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Ukraine @ Wales for the World Cup on Sunday - transcends sports

Sean Miller Fan

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Oct 30, 2001
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Be on your couch Sunday at 11:30. Ukraine is in Cardiff for a date with Wales, who has world superstar Gareth Bale. Game is on ESPN2. Its the stuff movies are written about. Ukraine hadn't played a competitive match in 6 months and their domestic based players haven't played ANY competitive match since their league was shut down when Putin invaded. Yet, they went to Glasgow and beat Scotland 2-1. Now they head south to take on another of the 18 different teams that the United Kingdom fields. And if they win, they will play, none other than the USA in the World Cup.

I know some US fans don't want to play Ukraine due to their emotional/fate advantage if there is such a thing but I still say give me them over Bale.
 
Man I hope Ukraine wins just because they have been invaded by Russia! Kick some ass Ukraine!
Russia was in this playoff round also but UEFA booted them out. Now they are considering joining the Asian confederation which would be hilarious. Have fun playing Tajikistan, Oman, Mongolia, and the Phillipines.
 
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Be on your couch Sunday at 11:30. Ukraine is in Cardiff for a date with Wales, who has world superstar Gareth Bale. Game is on ESPN2. Its the stuff movies are written about. Ukraine hadn't played a competitive match in 6 months and their domestic based players haven't played ANY competitive match since their league was shut down when Putin invaded. Yet, they went to Glasgow and beat Scotland 2-1. Now they head south to take on another of the 18 different teams that the United Kingdom fields. And if they win, they will play, none other than the USA in the World Cup.

I know some US fans don't want to play Ukraine due to their emotional/fate advantage if there is such a thing but I still say give me them over Bale.
Oh please. I’m not worried about Bale. He hasn’t played meaningful minutes in a lifetime and he’s likely headed toward MLS, the English Championship, or retirement this fall.
 
Oh please. I’m not worried about Bale. He hasn’t played meaningful minutes in a lifetime and he’s likely headed toward MLS, the English Championship, or retirement this fall.


There seems to be some talk out there that if Wales loses on Sunday that Bale will ride off into the sunset, that he's only going to play next season if they make the World Cup.
 
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Btw, I hope Wales wins because I’d rather play them in the World Cup than Ukraine.

and the USA vs Uruguay at 5pm will be a tasty match, even though it’s a friendly.
 
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There seems to be some talk out there that if Wales loses on Sunday that Bale will ride off into the sunset, that he's only going to play next season if they make the World Cup.
That’s the guy SMF wants no part of. Lol. He’d rather be on a golf course.
 
That’s the guy SMF wants no part of. Lol. He’d rather be on a golf course.


Yeah, gimme Wales all day long. You don't want to play Ukraine with the whole crowd other than the Americans and the Russians in attendance rooting for them.

Plus that Wales versus England game would have the potential to be a really fun game.
 
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Yes. There are 30 Malta's in the AFC. And they'd be flying halfway around the world to play them.


Well first of all, you don't actually play most of those countries in World Cup qualifying. I mean when was the last time that the US played the Cayman Islands or the Virgin Islands in a World Cup qualifier?

But secondly, let's not (San Marino) pretend (Gibraltar) that Europe (Liechtenstein) doesn't have (Andorra) it's fair share (Moldova) of really (Faroe Islands) crappy teams. And the (Azerbaijan) worst part of it for (Cyprus) the European teams (Lithuania) is that the way that (Latvia) UEFA does their qualifiers (Kazakhstan), you are actually (Estonia) guaranteed to play (Luxemborg) a fair number (Belarus) of those teams.
 
Well first of all, you don't actually play most of those countries in World Cup qualifying. I mean when was the last time that the US played the Cayman Islands or the Virgin Islands in a World Cup qualifier?

But secondly, let's not (San Marino) pretend (Gibraltar) that Europe (Liechtenstein) doesn't have (Andorra) it's fair share (Moldova) of really (Faroe Islands) crappy teams. And the (Azerbaijan) worst part of it for (Cyprus) the European teams (Lithuania) is that the way that (Latvia) UEFA does their qualifiers (Kazakhstan), you are actually (Estonia) guaranteed to play (Luxemborg) a fair number (Belarus) of those teams.
Are you seriously comparing Asian teams to Europe? Of course, Europe has some bad teams but you named all of them. Asia has 30 or 40 of them.
 
Are you seriously comparing Asian teams to Europe? Of course, Europe has some bad teams but you named all of them. Asia has 30 or 40 of them.


But so what? You are acting like you play all of those teams in qualifying. And of course you do not. Russia played four games against Cyprus and Malta in qualifying. And that's the way that every UEFA group is. England was in a group with San Marino and Andorra. That's four of their ten qualifiers. And Albania was two more. Germany was in a group with Armenia, Liechtenstein and North Macadonia. That's six of their ten qualifiers. The Netherlands was in with Montenegro, Latvia and Gibraltar. Again, six of their ten qualifiers. Spain was in a group with only five teams, and yet still somehow managed to get both Georgia and Kosovo. That's half their qualifiers.

Yeah, if Russia switches to Asia there aren't as many good teams in Asia. There are also only five spots available, as opposed to 13 for UEFA. So Europe better be a lot better, or the whole thing makes no sense.
 
My god, that last 30 minutes was unbelievable. The Wales goalie (Hesson?) was spectacular. I felt bad for Ukraine. But wow...even Wales just had some unbelievable scoring chances that the Ukraine goalie made great saves or hit the post.
 
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Is Bale hurt? Because since I wasn't working today I watched the last 30 minutes or so of the LA versus LA playoff game last night, and Bale not only did not play, he wasn't on the substitutes bench either. But after the game ended he was out on the field shaking people's hands, so he was there. Surely he is only not dressing if he is injured.

BTW, it was actually a really good game from what I saw. 1-1 when I turned it on, LA scores in the 80th to make it 2-1, LA makes a bunch of substitutes and one of them scores on maybe their first touch to make it 2-2, and then well into stoppage time LA gets the game winner off a corner.

And no, it doesn't really matter which LA is which.

And the atmosphere in the stands was completely bonkers.
 
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Is Bale hurt? Because since I wasn't working today I watched the last 30 minutes or so of the LA versus LA playoff game last night, and Bale not only did not play, he wasn't on the substitutes bench either. But after the game ended he was out on the field shaking people's hands, so he was there. Surely he is only not dressing if he is injured.

BTW, it was actually a really good game from what I saw. 1-1 when I turned it on, LA scores in the 80th to make it 2-1, LA makes a bunch of substitutes and one of them scores on maybe their first touch to make it 2-2, and then well into stoppage time LA gets the game winner off a corner.

And no, it doesn't really matter which LA is which.

And the atmosphere in the stands was completely bonkers.
I thought I saw he was injured but I don’t follow it so I don’t know.
 
Be on your couch Sunday at 11:30. Ukraine is in Cardiff for a date with Wales, who has world superstar Gareth Bale. Game is on ESPN2. Its the stuff movies are written about. Ukraine hadn't played a competitive match in 6 months and their domestic based players haven't played ANY competitive match since their league was shut down when Putin invaded. Yet, they went to Glasgow and beat Scotland 2-1. Now they head south to take on another of the 18 different teams that the United Kingdom fields. And if they win, they will play, none other than the USA in the World Cup.

I know some US fans don't want to play Ukraine due to their emotional/fate advantage if there is such a thing but I still say give me them over Bale.
Most US fans don't want to play Ukraine or Wales, because most US sports fans could care less about the world cup.
 
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