We want France to win so that the Ref team from the US is the best option for the game. He is from Morocco so he cannot ref them during WC.

I think the final will have the English ref.

Argentina played well vs Croatia - if they could have kept it 1-0 for most of the match they would have found the tie… Croatia was the king of coming from behind and going the distance. Argentina was too much.

Not taking out Romero when he is your only tall guy (like they did vs the Netherlands) made sure that they couldn’t have air superiority. That was probably the only mistake by the Argentina coach in the tourney… maybe his subs in the first game vs Saudi Arabia.

I’m putting the Arg / Netherlands behind - but just to clarify… Messi was hot because the red added 11 min to an affair that probably only needed 7. Shoot, there was 2 goals, 2 pk’s full subs, multiple var checks and England / France went 4-5 min I think lol

He was upset with VG prior to the game. Again, it boiled over. Messi is no stranger to red cards or scuffles. He’s not a little bitch and he doesn’t bitch about everything. Also, I’ve been noticing that some of the things I’m seeing in the press in English - the translations are really bad.

Every soccer player bitches. Messi doesn’t dive / tries to play the ball and he’s gained that respect from refs / pundits. We are truly seeing him at his best - and yes he’s 35 years old.

I can’t believe modric was 37.

Taylor might but no way Oliver gets it.

Their gimmick is to play defense/tackle soccer. There's a reason they were outshot 2 to 1 against Spain, and only had 23% possession. Same against Portugal 26% possession. They had a few more shots in that game, but Portugal still out shot their team, and IMO Portugal was the inferior team to Spain which is why there were more chances vs Portugal.

When you're not even in the 30% of possession in games, but are winning by single scores, or PK's? It's cause you are playing a defensive/counter game. They aren't a good team, teams have just had issues scoring on them and Morocco has also seen a lot of luck in this tournament (See the chances portugal/spain had).

It is a penalty because the attacker chipped the ball to a spot that he could have reached without being hindered by the GK. If his chip was clearly a shot at goal it might not be a penalty.

I’m really pulling for Messi to get this W. Seems like a great dude and absolutely the GOAT.

Good defense isn’t a gimmick in the knockout rounds. Portugal may have had more shots and possession, but they were by no means the better team. If Morocco can steal a goal on a good counter tomorrow they definitely have a good enough team to hold on for the win.

We aren’t arguing if they have a good enough team though….

I didn’t think it was clear the player could have played the ball again, so I’m not 100% sure he really denied a goal scoring opportunity.

I’d have given it, I just think there’s a little doubt there perhaps.

This PK years ago would also be a red card. Rules no longer allow this. The goalie committed an infraction and didn’t even touch the ball. He was the last man. This was an easy call for the ref. And VAR verified it.

Outside of the box, this is a straight red for the goalie.

I’m glad They didn’t call a hand ball on the deflection when it was next to his body (even though he used his arm to deflect on purpose) that would have been weak.

Ps: I thought the red tonight did great.

Holy shit missed by an inch

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Close one for Morocco.

Frogs winning again will be soulless

Morocco looking good. Ziyech giving some really good deliveries. They just have to finish one.

Holden is such a drama queen.

France flopping around like dead fish.

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Some good attacking threat from Morocco since the break, it's cool to see them facing up to France and playing so bravely.

There it is. The nail in the coffin. Great individual effort from Mbappe to draw the entire defense in. Morocco definitely showed they belonged here. It was a fun match. Should be a couple great matchups this weekend now as well to finish it off!

Hopefully France can pull off the repeat and Messi goes home crying.

I have no doubt Messi will act like a total bitch if things don't go his way. That is just who he is.

Oh please. Messi should be honored before the game with a presentation for his contribution globally to the sport. It's his last World Cup game. Nothing excessive mind you, maybe a 10 or 15 minute presentation. Also, the French players should shake his hand and address him appropriately, unlike the Dutch players last week. He's the GOAT for a reason.

Haha absolutely not. I’m assuming you’re kidding, but they should absolutely not do anything pregame for Messi. No one is bigger than the game itself and this is the biggest match of them all. If he wants to be honored he can retire or win it all. If Mbappe wins he takes a stronghold on the GOAT talk as well. Lots of storylines for sure. Should be a great matchup.

He is not the GOAT of his own country let alone the entire sport. He has shown his pussy and quit the before.

Great player but not the GOAT and is a total bitch.

