Yeah… considering I’ve had to watch replays of some of the more recent games, catching this one while live was a bit disappointing.

I wonder how that could have happened…

Theories aside, I did a little light reading. Apparently fifa moved up the time-table unexpectedly and the only other country (Australia) lost its support and co-host (Indonesia) to Saudia Arabia. Overall it looks like most of the AFC is supporting SA’s bid because other countries within the federation want to submit their own bids for later WCs.

Sort of makes sense, united effort and support so that down the line they can count on or secure votes ahead of time. I don’t know if that’s good or bad for the process in general, I would need to read more to find out. Seems a bit like gaming the system to me.

Oh, must have been others who had been posting Billy’s stuff every now and then.

Did they? I unfortunately can’t say I’m surprised. Money talks with fifa 😒

Do you think we can convince Billy to start posting Edu’s BBQ in here more consistently again?

What happened to Greenwood?

Would you have black jack and hookers too?

I would like to add though, along with his frame he seems to have some of the fun/interesting body-ball control you don’t see consistently. The chest/shoulder knock-downs into a teammates path, or a pop-up over a defender. Which I think builds on what you’re saying. It’s great he can be targeted with his frame, but I think it’s bettered served when there are more players around him. That either being teammates to shift the ball to, or opposing players taken out of the move with a quick knock-down pass beyond them.

I don’t see it as much here, but I see confidence get talked about a lot with players these days (rightly so imo). Maybe this is point out the obvious or a hot take… The one thing I feel Rice visibly exudes aside from confidence is a hatred for losing. You see a lot of people get anxious or panicky, trying to bring the pace of the game up by making quick, rash actions either on the ball or when pressing/tackling, sometimes its yelling or instructing loudly and animatedly at teammates. He just seems…mad, like controlled furious about being in a losing position. Then goes and does something about it. Again, I’m probably pointing out the obvious, but it’s good to see that personality in the midfield.

Abandoned us due to success reasons or cause limited general activity?

Additionally I finally stopped lurking and made an account to post and interact 😅