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What Year Is This? WWII vs 2022 World Cup Meme

This meme uses a reaction screenshot of the character King Théoden from *The Lord of the Rings* looking shocked, paired with top text that reads "WHAT YEAR IS THIS?!". Below the character are three lines of text each paired with a national flag: the Japanese flag next to "JAPAN LOST.", the German flag next to "GERMANY LOST.", and the Italian flag next to "ITALY DIDN'T SHOW UP.". The joke relies on a double parallel: these three facts are true both for World War II (the three were Axis powers, Japan and Germany lost the war, Italy surrendered early), and for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where both Japan and Germany were eliminated in the group stage, while Italy failed to qualify for the tournament entirely, creating a humorous, absurd comparison between the two unrelated historical events.
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Text content

WHAT YEAR IS THIS?!
JAPAN LOST.
GERMANY LOST.
ITALY DIDN'T SHOW UP.

Overview

This meme uses a reaction screenshot of the character King Théoden from The Lord of the Rings looking shocked, paired with top text that reads "WHAT YEAR IS THIS?!". Below the character are three lines of text each paired with a national flag: the Japanese flag next to "JAPAN LOST.", the German flag next to "GERMANY LOST.", and the Italian flag next to "ITALY DIDN'T SHOW UP.". The joke relies on a double parallel: these three facts are true both for World War II (the three were Axis powers, Japan and Germany lost the war, Italy surrendered early), and for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where both Japan and Germany were eliminated in the group stage, while Italy failed to qualify for the tournament entirely, creating a humorous, absurd comparison between the two unrelated historical events.

Origin notes

This meme was widely circulated on social media, including the specified source platform 9Gag, in November 2022 immediately after the group stage results of the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup were announced. It is a remixed meme that uses a pre-existing popular reaction screenshot from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers edited to add the text referencing the World Cup and World War II parallel.

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