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Winner: Argentina
Top Scorer: Harry Kane
Dark Horse: Norway
Player of the Tournament: Lautaro Martínez

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2906 - 11/06/2026 08:47:45    2678950

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Winner: Brazil.
Top Scorer: Erling Haaland.
Dark Horse: Turkey
Player of the Tournament: Michael Olise

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8610 - 11/06/2026 08:54:02    2678952

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Winner: France
Top Scorer: Harry Kane
Dark Horse: Portugal
Player of the Tournament: Donald Trump

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 12127 - 11/06/2026 10:47:15    2678965

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "Winner: Brazil.
Top Scorer: Erling Haaland.
Dark Horse: Turkey
Player of the Tournament: Michael Olise"
Olise a great shout for the Ballon Dor if France go well. Watched him again against the North the other night. He plays the game at his own rhythm. Unbelievable technique and eye for a pass. My only worry for him and France is they have TOO many big stars. Potential there for bruised egos to upset the apple-cart. We've seen it previously with French squads,

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10375 - 11/06/2026 11:58:57    2678971

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If Germany have a striker of note, they could win the Ballon D'Or in their game against Caracao alone if all things fall right for them. Might not have to score another goal in the competition to win the prize!

PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 2140 - 11/06/2026 13:21:27    2678983

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Replying To Lockjaw:  "Olise a great shout for the Ballon Dor if France go well. Watched him again against the North the other night. He plays the game at his own rhythm. Unbelievable technique and eye for a pass. My only worry for him and France is they have TOO many big stars. Potential there for bruised egos to upset the apple-cart. We've seen it previously with French squads,"
The question is who will do the grunt work for them. A lot of talent no doubt, but the teams who win tournaments are generally well balanced. Their central defence is also questionable. Hard to believe that Konate gets picked ahead of Saliba.
Spain outplayed them in the last Euros, and they were put out of the previous one by Switzerland.
They were absolutely awful in the last World Cup final, until a penalty out of nowhere woke them up and gave them some momentum.
They have the ability to go all the way for sure, but often don't perform to their potential.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2886 - 11/06/2026 13:24:26    2678984

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "The question is who will do the grunt work for them. A lot of talent no doubt, but the teams who win tournaments are generally well balanced. Their central defence is also questionable. Hard to believe that Konate gets picked ahead of Saliba.
Spain outplayed them in the last Euros, and they were put out of the previous one by Switzerland.
They were absolutely awful in the last World Cup final, until a penalty out of nowhere woke them up and gave them some momentum.
They have the ability to go all the way for sure, but often don't perform to their potential."
Yeah people tend to look at all their stars at thge top end of the pitch. But do they have the workhorses or "water-carriers" as Eric Cantona once infamously labelled current French manager Didier Deschamps. Kante isn't what he was.
Tchoumeini and Rabiot are ok, but I'd have my doubts. I think Griezemann is a big loss. He was a very intelligent footballer who did a lot of the knitting-together.

Teams like Spain and Argentina, who know how to look after the ball in that heat will likely go well.
If Spain had a peak Fernando Torres or David Villa, they'd be hard to back against. Oryazabal is a very decent striker but he wouldn't be in the aforementioned category.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10375 - 11/06/2026 14:22:35    2678999

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "The question is who will do the grunt work for them. A lot of talent no doubt, but the teams who win tournaments are generally well balanced. Their central defence is also questionable. Hard to believe that Konate gets picked ahead of Saliba.
Spain outplayed them in the last Euros, and they were put out of the previous one by Switzerland.
They were absolutely awful in the last World Cup final, until a penalty out of nowhere woke them up and gave them some momentum.
They have the ability to go all the way for sure, but often don't perform to their potential."
Yeah people tend to look at all their stars at thge top end of the pitch. But do they have the workhorses or "water-carriers" as Eric Cantona once infamously labelled current French manager Didier Deschamps. Kante isn't what he was.
Tchoumeini and Rabiot are ok, but I'd have my doubts. I think Griezemann is a big loss. He was a very intelligent footballer who did a lot of the knitting-together.

