Still alive, I see, Stalin… I thought you’d only have a cameo in Evil Dead Rise. Evil Dead Rise (2023) - IMDb
Leaving aside further ruminations about an XI/squad of the tournament (especially so as not to reveal too much ahead of any survey by @Titanlux ), I thought making a top goals collection attempt could be good (in theory if Vinicius had scored with that attempt after running from half-way and Spain had netted after a couple of their best moves then the ones below could be joined by those for a pretty impressive top 10 I'd think) 7th (Mbappe vs Sweden) 6th (Alvarez vs Switzerland) 5th (Lo Celso vs Jordan) Giovani Lo Celso scores his first World Cup goal for Argentina ⚽️ #FIFAWorldCupOnYT - YouTube 4th (Lopes Cabral vs Argentina) 3rd (Messi vs Cape Verde) Messi scores his 20th World Cup goal against Cabo Verde. #FIFAWorldCupOnYT 2nd (Amad Diallo vs Norway) Amad Diallo's Goal Vs Norway #Norway #TheChampionShows #football #IvoryCoast #WorldCup2026 1st (Nusa vs Ivory Coast)
I understand that the newspaper *Clarín* is publishing a daily World Cup supplement. That supplement includes ratings for all the matches. Could any Argentine fellow member who has access to them post photos of them here? Many thanks. Tengo entendido que el diario Clarín, está sacando un suplemento diario del Mundial. En ese suplemento vienen los ratings de todos los partidos. Algún compañero argentino que tenga acceso a ellos, podría poner las fotografías por aquí? Muchas gracias.
ENGLAND vs ARGENTINA 1-2*** Pickford 6, James 6, SPENCE 8*, Stones 6, Guehi 7, Rice 6, Anderson 7, Rogers 7, Gordon 8, Bellingham 6, Kane 5 Subs: Konsa, O´Reilly, Burn, Toney, Rashford Martinez 6, Molina 5, Tagliafico 6, Lisandro 7, Romero 8, Simeone 5, Mac Allister 8, Paredes 5, ENZO 8*, Messi 8, Alvarez 6 Subs: Gonzalez 7, de Paul, Montiel, Otamendi, Lautaro MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: ENZO FERNANDEZ
Oh. I try to stay away from ratings of others, but this is a terrible take in my opinion. Not a single player on the pitch was close to the influence and performance of Messi. I genuinely think this might be arguably his best international performance ever, all things considered, and Argentina doesn't win this game without Messi. 8 is such an understatement here. To put it in perspective, 8 is a rating you gave to Erling Haaland against Cote d'Ivoire where he did nothing the entire game, missed a few chances, and scored a tap-in into the open net: Are those two performances equal in your opinion? I can kind of understand being harsh on Messi against Egypt for missing the penalty, and ultimately giving him 7, although I strongly disagree here as well, but you also gave Messi a 6 against Switzerland. In the last 3 matches, you have Messi, Enzo and few others like this: Egypt: Messi: 7 Enzo: 8 Mac Allister: 6 Romero: 8 Gonzalez: 6 Switzerland: Messi: 6 Enzo: 5 Mac Allister: 8 Romaro: 7 Gonzalez: 7 England: Messi 8 Enzo: 8 Mac Allister: 8 Romero: 8 Gonzalez: 7 Ranking (total points): 1, Romero: 23 2. Mac Allister 22 3. Enzo: 21 4. Messi: 21 5. Gonzalez: 20 #Enzo has a Man of the match award. That is a bit crazy to me.
People are overly harsh on Tuchel. He takes some blame for the loss for sure, but what people are saying is over the top. At the end of the day, players play on the pitch. Not Tuchel.
I think the Ballon D’or this year will basically be determined by the WC final. Here’s how I see it: - If Argentina wins, then Messi gets the Ballon D’or. - If Spain wins and Yamal has a great final that includes a goal contribution, then Yamal gets the Ballon D’or. - If Spain wins and Rodri has an exceptional final that includes a goal contribution, then Rodri gets the Ballon D’or. - If none of the above occurs, then Harry Kane gets the Ballon D’or.
I only agree with the first sentence: if Argentina wins, Messi will probably take the Ballon d'Or. But, I still see Messi as the favorite, even if he loses the final. There isn't a clear-cut criterion; it's mostly a clash of narratives. Messi is the most popular player on the planet, and being named the best player at the World Cup builds an incredibly powerful narrative, regardless of outcome. Rodri and Kane would be his strongest competitors, Yamal’s hype dropped significantly during this tournament. Even with a strong final and win, his odds are slim. Many people think he is too young and it is too early to give him major awards. But that's just my take. Personally, I’d give to Mbappé, if he finishes World Cup as the top scorer. The argument for him, even without team trophies, is in his individual records. As one of the greatest goalscorers in World Cup history without a Ballon d'Or to his name, it could be his turn. But his chances look slim too.