Ronaldo, is that you?

I loved Maradona as a kid but there's little argument for him over Messi. Messi has 7 Ballon D'Ors. He's about to be named the Golden Ball Winner in two separate World Cups (something not even Maradona did). Also, by 35 years old, Maradona was cooked. Messi is still going strong.

Gutted for Morocco! What a performance.

Had Maradona not hit the cocaine so hard, there would be no question who the best ever was.

Messi is the GOAT (for now)

The Golden Ball winner will probably go to the loser. Mbappe if Argentina wins, Messi if France wins.

I think Mbappe will have Pele's history trajectory and he might be candidate to be the GOAT if he continues to win WC's and have the success at the Club level that Messi had:

https://www.transfermarkt.us/lionel-.../spieler/28003
https://www.transfermarkt.us/kylian-...spieler/342229

I'm reading over the last few posts...keep in mind, I don't watch a lot of soccer, but.....

Isn't Pele the GOAT of soccer???

Messi is great but he does El Pibe de Oro's level skill and technique. Close but not there.

The unfortunate thing is that as you stated, he was cooked by coke by Messi's current age.

Messis longevity does not make him the goat over Maradona though.

I have Pele 2nd. His club resume pales in comparison to Messi's. He played against weak competition in the Brazil league.

His International resume is better but Messi made up much ground during his last two International tournaments. Also, contrary to common perception, Pele won two World Cups, not three. He played only one game in the 1962 World Cup. And he played with probably 10 of the 50 greatest International players ever. The Brazil teams in 1958 and 1970 were loaded with stars. Messi never had that kind of help at the International level.

If we're going off skill, Matt Le Tissier and Dennis Bergkamp are two of the five greatest players ever.

Maradona had absurd skill but why is he better than Messi? What did he accomplish better? The World Cup in 1986 was legendary; one man taking over a tournament. That's not enough to overcome Messi's club accomplishments and his own World Cup run here in 2022 at 35 years old. Messi has been a huge star for about 15 years now. Besides Ronaldo, nobody was on top that long.

He's 100% the GOAT.

The ONLY solid argument against him is that he's only done it in one league (not counting Ligue 1, obv). However, I don't hold that against players when it comes to their greatness. Plenty of absolute legends only did it in one league.

Ronaldo Nizario or Maradona are my GOATs

Fat Ronaldo is a top 10 player, but he shouldn't be in the GOAT conversation.

Ya. Definitely a top 3 striker of all time but he ain't no Messi. Messi has it all: finishing, great (not elite) speed, dribbling, set pieces, crosses, passes. CR7 is a close second.

For the “my gut tells me” crowd:


Grant Wahl was covering a World Cup soccer match last weekend in Qatar when he collapsed and died.

Family members Wednesday said Wahl died from a ruptured blood vessel.

Wahl's wife, Dr. Céline Gounder, said an autopsy was conducted by the New York City Medical Examiner's Office after his .

“Grant died from the rupture of a slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium,” Gounder said.

So your gut tells you it was either the Qatari government or vaccine related?

If he wouldn't have spent so much time out with his knees, maybe. He wasn't quite the same after that first knee injury at Inter, and then he started getting fat a few years later.

Man, that guy is basically my age.

He got fat AF.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/fo...ibiza-27523206

Are you kidding me? Messi has had several high level players with vast champions league experience around him. Arguero, DI Maria, Peredes just to name a few. People love to make excuses for Messi but the fact is he's rarely ever been the same player for Argentina as he was for Barcelona. And when you look at the resume the likes of Ronaldinho and the Brazilian Ronaldo were just as talented but at least won a world cup. If Mbappe beats Messi in the final that's a HUGE dent to Messi's legacy imo.

Yep. The guy was a star and won a world cup age 16!!..just an incredible achievement.

The guy died after complaining of a long illness with a worsening course and there was no reason to suspect foul play, but people were still posting that their "gut" was telling them he was murdered by the government in Qatar for wearing a gay pride shirt.

I predict that the Republic of IRELAND will win the 2026 World Cup! :thumb: ERIN GO BRAGH!

