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Offline Bitter

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #870 on: June 24, 2018, 01:34:36 PM »
Like a hot knife through butter
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Offline soccerman

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #871 on: June 24, 2018, 01:39:18 PM »
Colombia is putting on a show with their display today

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #872 on: June 24, 2018, 01:41:03 PM »
Fútbol!


Offline Deeks

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #873 on: June 24, 2018, 01:43:51 PM »
Was not expecting this score against Poland. My Polish-American co-worker go be real sad.

Offline Bitter

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #874 on: June 24, 2018, 01:54:19 PM »
The first pass sequence + goal was world class. Movement, timing, pinpoint accuracy.

Then we see the 2nd one like Ray Hudson does say, Sharp like vinegar.

But the 3rd one....  :o To even see that pass, and then execute it perfectly from inside your half...  :notworthy: :notworthy:
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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #875 on: June 24, 2018, 01:56:35 PM »
Mexico not guaranteed to advance despite sitting on 6 points. That would bun dem if dey doh move on.

Offline Bitter

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #876 on: June 24, 2018, 01:59:36 PM »
Senegal - Colombia go be pressure
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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #877 on: June 24, 2018, 02:04:26 PM »
Every time I see Cuadrado, Jose Mourinho comes to mind. Iz many very good players that man run eh. Yet, as happened today, yuh always see a glimmer of why and why he thrives elsewhere.
« Last Edit: June 24, 2018, 02:06:45 PM by asylumseeker »

Offline soccerman

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #878 on: June 24, 2018, 02:21:21 PM »
Every time I see Cuadrado, Jose Mourinho comes to mind. Iz many very good players that man run eh. Yet, as happened today, yuh always see a glimmer of why and why he thrives elsewhere.
He was in his element, you saw the joy in how he played. He and James.

Offline 100% Barataria

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #879 on: June 24, 2018, 04:05:51 PM »
Top shelf football from Colombia, how Poland was seeded is a mystery to me
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Offline pull stones

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #880 on: June 24, 2018, 08:58:15 PM »
Serves Panama right. all these Central American teams are hackers and they get away with it all too often during qualifying and to our dismay. that is the standard of concacaf and their faulty officiating.

 too many times these dirty tactics went unnoticed in the qualifying rounds where Penalties were not given for obvious fouls which were committed and the bastard referees turned a blind eye and neglected their duties, but now they saw proper officiating for the first time and that nonsense they make a living of turned around to bite them in the ass.

I saw kenwin Jones kicked pulled down and pummeled, molino bullied and fouled repeatedly, jovin kicked down and tripped up over and over yet no call. I’m surprised Costa Rica and mexico did not concede any penalties thus far, they too are a nasty bunch. good on these top shelf referees, keep these cheats honest.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2018, 05:28:26 AM by pull stones »

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #881 on: June 24, 2018, 09:49:56 PM »
Argentina in training on Sunday, June 24, 2018: a lesson in body language.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/vZ03z28buIg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/vZ03z28buIg</a>


Offline soccerman

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #882 on: June 24, 2018, 10:02:22 PM »

"Hello the Senegal team is out here clapping, chanting and dancing"

Offline Flex

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #883 on: June 25, 2018, 04:02:00 AM »
Ex-U.S. coach Bruce Arena: Panama's penalties never called in CONCACAF qualifying.
ESPN


Arena: Panama is an inferior team.

Former United States coach Bruce Arena believes the two penalties that England earned in their 6-1 World Cup rout of Panama on Sunday would not have been given in CONCACAF qualifying.

Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha awarded England a pair of penalties when Fidel Escobar and Roman Torres knocked over Jesse Lingard, and when Anibal Godoy wrestled Harry Kane to the ground. That led to two successful spot kicks by Kane as England built a 5-0 lead.

But Arena, who took over midway through the U.S.'s World Cup qualifying campaign but could not lead them to Russia, said Panama would have gotten away with the incidents back home and said sub-par refereeing in the region hurts teams when they advance to the global stage.

