The number of injuries leading up to this World Cup is not too bad. I expected that we would experience a lot more injuries. Players have suffered minor injuries a few times. Louis van Gaal steals the show with his interviews and fierce responses to certain journalists. A box has now also been created on livescore.com with results about the World Cup. The first game of the tournament is in 3 days. I think Qatar is doing everything it can to win this match, with all the consequences that entails. Senegal and the Netherlands are strong opponents in this group. I certainly don't see Ecuador going through to the next round in this group, although it was nice that they finished in the best 4 in qualifying.

Most of us will have seen or heard about the interview. I think United are also guilty of it themselves, they have not really treated Ronaldo with respect. This is not just any one player, this man has been the best football player in the world a few times. And has meant a lot for football worldwide. That is not well estimated by Erik Ten Hag. It is clear that Ronaldo has indicated that he does want to leave United (indirectly). It is quite serious accusations to say that the management of the club and the coach do not want you at the club. Surely there must be a grain of truth in there somewhere?

It might also be interesting to place a bet on certain goals of an interval. In such tournaments, teams usually start a tournament fairly quietly. I'm not talking about top teams against lesser teams, but against teams that are about equal. Then you could place a bet that the match is still a draw after 15 minutes. No guarantee of success, but there is some value in it. Difficult to say for the opening game of Qatar - Ecuador, but Qatar will go full steam ahead and it will probably storm, but the bookmakers still think Ecuador is better.

Funny how Mbappe, Messi and Neymar were substituted at the same time in the last game. A private jet was reportedly ready for Neymar to travel to Qatar. That's what you get with such statuses. But about the game, at that point they were leading 3-0 and the game had been played long and wide. And PSG seem to be in better shape than ever before. Also nice for those players that they will start the World Cup with that form. There is a very good chance that they will face each other. Would that still have an influence if they start again in the competition? At the World Cup, of course, they are all enemies of each other.

At the moment it is not possible to stop Napoli. Literally and figuratively. I don't know by heart how many players from that selection will go to the World Cup. Maybe from other countries too. It is an unpleasant moment for Napoli to start the winter break. We can also expect a lot from this team in the CL. It still amazes me that bookmakers still give Juventus such a chance to become champions in the Serie A.

It is hoped that the focus of the players can completely shift to the sporting aspect. And the fact that we don't hear questions about the workers from those interviewers every day doesn't make the situation any better. I even think that journalists should be banned from repeating these kinds of questions repeatedly, it should only be about football this tournament. it is otherwise overshadowed by the events of recent months and years, that would be probe for the tournament. Argentina is maybe better than people think, as this counts for Belgium as well.

Both Dortmund and Chelsea will not be dissatisfied with the draw. Individually Chelsea seems stronger to me, but Chelsea is having a difficult season. In the Champions League they managed to beat AC Milan twice, which also says something. Dortmund also have opportunities, but Chelsea seems to me to be the favorite to advance to the next round. I think it's something like 65-35% in favor of Chelsea. Liverpool - Real Madrid and PSG - Bayern Munich are unimaginable draws. Manchester City will have watched the draw with a broad smile, as 2 major competitors will be eliminated in the next round anyway.

There is still no 100% evidence that Niemann actually cheated. It may not be necessary to get caught in the red, but the accusation based on computer analysis alone is not watertight enough. People also have to wonder how it could be possible that he cheated? A video shows that an arbitrator scans metal detector Niemann with one hand, and that nothing was found. That means 100% that he had no electronics with him at the time this happened. How could he have cheated? Online cheating may have happened since you don't work with metal detectors there.

It could have gone very differently for Barcelona with the Champions League. In the match against Bayern Munich they should have been leading 2-0 in the 1st half. Then everything will be different. And Inter Milan was one of the strongest groups in group 3 you could get. If you come into the group at Bayern Munich you know that 2nd is normally the maximum possible result. But in the league they are in good shape, Real Madrid are about as good at the moment. I still miss the great results of Barcelona, which we used to have more often. Real Madrid score easier goals but put more risk in the game.

In principle, Arsenal do not have to buy players during the winter transfer period, which is coming in January. City would like to get players as they can buy whatever they want. But with Haaland you don't need another striker. I estimate Mbappe higher, by the way, but he really doesn't go to City, he stays with PSG. It will now depend on who will become champions, Arsenal have shown that they can win big and important games and City have had a few bad games. I think we can write off other teams for the championship, Liverpool don't stand a chance at the title anymore.

You cannot take a temporary break if you plan to stop gambling. It can go well for 1 day, or a week or even months. Sooner or later you get the urge to gamble again and at that moment you can no longer think rationally. What will normally happen is that you start gambling again, maybe win some but eventually lose again. Then you want to stop again and you simply end up in a vicious circle, it is difficult to get out of it. Few can do that on their own. You may be taking a temporary break because you spend way too much time on gambling sites without major losses.

