Morocco is no reflection of African football seeing as 14 of their squad are from places like France and Holland.
In the context of what's gone before in this tournament, yes. But it was a hard stamping motion that would normally get a yellow.
I wish they showed more replays. But it looked like he angled the foot side on before contact on the only replay I have seen.
It’s the way things are going and will be the norm all over the World and why FIFA will ultimately keep relaxing the rules so that Countries in Africa and others will become more competitive. The old days of just of the usual suspects winning will become much more open I think. Nigeria for example could end up with a squad where a majority are English born, same with Ghana.
Don't see a problem here. They're not a load of single grandfather from the country types, like Charlton's Ireland, or natuarlised after playing there. Those born overseas are almost all to Moroccan parents.
It’s one of the reasons some European countries (Remember many UEFA members benefit from Duals.) have tensions with FIFA but FIFA is now one member one vote and I don’t think the risk of such blatant corruption will allow a return to the old system.
The BBC were saying that this is a shift in the balance of power but I'm not so sure. It's actually how xG helps sheds more light on the game. Morocco have played a very negative style and having been eeking out victories. Given how short international tournaments are it is possible to win a tournament this way whilst having a significant deficit in player quality to other sides, see Greece in 2004. No one said in 2004 that there was a new European power on the scene so I'm not really seeing a shift in the balance of power here either. If Morocco were outplaying teams then maybe but they're not. Further on down the line African nations will come to prominence. They have very young populations and in the case of a country like Nigeria, it's a football mad country of 210m. Egypt has a population of 100m. If countries like these two can improve their infrastructure, which will come through economic development then they'll be a serious force in the game.
Egypt doesn’t have a large Diaspora which might mean it takes longer. Nigeria has a large diaspora so can dip into that while also improving domestic facilities.
🚨 - Pepe: "It's inadmissible that an Argentine referee was in charge today after what happened yesterday, with Messi complaining. After what I saw today, they can give the title to Argentina now. [@relevo] pic.twitter.com/KbiwNnrTda— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐗 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) December 10, 2022 I was surprised to see a ref from Argentina taking charge I have to say but I can’t see that he’s to blame for Portugal going out.
Crazy that a player is talking about the Messi conspiracy though! I have to admit it does feel like Argentina are being guided through. How on earth didn't they get at least one red yesterday?
Wasn’t the VAR officials from Spain? Then again that probably doesn’t help you guys. Was that handball, I can’t even recall seeing a replay to be honest so that might be something.
So Messi turned it on, Croatia ran out of gas, and the addition of Ally McCoist made the commentary bearable.
Felt like one of the worst WC semi-final displays ever from Croatia. Atrocious defending in the first half.
I don't think its a particularly good Argentina side yet they've achieved more than we ever could. It comes down to a winner mentality compared to a loser mentality. Germany had it Italy had it. We will never have it
I think this is too simplistic. Maybe winning in the past breeds belief but there are so many other variables to consider. I still think you need to be fortunate. Argentina completely lost the plot in their last game against the Dutch. You could argue they were very fortunate to get away with that.
Also pretty much every team we discuss as having a ‘winning mentality’ have a very good coach and adaptable game plans. I still don’t think we’ve proved that we are adaptable enough to impending scenarios that arise in tournaments. That is massive in a WC.
Agree yet they found a way through. How many times have Germany etc played poorly yet found a way. We just can't seem to do that. France by their standards played poorly against us yet found a way of winning