World Cup 2026

[Sheilbh]

The return of the national team and the celebration would suggest Norwegians in general are happy with the performance, and don't give two effs about VAR. 

Very cool. Doubt it'll be the last big tournament we'll see the row at either - I think a lot of those players are still pretty young/mid-20s?

[HVC]

History will only repeat itself when those 3 sons have sons of their own playing

Or Infantino will up it to 60 teams and half of Europe gets in. Except for Italy

[crazy canuck]

The return of the national team and the celebration would suggest Norwegians in general are happy with the performance, and don't give two effs about VAR. 

Yes, I really admire how the country is celebrating the accomplishment.

[HVC]

The Cabo Verde homecoming was cool too.

[Sheilbh]

History will only repeat itself when those 3 sons have sons of their own playing

Or Infantino will up it to 60 teams and half of Europe gets in. Except for Italy

I think Infantino has already proposed a 64 country World Cup. I wouldn't mind giving it a go for the centenary

As someone who didn't like an expanded World Cup, I have been won over.

[crazy canuck]

I had an interesting chat with a fellow at coffee this morning who is quite knowledgable about football, having played at In Europe.

His view is that both of the players and the refs have adapted to the technology in a way that they become reliant and the usual judgements that would've been made are left to the technology.

The ball hitting the wire is a perfect example.  His view is that prior to VAR players probably would've stopped when it was clear that the ball had hit and obstruction.

But now the referee is reliant on getting a call from the VA R booth that the chip went off, or that something should be reviewed and so the referee on the field is not as vigilant. And the players on both sides now understand that even if they see something that should have brought play to a stop, they played through it because in the back of their minds, they know that whatever happens will be called back by the VAR official.

All of that fails when the technology fails.  And so, with so much of what is happening in our modern lives, reliance on technology is modifying the way we think and act.

It's actually a pretty interesting case study on the impact of technology on human behavior.