2018 Football World Cup
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fuck this extraordinarily harsh on Messi. He has carried that team for years. The only reason they are at the World Cup is because he scored 3 in one of the final games to get them there. The rest of the roster is fucking shit. Aguero is the other name guy, and he does fuck all unless it's layed on for him by de Bruyne or Silva. The rest of the team? Mascherano was good. 8 years ago. Who else is there? This isn't 1980s Argentina, this is 9 shit players, Messi, and a poacher.
And every coach knows it, so basically Messi gets it with 3 guys on him. Which should open the game for his team mates, but they are shit house.
Di Maria played the first game, and was deplorable, so they dropped him. And guess what? The other guy was shit too.
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That was pathetic from Messi - he was literally on a Sunday afternoon stroll for most of the game and you have to work like buggery to make space for yourself against a team as well organised as Croatia. Argentina really struggled to progress up the pitch and it was Peres(?) who needed to slot that open goal to give them a chance.
0-0 wouldn't have been a disaster for Argentina until Caballero's howler put a stop to that - straight from the Karius school of keeping. But even before then, that defence looked very dodgy and responded very badly to any pressing. Modric's goal was a thing of beauty - what a fantastic player he has been for the past decade. With him and Rakitic in midfield, they have to be a chance to get to the quarters.
3rd goal was symbolic of a team self-destructing and about to turn on itself.
As for Messi at World Cups, he was player of the tournament in 2010. Marginal but influential in 2014. He really looks like he hates playing for Argentina.
France v Peru game was entertaining - it's a shame Peru has no goals and no points as there is a lot to like about them. France looked better than against Australia. Kante is freakish when you focus on him - at one point he played a cross field pass from the left touchline which was intercepted by the Peruvian left back who carried it forward only to be immediately dispossessed by Kante - I was convinced there are 2 of him. He must have absolutely motored across the pitch immediately after playing the pass. It's similar to Richie at his peak - he seemed to be omnipresent on the field.
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Ravshan Irmatov is not Argentina's favourite ref but they can have no excuse in this game. If anything, he was restrained and could have sent a player off from each team for terrible tackles.
Speaking of refs:
Nigeria – Iceland (tomorrow)
Referee: Matthew Conger (NZL)
Assistant Referee 1: Simon Lount (NZL)
Assistant Referee 2: Tevita Makasini (TGA)
Fourth Official: Ricardo Montero (CRC)
Reserve AR: Hiroshi Yamauchi (JPN) -
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@canefan I was thinking that after I posted - probably would have been better for them in the long term as well as they could have built a team without him. Main problem is that all their gun players are forwards (Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria, Dybala, Messi, Icardi) and they are seriously short of defenders, wide players and midfielders.
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@bovidae At last we have someone to support - let's hope he waves the cards and makes a name for himself!
There were some dreadful studs on foot tackles in that game - from both teams. Maximum pain and not easy to spot when you do it after the ball has gone.
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@kiwipie said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@bovidae At last we have someone to support - let's hope he waves the cards and makes a name for himself!
Makes a name for himself in a good way, i.e. no controversy and mistakes.
There were some dreadful studs on foot tackles in that game - from both teams. Maximum pain and not easy to spot when you do it after the ball has gone.
I can attest to that from personal experience. My feet/toes seem to be always bruised this season, and I'm a defender. A rake down the back of the leg/achilles hurts even more.
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@rocky-rockbottom said in 2018 Football World Cup:
my current GOAT narrative:
1 Richie
2 Kareem
3 Bill Russell
4 Lebron
5 MJ
6 Magic
7 DC
8 MJ (obviously Michael Jones)
9 Maradona
10 Pele
11 Ronaldo
12 MessiMessi not even Top 10. Poor.
No Bo Jackson?
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@bovidae said in 2018 Football World Cup:
A rake down the back of the leg/achilles hurts even more
a personal favourite when you wanted to hobble someone in a ruck. Ah the 90s
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You have to wonder how much of a connection Messi actually has to Argentina these days. He moved to Spain when he was 12 I think and would be lucky to spend even a couple of weeks in Argentina per year.
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@no-quarter said in 2018 Football World Cup:
@canefan said in 2018 Football World Cup:
Online commentary says Aussie drew level with a dubious penalty
Nothing dubious about it, clear handball. The ref took a little while to check it but got the correct result in the end. Awesome to see Aus get the draw and stay alive in the competition.
It'll make the inevitable choke against Peru all the more delicious
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Unsurprisingly it looks like NZF should make space for two firings
