wangus12 said:

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I wonder how many pairings they have. There are some days with 5 matches I think. If Ian Darke/Landon Donovan are the A team, its gonna be a long world cup.

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John Strong and Stu Holden are the lead announcers. Holden did an impression of Elmo from Sesame Street on last night's pre game show. Maybe he will call matches with that voice.

fig96 said:

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Beckham's agent has been putting in some work.

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Agreed. He's the star of the World Cup so far since he's in every other commercial.

jessexy said:

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fig96 said:

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Beckham's agent has been putting in some work.

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Agreed. He's the star of the World Cup so far since he's in every other commercial.

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There are now millions of 35-45 year old women with disposable income…it is his time to shine

Crazy that it takes a week to get all the way back around to Group A again. I guess the players will be recovered.

Group A Standings:
----------------------Pld---W---D---L---GD----Pts
Mexico--------------1----1---0---0___+2----3
South Korea------1----1---0---0___+1----3
Czechia-------------1----0---0---1___-1----0
South Africa------1----0---0---1___-2----0

Match Day 1 Results:
Mexico 2 : South Africa 0
South Korea 2 : Czechia 1

Match Day 2 (Thursday, June 18th)

Czechia vs. South Africa
11:00 AM CT
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, GA
TV: Fox, Telemundo


Mexico vs. South Korea
8:00 PM CT
Estadio Akron, Guadalajara, Mexico
TV: Fox, Telemundo

Lineups for Czechia vs South Africa

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗫𝗜 🇨🇿🆚🇿🇦 #ProTenhleMoment

Tato jména Hrdých lvů se dnes nesou jihoafrickou savanou. 🦁🌅🇨🇿 #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/GupUNGJpkw

— Česká fotbalová reprezentace (@ceskarepre_cz) June 18, 2026

🇿🇦 Bafana Bafana's starting line up against Czechia 🇨🇿

⚽ Czechia vs Bafana Bafana
📅 Thursday, 18 June 2026
​🏟️ Atlanta Stadium
🕕 Kick-off: 18:00
🖥 SABC1, SABC 3 & SABC Sport#Fifaworldcup#BafanaPride #BafanaBafana pic.twitter.com/pvTUmJaoxX

— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) June 18, 2026

Lol Fox just had a Saudi Arabia flag up for South Africa

wangus12 said:

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Lol Fox just had a Saudi Arabia flag up for South Africa

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KSA, RSA. Tomayto, tomahto.

I do the same thing when people talk about Wu Tang. RZA or GZA? No clue. I just know that they ain't nuthin to **** wit.

Vital match for our Czech heroes, both for their hopes of advancing and as the last leg of my parlay.

Pojd'me Lokomotiva!

Hugo Broos has Pete Carrol vibes lol

Really cool little Easter egg.

They swapped the normal 3 white adidas stripes on the ref kit for Penso. They are red white and blue.

RSA gonna get run off the pitch today.

Dream start for our heroes

So how exactly happened in qualifying that RSA made it over Nigeria or Cameroon?

RSA are dreadful.

Forum Troll said:

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So how exactly happened in qualifying that RSA made it over Nigeria or Cameroon?

RSA are dreadful.

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AI answer:

It really came down to a classic case of a team drawing itself to death.

While Nigeria definitely possesses the superior raw talent on paper, the Super Eagles completely derailed their own campaign through a staggering lack of consistency, bizarre administrative drama, and a massive "draw epidemic."

The ultimate killer for Nigeria was their 2-1 loss to Benin early in the group. Compounding the irony, Benin was managed by Gernot Rohrthe former Nigeria manager who had been sacked by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). That loss, combined with the administrative dysfunction and rotating managerial door at the NFF, completely broke their margin for error.

Not sure if that yellow was for something said. If not both yellows were really weak. Fouls sure but not really much contact on either.

AustinScubaAg said:

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Not sure if that yellow was for something said. If not both yellows were really weak. Fouls sure but not really much contact on either.

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I think it was dissent. That card was snappy fast and he was sort of in her space. With the newish "captain only" deal it's could be that. My ref board thinks it was persistent offenses. Either way it wasn't the foul itself.

Mathguy64 said:

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AustinScubaAg said:

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Not sure if that yellow was for something said. If not both yellows were really weak. Fouls sure but not really much contact on either.

