Match #8 - Argentina v. Saudi Arabia

Does anyone else find it weird Garnacho was never called up??
Maybe not as a starter, but he would be perfect to come off the bench in the 60' minute

 

He's got like only 8 professional games but yes, a few of us were asking for him in the ARG subforum.

 

Is Dybala hurt?

 

No.

 

Why wasn't he used?

 

I don't know but I think he wouldn't have changed much, the team's problem was in midfield.

 

I think it was second half nerves after the mental frustration of having three goals called back. Romero looked very timid on both goals, and it looked like there was no game plan at that point. On that note, being on the other side of the bracket if they finish second, even while there's still a lot to be determined, isn't such a bad thing.

 

Congrats to Saudi Arabia. Great game.

Question - Will Saudi Arabia play a high line again against both Poland and Mexcio? What are the local pundits' thoughts and do you disagree?

 

I think many felt the same about England today.

 

I am looking for the Arg Saudi match day scarf, if anyone has one available for sale please let me know.

 

It is funny to look back at the comments from this match. Of course, I can’t deny myself that I wasn’t worried after the result.

But people forget that we went into this tournament with an injured Lo Celso and Nicolas Gonzalez, plus guys like De Paul, Paredes, Lautaro and Montiel were out of form for club.

If we are able to win in this situation, then I can’t wait to see what happens at the next Copa if all those players are back at their best!

 

There are many rumors that says ''Messi ghosted in that Saudi Arabia game'' so lets debunk this argument.

First of all i want to prove he didnt play bad with stats.

Highest ratings: (From FotMob)
Mohammed Al Owais (Saudi Arabia Goalkeeper) - 8.2 rating
Leo Messi (Argentina) - 8.0
Yasir Al Shahrani (Saudi Arabia) - 7.9
Firas Al-Buraikan (Saudi Arabia) - 7.7
Saleh El Shehri (Saudi Arabia) - 7.6
Mohammed Kano (Saudi Arabia) - 7.5
Salem Al-Dawsari (Saudi Arabia) - 7.4

The top 7 highest rated players are all from Saudi Arabia except Messi. That proves he performed over his team and his team showed an awful performance there. So we could say that he performed well even with his teams bad play.

I want to prove why Messi was the most effeicent player on that game,
Most xG+xA:
1 - Messi: 1.27 xG+xA
2 - Tagliafico: 0.73 xG + xA

So we proved there he joined his teams attacking situations mostly in the game.

His finishing performance:
Some people say he missed opportunities and underperformed his xG but if we look at his xGOT, its 1.48 and we compare it to his xG 1.48 is higher than 1.04 and he showed 142/100 xGOT performance in that game, for who doesn't know:

xGOT: Given that expected goals on target (xGOT) measures the probability of shots on target resulting in goals, the only factor preventing them being scored is the goalkeeper

So we proved his finishing perforance wasnt bad that game. Also he didnt miss any big chances.

His playmaking performance:
I will prove why he had the best playmaking performance that match:

Most succesful take ons/dribbles: Messi and Kano (2)
Most xA: Messi and Di Maria (0.23 xA)
Most chances created: Messi (3)
Also he had the 2nd most passes into final third(11) after De Paul and 2nd most long balls (2) after de Paul.

So these stats literally proves Messi had the best playmaking performance of the game.

So i think i proved why he had the best performance in the game. Some fans said ''Where is Messi'' and stupid things etc. but he literally had the best performance in the game.

In addition i want to show you a big mistake by the referee:

The ref called this as an offside and made one of the biggest mistakes in World Cup history. Lautaro wasn't offside due to a Saudi player's foot but the V.A.R. referees made the offside line wrong and ruined the game for Argentina. If referee would have give the goal, Argentina would have been lead 2-0 and probably would have won the game without any forcing. For those who says this World Cup was rigged, this decision proves why they didn't want Argentina to win.

 

Appreciate your post.

I am one of those people that thinks most of the time, its just the way sh$t worked out. There is no conspiracy. It's baseless to think that these games are "fixed" - any rational person should pause and realize that the risk involved with FIFA fixing games is sooooo much greater than any kind of benefit, that it should be considered insane to make the argument that the games were fixed. It boggles the mind that people think that way.

But what is true, is that there is human error because humans are making the decisions. And that's part of the game.

Also, when your team wins, what happens next is a bunch of haters/troll/life long losers run to the their computers to try to discredit the triumph. . . I am thinking one particular fanbase whose nation has never won crap but they act as if they belong on the conversation, they are the biggest haters/troll/life long losers