I think 6 is a good spot for south America. At 4 too many good teams get left out. I've said it before but I'm all for the best teams in the world being part of this tourny. I know every region needs to be represented but there ends up being teams that don't need to be there in place of a team that could fight to get into the elimination rounds.
Disagree. 6 I believe is still low and it would mean that 4 out of the 10 quality teams would still fail to qualify. I am not saying that FIFA should give world cup entry to 10 out of 10 teams, but the teams that fail to qualify from CONMEBOL should get another opportunity to enter the main tournament. There are no weak teams in CONMEBOL. It is not impossible for the lowest ranking team (Bolivia?) to defeat the top-ranking teams like Argentina and Brazil. But in UEFA do you really expect teams like Liechtenstein and San Marino to defeat teams such as France and Spain? |
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That's true, having their own players that has come from the NBA really boosted them a lot. And for those bigger nations, even they don't have much blood that has come from the NBA, still the individual skills that they have from their players are enormous and great. In the past, they've got NBA players that have influenced them. Or they've got a mentor that has come from the league and that's the one who's giving them tips and trainings that's suitable for them to be able to perform very well on the international stage.
NBA being the top basketball league in the world, contributes a lot to the skill improvement of the players. If someone from Bahamas or Dominican Republic plays along the top players such as Stephen Curry or Kevin Durant, then obviously his level of play increases automatically. Other leagues such as EuroLeague and Liga ACB doesn't have the same quality has NBA and the gap is quite wide. Still, having NBA players in the team alone is not sufficient to win matches. And that will be obvious in 2 weeks or so, when this tournament gets going. |
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I have nothing against Sweden, but I'm going to support Australia in 3rd place game. Maybe I'm wrong, but for Sweden it won't be their biggest game in their life. After all, they were 3rd in previous World Cup, have Silver medals from Oympics in 2016 and 2020. While Australia don't have big achievements, so, it's their chance. And I would like to see this underdog story having nice ending.
The match is going to take place at Brisbane. So obviously Australia will be having the home advantage. But then, you can't take Sweden lightly. They managed to defeat Japan and the United States in the knockout phase of the tournament. Odds are in favor of Australia and I believe they are going to win. Anyway, it is quite encouraging for the Asian/African teams. Previously the teams from CONMEBOL and UEFA used to dominate the tournament, but that situation is gradually changing. Australia had ensured Asian representation in the semi-finals. |
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Al Nassr were absolutely unfortunate in the game against Al Taawoun. It was a difficult and challenging time for the Knights of Najd. They dominated the game and had everything within their grasp, but they failed to capitalize on goal-scoring opportunities. Cristiano Ronaldo and some significant players returning to the club and starting gave gamblers complete hope, and the majority of them placed their bets in favor of the home team, only to wake up and discover that Al Nassr had lost 2 nil to Al Taawoun. Two games, two losses; it's a losing streak for them, but they'll try to recover in their next game, because fans have started complaining. LOL.. I don't know what is going wrong with Al-Nassr FC. They have some of the best players in the world, but that is not being reflected in their performances. And this time, Al Nassr doesn't have any excuses. They had all of their regular players in the XI, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Talisca, Marcelo Brozović and Sadio Mané. And they lost to a team (Al-Taawoun) that finished much below them during the previous season. I have a feeling that the Al Nassr manager (Luís Castro) needs to work on improving team bonding and cohesion. |
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That 7th over from Craig Young almost took Ireland to a win. He took two quick wickets, and that made sure that the DLS par score got shifted in Ireland's favor. But in the end, India still won by 2 runs. One blunder from the Irish captain was that he used his best bowler (Young) as the 4th change, after Mark Adair, Josh Little and Barry McCarthy. I don't have an issue with Adair and Little, but McCarthy has performed poorly in international cricket over the years. Asking him to bowl ahead of Young was a strategic folly from the Irish captain (Paul Stirling).
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He's arguably one of the smartest men in the world. I don't think he has any interest in buying Twitter and satisfying his personal tastes. However, there is something wrong and Twitter is losing value all the time. I think if Twitter, like YouTube, shared its revenues with content creators, things could be good again. Elon Musk should change the selfish nature of Twitter and put less restrictions on users. If he doesn't have any other ideas, he can make things right again by taking these simple measures.
I am not sure about this. First of all, Twitter generates only a fraction of the revenue that YouTube generates. So it is not an apple to apple comparison. The argument that Twitter is losing its value doesn't sound accurate for me. The market-share is there and nothing is going to change that. Even Zuckerberg with his Threads failed in capturing the market share from Twitter, despite having overwhelming support from the ecosystem. And don't ever underestimate Elon Musk. He is the world's richest man for a reason. |
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Changing a site's interface is quite common but this is completely different. If McDonald's changed their name and logo overnight it would be a really big deal. So far not many people are calling Twitter by it's new name so the rebranding is not very effective. This one thing might not be what kills Twitter but if they keep making unpopular changes people will become frustrated and abandon the platform.
