rgk_lfc

The issue with him is slightly more serious. I don't think he is moving to any club any time soon.

Argentina always had great strikers but Alvarez complements Messi much better than Crespo, Tevez, Higuain, or Aguero. Credit to Scaloni for putting this system together.

Most probably not. Might explain why Man United have not shown a lot of interest in Bellingham.

Looks like Rice is on the move too. From England's perspective, I hope Bellingham and Rice end up in the same club. Bellingham and Rice getting used to playing together coached by one of Howe, Klopp, Ten Hag, Pep, Potter (if he lasts), Conte will be very good for England in the Euros.

Ok fine, you win. Kobe was a bad example. I am sure through the annals of sports there will be plenty of examples of players who showed overwhelming desire to win but a modicum of grace when they were disappointed or stepping away. The original point still stands. One can admire Ronaldo for his footballing prowess, commitment to fitness, craft and laugh at him and make fun of him at his lack of grace when he loses.

That is precisely the point. They were huge egos, bullies even, but when they stepped away, did it more graciously. I understand the pain of dream being broken. But whatever be the case, however big your ego is, you can show a basic level of grace. One can admire his absolute desire to win and at the same time criticize him for being a twat for the way he behaves when he loses. You talk as if they are mutually exclusive emotions.

I don't think anyone is denying what a great player he was. But when you are dislikable, people do tend to laugh at you when you are down. Michael Owen, Suarez being other examples. I find the "his ego is what propelled him to greatness and caused him to walk away at the end of the game" excuse also weird. Plenty of great players had a not so perfect end to their career - Tendulkar, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan at the Wizards. In the end, they did step of the court gracefully. Morocco reaching the semi finals was an epic achievement. He could have stayed back congratulated all of them and then thanked the fans and left. Instead he tried to make the moment about him. I wouldn't be surprised if the camera guy following him down the tunnel was orchestrated by his PR team as a weird way to generate sympathy.

He was an explosive dribbler when he broke out at Man United. When he transitioned to a fantastic goal scorer during the later stages of his Man United career he cut down on his dribbling. Made him less exciting but far more effective.

Not saying that. But FIFA could ensure from quarter finals onwards, avoid referees from the eight countries still in the competition. It should be reasonably easy to implement.

I see that several of the Portugal players have complained about cup being handed to Argentina. Definitely they are being salty and not a good sport, but there is an underlying point there. Atleast from the quarter finals onwards, cant we have referees from countries with no stake left in the world cup. Avoid referees from the eight countries playing the quarter final. I did find it weird that Michael Oliver was refereeing the Brazil Croatia game with England playing the next day. Then we have a Brazilian referee in charge of the England game. I am not saying the Brazil result influenced todays referee but why even take the chance?

The impact of Morocco winning it would be significantly higher than Greece winning the Euros. It doesn't matter what the tactics are. Greece winning the Euros was a great footballing sporting moment. Morocco winning the world cup will transcend sports in terms of impact.

This will be significantly bigger than all of them. African team winning the world cup. I once remember a beautiful Peter Roebuck (RIP) interview in which he stated "Expectation is the most potent force in sports". If Morocco wins the world cup, countries in Asia and Africa- South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Ghana etc - they will no longer view getting out of the group as an achievement. Expectations will be recalibrated. Morocco winning the world cup would be seismic in terms of impact, particularly in Africa and Asia. It will be a moment which will transcend sports. On par with the 4 minute mile and other sporting moments.

If Morocco win the world cup, I am struggling to think of a bigger sports story in my lifetime. I know they have the injuries but hopefully with 80% of the stadium supporting them, they can defeat France.

But you don't need world class talent in all positions to win a tournament. Portugal won Euro 2016 with Cedric and and a 32 year old Jose Fonte as the right side of their defense. The core of Bellingham, Saka, Foden with world class full backs is an excellent base to build from. The Euros are in two years. Kane will still be there. In fact, most of this squad with the exception of maybe Henderson will still be there.

