No, I agree. They need to take a risk in the final 3rd to get a goal, but they are right to respect Argentina's counter ability so they are looking for the perfect chance.
I guess FIFA just wanted to wait until the final to give Argentina all the cards; two red cards and two cards for people not playing. LOL. Zero shots on target during regulation. I guess relying on Messi to do something magical and FIFA doing something incompetent and/or corrupt eventually catches up to you.
After they got the rust off in the first game Spain just outclassed the competition. If they had another world class forward they probably would be the best national team ever. Certainly the best midfield I’ve ever seen. No team has ever combined keeping possession AND regaining it quickly better than 2026 Spain.
Yeah, to hold Argentina to zero SHOTS for 115 minutes is insane. They could be great for a long time. Rodri is amazing. I wonder if he'll get the Golden Ball.
Congrats to Spain, I was rooting for you. I imagine most soccer fans were, except of course Argentinians and Stu Holden. ( I didn’t really mind Stu fanboy moments) I thought the reffing was pretty consistent with this World Cup, not necessarily favoring Argentina, but I would like to see more obvious fouls called, and more yellows early. I do see the argument that Argentina was favored, and many, many obvious fouls were let go. Clearly the game is not going that way so I will try to enjoy anyway. Why don’t they listen to me?? SOOO glad it was decided in regulation. Williams was having a terrible game, 5 bad plays for every good one, but that assist was a great effort, despite the umpteenth push foul on Argentina that wasn’t called. It kind of helped him get separation. Gotta love that second yellow. Left no doubt, bless him. Spain needs a finisher. Yamal was too far from goal to be that guy. His teammate got young player of the tournament! Sayonara, World Cup. Sorry to see you go.
A couple of clips First Yellow https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1v11pl5/enzo_fernandez_fallon_dfloor_yellow_card_83/ 2nd Yellow https://streamff.com/v/3a0e5bba Mouth to face? https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1v128cq/messi_trying_to_get_cucurella_a_red_card_after_he/ Yamal Challenge https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1v0zt9y/tagliafico_challenge_on_yamal_29/ Argentina keeping it classy https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1v14djn/alternate_angle_of_the_altercation_between/ Spain missed opportunity https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1v12fne/alternate_angle_of_the_foul_that_led_to_spains/ World Cup montage https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1v14ok6/world_cup_ending_montage_bbc/
agreed, tired of his antics and time for him to go but he is trying his best for me to like him again https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1v14bce/romero_completely_ignored_trump/
Blatant appeal to authority, but World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf agrees with me that Paredes should've been sent off 15 minutes after coming on (around 3:20) and I'd take his opinion over Stu Holden. Knives are out, now. These guys don't hold anything back. The odd thing is early yellows would've forced Argentina to play actual football, which they are decent at. They might've had a better chance.
People are savaging Argentina, calling it the worst final of all-time and I don't think Messi will escape the taint of his teammates actions this time around -- he simply can't. He failed to repudiate his teammates racism after the video of the racist France song and he got a pass because, gee, how can we expect Messi to talk or express thoughts or feelings about something? But in this tournament we've seen in 4K he's not somehow above his teammates behavior, he's just as much one of them. Trying to get Cucurella sent off for covering his mouth is disgusting. But don't forget he took a free kick against beloved Cape Verde GK Vozinha before he was finished setting his wall. This should beneath him.
TIL, Argentina are the reason we have yellow and red cards in football. In the 1966 quarter final they behaved so poorly and the referee found the language barrier too difficult the card system was proposed and implemented for the 1970 World Cup.
Turning your back while the team that whupped your butts gets their medals is just about the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.
Agree. And this time the sin was the entire team - can’t say it’s just a few bad apples. Disappointing.
I didn’t stick around for any post game—just watched the game. Argentina was definitely showing sone south-American gamesmanship that Paraguay would have been proud of as the game wore on. To me the ref was slow to rein it in, but in the end he didn’t decide the game. I would have ranked Argentina’s bad behavior as not so bad (they were just desperate), but the turning your back during medals—that lack of class may be a better indicator. I hope I wasn’t influenced by Holden? I definitely thought the “Spain is putting on a great performance but will they be able to breakthrough” narrative was really not embraced at all.