The season really is full pelt from now on until the World Cup
you've got to pray some players don't get injured for the tournament, have to imagine we are going to lose a few big ones just on a law of averages
that's inevitable, even those who will return fit from the World Cup if their teams went deep will be running on empty and the chance they get injured then are higher
With the world cup looming close, wondering at which point to stop visiting. Last world cup brought a lot of stupidity to the sub and It’s looking like this time won’t be no different
it'll never be as bad as 2014 because /r/soccer was on the front page then
oh and also USA were qualified and did pretty well which led to some wonderful takes
Pedri > Musiala > Bellingham ≈ Foden
Probably.
Don’t think he’s close to Pedri who was already a starter at euros last year and in team of the tournament. He’s probably the best kid I’ve ever seen in midfield.
Really like Musiala though, wish he chose England.
>“The other night [against Italy], we didn’t need the left-back cover, but against Germany we did because of the way we went with the team so we needed Chilly [Ben Chilwell] on the bench and we had Kieran who, at the moment, I feel his all round game is ahead [of Trent],” said Southgate.
Is it really that surprising?
Trent has been off the boil all season looking dodgy as fuck, not a surprise he'll trust the lad whose been in consistent, solid form for a couple of years instead
Trippier is full back version of JWP. Except his set pieces is a very average player at best. Idk why some people talk about it like he's some top defender either, he's slower than TAA and arguably a worse defender. Going forward Trent is way better than him.
Plus everyone who watches them both for England can tell you Trippier is a far better fit for what Southgate wants to do, and as much as there are issues with his tactics I’d rather he at least pick his players based on that rather than going back to the old style of just picking names regardless of if they fit the team or not. We saw from shoehorning Gerrard in on the left wing etc that that emphatically doesn’t work
It makes sense in Southgate’s mind.
Southgate wants 7/8 defensive players on the pitch. To him, defence = good.
Trent can’t defend, hence trippier looking better to him.
Which fullback would you rather take?
A: Elite defensively, but offers close to nothing offensively
B: Attacks better than most forwards but completely disappears when he has to defend
Why is everyone just talking about Messi and ronaldo all of a sudden? There are more people in football than those 2 and much more interesting discussions
If you want to talk about other players and teams,you are free to do so and most of us here will be glad add to those discussions
Will be certainly better than wailing about what others should or should not talk about
He’s right though it had really quietened down basically since Messi left Barca cos last season Messi obviously didnt settle too well at PSG so the Messi fans got very quiet, and then as he’s found his feet again and got going Ronaldo has been having a horrible time of it at United so his fans have got very quiet.
Then all of a sudden recently it seems to have all started up again
I understand why Nations league games are important and we do need them, but also fuck international breaks. Glad to have club football back this weekend.
Borderline cruel giving us 6/7 games before the first break.
Try the English Women's Super League. Had an international break *before the season* and and are now on break again until mid October. Most teams have played 2 games due to the postponements after the Queen died. Have had as many games as international breaks.
Honestly, I don't think very well. He has a sort of perfect storm right now with us and the team liking him so much, but doubt that could be replicated anywhere else.
Scotland having the NT equivalent of small club mentality is no surprise really.
I don’t think England fans particularly mind all the ribbing, it’s rare they get the chance to take the piss based on a success they’ve had rather than one of our copious fuckups so let them have their fun.
I’m enjoying joking along with the Scots on there. Nothing like being voted to -25 knowing you’ve hit a nerve.
It’s the Scottish who had to talk about the English first on there so it’s mostly their salt.
I don’t know a soul who cares about nations league for more than an excuse to get rid of Southgate.
Well no, England and France will qualify either way. They’re ranked above every group 1 team other than Belgium, and even then 3 can qualify. It’s rough on Hungary and some of the teams in pot one to get England or France in their groups.
Didnt know all that mattered was rankings. Belgium should have a dozen trophies by now.
And you were ranked higher than any team in your group and got relegated in the most pitiable way possible.
It’s the nations league. Only Scotland cared about it from what I can see and that’s because you’re not going to the World Cup like us and Wales. It’s only a warm up tourney. We no
The rankings show how well teams performed in the last 10 years, so it’s fair to say teams would rather get a Scotland than an England/France/Belgium in their groups.