"The things that happened today with Panama were typical of CONCACAF competition, but they're never punished for it," Arena told the Associated Press. "In my view, the officiating hurts the progress of the region. You'd have to be hit over the head with a sledgehammer for them to call a penalty kick in CONCACAF."

CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani took Arena's criticism in stride.

"That's a bit of hyperbole from Bruce," he said. "We're always trying to improve refereeing. I think in this last qualifying, it's the best I've seen it in a long time in CONCACAF. Obviously, spoken like a true coach, Bruce has always been griping about referees."

Panama, beaten 3-0 by Belgium in their opener, looked like they did not belong on the same pitch in the first half as England, leading many to question how such a team qualified ahead of the United States.

The U.S. beat Panama 4-0 in their home qualifier but were held to a draw in Panama City. Meanwhile, Panama were able to take four points off of Costa Rica -- with the win coming in the final match after Los Ticos had already qualified -- while the U.S. lost both of their games to Costa Rica, who have also lost their first two games in Russia.

Panama ended up ahead of Honduras on goal difference and one ahead of the U.S. in the final qualifying table, and Arena said Panama's performance should not reflect on the competitive level of CONCACAF as a whole.

"Mexico is a good, solid team. So is Costa Rica. Panama is an inferior team in the competition," Arena said. "I feel strongly that we should have been the third team, but we have no one to blame but ourselves."

If Mexico moves on to the knockout rounds, 13 of 24 CONCACAF teams (54 percent) will have reached the round of 16 since 1990: Mexico seven times, the U.S. four and Costa Rica twice.

This will be CONCACAF's first World Cup since 2006 with fewer than two teams in the knockout stage, and Montagliani defended the region's record.

"I think we have a long way to go," Montagliani said. "We still rank behind only UEFA and CONMEBOL in terms of points per game in World Cups historically, but obviously now our fate in terms of a run is in the hands of Mexico."

Steve Sampson, the U.S. coach from 1995-98 said England's victory would not have come so easily had they been facing the Americans instead.

"If the United States had qualified, we would have done much better than Costa Rica and Panama," Sampson told the AP. "I know that Panama finished ahead of the United States in the qualification phase, but with all the previous experience the United States would have, I've got to believe and I do believe that they would have done much better than Costa Rica and Panama in this World Cup."

Former U.S. forward Taylor Twellman, now an ESPN analyst, told the AP that Panama's performance brought back bad memories.

"It's an extra twist of the knife,'' Twellman said. "It's another reminder that the failure to qualify is an absolute debacle."


Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Offline lefty

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #884 on: June 25, 2018, 04:23:37 AM »
In short....boohoohoowaaaaaaah!

Sent from my SM-J105B using Tapatalk

I pity the fool....

Offline pull stones

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Re: 2018 World Cup Threap
« Reply #885 on: June 25, 2018, 05:39:31 AM »
Ex-U.S. coach Bruce Arena: Panama's penalties never called in CONCACAF qualifying.
ESPN


Arena: Panama is an inferior team.

Former United States coach Bruce Arena believes the two penalties that England earned in their 6-1 World Cup rout of Panama on Sunday would not have been given in CONCACAF qualifying.

Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha awarded England a pair of penalties when Fidel Escobar and Roman Torres knocked over Jesse Lingard, and when Anibal Godoy wrestled Harry Kane to the ground. That led to two successful spot kicks by Kane as England built a 5-0 lead.

But Arena, who took over midway through the U.S.'s World Cup qualifying campaign but could not lead them to Russia, said Panama would have gotten away with the incidents back home and said sub-par refereeing in the region hurts teams when they advance to the global stage.

"The things that happened today with Panama were typical of CONCACAF competition, but they're never punished for it," Arena told the Associated Press. "In my view, the officiating hurts the progress of the region. You'd have to be hit over the head with a sledgehammer for them to call a penalty kick in CONCACAF."

CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani took Arena's criticism in stride.

"That's a bit of hyperbole from Bruce," he said. "We're always trying to improve refereeing. I think in this last qualifying, it's the best I've seen it in a long time in CONCACAF. Obviously, spoken like a true coach, Bruce has always been griping about referees."

Panama, beaten 3-0 by Belgium in their opener, looked like they did not belong on the same pitch in the first half as England, leading many to question how such a team qualified ahead of the United States.

The U.S. beat Panama 4-0 in their home qualifier but were held to a draw in Panama City. Meanwhile, Panama were able to take four points off of Costa Rica -- with the win coming in the final match after Los Ticos had already qualified -- while the U.S. lost both of their games to Costa Rica, who have also lost their first two games in Russia.

Panama ended up ahead of Honduras on goal difference and one ahead of the U.S. in the final qualifying table, and Arena said Panama's performance should not reflect on the competitive level of CONCACAF as a whole.

"Mexico is a good, solid team. So is Costa Rica. Panama is an inferior team in the competition," Arena said. "I feel strongly that we should have been the third team, but we have no one to blame but ourselves."

If Mexico moves on to the knockout rounds, 13 of 24 CONCACAF teams (54 percent) will have reached the round of 16 since 1990: Mexico seven times, the U.S. four and Costa Rica twice.

This will be CONCACAF's first World Cup since 2006 with fewer than two teams in the knockout stage, and Montagliani defended the region's record.

"I think we have a long way to go," Montagliani said. "We still rank behind only UEFA and CONMEBOL in terms of points per game in World Cups historically, but obviously now our fate in terms of a run is in the hands of Mexico."

Steve Sampson, the U.S. coach from 1995-98 said England's victory would not have come so easily had they been facing the Americans instead.

"If the United States had qualified, we would have done much better than Costa Rica and Panama," Sampson told the AP. "I know that Panama finished ahead of the United States in the qualification phase, but with all the previous experience the United States would have, I've got to believe and I do believe that they would have done much better than Costa Rica and Panama in this World Cup."

Former U.S. forward Taylor Twellman, now an ESPN analyst, told the AP that Panama's performance brought back bad memories.

"It's an extra twist of the knife,'' Twellman said. "It's another reminder that the failure to qualify is an absolute debacle."


Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
believe me when i say that i’m no Bruce arena fan, but on the piss poor levels of officiating and the state of concacaf in general, I could not have said it better myself...... Bruce was on the money here the referees in concacaf all suck save a few like mark gyger, and I think for the most part TT demise came at the hands of the referees. Bruce arena was so right in that regard.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2018, 05:50:32 AM by pull stones »

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #886 on: June 25, 2018, 08:43:38 AM »
Too easy for URU

Offline Bitter

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #887 on: June 25, 2018, 09:29:44 AM »
Do we get to call Russia a fraud before everyone else jumps on?
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Offline Bitter

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #888 on: June 25, 2018, 09:37:06 AM »
All them sour grapes from these Yankees, I need to make some wine.
Doh worry, yuh guaranteed to qualify in 2026.
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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #889 on: June 25, 2018, 10:36:53 AM »
What’s wrong with Argentina? We now value ‘balls’ more than talent
Jorge Valdano, The Guardian


So many things are wrong with Argentina we do not know what is wrong; so much is happening no one knows what is happening. You could start an article on the news pages with that same line but they fit on the sports pages too because these are turbulent times for our football. It was not always like this. For many years, football made up for our long political, social and economic decline.

There is no identifiable moment when it all started, nor one place where it began, and there is no dominant theory. What is true is that bit by bit we got further away from the ball, the one thing we loved more than the game itself. We got further from a style that used to draw us to the stadium, where we longed to shout “olé!” every time we saw someone dribble, trick an opponent, tease them; every time we saw a lightning one-two or some expression of cunning, that astuteness – that was our life. There was talent of the highest quality and in the greatest quantity and we allowed ourselves an act of genius once in a while.

