so? That's still a challenge for THIS Argentina in which Messi, almost alone, stood up to ocassion and delivered... it's not like he got carried by teammates when it mattered, his teammates were struggling even against Ecuador, but not him.... that game, imo, is a proof that, when Messi is under pressure, but with team good enough for the difficulty of a task, he does deliver for Argentina You cant expect him to deliver against great teams, because difference between Argentina and the opposition grows so big not even Messi can deliver.. Croatia game is the case in point. Impossible to deliver when up against much better team.
of course... but they are different players mostly so i dont think that's an argument that goes in either favor. Ronaldo is an aerial threat like no other and unmatched in penalty box.. but you are right. CRs playmaking and dribbling would get to almost zero if under same treatment Edit: i would say he has perfectly good enough playmaking and dribbling skills to produce some serious threat in counter attacks, but not against compacted defenses
Lionel Messi was directly involved in 47.4% of Argentina's 19 World Cup qualifying goals. 7 goals 2 assists 10 games Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero, Lucas Pratto, Lucas Alario, Mauro Icardi and Dario Benedetto all of them combined scored only 3 goals Messi missed 8 matches during the qualifiers and in those 8 games Argentina only managed 7 points. Argentina managed 21 of their 28 points in the 10 games that Messi played in and thus 75% of their points came with him on the pitch. Cristiano Ronaldo in World Cup Qualifiers: 15 goals 3 assists 9 games André Silva: 9 goals 10 games Ronaldo scored against the likes of Andorra, Faroe Islands, Latvia & even failed to score one on one against Switzerland keeper. While South American Qualifiers was tough as nail. Messi decided matches against Uruguay & Colombia singlehandedly. Except the 3-0 defeat against Brazil they didn't lose a single match with Messi in the pitch
Have to say that that was a great game from Modric and the entire Croatian team yesterday. Quite an impressive result, especially in terms of how poor they were able to make a Messi-led Argentina look. In fact, I am not able to recollect Argentina being at the end of such a result with Messi in the team, since the WC 2010 QF vs Germany (at least not in competitive games). Luka Modrić's #WorldCup game by numbers vs. #ARG: 100% take-ons completed (2/2)100% aerial duels won (3/3)100% tackles won (2/2)62 touches42 passes3 interceptions2 chances created2 shots1 goalWorld class. pic.twitter.com/pmJP87BYxZ— Squawka (@Squawka) June 21, 2018 Considering how well he has started the World Cup and assuming he continues in the same vein helping Croatia to make a deep run into the tournament, I wonder if Modric will be considered to be a top-3 candidate for the BdR. After all, this year might be his best chance at being placed on the podium of the BdR, considering his age.
My bad. I thought Messi didn't feature in that game. If that is the only such result since 2010, it is still impressive for Croatia to match it on a neutral venue in the actual WC. After all, it is not a traditional powerhouse like Germany or Brazil.
Modrić very underrated on all time list.. for me the best Croatian ever and on par with Iniesta. I am saying that since 2016 season
I was thinking the same thing. I'd have no problem with him winning the Balon d'Or. Player of the WC so far.
This says very little because since then they have rarely played opponents of anywhere near that level in competitive games (ridiculously easy routes in Copa America). Brazil did not need to qualify for 2014, so didn't play against them. Uruguay for some, but those typically hover around place 8-15 in the Elo ratings. Netherlands and Germany in 2014, Brazil in recent qualifiers (1-1 without Messi, 3-0 loss with him) come the closest to that level. Then Uruguay and Chile.
When a 172 cm player wins 3 out of 3 headers you know something wrong with your gameplan. As for him a late contender? Sure. He has the CL win to boot.
Don't want to be a party pooper and I know how big a Real Madrid fan you are, but I'd say statistically this is quite misleading. 62 touches and 42 passes (34 of them accurate) is actually not a huge amount for a midfielder these days, even if it is against Argentina. He was also dispossessed two times and had two poor touches (as a midfielder), so also the suggestion he was flawless is misleading. Those two created 'chances': one was that great through ball to Rebic, applause to that, but the other was in reality a short 5 meters pass backwards after which a long distance shot from 35 meters followed. WhoScored, OPTA and SofaScore show Rakitic as man of the match.
At one point or another I believe all of Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Brazil have been at or above Croatia's level when facing Argentina in the past 8 years (since WC 2010). That's a respectable sample size since some of these nations played Argentina multiple times over this period. In any case, the point was about how poor Argentina was made to look in addition to the actual scoreline. Nah, it's fine. It's not like I am recommending this game as being Modric's best ever display, although I do think the goal he scored was the key to breaking Argentina. I mostly posted the stats as an afterthought just to showcase how "well rounded" a contribution he has to the game.
https://footballia.net/competitions/world-cup?page=36 Not sure about the quality of the recording (or its veracity), but there seems to be an entry for it on the site (latest WC game at this point in time). You will need to register to be able to view or download it though.