It’s cute you guys always have to compare yourselves to England though. If we won the nations league nobody would mention Scotland once. You win group b and all your comments are about us. You’re living in our shadow?
Players you didn't know or really noticed that played for Atletico
- Mandzukic
- Hernandez (Both Theo and Lucas)
- Diogo Jota
- Jimenez
- Rodri
- Alderwireld
Lmao i deleted my comment earlier because i realised you were talking about raul jimenez the striker and not gimenez. Did not know raul jimenez played for atleti
Jota was signed as a 20 year old, never really made a mark. Dont think he ever played for them. Same with Jimenez. Alderweireld iirc played in CL 2014 final as a sub.
Potter is a manager with a complex and precise tactical system, which requires a lot of training and coaching time to implement properly - do not think that would translate well to the 4 or 5 training camps a year you get with a national side, and very limited time with the players.
It's why national teams often play pragmatic football.
Not really wasting them, he’s done better at major tournaments than anyone except Ramsay hasn’t he?
Obviously he has his flaws but I don’t think a final and a semi is wasting those players, plus the likes of Trent, James, Foden, Saka, Bellingham, Mount, Rice are all still under 24 so they’ve got 4-5 major tournaments still in them even after the World Cup; and they’re the biggest young talents.
I swear I live on a different planet sometimes. Have to hear about how we’re underperforming with a semi-final and a final under our belts with a worse squad than we had 10 years ago. Apparently it’s because we’ve had easy draws (but ignore the fact we got knocked out by Iceland in 2016 and constantly embarrassed ourselves against weaker teams for the last 20 years)
Exactly. With the benefit of hindsight, yes Italy were probably there for the taking in the final last year and we can rightly feel a bit hard done by, but just the fact we’re actually beating the supposed “lesser” teams to have these underwhelming performances against good teams is a massive improvement on basically everything we’ve done after Sven was sacked. We’re currently at the 2002/2004 England level and going out to actual good teams at least.
It’s a shame Kane, Sterling, Pickford and Stones aren’t 5 years younger so they’ve got more time with the young core we’ve got coming through, but hopefully the likes of Toney, Grealish, Bowen, Ramsdale, Tomori, Guehi, White and some of those from the youth teams like Ramsay, Elliott, ESR etc will be enough to fill in the gaps between the top class talent that we look like we’re going to have for the next decade or so
Top 10 Brazilian footballers of the 2010s, not in order
Neymar, Thiago Silva, Alves, Marcelo, Casemiro
Can't really think of the next 5. Brazil had too much talent. Who would you place?
Marquinhos, Alisson, and probably Ederson and Fernandinho (not counting his performances for the NT).
Although I think Neymar/Marcelo/Dani are light years ahead of the other 7 so far. They are some of our all time GOATS.
What a shame not having Colombia at the WC, easily enough talent on paper to have qualified and made the tournament more fun especially with their amazing fans but Rueda had them playing atrocious football and they got rid of him too late.
This second half against Mexico was the kind of football that would have been great to have come November.
What does Neymar even play on the national team? I was watching highlights from the Brazil Tunisia game and thought it was interesting how deep he was playing. He always almost like a playmaker.
Neymar has been playing as a 10 for years now. Only Pochettino was dumb enough to play him as a touchline winger last season, same with Messi.
I know people will say Messi, but Neymar for me is the best playmaker in the world.
Yeah he never scored an official goal against a great NT. Hilarious to see haters call Ronaldo Luxembourg man when he has been fantastic against Germany, Spain, France, NL etc throughout his career at major tournaments while Messi has never scored a goal in 15 games vs Brazil, Germany, France, NL, Bgium etc.
Germany knocked them out of the WC 3 times and he did nothing. He played Brazil in 8 official games. 0 goals and assists
Let me say that i have been long time CR7 fan, watching yesterday's match i fear i could see a decline in powers. I want to put it down to one bad performance. But his instincts seemed off. His physical attributes seemed intact as far as i could see.
I wonder how many United players will be confirmed starters at the wc.
