Well, we exceeded my expectations by getting out of group. Today’s play was disappointing and partly showed where improvements can be made: 1) Situational Awareness & 2) Communication. The defensive lapses in marking were inexcusable. Players should be more alert regarding location of opposing players. Dest was ball watching and not paying attention to the player behind him. I think communication from others could have helped him. On the last goal the team acted like the Dutch right forward wasn’t there. The GK Turner should have seen it and moved someone to cover. Probably Jedi. He was defending space that the CBs were already covering. 3) Lack of creativity around and in the opponent’s box. We repeatedly sent blind crosses into and across the box. Players in the box were stationary and easily marked (By the way this reminds me of RSL, except for Damir). The Dutch had a game plan for attacking our box: Send a trailing attacker into the box and give him an accurate service. All 3 goals were scored that way. 4) The USA really needs to develop a couple of pure strikers who are dependable. In this tournament I couldn’t identify anyone successfully this role.
Yesterday Brazil re-introduced The Beautiful Game. It was fun to watch. Today Portugal didn’t start Cristiano Ronaldo and they demonstrated The Beautiful Game too. The guy who started in his place secured a hat trick. Morocco beat Spain. In the pk shoot out Spain did a pretty close RSL v Austin imitation. They didn’t convert a single pk. Morocco has a very good team. It’s been a fun WC.
While I still kind of want England to win it all, it's crazy to think we could get an Argentina/Portugal final and see two all time greats in their last World Cup game.
Messi’s pass to assist the first goal against The Netherlands was incredible. I’ve watched it several times and it looks impossible every time.
I watched at a bar with about 30 people, and wow was it a fun time. And that pass was out of this world. If he had paired it with a goal on that play where he turned and shot between five Dutch defenders, we would have shouted the roof off the place.
So I have lost all my teams so far in this cup, USA, Germany, Netherlands, so now I want to see Croatia, or Argentina. Croatia because they are a small nation punching way above their weight, and Argentina because Messi really deserves this title. Anyone but France.
The only thing I had read was that he wasn't feeling well the past few days, but said that usually happens when he's covering the World Cup. Hopefully it was natural causes. It'd seem to be weird to go after him.
He recently published an article condemning Qatar’s government/elites for their arrogance in not even trying to hide the slave labor and deaths during the construction phase. He also condemned them for other things. I agree though…doesn’t seem enough to think they would murder him for it.
My remaining favorite, Portugal, lost today. Morocco beat Spain with 22% possession and Portugal with 23%. Pretty surprising.
MOROCCO!!! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! Agreed, they haven't been very exciting. But I'm all for an African team going far. I wished it was Senegal, but Morocco is great too. (Oddly, Africa has a pretty clear divide in solidarity across the Sahara.)
I'm all for a Morocco - Croatia final with Morocco winning. That being said, the only team left I don't want to win is Argentina.
I went into that match pro-Argentina…mainly because of Messi. Then that one Argentinian player sent a rocket into the opponent’s bench. After that I wanted them to lose. But, in retrospect, it was only that one player…not the team. I have no problem supporting Argentina after all of my other teams are out. Because of Messi and his childhood friend Di Maria. I kind of like the storyline where the sons of Italian immigrants are the stars of the Argentinian national team. But, in the end, I am happy for the diversity of the Final Four. I don’t care which continent “wins”. Croatia and Morocco add flair to the end stages. Argentina and Messi add something. I just wish Portugal and Ronaldo were there too. Ronaldo and Messi…what drama! France? Of all of the final 4, I wish France wasn’t there. Going back 50 years I have never liked them. Yet, they will probably be victorious.
France is realistically the front runner, and honestly have been all tournament. But as we've seen so far, the 'best' doesn't always win, and that's the beauty of it all. And really Croatia hasn't been a slouch the last major tournaments. So seeing Morocco - Croatia would only seem weird for Croatia on paper. Morocco is the fun outlier I want to see there.
With how the games have played out I really thought that the winner of the France and England game would be the favorite to win it all. I still believe that to be the case. France is the odds on favorite at this point for sure but I'm definitely rooting for Croatia to come out on top. The Messi story line is certainly nice and sweet and would be a fitting end to his career and probably cement his legacy over Ronaldo in the minds of many/most I would think but I wouldn't mind if he goes home early again either. I picked England to win it all but sadly, they went all England and didn't take advantage of their chances. You have to feel for Kane not putting away that second PK. Also, I'm an admitted Ref lover but the France and England match was the worst officiated game I have watched during the tournament so far. England didn't lose the game because of the officiating but Frances first goal did come right after a pretty obvious foul that the AR on their end let go that started the break for France. You could certainly argue that it might have been a 50/50 call but in my mind that has been a foul all tournament. Again, the officiating didn't cost them the match but it certainly had an effect on the game for the most part. Sadly. Overall the officiating has been relatively stellar. Even our own Ismail Elphath had a couple good outings. I didn't catch the one Argentina match when Messi went all Chellinni so all of the officiating hasn't been stellar but from the games I have watched, other than the France and England match, I have a hard time really thinking of a call that really had any negative effect on a match. I could be wrong but it really seems like it has been a pretty clean tournament. Knock on wood. Go Croatia.
I feel real gratitude that I have been able to watch Messi over the course of his career, including it being an era of High Definition broadcasts, highlight packages on YouTube, and easily accessible games. He's otherworldly.
Dude is 5'7". Small guy. Smaller than me even! He just held off Gvardiol, a great CB by all metrics, to get the assist on goal 3. It was much more impressive than Bale over Glad, on the biggest stage. Just ridiculous, even if it's EPO-fueled.
With Argentina winning, I'm firmly on wanting the other side of the bracket to win. Whether it's France or Morocco. Hopefully the last few games of the tournament wind up being great at least.
I’ll be in front of my tv at 8:00 this morning for the WC Final. When it comes down to it I simply cannot support France; and I want Messi to get a WC title added to his resume. That little guy has been awesome to watch for sooo many years…and he’s never been a blatant jerk (at least in the matches I have seen).
I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say that was one of the great games in the history of sports!
I've been watching all tournament long with a group of people at a local bar and eatery. Today was unbelievable. Free food - Argentine choripan made fresh, breakfast burritos, lost of breaded things the rest of us brought - and fewer charges for drinks than what any of us drank. We donated funds for that to a local nonprofit. We had people from/supporting both teams and lots rooting for a great final. The owner gave a fella from Argentina a bottle of champagne to open and spray and it was incredibly neat. Several of us were there for almost five hours, watching and talking and being glad we could watch all of it together.