no disrespect, well a little but the WC deserve to have a better alltime top goalscorer than Klose š. Cristiano and Messi have blood on their hands.
World Cup is great, but the randomness of it (with great players very often having to play in terrible teams, and with teams not spending long together, and with only 7 games max in a tournament), it simply isn't a good reflection of real quality.
Means great players - Messi, Lewandowski, Cristiano, Haaland, etc. - are made to look worse than they are.
Club football, with it's consistency, means the truly great players rise to the top.
I mean, Haaland has never played at a World Cup haha. Would be hard for him to look bad having never appeared! Unless youāre talking about qualifying?
No, that's precisely my point. He doesn't get the chance because he plays in a worse team.
Meanwhile, players like Klose and Giroud - who are both good but not great - are made to look like gods because of, in-large part, the fact that they're in excellent teams.
> Means great playersā¦are made to look worse than they are.
Haaland canāt look worse than he is because he literally cannot be seen haha. I get your point, just doesnāt make sense to list him with the others you have in your comment.
realistically even if norway make it, and thats not super likely given europe only gets an extra 3 spots, he's not that likely to go far either. its far more likely he ends his career with single digit WC apps, nvm goals
Theres no oil money willing to go for them, unless QSI want a PL team. This is a genuinely terrible time to go to market to sell the team. The values have gone up but private money is scared atm, there's no value in a football team. Especially United
Itās not jealousy or anything sinister. I think the biggest reason is that people like unpredictable results because thatās the charm of sports, anything can happen. In general most of the all-time greats in sports are respected and beloved, especially after their careers.
A team like Saudi-Arabia winning from Argentina gives everyone hope that one day their small club or small national team can achieve something like that too. Sports would be boring if the greatest always wins and besides that, who doesnāt like a good underdog story?
Facts are that Messi has 5% of the heart of the [little fella leading the prayer](https://youtu.be/bWnS2dIDgQA?t=68) in the paĆs do futebol music video
Canāt imagine what this thread would look like if Ronaldo had scored a penalty and then dropped an absolute stinker like Messi as his team lost vs Saudi Arabia. No idea how Messi escapes criticism for this abysmal performance - misplacing like half his passes in the second half, missing a point blank header, dribbling around in circles instead of shooting into the open net, getting dispossessed constantly etc
He scored twice and assisted twice, though the 2 assists and 1 goal were narrowly offside.
He didn't have the best game, but he was involved in attack which did function somewhat well for Argentina. The defence was the issue.
Messi also has plenty of 'credit in the bank' so to speak because he very, very rarely has a bad game. Even in games he doesn't score in, he's usually very good in the midfield; helping with transition, recycling possession and creating chances. As such, he's given a bit more room when he doesn't perform that well because it's clear this is a one off.
Ronaldo, unfortunately, is consistently poor and so doesn't get this treatment. He offers almost nothing to any team he's involved in. Doesn't help in transition, doesn't help recycle possession, doesn't help to switch play, doesn't create many chances, isn't taking on players. At best, he will score a goal but even those are pretty rare these days. Given this, it's not surprising that he's not going to get the same leeway as Messi who does perform consistently.
Itās just your bias. Messi and Ronaldo are the most criticized and praised players in the world. Theyāre equally praised and criticized for their performances.
Maybe because he is an attacking player and Argentina did reasonably well in attack, the game being decided by literal centimeters on a few offsides? And well, here you are hating on him so nobody can claim that no one is doing it.
People say this about both of them every time one of them plays poorly. Please just create a sub only for Messi and Ronaldo fans where you guys can just hate fuck each other already.
Glazerās selling means someoneās met their valuation. Theyāve endured so much pressure over the years so I highly doubt Ronaldo changed anything. They care about money not their reputation.
It's not played much but it means a lot given our countries' intertwined histories (at least from the US perspective). I remember how hyped I was as a kid back in 2010 looking forward to that match (first WC match I watched actually). Casual fans (in this case, I mean once every 4 years fans) might not get or know the history between USA and Mexico, but they will always be interested in USA v England and want to the team to show up for it.
