I’m watching but have always found football to be a very dull game. It isn’t really a team game and the individual talents of the players rarely seem to shine in an actual match. I seem to have sat through many 0-0 draws so far, especially the spectacularly turgid England v USA game. Quality of refereeing has been very poor too.
Games tend to improve as the tournament progresses though.
A perspective from Germany: I love football, to me it is the best sport ever. But I have not and will not watch this tournament as it is the rock bottom for this sport. Football in the desert, are you serious? More than 10000 people died on the construction sites for the stadiums. Qatar has no football culture whatsoever, their only interest is promoting their country for foreign investment. I would find it wrong to have their famous camel race in Germany too.
Fifa is a complete disgrace. They have destroyed this great sport.
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The FIA (Formula 1) have been a far bigger disgrace for much longer in this respect. It is all about money and little else. I don’t watch F1 anymore after the disgraceful events of Abu Dhabi 2021.
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I am not arguing but the last World Cup was in Russia 
And apparently there is evidence that the nomination of Germany as a host in 2006 was rigged as well. The people responsible (Blatter and Beckenbauer) were only not persecuted in Switzerland because time ran out. Haha. FIFA is like Mafia, they stand above the law.
I don’t follow Formula 1, maybe it’s is similar. Well…
We are boycotting too. Football-washing via huge bribes.
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Amen brothers, I also love football and hate to see how it is being corrupted beyond recognition like the Olympics and F1 and that it has just got more and more obvious as time has moved on.
I had already said that I was not going to travel to either Russia or Qatar due the corruption involved and neither of them should ever have got the tournament (but some people got beautiful watches and cars I imagine)
Not a single one of my friends that travel the world to watch Wales play has gone to Qatar so I think that there is a definitely a boycott in place, but as you have said it’s all about growing the world market and money.
Well it unlikely I will be going to another world cup in my lifetime, but watching them is also loosing it’s appeal.
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Just found this thread, and not much to add. Another life long football fan boycotting this World Cup. Been falling out of love since the late 90s TBH, money and greed have ruined what was once the beautiful game. All a far cry from Elland Road in the 1980s…
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Just imagine if there was that much money in the audiophile community 
Enough snake oil sold at crazy prices as there is.
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I’m sure footballers buy some outrageous audio kit 
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Nods… 
(Mostly in their cars)
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All the easier to show off, those Hello magazine shoots are a pain 
I’m watching, but not with the enthusiasm I had when I was younger. In all honesty, it seems that huge parts of the world have major issues with the location of this tournament. The fake fans and less than full stadiums would also suggest that this world cup will probably be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
In terms of Leeds United, I could still reel off most of the players from the classic 1970’s teams. I counted 20+ players off the top of my head, starting at the back with Gary Sprake /David Harvey and ending up front with Allan Clarke/ Mick Jones. I also had a pair of those weird number tags they had on the socks. 
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Don Revie’s great team were a little before I started attending, though I can reel the names off myself from posters on the bedroom wall as a child. Many of them are dead now, though my sister met Eddie Gray recently, much to her delight
I was born towards the end of 1961, so all my awakenings in terms of music and sport were predominantly from the seventies. I couldn’t name more than a few members of the current Leeds squad, but most of them will probably never need to work again once they retire. I would imagine that most players in the 1970’s would retire from football and then have to either, run a pub, or sell insurance, etc, in order to still earn a living.
Quite a few pub owners from that 70’s Leeds squad, poachers turned gamekeepers/poachers 
.
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The current two games are getting very tasty!
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I have other words for Beckham, that don’t include either football or soccer.
I’ve never got the debate, when “kicker” is a specialist position that they let out of their cage for about 90 seconds a match football is not an appropriate name for the game. In real football only 2 players are allowed to handle it and even they seem to be going off the idea in the modern game. 
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Really enjoyed the finale of the two games this afternoon. Amazing result for South Korea, who then had an agonising wait for 9 minutes until the Uruguay game finished. Best sport in the world
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