Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Their freedom requires your slavery.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

The revolution will be supervised.

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

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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

You are here: Home / Sports / Friday Afternoon World Cup Open Thread: Cameroon vs Brazil / Serbia vs Switzerland

Friday Afternoon World Cup Open Thread: Cameroon vs Brazil / Serbia vs Switzerland

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Cameroon vs Brazil



SportsMole:

Cameroon are faced with the difficult prospect of needing to beat Brazil at the Lusail Iconic Stadium to progress to the knockout stages of the World Cup on Friday.

Having picked up just one point from their first two games, the Indomitable Lions must win and hope for either a draw, or for Serbia to beat Switzerland by a one-goal margin in the other game in Group G, while Selecao only need a point to finish top.

Cameroon kicked off the group stage with a 1-0 defeat to Switzerland, with Breel Embolo scoring the only goal of the game against the country of his birth, in the eighth straight World Cup defeat for the African side.

The Indomitable Lions did create chances, registering as many shots on target as their opponents, but they came up just short, meaning they had to get at least a point in their second match, against Serbia.

Despite at one point looking like they were heading for an early exit from the tournament, Rigobert Song’s side fought back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game up at 3-3, after Jean-Charles Castelletto had initially opened the scoring…

As expected, Brazil have booked their place in the round of 16, winning their first two games at the World Cup for the first time since 2010, in which they reached the quarter-final.

Selecao are yet to concede a goal in the tournament, kicking off with a 2-0 victory against Serbia, in which Tottenham Hotspur striker Richarlison bagged a second-half brace to wrap up the three points…

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Serbia vs Switzerland

SportsMole:

Serbia face Switzerland at Stadium 974 in their final Group G game on Friday, with the Eagles knowing that they need to win to stand any chance of progressing to the knockout stages.

A point is likely to be enough for second-placed Nati, as long as Cameroon fail to beat Brazil in the other remaining game in the group.

Serbia still have a fighting chance of progressing to the knockout stages, but they will be disappointed not to be in a better position heading into the final game.

In the opener, the Eagles fell to an expected defeat against Brazil, managing to hold the star-studded side off for quite some time, but a second-half Richarlison brace ensured that they took nothing from the match…

Switzerland are in a very good position to progress to the knockout stages, courtesy of a 1-0 victory against Cameroon in their first game in Group G…

Casemiro struck late to deny Murat Yakin’s side an important point, but they are still in a very strong position at present, only needing to avoid defeat, unless Cameroon beat Brazil.

However, Ecuador were in the same position as Switzerland on Tuesday, as they only needed to avoid a defeat against Senegal to secure progression, which should serve as a reminder to Yakin’s players that there is still work to be done.

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22Comments

  2. 2.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Alison Rose:

    Xerdhan Shaqiri (former Liverpool player known as “the Cube” because of his physical build) and Granit Xaka, both of whom play for the Swiss and both of whom are the children of Albanian and Kosovan families forced to flee because of Serbian aggression, are two good reasons to cheer for the holey cheese guys.

  3. 3.

    Omnes Omnibus

    The Swiss have some players with Kosovar backgrounds which could make that game interesting.

  4. 4.

    HumboldtBlue

    Speaking of Serbian aggression, they have had all the chances so far, barring that immediate chance from the Swiss at the start of the match.

  5. 5.

    HumboldtBlue

    THE CUBE!!!!!

    What a counter, what a run by Rodriguez.

    It seems either the CIA or Dr. Fauci have been busy ahead of tomorrow’s match with the Dutch.

    It seems that the flu has also hit the Dutch camp (after the Brazilian one) before their World Cup round-of-16 match tomorrow. They won’t say how many players are sick, but it appears all-important playmaker Frenkie de Jong is among them.

    And the Serbs answer.

    With South Korea’s win, all the countries that lost out to Qatar (USA, Australia, Japan, Korea as detailed in the Netflix doc “FIFA Uncovered”) for the 2022 World Cup have advanced.

    Two for the Serbs.

  11. 11.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Alison Rose:

    The Pittsburgh Penguins?

    And if you want some supplemental info on international soccer, check out Becoming Champions on Netflix. It documents how teams like Brazil, Germany, France and Italy became world Cup champs, helluva history lesson.

  16. 16.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Alison Rose:

    Was talking with a sportswriter friend yesterday, and we discussed the extraordinary changes we’ve seen in international soccer since 1998.

    It used to be the minnows would lose by scores of 4-0, 5-1, and one of the big boys would always win out. Slowly but surely that gap has closed to the point where Japan, the US, Morocco and Senegal have all advanced to the second round and Germany, Mexico and Italy (obvs) have not.

    The change is happening, and that’s down mostly to the fact that the best international players train and play in Europe and along with better infrastructure, training and resources at home, they have vastly improved while Germany has failed to make it out of the group stage for two cycles now and Italy hasn’t even made the Cup for two consecutive cycles.

    One of the big boys will most likely win this time around, but in eight years we could see a much different power ranking.

  21. 21.

    HumboldtBlue

    If the Swiss had scored once more, they would have won the group on goal differential.

    Great match for the first 65 minutes, and Shaqiri joins Ronaldo and Messi as the only players to have scored in the past three World Cups.

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