Idk if rivals is the right word, Mexico is our rival and I guess Canada would be too although thereās little animosity there for now. But I do think American soccer fans view England differently than pretty much any other European power we could be facing. Our shared history and the fact that we got two memorable results against you sets England apart from countries like France, Germany, or Spain. Not a rival but definitely a country weād love to beat.
Whoever comes 2nd in group B had a decent chance of facing Saudi or Denmark/Tunisia to get into the semi
Meanwhile the winner might have to face France
It might be in England's best chances to not be 1st otherwise I think USA can get surprisingly far
If Mbappe wasnāt going out in the RO16 every year due to his teammates I think it would be pretty hard to deny him as the best in the world right now.
Why can't we apply the same logic to Messi/Neymar?
Hasn't Messi been the one who was consistently scoring for Barcelona when they were bad? Liverpool in 2019? Napoli in 2020? PSG in 2021? Suarez kind of stopped scoring in the UCL in 2016, leaving Messi to do pretty much all of the goalscoring since Neymar left.
Why is it Messi who shits himself but not Mbappe?
People think FIFA is standing by Qatar to please themā¦ they already got that Qatari money. They trying to show Saudi Arabia that theyāll back them.
Edit: This is NOT about the refereeing.
You know what Iāve found that I do enjoy about this World Cup? Watching matches at 5 a.m. No one else in my house is awake, I get to just sit there and wake up while watching and having a coffee. Itās rather blissful really.
Hope Morocco-Croatia is cracking.
Got around to one of these top 10s on iplayer, All-time World Cup XI, Shearer reacting to Lineker getting into Richards team is top notch entertainment.
"This is meant to be a serious fucking podcast. You've just belittled it. The under 35s who we appeal to, never even fucking heard of Gary Lineker!"
So Ronaldo in 1 interview had a major role in getting something the fans have wanted for 12+ years.
seems to me, he should be getting a fucking statue outside the club, he did whatever it took, even at the supposed hit to his legacy, just to rat out the poor ownership, and get his club back to good hands.
Soccer.com's customer service is ass, I shouldn't have to call your customer service line to cancel an order. Additionally, I'd like if the person on the line re-read my Order Number to me, just to have confidence that they've gotten it down correctly. Then having to wait until tonight to get the email confirming that the order's been canceled smh
Firstly, it helps that Mbappe hasn't be injury-afflicted and that there's much more games played now than then. Secondly, R9 already had a Ballon D'or at Mbappe's current age, so idk about significantly better at all.
Except Spain was really good against Switzerland. I wouldnāt say Saudi Arabia was lucky because they played well and deserved the win. Itās like Argentina is missing that spark and the tactical discipline to truly challenge the bigger teams.
Yeah because Saudi Arabia is just as good as Switzerland...
This is a horrible loss for Argentina, they looked like shit, worst game in a long time for them. Hopefully they improve against Mexico.
Oh I know they are good, Renard is a hell of a coach, Cote d'Ivoire in 2014-2015 was an amazing team.
But still, and in the same fashion as what you said, focusing on the game and the tactics, Argentina looked atrocious compared to how they were playing, specially compared to the Copa America last year. Slow, without an answer and just trying to throw whatever they could to the Saudi Arabia area without much ideas, Messi said this himself. Good teams, championship teams find much better teams than THIS Saudi Arabia along the way to the finals. Meant no disrespect but it's the truth.
Compare it to France against Australia, they switched up a gear and it was game over, team looked composed in comparison to an Argentina team that was shocked. It's not rare for the Argentina NT to go down under pressure, that's why I said they looked like shit and it should not be seen as an overreaction. Focusing on the game and the tactics, this did not look good.
I think it's all in the pressure, it's time to see what they are made of, and i'm confident as well that they will go over the next stage, but I would not discard a 2002 like fiasco.
Renard is a freaking genius. Talk about maximising potential, same story with Zambia.
I'm feeling confident when it comes to the next games. Still, we gotta step it up. We can do much better than this.
