gingerjon

I’ve watched chunks of it and it really doesn’t have the intensity of week in week out league play. The heat and empty stadiums aren’t helping that. But they are good players so obviously you’re going to get occasional good games. The US is a really poor host. That seems to be backed up by reports from people in the grounds. There is no guarantee of any of the things people seem to think are guaranteed. Beyond the fact that it will obviously happen again. And all the interest, every time, is of the “you wouldn’t know her, she goes to a different school” kind.

I was in the very lovely Ship Inn, Mortlake, when he was having drinks with some colleagues when he was leaving the BBC. Annoyingly, he came across as a really nice bloke. Hate it when that happens.

In the past now. Meanwhile, in the present, stagnation and silence.

There has been no change, as far as I can see, in terms of how Salford are being treated nor, again, as far as can be seen, any steps taken to ensure the situation can't happen again. Judge the current rulers of the RFL by their current rule not by flinging around Elstone's salary and ... well, it's good that they've got a willing water carrier in the RL press, isn't it?

“What time’s kick off?” ”When can you get here?”

I understand tractor production is at an all time high.

Quite a long WhatsApp but we got there in the end.

Oh, is it turning out not to be fixable with bluster and backroom shenanigans ? That is a surprise.

I noticed at one point that we were having a box on screen to keep showing the live feed whilst also covering a replay or cut away. It shows my inability to pay attention these days that I'm not sure if that's still being done but I thought it worked well.

Love the drivers on there saying it's POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD. As opposed to, more likely, enough wild eyed morons behind the wheel getting livid. (The number of times drivers try and force lollipop men and women off the road is quite startling.)

German goalie will be a bit gutted.

It's definitely the action of someone who knows that they were in the right to spend a huge chunk of cash and then withdraw the day before. The defence of him, to the extent of deliberately muddying what was done and why he was guilty, by the RL media is one of several reasons to regard them all as a circle jerk club and nothing more.

The two sets of fans are having fun. Also the DAZN mics have been so hilariously reconfigured that so am I.

If you can find the film "Roll Tide/War Eagle" then that's not a bad place to start.

And yet, tell an American that European club soccer culture is close US college football culture and they will get it.

It’s a full day hire though, isn’t it?

I swear they’ve just taken the cost of a day’s rental - which we know is around 400-500k - and divided it by three.

The Boca-Benfica games looks a bit more like what FIFA wanted. Decent enough crowd, looked like an atmosphere, competitive, and goals with incidents.

Yes. But this is about bribing federations so Oceania will need to be paid somehow. And the NZ teams in Oz are blocked from entering the Asian tournaments. That’s part of why they are allowed to play in the A League by the Oceania federation - so they can’t get close to that reward.

The RL pool is smaller here so there is a reasonable chance that a few of the age group players in any game will make, at least, the fringes of a semi pro or pro club. Gary Lineker did a good chat about this which mirrors your NRL viewpoint, though. Essentially pointing out to the screaming parent that, no, your kid isn’t the next Messi, so let him enjoy playing and he will probably play for longer and be a more round player and person if you let him just enjoy himself in matches. He also pointed out what I strongly suspect is true in this video and most other incidents: when it comes to rules and tactics the bawling parents are simply wrong most of the time.

They could invite the best team in New Zealand.

Are they pretending this is somehow good for NZ soccer? (I'm told that Auckland FC is quite a weird set up even by Oceania standards though not sure how or why. Either way, the best NZ players either play for NZ teams in the A League or outside NZ altogether).

It's half time in the handball so I've been googling. Auckland do not even have a full squad available as some players could not get time off for work for both the Oceania Champions League and the Club World Cup. The best result I can think of is that Bayern pick up some niggles that at least make the Bundesliga interesting this season.

What's Bayern's competitive biggest winning margin?

TV up but in person down, I think that is.