World Cup Qatar

[Bris Vegas]

Just now, RoyMac5 said:

The Mexicans don't seem bothered, are they any good?

It’s their worst team of the past 20 years or so in my opinion.

 

[G STAR RAM]

3 hours ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

So you've slagged off Lycett as a self-promoter and poured scorn on his motives without even watching the Twitter video on which you've formed your opinion! So you don't know what he actually said, how he said it, the tone, the context or anything else for that matter. Hmmm...

Even more weirdly, apparently you could discern ALL of the above from seeing him once on TV, but you somehow failed to notice that the lad's a tad camp from the very same clip? 

Yeah, it's deffo  @Stive Pesley whose mask has slipped ?

 

Yeah I've read the story on the news, but suppose I should have been able to tell he was gay from the article?

Glad you've backed up my point though that your buddy was saying that its possible to tell someone is gay by looking at them but not possible to tell where someone is from by looking at them.

Do grown men really post memes? 

Bit cringey.

[AndyinLiverpool]

12 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

The Mexicans don't seem bothered, are they any good?

I was waiting for what Plan B was once Plan A (stopping Argentina from scoring) had failed.

They are terrible going forward.

[Crewton]

Spain or Brazil would murder the Argies on this display, but we've seen them fluke their way through to the final before. 

[G STAR RAM]

10 hours ago, Stive Pesley said:

It's rent free in here ?

You're in good company, there are plenty of people living rent free in England these days, doubt you'd be able to recognise them though...unless they are gay of course!

[Bris Vegas]

12 minutes ago, Crewton said:

Spain or Brazil would murder the Argies on this display, but we've seen them fluke their way through to the final before. 

Argentina in fairness won the Copa America playing a similar way. They went 35 games unbeaten.

They’re not as pretty as Spain, or as explosive as France or Brazil, but they have it in them to grind their way through, similar to 2014.

[RoyMac5]

"Fifa has opened disciplinary proceedings against Serbia's football association after its team hung a controversial flag depicting Kosovo in their dressing room prior to their World Cup defeat by Brazil.

The flag showed an outline of Kosovo filled with the Serbia flag, with the words 'no surrender'.

Tensions are running high between ethnic Serbs and the Albanian-led government in Kosovo, amid fears violence could flare up again, 23 years after the Kosovo war.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but Serbia - an ally of Russia - does not recognise it as an independent country..."

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

34 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Argentina one man team.

They were in 86.  The new 'one man' is nowhere near as good though.  Are those boots real gold as they seemed heavy based on the snail like movement.  Can anyone remember him having a great world cup game even when he was smacking in loads for Barca. 

Still miles better than Neymar mind.

[Bris Vegas]

15 minutes ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

I was waiting for what Plan B was once Plan A (stopping Argentina from scoring) had failed.

They are terrible going forward.

Mexico are poor going forward. This generation of players are seriously lacking in quality, while the one decent striker they have (Raul Jimenez) isn’t the same player after his injury.

Mexico had a brilliant selection of players from 2010-2016. Players like Rafa Marquez, Gio dos Santos, Chicharito, Carlos Vela, Andres Guardado, Hector Herrera, Carlos Salcido and Hector Moreno were all top class.

Probably the best one of the current lot is Hirving Lozano.

Older players are past it and the newer ones aren’t as good.

Throw in a negative manager too and it’s rubbish.

[Van der MoodHoover]

4 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Looks like I may finally get to watch a full game at this World Cup as I’ve got a free afternoon.

And it’s Mexico vs Argentina.

I can’t wait.

Pressure is on. If Argentina lose they are out. If Mexico lose they will need to beat Saudi Arabia, and probably by a few goals, to stand a chance.

A draw wouldn’t be a bad result for Mexico as then any win against Saudi Arabia puts them through. I think they would have taken that at the start of the World Cup.

A draw for Argentina would mean they would need to beat Poland by two goals to go through on GD.

This feels like the biggest game of the World Cup to date.

It was shockingly poor with 2 decent shots. 

So that's 2 decent shots more than the England USA game.... 

[Alph]

This is where football trips itself up over and over. 

It likes saying nice things about stopping racism, homophobia etc etc. It likes minor punishments for minor breaches like moaning about a referee on twitter. 

But when it comes to actually having a chance to make statement they usually drag their feet and hope it blows over. 

Will Serbia get kicked out the World Cup? 

[Bris Vegas]

5 minutes ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

They were in 86.  The new 'one man' is nowhere near as good though.  Are those boots real gold as they seemed heavy based on the snail like movement.  Can anyone remember him having a great world cup game even when he was smacking in loads for Barca. 

Still miles better than Neymar mind.

Messi is better than Maradona. Far more consistent, scores more goals, more longevity.

It’s a different game now though.

Watch Maradona’s wonder goal against England and there isn’t a single player within 10 yards of him when he picked up the ball. Oceans of space and huge gaps in between the lines. Football isn’t like that anymore as fitness means the opposition can affectively go man for man in a low block.

Going back to Messi though. Isn’t he Argentina’s all-time leading scorer in cup competitions? And let’s face it, they don’t play crap like Estonia every month.