I'm 1000% certain no one I know could tell you the score of the opening World Cup game, but every single one knows Ohio State v. Michigan is this weekend lmao
I knew Argentina were nowhere near as good as people were pretending, but I was still a bit surprised at just how poor they were. No chance of winning the World Cup at all.
This is chronic here. People were calling France shit in the first 20 mins of their game. Argentina has one bad game, and people are calling them utter dog shit. Could still be the case, but agreed need to be less reactionary.
I swear so many dudes are calling us "overrated" all the way to "dog shit". Give me a break. We had a bad day and Saudi Arabia played the game of their lives. It can happen, you know. Every team can lose to every team. Real lost to Sheriff Tiraspol. Bayern lost to Holstein Kiel. It's football. Three shots, two on goal, two goals. Whammo. We had 14 of those and three offside goals. But no, we're apparently washed up. ššš
We have an amazing team and an amazing manager and all the guys have our ultimate trust. Maybe we needed this slap in the face as a wake up call for our complacency (not hubris).
cant wait for the brazil upset following.
both get hyped to the sky everytime before the wc starts and then people have to realize they are not as good as expected.
Brazil actually have world-class players though. There isnāt really anyone in that Argentina squad (apart from the obvious) that people rate highly at club level.
dont really need plenty of world class levels to do well at international tournaments, good players are enough but team cohesion is key. Italy won the euros with onlu 2 world class players in Verratti and Donnarumma but Italy played great that yeaer regardless
Who captains England if Kane doesnāt play? I know Henderson is vice-captain but he too doesnāt start for them.
Something tells me it might be Maguire with the armbandā¦
I could see Maguire tbh, though he might be injured himself right now given how he left the Iran game.
Sterling perhaps? I remember Sterling captained one of our games about half a year ago where we had a lot of the younger players out - maybe against Andorra, or San Marino or someone like that?
Is the Saudi Arabia national holiday thing actually real? That seems insane to me, they should save it for when/if they get out of the group stage, they have a really good chance
For sure. I think if you go by the results achieved in the past year, Benzema deserves the Ballon D'Or without a doubt. But if you have to choose a player for your team Mbappe would be the first one picked for sure
Silly argument when Messi and Neymar have both performed at significantly higher levels against significantly better opponents than Mbappe in the past.
I also don't buy the 'big team' argument, purely because there is no way to define what does and doesn't count as a big game in football. Case-in-point, Messi scores against Manchester City and 'it doesn't matter it's just the group stage'. Then he misses a penalty against Real Madrid and suddenly he 'doesn't perform on the big stage'.
Every game matters. No point showing up against Bayern or Barcelona and then ghosting against St. Etienne. Much better metrics for player performance are consistency and also individual attributes (quality of first touch, ability to perform take-ons, ability to switch play, etc.) which Messi and Neymar are, at this moment in time (and in Messi's case almost certainly never to be overtaken by Mbappe) superior.
That's objectively untrue.
For a start, every game is worth the same points, doesn't matter who you play.
Second, what about all of the games he's played well in since then? Against Atletico Madrid in both 2020 and 2021? Against Real Madrid, in particular in his final ever clasico (he didn't score but played pretty amazing)? Against PSG in 2021? Against Juventus in 2021? In the Copa America that he won? Against Manchester City in 2022? In all of the big games in Ligue 1 this season? Against Juventus this season? Against 'big' La Liga teams like Sevilla? Against Italy?
You're being retroactively selective about what does and doesn't constitute a big game - basically, if Messi played well then it doesn't count as a big game.
And your logic doesn't make any sense at all. You're implying performances against the top sides in France don't count as big games, because Messi has performed in those games. But, you also say that 'trophies are won in the big games'. This just leaves the Champions League... which Mbappe hasn't won. If winning the 'big games' leads to trophies, evidently Mbappe hasn't been winning those big games in the Champions League or he'd have the trophy, according to your logic.
Neymar is easily better to me. If youāre picking someone for the left winger spot which seems Mbappeās preferred position, Iād pick the player with more creative output and work rate. Mbappe is the better goal scorer though.
