DoofersDad

Our lads showing Messi and Mbappe that scoring from the spot really isn't that difficult. 5 really well taken penalties. Shame about the 90 minutes preceding them. Credit to East Fife who were very well organised and committed.

At least there were no hydration breaks.

No way should England appeal the ban. Now that the USA are thankfully out of the competition, we are back to a level playing field with regard to suspensions for red cards. The focus for England and the other teams still in the competition should be simply to prepare for their next games as best they can within the current rules. If people are unhappy with the rules, they can be reviewed once the competition is done. Beyond that, there should be some quick repercussions for Trump's (ultimately counterproductive) political interference. It makes the prospect of him presenting the trophy even more distasteful than ever. Participating Football Associations could lobby for the trophy to be presented by Ronaldo. It was sad to see him playing for Portugal as a shadow of his former self, but he is one of the greatest players ever to play the game and this would be his only chance to get his hands on the trophy! I am sure the players of which ever team wins would be honoured to shake hands with Ronaldo but would be putting on disposable gloves if shaking hands with Trump.

No we aren't! I stayed up to watch last night and was very glad I did. It was a superb team effort and an emotional roller coaster for me. I really expected England to lose given Mexico's record at the Azteca and the short time for the players to acclimatise to the altitude. Tuchel got the team selection, tactics and substitutions spot on. I also rather liked his tongue in cheek remark about asking Trump if he will have a word with FIFA about the red card! I think just about everyone is disgusted by Trump's interference and Fifa's pathetic subservience to a corrupt president. It would be wonderful if Pochettino simply left Balogan out of the squad for the quarter final. What a message that would send to Trump and FIFA Now for Norway. Actually, I would rather have played Brazil. Brazil have been a shadow of the past teams and actually lost more games in the qualifying competition than any of the teams reaching the finals. On the other hand, Norway have only lost 1 of their last 16 competitive games and that was to France in the group stages when they had already qualified for the knock out stages. In Haaland, they have the world's best striker but they are by no means a one man band. England are probably favourites but it will be another very tight game.

I have now!

Cabo Verde were brilliant. They weren't just putting everyone behind the ball, they attacked in numbers when they got the chance and ended up winning 8 corners and having 16 shots at goal. Argentina were hanging on at the end. One stat I heard was that the Cape Verde goalkeeper has completed more successful dribbles in this world cup than Ronaldo!

The holding and shirt pulling may well start before the ball is in play but it usually continues well after the ball is back in play

It's the inconsistency that gets me. You have the officials spending time to see if there was any contact in incidents like Kane's last night or Tielemans' (which was given) and yet they refuse to get involved when players are holding opponents in bear hugs to stop them getting to the ball at set pieces.

It is absurd that Scotland might not know whether they are through or not until the early hours of Sunday morning when Austria and Algeria will play, knowing that a tame draw will see them both safely through. Meanwhile, the team will have to train assuming that they will qualify whilst fans continue to pay money hand over fist to continue staying in the USA in order to support their team in the event of results going their way. I think Scotland will go through. Four of the teams above them still have games to play and could drop below them with defeats, although probably by a couple of goals or more. And realistically, I can only see Belgium and Congo moving above them. In Belgium's group, if they beat New Zealand and Egypt beat Iran, then Iran would go 3rd with just 2 points. It looks like a nervy 3 days.

As one of the sides to play their 3rd game early, Scotland are at a bit of a disadvantage. Teams in the later stages will have a better idea of what is needed to get through. For instance, a team playing later on having, like Scotland, won one and lost one, might see that some teams finishing 3rd had less than 3 points and will know the goal difference of those finishing with 3 points. They will know whether they need to get at least a draw or whether a 1 or 2 goal defeat would still see them through. Scotland won't have that luxury. If they concede to Brazil, they will be in a dilemma of whether or not they push hard for an equaliser at the risk of conceding again and making their goal difference worse.

I've watched more than I had initially intended and am thoroughly enjoying it. Apart from the Scotland and England games, I have watched the full game of Canada v Bosnia and Netherlands v Japan. As a neutral in those games I was able to just sit back and enjoy game. The key thing to enjoyment is to fully participate in the hydration breaks.

I get nervous when they play that way, but it's a question of balance. Yes, they are likely to get caught out from time to time but the advantage is that by drawing in players to press them, it leaves the opponents stretched defensively. You've got to be good to execute the tactic successfully and England were good last night. England have good attacking options down both wings and through the middle. I think it is a good tactic for England but it was a bad tactic for ICT when big Dunc tried it.

Can't really complain - except when you look at how lightly Celtic have been punished. Their suspended closure in relation to the Hearts game is for just 1,000 seats rather than half a stand. Half of our North Stand is more than 1,000 seats. OK, we don't fill the North Stand, but who's to say it might not be a lot fuller in 2 years time. Celtic have been fined a token £7,500. In terms of a proportion of their annual turnover it is significantly less than our fine. Celtic's "punishment" for a combination of a pitch incursion and the illegal use of pyrotechnics at Motherwell is just £2,500 plus a tiny reduction in ticket allocation for one game. Celtic have form. It is time they were punished in a way that would make the club think seriously about dealing with their moronic supporters.