Reece James, TAA (I know he is out of form, but he is till a class RB), Chilwell is an excellent collection of young fullbacks to build a team around. Talent is not going to be an issue with England for the foreseeable future. I hope the one thing Southgate learned from today and this campaign is that if England plays on the front foot, very few teams can live with them. French defense were rattled today. A more neutral ref and one of them could have been sent off. I have not been a huge fan of Southgate-ball but cant fault him for this campaign. If he continues this slightly bolder approach, might be worth sticking with him. Unless someone like Mancini is available. More than anything England need a mentality shift. English football could use a Eoin Morgan or Ben Stokes, either on the pitch or in the dugout. No squad is perfect. A lot of times, the narrative is shifted around how great the team is after they win something. England has the talent to win the world cup playing their unique way of football. As a starting point, the belief has to be there.

I know folks will point to the two penalties as indication that the ref was balanced, but that was the worst refereeing performance in the quarter finals. The number of niggly fouls that France got away with was insane. Upamecano or whatever his name is was wrestling down players and didn't even get a yellow card. The sheer look of disbelief on Saka's face when he finally got the foul in his favor midway into the second half told the whole story. English players responded to Southgate after conceding the first goal. No doubt players like him. At the same time, taking of Saka for Sterling was a mental decision. Saka was running at them, creating trouble. Grealish should have come in sooner for Henderson. I feel for Harry Kane. That was a brilliant performance. After conceding the goal, he rallied the England attack forward, wandered to midfield and played some brilliant passes. If you look at his overall game, it was better than Mbappe. But his performance will be remembered for that miss which is cruel. Maguire's header attempt on goal was better than Giroud's. Maguire's kissed the post and went wide. Giroud's hit Maguire and went inside the goal. That was the difference between the two sides.

No not Mount. I know it is time to think about subs but there is a balance to this England side. They are troubling France and asking the right questions.

Some stat that !!!!!

First African coached team in the semi-final of the world cup. Stunning, stunning achievement.

I am wondering if European clubs will start to consider Walid Regragui. Not sure what will happen in the second half and the rest of their World cup journey, but this Morocco team is so well drilled. Their forwards press. When they get the ball they attack in numbers. First 45 minutes, they have shut down the Portugal midfield and forced them to resort to long balls. In some way, this team reminds me of a Rafa Benitez team which manages to identify the opposition strength and neutralizes them. Irrespective of the outcome of this game, impressive tactical performance.

Ruben Dias is rattled!!!