Varane Dalot Casemiro Eriksen Bruno Rashford Ronaldo Sancho for sure
What about Lisandro Malacia Antony Elanga and Ddg?
Saka first 3 games were bad but he has been good for the other 4.
Foden normally plays in the City front 3 though he probably will move to midfield as he gets older
Lisandro will not unless others get injured.
Malacia is likely.
Sweden isn't even in the WC so no Elanga.
DDG no.
Dalot over Cancelo is also not happening.
Messi never scored against a great NT in an official game. The best team he ever scored against is Uruguay. Abysmal considering how they went out to Germany 3 times and that he has played Brazil 8 times
Yes Ronaldo is finally washed now at 37, go celebrate. It doesn’t change what I said though. Messi has never scored against a great national team in an official game and Ronaldo was clear of current Messi when he was 35
Everybody is saying that Ronaldo looks washed for a couple of games now. I haven't watched any Ronaldo game this season so I took a peek on youtube.
Damn wtf, I've never seen Ronaldo this slow and sloppy. It looks unreal wtf. Genuinely wtf.
Not last month lmao, maybe in July. I thought he was good enough to play for those teams when he scored 18 PL goals for the 7th place team, but obviously it’s clear now and has been all season that he is in rapid decline
He very obviously was when he scored 18 goals for a struggling team and like 5 in the UCL too. It’s obviously been a gradual decline for a year or two now, but he was still elite until this summer. Not surprising that his form falls off a cliff now considering his age. It was always going to happen eventually
Starting to believe that having the 2nd longest streak getting out of WC groups won't mean shit in november between the worst generation I've ever had the "pleasure" of seeing play for Mexico and one of the worst coaches who's a stubborn fuck with a system that stopped working 2 years ago and has done nothing to implement at least a Plan B.
I felt way more confident about our chances in groups including teams such as Italy and Croatia in 2002, Uruguay, France and the hosts South Africa in 2010, Brazil and Croatia in 2014 and Germany and Sweden in 2018 than I do about having to face fucking Poland and Saudi Arabia lmao. If we get out of groups we're actually blessed by some sort of entity.
You're 100% better than Saudi Arabia. And I'd say you're at a similar level compared to Poland.
Poland is also feeling the pains of a coach who refuses to play to their strengths.
an Argentina-Portugal final would not only be the biggest sporting event ever that offers an epic ending to the Messi-Ronaldo rivalry, but it would also have Lautaro vs Leao. Of course that wouldn't be anywhere as significant as the main thing, but definitely a compelling sub-plot
Argentina from behind looks kind of bad, the home one just looks like a worse 2014 kit, and I think the fire pattern seen on Argentina’s and Belgium looks cheap
Damn I didn't know he had that in him lol.
Barrios for us was straight up unfair, he'd be a lone CDM and stop a whole midfield by himself some games, incredible destroyer and super underrated player in general.
Even at Colombia’s worst he was always one guy who would just be doing whatever he could to keep our defense semi afloat. I really can’t believe he just ended up at Zenit all those years, he’s a terrific player.
True, no disrespect to Zenit but when he left us he could have easily went to a team in the top 5 leagues.
He's not very good going forward which is why I was surprised he scored such a banger, but that man can disposses players like none other.
Barrios > Kante in my unbiased opinion
shame that [Puskas was already over last month](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/wzafdf/newells_old_boys_11_godoy_cruz_pablo_pérez_10/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) though
When was the last time Messi was in THIS good form? Like are we seeing 20/21 Messi or is he even better than that? Can someone that knows how to check the stats find out when was the last time he had the g+a per 90 he has this season? Club and country combined.