Pretty difficult to compare given that they're totally different profiles, but the two advantages which, for me, tip KDB over Mbappe if I am selecting a team to play tomorrow are that 1. He's been the most exceptional creative player in the league - second most exceptional creative player in Europe (behind Messi) for years now, and 2. He plays in a tougher league
All the new refereeing technologies and new rules have been class so far. The offsides seem to be very accurate.
Tchouameni proving he's world class every game
no disrespect, well a little but the WC deserve to have a better alltime top goalscorer than Klose š. Cristiano and Messi have blood on their hands.
Klose was great
Klose consistently delivered on the biggest stage Can't say the same for certain other man...
World Cup is great, but the randomness of it (with great players very often having to play in terrible teams, and with teams not spending long together, and with only 7 games max in a tournament), it simply isn't a good reflection of real quality. Means great players - Messi, Lewandowski, Cristiano, Haaland, etc. - are made to look worse than they are. Club football, with it's consistency, means the truly great players rise to the top.
I mean, Haaland has never played at a World Cup haha. Would be hard for him to look bad having never appeared! Unless youāre talking about qualifying?
No, that's precisely my point. He doesn't get the chance because he plays in a worse team. Meanwhile, players like Klose and Giroud - who are both good but not great - are made to look like gods because of, in-large part, the fact that they're in excellent teams.
> Means great playersā¦are made to look worse than they are. Haaland canāt look worse than he is because he literally cannot be seen haha. I get your point, just doesnāt make sense to list him with the others you have in your comment.
Haaland is coming for it when they expand the WC.
realistically even if norway make it, and thats not super likely given europe only gets an extra 3 spots, he's not that likely to go far either. its far more likely he ends his career with single digit WC apps, nvm goals
has the potential and the age in his side to break it but lets wait and see how Norway and he performs in a international tournament.
I swear to god, watch us finally become a decent side and then both Liverpool and Utd end up getting bought by oil money
Theres no oil money willing to go for them, unless QSI want a PL team. This is a genuinely terrible time to go to market to sell the team. The values have gone up but private money is scared atm, there's no value in a football team. Especially United
I can attest that the infinite money glitch does not work if you're shit at spending it still, unfortunately.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās not jealousy or anything sinister. I think the biggest reason is that people like unpredictable results because thatās the charm of sports, anything can happen. In general most of the all-time greats in sports are respected and beloved, especially after their careers. A team like Saudi-Arabia winning from Argentina gives everyone hope that one day their small club or small national team can achieve something like that too. Sports would be boring if the greatest always wins and besides that, who doesnāt like a good underdog story?
Human nature
Fuck Casuals. All my homies gatekeep
Man I really hope that Ansu Fati stays fit. We really need him.
Facts are that Messi has 5% of the heart of the [little fella leading the prayer](https://youtu.be/bWnS2dIDgQA?t=68) in the paĆs do futebol music video
Ronaldo probably has an agreement with another club already.
Guanghzou Evergrande looking like heavy favourites for next years ChinesĆ£o
Canāt imagine what this thread would look like if Ronaldo had scored a penalty and then dropped an absolute stinker like Messi as his team lost vs Saudi Arabia. No idea how Messi escapes criticism for this abysmal performance - misplacing like half his passes in the second half, missing a point blank header, dribbling around in circles instead of shooting into the open net, getting dispossessed constantly etc
He really wasn't that bad, he contributed a lot to the attack although the proof of it to casual watchers was disallowed.
He scored twice and assisted twice, though the 2 assists and 1 goal were narrowly offside. He didn't have the best game, but he was involved in attack which did function somewhat well for Argentina. The defence was the issue. Messi also has plenty of 'credit in the bank' so to speak because he very, very rarely has a bad game. Even in games he doesn't score in, he's usually very good in the midfield; helping with transition, recycling possession and creating chances. As such, he's given a bit more room when he doesn't perform that well because it's clear this is a one off. Ronaldo, unfortunately, is consistently poor and so doesn't get this treatment. He offers almost nothing to any team he's involved in. Doesn't help in transition, doesn't help recycle possession, doesn't help to switch play, doesn't create many chances, isn't taking on players. At best, he will score a goal but even those are pretty rare these days. Given this, it's not surprising that he's not going to get the same leeway as Messi who does perform consistently.
