Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I was promised a recession.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

Optimism opens the door to great things.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You are here: Home / Sports / Tuesday Afternoon World Cup Open Thread: Wales vs England / Iran vs United States

Tuesday Afternoon World Cup Open Thread: Wales vs England / Iran vs United States

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Wales vs England

The Independent:

… England have won their last six matches against Wales – including in the group stages of Euro 2016.

Wales have not beaten England since 1984 but must do so again if they are to progress to the last 16, and hope that Iran and the USA draw.

England are all but through. They will win Group B if they beat Wales, or draw as long as both Iran and the USA also drop points. Gareth Southgate’s side will even advance with a three-goal defeat to Wales…

========

Iran vs United States

SportsMole:

After keeping their World Cup hopes alive by defeating Wales dramatically on Friday, Iran face an impressive USA side at the Al Thumama Stadium on Tuesday, with three points enough to take either team through to the knockout stages.

Team Melli looked like a different team against Rob Page’s men to the one that was thrashed by England in their opening game, whereas the Stars and Stripes will be rueing missed chances that forced them to share the points with the Three Lions last time out.

Iran seemed to be back to the performance levels that earned them a place at the World Cup during the 2-0 victory over Wales, with any ideas of Team Melli being the whipping boys of the group after a heavy defeat to England swiftly banished thanks to late goals from Roozbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian…

Despite not being able to return maximum points from any of their two opening games at this tournament, Gregg Berhalter’s USA side have shown they are set to be a new prospect in international football with a young crop of energetic and athletic stars.

After decades of Americans competing at the top level in Europe being a rare sight, 10 such players donned the stars and stripes on Friday night and overran England for large parts of the encounter, with only poor finishing preventing Berhalter’s men from earning their first World Cup win over the Three Lions since 1950…

What really stood out for USA was their athleticism and sharpness compared to their English counterparts, with full-backs Sergino Dest and Fulham’s Antonee Robinson providing pace on the wings whilst Tyler Adams kept Jude Bellingham and Mason Mount under wraps in the midfield.

A knockout tie with either Netherlands, Ecuador or Senegal awaits Berhalter’s side should they defeat Iran on Tuesday, and if the Stars and Stripes can find their ruthlessness in front of goal they could be a real threat to the elite nations in the latter stages of this competition.

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  2. 2.

    JML

    It’s tough when you need a win and the other team only needs a draw. especially when the other team prefers playing a low block and doesn’t care about possession.

  4. 4.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Tried to turn on the US-Iran game for my folks. Problem is, the World Cup is being broadcast exclusively on the Greek TV station ANT1 (pronounced “Antenna”; the pun is left as an exercise for the reader) and they decided to broadcast England-Wales instead…

  8. 8.

    JML

    Huge goal for the US. Lovely header by Dest and a brilliant and brave finish by Pulisic, who really paid for it.

  11. 11.

    pajaro

    what happened at the end of the half?  did they var the apparent goal or just rely on the linesman?

  12. 12.

    HumboldtBlue

    That last goal did not look close to being offside. Also, the obligatory fuck FIFA, the corrupt fucks.

    That was a very good half, good pressure, the midfield is excellent again, and they have been working that Iranian right back hard, keep that pressure up, all the US success has come down that left side.

    Pulisic is off, that is a loss.

  13. 13.

    JML

    @HumboldtBlue: I’ll admit, I thought that live that he was off by a lot. only on replay did it look close. A bit unlucky. Wouldn’t have minded a review, but very close.

  14. 14.

    HumboldtBlue

    @JML:

    Reviews are automatic and I still haven’t seen a replay, didn’t watch halftime.

    Musah’s footwork, to die for.

  18. 18.

    JML

    @pajaro: they apparently used their automatic offsides review technology but didn’t ask the ref to review it using VAR.

    On review, it was damn close? but Fox didn’t do the “draw a line on the field and show it” replay, so hard to say how close

  20. 20.

    Geminid

    Iranian star player Voria Ghafouri was left off the World Cup team and then arrested last week for “insulting the national soccer team and propagandizing against the state.” He had recently spoken against the violent crackdown on the protests over the murder of Mahsa Amini, a fellow Kurd.

    Ghafouri was released on bail some hours before today’s game.

    Ghafouri, who was not chosen to go to the World Cup, has been an outspoken critic of the Iranian authorities throughout his career. He objected to a longstanding ban on woman spectators as well as Iran’s confrontational foreign policy, which has led to crippling Western sanctions.

    Times of Israel Nov.29.

    Athletes are some of the few popular figures in Iranian society. They are not immune from the regime’s repression though. Perhaps to prove this, last year authorities hanged a former member of the national judo team for his role in the “Bloody November” protests of 2019.

    The national soccer team members will not be untouchable, but I think their fame will pose a particular danger to the Islamic Republic.

  32. 32.

    JML

    wow. what a match. got awfully tense, especially when 9 minutes of extra time became 11.

    US deserved the win. Had better attacking chances and converted a beauty of a goal. Hope pullisic is ok: that’s about as direct a nut shot as you’ll ever see. No idea how he was able to come back on for even a few minutes.

    On to the Netherlands (who look vulnerable to me)!

  35. 35.

    Scout211

    @JML: Well, the official injury report is that he had an “abdominal injury.”  I tried to find any new updates on his injury online and found an article with the headline, “No Christian Pulisic did not injure his dick!” All the reports are all saying abdomen injury but no updates yet on recovery needed for his kick to the uh, abdomen.

  38. 38.

    Alison Rose

    @Scout211: LOL, there was a player this morning I think who got a foot to the junk. I’ve seen some pretty horrific injuries in soccer matches, but even as someone without a penis, those ones definitely make me cringe a bit in sympathy.

  39. 39.

    Burnspbesq

    Any Iranian player not planning to defect isn’t thinking clearly. They don’t have a glorious victory over the Great Satan to protect them from the consequences of not singing the national anthem before the England match.

  40. 40.

    WeimarGerman

    Musah should get MOTM. Adams was his usual rock solid self.

    I really wish Berhalter would not park the bus for the last 20m and try to hang on.  It nearly bit them in the collective ass with a couple near PKs and free kicks.

    Adding Zimmerman to play in the back 3 was good as his fresh legs had him clear many crosses. Haji Wright was awful where Yedlin or Gio Reyna could have added some possession and perhaps a 2nd goal.

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