Thanks Gooner 7. I'm quite sad that I missed it.

Those that can, are going off grid. Unfortunately, most can't afford it. In our case, there is always some other major expense that has priority.

It’s a new approach.

Chairman of Fifa’s referees committee Pierluigi Collina confirmed last week that fourth officials had been instructed to keep on top of the time lost during matches at the tournament in Qatar, something they had also tried to do at the previous World Cup in Russia in 2018.

“In Russia, we tried to be more accurate in compensating for time lost during games and that’s why you saw six, seven or even eight minutes added on,” he told reporters at a pre-tournament briefing.

“Think about it: if you have three goals in a half, you’ll probably lose four or five minutes in total to celebrations and the restart.”

The result of this new approach was a number of records being broken.

According to Opta, the four single halves with the most stoppage time in a single World Cup match since records began in 1966 were all on Monday:

England v Iran first half (14:08 minutes)
England v Iran second half (13:08)
USA v Wales second half (10:34)
Senegal v Netherlands second half (10:03)

Just got to love xG.

Saudi Arabia’s is 0.13 right now.

And they are 2-1 up against Argentina.

Wow, despite 14 minutes added time.

Argentina unbeaten for 3 years. 36 games. Till now.

The England team did well yesterday – that’s high praise for me. However, it occurred to me that it could have been quite a different team.

Raheem Sterling was born in Jamaica and came here at the age of 5. Bukayo Saka’s parents hadn't long been in London before he was born so he might easily have declared for Nigeria.

Rice and Grealish both started their international careers playing for Ireland at most levels up to U21s. Declan Rice actually played for Ireland’s senior team.

How are they viewed over there?

Kudos to Saudi Arabia, they played the second half with lots of drive
Every player played out of their skin to deny Argentina
IMO, Di Maria slowed Argentina down

I was speaking generally about African teams.
I caught about 10 mins of the first half, did see Senegal driving forward a lot. But then got sleepy and went to bed.

Log onto bingsport.com for the highlights
It is a subscription channel for live games, but free when viewing the highlights

Yes great physicality and tenacity from Saudis - not often you see Argentina bested in a muscle match as they were today. Though it has to be said some of the Saudi tackling was very raw - 21 fouls and countless bookings!

All how we see it I guess, but I thought Di Maria was the one Argentine to look dangerous when the going got tough. He kept going and made several crosses to no avail. So often Messi walks around in a game, only to sneak into position and suddenly burst into life with devastating effect. Not so much today, in particular in the second half.

They are far from popular and the chances are that even one of them could be the difference in getting us to a world cup or Euros.

I don't begrudge either of them. Both were born in England and have lived their whole lives there. Their families have a strong Irish connection (Grealish even played GAA as a kid) so when given the chance to play at schoolboys and then U21 level for Ireland, they were bound to take it. The problem is with the rules. The fact that Rice actually had played at senior international level for Ireland before switching is ridiculous.

5 Goalkeepers at the WC either play or have played for Arsenal. Name them.

Turner, Ramsdale, Szczesny, Leno, Fabianski and Martinez
[Edit, I see Fab is retired from international football]

Its almost more amazing that 5 of that 6 are first choice premier league goalies, and the other plays for Juve. Quite a crop.

Argh, in which case it's 4 as Leno isn't there.

Ryan

Ah, thanks. I get you.

That's the one. I knew there was five but assumed one was Fabianski.

I'm getting in to this now....Aussies just took the lead....hope Gaz azinoz McQ etc are enjoying this.

I was doing my usual "selective watching"

The King of Saudi Arabia made today a national holiday. Great job.
Now for the American team to use that as inspiration. hehehe
If we get a draw, I'll be happy. I haven't watched any of our games but of course wish them the best of luck.

Momentarily at least

Fortunately I didn’t let a false hope interfere with my game of golf although I might as well have done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1VwjWXefFs

Another hero.....how sad.

Blimey - Japan have beaten the Bernards.

Deserved it too.

I'm loving the upsets in this WC. Other than an upset here or there I can't recall so big, so early. Senegal 1 - France 0, I recall years ago.

Without googling:
Germany got beaten by I think Algeria back in the 80s.
I also vaguely remember Saudi Arabia causing an upset but I don't remember the details.

A surprise to me. The player who scored the winning goal for Japan was signed by Wenger as a great prospect. With us for three years but no work permit meant that he was out on loan for all that time before being sold to Partizan.

Very very unjust result. Canada at least at the the very least should have gottten a draw.

Tielemans ...............no way.

It was worrisome when Tomiyasu sat on the ground for a while during the match. Thought he suffered a recurrence of his injury. Thankfully, he is okay.

And wow oh wow, Japan came to life in the 2nd half. The Germans must have been caught by surprise.
And the manner of the victory is so exact to Saudi Arabia over Argentina. Down 0-1 end of half to a penalty. Back to win it 2-1.

Asano was a huge difference for Japan's attacking play

Germany were bossing it until they took off Gundogan - who was superb. And it was like Japan lulled them into a false sense of security, changed it up, and it all went pear shaped for the Germans..
Spain looked top drawer...Belgium average.....France had a scare but Ollie came thru... (he must be on some type of anti-aging potion!).....Really didn't watch the Dutch...but looking forward to Brasil!...might even get my Gilberto era Yellow/Green Adi jacket out of the closet and give it an airing!

de Bruyn seemed to agree with you and seemed unwilling to pass to him. They looked hungover!

Note to self, do not post on the SG forum for at least 48 hours if America gets a result.

Make it a month

Cannot believe Brazil starting Richarlison. He seems really rated in Brazil. Think he’s done well for the national team and that’s all they care about. I think he’s pretty *%^@ relatively at elite level and not a patch on Jesus.

Was this no way as in you don’t want him at Arsenal?