not exactly a convincing win by argentina, although i do think the 2-1 scoreline still slightly flattered australia. dutch vs. argentina will be a spicy quarterfinal. could go either way.
Higuain broke Maradona's Serie A record that felt eternal. Let's not pretend like Messi didn't have a Copa America on his foot and blew it himself.
Portugal 2004, Czech Rep. with Nedved, Rosicky, Koller around the same time, we could name check Dutch teams till next week.. Either way winning it is a snowflakes chance. You can do your best but still come short.
That Czech team of 2004 played so good. Think they could have won it had it not been for Nedved's injury. They game vs Netherlands in the group stage was lit.
What tournament was the Netherlands - Portugal match where they absolutely mauled each other? Deko and Gio van Bronkhorst i believe chatting it up after both receiving a red(?). It's been a while but what a fight. Edit, it's 2006: The Battle of Nuremberg (Portuguese: Batalha de Nuremberga, Dutch: Slag van Neurenberg; also known as the Massacre of Nuremberg) is the nickname of a football match played in the round of 16 of the 2006 FIFA World Cup between Portugal and the Netherlands at the Frankenstadion in Nuremberg on 25 June 2006.[3] Russian referee Valentin Ivanov issued a FIFA World Cup record four red cards and 16 yellow cards, setting a new record for cards shown at any FIFA-administered international tournament. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nuremberg_(2006_FIFA_World_Cup) Need a rewatch.
This whole Messi hasn’t won a WC because he didn’t have Batistuta with him is such a boring and lame argument. Messi has just scored his first ever WC knockout goal at the age of 35 after 5 WC’s. That’s a mental fragility of no comparison for someone that talented to deliver so little at the biggest stage. Higuain took Argentina to the final in 2014. His goals did that.
The revisionism to make Messi look better on the international stage is mind boggling. Messi missed a 1v1 in the World Cup final. Messi missed a decisive penalty in the Copa America final to lose against Chile or something.
Lack of accountability is the main thing most star players have right now. Same with Ronaldo ("but his coach!his team mates! what about this!"), Hazard ("he was injured, permanent damage!") and the list goes on. Baggio botched the penalty and was thereafter a cursed man. Now it's all excuses and thousands of "what about" phrases.
Nah it’s not quite the same when it comes to Messi. It’s bizarre, the Guardian just called him a pavement artist, whatever that is, he was playing against Australia. Can you imagine the dick ridding if Argentina wins. In a way I don’t ever care, I want to see an entertaining WC, but at the same time I hope they crash and burn against Holland.
I honestly don't care either way, it's a national team tournament. Messi is one of the best players ever, Ronaldo mainly has himself to blame for not getting the recognition he deserves, his choices and communication in the past few years have been legacy damaging. While Ronaldo was still in Madrid, it was Messi vs Ronaldo, when Ronaldo started sabotaging his own career, Messi moved away.
I don't think mental strength has much to do with it. Ronaldo, who's the epitome of mental strength (and a great goal scorer) has exactly 0 WC KO goals right now. Granted Ronaldo has played a few less KO round games (I think it's 5 not counting 3rd place match against Messi's 8 now), but even if we take group stage goals as a measure, he has 5 non-PK goals in I think 15 games which is well below his standard rate. There is a bit more to these guys not scoring in the WC. Not using Ronaldo as whataboutism ... just as an example to show it's not all about mental strength. There are other factors.
You don’t care... but in a discussion purely about messi you keep injecting Cristiano to shit on. I agree with everyone else. This messi washing is nauseating.
No, they looked just above average. There was a time when Argentina would have absolutely demolished Australia 4-0. Against Holland, their weakness will show through even more than against Saudi Arabia and Australia. Not that Holland look deadly, but maybe they are saving themselves for the truly BIG games to come. And France will put on a display Poland tomorrow, I'm sure. I knw, that's shocking, isn't it? Hard to imagine all the great attacking midfielders and strikers needing 23 matches to do that. Uwe Seller of Germany scored 9 in 21 matches in the 1958-62-66-1970 World Cups. Sándor Kocsis' goalscoring for Hungary was phenomenal... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_goals_scored_by_Sándor_Kocsis The great Teófilo Cubillas of Peru, who played as an attacking central midfielder scored 10 goals over two World Cups (1970, 1978). Two of those were penalties against Iran, but what a player he was. I think he's the seventh-best goal-scoring midfielder of all time, ahead of Zico, Platini, Zidine, etc. Hopefully, Messi turns on the magic against Holland. That's going to be a great game.
What a shame Mbappe is wasting his physical prime in that irrelevant league. He’s absolutely devastating when he increases his stride and just burns defenders. He’s been sensational this WC so far.
Enough time has passed, the wounds have healed. Florentino, please go again for Mbappe. The world’s best player needs to play for Real Madrid