I don't think there's a correlation between the country size and their skill at football. There is a correlation because the smaller the population size the smaller the technically gifted pool should be therefore a country of 4 million people getting in back to back semi-finals and possible finals of the biggest football tournament in the world is a massive achievement. you have a point here
most western countries are trying to make football popular in China and India, and have them qualified for WC (rising number of participants in the meantime), because there is a large TV population there, and that would increase revenue from TV rights Both countries recently launched their own domestic leagues. Football is big in China and getting bigger in India. It can only grow more over time. |
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Trustpilot was said to have lost credibility a long time ago (because of the accusations made against them for allowing fake reviews to be published) and they do not seem to be taking appropriate steps to remedy the situation if 1xbit keeps countering negative reviews with fake positive ones. There is still a possibility some of the positive trustpilot reviews are genuine and some even some negative from competitors but that should not negate to their lack of trustworthiness. The truth of the matter is not that there aren't people who would have love to file a lawsuit against 1xbit in recovery of their frozen funds, but how can you make a case against a non registered casino that has no license? It's literally impossible. 1xbit have over 2000 reviews on trustpilot, of which I'm sure half must be complaints, while the rest paid reviews to lure people into thinking the casino is genuine. So the best solution will be to continue spreading the scam news about 1xbit until the last newbie gets inform.  |
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How many neutral fans and commentators actually expected Croatia to win? Most people would have had this game down as a win for Brazil but the Croatia team showed a lot of courage to try to equalise after they went a goal down to a simply stunning piece of football by Neymar. Eventually they got their equaliser and went to win the game on penalties. If Croatia make it to back to back 2018 and 2022 world cup finals they would have beaten both Brazil and Argentina. That is something special from a country of just 4 million people. That makes us very surprised indeed a big team as Brazil lost versus a team who filled up the old player, but everything has happened, Croatia has been able to the next round meets Argentina. We do not doubt Croatia has a solid fortress on the back and 1 more important is they have a high fighting spirit which brazil hasn't. Last night, Croatia is enough confident and able to implement a strategy to dampen the Brazil midfielder which has to be key to their defense. |
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Personally, I am really happy for Newcastle to be playing this well in the league so far. I think Arsenal deservedly got into the position they are in right now, as the addition of Gabriel Jesus has really changed the total outlook of the team. Newcastle United have surprised everybody with their consistency, it is refreshing to see a club other than usual sitting in a Champions League place. Gabriel Jesus has benefited by playing regular football at Arsenal and the club has enjoyed a new attacking dimension with him in their team. @JollyGood while I had expected Arsenal to perform well but their rise has stunned everyone including me, but if you carefully study it then you’ll note that they have recruited really well ever since Arteta too over and that’s paid rich dividends for Arsenal. Also Newcastle have spent a lot of money but to be honest I thought they would not perform well, but all credits to their coach who’s worked silently in the background and brought the winning mentality back at Newcastle. Newcastle United deserve credit as do Arsenal but I am still expecting Arsenal to run out of steam and drop out of the top 4 and also Newcastle who will probably also vacate their position and finish the season somewhere in the top 7. Arsenal owe their current success to the quality of their team performance so far. Even in times Jesus wasn't productive they still continued to win their matches one by one. Good teams always find a way to manage a draw or a win, that is what Arsenal are doing at the moment. They are finding ways to win their games ever since they were beaten by Manchester United. |
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Day One quarter-final results: Croatia 1-1 Brazil(Both goals in extra-time: Croatia will 4-2 on penalties) Netherlands 2-2 Argentina(No goals in extra-time: Argentina win 4-3 on penalties)    Both games went to extra-time and then penalties. Congratulations to Croatia and Argentina for making it to the semi-finals. Brazil and Netherlands were close to winning their respective games but just missed out. Brazil were winning the game at 1-0 then Croatia equalised to take the game to penalties. Netherlands were 0-2 down before making it 2-2 to take the game to extra-time. The two teams clashed several times in a very bad tempered game with the two teams players pushing fighting each other on several occasions. There were a staggering 15 yellow cards shown by the referee, the most ever in a world cup game. First Semi-Final 13th December: Argentina vs Croatia |
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Will their defence be able to cope with the pressure of attack that the Brazilian team will apply throughout the game? Croatia is an ageing team, their players are experienced but they are not capable of running around with maximum agility for 90 minutes against a team like Brazil therefore their strategy is limited. If they sit back and allow Brazil to attack they will easily lose the match but apart from the counter attack option they cannot do anything else. I think Brazil will win by a 3 goal margin. Will they play a defensive game maybe? It might be wiser for them to try to hunt Brazil with counter attacks.
