Knockout Stage General Discussion Thread

UEFA lifts the trophy for the 5th time in 6 cups!

No trophy and no class for Argentina.

 

Unai Simon is a beast but how much did he really have to do the whole tourney?

 

Highlight of the tournament - Infantino tries to get Trump out of the way of the trophy celebration and he still won't go. Spectacular!

 

Hey All! Will Argentina beat Spain 5-1 in the team’s opening match in the group stage next World Cup in 4 years?

2030 World Cup:

Spain vs Argentina is their first match in the group stage and Argentina wins 5-1! What do you think?

Any idea where this prediction is coming from? I’m curious if any of you know where I got this idea from?

 

16 groups and you think Spain and Argentina will be in the same one.

 

Congrats to Spain. Well deserved.

That settles the World Cup and the Finalissima.

 

Probably not realistically. But do you know where this came from?

 

Spain’s defensive dominance was one of the stories of this World Cup

 

Did not park the bus, just incapable of getting the ball.
Spain won the midfield battle + clearly quite a few argentine players had no gas left in the tank after all the dramatic knockout games.

 

The Netherlands had beaten Spain by a score of 5-1 in their first group game of the 2014 World Cup. Spain had won the 2010 final against the Netherlands by a 1-0 scoreline after extra time.

Spain's key players were past their best years in 2014. They crashed out of the group stage by losing to the Netherlands and also Chile's golden generation.

 

Seems that Paredes was red-carded after the final whistle.

If so, that makes 7 players to have been sent off in World Cup finals, 4 of them Argentinian:

Monson & de Zotti in 1990,
Desailly in 1998
Zidane in 2006
Heitinga in 2010
Paredes and Fernandez in 2026
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If Paredes wasn't sent off, makes that 6 players, 3 of them Argentinian. A bit of an indictment for their way of playing football

.​

 

The saying that attack wins you games, and defense wins you tournaments still holds haha

 

I actually think it’s midfield that wins you tournaments!!!

 

Yup 100%!!!! Although I’m not sure if I’d agree that all of Spain’s key players were past their prime. Casillas, Ramos, Pique, Busquets, Iniesta, and Alonso were still all world class. 3 of them won the champions league the season afterwards. Ramos, Alonso, and Casillas won the UCL right before that.

The only key players that were really passed their prime were Xavi, David Villa, and maybe Torres, although he wasn’t as key in 2010. Puyol retired. But honestly many of those players were still world class and top notch. I think it’s more about the tactics having been figured out, and they didn’t know how to adjust or tactically adapt.

Also in 2010 World Cup and this finale, both finals Netherlands and Argentina received a red card. Spain won both 1-0 in extra time. Spain dropped points in their opening match both times in 2010 vs Switzerland and 2026 vs Cape Verde. Spain was in Group H in both world cups. And the opening match in both world cups was Mexico vs South Africa.

Also Spain beat the team that looked most dominant prior to the semifinals in both world cups: Germany in 2010 and France in 2026.

So MAYBE Argentina beats Spain 5-1 in 4 years!

 

It was predictable but still cringey. I knew he would try something like that. Almost as bad as the Qataris when they tried to piggyback off Messi's glory in 2022.

The symbolism was also enjoyable, Trump having to hand over the ultimate prize to Spain of all teams, which (the country) he criticized recently for not abiding by his wishes.

 

Argentina did not have a single attempt until they got scored on/until extra time. Wild.

As soon as the red card came I knew Spain would score. And as soon as Spain scored I knew Argentina would be dangerous.

Spain unequivocally deserved it, but Spain's problem was that they was not clinical enough, did not look hungry enough, and once they scored instead of using their man advantage and possession play, they defended deep too much, giving Argentina a chance. I am surprised how they allowed Messi so much space on the right on more than one occasion, that was just asking for trouble. Even with 10 men Argentina came close to scoring twice. I don't get why they defended the entire game. They should have come out a bit in the 2nd half at least.

Overall, I am glad Spain won. Football won. Old school football. Where you make the ball work for you instead of using your body to work for the ball. Not this sports science physical focus stuff. Not saying Argentina is like this I am saying in general.

Anyhow, see y'all in 4 years in 2030, it is crazy to think it will be the 4rth decade I would be a bigsoccer member. It was a good world cup, but I still felt the extra week made it drag on a bit. I also hope Infantino does not get it to 64.

 

You're right. It was more a case of opposing teams finally figuring out how to beat Spain. Before the 2014 World Cup, they had done the Euro-World Cup-Euro treble. The spine of that Spain team was FC Barcelona. In the spring of 2013, I remember Bayern Munich knocking out Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals by an aggregate scoreline of 7-0. They showed the entire world how to beat them. And then a few months later in the Confederations Cup final, host nation Brazil put on a clinic and beat Spain 3-0. Tiki-taka had met its match.

The lesson here is that high-powered offense means nothing without midfield control. If Zidane can get France's midfield to play at the levels of the 2018 and 1998 winning teams while still being dangerous in attack, then they can win the biggest trophies again.

 

He took on that sweeper role from Manuel Neuer, made it near impossible for teams to attack him with a breakaway.

 

He was instrumental and one of their most important players. Him playing sweeper allowed Spain to play a high line and pin opponents into their half. Today we saw Messi and Alvarez in their own half which made it impossible to advance the ball meaningfully.

Without Simon, Spain don’t dominate this tournament. Having a GK that could break up dangerous plays and play with his feet was a part of Spain’s grand strategy.