Julius Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 What a game this is turning out to be luckiest goal of the tournament so far by Mercado? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 WHAT A GOAL BY PAVARD! That’s another two goals to add to potential goals of the tournament from this game alone the next half hour should be a real rollercoaster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Immense goal by Pavard. 10/10! Brilliant game, I'm really enjoying it. Again, I'm torn. Argentina for the sweepstake, but I would prefer France to win. Although, does it make it easier for Belgium if Argentina go through? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 So now Mbappé has his goal, how long until Messi gets his? I get the feeling that this could go all of the way... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drahkon Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Best match of the tournament so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 1 minute ago, Julius Caesar said: So now Mbappé has his goal, how long until Messi gets his? I get the feeling that this could go all of the way... France look the better team, imo. Think they'll score another before Argentina do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 2 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said: France look the better team, imo. Think they'll score another before Argentina do. Didn’t take long to prove you right I agree @drahkon, excellent game of football. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drahkon Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 So good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Just now, Julius Caesar said: Didn’t take long to prove you right I agree @drahkon, excellent game of football. They'll score ANOTHER one before Argentina do, if they even do. Can see France scoring 6 in this game. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Mbappe with the best individual performance by a player in this tournament, imo. He's looked the real deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said: Mbappe with the best individual performance by a player in this tournament, imo. He's looked the real deal. Seriously. He’s been excellent with Monaco and PSG, but I think this is the game which will be remembered as the match that Mbappé exploded onto the world stage. Feel sorry for Messi, but this Argentina team is old and leggy, and their squad selection (Higuain over Icardi? Really?) was in doubt when it was announced last month. Happy that this France side is finally starting to live up to the potential of the names on the team sheet. They just weren’t ready in terms of maturity to win the Euro’s two years ago, and were lucky in getting there in my opinion, but there’s a calm and confidence to many players — all of them, really — on display which is well beyond their years. Should set up an interesting quarter final tie against Uruguay or Portugal, that’s for sure. Edited June 30, 2018 by Julius Caesar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 2 minutes ago, Julius Caesar said: Seriously. He’s been excellent with Monaco and PSG, but I think this is the game which will be remembered as the match that Mbappé exploded onto the world stage. Feel sorry for Messi, but this Argentina team is old and leggy, and their squad selection (Higuain over Icardi? Really?) was in doubt when it was announced last month. Happy that this France side is finally starting to live up to the potential of the names on the team sheet. They just weren’t ready in terms of maturity to win the Euro’s two years ago, and were lucky in getting there in my opinion, but there’s a calm and confidence to many players — all of them, really — on display which is well beyond their years. Should set up an interesting quarter final tie against Uruguay or Portugal, that’s for sure. Yeah, I think this game will be remembered for a long time anyway, but even more so for some of the individual performances. Maybe even for Messi simply not turning up or proving to be ineffective for his team. I don't feel that sorry for Messi, tbh. Sure, it's an old team, but this is by no means a bad team. This isn't like Salah playing for Egypt where he is one of the only players of note. I do think that Argentina haven't used their talent effectively in this tournament and the performances simply haven't been great. They've disappointed. This is a great France side and they'll do well in this tournament. Possibly favourites, even? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero-of-Time Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. Fantastic game of football and the right team have gone through to the next round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 That Messi pass was superb. @Fierce_LiNk, my main reason for feeling sorry for Messi is that many will hold onto the fact that he didn’t the World Cup as an attempt to invalidate him being in the conversation for the greatest of all time. That, plus how ineffective the entire team has been, much of which has to come down to the manager. He brought some players who didn’t deserve to be there/left some at home that did deserve to be there, and the fact that they’re one of the oldest sides on average in the tournament really says it all. They had over a year to figure out a formation and starting XI that would work going into this World Cup, and they didn’t. That’s not to take anything away from the teams that have put in brilliant performances against them, but when Messi is under pressure to be the main creator, goalscorer, midfield driver and captain, I think it’s just a bit too much — for anyone. @Hero-of-Time agree that France deserved to go through, they were excellent. Still don’t get your disdain for Messi, but whatever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnas Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Very entertaining game. The right team won, though I'd be lying if I said I'd rather have Portugal face France Not only would Argentina-Portugal be a promising match, I don't think Portugal has quite shaken off the "curse" of always losing against France. Regardless, Uruguay comes first. We got a few yellows right now, so I hope nobody will miss the match against France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 15 minutes ago, Julius