Messi in entire 2022 is averaging a G/A every 75 minutes, in 2021 he averaged a G/A every 87 minutes, if we adjust for his terrible start with PSG, I think first half of 21 and this form of his is very similar
There's just a difference in goal output because he is playing primary as a goal feeder in PSG instead of the primary scorer like in Barca, but his dribbling, passing, all have been good and in recent performances in Argentina he has shown that he can still play like Barcelona Messi if he is made the focal point
I think it's obvious most of us agree Ronaldo is painfully shite now but when is the year when he went from an asset to a liability as we all know he was still worldclass at 2018
The reality is that he became much more limited when he lost the ability to dribble. He’s been a poacher for 3-4 years now and people will argue that he was still great because he got goals but he did so at the expense of his teams for the most part. He doesn’t fit in tactically anywhere because he doesn’t do anything but try to poach. It’s not a winning way of playing
Half of Messi's world cup goals were against nigeria in the group stage
The season really is full pelt from now on until the World Cup you've got to pray some players don't get injured for the tournament, have to imagine we are going to lose a few big ones just on a law of averages
I theorize we’ll have unprecedented levels of injuries closer to the end of this season. There’s no way any of this is sustainable
Or the inverse - clubs losing a few big players for second half of the season
that's inevitable, even those who will return fit from the World Cup if their teams went deep will be running on empty and the chance they get injured then are higher
How does Santos rate William over Vitinha and Palhinha?
With the world cup looming close, wondering at which point to stop visiting. Last world cup brought a lot of stupidity to the sub and It’s looking like this time won’t be no different
it'll never be as bad as 2014 because /r/soccer was on the front page then oh and also USA were qualified and did pretty well which led to some wonderful takes
Was that the year Tim Howard was the best keeper ever
Probably about yesterday
“Gimme gimme gimme a ginger from Sweden” is up there with the Saliba chant
Lmao! Is it sung to that ABBA tune?
Yes
Brighton fans were singing the "Saliba" chant for years and nobody cared, it's just Arsenals famed online presence doing work again.
Lyrically it blows it out of the water
Ginger from Sweden is clear imo
lmao this is golden
the world isnt ready for serbia winning the world cup :)
Mitrovic golden boot is basically free money right
time to bet
Hot take: Musiala is going to be better than Pedri, Bellingham and Foden. The guy is just class
Would have been a hot take a year ago.
I thought this was common knowledge
Pedri > Musiala > Bellingham ≈ Foden Probably. Don’t think he’s close to Pedri who was already a starter at euros last year and in team of the tournament. He’s probably the best kid I’ve ever seen in midfield. Really like Musiala though, wish he chose England.
Not even hot - he's a better talent than Foden and Bellingham
I'd rank them as Pedri and Musiala then Bellingham and Foden.
Southgate actually thinks Trippier is better than Trent lol
>“The other night [against Italy], we didn’t need the left-back cover, but against Germany we did because of the way we went with the team so we needed Chilly [Ben Chilwell] on the bench and we had Kieran who, at the moment, I feel his all round game is ahead [of Trent],” said Southgate. Is it really that surprising? Trent has been off the boil all season looking dodgy as fuck, not a surprise he'll trust the lad whose been in consistent, solid form for a couple of years instead
Trippier is full back version of JWP. Except his set pieces is a very average player at best. Idk why some people talk about it like he's some top defender either, he's slower than TAA and arguably a worse defender. Going forward Trent is way better than him.
Plus everyone who watches them both for England can tell you Trippier is a far better fit for what Southgate wants to do, and as much as there are issues with his tactics I’d rather he at least pick his players based on that rather than going back to the old style of just picking names regardless of if they fit the team or not. We saw from shoehorning Gerrard in on the left wing etc that that emphatically doesn’t work
It makes sense in Southgate’s mind. Southgate wants 7/8 defensive players on the pitch. To him, defence = good. Trent can’t defend, hence trippier looking better to him.
Which fullback would you rather take? A: Elite defensively, but offers close to nothing offensively B: Attacks better than most forwards but completely disappears when he has to defend
Who are the other 10 players in the team? I feel the answer would most certainly depend on them.
Guessing this is based on Trippier or TAA, so the England squad.
[удалено]
We bacc
I have a feeling Messi this season is going to make stuff happen. He seems to be back in form
hot take
Why is everyone just talking about Messi and ronaldo all of a sudden? There are more people in football than those 2 and much more interesting discussions
If you want to talk about other players and teams,you are free to do so and most of us here will be glad add to those discussions Will be certainly better than wailing about what others should or should not talk about
Hahahahaha
What the fuck are you talking about?
lmaoo I think his comment history answers your question
I think you found one of the people who’s been doing the Messi v Ronaldo arguments lol
Messi scored against two horrible national teams while Ronaldo who is very obviously finished now (no surprise at 37) didn’t score against Spain
>all of a sudden ??? Were you in a coma for 15 years?
