We're just over half way through, how much are you enjoying this World Cup?

[Bliss Seeker]

On reflection, I have been pretty much glued to my screen since it kicked off.  I don't remember any tournament, well maybe 96, where I have actively watched as many games I physically could.  Safe to say i'm massively immersed in and enjoying it.  I've a whatsap group with a few friends, and they're the same.  There's only been a few games so far where we've not been able to chat about the games we've been watching. 

Loving the 24 hour coverage and the non stop discussions too.  I think this is the first tournament to fully embrace podcasts.  I'll watch the games the day before, and then listen to a couple of podcasts talking about those games on the way to work and during. 

It's brilliant, and if you're a football fan I can't see how you can possibly not enjoy it.  The mrs hasn't moaned yet either, which is great, although she's noticed that Kevin Neville isn't being as cutting as he is on sky. 

I suppose you could be critical of the quality of football on show, and then VAR not being utilised properly, but all in all, I think it's been a pretty awesome WC so far.  Hope it continues. 

 

It also helps that Football is definitely coming home, but that discussion is for the other thread

 

[westy8chimp]

Too much VAR, too many penalties, too much diving, too much disrespecting the referee... but despite all that I too have been glued and really enjoying it. Hoping the big teams all step it up a notch so that the knockout rounds are decided more on quality than penalties (or set pieces).

France, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Spain & Portugal all have a few extra gears to work through. Belgium, England & Uruguay haven't been perfect, but looking pretty good (opposition permitting).

[Baptista_8]

How do I access the 24/7 coverage?

I'm enjoying it, had a bit of football fatigue due to the sheer amount of games I've watched (booked last week off work) but on the whole, loving it. Do think there's been a big lack of quality in the final third for many teams, but let's hope that'll come in the knockouts.

[Baptista_8]

It's always sad around this time when the games become less frequent though

[Bliss Seeker]

3 minutes ago, Baptista_8 said:

How do I access the 24/7 coverage?

Have you heard of.. THE INTERNET?

 

 

[arenaross]

Think it's been great so far. Enjoying it much more than I expected. 

[Barry Cartman]

I think the kick off times have been brilliant, get to watch a game and a half in work, before racing home for the 2nd half then settling down to a 19:00 whilst the wife catches up on Love Island 

Loved the WC so far, only missed a few games 

[toon_84]

I've enjoyed every match I've watched so far.

I'm expecting the knockouts to be a bit tighter though.

[Russell10]

I think it has been fantastic,

some great goals, some enjoyable games

VAR is a farce, but adds to the drama.

[sc91]

Up till this point I’ve spent all of it in the sun in Benidorm, drinking. So I think I’ve enjoyed it.

[Nordan]

It's been pretty poor, only a handful of decent/good games. The knockouts can't come soon enough for me.

[ArsenalFan7]

Watched all bar a couple of games, I wasn’t enjoying it and thought it was rather crap outside of three games up until that Germany Sweden game. The Kroos goal has marked the turning point for the world cup and the entertainment has increased dramatically with everything on the line, it was a tedious mess before (ironic given the lack of 0-0s).

[GunmaN1905]

There's way too many penalties, but it's not VAR's fault.

I've never seen so many handballs over such short period of time, it's unreal.

Some teams obviously had no business being at the World Cup and it will get even worse when they expand it.

Other than that, even though no top team is playing that well it's been entertaining.

[noikeee]

I think it's been one of the best World Cups I can remember, highly entertaining all around. Positively very surprised as I was expecting a dull cup. It all seems so open too, although that's partially because all the big favs haven't been as good as expected, nobody's super convincing yet.

Typically things slow down with the knockouts though as teams become cagier, let's see what happens.

[Pukey]

I've been thoroughly sports entertained.

[ryan045]

I started off watching every game and then slowly started to watch less as it’s gone on. Il tend to vary which games I watch. For example I’ve not seen any of France yet but seen all of Mexico, Colombia etc. Am I enjoying the WC so far? Yes. Has England doing well helped me enjoy it more? Yes. 

I’m keen for the groups to get boxed off now then we can move onto the excitement of knockout football.

[Wigmore]

It's been absolutely fab, and anyone who says it's not been that interesting will probably never find anything interesting ever.

- Every single game has had a goal and there have already been some brilliant goals

- England are actually performing quite well so far

- There have been plenty of controversies to get animated about

- There has been some outright comedy (Iran somersault throw in attempt was absolute gold)

What more could you want?!

