BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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Whoa, this time we actually got an underperformace from a top European side. My theory is gaining steam!

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What was your theory?

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https://bearinsider.com/forums/6/topics/133019/replies/2704510

sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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Whoa, this time we actually got an underperformace from a top European side. My theory is gaining steam!

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What was your theory?

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https://bearinsider.com/forums/6/topics/133019/replies/2704510

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Is your theory that weather or time zones or ? is causing European teams to fade down the stretch in games?

BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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sycasey said:

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Whoa, this time we actually got an underperformace from a top European side. My theory is gaining steam!

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What was your theory?

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https://bearinsider.com/forums/6/topics/133019/replies/2704510

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Is your theory that weather or time zones or ? is causing European teams to fade down the stretch in games?

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I don't know the cause, just noticing that it seems to be happening.

BearlySane88 said:

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Cal88 said:

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BearlySane88 said:

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Wow. One of the biggest World Cup upsets of all time

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It's not quite that big an upset, CV having eliminated Cameroun and dominated their group. Their team core plays in the Portuguese league, which is the 6th best domestic league in Europe.

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I disagree. Spain went undefeated in qualifying, the reigning European Champion winning all seven games they played and are one of the favorites to win it all. Cape Verde was in their first ever WC match and 3rd smallest nation to ever qualify.

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They qualified at the expense of Cameroon and Angola, pop. 30M and 40M respectively, winning their group outright with points to spare.

It would have been a lot bigger story had they actually beaten Spain. As a scoreless tie it is still the most surprising result of matchday 1 to date, but biggest WC upsets of all time is a stretch.

Maybe a factor is that top teams have harder, longer schedules with UEFA fixtures and some players start the tournament more tired or injured.

What on earth is this stadium man 😭

How can any stadium in Europe even compete. USA are on another level when it comes to this pic.twitter.com/EVio2uGLTI

— (Journo) Xabhi 🔮 (@FCB_Xabhi) June 15, 2026

ملعب مباراة بلجيكا ومصر وش ذي الملاعب كل ملعب اجمل من الثاني pic.twitter.com/eGVdCDqKbL

— 17 (@kevi7e) June 15, 2026

"The stadium for the Belgium vs Egypt match, what are these stadiums? Every stadium is more beautiful than the one before."

Cal88 said:

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Maybe a factor is that top teams have harder, longer schedules with UEFA fixtures and some players start the tournament more tired or injured.

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Spain, who I still think are the best team, have only two players that are physically dominant, their wingers Niko Williams and Lamine Yamal. Neither started. Their striker Torres fell apart as the season progressed. The European season is long and grueling and Spain has no incentive this early in the tournament. I think the result means only slightly more than nothing. Remember Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia to start the tournament last time. It was a good wake up call, as this game might be. I think earlier in the thread there was some conspiracy thinking, which is impossible to disprove, but sure would sap all the joy out of the game for me.

dajo9 said:

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sicko stuff

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A sicko who has the self-awareness to know he is a sicko is hopefully tolerable. Okay, no more about me.

I just Google mapped Cabo Verde and looked around a bit.

A country consisting of volcanic islands and hardly any grass just tied the European champions, Spain?

PAC-10-BEAR said:

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I just Google mapped Cabo Verde and looked around a bit.

A country consisting of volcanic islands and hardly any grass just tied the European champions, Spain?

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Most of their players are born outside the country. Largest portion from the Netherlands and then Portugal.

🚨BREAKING: Someone named “fishalive” put $400k on Spain NOT to win vs Cabo Verde at 9% odds...

This trade just cashed out $4,702,769.23 on Polymarket pic.twitter.com/Kvp6RsoQJO

— Polymarket Sports (@PolymarketSport) June 15, 2026

PAC-10-BEAR said:

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I just Google mapped Cabo Verde and looked around a bit.

A country consisting of volcanic islands and hardly any grass just tied the European champions, Spain?

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After training on volcanoes, grass or even turf seems pretty damned easy. We should try that!

dajo9 said:

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Cal88 said:

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This is incredibly awful and stupid.

Uruguay arrived in the United States for the World Cup and were greeted by sniffer dogs and full security checks.

Look at Manuel Ugarte’s face 😂 pic.twitter.com/LZrT4nUmrX

— utdreport (@utdreport) June 15, 2026

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This is what you worked for over the past decade

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You're barking up the wrong tree.

Cal88 said:

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dajo9 said:

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Cal88 said:

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This is incredibly awful and stupid.