I believe Croatia will play as they did it before, They will try to gamble on a Penalty kick. As we know how hard it when they get a win in 90' because the material player is not enough to create a score and face-to-face with Brazil players. I guess Croatia will play defensively in 90', so if they try to force and change the strategy, they will do the counter-attack strategy in extra time even if only 1 or 2 players are on the front because the rest is guard back to defense. |
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It is a happy ending for you in this thread before you lock it. Congratulations on becoming The Sceptical Chymist (may The Pharmacist rest in peace). What happened to the original The Sceptical Chymist who took the name when you announced you wanted a name-change and posted to make his own announcement? Well done for your perseverance in this matter, you got there in the end even though it looked like it was not going to happen  Did I just get my name change granted??? I almost jizzed my knickers! Thank you, Theymos!!
Halab set me straight via PM about where I stand in terms of my sMerit allocation, so I understand why my request was denied/ignored. Well, I don't know why it was ignored but I get why no increase is forthcoming. Therefore, I'm still halting requests via PM but will continue to review post histories from members I've been doing them for for at least 3 months--and I'll try my best to get to more recent requests, but I'm making no promises.
Again I apologize to those who PMed me and aren't going to have their posts reviewed or will have to wait for a long, long time before I get to them. After reading what Halab sent me, I realize that it's not a problem with Theymos but with the scope of my offer, which is now obviously too much for one merit source to handle. I feel icky all over, and I hope there are no hard feelings.
I'm rescinding my FU toward Theymos (and not because he granted the name change, lol). I had incomplete information and probably too much hubris for my own good. I'm going to leave this thread open for maybe another hour or so and then it'll be locked up for good and for all.
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 It will be a game that Croatia (losing finalists in 2018) will probably lose against Brazil (the team most media personalities have as favourites to win the tournament). In the top half of the draw, any one of Croatia or Brazil will play against any one of Netherlands or Argentina. I think Brazil should win their game without being tested and have a feeling Netherlands will win comfortably too. Brazil are probably the favourites to get to the final. In the bottom half of the draw, one of Morocco or Portugal will play against one of England or France. Of those four teams France are probably the favourites to get to the final. Could Brazil vs France be the final? Some people are believing that Croatia can resist Brazil but I think the opposite. We have all watched how Croatia played against Japan. They had really big difficulties and they just barely eliminated Japan by penalty shootouts. I can just see Croatia as a struggling team after watching that game. Brazil and Japan are completely different teams to deal with. Japan didn't have enough strength in their attacking line otherwise they could have even eliminated Croatia.
Brazil have one of the best attacking lines among the teams in this round. With Neymar's return from his injury, their midfield is much stronger again. I'm really curious about what Croatia manager is planning to do against that much attacking power. Will they play a defensive game maybe? It might be wiser for them to try to hunt Brazil with counter attacks.
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The domestic games in the English Premier League resume after the world cup ends. The first domestic games are to be played on 26th December but for those wanting to see Champions League action, the next set of games will take place on 14th February 2023. They all look like they will be exciting games to watch but Liverpool vs Real Madrid is the stand out game for me followed by PSG vs Bayern Munich. There are difficult away games for Tottenham (at AC Milan), Chelsea (Borussia Dortmund) and Manchester City at RB Leipzig.  |
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Croatia vs Brazil: 0-2 (same as yours)
Netherlands vs Argentina 1-3 (I would say that Argentina will sweep the floor with the Dutch)
Morocco vs Portugal: Will be 0-0 after regular time and extra time, Morocco will win during shootout
England vs France: Will be 2-2 after regular time and extra time, England will win during shootout (yeah.. I haven't forgot what happened during Euro 2021). Argentina are mediocre without Messi and an above average side when he is playing. To say they will sweep the floor against the Dutch is a bold statement. It is good to read your scores. We will compare them after the games have ended  I would say that Portugal would beat Morocco if you ask me, and France will beat England, but aside from that I would agree with yours. First of all, Brazil and Argentina will definitely be decided on regular game, and I think Portugal could beat Morocco on regular game as well.