By the way, in case some of you are wondering why Scaloni is so good, he did have the chance to work with one of the greatest football minds of this generation. Apologies if I am doing a Giggs. The conversation is about Lionel Scaloni and Alan Pardew, on the phone from his current base in Greece, is recounting the time he managed the future Argentina coach. It is approaching 17 years since Pardew brought Scaloni to West Ham United, on loan from Deportivo La Coruna, in January 2006 and he remembers how a smart, savvy right-back adjusted seamlessly to the demands of Premier League football, even in mid season. Pardew is in full flow, recalling how he would hear Scaloni telling team-mates about his latest visit to a London museum or a restaurant he liked and raving about the defender’s character, when his voice suddenly trails off and there is a momentary pause. “But the downside to all of this,” Pardew says. “Is he cost me a Cup final winners’ medal and I can never forgive him!” The second part of that remark is made firmly in jest but the 2006 FA Cup final between West Ham and Liverpool - the last one to be held at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium before the showpiece returned to Wembley - may never have come to be remembered as ‘the Gerrard final’ but for a rush of blood to the head from Scaloni. “So many West Ham fans have come up to me over the years and said, ‘Oh my god, that throw in! What was he thinking!?’,” said Pardew, now the coach of Greek Super League side Aris Thessaloniki. “All this time later and they still bring it up. If only he’d just done something different.” Pardew can laugh about it now - well, just about - but the moment in question arrived in the final minute of normal time with West Ham leading 3-2. After Djibril Cisse succumbed to cramp, Scaloni kicked the ball out of play near West Ham’s own corner flag, a sporting gesture albeit a risky one in the circumstances. From the subsequent throw-in, the ball was returned to Scaloni by Liverpool’s Dietmar Hamann but rather than look to keep possession or play down the sides, the West Ham defender lashed the ball wildly and aimlessly into the middle of the pitch. As the clock hit 90 minutes, Gerrard picked it up and passed inside to John Arne Riise, whose cross into the box was cleared only as far as the lurking Liverpool captain who, from 35 yards out, lashed a stunning equaliser past Shaka Hislop. The despair in Pardew’s voice is still evident. “It’s a moment of madness because there was a minute left and all we had to do is run the clock down,” he reflects, ruefully. “You don’t want the ball to end up centrally in the pitch at that time.” The irony is that Scaloni - who had delivered the cross from which Jamie Carragher turned the ball into his own net to give West Ham a 21st minute lead - is the last player in his team from whom Pardew would have expected that. “It was at complete odds with a player who was ordinarily one of the most savvy in the team - he’d have been bottom of my list to do that,” he said. “With some I’d have gone, ‘Well, what do you expect, you know?’ but here’s our most intelligent, sensible player …” The game went to extra-time and West Ham eventually lost on penalties and, amid the emotions and disappointment of an agonising defeat, the incident was long forgotten by the time the players returned to the dressing room. To this day, Pardew has never had the chance to discuss it personally with Scaloni. Yet he hopes the Argentina manager has used the moment to his advantage as a coach - and does not expect to see any of Scaloni’s players making the same mistake during the World Cup in Qatar. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation with him about it but it would be nice to have it one day - ‘What was your thinking?’,” Pardew said. “I haven’t spoken to him since he became the Argentina manager but I’d love to meet up with him and I’d love to know if he’s ever referenced that moment with his players: what not to do when you’re winning with a minute to go. If he hasn’t I don’t rate him as a manager at all!” The truth, of course, is very different. Pardew has great admiration for the way Scaloni has united what was a deeply fractured Argentina squad and developed an organisational structure to finally provide a robust platform from which Lionel Messi is thriving. Argentina are unbeaten in 35 matches and, at 35, this is probably Messi’s best chance of winning a World Cup. Pardew says it was not immediately obvious to him that Scaloni would become a manager but, on reflection, sees many of the same traits in him that he witnessed with the now Chelsea manager Graham Potter, who was one of his players at Reading. “I never saw Scaloni take a Marlon Harewood out and do a coaching session with him - he wasn’t that sort of type - but he absorbed everything and was intelligent,” Pardew said. “When I look back at the likes of Potter and Scaloni, they were always listening and studying and that’s a very good trait of a manager. The concentration was always there.” Scaloni started 17 of West Ham’s final 19 matches in that 2005-06 campaign and Pardew said his character shone through from their first meeting. “He wasn’t blessed with pace but he made up for that with his positional play and straight away it was clear he was a people’s person,” Pardew said. “Players liked him immediately and that’s one of the reasons why he’s been successful in bringing that Argentina squad together. “He had the personality to adapt at West Ham, he absorbed everything and we could see he was not going to be phased. You need to embrace the culture when you come to a new country and explore and enjoy it and Scaloni was like that. He came to London and loved it. He was going to museums, I could hear him in the background talking about things he’d seen and visited, restaurants he’d been to. “Knowing Scaloni’s character I think his personality will have been good for Argentina because it is a volatile place, it’s volatile football. I’ve been to games in Argentina and it’s chaos. But he’s a sensible person and I think that’s what they needed. He hasn’t tried to be flamboyant and he’s obviously organised the team very well around Messi.” Just try not to mention that Gerrard goal around Pardew. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-cup/2022/11/19/day-argentina-manager-lionel-scaloni-cost-west-ham-fa-cup/

I don't think Scaloni is being given enough credit here. He is definitely in the running for the manager of the tournament. After the first game, he made changes. He has risen tactically to every challenge thrown at him. This is a limited squad compared to the great Argentina squad of 2006 and 2010, but the way he has marshalled his resources is brilliant.

Doesn't contribute enough defensively to pay in a regular midfield role. Doesn't contribute enough offensively to indulge him in an upfront number 10 role.