morrie21

With the mention of penalties for England - Senegal I feel compelled to point out that Senegal won the African Cup of Nations final on a shootout and then a few month later their World Cup qualification playoff final was also settled by penalties. Maybe it's a scenario they are comfortable with.

Well matchday 3 was exciting, and as some posters are discussing it may be the last we see of it as FIFA tamper with the format. FIFA reall are chumps. Anyway here is my write up from the game round. Also features predictions (why did I do it) for the last 16. https://www.spitballingpod.com/football/2022/12/2/qatar-2022-matchday-3-the-action-is-the-juice

Although this time they needed to negotiate the final Asian playoff (v UAE), followed by the inter continental playoff (v Peru, won via shootout) to qualify.

Got the editor to sort the error - he's unhappy with himself for missing it during the original edit too. Thanks again for alerting me to the mistake.

Their main asset is probably their manager - agree they might begin to struggle now but if Page remains in his position then that will be a help to them.

Thanks mate - appreciate you reading. Regarding the error - oops. That entire sentence need removed.

Stenny battled through against East Fife, then away at Formartine United only to be rewarded with a home tie against Livingston. No offense to them but it is rather underwhelming. We will be beaten and won't even have the comfort of a big payday for our troubles. Oh well...

Ramblings on matchday 2 and trying to present the matchday 3 permutations for the teams still with all to play for. Enjoy if you read. https://www.spitballingpod.com/football/2022/11/29/qatar-2022-matchday-2-the-temporary-companion

Forgot to share this on here last night. To be fair it was pretty late that it was published. Full matchday 1 coverage for anyone interested in reading the scribblings. https://www.spitballingpod.com/football/2022/11/24/qatar-2022-matchday-1-whats-going-on

I've only really seen what his old man shares on Twitter, but apparently he is a hell of a prospect. There's another Arthur son too training and boxing in the amateurs and Alex has his own gym in Edinburgh where they work. I think Regan Glackin is one to keep an eye on. 9-0 and working his way through the early pro career stages well. Looks like he might be able to move up through the levels towards maybe British title.

Part 2 of my Qatar 2022 preview for Spitballingpod. Enjoy..... https://www.spitballingpod.com/football/2022/11/17/qatar-2022-preview-part-2

Scrunch this idea up, squeeze it into a tightly wound ball and launch it into the nearest bin. And no, not a recycling bin, the trash can.

More World Cup preview type stuff...... Here's my primer for the wonderful sports section of Japan-Forward, SportsLook. The editor asked me to briefly mention some World Cup history before presenting 10 things for viewers to look for during the group stage, so I did. Enjoy. https://featured.japan-forward.com/sportslook/ten-things-to-pay-attention-to-during-the-world-cup-group-stage/

Thank you very much. Pleased you enjoyed the read. Part 2 of my Spitballingpod preview should be published on Friday.

Of course but every World Cup preview with a Golden Boot section mentions Kane. I wanted mine to offer some alternative thoughts. Thanks for reading and remarking.

World Cup preview part 1 for anyone who wants to read. Part 2 of this will be arriving on Friday. Before that the primer I sent to the sports editor in Japan should be dropping - perhaps on Wednesday. https://www.spitballingpod.com/football/2022/11/14/qatar-2022-preview-part-1

Yes that's correct. Championship, League 1 and League 2 continue during the World Cup. The weekend of 26th November is is the Third Round of the Scottish Cup featuring clubs from all of those leagues in action. The Premiership resumes on Thursday 15th December.

Cheers Jim, appreciate that. I can echo some of the sentiments on here regarding the tournament this time, where it is being played and when etc. I'm all for the tournament being hosted by other nations but it should come with the caveat that footballing culture and identity is developed within that nation after the tournament is over. I think largely this has been the case wherever the World Cup has been held thus far, but this time it is different. Anyway, I shall watch as I do love football and even for all its faults, international football holds a special place in my heart. I'm hoping covering things and purely focusing on the football will enhance my enjoyment over the coming five weeks.

Opening article for my World Cup coverage. Will be in the main covering it for spitballingpod.com although I have been asked to submit a couple of pieces to SportsLook also, which I am more than happy to do. Anyway, here's what I wrote to introduce things - it wasn't easy. Will just be focusing on the football the rest of the way https://www.spitballingpod.com/football/2022/11/11/introducing-qatar-2022

How has Clarke been "over the top?" As far as I say he mentioned being disappointed at the decision Celtic made, then moved on. If it had been made an official international window then none of this would even be relevant. It's a bit strange that it isn't - what if one of the World Cup qualifiers wanted a decent friendly? - plenty of them are playing friendlies next week as the weird build-up to the strangest World Cup ever continues. Anyway, I have sympathy with Clarke. As a national team manager he doesn't get much time to work with the players. This would have given him another few training sessions with the players he wanted to work with and some of them aren't able to join up with the squad.

These are the questions. He definitely regressed under Davison. The McGuigan trained Taylor destroys the current version. Obviously going into the last Catterall fight there were issues - going into camp seriously overweight, an injury and possible Covid hangover. I really hope that Taylor is fully switched on for this rematch, I think he will be. Now with Joe McNally of Liverpool who is regarded as a great up and coming trainer within boxing circles. McNally has made a good start by working with young fighters JJ Metcalfe and Caoimhin Agyarko and veteran Liam Smith.

I will. I mean what made you decide to return after a long period away? Was it just too much not being able to bicker with Big Ramy round the clock and across the time zones? Or did you feel that the board was in danger of turning into a barren wasteland without your input? Please, enlighten us RH.

Yeah, it's tragic. Why even try to hide who you are - it's an internet message board, it's not that serious.

Rolling Hills used to tell this story time after time on here. You should just have come back with the Hills screen name, unless it was banned or caped or something.

Aye, you could get derbied out your tits today should you chose to do so. Great selection.