Croatia had players who played at the best of their abilities when it mattered the most - against Argentina. Prior to this game they had not been this dominant. Modric silencing all his critics with that great performance. Best CM in the world . Some shocking stats from Messi against Croatia. He only made 31 passes - 7 Arg players made more passes than him. His passing accuracy was 75% - 8 arg players had a higher pass avg. Only had 41 touches in the entire match.. less than Masch (71), Acuña (68) and Meza (66), the guy who replaced DiMaria in this match and who has never played in Europe and no one knows who he is or why he's playing instead of Dybala. He had a grand total of 1 shot and 0 on target. Dispossessed three times ...But he had 5 dribbles. Wow.. what a stinker performance .
As a matter of interest, who would be your Top 10 all-time Croat footballers? Presumably old-timers Vukas and Zebec would be considered, together with the likes of Boban and Suker. Stjepan Bobek has appeared in both Croat and Serb lists so not sure where he fits in.
Agreed, not a good performance from him but I think it was more down to how well Croatia nullified him. Let's wait and see, he still has one game left to redeem himself in this tournament. Although as far as I can tell, Argentina progressing to the next round is no longer dependent on only their own results, after this loss against Croatia.
the above is just your biased opinion you havent presented anything factual to support your completely unsubstantiated claims. 1.)could you present 1 reliable source that claimed messi had a better champions league campaign than ronaldo in 2012/13 2.the vast majority of all reliable journalistic accounts point towards ronaldo being real madrids most dominant player in the ko stages of the 2014 champions league in the r16 of vs schalke he was rampant being directly involved in 8 goals scored a crucial goal against dortmund in the qf(why did a seemingly dominant real madrid crumble without ronaldo against dortmund in the 2nd leg of the cl QF) in the semi final against bayern despite being injured he was real madrids most effective attacker(2 goals +1 pre assist) and very arguably the best player for some reason you have never seemed to accept this despite the overwhelming evidence pointing towards this well established fact https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...h-real-madrid-champions-league-player-ratings https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/bayern-munich-v-real-madrid-player-ratings-9303644.html http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2045595-bayern-munich-vs-real-madrid-live-player-ratings etc............ since 2014 ronaldo has had more big cl ko performances than messi has had during his entire career schalke 13/14 bayern 13/14 schalke14/15 atletico madrid 14/15(the same team messi couldnt break down after several attempts) roma 15/16 wolfsburg 15/16 napoli 16/17 bayern 16/17 atletico madrid 16/17 juventus 16/17 juventus 17/18 please present a single source that conclusively showed that ronaldo wasnt real madrids most dominant player in any of their cl winning campaigns since 2014 and against psg 17/18 and juventus 14/15 he wasnt great put still produced the goods 5 goals in 2 games if ronaldo can lead his team to a qf-sf place scoring more than 7 goals he will enter top 5 undisputed and dethrone di stefano if he leads them to final but does not win he will directly challnge cruyff as europes greatest ever player if he wins the trophy then footballs immortals (pele and maradona) will be challenging cr7 for the undisputed goat title and not the other way round so i agree 2018 is very important to ronaldos legacy arguably the last time he can increase his all time standing
messi played poor. and to be honest, i don`t care that he had a bad game, i am more disappointed because of his approach. although messi played pretty good against iceland, he has played both games in this world cup as if they are international friendlies. his approach has been that bad. this is a guy who says that he sees the world cup as more valuable than all the trophies he has for barcelona. he is not even sure if he will play in another world cup after this. and this is what he has to show for it...??? when you watch maradona in the 86 WC, you see a guy who is going to do for his team to win. he will cheat, he will fake, he will get the ball in his own half and take on everybody!!!! he routinly comes back to get the ball and make things happen. he doesn`t walk and wait around when he knows he has the ability to do more. maradona had the mentality that ronaldo shows far more often than messi at the international level. even in WC14 as good as messi may have played, he spent too much time walking around and it was not an all out performance. i think messi`s copa america in 2011 or 2012 was a good indication of a guy who gave his all for argentina in each game he played! even though messi lost in copa america to chile in 2106, i love the way he played. he routinly got the ball and tried to take on players. even if there were 1 or even 0 players to support. he had the belief and i like his mentality in that game. messi should be playing like he is obsessed!! like it`s the last tournament he will ever play again! he should come back to get the ball and make things happen if the team can`t create anything!!! he shouldn`t wait until the 80th minute when his team is already losing 3-0!!! he should approach every game from minute 0 as if it is the last minute he is gonna play. argentina may play poorly but it should have no effect on messi`s determination and obsession to win the game. lebron is in an entirely different conversation. lebron individually had one of the greatest playoff runs in history as he routinely scored 30+ and 40+ points to carry his weak team to the finals! lebron`s individual numbers in the finals are impressive despite his team getting sweeped. portugal has a sub par team, this world cup and in euro 2016. but at least you can`t fault ronaldo to do everything he can to score goals and help his team win. messi is still the better player but i feel there is something about ronaldo that messi doesn`t have. portugal is extremely poor offensively as well. so as far as the attack is concerned, messi and ronaldo are in similar situations for their national teams.