Football matters to us; it allows us to feel like we are among the best in the world at something with huge popular significance. Its relevance is such that, to give but one example, through football we thought we had recovered the Malvinas in 1986 thanks to Diego Maradona, a national hero ever since. So the disaster of the national team leaves us with a feeling of neglect and emptiness that is hard to explain. How are we supposed to know what to do with football if we do not even know what to do with Lionel Messi?

Let’s go back to the start. The street was always our school, which had the great virtue of teaching us the trade, giving football a cultural weight and developing and celebrating players who were different. But the street as a formative stage has gone and no one has known how to replace it with an educational model like those in countries such as Germany or Spain. We always had too little money, organisational ability and vision – and, in our arrogance, too much confidence in our status as a predestined footballing power.

On top of that, an imperious, almost delirious need to win overcame the enjoyment of playing. The desire to win at all costs sweeps away your values. Dividing the world into winners and losers is an illness that infected football at a formative stage.

At the same time a passion for football was overcome by a passion for a team, as if a society that has become ever more individualistic needed something to reconnect it with tribal feeling. Turning clubs into mini-nations constructs an identity, a community that must be defended as a matter of life and death. In the stands violence took over; on the pitch, we said goodbye to the olés and welcomed in a world where huevos – balls – are more important than talent.

We saw that against Croatia. People were shouting at the players to show more huevos and sitting in the stands Diego expressed that by grabbing his testicles. Yes, Diego: the man who represented better than anyone else the best of what we had, our former style. That desire to fight turns every game in the Argentinian league into an indecipherable swarm like an ants’ nest, where someone kicks it and everyone runs more than they think, and where in the middle of it all it can be hard to work out who the good player is.

There are other variables in the equation: economic crisis, institutional chaos, televised football as a political weapon, corruption at all levels among those who run the game. The world did not help either: globalisation made us an export economy in which any player, however mediocre, is three goals away from being sold abroad. This premature escape, our footballing diaspora, saw us lose one of the great teachers: emulation. Maradona is a purely Argentinian product; Messi is a mix of his origins in Argentina and his development and completion in Barcelona.

Nor do I want to overlook something of great importance: the mediocrity of the debate, where a base crassness more suited to bad actors than good journalists bastardises the play and denigrates players. This infernal racket conditions everything, a deafening noise that surrounds everything and made the Argentinian people believe that if Messi does not win a World Cup he will never be Maradona; that made Messi himself believe it.

hirty-three titles later, Messi has taken that message to heart and when the World Cup starts he becomes a tortured soul who carries the fierce demands of 45 million people on his shoulders. And yet it’s not true: Messi has defended Argentina’s footballing pride like no one else for 15 years now and he has done so with an astonishing, scandalous consistency. But that perception became received wisdom and Messi is treated as if he was any old player by journalists who demand an excellence from him they cannot even dream of.

In Russia, it has all come together. The crisis of talent. (Did we really only find out on the day Croatia put three past us that we do not have anyone comparable to Luka Modric or Ivan Rakitic?). The lack of leadership. (Is there really no one around the national team who can shake them out of it with words worthy of the impending crisis?) The vulgarity and paucity of the debate. (Have we really forgotten what it was that made us great?) We have to evolve and after the tournament we must begin a revolution in education that can return our lost prestige. We have the genetics that can help us, a history that can propel us, a pride that will give us energy and strength. But education requires time, not haste, and in Argentina we have all lost patience and calm. How can we come up with an urgent solution with problems of such magnitude?

As we wait to play Nigeria, the team appear lost, the rumours about internal conflicts spreading, and no one knows what is going on inside the head of Messi – one of the best-known men in the world but whose silences no one can interpret. If Argentina think their problems will be resolved by appealing to courage and fight, their emotional and footballing collapse will follow and with it their discipline. We will finish the third game with someone sent off, a red card to add to the disaster.