I share your feelings about Fifa and Trump but I am not going to let my disgust at the power brokers detract from my support for the players. For them, playing in a world cup is a dream come true. Sadly, the powers that be are tainting their dreams by the appalling way the tournament is being run and by the behaviour of the corrupt USA Government. The pricing and the politics means that overseas fans are being both discouraged and priced out with the result that the players will have less of their most vocal supporters actually at the games. Let's not make it worse for them by taking our support for the event away too. It is a shame it is too late in the day to move the event to another more welcoming country. Incredible though it sounds, players, officials and fans got a warmer welcome in Russia in 2018 than they are getting just now. The refusal to let the highly respected Somalian referee into the country is utterly shameful. Omar Artan has behaved with great dignity despite Trump having referred to Somalians as "garbage". We all know which one of Artan and Trump is garbage - and it isn't Artan. Apart from the politics, the players are also being exposed to extreme heat at some venues. This clearly puts players at risk. All the politics surrounding this event makes it more difficult for the players. This makes me more determined to watch a bit more of the football than I might otherwise do. I sure as hell won't be watching the half time "show" on the day of the final though.

I've lived in Scotland for over 50 years now, but I'm English and will be supporting England whilst also wanting to see Scotland do well. As an Englishman I am really surprised at the lack of enthusiasm and even negativity of so many Scots. What scenes there were after that astonishing game against Denmark in November when Scotland booked their place in the finals for the first time in 28 years! But things have gone a bit flat. It's as though just qualifying was the goal. I would be interested in how Scots are feeling about the coming competition. With the tournament expanded to 48 teams, there has never been a better chance for Scotland to progress beyond the group stages. To reach the last 32 Scotland will need to either be in the top 2 of the group or be one of the best 8 of the 12 3rd placed teams. Being in the top 2 would be a terrific performance as both Brazil and Morocco are in the top 10 in the FIFA rankings. Haiti, however are ranked 40 places below Scotland at 83 with only NewZealand of the 42 teams ranked lower. Scotland should be 3rd in their group and beating Haiti would probably be enough to book a 2nd round place. Win or lose against Haiti, Scotland then have games against 2 of the best and most attractive footballing sides in the world. An upset against one of them and Scotland could find themselves with a very winnable game in the round of 32. What's not to be excited about! I'm excited for Scotland's prospects - and I'm English!

With the domestic season over and the World Cup (with Scotland in it!) only a week and a bit away, I am surprised there has not been more discussion already on the forum. There seems to be a hiatus before Haiti. Perhaps a separate subforum will help get things going.

Arsenal missed the target with 2 of their 5 penalties yet still had 3 times as many shots on target during the shoot-out than in the 120 minutes preceding it.

As a teenager, Dan MacKay looked as if he could follow in the footsteps of Ryan Christie and have a very successful future at a higher level. Sadly, he has been plagued by injury and has not shown the form he displayed as a teenager. Having made a big move to Hibs in 2021, he only made 2 appearances for them and then went out on loan. Since his 2021 move, he has only scored 3 league goals, 2 of which were during his loan spell with us. In June 2024 he signed a 2 year contract with Partick Thistle but failed to make a single appearance for them. Signing Dan would be a big risk, but returning to his revitalised hometown club might just be the trigger for him to revitalise his career. It would be a risk I would be happy for the club to take, but more generally, I agree with Satan that we need to cast a wider net. The club has a good record of finding players who have underperformed at their current clubs and bringing the best out of them here. I am sure we will continue to do that.

Delighted to see Palace win this. It is good for the game when trophies are won by teams who are often seen as ones who just make up the numbers. None of their supporters will have ever seen their club win a major trophy before, so this is a great reward for their loyalty and will be something they will always remember.

Why are we in pot 3 when Airdrieonians who are in a division below us are in pot 2?

Both Alfies, Liam Sole, Bren Brannan, Mitchel Robertson and Kieron Willox all returning to their parent clubs. There's hardly anyone left! There will need to be some very good recruitment.

It's all too easy for the powers that be to simply punish the clubs with a fine or a points deduction. The problem with this is that the club, its players and the majority of the fans are the victims of this behaviour and they should not be the ones who are punished. I get that clubs have a clear responsibility to take measures to ensure the the safety of everyone in the stadium, but penalties should be considered only when clubs have failed to act upon advice from police or taken specific measures required by the footballing authorities. Clearly I can't comment on what advice the club may have been given on this occasion, but if it misjudged the position then a reprimand and warning would be far more appropriate than a penalty. Issues with Celtic are on a different scale and they have a lot of form. They need the book thrown at them. The important thing to me is that serious measures are taken against anyone who was behaving in a violent manner. There will be plenty of footage from which to identify people who should receive banning orders and the club should, by now, be able to advise the authorities of the actions taken in this regard. Moving up a division will also mean larger crowds and particularly larger away supports. Regardless of what happened in the Hamilton game, this would mean a security review was required in any case. A fine would simply mean there is less money available to spend on measures to prevent any recurrence of these problems. Name, shame and ban the thugs. They are not fans and they are not welcome at our club.

Clear evidence that League 1 is a league we should never be returning to.

There's an interesting development on this with a report by the English Premier League's "Key Match Incidents" panel. They were looking at an incident when Everton were denied a penalty against Man City when Bernardo Silva was holding Rohl at a corner. All 5 members of the panel agreed it should have been a penalty. They said "there is a clear, sustained holding offence which continues as the corner is taken and the ball comes into play". Applying that unanimous opinion to the controversial incident at the end of the West Ham v Arsenal game, the referee should have blown for a penalty about 5 times before the ball came anywhere near the keeper. Hopefully the panel's opinion can result in some clear guidance to referees not to tolerate all this sumo style wrestling that has become so commonplace in the modern game.

They have recognised that the higher paid members of the squad never managed to gel into an effective team. They are actively recruiting for next season and have learnt lessons from ICT's "togetherness". I expect most of the caravans will be in use next season. With an analysis of what went wrong, together with MacGregor's continued financing, I expect County will comfortably win the title. Hope I'm wrong - I often am!