But, England vs France could go to extra time and in that extra time I am expecting France to beat England, this is of course just my guess, maybe they won't and maybe all games would be shootouts, or maybe none would, maybe we are all wrong. But at the end of the day France looks a bit better, definitely a lot more ready at the very least. England doesn't seem as ready as France from the games I have seen. I am hoping that no matter how the games play out (and whoever wins), they will be exciting matches to watch. No team wants to go to penalties because even the best could lose and go out of the tournament, they all would prefer to end the within 90 minutes at best or within extra-time at worst. |
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It was very generous of you to do what you did and wanted to (by the sounds of it) continue doing to read through posts and give merits. If I recall correctly your request for extra merits was made a long time ago, I am sorry you did not receive them. Look at it this way, on the plus side if you have more time on your hands it will give you an opportunity to do something else either in and around the forum or away from here. I'll leave this thread open for a few hours if anyone wants to comment, but I'm not going to be answering questions about whether individual members are going to still have their posts reviewed, because as of right now I have to go back and check all my PMs. |
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I think both Newcastle and Arsenal are having an unexpectedly strong season. I am happy to see Newcastle in a Champions League place (for now at least) because they deserved in on the way they have started playing. Arsenal surprised me, I thought their team was too inexperienced and too young to make a serious attempt at winning the league title. I still think they will fade away and Manchester City will win the Premier League. As for Liverpool, Tottenham or any other team to clinch the Champions League spots, the Premier League restarts on Monday 26th December, we do not have to wait long before the games are played again. It is true that they have a really challenging road ahead of them among all of these teams. Even Newcastle are having an unexpectedly strong season. First of all, Arsenal and Manchester City are obviously the favourites for top 2 positions. They wouldn't drop down from this area that easy. For the remaining spots in top 4, I'm thinking of Liverpool and Tottenham. Somehow I can't believe in Manchester United to make it there as much as I do for Liverpool. I find them a little inadequate in terms of scoring potential - multiple goals in a match. They have conceded even more goals than Liverpool too. Liverpool can close this gap of 4 points with them if Klopp starts taking the right actions especially in defense. |
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Hearing Hazard retired from international duty was a surprise but to be honest he is not the same player that was at Chelsea. He has not performed at all for Real Madrid because of injuries and confidence issues. He is earning £400,000 per week there and he is contracted until June 2024, they want to get rid of him but just like with Bale who will take him off their books with that salary? Ronaldo could retire from international duty after the world cup becvause it would be perfect timing. Chelsea are said to be interested in taking him on in some capacity but he is holding out for a Champions League club. As a back-up he has the offer of $210 a year salary to play for Al-Nassr. Back to the world cup, Morocco are flying the flag for Africa. The last African team to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup was Ghana in 2010 therefore the whole of Africa will be behind Morocco when they play Portugal on Saturday 10th December in their quarter-final match. The winner of the Morocco vs Portugal game will face their toughest test of the tournament in the semi-final as they will face the winner of the England vs France game. For the neutral fans watching the games it is always great to see the underdogs play well and go far in a tournament therefore I hope for that reason alone Morocco win their game. Having said that, if I had to choose I would say the semi-finalists would be: Brazil vs Netherlands and Portugal vs France Croatia 0-2 Brazil
Netherlands 3-1 Argentina
Morocco 1-2 Portugal
England 0-2 FranceMorocco were far the better team against Spain, they have a team full of experience players and, as you said, I won't be surprised if they go on and win against Portugal, and as for Ronaldo being the bench, I think they are better off without him now, he used to carry the Portugal a few years ago but now the team is the one carrying him, and I will be surprised if he doesn't retire from international duty after this world cup, just like Hazard did. He recognized when it was time to call it quits and retire with pride. BTW, the momentum is long gone.
Spain came with qualities with only few experience players.
