores.

  26. 26.

    Steeplejack

    Iceland looking pretty peppy. Tied it up only four minutes after Argentina scored.

  27. 27.

    HeleninEire

    I know ZERO about the World Cup. I was in work and asking my coworkers things like “that’s soccer, right?” No, stupid they said it’s football. Yeah, I said; soccer.

    Anyway I got Morocco in the pub pool. Didn’t pick them. You give your €15 and the teams are distributed at random.

    How did Morocco do in their first match v Iran? They lost 0-1. From an own goal. Moroccan player head butted the ball into his own goal.

    There’s a €100 prize for whoever has the worst team. Looks like I’m in the running.

    GO; WAIT – DON’T GO, MOROCCO.

  29. 29.

    Davey C

    I love the good-natured trolling of Americans that the Volkswagen commercials are doing.

  30. 30.

    Amir Khalid

    @HeleninEire:

    Moroccan player head butted the ball into his own goal.

    A little football terminology: the technique is called “heading”. The player headed the ball into his own net.

  32. 32.

    HeleninEire

    @Amir Khalid: LOL thanks. I don’t even know the name of the game but oh man am I gonna impress my coworkers on Monday when I say ‘headed” instead of “head buttted.”

  34. 34.

    Tony Jay

    This is looking like one hell of a result for Iceland. Holding Messi and Argentina to a draw is a big frigging deal. I remember them being defensively rock solid in the 2016 Euros but this is still very wow. Congrats, Vikings.

  35. 35.

    Alain the site fixer

    So happy for Iceland and damn Messi is just everywhere. I can’t wait to watch both teams play more!

  37. 37.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Gin & Tonic: only some Cyrillic is blocked, based on most common Cyrillic spam starting phrases. Use form to email me what’s blocked and I’ll see what I can do.

  38. 38.

    Amir Khalid

    And Iceland come away with a draw, thanks in part to Leo Messi making a mess of that penalty. Argentina will feel they let two points slip by. The winner of the Croatia-Nigeria match, if it is not a draw, is going to lead Group D.

  41. 41.

    Chet

    I just passed through Port Authority Bus Terminal in NY on my way home. The atrium had Argentina vs Iceland playing on a huge screen. Hundreds of people watching the game while waiting for their bus. Pretty fun.

    Living in the NYC area for the past 10 years has really changed how I feel about the World Cup. It’s fun to root for your country, or adopt one for a few weeks, or pull for the underdog (go Iceland!). Peripheral to the games, it’s just fun to celebrate the spectacle in a diverse community of people.

  42. 42.

    Victor Matheson

    Greatest sporting event in the world. Too bad FIFA is so terrible, but such is life.

  43. 43.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Something I want to bring up again since it’s a sign the media is feeding us a line of BS is that White House job fair. The press is nothing but endless stories of how beloved Trump is by REAL America, how they sit around in their non-coastal elite towns and sing Trump’s praises and yet, Trump’s administration is desperate to get people to apply to work for it. There is an obvious contradiction here and it’s worth keeping in mind. It means none of those MAMGA pig f**kers are willing to put their money were their mouth is and their “approval” of Trump is only sport like tribal thing and will only last as long as they see Trump as “winning”

  47. 47.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Alain the site fixer: I could be wrong, but I don’t think either the Russian or the Ukrainian words for “cranberry” are common spam terms. A couple of years ago, I used to be able to comment in Cyrillic text, but now I’m with gogol’s wife, nothing seems to go through.

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