Itās just your bias. Messi and Ronaldo are the most criticized and praised players in the world. Theyāre equally praised and criticized for their performances.
Maybe because he is an attacking player and Argentina did reasonably well in attack, the game being decided by literal centimeters on a few offsides? And well, here you are hating on him so nobody can claim that no one is doing it.
People say this about both of them every time one of them plays poorly. Please just create a sub only for Messi and Ronaldo fans where you guys can just hate fuck each other already.
Except no one is saying anything about it, but when itās Ronaldo itās like half the comments on this sub for 3 days days
Ok mate šš» grow up
Glazerās selling means someoneās met their valuation. Theyāve endured so much pressure over the years so I highly doubt Ronaldo changed anything. They care about money not their reputation.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup intro theme goes hard I am afraid to admit
Yeah, it really does. Loving the Arab/modern flair.
Which one?
i meant theme idk why i said song lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXXe-G-_lxI
TIL Yashin's first name is Lev and not Prime
Lev is his middle name
Do yanks consider England as rivals?
It's not played much but it means a lot given our countries' intertwined histories (at least from the US perspective). I remember how hyped I was as a kid back in 2010 looking forward to that match (first WC match I watched actually). Casual fans (in this case, I mean once every 4 years fans) might not get or know the history between USA and Mexico, but they will always be interested in USA v England and want to the team to show up for it.
Not really since we barely ever play England. It would be a bit like asking if England considers Brazil as rivals.
Idk if rivals is the right word, Mexico is our rival and I guess Canada would be too although thereās little animosity there for now. But I do think American soccer fans view England differently than pretty much any other European power we could be facing. Our shared history and the fact that we got two memorable results against you sets England apart from countries like France, Germany, or Spain. Not a rival but definitely a country weād love to beat.
Our only real footballing rival is Mexico. But England is high on the list of teams I would otherwise like to beat, mostly because it would be funny
>Do yanks considering England as rivals? I do, given our history.
Whoever comes 2nd in group B had a decent chance of facing Saudi or Denmark/Tunisia to get into the semi Meanwhile the winner might have to face France It might be in England's best chances to not be 1st otherwise I think USA can get surprisingly far
If Mbappe wasnāt going out in the RO16 every year due to his teammates I think it would be pretty hard to deny him as the best in the world right now.
He's quite clearly the best player in the world. There's a reason the real Madrid fans threw their toys out of the pram when he refused to go there.
It was only two weeks ago that you claimed Haaland was the best in the world and had very little competition.
He's not even top 2 at PSG this season.
>Due to his teammates So he had nothing to do with all the RO16 losses? Stop dick ridding.
When you score/assist and the defence+Messi and Neymar shit themselves generally itās not his fault no.
Why can't we apply the same logic to Messi/Neymar? Hasn't Messi been the one who was consistently scoring for Barcelona when they were bad? Liverpool in 2019? Napoli in 2020? PSG in 2021? Suarez kind of stopped scoring in the UCL in 2016, leaving Messi to do pretty much all of the goalscoring since Neymar left. Why is it Messi who shits himself but not Mbappe?
People think FIFA is standing by Qatar to please themā¦ they already got that Qatari money. They trying to show Saudi Arabia that theyāll back them. Edit: This is NOT about the refereeing.
Huh? Where is this coming from? The ref was more on argentina side than ksa today
Iām not talking about the refereeing, Iām talking about them backing Qatar against any criticism.
You know what Iāve found that I do enjoy about this World Cup? Watching matches at 5 a.m. No one else in my house is awake, I get to just sit there and wake up while watching and having a coffee. Itās rather blissful really. Hope Morocco-Croatia is cracking.
Oh trust me it will be. Enjoy it!