I think if Argentina loses the final then Messi will still very likely get the WC golden ball (barring someone on Spain doing something absolutely extraordinary in the final). However, I doubt he’d get the Ballon D’or. I don’t think WC finalist is enough to overcome not having been in a top league the rest of the year (even keeping in mind he’s been dominant in that inferior league). The only way I see him getting the Ballon D’or while losing the final is if he’s absolutely extraordinary in the final. Like, if it’s a situation akin to the 2022 WC final where a losing player gets a hat trick, then I guess I can see it. Otherwise though, I think it’s not enough to overcome playing in MLS, even though it’s been in the very top tier of WC campaigns for a player ever.
For example, I don't think Messi wins Ballon d'Or unless Argentina wins WC, or in a very specific case in which Messi scores like 2-3 goals in the final, puts on a show, but Argentina loses, and no other clear stand-out performer exists. Both Mbappe (and Dembele) and Kane not winning ucl and being eliminated in semi finals, plus Yamal being quiet and Vitinha neither having the performance nor team success card, plays into hands of Messi. I think they would be very reluctant to give Rodri a second ballon d'Or. He might win player of the tournament, but I think they would avoid the second ballon d'Or for Rodri. The same applies to Dembele. As I am writing this, I am kind of changing my mind lol. It seems Messi is in the best position to win his 9th. But what I wanted to say is the point about powerful narratives and popularity. It is not always a clear-cut advantage because of such things as winner fatigue, which is a type of voting fatigue in a population where those individuals who win all the time eventually reach the point where the population is tired of voting for them for no other reason than being tired of voting for the same guy who wins all the time. Nobody is immune to that, including Messi and all of his popularity. He was at both ends of the narrative stick, a winning side and the winner fatigue side. Two examples are: 1. The 2018 ballon d'Or results. He was 5th, which is ridiculous when you think about it. Messi was not the 5th best player in the world that year. He was comfortably the best individually. People simply got tired of him after 5 times he won it already, got desensitized to the insane things he was doing all the time. A lack of team success in ucl and wc was merely a rational for the fatigue. Basically, no other player in history with that kind of season gets placed 5th independent of team success. 2. Not winning the Copa America 2016 best player of the tournament despite being his best international tournament to date. Having that said, it might not be the case this year because Messi has been outside of the spotlight for a few years now, since the last WC in 2022 and the 2023 season, so him doing what he is doing comes as a breath of fresh air to many. So yes, I would say Messi is probably a favorite to win the ballon d'Or 2026 independent of the result in the final. Having that said, ballon d'Or is an overhyped award. I find it boring, inconsistent, superficial, and prestigious. It is anti-football spirit in my opinion, because football is a team sport. Ballon d'Or falsely worships individuality.
For reference and fun, my personal ratings of Messi in WCs are like this. Bear in mind that the farther the list goes, the more I have to rely on my memory to recall how I rated him at the time, so there are very likely some inconsistencies in the criteria, and a few points would change here or there for some performances: Messi ratings for WC 2014: v Bosnia 7,5 v Iran 7,5 v Nigeria 8,5 v Switzerland 7,5 v Belgium 7,0 v Netherlands 7,0 v Germany 7,0 Average: 7,43 Messi ratings for WC 2018: v Iceland 6,5 v Croatia 6,5 v Nigeria 8,5 v France 7,5 Average: 7,25 Messi ratings for WC 2022: v Saudi 7,0 v Mexico 8,0 v Poland 8,0 v Australia 9,0 v Netherlands 8,5 v Croatia 8,0 v France 8,5 Average: 8,14 Messi ratings for WC 2026: v Algeria 9,5 v Austria 8,5 v Jordan 7,5 v Cape Verde 8,0 v Egypt 8,5 v Switzerland 7,5 v England 9,0 v Spain - Average: 8,36 The criteria: 1 - abysmal 2 - terrible 3 - disappointing 4 - poor 5 - mediocre 6 - okay 7 - good 8 - strong 9 - excellent 10 - brilliant
Argentina is going to turn the match against Spain into a slog, just as Uruguay did. The difference is that Argentina has the best offense in the World Cup.
Argentina will probably try to turn it into a slog, but in the end I think Spain just has too much ability in midfield for Argentina. Maybe Argentina can win if Spain’s finishing is bad—which is possible since they don’t have some elite striker. But I’d be surprised if Spain doesn’t have more opportunities. My guess is Spain wins 2-0. Argentina has been so clutch this tournament that I wouldn’t be shocked if they pulled it out though.