I'm not shocked by the score, but I am shocked by how the game got to this point. Every single Argentine player, including Messi, looks like they want absolutely no part of being on the ball even for one second. They've been panicking with the ball at their feet from literally the first minute. It's odd.
There we go. Former Valencianista Ferran Torres with the goal. Argentina winning on pens would be criminal at this point.
Yeah. I think at this point we just have to say Spain is back. People thought France just had an off day. Now the same thing is happening to Argentina. I think we can say now it was Spain shutting them down. It's funny though because that 2010 team had guys like David Villa, David Silva, Juan Mata, Carlos Marchena (ALL VALENCIA PLAYERS!?!?), Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Busquets, Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Puyol, Pique, Sergio freaking Ramos, Casillas, etc and in comparison this current Spain team is lacking in star power but plays as an ultimate team.
When I was in high school, the basketball team had a bunch of good players, but always lost 2-3 games into the tournament. The year after I graduated, the team went to the state final four. The coach said that this team had an off-court "synch" the previous teams didn't. Good players don't necessarily make a good team. There's a lot more to it. Some of those England teams from 1996 to 2004 or so were absolutely loaded with star power and what did they do?
Apart from our 1930 WC, finishing second in the ‘09 Confederations Cup was arguably the US’s greatest accomplishment. Given FIFA’s love for $$$$, I've never understood why FIFA did away with it. Maybe Bill can shed some light on that.
One goal allowed in eight games. One goal. One. Holy hell. Just absolutely smothering teams the entire tournament. That's how you win a title.
Because American capitalism makes FIFA more money with the CWC than the Confed Cup did. I liked the Confed Cup
Today was a pretty big reminder of why it’s a bad idea to take yellow cards for dissent. Fernandez would have still been on the field if he had shown some restraint. Along those lines, there’s video surfacing on socials of Paredes throwing hands right after the final whistle. He may or may not have been shown a posthumous red.
Argentina acted like a bunch of entitled children all tournament. They received favorable officiating the entire way. They had a substitute run across the field weaving through English players and pumping his fists at them to celebrate the tying goal, and he somehow received no card for it. VAR never intervened with an adverse ruling against them in any of their eight matches. Instigated post-match fights in both the semifinal and final, and then to top it off, they all skipped the mandatory media session after the game today. Sore winners and sorer losers. It was a fitting end.
Do you think the loss will affect Messi’s play in MLS? I’m in two minds about it. There’s a chance he’ll be less motivated because this World Cup was his swan song, but he’s also been very competitive throughout his career.
I don't think we can discount the possibility that he'll want to play through 2030. With time management in Miami, he might be able to pull it off and with the fact that they're scheduling a game or two in Argentina, nobody is likely to discorage him from trying.
With the loss, think theres a chance he plays the Miami game in Columbus during the international break.