Thetownend.com

Who do we want or need to avoid?

Jermaine Jenas as host?! How did he get that gig?

USA and Iran so far. No excuses for not qualifying from this group.

England couldn’t have hand picked an easier group if they tried.

very nice.

god that draw drags

I *think* only the balls are on stage with separate link studios for various countries/languages. Quite well done

Getting ahead of ourselves but if England win the group they’d play the runner up of Holland/Senegal/Ecuador/Qatar in the round of 16

…and then winner of winner of group D vs runner up of group C in the quarters which on paper should be France.

Out on the quarters it is

England didn't pick it.

they also didn't try to, the predicate which validates the sentence is;)

True that! They've earned the right to a fairly easy draw

Gotta feel for Poland. Up against Saudi Arabia.

Qatar v Ecuador is a mouth watering opener :pint:

Islamic Republic of Iran I didn't realise there were two Irans😀

Great draw for us.
Batch, JJ was literally talking to the people drawing the balls; so he must have been the main man. Thought he did really well!
The only thing that puzzles me (as a data nerd) is how they avoided an impossible situation, especially in Pot 4. There were so many combos that couldn't happen; how did they know that, say, half way through Pot 4;  the first 4 were all valid but the 4 left wouldn't fit? I probably need to get a life.

you can readily have several people saying the same thing on cue..

if he's genuinly been the world wide man, fair play

soapy tit wank. this TV trickery is beyond me. As Jimmy says, Qatar vs Equador must be hands down THE most sh1te WC opening game ever.

we need RobertT to let us know if he got Jenas

  :nod: :nod:

Hallelujah Brothers & Sisters. I got Jenas.

WWJD - what would Jesus do

My son has a cold, no Jean's.

Didn't watch to be honest, so I am no help.

It was one set of presenters for the worldwide broadcast: https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/qatar2022/media-releases/two-former-winners-among-illustrious-assistants-for-qatar-2022-final-draw

I think the European rule only counted towards the first four groups, so if they couldn't avoid it then the second four groups would be lumbered with too many European countries.

wow ok. cheers

how many brown envelopes did Jenus pay to do that!

he did a great job tbh. but of all the footballers in all the world...

Did well, apart from his inability to pronounce the eighth letter of the alphabet properly.

Must admit, wasn't a fan of Jenas in his initial co-commentary efforts.
Started off in the thrusting I've got an opinion & I'm going to use it school of punditry, a la the likes of Chris Sutton.

To be fair he has toned it down more recently, maybe the influence of appearing on the Beeb a bit more. Don't know.

Ultimately would much prefer the ditching of all of the cunts in the studio & the endless over analysis in favour of a return to the clipped Queens English approach of a Cholmondley Warner in a Pathe News type delivery.

I was surprised to see Jenas but he was pretty good, professional and seemed to understand how things were supposed to go and in what order etc. I thought the draw was going to last for hours so pleasantly surprised at how smooth it went.

As for England, couldn't have picked a more favourable group in my opinion. Caveat that I don't know how good USA or Iran are but you've got to be happy.

It’s definitely a good group but if results go as expected (and I know they don’t always) we’ll have France and Argentina on our side of the knockouts and would have play one of them on quarters.

Obviously again if results go as expected you’ll get tough teams on both sides but I’d fancy our chances more against Spain, Germany, Belgium and Portugal than I do France, Argentina and Brazil

Jenas as a pundit - meh; but I thought as the main presenter he did a brilliant job; just as good as a professional TV presenter. Which is a lot harder than the real pros make it look.
Pundits; most English ex Players seem to be pretty shit tbh. Shearer is the epitome of this; cant remember him ever saying anything that I couldnt have worked out for myself. Good pundits do exist, when you see one you realise just how pointless most of them are. Cases in point: Thierry Henry, Emma Hayes.

Claire Baldwin & Gabby Yorath :noway:

Weirdly enough if you take the world rankings of the teams we are actually in one of the 'harder' groups. Make of that what you will!!

Not going to look much further than the group, I know they say you have to beat the big sides to win things but that wasn't the case for the euros where we managed to negotiate through to the final with a very favourable passage through. I'd be fairly confident with this England team we have enough about us to at least get to the 1/4 finals.

Football punditry is one of my pet hates. If I'm watching a non STFC game on the TV I'll tune in for kick off, do something at half time away from the box and switch off straight away. No interest in listening what these people have to say, whoever they are. Lineker is the worst, arse licking crisp cunt.

I just hope the World Cup is atmospheric unlike South Africa in 2010

World Rankings are based on who countries play and what the results are
Obviously qualifying is all regional and the Continent specific tournaments aren’t all the same time. Seen as the ACON was recent I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of African countries has risen up the rankings based purely on playing competitive fixtures recently.

I actually like Lineker; but loving 'Arse Licking Crisp Cunt' as a phrase.  :clap: Best bit - You can put these 4 words in any order and it still works as an insult...

I know it's clichéd, but you have to play a good side to win it.

getting to the Euro final with an easy run was brilliant, and a source of pride. So I get where you are coming from.

But it's not enough. Time is running out. we need to win one before I'm pushing up the desired daisies

My 100% feelings. With that smug fucker Shearer not far behind. Degree in the bleeding obvious that bloke has

A World Cup only for the rich.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/18147159/england-fans-qatar-world-cup/

Must admit to watching about 10 mins of the last England game, not watching MotD very often (and rarely for more than 10-15 mins) and only parts of the odd game on Sky. Its not just the pundits that put me off, its the entire games too!

There's an Alsoran but that came 7th in the 3.15 at Catterick Gossiran

I did watch both of the England games, but that was because I was in bed with Covid/flu and was bored out of my head. I haven't watched Motd in ages, the PL is now almost as dull as cricket is to me now.

Nor really World Cup, but I've got a ticket for next Tuesday's Germany v England game here in Munich. No idea what sort of team England will put out, I thought the players were all on holiday on Ibiza or elsewhere...

 :yay:

How can we forget them😀