Football Discussion

[Secret Weapon]

But speaking of which, Scotland really have a crappy group with the only consolation is that due to Trump's immigration rules, fans of Haiti, Brazil and Morocco might not be able to attend meaning it's an all Scottish crowd possibly. Might even get through this time.

A lot of American people have Scottish roots - especially in the Deep South - and are quite proud of it, too (as seen in the Neil Oliver documentary), and so I suspect that Scotland will be well supported

(A lot of American people have English roots as well, although this isn't always embraced as fondly - perhaps due to the war of independence, etc)

Perhaps I am completely wrong, but I always got the sense that Americans are proud of their Irish and Scottish roots, but don't tend to mention their English and German roots as much (Italy is somewhere in the middle) - possibly due to the world wars, or simply because these are the 'default' nations from which most Americans came and thus there's no need to mention it as much?

(Trump himself is proud of his Scottish roots, but doesn't mention Germany all that often)

UPDATE: Somebody on TalkSport suggested that there should be a "rest of the world" team, comprising of players from countries who failed to qualify for the World Cup

(I remember pitching a similar idea for the Confederations Cup, whereby each continent would field their best players)

 

[QTXAdsy]

A lot of American people have Scottish roots - especially in the Deep South - and are quite proud of it, too (as seen in the Neil Oliver documentary), and so I suspect that Scotland will be well supported

(A lot of American people have English roots as well, although this isn't always embraced as fondly - perhaps due to the war of independence, etc)

Perhaps I am completely wrong, but I always got the sense that Americans are proud of their Irish and Scottish roots, but don't tend to mention their English and German roots as much (Italy is somewhere in the middle) - possibly due to the world wars, or simply because these are the 'default' nations from which most Americans came and thus there's no need to mention it as much?

(Trump himself is proud of his Scottish roots, but doesn't mention Germany all that often)

Speaking of Trump and his roots, was joking to my Dad that knowing blatant FIFA corruption and how they were stroking his ego in that embarrassing draw ceremony with that award and all, don't suprised if the whole thing is rigged for a USA vs Scotland final.

 

[Secret Weapon]

Speaking of Trump and his roots, was joking to my Dad that knowing blatant FIFA corruption and how they were stroking his ego in that embarrassing draw ceremony with that award and all, don't suprised if the whole thing is rigged for a USA vs Scotland final.

I wouldn't rule it out, and I wouldn't blame Scottish fans for celebrating reaching the final if this happened (regardless of any corruption), as there are plenty of other examples of teams progressing via alleged corruption - such as Argentina in 1978

(Some have also said that England had a helping hand in 1966 with favourable referee decisions etc, although I'm not sure whether this was intentional corruption or simply good fortune)

I personally have question marks over the legitimacy of South Korea reaching the semi-finals in 2002, as I remember watching that tournament live and seeing a suspicious number of decisions go Korea's way...

I suspect that the group stage match in 2004 was fixed so that both teams would progress (I can't remember the specific teams involved), and I think something similar happened in 1990

I have actually heard a conspiracy theory online that some corrupt referees want VAR gone because it makes it harder for them to rig games! (again, this is just speculation, though)

 

[John_P]

I have actually heard a conspiracy theory online that some corrupt referees want VAR gone because it makes it harder for them to rig games! (again, this is just speculation, though)

Surely they'd love VAR if a 50/50 decision goes the wrong way on the field they can change it every time.