Messi

2006 WC Quarters (lost to WC winner)
2010 WC Quarters (lost to 3rd place team)
2014 WC Lost Final (lost to WC winner)
2018 WC Lost Round of 16 (lost to WC winner)
2022 WC Final*

Copa America
2007 Lost Final
2015 Lost Final
2016 Lost Final
2019 Lost Semi to CA Winner (got 3rd)
2021 Won

You can blame Higuain for multiple of those finals. (Especially 2014 WC)

Statistically he has been amazing in every tourney. The quality of the players for Argentina was not at the level of those other teams... While they might have had some good players... The Barcelona teams were better ...

Its like when you see England / Brazil do subs.. and you have Mount / Rashford / Foden / Grealish coming off the bench or Gabriel Jesus / Martinelli / Ederson / Fabinho

Tell me who Argentina subs in today, that you would be damn, he's on the bench.. Lautaro (who is having a terrible WC - Higuainesque) and no 35 year old Di Maria who is hurt doesn't count. (he would be starting)

He was already fat a couple of years after moving to Real Madrid...maybe 2007ish time frame. The Madrid fans gave him a ton of crap about it. Then Madrid sold him to AC Milan where he ruptured his patellar tendon and got even fatter.


He was my favorite player and it makes me sad about his wasted potential. As great as he was, he could have been even greater. Instead, most people just remember him for his weird seizure thing before the world cup final, his knee injuries, getting caught with a tranny hooker, and getting fat.

I know. It's just that with some people, everything has to be blamed on someone/something. Random events don't just happen according to them.

Yeah, Messi played with great midfielders at the club level. Iniesta/Xavi/Fabregas/Busquets are some of the best ever feeding him the ball. At the International level, his midfield sucked. Aguero/Higuain were good strikers but you still need midfielders to move the ball up the pitch to these guys. The game is controlled in the middle.

Ronaldo had the same issue in his prime where the International midfielders he played with were awful compared to his midfield at Manchester United or Real Madrid.

That "Barcelona / Real Madrid" national Spain team won the WC in 2010. They were sooo good.

Very nice set piece puts Croatia up early. Morocco answers right back. Exciting 3rd place match so far!!!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">OH MY 😳<br><br>Mislav Oršić with a beauty to put Croatia up just before the half 🎯 <a href="https://t.co/OtquwmKsfr">pic.twitter.com/OtquwmKsfr</a></p>&mdash; FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) <a href="https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/1604140435731288071?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Entertaining 3rd place match. The deciding goal was a thing of beauty.

Terrible foul by France there to give up a penalty.

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I’m not disagreeing with the penalty decision, but I ****ing hate how easily he went down in the box from that little of contact. It’s no fun watching players embellish contact to draw penalties. These teams are too good to have that be a deciding goal in this match. Hopefully we get more action and that’s not it.

Imagine that.
Argentina scoring via penalty.

Nice job with the second pass there.

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That was a beauty..

Great execution by Argentina on that goal

That second goal was very nice. Let’s hope France comes with out with a little more urgency now that their backs are against the wall!

His foot got clipped/tripped by the French’s foot. 100% no doubt penalty. He certainly wasn’t flopping

And unnecessary, he had help there.

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Shades of Brazil in 98 for the French. Something just ain't right with them. I guess we'll find out afterwards whether it's simply just down to this bug going through the camp

The consistent flopping from Argentina is pathetic. They don't need to do it. That PK awarded the Argentina was b*******.

This is one of those games where one team wants to win and the other team?

They have to win.

ARG has just completely removed the French midfield. And beaten them on the ground with control.

Almost another.

France aren’t a great defensive team. That’s been shown all tourney. I don’t think there is anything wrong necessarily. Just ran into a buzz saw.

2 feet shorter on that pass and it's an easy put in

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This isn't about defense though. They are just getting outran and outfought in the midfield. It's really weird to see because their players have been energetic all tournament.

He definitely tripped him. That’s getting called every time.

The Argentina team definitely flops like crazy though.

The argies have all done a couple of lines of coke pre-match and at half time.

Totally agree on the midfield. All match it’s appeared that ARG has 15 guys on the field. They have been everywhere.

No. When you get tripped, you don't start to fall backwards. It's a flop. In English premier League that would not be a PK.

Flop

The french are reverting to type and are waving the white flag

These pussies flop more than a boatload of fish.

PK

I really tried but I just can’t get into futbol.

https://youtu.be/dJbMxPBhQtU

You can see it here. Along with the small push it’s more than enough in the box when you are running free

Will KM Kane this?

Well well well

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No. He scores

Oh my gooooood

Wow

Holy shit.

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