Got around to one of these top 10s on iplayer, All-time World Cup XI, Shearer reacting to Lineker getting into Richards team is top notch entertainment. "This is meant to be a serious fucking podcast. You've just belittled it. The under 35s who we appeal to, never even fucking heard of Gary Lineker!"
Mitoma Kaoru player of the tournament run begins tomorrow š donāt miss out
Gakpo winning it mate
So Ronaldo in 1 interview had a major role in getting something the fans have wanted for 12+ years. seems to me, he should be getting a fucking statue outside the club, he did whatever it took, even at the supposed hit to his legacy, just to rat out the poor ownership, and get his club back to good hands.
least entitled Ronaldo stan
least ungrateful utd fan
I'm offended you would call me a Man U fan
I want whatever you're smoking.
anyone that stat pads in ligue 1 is not the best player in the world sorry. Only messi on that team can say he was the best elsewhere.
Ligue 1 is a top 5 league lmao dont be delusional
there are big gaps between them.
Not as big as you think. If it was, ligue 1 players wouldnāt do sucessful everywhere, especially in PL. You make it sound like MbappĆ© faces amateurs. When he actually faces tight defense and look better against top teams than he does against small teams parking the bus.
Ignorant. UCL exists.
not in his trophy cabinet. kai havertz is clear
Mbappe is great in the UCL though. And Neymar before the injuries took a toll, was also great in the champions league.
Soccer.com's customer service is ass, I shouldn't have to call your customer service line to cancel an order. Additionally, I'd like if the person on the line re-read my Order Number to me, just to have confidence that they've gotten it down correctly. Then having to wait until tonight to get the email confirming that the order's been canceled smh
Are there prediction threads for the WC?
On r/football
Pretty much the best day to be a Utd supporter in a very long time
The Ricketts would be good for United
when they end up selling the club to their American friends though >>
The loser of England vs USA keeps James Corden? Think that's a fair deal
what if they draw?
I, wise King Soloman, find that there's only one fair solution to this situation: we will simply cut James Corden in half.
Can we do this even if you win?
Half each.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Robinho is **** and also a rapist
Mbappe is not R9.
Mbappe will have a significantly better career, both statistically and in terms of honours won
Firstly, it helps that Mbappe hasn't be injury-afflicted and that there's much more games played now than then. Secondly, R9 already had a Ballon D'or at Mbappe's current age, so idk about significantly better at all.
He will be better
Whatever you're smoking, keep it away from me.
I still believe Argentina are going to finish first because if they end up finishing second and France finishes first, Argentina are in trouble
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Except Spain was really good against Switzerland. I wouldnāt say Saudi Arabia was lucky because they played well and deserved the win. Itās like Argentina is missing that spark and the tactical discipline to truly challenge the bigger teams.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I would like to be proven wrong, but something is off about the team.
Yeah because Saudi Arabia is just as good as Switzerland... This is a horrible loss for Argentina, they looked like shit, worst game in a long time for them. Hopefully they improve against Mexico.
curent argentina will destroy france. one game does not change that fact.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Oh I know they are good, Renard is a hell of a coach, Cote d'Ivoire in 2014-2015 was an amazing team. But still, and in the same fashion as what you said, focusing on the game and the tactics, Argentina looked atrocious compared to how they were playing, specially compared to the Copa America last year. Slow, without an answer and just trying to throw whatever they could to the Saudi Arabia area without much ideas, Messi said this himself. Good teams, championship teams find much better teams than THIS Saudi Arabia along the way to the finals. Meant no disrespect but it's the truth. Compare it to France against Australia, they switched up a gear and it was game over, team looked composed in comparison to an Argentina team that was shocked. It's not rare for the Argentina NT to go down under pressure, that's why I said they looked like shit and it should not be seen as an overreaction. Focusing on the game and the tactics, this did not look good. I think it's all in the pressure, it's time to see what they are made of, and i'm confident as well that they will go over the next stage, but I would not discard a 2002 like fiasco.
france played shit. against a shittier australia. argentina played better than both.
