One trophy is all he needed to cement himself as the greatest of all time. The only player in history to start in 3 World Cup finals. Argentina has been a good team but he hard carried them for a long time, imagine him on this Spanish squad or their teams in the past, they prolly would've never lost.
If Italy would have reformed and trained technique, dribbling and passing in the critical 8-14 bracket, they would have been neck and neck with Spain.
Italy, Germany and Brazil need to get good again to save this sport, otherwise Spain, France and England will be at every final moving forward.
Then why have our youth teams been so successful? We just beat the Spanish U17 squad that everyone said were favorites. I dont buy this at all. Our youths have been crushing it, we fail at our national side. When you pick the Di Lorenzos or Politanos over the Palestras or Kayodes, that should tell you where our mind is at.
There was only one incident, but what do you guys make of the Red Card for covering the mouth to discourage shit-talking? Should that stay or unnecessary?
Have to say I am glad it's over, boys. Let's hope we are truly BUILDING for this moment to be a competitive side in WC 2030 -- that includes using Euro 2028 as a proper stepping stone. Onwards and upwards.
I know Lamine Yamal is the hype, Rodri is everyone's favorite, Oyarzabal is 'ol reliable... But to me Spain's best player of the tournament was Cubarsi. He's the golden ball to me. Look, I don't watch much Spanish club football, but in this tournament I was mezmarized by him. I'll stick my neck out and I'm giving him the golden ball if it needed to go to a Spaniard.
Absolutely they have been successful. And the success and talent is growing which is great. Thank God for Visicidi and his vision with the attack 433 formations. There is a foundation there but we are talking the next level basically. The success doesn’t mean that we aren’t lacking still, you can see the gaps in the U teams. The grassroots development initiatives for youth need to continue and be strengthened. The training in that young bracket needs to be changed. The FIGC report that Gravina put out stated this too. Viscidi was given the Under 14 program to target this very thing, to focus on technique over tactics. Il ruolo di direttore tecnico è stato affidato a Maurizio Viscidi: "Vogliamo porre l'accento sull'aspetto tecnico perché stiamo notando che in Italia si sta forse un po' esagerando con la tattica e con la ricerca del risultato". This initiative also targets the coaching side and non competitive play, Simone Perrotta and Gianluca Zambrotta were brought on board for this. https://www.figc.it/it/federazione/...-stato-di-salute-del-calcio-italiano-odktqxdv https://www.figc.it/it/nazionali/ne...amento-basato-su-tecnica-e-dribbling-qrmt01vd
@Leo Bartoni It doesn't matter but using AI, Italy did play better in 2024 than Argentina in this one. Granted Red Card to Fernandez could have skewed the numbers.
Rodri's Completed Football - ACL. - Ballon D'Or Winner. - World Cup Champion. - Golden Ball Winner (WC Tournament MVP) - European Championships Winner. - Champions League Winner -- scored the only goal in the match. - UEFA Nations League. - Numerous League titles, Domestic Cups, League Cup. - Numerous Team of selections.
I think at this point that Italy can take a page out of the German efficacy model in consistency whilst also still retaining their own unique cultural lens on the sport . Somewhere in the middle would be nice. A bit of Teutonic assembly line pragmatism with a bit of Teutonic Technological Philosophy perhaps combined with the Romantic Tactical Strategy and Romantic Technical Flair. Winning Formula.
Golden Ball I love seeing defensive players get their awards because they are usually given to offensive players, but if I'm being a 100% honest, I would have given the Golden Ball award to Messi here in 2026. 2nd in Goals but would have been first if not for Mbappe's charity match yesterday versus England and 2nd in Assists. I know Rodri is amazing but no goals or Assists, is this worthy to win Golden Ball? At the same time, I don't think Messi deserved it in 2014. I would have given it to Thomas Mueller. I know some people say James Rodriquez or Manuel Neuer. To me a little difficult to give it to James because his team went to the QF. To me it was Mueller who had the most Goal Contributions at 8 and ultimately hid team won. 2006: OK.. Zidane got it mainly because of great performances versus Spain and mainly Brazil but a case can be made for Pirlo (who won the Bronze Ball). For Zidane 3G, 1A. Pirlo played further back on the pitch and got 1G, 3A but won more MOTM Awards and despite and didn't get himself sent off.
I didn't go through that depth but yeah, neither of us got a shot on net and they controlled the ball for most of the play. I'll give you the edge for scoring their goal for them though, haha. I think our two CB's getting injured is worth a mention, but that's cancelled by Enzo being a dumb ass and getting red'd after receiving a weak first yellow. That doesn't matter because by that time he had to know that those calls were going to be made. Maybe this will end the Argenfifa cries, mostly from the English and Ronaldo fans, but I doubt it.
In 8 part time appearances, Ferran Torres scored 1 goal and 1 assist. He was named the Man of the Match (Final MVP) for scoring the game winner in the World Cup Final. He had only come on in the 61st minute.
Rodri also got player of the tournament in the Euro 2024 even though he got injured during the finals. He truly is a special player. I remember when he was healthy he had such a long unbeaten streak with Man City too, and when he wasn't available, they were beatable. I'm good with him getting it, no one could score on them as he consistently broke everything up while being dominant in ball possession.
"Cucurella explained to Messi that Cubarsí had sustained an injury to the corner of his mouth; Messi, however, seized the opportunity to report him to the referee for covering his mouth, demanding a red card. This serves as proof that even the "King of Football" is capable of underhanded tactics—though, in this instance, the move fell short of the dignity befitting his stature." 库库雷利亚向梅西解释，库巴西的嘴角受伤，结果梅西借机向裁判举报他捂嘴，要求向他出示红牌。证明球王也有骚操作的，只是这个操作有失球王风度。 pic.twitter.com/qcQB8x3smV— superluigi.eth (@superluigi0309) July 20, 2026
I wrote it as a joke a year ago but they can get the Italian tennis federation to sort out their issues. Afterall it's worked in Italian tennis. Bullshit aside, absolutely no excuse to have thrown away 16 years and 5 tournaments (two 1st Round exits is equally disgusting as a non-qualification as far as I'm concerned). This is on the sports minister (currently Abodi). You have to force the clubs to change through legislation. Italy do have a stable government there is no excuse why he hasn't done it. And more, this piece of shit Abodi still carries on about football not being affordable for the working class. He literally said the same thing 2 years ago. IT'S HIS JOB TO CHANGE IT!!!!! Italy are their own worst enemies.
He is like Xavi and Busquets in one player. Spains two generations winning everything is wild they only had a drop off as the next generation was being cooked up.
Yeah, it has to work perfect or they look like shit to go along with boring. For example, destroy Italy in the 2012 Final but then less than 2 years later in their opening match against the Netherlands at the World Cup they'll eat 5 Oranje goals.
Also @TorontoCalabria Your comment about skill from last week.... would you say England played better in the 2024 Final than Argentina did in the 2026 Final?