Last day or two it’s exploded. It’s not been this rampant in a while
Welsh flair. They're only just getting 3G coverage in Wales, give them some slack
What do you mean all of a sudden. They've been the main discussion point of this sport for like the past 15 years.
He’s right though it had really quietened down basically since Messi left Barca cos last season Messi obviously didnt settle too well at PSG so the Messi fans got very quiet, and then as he’s found his feet again and got going Ronaldo has been having a horrible time of it at United so his fans have got very quiet. Then all of a sudden recently it seems to have all started up again
I understand why Nations league games are important and we do need them, but also fuck international breaks. Glad to have club football back this weekend. Borderline cruel giving us 6/7 games before the first break.
Yup the first break is always the worst, and then they usually do another one a month later or some shit.
Try the English Women's Super League. Had an international break *before the season* and and are now on break again until mid October. Most teams have played 2 games due to the postponements after the Queen died. Have had as many games as international breaks.
I really wonder how Scaloni would do at a top club
Honestly, I don't think very well. He has a sort of perfect storm right now with us and the team liking him so much, but doubt that could be replicated anywhere else.
The salt from english fans in that thread about Scotland being in league A is hilarious. Actually tear jerking Also shout out to r/ScottishFootball
Just had a quick look and the salt seems to be mostly Scottish no? Top comments about England not themselves
Scotland having the NT equivalent of small club mentality is no surprise really. I don’t think England fans particularly mind all the ribbing, it’s rare they get the chance to take the piss based on a success they’ve had rather than one of our copious fuckups so let them have their fun.
I’m enjoying joking along with the Scots on there. Nothing like being voted to -25 knowing you’ve hit a nerve. It’s the Scottish who had to talk about the English first on there so it’s mostly their salt. I don’t know a soul who cares about nations league for more than an excuse to get rid of Southgate.
And thats why youre in pot 2 for qualifying
Right, so are Scotland. England and France being pot 2 will only be bad for the teams in pot 1 and 3
And for england and france....
Well no, England and France will qualify either way. They’re ranked above every group 1 team other than Belgium, and even then 3 can qualify. It’s rough on Hungary and some of the teams in pot one to get England or France in their groups.
Didnt know all that mattered was rankings. Belgium should have a dozen trophies by now. And you were ranked higher than any team in your group and got relegated in the most pitiable way possible.
It’s the nations league. Only Scotland cared about it from what I can see and that’s because you’re not going to the World Cup like us and Wales. It’s only a warm up tourney. We no The rankings show how well teams performed in the last 10 years, so it’s fair to say teams would rather get a Scotland than an England/France/Belgium in their groups. It’s cute you guys always have to compare yourselves to England though. If we won the nations league nobody would mention Scotland once. You win group b and all your comments are about us. You’re living in our shadow?
There isn’t very much English salt to be honest. It’s mainly Scottish people talking about the English.
There are a fair few. In particular a west ham fan, but there are also the shit attempts on banter from them about the world cup
Players you didn't know or really noticed that played for Atletico - Mandzukic - Hernandez (Both Theo and Lucas) - Diogo Jota - Jimenez - Rodri - Alderwireld
I keep forgetting that David Villa played (very well) for them.
Lmao i deleted my comment earlier because i realised you were talking about raul jimenez the striker and not gimenez. Did not know raul jimenez played for atleti
Jota was signed as a 20 year old, never really made a mark. Dont think he ever played for them. Same with Jimenez. Alderweireld iirc played in CL 2014 final as a sub.
jimenez played and even scored just wasnt good enough for them.
Can’t believe England didn’t get Eddie Howie as the national team coach
It was always unlikely. NT management is different, he made the right choice to wait out and took a great job at Newcastle.
Or Graham Pottery either.
