The Hammer

Is there a more pointless or unwanted match in football? The only purpose it serves is to collect ticket sales money.

It's all on Tuchel. The England players gave everything but he handed the initiative to Argentina after taking the lead. Contrast that to Spain on Tuesday who took the lead and then proceeded to control the game. England had shackled Messi well for an hour but then with no out ball and everyone camped around the England box he, and others, had time and space. The outcome was inevitable from then on. As BC said the England players tired late on too which didn't help. The game was won and lost by the substitutions from both teams. Still, that's that, I've always been a club before country man, so the important football can start now!

What about the crest? Is that "stuck on" , "embroidered on" or part of the fabric as well?

Last season the fantastic start to the season set up the promotion. As the new boys in the division I'd say the other teams will look at ICT thinking there are points to be gained there. It's even more vital then to get a good start to nip that attitude in the bud. Promoted teams that get a poor start don't tend to have a good season overall. It's really hard to judge what would be expected - look at Arbroath last season in their first season compared to RC who came into the championship from the other direction. Both probably had different expectations than what transpired. If things go well we could be in the top half, perhaps even close to the playoffs. In reality I'd expect a mid table finish, but mid table for 10 teams can get you close to both top and bottom at various points. I'd say 5-7 would be what I'd expect come May. To me I think we need to look firstly at establishing a gap above two other teams (Morton & Stenny?) and then building from there. The first three games are pretty tough ones before we visit Stenny, so I hope we have 4 or 5 points on the board by then. Set the tone early for a decent, but not spectacular, season.

I can't make head nor tail of it. Both were deserved red cards. Neither intended to do what happened. Both were "out of control". Both (unwittingly) endangered their opponent - Balogun turning over the ankle as he couldn't halt his momentum and Quansah's leg bouncing up off the top of ball. I really struggle to see how they can be viewed differently from a punishment perspective.

2026-27 Away Kit Launched - ICTFC The away kit has dropped today. I can't make up my mind if I like it or not.

I think now England should appeal against the Quansah ban. When the appeal is turned down they should then put FIFA on the spot and ask them to clarify what the difference is. If FIFA should un-ban Quansah then it would need the moral high ground to be taken and him not be considered for selection. Not one person outside of the USA wanted anything other than a resounding Belgian victory. Teams should be aware of this feeling before considering an appeal on red cards yet to be issued in this tournament.

Agreed, but when I see decisions like last night I live in hope that VAR can become a force for good in the game and continue to refuse penalties where the player is clearly on the way down before any contact is made, which would help drive it out of the game (especially in conjunction with yellow cards for the diver). Sadly, when you see former refs like Keith Hackett on X/Twitter saying it should have been a penalty you have to doubt that things will get better until the qulity of refs gets better and I won't hold my breath for that to happen.

It looks to me from the photos that the sponsor logo may actually be part of the shirt rather than stuck on. If that is the case then clearly it won't fade, but also probably means that there won't be an option to buy an adult size without it.

When West Ham signed Issa Diop he was "French", but then again Declan Rice was "Irish" when he signed, so I guess it cuts both ways.

Ha ha, that was exactly where my mind went when I read it too.

This is a very salient point. It also applies to England to a degree. With the Auld Firm's dominance of the league they are always trying to get above the other. To this end they recruit overseas players. The Scottish players then are spread amongst the Auld Firm benches or other teams, but crucially get little European experience. Top Scottish players of the past would often have moved to England (Dalglish, Souness, Hansen, Jordan, McQueen, etc.), but with the money available to English clubs now, they too are looking for a higher quality player abroad, leaving fewer options for Scots (and Irish, Welsh and English) in England. With this as the backdrop it'll be hard to buck the trend as what the best players are lacking is experience against high quality opposition. As I said at the start the same actually applies to English players, the depth of top quality players is not great. Even if you have, say, four top quality players - if they aren't testing themselves against better players regularly they won't improve anywhere near as quickly as they could. Whilst Norway may be doing OK now, how long will it last when Haarland retires (or goes off the boil) - their second string got thumped by France. Denmark were in the same qualifying group as Scotland but weren't good enough to win it. Ireland didn't qualify either. I don't know the answer, but I do know that it won't be easy to come by. Perhaps a domestic quota on overseas players is what is needed (for all national teams), but I don't see that happening any time soon.

I hope they do both come back for another year. Promotion certainly helps with the recruitment as they can stay in a good environment that they know and are settled in but at a higher level. Win win for everyone. I have to say though that while I really like Bavidge, if we could only get one it would be Stewart. I think he has the potential to be a really top player. Don't get me wrong Bavidge will have a good career, but when it's all over in 15 years or so I don't think he'll reach the same heights as Stewart.

At the time you wrote this I would have agreed with you. I know relying on results from other games is never a great position to be in, but those other results have been terrible (and partly unexpected) from a Scottish perspective. It is now highly unlikely that Scotland will progress. FIFA's "tie-break" rules have had a very detrimental effect on comptetiveness of group games to the end, and the scheduling has certainly worked in the favour of nations playing for a third place spot later in the tournament. To my eyes (I didn't watch the Morocco game) Gannon-Doak has been the stand out Scottish player.

I think that just about summed it up. Scotland certianly gave it more apparent effort than England did on Tuesday night, but then I suppose Brazil didn't just park the bus. I do hope that the other results mean Scotland can get through. It's still eminently possible, but equally results could go the wrong way (who'd have thought South Africa would beat South Korea) and there are too many variables to predict at the moment.