Teams like Spain and Argentina, who know how to look after the ball in that heat will likely go well.
If Spain had a peak Fernando Torres or David Villa, they'd be hard to back against. Oryazabal is a very decent striker but he wouldn't be in the aforementioned category.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10375 - 11/06/2026 14:46:04    2679005

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Ireland joins Migration package, lovely for the rest of us.

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2746 - 11/06/2026 15:33:22    2679010

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Winner: Brazil
Top Scorer: Yamal
Dark Horse: Mexico
Player of the Tournament: Vinicius Jr

peiledoir20 (Donegal) - Posts: 1673 - 11/06/2026 16:23:47    2679018

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Winner: England
Top Scorer: Kane
Dark Horse: Turkey
Player of the Tournament: Rice

sourmilk93 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1296 - 11/06/2026 16:34:53    2679020

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "The question is who will do the grunt work for them. A lot of talent no doubt, but the teams who win tournaments are generally well balanced. Their central defence is also questionable. Hard to believe that Konate gets picked ahead of Saliba.
Spain outplayed them in the last Euros, and they were put out of the previous one by Switzerland.
They were absolutely awful in the last World Cup final, until a penalty out of nowhere woke them up and gave them some momentum.
They have the ability to go all the way for sure, but often don't perform to their potential."
Saliba has a recurring back injury. On form one of the best centre backs in the world. Hopefully he can get fit and stay fit and himself an Upamecano will be centre backs. Konate has more potential than an awful season for Liverpool just gone. France rely a lot on a 35 year old Kante who's still effective. Himself,Messi, Dzeko, Ronaldo and probably a good few more heading towards 40 or beyond still showing the young lads a trick or two.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8610 - 11/06/2026 17:15:03    2679027

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Replying To Saynothing:  "Ireland joins Migration package, lovely for the rest of us."
Ireland badly needs a Center-Right party as an alternative, as all of the established parties in Dail Eireann are leftist or have moved in that center left direction in recent years to gain popularity and now afraid to rock the boat.

Irish National Debt is on course to be €30 billion higher at the end of this decade than at the start of it.
As said before, there needs to be massive overhaul of the public sector, as its dragging the state under with the levels of inefficiencies tolerated, which in turn is causing mayhem in Health, Justice, education etc.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1883 - 11/06/2026 18:54:57    2679041

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Going safe All to qualify from the Group Stage 10/1
Mexico, Scotland, Bosnia Herzegovina, Sweden, Austria, Turkey, Ivory Coast, Colombia, Norway and Uruguay.

katser (Galway) - Posts: 2868 - 11/06/2026 20:01:30    2679042

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Winner, anybody but England. We get reminded of 66 enough without another 1.

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2746 - 11/06/2026 21:17:50    2679048

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Replying To Commodore:  "Ireland badly needs a Center-Right party as an alternative, as all of the established parties in Dail Eireann are leftist or have moved in that center left direction in recent years to gain popularity and now afraid to rock the boat.

Irish National Debt is on course to be €30 billion higher at the end of this decade than at the start of it.
As said before, there needs to be massive overhaul of the public sector, as its dragging the state under with the levels of inefficiencies tolerated, which in turn is causing mayhem in Health, Justice, education etc."
Have you done an in depth study of the " public sector"?
Have you identified all those " inefficiencies"?
Have you listed them and given the solutions?
Or are you just repeating oul propoganda from Ibec/Isme?
Or from populist politicians?
Or are you just doing the late night grumpy oul lad at the end of the bar?
Fine Gael are in the main Centre right and are in power ( with others) for over 15 years .

Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 645 - 11/06/2026 21:57:11    2679050

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Replying To Saynothing:  "Winner, anybody but England. We get reminded of 66 enough without another 1."
Thanks for reminding us again

conordee (Galway) - Posts: 470 - 12/06/2026 12:59:25    2679127

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Recently found the Offaly GAA songs about their 2021 Gaelic and 2024 Hurling teams and they were great. Thought they sounded familiar and they had, same beat used from Fisherman's Blues.