The decline begins with culture, and we have to recognise the lads gave all the huevos the fans demanded. But huevos are not enough. To wear down a team like Iceland, to overcome a great team like Croatia and to confront Nigeria’s sense of adventure, we will need all the qualities and the values that Argentinian football has lost along the way. Skill, quality, fantasy, cunning, precision; we need to bring that together in a style that can create a collective conviction, an identity, capable of turning this disperse group into a team. Not even a genius can make up for so many failings. Still less, a genius who is dispirited.

Jorge Valdano scored for Argentina in the 3-2 win over West Germany in the 1986 World Cup final and managed Real Madrid 1994-96.

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #890 on: June 25, 2018, 10:47:16 AM »
Check out this woman's eyes and hands once Baloy decides to give his shirt away.  :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Offline Bitter

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #891 on: June 25, 2018, 12:12:52 PM »
Iran goalie... :nailbiting: :praying:
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Offline Bitter

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #892 on: June 25, 2018, 12:48:05 PM »
Hard luck dey
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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #893 on: June 25, 2018, 12:58:29 PM »
Sweet goal though

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #894 on: June 25, 2018, 01:11:06 PM »
S***hong!
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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #895 on: June 25, 2018, 01:25:31 PM »
What’s wrong with Argentina? We now value ‘balls’ more than talent
Jorge Valdano, The Guardian


So many things are wrong with Argentina we do not know what is wrong; so much is happening no one knows what is happening. You could start an article on the news pages with that same line but they fit on the sports pages too because these are turbulent times for our football. It was not always like this. For many years, football made up for our long political, social and economic decline.

There is no identifiable moment when it all started, nor one place where it began, and there is no dominant theory. What is true is that bit by bit we got further away from the ball, the one thing we loved more than the game itself. We got further from a style that used to draw us to the stadium, where we longed to shout “olé!” every time we saw someone dribble, trick an opponent, tease them; every time we saw a lightning one-two or some expression of cunning, that astuteness – that was our life. There was talent of the highest quality and in the greatest quantity and we allowed ourselves an act of genius once in a while.

Football matters to us; it allows us to feel like we are among the best in the world at something with huge popular significance. Its relevance is such that, to give but one example, through football we thought we had recovered the Malvinas in 1986 thanks to Diego Maradona, a national hero ever since. So the disaster of the national team leaves us with a feeling of neglect and emptiness that is hard to explain. How are we supposed to know what to do with football if we do not even know what to do with Lionel Messi?

Let’s go back to the start. The street was always our school, which had the great virtue of teaching us the trade, giving football a cultural weight and developing and celebrating players who were different. But the street as a formative stage has gone and no one has known how to replace it with an educational model like those in countries such as Germany or Spain. We always had too little money, organisational ability and vision – and, in our arrogance, too much confidence in our status as a predestined footballing power.

On top of that, an imperious, almost delirious need to win overcame the enjoyment of playing. The desire to win at all costs sweeps away your values. Dividing the world into winners and losers is an illness that infected football at a formative stage.

At the same time a passion for football was overcome by a passion for a team, as if a society that has become ever more individualistic needed something to reconnect it with tribal feeling. Turning clubs into mini-nations constructs an identity, a community that must be defended as a matter of life and death. In the stands violence took over; on the pitch, we said goodbye to the olés and welcomed in a world where huevos – balls – are more important than talent.

We saw that against Croatia. People were shouting at the players to show more huevos and sitting in the stands Diego expressed that by grabbing his testicles. Yes, Diego: the man who represented better than anyone else the best of what we had, our former style. That desire to fight turns every game in the Argentinian league into an indecipherable swarm like an ants’ nest, where someone kicks it and everyone runs more than they think, and where in the middle of it all it can be hard to work out who the good player is.

