FIFA World Cup 2018

[Napoléon]

FUCCKKCIIKNG GETTTT INNN. LADSSSSSS

[emjay]

It's never easy with England is it? Won it by a whisker.

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And Mr Obvious, when I asked you to pray for England, I meant before the game started, not waiting till the last minute

[emjay]

This may not be the right place for it, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if I'm on the Aspergers spectrum. A long time friend, who used to babysit me when I was a kid, and who has a son who is Aspergers is convinced I am... just 'high functioning', though that could just be bias. And I have a lot of friends who are and feel I have a lot in common with some of them, just not to the same degree most of the time. Like obsessiveness, getting hung up on little details, social anxiety, awkwardness, and aloofness. Anyway the reason I'm writing this here is because of this football shirt... which feels like it kind of sums up this thing to me... the social aspect anyway; every time I've gone out so far wearing this thing I've felt very self-conscious; no-one else is wearing one and I feel very anxious every time I walk past someone who fits the stereotype of a football fan... worried they'll speak to me because I don't know how to respond in 'bloke-speak' , cos I don't talk like that. I feel like Mrs Doyle in Father Ted reading "How to watch football for women"; "Go on... [turns page]... my son!" Like someone said something to me today when I was wearing this, I didn't catch much cos I was just trying to avoid them at the time, but it felt hostile/mocking... but this time it could be my anxious bias in play... all I caught was "Saturday night" (which is when England is next playing)... so I started worrying if there was some etiquette I'm not getting about when I should wear it... whether I should only be wearing it on match days? and maybe that's why no-one else is wearing one. Anyway, all of that does fit in with what I've learnt about Aspergers, I think, so it would certainly explain a lot. Just felt the need to get that out there.

[Mr.Obvious]

Tonight is going to be tense!

Win or lose; manly tears may be shed.

[emjay]

Tonight is going to be tense!

Win or lose; manly tears may be shed.

From looking at the wiki, Belgium's never reached the semi-finals before? I hope you get there

[brewer]

[emjay]

Congrats again Mr Obvious! First time as semi-finalists for you and looks to me like your team could go all the way; if I was a betting man, and betting realistically rather than patriotically, I'd have to say I'd go for France or Belgium to win the whole thing, just for positive consistency. You weren't lying when you said your goalie could take it against Brazil... he seems worth his weight in gold... and your players just seemed so endlessly undaunted (like last game), confident, and precise with their passes. Anyway, congrats again... you can stop crying tears of joy now and start praying again for England... cos clearly it works

[Mr.Obvious]

Tonight is going to be tense!

Win or lose; manly tears may be shed.

From looking at the wiki, Belgium's never reached the semi-finals before? I hope you get there

Actualy, yes; we were fourth in '86, playing against France in the 'small finale'. We lost 4 - 2 . Maybe we can get some revenge, come tuesday.

On that note.

*ahum*

FUCK YEAH! OH FUCK YES! SEMI FINALS! THEY TOOK DOWN BRAZIL! I DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT IT BEING WITH A HOME-GOAL! COURTOIS YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD! FUCKING BRAZIL! THEY BEAT FUCKING BRAZIL!

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Congrats again Mr Obvious! First time as semi-finalists for you and looks to me like your team could go all the way; if I was a betting man, and betting realistically rather than patriotically, I'd have to say I'd go for France or Belgium to win the whole thing, just for positive consistency. You weren't lying when you said your goalie could take it against Brazil... he seems worth his weight in gold... and your players just seemed so endlessly undaunted (like last game), confident, and precise with their passes. Anyway, congrats again... you can stop crying tears of joy now and start praying again for England... cos clearly it works

Thanks Emjay

Let me tell you; I'm hoping for a Belgium v England finale.
Would be brilliant: win or lose. Though of course I hope win for our sakes.
We could see the match we wanted in the group phase.

Maybe I'll start the world's first football mega church...

[emjay]

From looking at the wiki, Belgium's never reached the semi-finals before? I hope you get there

Actualy, yes; we were fourth in '86, playing against France in the 'small finale'. We lost 4 - 2 . Maybe we can get some revenge, come tuesday.

Sorry, my bad.

On that note.

*ahum*

FUCK YEAH! OH FUCK YES! SEMI FINALS! THEY TOOK DOWN BRAZIL! I DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT IT BEING WITH A HOME-GOAL! COURTOIS YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD! FUCKING BRAZIL! THEY BEAT FUCKING BRAZIL!

I bet that felt good to get that off your chest But don't forget your brilliant second goal

Congrats again Mr Obvious! First time as semi-finalists for you and looks to me like your team could go all the way; if I was a betting man, and betting realistically rather than patriotically, I'd have to say I'd go for France or Belgium to win the whole thing, just for positive consistency. You weren't lying when you said your goalie could take it against Brazil... he seems worth his weight in gold... and your players just seemed so endlessly undaunted (like last game), confident, and precise with their passes. Anyway, congrats again... you can stop crying tears of joy now and start praying again for England... cos clearly it works

Thanks Emjay

Let me tell you; I'm hoping for a Belgium v England finale.
Would be brilliant: win or lose. Though of course I hope win for our sakes.
We could see the match we wanted in the group phase.

Maybe I'll start the world's first football mega church...

Thanks man, that's very sporting of you I return the sentiment, but in all honesty I think I'd have mixed feelings if we won, thinking you deserved it more than we did, especially if it came down to an England special of a no/low score draw and penalty shootout; that wouldn't feel like a worthy or satisfying way of winning the World Cup... like last game... I was almost glad when it went into extra time because I didn't want the game won on a penalty. Basically it seems to me, and this World Cup has done little to change that view, that England is too affected by psychology both positive and negative... and either way it can snowball into a self-fulfilling prophecy. But your team seemed to play an almost Buddhist game in comparison If you could bottle that, we could use some of it Ie not getting complacent when you get ahead or daunted by situations or teams when you get behind, just playing the same game regardless.

[emjay]

Great couple of games today... very happy with England's performance against Sweden, and the game that's just ended... God, that was intense! Was rooting for Croatia, since I figured if we ended up playing Russia it might get political and I would prefer not having that particular dark cloud hanging over the game. So very glad that Croatia won... and I think they deserved to win, especially since their goalie was injured... so hats off to him for his play in spite of that.