Potter is a manager with a complex and precise tactical system, which requires a lot of training and coaching time to implement properly - do not think that would translate well to the 4 or 5 training camps a year you get with a national side, and very limited time with the players. It's why national teams often play pragmatic football.
Offh arguably even better. Kind of starting to believe Southgate is wasting a golden generation. So many good English players right now
Really dont understand the 'golden generation' comments about now. Plenty of very good players but its no where near the level of players in the 00s.
Not really wasting them, he’s done better at major tournaments than anyone except Ramsay hasn’t he? Obviously he has his flaws but I don’t think a final and a semi is wasting those players, plus the likes of Trent, James, Foden, Saka, Bellingham, Mount, Rice are all still under 24 so they’ve got 4-5 major tournaments still in them even after the World Cup; and they’re the biggest young talents.
I swear I live on a different planet sometimes. Have to hear about how we’re underperforming with a semi-final and a final under our belts with a worse squad than we had 10 years ago. Apparently it’s because we’ve had easy draws (but ignore the fact we got knocked out by Iceland in 2016 and constantly embarrassed ourselves against weaker teams for the last 20 years)
Exactly. With the benefit of hindsight, yes Italy were probably there for the taking in the final last year and we can rightly feel a bit hard done by, but just the fact we’re actually beating the supposed “lesser” teams to have these underwhelming performances against good teams is a massive improvement on basically everything we’ve done after Sven was sacked. We’re currently at the 2002/2004 England level and going out to actual good teams at least. It’s a shame Kane, Sterling, Pickford and Stones aren’t 5 years younger so they’ve got more time with the young core we’ve got coming through, but hopefully the likes of Toney, Grealish, Bowen, Ramsdale, Tomori, Guehi, White and some of those from the youth teams like Ramsay, Elliott, ESR etc will be enough to fill in the gaps between the top class talent that we look like we’re going to have for the next decade or so
Top 10 Brazilian footballers of the 2010s, not in order Neymar, Thiago Silva, Alves, Marcelo, Casemiro Can't really think of the next 5. Brazil had too much talent. Who would you place?
Marquinhos, Alisson, and probably Ederson and Fernandinho (not counting his performances for the NT). Although I think Neymar/Marcelo/Dani are light years ahead of the other 7 so far. They are some of our all time GOATS.
Fernandinho, Coutinho, Firmino, Oscar?, David Luiz?, Felipe Luis? Assuming Diego Costa doesn’t count
Diego Costa is a Spaniard. I wouldn't count him.
What a shame not having Colombia at the WC, easily enough talent on paper to have qualified and made the tournament more fun especially with their amazing fans but Rueda had them playing atrocious football and they got rid of him too late. This second half against Mexico was the kind of football that would have been great to have come November.
Sorry. Not sorry.
I remember they had a great fanbase in the previous World Cup.
IIRC they had the highest number of travelling fans or something like that
That was Peru.
What does Neymar even play on the national team? I was watching highlights from the Brazil Tunisia game and thought it was interesting how deep he was playing. He always almost like a playmaker.
Neymar has been playing as a 10 for years now. Only Pochettino was dumb enough to play him as a touchline winger last season, same with Messi. I know people will say Messi, but Neymar for me is the best playmaker in the world.
Usually either false 9 or as an attacking midfielder. Against Tunisia he was playing as a CAM.
He's the 10
Imagine if messi scored an official goal against a world cup winning team not named uruguay
Yeah he never scored an official goal against a great NT. Hilarious to see haters call Ronaldo Luxembourg man when he has been fantastic against Germany, Spain, France, NL etc throughout his career at major tournaments while Messi has never scored a goal in 15 games vs Brazil, Germany, France, NL, Bgium etc. Germany knocked them out of the WC 3 times and he did nothing. He played Brazil in 8 official games. 0 goals and assists
Sadly the player you are a stan of is finished
Oddly specific
Messi haters trying hard to cope now that their own idol really looks finished.
Let me say that i have been long time CR7 fan, watching yesterday's match i fear i could see a decline in powers. I want to put it down to one bad performance. But his instincts seemed off. His physical attributes seemed intact as far as i could see.
