Knockout Stage General Discussion Thread

"Possession without penetration is just masturbation."
Ray Hudson (among others. Many others)

 

Erm, this World Cup???

 

Sagat's master. You must defeat schumacher to stand a chance

 

I think it's going to take me quite a while to get this image out of my mind.

A very long time. Good thing that, at 62, I probably don't need more than 20-25 years to do it

 

For the conspiracy-minded, if the refs have been leaned on to give the World Cup to Argentina/ Messi, Cucurella's foul on Simeone just before the extra time break didn't even get a free kick.

Rightly so IMO. Simeone knew the contact was coming and waited for it but if the refs have been "steered" in a particular direction, that'd have been a yellow

 

But it was.

Just

Only barely

 

Some people are saying "No more FIFA World Cup in the USA" on Twitter.

 

Well done SPAIN !!!

 

Spain deserved winners. Congratulations.

 

Congratulations Spain! World Cup coming back to Europe on american soil again Deserved win, they controlled all of their matches.

 

Spain deservedly won. Lol at the Argentina forum, even a mod over there said they played against the ref

 

So Argentina came to a world cup final to just park the bus ?

Probably the worst ever performance from a World Cup finalist.

 

Basically. But Spain were vastly superior, nobody thought this Argentina would reach the final so props to them still, even though I loathe some of their players. Gotta give credit where it’s due.

 

How about "no FIFA World Cup, ever!"

Let UEFA (who are no great shakes, admittedly), CONMBOL and NAFU (USA, Canada & Mexico) crack the whip and set up an "Executive Committee of the Confederations" to grab Infantino by the balls - assuming he has any - with the power to give or withhold any of the permissions he's arrogated to himself in this tournament. With the big boys sitting at that big table.

To be withheld, naturally.

 

There's no need to bring up the 1990 and 1994 World Cups because France were not there. I already mentioned 2002.

In 2006, Zidane got a red card for a headbutt on Materazzi and then France lost the penalty shoot out to Italy.

2010 wasn't down to ethnic tensions. Domenech clashed with several players and then the whole team revolted in a show of solidarity. Other nations have imploded at World Cups too. Some stories see the light of day -- others don't.

You seem to have some sort of anti-France sentiment.

 

At least they tried to played football.

 

Which just goes to show that the Spanish Empire was built on blood, sweat, tears and tedium.

Especially tedium