Qatar Nights - The Winter World Cup Thread

Discussion in 'Arsenal' started by ArsenalJake, Oct 23, 2022.

  1. GunnerJacket

    GunnerJacket Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 18, 2003
    Gainesville, GA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Mbappe with a helluva performance. Martinez with some amazing saves.

    Both second goals were classics, and world class.

    I was practically shaking from the sense of pressure these teams were facing. Kudos to the players for their poise throughout.

    Next person trying to tell me Maradona is better than Messi should be trampled by lemmings.
     
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  2. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #802 NorthBank, Dec 18, 2022
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2022
    After watching a tearful interview, a shout out to Emi Martinez. He was absolutely vital to this championship. On balance I liked him when he was with us, and even if he's been a prick since he left (actually he's just a bit of a prick in general) he deserves big time kudos. He deserves to be where he is. Deserves credit for this result.

    Edit: Maybe I can take that back? After watching Emi not just be a prick but turn his golden glove into a virtual one... right after he received that award. Oy. Good role modeling there son..
     
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  3. ArsenalJake

    ArsenalJake Member+

    Feb 11, 2013
    Charlotte
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Can we all agree that only the MTV popcorn statue is a worse award design than the world cup trophy?
     
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  4. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think that was 1970's ARG great Ricky Villa who carried out the trophy, right? But who was he with?
     
  5. CarlosKaiser

    CarlosKaiser Member+

    Arsenal
    United States
    Jul 30, 2018
    Kansas City
    The awesomeness of the moonman balances things out for MTV.

    At a minimum, the WC trophy needs to be way bigger taking two hands to lift.
     
  6. ArsenalJake

    ArsenalJake Member+

    Feb 11, 2013
    Charlotte
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Now that the World Cup is over and the quest for the Premier League title can resume, I'm of the opinion that William Saliba is important enough to Arsenal's campaign that he should absolutely be in the starting 11 vs. West Ham on Boxing Day.

    If anything, he might be too rusty to slide right in and contribute, but I refuse to believe he requires time to "recover" after France's World Cup campaign. He played in one game, nearly 3 weeks ago. Grab 2 days at the beach, clear your head and get back to winning.
     
  7. DaPrince84

    DaPrince84 Member+

    Aug 22, 2001
    MD
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Best World Cup I’ve seen and the best final in any sport I’ve seen. Amazing match. I am happy that the stars were proper stars.
     
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  8. Silva 5

    Silva 5 Member+

    Mar 10, 2006
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Recency bias warning, but was that the greatest football match I've ever seen? Jesus Christ.

    Congrats to Messi on the ultimate crowning achievement.
     
  9. Super Llama

    Super Llama Member+

    May 21, 2006
    Seattle
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Lighten up you wet blanket
     
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  10. DaPrince84

    DaPrince84 Member+

    Aug 22, 2001
    MD
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    weirdo take, lol
     
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  11. Silva 5

    Silva 5 Member+

    Mar 10, 2006
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wondering if the world cup should permanently be moved to this time of the year. Players are in mid season form. Weather is far more friendly for exciting, high intensity football. Players get a full summer break. And it's only every 4 years.
     
  12. ArsenalJake

    ArsenalJake Member+

    Feb 11, 2013
    Charlotte
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Vancouver, Toronto, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Seattle are among the cities set to host the 2026 World Cup. I don't think anyone wants to play soccer in those cities in December.
     
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  13. Tonerl

    Tonerl Member+

    Arsenal
    May 10, 2006
    Cincinnati, OH
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    A knee is fine. Backpass rule only applies to feet.
     
  14. DaPrince84

    DaPrince84 Member+

    Aug 22, 2001
    MD
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    I think its a good idea, however, I think the lack of air travel and movement had a major impact on this tournament too.

    Not having to fly a few hours to reach a different destination probably boosted the play. You can[t guarantee that again.

    And though the matches were great, I do kind of miss the summer fun with a tournament.
     
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  15. The Jitty Slitter

    The Jitty Slitter Moderator
    Staff Member

    Bayern München
    Germany
    Jul 23, 2004
    Fascist Hellscape
    Club:
    FC Sankt Pauli
    Nat'l Team:
    Belgium
    Definitely the best final since '86 IMO, but the tournament itself was pretty trashy. Not 02 bad but not great.

    94 or perhaps 98 were the last decent tournaments, though both had poor finals
     
  16. CarlosKaiser

    CarlosKaiser Member+

    Arsenal
    United States
    Jul 30, 2018
    Kansas City
    Friday here in Kansas City the high temp is 2 deg F. June has a good chance to be in the 90's sneaking up to 100+ by July, but that's still better than a frozen pitch.

    Club football has gotten so structured and the best sides are well coached and drilled, defenses are organized and attacks are fluid. You get to international play and all that is out the window. That just leads to more chaos, no one can hold a 2-0 lead because they can't hold a line. Attacking teams can be incredibly wasteful. But you still have elite players like Messi and Mbappe and it makes for a more entertaining product. Lack of prep for the tournament in the winter probably added to that chaos.
     