They are not making these changes overnight. Elon has changed the logo of Twitter, but the URL and interface remains the same. I haven't noticed much differences apart from the logo. The URL may eventually change, but by then people may get used to it. On a serious note, I don't think that any of the users are going to be bothered. And it is same with other social media platforms as well. Do you really believe that if Facebook or Instagram changes the logo or brand name, then the users are going to abandon it? |
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^^^ China is increasingly getting uneasy about having US treasury bonds in its forex reserves. They have seen what happened to Russia. Americans can just freeze these bonds and make them worthless as per their whims and fancies. Anyway this is expected, since US Dollar is their national currency. But the problem for China is that at this point they don't have a suitable alternative, given that a majority of their trade is with the United States. In case of a potential Sino-Taiwan war, trillions of USD worth of bonds currently held by China will be made worthless by the Americans.
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✂✂✂✂
This thread will go more than a hundred pages yet we couldn't even see a proper talk about a real fight but the media from all corners of the globe are already talking about it.
They make fun of the peasants, not the peasant making fun of them. It's plain and simple. These two just want to stay in the media limelight and took the public for a ride. If there is ever going to be a fight between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, then it is going to take place in virtual space. As far as a real (physical) fight is concerned, I don't think that either of these two have the balls to go for it. Why should some of the richest men in the world risk injury, just for the sake of satisfying their ego? After 1-2 months, everyone will forget that there was even a suggestion regarding this and media coverage will also vanish. |
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Yes this is true! Many young European players have a great possibility of playing in some European team, of course, there are teams that are the elite of Europe, but there are also teams that are of a lower quality.
For a young man to play for a big club, it will depend on his performance, opportunity and also on his manager.
In the last world cups, I confess that Germany played below its potential, it is far from being the team of the 2014 cup, I could even say that the German team is in decline, another team (outside Europe) that is also in decline is Brazil, they will hardly have another team like the 2002 or 2006, for example.
I am not sure whether you can compare Germany with Brazil. The problem with Germany is that younger players are not coming up. They are overdependent on some of the oldies such as İlkay Gündoğan, Marco Reus, Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller. On the other hand, although there is some dependence on Neymar, Brazil do have a great bunch of younger players. I am talking about Antony, Emerson, Vitor Roque and Raphinha. The only issue with Brazil is that their national league is not strong and most of the players are dependent on European leagues. |
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Not sure if that's the case.
The most possible reason, promos etc got delayed because of drama between BCCI and PCB. A fair amount of discussions were going on and at some point, there was no surety of the Asia cup.
True. I was also thinking that this year's Asia Cup may get cancelled. Would have been a big blow for Nepal, who qualified after so much hard work. But even now, a lot of things are still complicated. Teams need to travel thousands of miles, shuffling between matches in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It would have been much better if Sri Lanka was granted exclusive hosting rights. But then, it would be unfair to Pakistan, who were hosting the tournament after a big gap. In the end, it is going to be hard for the players, as well as for the fans. |
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Got money on Australia, no way can you bet against the home team here. Hoping it's a low scoring game which it should be based on earlier games from both of them. Would like to see Australia ride out on a high note. They were actually one of my favorite teams to watch this entire tourny
Same here. I checked odds in some of the sportsbooks and Australia is ahead (although not by much). Home advantage was no use for them during the match against England, but Sweden is a much weaker opponent. Irrespective of the outcome of this match, we need to say that Australia did well so far in this tournament. Their performance reminds me of that of Morocco during Qatar 2022. Anyway, it is always nice to see AFC and CAF teams reaching the semi-final stage of the world cup. It would have been unimaginable two decades ago. |
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LOL.. Steven Gerrard got the bets start possible in Saudi Professional League. His team (Al-Ettifaq) managed to defeat Al Nassr by a margin of 2-1. Al Nassr was without many of the top players including Ronaldo, but still a win against them puts Gerrard in the limelight. During the press conference after the match, he seemed to be bitter with the European clubs. Leicester City and Leeds United had rejected his application to become the manager. Anyway, he did the right thing by signing up for Al-Ettifaq and moving to Saudi Arabia.
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Lol Ditto!
In general, all names i came across when i read posts here, Sithara's normally post about random T-20 leagues even random fixtures, mostly associate matches.