So weak when people do this to justify their bias. "Well, technically, that was kind of a deflection and, technically, t he keeper was off his line, and technically, well, the defender made a mistake." blah blah blah. Dude put the team on his pack, scored a missile free kick on one of the world's best teams, and recorded one of the fastest runs in the world cup so far: Who cares about the hype? Ronaldo never gets hype because the world hates the GOAT. They rather find excuse after excuse to keep overrating Messi. Also, that is just your opinion, which has absolutely no weight and quite literally the worst supporting arguments I've ever seen. Messi has missed 4 of his last 7 spot kicks, has a total of 0 World Cup goals and looked like a shell of a man who can't even shake his counterparts' hands. What a pathetic "captain". Ronaldo never missed crucial penalties for his nation, and then quit on his entire country. Messi is about to quit for the second time. What a guy. Argentina has no excuse. They are stacked with stars almost everywhere, and have a much superior squad than Portugal. And yet, in the last 12 years, aside from World Cup 2014 and 2010, you've seen Portugal making it to the Semi Finals of almost every major tournament. That's the kind of effect Ronaldo has on eveyr team he plays on. He's a leader. When his team is playing poorly or under performing, Ronaldo steps up and captains his team to play better. Messi buries his face in his shirt, sulks, disrespects his opponents and then quits on his country. Except it is isn't. That's a horrible comparison. Messi is, by far, surrounded by much more superior talent that Lebron and all those scrubs in Cleveland. Lebron put up 51 in Game 1 of the finals, Messi misses PKs. Lebron is a physical specimen, quite literally one of the most physically gifted athletes in the world. Messi is a midget who was brought to Spain to get HGH.
You mean the Classicos where the league was the only thing Barca had to play for? Or the same Classicos where Ronaldo was scoring goals in those games as well? The fact is, when the pressure is on, Ronaldo performs. Period. I will acknowledge your point about Argentina losing without Messi and Messi's influence on the team, but they're still under performing and losing with Messi in the squad. He's a piss poor captain that can't inspire his teammates. hahahah, you're trying to say Ronaldo's team is better than Messi's?!?! Aguero, Mascherano, Dybala, Di Maria, etc. Come on man. Awful argument there. Ronaldo can lose and crash out of the World Cup and still cement himself as the most influential player in the tournament.
shamefully enough, no. I havent been around for many of them and i didnt make my homework. I mean, i know things, but i am not confident enough to say anything because i would probably just say some nonsense that i would regret in the future. I am not convinced in that, ill rewatch match, but i dont think that at any point he had any opportunity to do much more than he did so i really insist some finds some! In game like Iceland there were moments in which you think, yeah, he could do better in this one, he had some space... but i cant remember any such moment last game. Plus there were at least three instances in the second half (which i managed to caught by eyes, maybe more) where Messi was wiiiiiiiide open but his teammates didnt see him (one of them is when Dybala shot). I'll crop those images. It was frustrating to spot these. Btw, the fact Messi had one shot (the one blocked by Rakitić) is proof of how little chances he had to do anything. It's not an argument against him! As of attidute thing.. that's sentimental bs imo. One of the things that separates Messi from the rest is his ability to constantly make the right decision in split seconds. Getting overemotional would led to decrease in the right plays and other then making you at peace for thinking he had given anything, there would be no use of such state (you already gave proofs of that, and if i can add the draw vs Peru last summer). It's much better to remain calm and focused, that's scientifically proven (i can provide you with scientific researches) Also there are some tactical ideas behind Messi not being as involved in the match... Messi could easily stat padd passes and accuracy but it would had no use... and yeah Messi making 5 out of 5 dribbles is one of few things why i think he wasnt bad, but just incapable due to team's performance in overal. I'll talk more about all of that after i rewatch the game in peace alone. Look, i know it's frustrating that Messi's talent isn't put in the right use, but it's not down to attitude, i am sure of that.
why are you rambling? It's nothing but a compliment from me... two silly mistakes by Spanish players are the fact and Ronaldo took advantage of that, which is a clinical behavior adding up to great game he had,... but it's rather obvious that the performance wouldnt get to his top 30 ever without free kick. Its undeniable observation, or are you disagreeing?
not at all. You're attempting to downplay Ronaldo by claiming they were silly mistakes by the Spanish. No shit. All goals result form silly mistakes. LOL and AGAIN trying to downplay his performance by saying without the free kick, it would be forgettable. Stop with these awful theoreticals that aren't realistic. "Take away this, and take away that" is just nonsense. Take away Pepe getting fouled, and Costa doesn't score. Take out Portugal's mistake by leaving Nacho open, Nacho doesn't score. Just stop dude. You sounds desperate. Fact is, Ronaldo was creating chances for his team (Goncalo Guedes in the video I posted that you ignored) AND scoring goals. He scored a belter free kick and already did was Messi couldn't: bury the PK. </conversation>