Soccer is not allowed in my house. 
I have raised three boys to decent, honest young men, and am raising a six year old boy right now. 
Super-star soccer players generally, although highly paid and hero worshipped, are not good role models for young men, and the idea of getting rewarded for basically lying, does nothing to turn young boys into good men.

In my house we watch rugby, and quite a lot of women's rugby. 
Someone knocks you down, you get up and play on. 
That's the way of life, and after the game you shake hands and congratulate the winner, give a pat on the back and commiserations to the loser.

However, it was World Cup...and we live in Portugal.
So an exception was made and we watched quite a few of the  games.

By half-time in the first game we watched - I forget who was playing - my six year old was scornful and derisive of the game and the players. 
He said it was boring, and that the falling around clutching handbags and pearls seemed weird, given that we see female rugby players play hard, and simply get up again after some tough knocks, the same as the men do.
HerLoveliness remarked that it was no wonder that someone once picked up the ball and ran with it at a school in Rugby, England, in an attempt to make the game more exciting.

Since the final, which was a pretty good lesson in 'cheaters never prosper' for the wee man, he has not once asked to watch soccer. 

The game has been wrecked by corruption, poor refereeing, and a lack of consequences for dishonest actions on the field.
Its just showbusiness.

And FIFA are responsible for it's destruction.

Hunting for skeletons. Was his wife pregnant too at the time?

Deport this bald clown to Mar-a-Lago

 SeriousLee wrote:

 black321 wrote:

 black321 wrote:
The chaos is why the planet calls it football and treats it as a religion, not a product. Your list of items are features.  

The entire world has a set of principals they commit to, and Americans wanting to change them only proves to them that they're on to something bigger.

First time I've watched so much soccer, outside of when my kids played.
I found the mens sport to be frustrating to watch and could use some upgrading.
Start with clock management. No reason we cant stop the clock when play stops, and limit the arbitrariness of extra time.
More objective rules for yellow and especially red cards.
Why just one ref? Add one or shift more to technology.
Add of course, create some rules to reduce the ridiculous amount of embellishing, rolling around with fake injuries. eg, if you lie down on the field for more than 10 seconds, you are deemed hurt and must be substituted.

 Proclivities wrote:

Well, here he is trying to be included. National embarrassment. https://bsky.app/profile/mjfre...

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote:
Quite the coinkydink for sure.

ok, now this is downright spooky: that's Messi and Yamal is the baby.

 Proclivities wrote:
  hadn't thought of that, but, yes, that would be sweet.

 Proclivities wrote:

spain looked really good
in my mind they might be favored to win it all
but there are argentines in my orbit, and messi is miami's captain
so i'm going to support argentina
just hoping for a good game with a searing shoot out at the end

 Proclivities wrote:
I'm rooting for them all the way, even though $20billion of our tax money recently went to Argentina to prop up their soccer program. 

 black321 wrote:
If Spain were to win, it would be interestingly awkward to watch Trump present the trophy to their captain after calling Spain a "horror show", a "wasted cause", and a "terrible partner in NATO".

Ooof

 Zep wrote: So funny