rgk_lfc

Pardew celebration was when Palace took the lead which was in the middle of the second half. It was definitely not in stoppage time.

Dont worry, we are on our way :))

Deschamps extends his France national team contract till 2026. I thought Zizou was next in line to takeover after this world cup.

Worth going through this twitter thread.

Didn't Pele's Santos regularly demolish European clubs when they went on tours and in the intercontinental cup? From memory, I know they destroyed Eusebio's Benfica 5-2 at Benfica in the Intercontinental cup final.

If this had gone in, it would have been a contender for the greatest goal of all time. Just the sheer guts to try this dummy in a world cup quarter-final. Yes, there have been other goals with more elaborate skills but sometimes, the simple ones are the best. Pele was not just an icon of football. You can travel to remote rural areas in India, people who have not potentially watched a single game of football. Show them a photo of Pele and they would recognize him. He was an icon of sports.

RIP Genius !!!! Just because of his stature and potential discussions of his greatness, it might be worth creating a new separate thread for this.

In general, I had no issues with his antics in the final. As a goalkeeper, do what it takes to get in the mind of the opposition and win. Fine with that. No problem with his anti- Mbappe antics in the dressing room also. The teams dressing room, do what you want there. Not quite sure that Mbappe baby doll in public is needed. Seems a step too far and serves no purpose other than motivate Mbappe when they meet next.

I don't think hyping up young players is unique to English media. There must have been at least 10 players anointed the "next Maradona" by the Argentinian press till Messi came along. Gavi and Pedri have already been declared the next Xavi and Iniesta by Catalan media. While they are impressive talents, you can see that they have a long long way to go to get even close to the game of Xavi or Iniesta. I do agree that coverage of English football is on the dumber side, the discussion of tactics and selection is so poor compared to other games like cricket or tennis. When you have someone like Rafa come on the TV and discuss tactics for five minutes, you feel some alien from Mars has arrived, just because of the contrast between Rafa's insightful thoughts and the blabbering cliched soundbites of Carra, Neville and others.

This was the most accessible world cup for folks living in the Indian subcontinent. Know a lot of fans from India who were able to attend couple of games and really enjoyed it. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to watch players of the caliber of Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo play. I am assuming it is the same for fans living in the middle east.

I don't think Enzo to us links are legitimate. None of the journos who generally have an idea of the players we are interested in have commented on the link.

You cant rate a team just based on talent. This Argentina team had the intangible, grit, the desire to get over the line which is unquantifiable. Dropping a two goal lead in the 80th minute, then regrouping taking the lead, losing that lead again. Then having the clarity of mind to win it in the penalties - that mentality is immense. Also not easy winning the Copa America in Brazil in 2021. Not a lot of teams have managed to win the continental championship and the world cup in a few years time span.

Will be interesting to see where his managerial career goes from here.

Please PM me the lottery numbers.

Will Alvarez be ok being the second striker at City after this tournament. He will probably be the main striker in most of Europe's top clubs

10/10 for Scaloni for that first half. Excellent team selection. Inspired move to start De Maria after giving him limited play time throughout the tournament. Tactics, formation spot on. Completely blunted the French midfield and attack. No space for Griezmann to operate. Great tactician.

There is different degrees of poor. Van Dijk and Robbo have been below their usual standards. Fabinho has been really poor. Thiago and Henderson have been carrying him when fit the last few months.

Fabinho has been poor for us the last six months or so. Either this is a temporary loss in form which has now start to go one for some time or the beginning of a physical decline. If it is the latter, you might need another CM to partner Bruno in the next world cup.

Reports that a big part of the 25 million in add ons will be triggered if a high bar like Balon d'or is reached. Anyways, Madrid seem confident with their Brazilian youth scouting. Vini Jr, Rodrygo are big success stories for them. Reinier Jesus - still up in the air. We will see if Endrick is worth the wait.

France's second goal showcased the teams outstanding technical ability, by the way. Tchouameni's pass excellent pass to some player (dont remember who) who drove forward passed to Mbappe who played a clever pass to Thuram who took on defenders, passed to Mbappe who took on like three defenders and passed. Mbappe got a lucky break from the deflection on the assist but that entire sequence was excellent football under pressure from defenders. Deschamps deserves credit for deploying Griezmann in the Pogba role. Griezmann has been brilliant in that role linking midfield to attack, driving the ball forward, taking the ball to the wings and providing dangerous crosses.

His performance in the PL is going under the radar a bit. He has been our best defender since he joined whenever he plays. Has pace, comfortable on the ball, can handle the PL physicality. Overall a quality signing for us.

Upamecano and Hernandez had to resort to physical challenges to handle Saka and Mount. Now imagine Messi driving at them. I also don't think the French defense has had to handle a dual threat like Messi and Alvarez in the penalty box yet. Argentinian midfield will more than match the French midfield. Of course, Mbappe and Griezmann against the Argentinian defense is another intriguing battle. But I expect Scaloni to find a solution for that as he has at every challenge thrown at him since the first game.

Morocco winning the world cup would move the game forward by two decades in the next five years in Africa and Asia. It would potentially have claim to be one of the most important moment in football history. A moment which would completely transcend sports. One of the negative impacts of colonialism which is not talked about is how it slowly degrades the sense of self worth of the colonized nations. Every aspect of life - infrastructure, trains, hospitals, schools, local administrative governance are so dependent on the colonial master's system that it sort of drains the confidence of the society to accomplish something on their own. Lot of Indians my dads age point to Kapil Dev's team winning the 1983 world cup as an important moment in their life. Not just the joy, but the shot of confidence that team gave them that they could also compete on the world stage in their field. It created a new generation of Indians who now thought anything was possible. With all due respects to the respective posters, I don't think they even begin to realize the significance of Morocco winning the world cup by comparing it to Leicester winning the premier league and Greece winning the Euros. They were all great and lovely sporting moments. But Morocco winning the world cup would be a seismic event, sending shockwaves through the societies of Asia and Africa, the reverberations of which will be felt for decades.