There are other variables in the equation: economic crisis, institutional chaos, televised football as a political weapon, corruption at all levels among those who run the game. The world did not help either: globalisation made us an export economy in which any player, however mediocre, is three goals away from being sold abroad. This premature escape, our footballing diaspora, saw us lose one of the great teachers: emulation. Maradona is a purely Argentinian product; Messi is a mix of his origins in Argentina and his development and completion in Barcelona.

Nor do I want to overlook something of great importance: the mediocrity of the debate, where a base crassness more suited to bad actors than good journalists bastardises the play and denigrates players. This infernal racket conditions everything, a deafening noise that surrounds everything and made the Argentinian people believe that if Messi does not win a World Cup he will never be Maradona; that made Messi himself believe it.

hirty-three titles later, Messi has taken that message to heart and when the World Cup starts he becomes a tortured soul who carries the fierce demands of 45 million people on his shoulders. And yet it’s not true: Messi has defended Argentina’s footballing pride like no one else for 15 years now and he has done so with an astonishing, scandalous consistency. But that perception became received wisdom and Messi is treated as if he was any old player by journalists who demand an excellence from him they cannot even dream of.

In Russia, it has all come together. The crisis of talent. (Did we really only find out on the day Croatia put three past us that we do not have anyone comparable to Luka Modric or Ivan Rakitic?). The lack of leadership. (Is there really no one around the national team who can shake them out of it with words worthy of the impending crisis?) The vulgarity and paucity of the debate. (Have we really forgotten what it was that made us great?) We have to evolve and after the tournament we must begin a revolution in education that can return our lost prestige. We have the genetics that can help us, a history that can propel us, a pride that will give us energy and strength. But education requires time, not haste, and in Argentina we have all lost patience and calm. How can we come up with an urgent solution with problems of such magnitude?

As we wait to play Nigeria, the team appear lost, the rumours about internal conflicts spreading, and no one knows what is going on inside the head of Messi – one of the best-known men in the world but whose silences no one can interpret. If Argentina think their problems will be resolved by appealing to courage and fight, their emotional and footballing collapse will follow and with it their discipline. We will finish the third game with someone sent off, a red card to add to the disaster.

The decline begins with culture, and we have to recognise the lads gave all the huevos the fans demanded. But huevos are not enough. To wear down a team like Iceland, to overcome a great team like Croatia and to confront Nigeria’s sense of adventure, we will need all the qualities and the values that Argentinian football has lost along the way. Skill, quality, fantasy, cunning, precision; we need to bring that together in a style that can create a collective conviction, an identity, capable of turning this disperse group into a team. Not even a genius can make up for so many failings. Still less, a genius who is dispirited.

Jorge Valdano scored for Argentina in the 3-2 win over West Germany in the 1986 World Cup final and managed Real Madrid 1994-96.

What a fantastic article!  Thank you for sharing  :beermug:
Carlos "The Rolls Royce" Edwards

Offline Bitter

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #896 on: June 25, 2018, 01:57:10 PM »
Nah man, VAR wouldn't mess up the game....

That was no penalty!
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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #897 on: June 25, 2018, 02:01:35 PM »
VAR saved Spain

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #898 on: June 25, 2018, 02:12:31 PM »
Nah man, VAR wouldn't mess up the game....

That was no penalty!

I was quite disgusted with the use of VAR in these games but now after a moment, I realize that VAR isn't bad. Is the referees is still shit!
THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES

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Re: 2018 World Cup Thread
« Reply #899 on: June 25, 2018, 02:18:27 PM »
Nah man, VAR wouldn't mess up the game....

That was no penalty!

I was quite disgusted with the use of VAR in these games but now after a moment, I realize that VAR isn't bad. Is the referees is still shit!

ent!

They still need lessons in what is a foul and what is a handball.
Bitter is a supercalifragilistic tic-tac-pro

 

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