Knockout Stage General Discussion Thread

Just a matter of time. England could not play deep in their half for 30 minutes plus and expect to win this thing in regulation.

 

Off the post!





2-1 Argentina.



Martinez.

 

Argentine REMONTADA !!!

 

England chokes again. Almost as bad as Egypt. They completely lost the plot. Bizarre.

This means Spain has a bigger chance of winning the whole thing now.

 

Messi is so clutch !!!

 

And a moment for the Defending Champions to act like Champions.

 

Tuchel has made a bad management.

 

England going home without a trophy again.

The Defending W.C. Champs (and back-to-back South American Champs) will play the Euro Champs on Sunday for the most coveted Cup in all of sports.

Well deserved Argentina.
Valid Championship Final match.

I still think Spain is the favorite but with the home crowd and the pure desire and intangibles it could be anybody's game.

 

Wow.

You just cannot kill Argentina.

When they did this to Egypt, I (and surely others) said that it was "just Egypt" but no it wasn't "just Egypt", it was JUST ARGENTINA.

 

If there is one team in this tournament you don't defend deep against, it is Argentina.

I don't get why some teams defend so deep instead of clogging up the midfield.

Some teams are able to defend well deeply, but it depends also on opponent and the dynamics of their play. Today this was a mistake.

 

It happens in club futbol all the time and is very effective.
But at this level and this type of futbol you just cannot do it. Especially against this caliber of team.

 

Defending deep seems to have backfired a lot in this tournament. This defeat is on Tuchel. He should have gone for the killer second goal. It feels as if this World Cup was engineered for Messi to win it a second time.

 

Engineered?

 

hmm.. I've been thinking about that for the last 24 hours - who would Spain be bigger favorites against?

I'm not so sure the answer is Argentina. Spain lacks experience in these types of matches. If they play England, it would have just been 2 teams with an equal lack of experience. England has the fighting spirit that I think France lacks, but Argentina has both the experience and fighting spirit.

 

If Spain goes up 1-0 against Argentina you better believe they would keep possession and try to get another one. That is where they have the advantage over England.

 

Right. Spain are definitely favorites. Just saying I don't think its an easier match for them than Spain v England.

 

It's when Cape Verde, Egypt and Switzerland were parking the bus that Argentina scored nearly all their goals.

This is their preferential style because they are old and slow, but they know how to shoot and take advantage of small spaces!!

How could Tuchel think that it was a good idea to park the bus for 40 minutes against such a team? They only had to control the ball and pass it along their back line to make run the older Argentines. That was it.

 

Cause he is a German manager who has only really managed club teams in club tournaments in his life.
This is a totally different beast and it just goes to show you it is almost like a different sport.

 

Tuchel can still be the best English manager at World Cups since 1966
Third place isn’t bad after all.
I doubt that they would refuse third place before the World Cup?
Nice number of good teams are behind England

 

They hired him to win games like this though.
Their previous manager is probably saying he could have done about the same this evening.

 

England gave this one to Argentina. It could have been 5-1 if not for Argentina hitting the post and Pickford pulling off some great saves. You can’t defend deep against Argentina, they showed it vs. Egypt and Cape Verde.

Tuchel, like many club managers, fail to realize that defending deep in international football is a different animal because your backline has 4 weeks together, not 4 seasons’ worth of chemistry. Chelsea might have kept the lead tonight, but no national team can suffer for 35 minutes + extra time against a team that has Messi (even though I think, like for most of the tournament, he was dreadful for the first 60 minutes of the game when Argentina were playing as “equals”)