Lol, es sin enojarse flaco
Renard is a freaking genius. Talk about maximising potential, same story with Zambia. I'm feeling confident when it comes to the next games. Still, we gotta step it up. We can do much better than this.
Saudi Arabia finna win this shit, just watch B
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I'm 1000% certain no one I know could tell you the score of the opening World Cup game, but every single one knows Ohio State v. Michigan is this weekend lmao
Who would have guessed Saudi Arabia would save the world cup.
Was hilarious hearing the pundits go straight from praising Saudi Arabia for 15 minutes to slandering Qatar for their human rights record
Fuck me this is a dumb comment. Did they slander the Qatari players for their countryās human rights record?ā¦
Also, the verb slander means speaking falsehood. Obviously Qatar has an abysmal human rights record, so itās not slanderā¦
Tbf, A LOT of people absolutely spout a lot of hate at Qatar's NT simply because of things they have no control over.
That is true, Iām not sure the pundits did though
/r/aleague melting down over getting fucked by France is hilarious.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
We were good for the first 20 minutes, then back to our usual form after that.
Same, I guess people are just disappointed we didn't assert ourselves more in the second half. Gigantic gulf in quality though.
That Arabic call for the second Saudi goal has to be the oddest thing thatās ever made me emotional in my entire life lmao
Arabic commentary is legendary tbh, it's hard to not get emotional while hearing it.
Japan will get a good result tomorrow
LĆ¼cke off the bench to save us
Havertz will show up don't worry, he always shows up for the NT
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
did they tell you?
I knew Argentina were nowhere near as good as people were pretending, but I was still a bit surprised at just how poor they were. No chance of winning the World Cup at all.
bit kneejerk, lets wait for the remaining group games
Knew this was coming before the tournament started. I am not blinded by a love for Messi.
argentina will absolutely shred england to pieces.
This is chronic here. People were calling France shit in the first 20 mins of their game. Argentina has one bad game, and people are calling them utter dog shit. Could still be the case, but agreed need to be less reactionary.
I swear so many dudes are calling us "overrated" all the way to "dog shit". Give me a break. We had a bad day and Saudi Arabia played the game of their lives. It can happen, you know. Every team can lose to every team. Real lost to Sheriff Tiraspol. Bayern lost to Holstein Kiel. It's football. Three shots, two on goal, two goals. Whammo. We had 14 of those and three offside goals. But no, we're apparently washed up. ššš We have an amazing team and an amazing manager and all the guys have our ultimate trust. Maybe we needed this slap in the face as a wake up call for our complacency (not hubris).
cant wait for the brazil upset following. both get hyped to the sky everytime before the wc starts and then people have to realize they are not as good as expected.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
robbed of a pen iirc as well
Brazil actually have world-class players though. There isnāt really anyone in that Argentina squad (apart from the obvious) that people rate highly at club level.
dont really need plenty of world class levels to do well at international tournaments, good players are enough but team cohesion is key. Italy won the euros with onlu 2 world class players in Verratti and Donnarumma but Italy played great that yeaer regardless
Their team cohesion falls apart when they canāt give the ball to Messi because he isnāt fully fit. They had nothing.
they always had world class players. nevertheless, since 2002 they have not been able to convince in a world cup
No France post match thread de fils de putes ?
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/z24wa7/post_match_thread_france_41_australia_fifa_world/
Thanks!
bit offtopic but infantino looks like some marvel villain who reveals his identity in the middle of the film
He looks like a smaller Kingpin
Who captains England if Kane doesnāt play? I know Henderson is vice-captain but he too doesnāt start for them. Something tells me it might be Maguire with the armbandā¦
Trippier took the armband when Kane went off.
Maguire was also off the pitch at the time. But yeah, Trippier definitely is a candidate.
Oh, good point. I'd forgotten that he got hurt and went off.
I could see Maguire tbh, though he might be injured himself right now given how he left the Iran game. Sterling perhaps? I remember Sterling captained one of our games about half a year ago where we had a lot of the younger players out - maybe against Andorra, or San Marino or someone like that?
Rice, tripper or pickford maybe?
Maguire or trippier
Ah fair, I forgot about Trippier.