It seems a ridiculous risk to me to bet 10 or 15k on a number? Well there are a lot of strategies in roulettes, and you can bet all kinds of amounts but just to bet 10k - 15k on a number? I don't see that happening soon? And let's not forget that afterwards it is always easy to apply analyzes and conclusions to a situation. The point is that the bet has not been placed, and that seems binding to me. You don't know how it all went, it could also just be a big joke or media attention circus.

The world championship starts in a week. I don't think Qatar is taken seriously as a participating team. Whether that is the case remains to be seen. I think they are better than we think, they are also reigning Asian champions, you don't get that easily. In Asia you still have a number of countries such as Japan and South Korea that can get decent teams on their feet. But Qatar has also drawn a fairly favorable group with the Netherlands, Senegal and Ecuador. Nice that they can play the first round against Ecuador, not the best team in the group. Qatar could well survive this group. They will have to win the first game against Ecuador, as the Netherlands, but probably also Senegal, are too strong for Qatar. The Qatar team is full of confidence at the moment.

Manchester United seem to be looking at losing points again at the moment. 1-1 at Fullham with 10 minutes to go. Erik Ten Hag has not convinced his team so far. Arsenal are playing impressively and are perhaps better than Manchester City at the moment. Strange that such a big club still has to play in the Europa League, but that is because of last season. They also have a strong squad individually this season. If Ten Hag can't get United on track, who should? So many good coaches are no longer available, but maybe after the World Cup.

Feyenoord is entering the winter break as a leader. Somehow strange, they have never been at the top. Feyenoord has an extremely successful campaign at the moment. Last year the final of the EL, this season won the group in the EL and now top of the competition. I think it is untenable for Feyenoord to keep Arne Slot as a trainer. I suspect that he will become a trainer in the Premier League next year. Ajax still has every chance to become champion, but if you look at how many points they have lost in the last matches, that is worrying. I think all competitions will be closed from today because of the World Cup?

The match between Liverpool and Napoli gives a somewhat distorted picture. In the 2nd half, Napoli made it 0-1 with about 25 minutes to go I believe. If it is 0-1, then I don't see Liverpool winning that game anymore. At the moment Napoli are playing better than Liverpool. I think there are only a few teams that are really better than Napoli at the moment. Bayern Munich, PSG and Manchester City. But PSG and Munich are playing against each other, unbelievable actually that this is a match in the 1/8th final. This should really be a final. A few years ago, Munich won, then PSG hadn't really created a decent chance, but now things will be different with Messi.

Argentina has been dry for a long time without a title at a world championship, the last title dates from 1986. But there are even more teams that have been dry for a long time, the Netherlands has never won the title and often belongs to the best teams in the world. Belgium has also belonged to the absolute world top for years, but in the 30 years before that it has never been very good. Maybe they can achieve something this time, for most players in Belgium this will be the last tournament (World Cup) they can participate in. A player like de Bruyne will surely want to become World Champion one day. Mbappe already has a title in his pocket.

Wolverhampton Wanderers - Arsenal are now halfway through the first half and Arsenal have not yet managed to score, they seem to be taking it easy in this game. If they win, they will cut a gap with Manchester City. Newcastle United have beaten Chelsea and have now cut quite a gap with Chelsea and are now firmly in 3rd place. Still good for this team, I had estimated them high but not so high on a 3rd place in the competition for the time being. It's not Chelsea's season now, but times can change. It is also a pity that Ziyech gets so few playing minutes from the coach. Who can turn the tide in London?

Another failure of Ajax, this time against Emmen. No top team. They were leading 1-3 so it all seemed settled. How is it possible that this ship of Ajax could have sunk so far? It is getting worse every week and what is more important is that the championship is now starting to get out of sight and PSV is now going to take more distance from Ajax. Perhaps Feyenoord is currently PSV's first serious competitor. I wonder how long it will take before Schreuder gets his resignation, you can't keep denying these kinds of results, I think? PSV will not have an easy opponent this weekend in the form of AZ, but I think PSV will eventually win without any problems. Simons has become very good.

Napoli - Udinese was a very nice and very entertaining match. Napoli made it unnecessarily difficult for themselves by seeing a 3-0 lead almost completely evaporate. Some underestimation and laziness were likely factors. Sampdoria lost yesterday, not good either. The last runner-up only has 5 points, but Sampdoria and Cremonese are not far above that with 6 and 7 points. Atalanta should really start winning games again, otherwise the season will be a big deception without European football, conference league that is too low a level if they would qualify for that.