[themaclad]

As it says a months televisual extravaganza on watching s***e games from the pit of ones armchair remember it's a marathon not a sprint. It will be testing

[Devongone]

Live football for everyone, not just Sky and BT square-eyes to watch. Players of 32 nationalities. Some of the best players in the world. You get Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Spain, but there's Costa Rica and Egypt too.

Okay there's nothing as miraculous watching Preston marooned mid-table, or Chesterfield heading out of the League and into whole different perspective on the pyramid from Mo Salah. But there's no Sepp Blatter and after Russia n'Qatar the whole thing might even take place in a realistic venue. Eventually an African nation might realistcally compete, soon someone will take advantage of Germany's lack of a forward, and who knows the Spanish might stop looking after the ball and essay a random effort on goal ........

Stop being such a curmudgeon, get pissed in your armchair. Buy some Salcombe Gin. This has to be better then Poldark or Keith Lemon. Maybe Japan won't be incredibly boring this time round, maybe Messi won't funk it and Ronaldo will keep his shirt on. Maybe Dele Alli will rip the whole place up. Maybe Uruguay will show their skill and attack, maybe the French will roll more than their r's. Maybe Germany will be disorganised. Maybe Jack Butland will turn into a goalkeeper.

What's the alternative? A re-run of a re-run of a celebrity edition of Pointless in which you still only recognise three of the celebrities despite having seen it twice before.

Celebrate! It's miles better than Brexit. At least we don't have to ask Mrs May what it means!

[themaclad]

Preston mid table I'll be consulting my lawyers over that one, will miss a few due to work and cricket but there will be some decent games until we get to the knock out stages then it's safely first but we shall see

[themaclad]

Easy for Russia once the first went in, Saudi some decent football except in either box, impressed with the Argentinian referee let the game flow. Some decent goals as well

Russia 5 Saudi Arabia 0

No VAR either
Glen Hoddle did what he does best depress everyone

[themaclad]

Morocco 0 Iran 1 last minute own goal settles poor game and with it my first bet of the tournament goes down the tubes

[St Charles Owl]

First half wasn't bad but the second half was awful!!

[themaclad]

Spain 3 Portugal 3
Where do you start, Christiano staggering although did get some help from the dodgy pony tail in the Spanish net, the free kick was always destined for the back of the net. Spain once they got going were tremendous the first was a great strike by Costa although Pepe going down in a heap was a joy to see, but the build up to the third and the finish by Nacho majestic.
Safe to say the six countries who played before this game have just seen their chances of winning the trophy reduce dramatically

[St Charles Owl]

Cracking game and what a free kick to level it. Ronaldo doesn't do a lot for the team as a whole but thats why he is in there, clinical with the chances he got!!

[themaclad]

Croatia 2 Nigeria 0
Did have it on but to be honest doing other things at the same time so didn't take a lot of interest in it. Can't remember who said an African side will win the World Cup soon, doubt whether one will ever win it, just not good enough and never will be

[Lord Snooty]

It was a poor game to end the day. Danny Baker tweeted that the day had been a festival of football, but they were finishing it off with a Coldplay tribute act.