True. I must say, had this been the final, the effort shown by Argentina vs. Brazil would have paled next to the effort the Argentines would've shown to defeat Chile. If Chile had gone into the final the way they played Peru tonight, Argentina would've done a victory lap. A bit off, but from the few Argentines I know offline, I've asked them if they hate Chile more than they hate us. All said yes, and they said that the trash talk w/ soccer is just that - trash talk. It isn't (believe it or not) proof they dislike us just because we're Brazilian. But with Chile, due to history, the animus is real and goes way beyond soccer.
I agree. All the Argentines I know offline, no exceptions, are very decent people who display no animosity against Brazil outside of soccer.
I feel like the best outcome for Argentina will be if they win but Messi isn't a factor. Still, they will get flak for doing no more than they are supposed to, but if they lose obviously it will be no good, if they lose on penalties it will be hilarious, and if Messi carries them he'll get hell for showing up too late.
For Messi it's always going to be a losing proposition. Even had he won this CA, people would say it was a shit CA. Unless he beat a good Brazil. He is always going to be criticized for not getting a WC ... or not even having a standout KO game.
Criticizing Messi IMO is not fair. The burden which he has carried in his shoulders to win a WC with this mediocre team is inexplicable. Soccer is not an individual sport. But since he has delivered with his club year after year people expect him to do the same with the national side. But compare Barca vs Argentina NT. The difference in quality is massive. Even Ronaldo hasn't won a WC with Portugal. Why is he not criticized. I think Portugal NT is far better than Argentina NT. . Even if Messi doesn't win a WC I think he will still go down as probably the best to have played the game . Lets look at it like this. Goetze has won a WC in 2014 with Germany. Can we say that Goetze > Messi based on a WC win. NO
That was so comical. I'd say it was at most a yellow for Messi and at least a yellow for Medel but the ref decided that would be his opportunity to make a statement...
I'm watching TyC and other Argentine networks and its bonkers out there. I'm actually a fan of Argentina as a country (I've visited many times because of work and I believe that "el futbol del Rio de la Plata" is among the best on earth) but all this conspiracy sh*it is way out of hand. I don't like Bolsonaro either but actually saying that he bought this Copa America is beyond insane and this is only the beginning and it hurts Argentina because it masks the real structural and fundamental problems that Argentinian football has. In fact, I think that Argentinian football is decline and has been in decline since 2006, at least. As a non-Brazilian Brazil fan I feel I must chuckle a bit because Argentina is making Brazil's job of domination much, much easier. I mean, Scaloni is at best a third rate coach.
Also, Argentinians are talking about the corruption of CONMEBOL but fail to note the corruption of AFA and Argentina as a whole. Pretty stupid on their part. Clean your house first, I say.
Wrong. The Daniel Alves-Aguero play: Aguero stepped on Daniel Alves' foot. Not the other way around, which Argentina's sports press (for the most part) has been claiming occurred. No foul, no pk deserved. The Arthur-Otamendi play: questionable, but when a home team gets the benefit of the doubt, don't be surprised as home teams rarely get such calls made against them. Now, what about all the fouling vs. Gabriel Jesus before the 15th minute mark, which left his knee bloody and bruised? What about the several fouls by Tagliafico, which warranted a 2nd yellow by the 20th minute mark? What about all the other rough plays and fouls by the Argentine players?
I am truly flabbergasted that they of all people are blasting CONMEBOL for bad refereeing given the history of how CONMEBOL referees have made calls that harmed other teams in favor of AFA teams in the Libertadores. None of them are saying anything about how River Plate broke the rules in the semifinals last year. None of them are saying anything about how CONMEBOL admitted earlier in 2019 that in the 2018 Libertadores, there were errors in the application of the rules. None of them is complaining about the terrible calls by Carlos Amarilla in the 2013 Libertadores whereby a Boca Juniors player fouled a Corinthians player in the box and should have gotten a 2nd yellow and Corinthians should have been given a penalty kick and nothing happened. (I am a fan of SPFC, which is a huge rival of Corinthians, but even I saw the wrongfulness of those calls). If Messi is going to claim it's all set up for Brazil to win, then he is a naive little child who is pampered and spoiled - OR, he is an Argentine who by virtue of having gone to Europe at age 14, does not know his own homeland's FA and doesn't know how things are done in his home continent. Furthermore, where was Messi when his own Barcelona was the recipient of highly questionable calls vs. PSG in early 2017? Neymar was then at Barcelona, so Neymar benefited too. But why was Messi silent? Why was Messi silent when his NT was given a hysterically bad call - PK which he converted - on a non-foul on Di Maria in the Argentina vs. Chile 2018 WCQ match? Finally, if Messi is going to make ridiculous accusations about Brazil buying the tournament and about bad refereeing, then let him petition that AFA return the 1978 and 1986 World Cups to FIFA given the military junta's role in that tournament and Diego Maradona's hand goal. Otherwise, perhaps Messi should remain silent and do his best to win the tournament in 2020.
I'll have to watch that again (for like, the tenth time), cause the closest thing I saw to a headbutt was two idiots acting like bulls locking horns. Watched it again and I still don't see a headbutt before the red card is given. Medel's initial contact is a chest bump.
I'd say that 1st PK is a tough one to defend or prove. Yeah Aguero stepped on him but it looks like Alves does come across with the intention of bumping him and still does. Aguero is a bit blind sided. I can't say it's not shady that there wasn't a better replay shown. I mean there are 200 freakin cameras on the pitch nowadays. You know there was a good view of it. And they say VAR has access to replays TV might not have. I think that's BS. The game needs transparency if they are doing this VAR thing all the way. Or else it becomes this mess. Both PK calls are only bad in the context of VAR. Because honestly, since they were basically away from the ball, if this is back in the day with no VAR, there isn't that much commotion. But VAR changes things specially when they start trying to pick too many plays to review. This is a good article about both plays. https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...oul-var-era-controversy-copa-america-football Now with Argentinos going all conspiracy theory and talking about Bolsonaro influence ... that's absolutely pathetic. I mean, isn't this the country that had their president and Kissinger go inside both locker rooms in 78 in the game vs Peru pre-game ? Both their WCs came from 2 of the most controversial cheating incidents in the history of WCs.
CONMEBOL released an official statement. I suspect if it were almost anyone besides Messi making noise they wouldn't feel the need to speak up. Comunicado Oficial pic.twitter.com/52wWty47BQ— CONMEBOL.com (@CONMEBOL) July 7, 2019 TLDR is: refs are human, knowing how to lose is important and we've been more transparent since 2016.
Medel rushing in with his head leading forward beyond his body. I know, he was just saying hi to Messi's neck, right? Medel is undeniably the aggressor while Messi is simply standing his ground. Medel is a donkey who should have been thrown out, and he was. Messi did nothing except refuse to back down. Disgraceful. Let's hope FIFA will correct this wrong.
Argentina's karma coming back to them!! I know it's a different tournament but we surely had a case of robbery in World Cups 1978 and 1990!!
There is no "deserve" in football, my friend. The thing about the PKs has already been explained by Century's Best and others and I don't know what country you live in but you should get HD Tv at least or better you should get a 4K monitor to see what happened. But do you see what is happening? Its called deflecting blame, where someone like Messi, who scored only one goal from the penalty spot, and that doughy guy Tapia, can say, Oh! look how CONMEBOL favors Brazil and hurts poor Argentina. Its not my fault, I did all I could but "THE MAN" is against us. Don't fall for it man.