Uruguay arrived in the United States for the World Cup and were greeted by sniffer dogs and full security checks.

Look at Manuel Ugarte’s face 😂 pic.twitter.com/LZrT4nUmrX

— utdreport (@utdreport) June 15, 2026

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This is what you worked for over the past decade

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You're barking up the wrong tree.

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I'm absolutely not

Cal88 said:

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This is incredibly awful and stupid.

Uruguay arrived in the United States for the World Cup and were greeted by sniffer dogs and full security checks.

Look at Manuel Ugarte’s face 😂 pic.twitter.com/LZrT4nUmrX

— utdreport (@utdreport) June 15, 2026

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Speaking of Uruguay, how did they ever win two World Cups? Isn't that, like, twice as many as ****ing England?!?

Shouldn't Spielberg or somebody make a movie about this? If you gave 1,000 random Americans an outline map of the world, how many could identify Uruguay? Or even come within three countries of identifying them?

Paraguay and Uruguay are two different countries, right? What's up with them both ending in "guay"? Does that mean something in Spanish, like "country"? Then what do "para" and "uru" mean? Hey, maybe "para" means zero, "uru" means two... and "guay" means World Cups!

I feel like I'm having a great day, today, solving a lot of the world's problems.

Tough draw for Uruguay. They had a lot of chances to win.

Big C said:

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Cal88 said:

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This is incredibly awful and stupid.

Uruguay arrived in the United States for the World Cup and were greeted by sniffer dogs and full security checks.

Look at Manuel Ugarte’s face 😂 pic.twitter.com/LZrT4nUmrX

— utdreport (@utdreport) June 15, 2026

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Speaking of Uruguay, how did they ever win two World Cups? Isn't that, like, twice as many as ****ing England?!?

Shouldn't Spielberg or somebody make a movie about this? If you gave 1,000 random Americans an outline map of the world, how many could identify Uruguay? Or even come within three countries of identifying them?

Paraguay and Uruguay are two different countries, right? What's up with them both ending in "guay"? Does that mean something in Spanish, like "country"? Then what do "para" and "uru" mean? Hey, maybe "para" means zero, "uru" means two... and "guay" means World Cups!

I feel like I'm having a great day, today, solving a lot of the world's problems.

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Uruguay won in 1930 and 1950. In the early days they and Brazil and Italy were the best teams. It is surprising I think that the first World Cup was in 1930. One would think it would be a lot earlier. There were only 13 teams in 1930 and 1950. The 1930 Cup was in Uruguay, which must have helped, and the 1950 Cup was in Brazil. I think Uruguay beating Brazil in Brazil in 1950 was a huge upset. I watched a documentary about it once although details are hazy. In 1930 travel must have been difficult, although by 1950 I think there was good airline service.

South American teams generally have players that are from very poor backgrounds. They play like their lives depend on it, because maybe they did. I think they play too rough. I was happy Paraguay did not snap any American bones after going down 3-0. I think the ref was not tough enough.

Uruguay is one of the best developers of soccer talent in the world. Paraguay is not. I have no idea why there is this difference.

You are funny.

sluggo said:

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Big C said:

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Cal88 said:

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This is incredibly awful and stupid.

Uruguay arrived in the United States for the World Cup and were greeted by sniffer dogs and full security checks.

Look at Manuel Ugarte’s face 😂 pic.twitter.com/LZrT4nUmrX

— utdreport (@utdreport) June 15, 2026

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Speaking of Uruguay, how did they ever win two World Cups? Isn't that, like, twice as many as ****ing England?!?

Shouldn't Spielberg or somebody make a movie about this? If you gave 1,000 random Americans an outline map of the world, how many could identify Uruguay? Or even come within three countries of identifying them?

Paraguay and Uruguay are two different countries, right? What's up with them both ending in "guay"? Does that mean something in Spanish, like "country"? Then what do "para" and "uru" mean? Hey, maybe "para" means zero, "uru" means two... and "guay" means World Cups!

I feel like I'm having a great day, today, solving a lot of the world's problems.

---

Uruguay won in 1930 and 1950. In the early days they and Brazil and Italy were the best teams. It is surprising I think that the first World Cup was in 1930. One would think it would be a lot earlier. There were only 13 teams in 1930 and 1950. The 1930 Cup was in Uruguay, which must have helped, and the 1950 Cup was in Brazil. I think Uruguay beating Brazil in Brazil in 1950 was a huge upset. I watched a documentary about it once although details are hazy. In 1930 travel must have been difficult, although by 1950 I think there was good airline service.