[Bris Vegas]

5 minutes ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

It was shockingly poor with 2 decent shots. 

So that's 2 decent shots more than the England USA game.... 

I blame Mexico. They played for 0-0 and tried to just play a low block and close the space. Got what they deserved.

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

1 hour ago, Bris Vegas said:

Messi is better than Maradona. Far more consistent, scores more goals, more longevity.

It’s a different game now though.

Watch Maradona’s wonder goal against England and there isn’t a single player within 10 yards of him when he picked up the ball. Oceans of space and huge gaps in between the lines. Football isn’t like that anymore as fitness means the opposition can affectively go man for man in a low block.

Going back to Messi though. Isn’t he Argentina’s all-time leading scorer in cup competitions? And let’s face it, they don’t play crap like Estonia every month.

When Messi wins a world cup on his own, Does it on a pitch at pace game after game on a pitch that looks like a ploughed field and has to put up with tackles that would be five reds a match in todays football world I'll look at it again.    

Regarding his club football.  Messi played in without doubt the most skilled football side in Barcelona that has ever graced a pitch for at least 4 years.  That has a large bearing on goals to games output.  Maradona spent 7 years at an average club in Italy, in a league where few chances were ever created and once again inspired them to massive heights the won't achieve again.

Messi agrees with me anyway

"Even if I played for a million years, I'd never come close to Maradona. Not that I'd want to anyway. He's the greatest there's ever been."

—Lionel Messi, the player most closely identified with the "New Maradona" labe

Also,  playing Estonia has kind of helped

Messi then followed this on 6 June with all five Argentina goals in a 5–0 victory in a friendly win over Estonia, overtaking Ferenc Puskás among the all-time international men’s top scorers

[Stive Pesley]

I don't know about anyone else, but after this hors d'oevures of football I'm looking forward to the main course tomorrow (Copa de FA  Round 2 non-league TV red button extravaganza!)

 

[Crewton]

2 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Argentina in fairness won the Copa America playing a similar way. They went 35 games unbeaten.

They’re not as pretty as Spain, or as explosive as France or Brazil, but they have it in them to grind their way through, similar to 2014.

I did wonder how they'd managed to go so long unbeaten. They didn't look like a team tonight who'd worry anyone, particularly with Messi clearly not 100%. If Mexico had had any attacking threat, they'd have won that. 

[uttoxram75]

47 minutes ago, Stive Pesley said:

I don't know about anyone else, but after this hors d'oevures of football I'm looking forward to the main course tomorrow (Copa de FA  Round 2 non-league TV red button extravaganza!)

 

Gone from watching Messi in the World Cup to watching very messy in the FA Cup 2nd Round.

COYR ?

[Carl Sagan]

6 hours ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

Once took a terrible dive (surprise, surprise) to get a penalty against us.

And they'd already won the tie, with this coming right at the end of the game. It was such a blatant Ronaldo dive for a penalty that meant nothing - I've never forgotten it. He should have been banned for 10 games and Derby awarded the match. If they did that sort of thing, it would stop the cheating.

[Bris Vegas]

4 hours ago, Gee SCREAMER !! said:

When Messi wins a world cup on his own, Does it on a pitch at pace game after game on a pitch that looks like a ploughed field and has to put up with tackles that would be five reds a match in todays football world I'll look at it again.    

Regarding his club football.  Messi played in without doubt the most skilled football side in Barcelona that has ever graced a pitch for at least 4 years.  That has a large bearing on goals to games output.  Maradona spent 7 years at an average club in Italy, in a league where few chances were ever created and once again inspired them to massive heights the won't achieve again.

Messi agrees with me anyway

"Even if I played for a million years, I'd never come close to Maradona. Not that I'd want to anyway. He's the greatest there's ever been."

—Lionel Messi, the player most closely identified with the "New Maradona" labe

Also,  playing Estonia has kind of helped

Messi then followed this on 6 June with all five Argentina goals in a 5–0 victory in a friendly win over Estonia, overtaking Ferenc Puskás among the all-time international men’s top scorers

Maradona never won a World Cup on his own. It’s a silly statement given Argentina only conceded three goals in six games prior to the final. They clearly had a very good defence, and the best teams are built on not conceding goals.

Maradona‘s record at Napoli was average. Barely scored double figures each season while again, the team had the best defensive record in the league. 

Maradona never scored/assisted 60 goals a season. Messi has done in about ten times.

That he hasn’t won a World Cup (a team tournament played every 4 years where luck plays just as much part as ability) is irrelevant.

Just watch Messi play. Look at his numbers. Nobody has played the game of football as well as he has. And not just for one year too. Over a decade of just footballing magic. 

Who he played for and who he played with is irrelevant. The dribbling, passing ability, ball control, decision making, set pieces, assists and simply ridiculous number of goals for a player who isn’t even a striker means he is the greatest. He is the best in every category. And it’s not even close.

 

 

[G STAR RAM]

7 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Watch Maradona’s wonder goal against England and there isn’t a single player within 10 yards of him when he picked up the ball.

I've just watched it again as that wasn't my recollection. There are 2 players within 5 yards of him, who he instantly took out of the game with a fantastic turn.