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  17. The Jitty Slitter

    The Jitty Slitter Moderator
    Staff Member

    Bayern München
    Germany
    Jul 23, 2004
    Fascist Hellscape
    Club:
    FC Sankt Pauli
    Nat'l Team:
    Belgium
    Argentina played an amazing 70 mins and Messi had an astonishing tournament IMO.

    Not just good for his age, and allowing for the weaker standard of international football, but as good as I have seen him play in years

    In terms of where I rank it, my downvote is mostly that due to failures of some of the big sides, Argentina didn't have to play anyone good before the final. Had they beaten Brazil on the way, I think it would feel a more complete performance, but as it was they scraped by a very poor holland and a comparatively weak croatia.

    Like 02 there was lots of entertainment, but very poor showings from the supposed heavyweights
     
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  18. The Jitty Slitter

    The Jitty Slitter Moderator
    Staff Member

    Bayern München
    Germany
    Jul 23, 2004
    Fascist Hellscape
    Club:
    FC Sankt Pauli
    Nat'l Team:
    Belgium
    I supposed selling Emi at the time because he was one of the few players Arse could get any money for but it turned out to be so stupid keeping Leno instead of him
     
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  19. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #819 NorthBank, Dec 19, 2022
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2022
    I thought the QF stage matches in Qatar were really great (then blah semis and amazing final). Is there a WC that you can recall that had better QF's?

    Edit: I now see from another of your posts, that you tend to put a high premium on "big teams" reaching it to the last rounds, rather than them getting upset early. Which might explain why you think '22 was "trashy". I might have the opposite view. For sheer entertainment and excitement, I think the minnows going (pretty) deep improves the whole "product", as you might say.
     
  20. NorthBank

    NorthBank Member+

    Arsenal; NYRB
    United States
    Mar 29, 2006
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm not sure that his "skill contribution" was better than when he was younger (honestly my memory isn't that good for specific remembrances of past WC's) but one thing that stood out to me was how durable he has been, both in this cup and his career in general. In Qatar many of his teammates or rivals were subbed off before 90, due to fitness. But Leo went the distance, several times 120+. Sure he walks a fair bit, but he also does instant sprints a lot, and he's 35YO. That impresses me.
     
  21. The Jitty Slitter

    The Jitty Slitter Moderator
    Staff Member

    Bayern München
    Germany
    Jul 23, 2004
    Fascist Hellscape
    Club:
    FC Sankt Pauli
    Nat'l Team:
    Belgium
    I think there just are not many strong quality sides compared to the Ye Olden days

    Go back to '82 and check out the mind boggling great sides - even a minnow like Scotland had a star studded line up.

    In europe teams like Holland and Italy are a joke compared to what they were. There used to be the USSR plus strong eastern bloc sides.

    Brazil is a joke compared to their last strong side in 02
     
  22. DaPrince84

    DaPrince84 Member+

    Aug 22, 2001
    MD
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    You just want a big nations World Cup.

    The standard of play in this tournament exceeded any I have seen (starting in 1994, tbf).

    And I have a feeling it was better than any before because smaller nations genuinely played like shit until 2014. They didn’t try to attack and played scared. Outside of Qatar, the quality of this tournament was very high. I don’t need a strong Italy or Germany to make this tournament great.

    It’s also why, in a round about way, 48 teams will be great because more teams will have more quality in in 20 years than 20 years ago. It’s good for the quality of the game.
     
  23. The Jitty Slitter

    The Jitty Slitter Moderator
    Staff Member

    Bayern München
    Germany
    Jul 23, 2004
    Fascist Hellscape
    Club:
    FC Sankt Pauli
    Nat'l Team:
    Belgium
    Format wouldn't matter - the traditional big nations are poor because their leagues are comparative rubbish

    I agree the other nations are much better - basically knowledge is better distributed, and smaller countries have some pro players which they never used to have
     
  24. maskito

    maskito Member+

    Jan 14, 2006
    Minneapolis
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    All this comparing to previous WCs has me waxing nostalgic on a couple similar thoughts. WC 90 was the best for me - some real bangers for matches throughout that one. '94 was OK, but nowhere as deep and competitive, imo.

    Also,
    - I accept the argument that Messi is the greatest footballer in the modern era (last 50 years), but I still have a hard time believing he is better than Pele. It's obviously difficult to compare eras, but Pele was way ahead of his time and his per-game stats are better than Messi's. If you could somehow put peak Pele on any of those peak Barca teams, I'm reasonably certain his numbers would be even crazier.
    - ESPN is making the argument Messi is the greatest *athlete* ever. Over MJ, Lebron, Brady, etc. That's just dumb. This World Cup proves Lionel Messi is the best male athlete (espn.com)
     
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  25. DaPrince84

    DaPrince84 Member+

    Aug 22, 2001
    MD
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Messi’s numbers are better than his peers too and ahead of his time—man scored 91 goals in a calendar year and not counting exhibition matches. And you have to accept that Messi is playing against much better players than Pele did.
     
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