[adhikapp]

I've watched football since the 2002 World Cup. This has definitely been the best one. There's equal quantities of quality, entertainment, howlers, and drama mixed together.

The Japan vs Senegal match is definitely one of my favorite matches. It was really the clash of styles and was a perfect match for the neutrals. 

I've also watched all matches bar Egypt vs Saudi, and Spain vs Morocco. And that's because I chose to watch the other group game. Probably would end up missing 8 matches minimum because of this, otherwise I would probably watch every single match. I hope we don't see any single 0-0 in the group stages at least.

[Crispypaul]

It's been good, although only downside is no 3pm England games so can drink instead of working

[Pedwar Pump]

It's been so so. Spain V Portugal was probably the most entertaining game so far but my god there's so much awful and blatant diving going unpunished that it's really turning me off the whole thing.

[Rob1981]

VAR has been a disaster, and it could ruin the later stages totally as the stakes get higher and the games have more riding on them. But I’ve still watched every game. Doesn’t matter what they do to it. Give it to Qatar, move it to November, make it 48 teams, introduce technology that doesn’t work properly, you still can’t take your eyes off it. It’s the World Cup innit. Pure theatre.

And I know they’ve only played two **** teams so far, but it helps when England look positive. Definitely the most enjoyable England World Cup since 2002. Even if we go out in the R16 I will remember it more fondly than 2006 when we got to the quarters. Every single game in that WC was an ordeal to watch.

[Darren Moores Mum]

Loved it so far, but then I always love the World Cup. Watched pretty much all the games through a combination of annual leave and doing my back in, which has had me off work. 

VAR made it pure theatre yesterday. There's definitely work to be done on its implementation but for the most part it has done what it set out to achieve.

And England's first couple of games have helped. That's always a big thing for me that we are still in it. No matter what there's that "so you're telling me there's a chance..." thing going on, which keeps me invested.

[daylight]

England has been winning so it's been kinda pish!

 

In truth it's been a bizarre World Cup, so many strange things with VAR, none of the big sides have really performed that well so far.
I could pick 4 teams to win it and still be wrong, starting to think one of the smaller nations could pinch it. 

[martplfc1]

I was getting annoyed with the amount of crap teams parking the bus/the diving/playacting but since then it’s been great, and like others I’ve been glued to the screen, watching on my phone in work where possible! I like VAR, it could be great but refs need to start making logical decisions.

Looking forward to seeing if Messi can finally step up tonight.

I don’t want to say Belgium or Croatia to win, but I think they actually might.

[DandyDon]

I've enjoyed it so far and this last weekend from the Serbia/Switzerland game onward was excellent.

[SteveUK]

Quality in football has been disappointing imo, feels like that season Leicester won the Premier League where all the top teams where **** due to transition/OAP players leaving squads, think i have enjoyed 3 games so far.

[bestbrother]

Its the World Cup, so i make myself enjoy it as major tournaments are probably the only real football I watch on a consistent basis.

However I dont like the 10 men behind the ball junk dished up by alot of teams, so there have been plenty of games that are generally dire, lit up by a couple of moments if you are lucky.

I wouldnt be without it though and although im quick to hate on the likes of Iran... that last minute chance vs Portugal is the reason why the World Cup is so special 

[JD nawrat]

The quality of a lot of these games is poor. When you find out there hasn't been a 0-0 yet you probably think it's been an exciting world cup but some matches have been brutal to watch. Loom at Morocco Iran. Most boring 1-0 in history. Only 1-0 cos of an OG. Probably could have gone 900 minutes before the first actual goal between them. 

It's a good world cup. Not amazing. Not yet. It has the potential though, especially with possible L16 ties like France Vs Argentina and Germany Vs Brazil 

[PMLF]

It's nice the big teams are struggling but the group stage is always a bit boring, too many teams and too many games, the playoffs are naturally way more interesting.

[ubos]

Will always enjoy a World Cup but frankly the quality is ****.

[Marc Albrighton]

Its been good, not bad and not great. To be honest i'm shocked at how peaceful it has all been so  for that.

[Ackter]

It's been way more interesting than most of the recent previous international tournaments.

[enigmatic]

I've watched more group stage games than I usually do (the joys of working from home and not being particularly busy) which might explain why the average standard hasn't impressed me very much.