South American teams generally have players that are from very poor backgrounds. They play like their lives depend on it, because maybe they did. I think they play too rough. I was happy Paraguay did not snap any American bones after going down 3-0. I think the ref was not tough enough.

Uruguay is one of the best developers of soccer talent in the world. Paraguay is not. I have no idea why there is this difference.

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Very different demographies, Uruguay is more ethnically European (Spain, Italy) while Paraguay is majority Mestizo. Uruguay plays like Argentina, while Paraguay is more like Peru.

Soccer notwithstanding, Paraguay has benefitted from the heritage of the Guarani and the good work of the Jesuits who had settled there in the 17th century and built a functional social economy based on labor, agriculture and crafts, preserving native culture, standardizing and transcribing the language of the local tribe, Guarani. Kind of the opposite path of much harsher Conquistadors and other settlers who exterminated the natives. Guarani, the main language of the Paraguayan natives, became a sort of lingua franca among tribes in the northern Cono Sur and beyond.

My sister spent a year living abroad in Argentina and when she came back she mentioned that people basically considered Uruguay to be like Argentina's little brother to the north, sort of like Canada is to the US (well, before Trump started antagonizing them).

Cal88 said:

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sluggo said:

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Big C said:

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Cal88 said:

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This is incredibly awful and stupid.

Uruguay arrived in the United States for the World Cup and were greeted by sniffer dogs and full security checks.

Look at Manuel Ugarte’s face 😂 pic.twitter.com/LZrT4nUmrX

— utdreport (@utdreport) June 15, 2026

---

Speaking of Uruguay, how did they ever win two World Cups? Isn't that, like, twice as many as ****ing England?!?

Shouldn't Spielberg or somebody make a movie about this? If you gave 1,000 random Americans an outline map of the world, how many could identify Uruguay? Or even come within three countries of identifying them?

Paraguay and Uruguay are two different countries, right? What's up with them both ending in "guay"? Does that mean something in Spanish, like "country"? Then what do "para" and "uru" mean? Hey, maybe "para" means zero, "uru" means two... and "guay" means World Cups!

I feel like I'm having a great day, today, solving a lot of the world's problems.

---

Uruguay won in 1930 and 1950. In the early days they and Brazil and Italy were the best teams. It is surprising I think that the first World Cup was in 1930. One would think it would be a lot earlier. There were only 13 teams in 1930 and 1950. The 1930 Cup was in Uruguay, which must have helped, and the 1950 Cup was in Brazil. I think Uruguay beating Brazil in Brazil in 1950 was a huge upset. I watched a documentary about it once although details are hazy. In 1930 travel must have been difficult, although by 1950 I think there was good airline service.

South American teams generally have players that are from very poor backgrounds. They play like their lives depend on it, because maybe they did. I think they play too rough. I was happy Paraguay did not snap any American bones after going down 3-0. I think the ref was not tough enough.

Uruguay is one of the best developers of soccer talent in the world. Paraguay is not. I have no idea why there is this difference.

---

Very different demographies, Uruguay is more ethnically European (Spain, Italy) while Paraguay is majority Mestizo. Uruguay plays like Argentina, while Paraguay is more like Peru.

Soccer notwithstanding, Paraguay has benefitted from the heritage of the Guarani and the good work of the Jesuits who had settled there in the 17th century and built a functional social economy based on labor, agriculture and crafts, preserving native culture, standardizing and transcribing the language of the local tribe, Guarani. Kind of the opposite path of much harsher Conquistadors and other settlers who exterminated the natives. Guarani, the main language of the Paraguayan natives, became a sort of lingua franca among tribes in the northern Cono Sur and beyond.

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Very interesting. I know some of the history of Brazil but nothing about the "guays."

sycasey said:

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My sister spent a year living abroad in Argentina and when she came back she mentioned that people basically considered Uruguay to be like Argentina's little brother to the north, sort of like Canada is to the US (well, before Trump started antagonizing them).

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They are a good model if you want to be good at the beautiful game.

Never in the history of the World Cup have we had such a sharp visual contrast between two teams, one wearing all black and the other all white... NZ's soccer team first kit is all white, they are known as the All Whites, in opposition to the most famous rugby team in the world, the All Blacks.

Nifty little assist on that Iranian goal. NZ had the momentum, the Iranians were visibly rattled after their goal, then came back more focused and deliberate after the break. This new rule should only be in place if the weather is scorching hot, in the mid/high 90s. The break here ruined the All Whites' momentum.

Hup Holland hup!

Tunisia fired their coach after opening game blowout loss