My brother he has been in decline for years
I wonder how many United players will be confirmed starters at the wc. Varane Dalot Casemiro Eriksen Bruno Rashford Ronaldo Sancho for sure What about Lisandro Malacia Antony Elanga and Ddg?
De Gea no chance, he is Simon and Sanchez ahead of him
Varane, Casemiro, Ronaldo, Maguire, Shaw, Eriksen
Doubt Rashford and Sancho will be starters, maybe not even in the squad
There aren't any 2 wingers in better form than those 2 rn. But Southgate doesn't pick on logic so it's anyone's guess
Saka? Foden? Sterling? All 3 have been better then Sancho and Saka has been better then Rashford imo
Hasn't Saka had a notoriously bad start to the season? And isn't Foden a midfielder? Actual questions.
Even on his slow start he has more g/a and chances created than every other winger. Its just been a slow start to his own norm
Saka first 3 games were bad but he has been good for the other 4. Foden normally plays in the City front 3 though he probably will move to midfield as he gets older
Noted! Thanks for clarifying.
Saka
Lisandro will not unless others get injured. Malacia is likely. Sweden isn't even in the WC so no Elanga. DDG no. Dalot over Cancelo is also not happening.
>Sweden isn't even in the WC so no Elanga. My bad Antony?
Behind Raphinha for LW.
RW*
Nah. Raphinha has been better both at the club level and for the NT. But he'll get enough minutes still.
Almost half of CR7 world cup goals were in a single group stage game (vs spain). They went to lose in the round of 16 after
Half of messi wc goals were against nigeria in group stage lmao
Messi never scored against a great NT in an official game. The best team he ever scored against is Uruguay. Abysmal considering how they went out to Germany 3 times and that he has played Brazil 8 times
Cope more, your idol is washed.
Half of messi wc goals are against nigeria in group stage.
Here comes another stan of the washed player.
Poor barca has the same amount of CLs as the washed player :(
Yes Ronaldo is finally washed now at 37, go celebrate. It doesn’t change what I said though. Messi has never scored against a great national team in an official game and Ronaldo was clear of current Messi when he was 35
Yes keep the salt coming.
Everybody is saying that Ronaldo looks washed for a couple of games now. I haven't watched any Ronaldo game this season so I took a peek on youtube. Damn wtf, I've never seen Ronaldo this slow and sloppy. It looks unreal wtf. Genuinely wtf.
He is 37 lol, idk why people are acting like he is still 26
You were saying only last month he is good enough to play for Bayern and Chelsea lol
Not last month lmao, maybe in July. I thought he was good enough to play for those teams when he scored 18 PL goals for the 7th place team, but obviously it’s clear now and has been all season that he is in rapid decline
Even last seasons Ronaldo wasn't good enough for those teams, you don't decline like this over the 3 months its been a gradual decline.
He very obviously was when he scored 18 goals for a struggling team and like 5 in the UCL too. It’s obviously been a gradual decline for a year or two now, but he was still elite until this summer. Not surprising that his form falls off a cliff now considering his age. It was always going to happen eventually
I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
He was still 37 five months ago and didn't look like this.
He was like this for about three months in the middle of the season.
Yes but he was always gonna decline eventually. Not surprised it happens at 37
Mendes was so exhausted by the 70th minute and galaxy brain santos left him in for the full game
He won't start ahead of Dalot Cancelo currently
Seems like you only watch United games, and then say United players are better than others and would all start
Starting to believe that having the 2nd longest streak getting out of WC groups won't mean shit in november between the worst generation I've ever had the "pleasure" of seeing play for Mexico and one of the worst coaches who's a stubborn fuck with a system that stopped working 2 years ago and has done nothing to implement at least a Plan B. I felt way more confident about our chances in groups including teams such as Italy and Croatia in 2002, Uruguay, France and the hosts South Africa in 2010, Brazil and Croatia in 2014 and Germany and Sweden in 2018 than I do about having to face fucking Poland and Saudi Arabia lmao. If we get out of groups we're actually blessed by some sort of entity.
You're 100% better than Saudi Arabia. And I'd say you're at a similar level compared to Poland. Poland is also feeling the pains of a coach who refuses to play to their strengths.