Caesar said: That Messi pass was superb. @Fierce_LiNk, my main reason for feeling sorry for Messi is that many will hold onto the fact that he didn’t the World Cup as an attempt to invalidate him being in the conversation for the greatest of all time. That, plus how ineffective the entire team has been, much of which has to come down to the manager. He brought some players who didn’t deserve to be there/left some at home that did deserve to be there, and the fact that they’re one of the oldest sides on average in the tournament really says it all. They had over a year to figure out a formation and starting XI that would work going into this World Cup, and they didn’t. That’s not to take anything away from the teams that have put in brilliant performances against them, but when Messi is under pressure to be the main creator, goalscorer, midfield driver and captain, I think it’s just a bit too much — for anyone. @Hero-of-Time agree that France deserved to go through, they were excellent. Still don’t get your disdain for Messi, but whatever. True, the manager of Argentina hasn't helped him on this occasion. But, Messi has built his whole club career at Barcelona and has been in the privileged position of being able to play with the best talent on the planet. Look at the calibre of the players that he has had to work with at Barcelona, many of which have allowed him to go out there and express himself and have helped him to earn numerous accolades. So, sure, he may not have had won the World Cup, but let's not forget that he's had extremely good fortune at Barcelona. Not only that, but he's been in the (again, privileged) position of playing for Argentina, who have a rich footballing history. Through playing with Argentina, he has played a World Cup final already in 2014. It's hard to feel sorry for somebody who has already been so successful and who has had a great career at club level and a decent one at international level. He is by no means a failure. I'm sure many of the England players would bite your hand off for the chance to have played in the World Cup 2014 final against Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Posted June 30, 2018 Author Share Posted June 30, 2018 11 minutes ago, Fierce_LiNk said: It's hard to feel sorry for somebody who has already been so successful and who has had a great career at club level and a decent one at international level. He is by no means a failure. I agree with all of your points. But, like I said before, my main reason to feel sorry for him is because he will have seen this as possibly his last chance to win the World Cup, which many of his critics — few though they might be — will now hold against him when the conversation of greatest footballer of all time comes around. Given the state of the current game, and the quality of club football, I just feel that it’s unfair to hold a player’s inability to win a quadrennial tournament against him, given just how much he’s done in the sport. In the same way, I’ll feel sorry for Ronaldo tonight if Portugal go out to Uruguay, because this is — realistically — his last chance to perform at the World Cup. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 9 minutes ago, Julius Caesar said: I agree with all of your points. But, like I said before, my main reason to feel sorry for him is because he will have seen this as possibly his last chance to win the World Cup, which many of his critics — few though they might be — will now hold against him when the conversation of greatest footballer of all time comes around. Given the state of the current game, and the quality of club football, I just feel that it’s unfair to hold a player’s inability to win a quadrennial tournament against him, given just how much he’s done in the sport. In the same way, I’ll feel sorry for Ronaldo tonight if Portugal go out to Uruguay, because this is — realistically — his last chance to perform at the World Cup. He's still up there with the greatest of all time. But...not scoring in 8 knockout phase games, one of which is the final, will hurt his chances in that respect. But, I think his club career has been that good that he'll still be in those conversations, but there's no arguing that he's not been as successful on the world stage, for a number of reasons. International football is different beast, though. It's far harder to win the World Cup due to a player having fewer opportunities to do so, due to how often it comes around. So, it would be unfair to solely discount Messi simply on the basis of never winning the World Cup. What I do think will count against him, especially in comparison to Ronaldo, is his ability to "make it" at more than one team. Ronaldo being able to win the Champions League with Man Utd (as well as other trophies) before making the move to Real Madrid will go in his favor, which Messi can't compete with. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drahkon Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Decided to stay home and watch the World Cup. Hope this will be a cracking match, too. Ronaldo better step up again and entertain me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drahkon Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Off to a good start. Incredible cross by Suarez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Mirin' Ronaldo's leg gains. Phwoooar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drahkon Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Game on! Cracking header. The goals we've seen today... marvelous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierce_LiNk Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 1 minute ago, drahkon said: Game on! Cracking header. The goals we've seen today... marvelous. I was worried that this would finish 1-0. Phew! Uruguay have looked the better team, but hopefully Portugal will be able to get more attacks going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drahkon Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Cavani with yet another beautiful goal. This matchday...hhhhhnnnnnggggg. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero-of-Time Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 Cracking goal. Absolutely awful defending by Portugal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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