At least someone is following T-20 format seriously. All i know about BBL, PSL, The 100 and SA t-20. When it comes to details then I only follow IPL. LOL.. it is strange that you doesn't consider the Caribbean Premier League in the same level as BBL and PSL. For heaven's sake CPL came much before the PSL and the 100. SA20 is a very recent invention. On top of that, CPL is one of the most popular foreign leagues as far as Indian audience is concerned. And I believe that it has a higher viewer-share compared to either BBL or PSL. Anyway, I keep track of all the T20 leagues around the world and it gives an idea in which way the sport is moving. My prediction is that bilaterals will become history in another 5-6 years and franchise T20 leagues will become more prominent. |
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A strong win coming from Bahamas. After being reported that Gordon have left Team USA for him to be able to play with the national team of Bahamas. A win against one of the top teams in the world ranking, top 4 to be specific. And the tally of score was not just like a mercy win but they're able to lead with 12 points against ARG. 101-89 Source: Deandre Ayton, Eric Gordon, Hield lead Bahamas to a win over ArgentinaDon't know much about the top-4 ranking, but Argentina failed to qualify for the world cup this time. Which would indicate that their players are not in great form. Still it is good that Bahamas was able to win the match against quality opposition. Some of these smaller nations (such as Bahamas and Dominican Rep.) are getting boosted by the presence of NBA players. Even during yesterday's match, it was Deandre Ayton (Phoenix Suns) and Eric Gordon who performed well for Bahamas. Buddy Hield of Indiana Pacers also played a major role during yesterday's match. |
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Didier Deschamps become best manager for France national team since 2012 manage The Blues he was success winning World Cup trophy and lead until final stage in last World Cup. French Football Federation or FFF keep believing with Didier Deschamps after has issues will replace by Real Madrid former Zidane. France national team have bigger expectation in EURO 2024 after last time become the winner for long time and Didier Deschamps have been ten years as France manager never winning yet with EURO trophy. Current France national team squad seems has chance for winning EURO 2024 but Didier Deschamps must be selective when calling their squad. Didier Deschamps is the same guy who gave the excuse of illness for the defeat against Argentina during finals of Qatar 2022. I guess the age is catching up with him. He has been managing France ever since 2012, and I believe it is time to inject some fresh blood into the French team. France had performed poorly last time, and this time they should aim at winning the trophy. So far they have been in terrific form and in Group B they have won all the 4 matches they have played so far (including wins against Greece, Ireland and Netherlands). |
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@Sithara007 after winning in 2020 their performances went down the hill and I had always hoped that they would bounce back but surprisingly they never really bounced back. Furthermore they’re indeed in a very difficult group and it’ll be a miracle if they manage to qualify and also they’ll have to keep a better goal difference then Ukraine as it’ll matter a lot if they both end up collecting the same points.
Italy's situation is similar to that of Spain. After the retirement of their key players, both the teams are going through a rebuilding phase and it may take some time to get the situation stabilized. On top of that, some of the top Italian players (such as Mario Balotelli) have gone out of form recently (last year he was recalled to the national squad by Roberto Mancini). Still I would say that the situation for Italy is much better when I compare them with other central European teams like Netherlands or Danmark. At least depth in player pool is still there for Italy. |
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Both the teams are confident that they can win the match and the quality of both the teams is very good so their odds are close. The match seems to be very good. Do you think England can perform slightly better than Spain? Although England have higher odds then Spain. Since this is the final match, there is no chance of the match being a draw. If the match is drawn after the specified playing time. Then additional time will be given and if there is no work, penalty short will be given. However, gambling sites follow only 90 minutes for betting. It is expected that whichever team wins this match will be played very hard Yeah.. this is one of the problems that I have noticed. If the match gets tied at 0-0 even after the first 90 minutes, then the sportsbooks will consider it as a draw. For example, I have placed a bet in favor of England for the final match. But I will win only if England wins during regulation time. If the match goes to extra time, or penalty shootout, then I will lose money. Is there an online casino where I can bet on actual results, rather than betting on the scores at 90 minutes? I am not that experienced in sports betting, and therefore this is confusing for me. |
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UAE vs New Zealand, 1st T20
Today will be the first match of Arab Emirates vs New Zealand T20 series. The game will be at the UAE's home ground and they will have a bit more support. New Zealand is the stronger team between the two teams in today's match. New Zealand has better bowling and batting line than UAE. New Zealand's bowling and batting lines are good so New Zealand will have more chances to win. I think New Zealand will win today's match.
Some of the players from United Arab Emirates have performed well in various T20 leagues recently. Aayan Afzal Khan, Vriitya Aravind, Junaid Siddique and Zahoor Khan are some of the players who have received media attention. But against New Zealand, I don't believe that they stand a chance. And the good news for Kiwis is that Kyle Jamieson is back from injury. They do have a strong bowling attack, which includes Tim Southee, Ben Lister and Jacob Duffy in addition to Jamieson. And batting lineup includes Mark Chapman and Tim Seifert. |
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Last time these 2 teams played against each other in Ireland. India barely won the 2 match series. 2nd match, in particular, was extremely tight so i won't underestimate Ireland. Back then too India sent an emerging team but they had in-form batters and Hooda played some blinders there.
Which senior Windies player was missing? Mayers, Pooran, Powell, Hetmyer, Holder, Alzarri etc all were playing. Unless you looking at the likes of Narine and Russell. I was implying that senior players were missing from the Indian squad. You are mentioning about the Indian tour of Ireland in 2022, right? The second match was really tight. India put up a massive total of 225/7 in 20 overs and then got overconfident (Deepak Hooda scored 104 from just 57 balls). But Ireland gave them a major scare and lost the match by just 4 runs. The opening partnership between Paul Stirling and Andrew Balbirnie added 72 runs in just 5.3 overs, as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik and Harshal Patel leaked more than 10 runs per over. But this time, the Indian bowling attack is much better. |
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