A couple of stand out good games, a handful of actual big wins, a few mildly intriguing upsets and a lot of dull games with teams focused mainly on cancelling the opponent out (which succeed due to lack of striking talent rather than wonderful defending). A few really good but not truly memorable goals and a lot of penalties. Some of the teams going home (Peru) were a lot more fun to watch than most of the teams making it through. 

The historic good teams either not being there or underperforming has made it unpredictable and could make the later stages a bit more intriguing 

[noikeee]

Bet half the people here now really enjoy this World Cup after this afternoon.  

I dunno how's the rest gonna be like, I guess the England/Belgium group finale is gonna be **** since everything's decided (and I'm entirely expecting both teams to actively try to lose  ), but so far this group stage last round has been brilliant. Massive drama in Iran-Portugal, Argentina-Nigeria and Germany-South Korea.

[JD nawrat]

1 minute ago, noikeee said:

Bet half the people here now really enjoy this World Cup after this afternoon.  

I dunno how's the rest gonna be like, I guess the England/Belgium group finale is gonna be **** since everything's decided (and I'm entirely expecting both teams to actively try to lose  ), but so far this group stage last round has been brilliant. Massive drama in Iran-Portugal, Argentina-Nigeria and Germany-South Korea.

Spain Morocco also had its drama.

[Nordan]

Today was a good day.  

[scott MUFC]

Germany being Knocked out makes up for Argentina scraping yesterday.

[Andyh21]

best for a long time..

[pearcey_90]

Best World Cup ever for me in my lifetime (98 onwards). Shocks, VAR decent and farce, good games, England doing well, Germany out  

06 next best for me, but can see that surpassing it for me. Both in Europe, always host it in Europe  

[dafuge]

It's been a bit of a mixture for me.

I've enjoyed what I have seen, but I've missed a huge number of games due to work and clashes with the cricket.

[Razzler]

Been enjoyable.

Some tinkering with use of VAR probably needed at some point down the line.

Just a nice feeling to go into a final England game not stressed!

[RubenJ]

GOAT group stage so far, been fantastic entertainment. 

VAR 

[Razzler]

VAR has been largely successful, there's been a few incidents here and there though .... but, we'd have incidents here and there with ref's not getting stuff either. Now though, they review this but not that and so on.

The review ... then the ref looks at the screen ... I think they can speed that up and I am sure they will. People will complain but we are where we are cause of the state of the game, the cheating and diving and everything is the ref's fault and not that of cheating players so this is inevitable, it has to come in and it will be tweaked and improved along the way and we'll all adapt

[ham_aka_stam]

I've been really impressed with VAR so far.  A couple of decisions have taken too long to make, and the commentators make too much of it (especially last night on 5 live with the SK goal - "If he makes the rectangle..." "OH HE'S MAKING THE RECTANGLE!" etc. but so far so good.

I feel like the good teams have struggled to put particularly entertaining performances together, but the tactical battles have been interesting, with lots of teams who I'd have written off pulling off decent counterattacks and managing to contain far superior opposition.

The diving has been an issue, FIFA definitely need retrospective action for obvious dives, as anyone even been given a yellow card for it yet?

[VamPook]

Most of the games have been totally dull and disappointing.

[VamPook]

Son Heung Min was given a yellow for diving last night. Havent noticed any others 

[Razzler]

I thought that at the time too.

Neymar had a pen over turned when the ref saw his blatant over reaction but didn't see fit to book him. I noticed a fair few ref's making the 'get up' motion with their hand at someone going down easily but not bothering to book them either

[adhikapp]

Yea I didn't understand why Son dived. There's VAR FFS. Even if you got the call, it'll get overturned after a check anyways.

[Razzler]

It won't definitely be overturned, it's supposed to be for obvious errors, not every single thing will be reviewed and if the ref calls a dive it's unlikely he'll go review it. There have been dives but nothing has been done about it in the tournament (still) even with VAR

[RBKalle]

I've enjoyed it, but there's still too much filler and too many pointless games. Can't imagine how worse it'll get with 48 teams.

VAR has done its job, and being used to it from Serie A is a huge bonus, as the "this is BS" factor is out of my system already. I think it has worked fine so far, solving a few potentially critical situations (case in point, Korea's decisive goal against Germany).

Some games have been disappointing, some a complete waste of time. The tiebreaking rules need to change, and so does the draw for the knockout phase. We don't need more "if X wins by 2 goals or more, they'll face Y later, so you can bet your house on them they'll try NOT to win" situations like Belgium-England. Or the farcical fair play rule that encouraged Japan to DEFEND a 0-1 defeat