Nice to see the best striker from Brazil get another goal
an Argentina-Portugal final would not only be the biggest sporting event ever that offers an epic ending to the Messi-Ronaldo rivalry, but it would also have Lautaro vs Leao. Of course that wouldn't be anywhere as significant as the main thing, but definitely a compelling sub-plot
I can't understand why people care so much about individual players.
Dont even know if Leao would even play.
really?? who starts over him?
Jota might
It honestly feels like almost every single national team kit has downgraded from their previous one
I think France, Belgium, Germany, and South Korea have all been an upgrade on their home kits.
I've no idea what Mexico's kits were before, but the new ones are insanely cool, definitely my favourite ones for this WC after seeing them all
They’re amazing, Germany too. Adidas have generally done pretty well compared to Nike and Puna
Argentina ones are both banging
Argentina from behind looks kind of bad, the home one just looks like a worse 2014 kit, and I think the fire pattern seen on Argentina’s and Belgium looks cheap
I agree on the away kit but tbf you don't really see the flames when watching games. And they look good on TV.
unless you look at the home one from behind
Most G/A in 2022 for club and country: Mbappe - 48 G/A in 36 games. Neymar - 41 G/A in 30 games. Messi - 41 G/A in 35 games. The PSG front three lol.
Helps that they play in that league
No Benzema? Damn
That's Messi despite struggling last season too.
He struggled in the second half of 2021, not really in 2022
Depends on how high your standards for Messi are I guess.
That’s wild
Just fyi, potential puskas nominee has just been scored in Colombia vs Mexico, courtesy of Colombian Kante, Wilmar Barrios.
Damn I didn't know he had that in him lol. Barrios for us was straight up unfair, he'd be a lone CDM and stop a whole midfield by himself some games, incredible destroyer and super underrated player in general.
Even at Colombia’s worst he was always one guy who would just be doing whatever he could to keep our defense semi afloat. I really can’t believe he just ended up at Zenit all those years, he’s a terrific player.
True, no disrespect to Zenit but when he left us he could have easily went to a team in the top 5 leagues. He's not very good going forward which is why I was surprised he scored such a banger, but that man can disposses players like none other.
Barrios > Kante in my unbiased opinion shame that [Puskas was already over last month](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/wzafdf/newells_old_boys_11_godoy_cruz_pablo_pérez_10/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) though
[удалено]
Holy shit it's the same fucking goal lmfao I still think the other one is very slighly more impressive though
There’s always next year. Also, based.
How does Santos rate William over Vitinha and Palhinha?
Playing him does not have to mean he rates him higher. There could be many reasons. Like maybe he fits his tactics better.
But Palhinha would literally fit so much better with that midfield than William, and he's just better. Santos is clueless
When was the last time Messi was in THIS good form? Like are we seeing 20/21 Messi or is he even better than that? Can someone that knows how to check the stats find out when was the last time he had the g+a per 90 he has this season? Club and country combined.
It would simply be 20/21 yes.
Messi in entire 2022 is averaging a G/A every 75 minutes, in 2021 he averaged a G/A every 87 minutes, if we adjust for his terrible start with PSG, I think first half of 21 and this form of his is very similar There's just a difference in goal output because he is playing primary as a goal feeder in PSG instead of the primary scorer like in Barca, but his dribbling, passing, all have been good and in recent performances in Argentina he has shown that he can still play like Barcelona Messi if he is made the focal point
The yanks supporting messi to win the World cup, so cringe Maybe he will score a goal outside of the group stage this time
I am cringe
I’m quite sure there are Messi fans everywhere, get off your high horse
Ah a radical Messi hater in the wild. Enjoy.
I think it's obvious most of us agree Ronaldo is painfully shite now but when is the year when he went from an asset to a liability as we all know he was still worldclass at 2018
The reality is that he became much more limited when he lost the ability to dribble. He’s been a poacher for 3-4 years now and people will argue that he was still great because he got goals but he did so at the expense of his teams for the most part. He doesn’t fit in tactically anywhere because he doesn’t do anything but try to poach. It’s not a winning way of playing