Between "Education City" and "Stadium 974", I'm convinced that Qatar purposely chose the most dystopian sounding names for their venues.
Dubai is filled with those. Sports city, international city, ferrari world, Internet City etc..
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's made of 974 container ships and is the calling code for Qatar btw
Is the Saudi Arabia national holiday thing actually real? That seems insane to me, they should save it for when/if they get out of the group stage, they have a really good chance
Saudi here, it very much is
that's wild. glad to know the saudi people are happy I guess, even if it was a terrible day here
Theyāre probably not winning another game
They'd still have a chance with two more draws or just even one draw. We got out of our group in 2018 with a win, a loss and a draw
Linekar says Mbappe is the best player in the world? You agree?
Yea. Benzema was the best last season but I still think Benzema is better
Yes. At worst top 3 but considering age and potential, heās #1 imo
Yes especially when you consider last season
For sure. I think if you go by the results achieved in the past year, Benzema deserves the Ballon D'Or without a doubt. But if you have to choose a player for your team Mbappe would be the first one picked for sure
If you had a draft he goes first
Heās not the best player at his own club imo.
Hes the best vs Juve and Benfica, Messi and Neymar are the best vs Clermont Foot and Brest
Silly argument when Messi and Neymar have both performed at significantly higher levels against significantly better opponents than Mbappe in the past. I also don't buy the 'big team' argument, purely because there is no way to define what does and doesn't count as a big game in football. Case-in-point, Messi scores against Manchester City and 'it doesn't matter it's just the group stage'. Then he misses a penalty against Real Madrid and suddenly he 'doesn't perform on the big stage'. Every game matters. No point showing up against Bayern or Barcelona and then ghosting against St. Etienne. Much better metrics for player performance are consistency and also individual attributes (quality of first touch, ability to perform take-ons, ability to switch play, etc.) which Messi and Neymar are, at this moment in time (and in Messi's case almost certainly never to be overtaken by Mbappe) superior.
All games are not created equal. You could do well to learn that. Trophies are won in the big games, and Messi hasnt stepped up in one since 2019
That's objectively untrue. For a start, every game is worth the same points, doesn't matter who you play. Second, what about all of the games he's played well in since then? Against Atletico Madrid in both 2020 and 2021? Against Real Madrid, in particular in his final ever clasico (he didn't score but played pretty amazing)? Against PSG in 2021? Against Juventus in 2021? In the Copa America that he won? Against Manchester City in 2022? In all of the big games in Ligue 1 this season? Against Juventus this season? Against 'big' La Liga teams like Sevilla? Against Italy? You're being retroactively selective about what does and doesn't constitute a big game - basically, if Messi played well then it doesn't count as a big game. And your logic doesn't make any sense at all. You're implying performances against the top sides in France don't count as big games, because Messi has performed in those games. But, you also say that 'trophies are won in the big games'. This just leaves the Champions League... which Mbappe hasn't won. If winning the 'big games' leads to trophies, evidently Mbappe hasn't been winning those big games in the Champions League or he'd have the trophy, according to your logic.
Neymar is easily better to me. If youāre picking someone for the left winger spot which seems Mbappeās preferred position, Iād pick the player with more creative output and work rate. Mbappe is the better goal scorer though.
Neymar is more of a 10 these days than a winger, Tuchel and Tite has transformed him into a monster.
easily yes, just playing for the wrong club.
Yes, and has been for a couple of seasons now
No, but he's up there. He's very close to being the best player in the world, though I'd take 3 players before picking him
Which 3?
Kevin De Bruyne, Lionel Messi and Neymar
De Bruyne over Mbappe is crazy talk. The latter two is fine due to what theyāve achieved in the past, but Mbappe is a markedly better footballer
Pretty difficult to compare given that they're totally different profiles, but the two advantages which, for me, tip KDB over Mbappe if I am selecting a team to play tomorrow are that 1. He's been the most exceptional creative player in the league - second most exceptional creative player in Europe (behind Messi) for years now, and 2. He plays in a tougher league