ColmFlaherty (Galway) - Posts: 108 - 13/06/2026 23:25:40    2679415

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Replying To Seanfan:  "Have you done an in depth study of the " public sector"?
Have you identified all those " inefficiencies"?
Have you listed them and given the solutions?
Or are you just repeating oul propoganda from Ibec/Isme?
Or from populist politicians?
Or are you just doing the late night grumpy oul lad at the end of the bar?
Fine Gael are in the main Centre right and are in power ( with others) for over 15 years ."
Fine Gael are not Centre right, they are center left like their identical twin Fianna Fail, there are no clear distinctions between the two anymore, hasn't been for years. Yet members of the public are fooled into thinking these two are distinct political options, despite neither being able to openly state those distinctions anymore. They have collectively mismanaged the Country for long-enough, running up massive debts during the most prosperous years of the Irish state.

PUBLIC SECTOR SUMMARY
Of 5.5 million ROI population, ~2.5 million are in employment, ~1.9 million in full-time employment.
-- The Public Sector/Civil Service employs ~410k people.
-- If we include Commercial Semi-public entities (ESB, Uisce Eireann, DAA, RTE, Coilte etc), its ~500k people employed.
-- Almost 25% of employed people in ROI work for the state.

Why is that a problem?

-- Efficiency from the Public Sector is vital to any successful Country, as the private sector is generally bringing in the bulk of the money into the State, while public sector is funded by the taxpayers for share services.

-- We are seeing time and time again that millions of taxpayers money is getting wasted every year by a public sector that has no comprehension of bringing projects in on budget, most of them spent their careers working in this environment of automatic pay scales, not performance related, so no accountability. Think Children's Hospital, Iarnrod Eireann IT system, Bicycle sheds and Data Centers etc.

-- Essential Front line services tend to be underpaid, understaffed and overworked, the general public are deeply frustrated with A&E and hospital waiting times, overcrowding etc. Yet, we have overstaffed, overpaid admins across the board, these inefficiencies are protected by Unions.

-- Public Sector workers are considered to have 'Jobs for life' by banks when it comes to Mortgage applications, there are even Public Sector only Mortgage groups, who provide them with favorable borrowing terms. This in turn keeps the housing market inflated.

Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1883 - 14/06/2026 14:56:38    2679518

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Replying To Commodore:  "Fine Gael are not Centre right, they are center left like their identical twin Fianna Fail, there are no clear distinctions between the two anymore, hasn't been for years. Yet members of the public are fooled into thinking these two are distinct political options, despite neither being able to openly state those distinctions anymore. They have collectively mismanaged the Country for long-enough, running up massive debts during the most prosperous years of the Irish state.

PUBLIC SECTOR SUMMARY
Of 5.5 million ROI population, ~2.5 million are in employment, ~1.9 million in full-time employment.
-- The Public Sector/Civil Service employs ~410k people.
-- If we include Commercial Semi-public entities (ESB, Uisce Eireann, DAA, RTE, Coilte etc), its ~500k people employed.
-- Almost 25% of employed people in ROI work for the state.

Why is that a problem?

-- Efficiency from the Public Sector is vital to any successful Country, as the private sector is generally bringing in the bulk of the money into the State, while public sector is funded by the taxpayers for share services.

-- We are seeing time and time again that millions of taxpayers money is getting wasted every year by a public sector that has no comprehension of bringing projects in on budget, most of them spent their careers working in this environment of automatic pay scales, not performance related, so no accountability. Think Children's Hospital, Iarnrod Eireann IT system, Bicycle sheds and Data Centers etc.

-- Essential Front line services tend to be underpaid, understaffed and overworked, the general public are deeply frustrated with A&E and hospital waiting times, overcrowding etc. Yet, we have overstaffed, overpaid admins across the board, these inefficiencies are protected by Unions.

-- Public Sector workers are considered to have 'Jobs for life' by banks when it comes to Mortgage applications, there are even Public Sector only Mortgage groups, who provide them with favorable borrowing terms. This in turn keeps the housing market inflated."
The government doesn't build, maintain or hire personnel for data centres in Ireland.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8610 - 14/06/2026 19:33:45    2679612

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