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I think it was dissent. That card was snappy fast and he was sort of in her space. With the newish "captain only" deal it's could be that. My ref board thinks it was persistent offenses. Either way it wasn't the foul itself.

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Be curious what your ref board thinks but overall I have been not impressed with most of the officiating in this world cup.

this bald old git from RSA with the powderpuff boots needs to gtfo of here with his playacting.

AustinScubaAg said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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AustinScubaAg said:

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Not sure if that yellow was for something said. If not both yellows were really weak. Fouls sure but not really much contact on either.

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I think it was dissent. That card was snappy fast and he was sort of in her space. With the newish "captain only" deal it's could be that. My ref board thinks it was persistent offenses. Either way it wasn't the foul itself.

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Be curious what your ref board thinks but overall I have been not impressed with most of the officiating in this world cup.

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It's a very hard tournament to referee. There hasn't been a card for SFP in like 40 years. The VC in the opening matches the first in forever. They don't get given because nobody wants a WC game 9 v 10. Yellows are hard to get because of accumulation. Refs who work games say FIFA doesn't say "don't give cards" but they all know the implications. And so many lower confed refs just never get these levels of players in their life so that makes it so hard to call.

Nobody wants to mess up and get sent home early so they are very cautious.

Nobody had had an out and out stinker, but there have been a couple of strange and bad calls.

The foul on Mbappe should have been a PK. And Messi rightfully deserved yellow for the cleats into the calf. In fact the ref for that game called a very lazy game for him. But he worked the final last time so he's got nothing to work for.

Penalty South Africa.

Not intentional but you've gotta call that one.

1-1. South Africa stay alive

not watching. South africa showing more life than they did vs Mexico?

Unless somebody gets a second, that goal likely eliminates both teams (they'd have to beat Mexico or South Korea)

She nailed the PK.

Yeah for sure. They definitely had more of the ball, rarely do anything with it. Czechia has missed some chances to be in the lead by more before the penalty

Lowers my payout by like 50% ugh.

Entire Czechia 11 look like they're wading in molasses

Mind blown by that white South African fan all kitted out. Total *******ry LOL

Mathguy64 said:

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AustinScubaAg said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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AustinScubaAg said:

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Not sure if that yellow was for something said. If not both yellows were really weak. Fouls sure but not really much contact on either.

---

I think it was dissent. That card was snappy fast and he was sort of in her space. With the newish "captain only" deal it's could be that. My ref board thinks it was persistent offenses. Either way it wasn't the foul itself.

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Be curious what your ref board thinks but overall I have been not impressed with most of the officiating in this world cup.

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It's a very hard tournament to referee. There hasn't been a card for SFP in like 40 years. The VC in the opening matches the first in forever. They don't get given because nobody wants a WC game 9 v 10. Yellows are hard to get because of accumulation. Refs who work games say FIFA doesn't say "don't give cards" but they all know the implications. And so many lower confed refs just never get these levels of players in their life so that makes it so hard to call.

Nobody wants to mess up and get sent home early so they are very cautious.

Nobody had had an out and out stinker, but there have been a couple of strange and bad calls.

The foul on Mbappe should have been a PK. And Messi rightfully deserved yellow for the cleats into the calf. In fact the ref for that game called a very lazy game for him. But he worked the final last time so he's got nothing to work for.

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I may be in the minority but I felt the Mbappe no call was fine. Sure there was slight contact but not enough for VAR to call it clear a clear and obvious error. Sticking with the call if the ref feels that way makes sense.

Konigstiger said:

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Mind blown by that white South African fan all kitted out. Total *******ry LOL

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I mean, he might know more about his country than you do.

That last 10 minutes was wildly entertaining with all of the scoring chances on both ends. You could sense the desperation for both sides to try to get that goal.

Always tough to stomach when a result is changed for an accidental handball in the box. Right call, but doesn't make it any less annoying lol.

Solid game. She handled the dismissive behaviour at 90+2 really well. She will get a KO match.

Nah mate. Watch some of the political rallies from the African majority party. They despise the "colonizers".

Gordo14 said:

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Konigstiger said:

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Mind blown by that white South African fan all kitted out. Total *******ry LOL

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I mean, he might know more about his country than you do.

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You're responding to a bot. Don't fall for it.