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Portugal will really prefer playing their quarter-final match against Morocco instead of Spain but it will not be an easy game no matter which team will end up winning. The majority of fans and commentators would be saying Portugal will win the game but put it this way, I will not be surprised if Morocco win and move forward to the semi-finals. As for Ronaldo, even if he starts on the bench he will be an excellent option to bring on to the pitch in the second half especially if Portugal are losing the game because he has the ability to change the momentum of a game. I bet on Portugal with 1.9 odds and I am really sure with or without Ronaldo Portugal will finish their work with confidence. And, after the kick-off, the squad looks impressive to build an attack, and the scheme looks good even Ronaldo is on the bench is looking frustrated didn't play yet after 2nd half, yes this guy is always on shooting target of news, every behavior always cornered him even he is very happy if the squad able to the next round. |
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I think there is a mindset across majority of members when it comes to reporting low quality posts. After they have been reported it takes time for moderators to remove the posts if they deem them to be appropriate to remove and during the interim some might start tagging accounts (out of frustration and perceived lack of inaction to remove those reported posts). As for 1xbit, they may have modified their posting requirements, I did not notice on their latest signature campaign application thread. I am honestly not capable to search through the forum for low quality posts because of what you described as a time-consuming nightmare but if most of us if not all did report more spam and low quality posts, it just might be more effective than we think. Where to begin? I'm not familiar with how the 1xbit campaign operates; do they require posts in the gambling section? I've visited there more often than I'd like to whilst doing post history reviews, and some of the threads are thousands of pages long and growing by the second. I guess you could do reports if you suspect specific members (like Mamun74), but if you're going to be looking for shitposts by skimming random threads, that could turn into a seriously time-consuming nightmare. |
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Can i participate 1xbit signature campaign for promoting? Lol, you are asking for permission to promote a well-known scam, may I know which drug you're on ? 😛 Well yes that seems to be the case therefore you can understand the level of members being attracted to the 1xbit signature campaigns. Signature spammers and posts for the sake of increasing post count have affected almost every aspect of the forum. Did I understand correctly, you are asking JollyGood to be accepted in the 1xbit campaign?  you made my day this proves how good a poster you are. did you even read the first post or anything in this thread and try to understand the reason for its existence? maybe you will be disappointed, but you should consider what level of a spammer you are when you are not even eligible for the 1xbit signature campaign. Yes you are right and you read it correctly, it seems he was asking to be selected on the 1xbit signature campaign. Maybe the best thing that can be done about low quality posters is to keep reporting them. That is something I have not done in a long time but I have to start doing it again. |
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Merit abuse goes on all the time, it is very difficult to keep tabs on all accounts receiving merits and trying to connect them with dubious sending/receiving, that is why those participating in it continue to do it. One of the accounts was already tagged by me before I found this thread, I had read the previous feedback about merit selling but kept mine limited to 1xbit. I have tagged the other two accounts for merit abuse and added them to my trust exclusion too. ~DEGATON44 ~mafoja1 ~MAMUN74 There have been so many cases of suspected merit abuse reported in various threads over the years that I'd bet it's well over 100. I'm sure it would be more than that were it not for the fact that Theymos told the community not to make a big deal about it--but either way, if the community wants to start tagging merit abusers with enough evidence against them, I sure as hell would be fine with it and if the forum detectives start looking closely enough I've no doubt this thread would end up with 1000 pages within a year. |
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The final round of 16 games taking place is today: Morocco vs Spain
Portugal vs Switzerland Portugal vs Switzerland seems a victory for Ronaldo and his team but in the other game Morocco have an excellent chance to beat Spain and make it to the quarter-finals. These two games were so different.
Brazil was playing at another level against South Korea. You could tell that there was no chance for South Korea, at all. The Brazilian players were making goals with little effort.
And that was all just in the first half. I think in the second half Brazil just tried to conserve their energies for the next game. And that's when a surprise shoot from South Korea ended up in the net. It was actually quite a great goal, one of the best of the tournament. Brazil won that game in the first half then simply relaxed in the second half which allowed South Korea to score a consolation goal. Then you have the Japan vs Croatia game, which was very tied all the time. Japan started with a goal, but that was quickly matched by Croatia.
In the end the Japanese players didn't have what's needed in a penalty shootout, they were too predictable, and the shots were not very strong. Croatia did a much better job, and without being incredible at the penalties, they managed to win. Japan and Croatia seemed to be heading to a penalty shoot out from the beginning. The Japanese players took bad penalties, they made easy saves for the Croatian goalkeeper. The next game for these two is against each other in the quarter-finals: Brazil vs Croatia |
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