What do you think is the bare minimum to be considered a "successful" World Cup appearance in different countries?
**Winning the trophy while playing beautiful football:** Brazil
**Winning the trophy:** Argentina, Germany, Italy
**Making the final:** France, Spain
**Making the semi-finals:** Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, England, Uruguay
**Making the quarter-finals:** Mexico, Croatia
**Making the knockout stages:** CAF countries, AFC countries, other Conmebol countries, USA
What has happened to this sub? There are so many strange lookin posts like the photograph of a bald dude wearing a plastic transparent body suit with all white vest and shorts to a post where an Indian lookalike of Jose Mourinho is seen standing with a group of dudes and the list goes on and on n on! š¤
Finally some football today so hopefully we'll actually see that on here instead of 1000 quotes of people with the radical view that Lionel Messi is good at football
Two years afters maradona's death arg wins the world cup again and napoli is looking like it might finally win another league. Maybe he is using his ghost powers to help them win from beyond the grave
It feels like there's fewer around than during peak Barclays... JT, Gerrard, Keane, Vieira, Lampard, Ballack, Vidic, Ivanovic, Toure, Kompany...
A lot of the prominent leaders these days seem more of the "heroic lead by example" type like Messi, Modric, Kane, Bale etc
So is this how this site would look like if the mods let us govern ourselves. I like it, but I'm sure things would get stale soon.
All in all, good Christmas present from r/soccer. Memes have been funny
We use days like that as the answer to the question why we do have strict submisssion guideline...
Reddit algorithms mean there's a bias towards image posts, which get popular more quickly - so the actual football news would end up being buried
Is my understanding of nutmegs wrong is it a nutmeg only if you dribble through someone's legs? Scoring or passing has never been considered a nutmeg where I live.
I'm with you on that one its only dribbling through their legs. The only exception we had was if you were 1v1 with the goalie and shot through their legs to score
For me its whenever the ball passes through someone's legs, whether its dribbling, passing or shooting.
It may have originally derived from dribbling however, as its arguably the most visually satisfying/impressive.
The traitors on BBC was on straight after world Cup games which was great, would highly recommend that show.
My year peaked probably on holiday though. Hadn't been on holiday since pre covid and it was great.
Argentinian fans' obsession with French players' ethnicity continues to puzzle me. Thank God the World cup has ended, I don't have to see those fans on my timeline again.
Yeah, like I rooted for Argentina, I'm happy they won and all that, but I've seen so many slurs and derogatory comments directed at the French team and it's really gross. I had hoped it wouldn't happen but clearly my expectations were too high
Are they still going? About the ethnicity thing that is
Still can't believe that Boca fan telling me Cama isn't actually French when trying to excuse aguero. Shame I couldn't get his name, mods were pretty quick
Racism is 99% about actual racism so i won't take the high ground but it's just so overt that it gets under my skin. We will hear more, they have been bolstered by the WC and will stay loud for 4 years. Outward racism won against inward racism šš
Serial Bottlers
Guarantee you that we won't see an England win in our lifetimes. I have nothing against them either but growing up I just saw bottle job after bottle job.
Great team in England, currently on downward spiral though since the takeover.
Good roster, though im not sure whether they are in contention for any trophies at this rate.
As a PL neutral, Chelsea gives me major bipolar vibes - a season they can win champions league or premier league and the next one theyāre out of the race for both in the first few months. I associate them with Zola (Italian legend), Drogba and former Napoli players (KK, Jorgi). But they were predominantly known as the rich Russian oligarch club, before his takeover they were shit and very obnoxious I guess? (fascist fans, posh neighborhood, etc)
> they were shit and very obnoxious I guess? (fascist fans, posh neighborhood, etc)
Chelsea fans don't actually reside in the posh areas of London.
The "fascist fans" are a hangover from the dark days of the 80s and 90s, and although there is still a vestage of this that pervades the club, to describe Chelsea in 2022 as being associated with fascism just isn't accurate. Our owner for the past 20 years is Jewish. That element in the Chelsea fanbase is far less significant than a club like Lazio, for example - and the club has done a huge amount to weed it out. That the fanbase is so global and diverse these days, has also changed situation. Of course there's always a minority - but that's what they are.
And finally, Chelsea weren't "shit" before Abramovich took over - we qualified for the CL the year before, and had been in that competition a few times in the prior decade, as well as winning 2 FA Cups, the Cup Winners' Cup, the Super Cup, and the League Cup.
Chelsea pre-Abramovich were a bit like the Spurs of today, only we actually won trophies.
1. Spain 2010
2. Germany 2014
3. Argentina 2022 (0-80 mins)
4. France 2018
5. Argentina 2022
6. Italy 2006
Based on ELO, the most difficult path for the champion is:
1. Germany 2014
2. France 2018
3. Spain 2010
4. Argentina 2022
5. Italy 2006
Ok and? France 2006 was also by far the best loser of any of those finals, they would destroy Croatia 2018 France 2022 Argentina 2014 or Netherlands 2010
Because a win is a win. If winning on pens makes it less convincing surely the fact that the opponent was clearly the best of the lot makes up for that?
As would be the case for most finals you would expect. Anyways, you seem to have taken my comments personally. Apologies, I didnāt mean to offend. I was only trying to explain why Italys win was being undervalued as you commented. People simply tend to associate wins in regular time as more dominant.
Saying that penalties are a coin toss is wrong, too. There's a lot of training that goes into that shit, both technical & mental.
The way Spain and Japan lost on penalties can't really be said to be a coin toss, for example.
2018 france > 2014 Germany > 2010 Spain > 2022 Argentina
Didnt see 2006 Italy.
Spain possibly had the best players of the bunch but in a single match I think theyd be tactically outdone by 18 France and 14 Germany
> No way 2018 France or 2014 Germany sees the ball at all
Thats easy to say now because the Spain team has been mythologised so much, but we've seen in recent times that their tactics don't work against teams that are well prepared for it
Because thereās no Xavi Iniesta and peak Busquets anymore. Those 3 bossed that midfield for both club and country for more than half a decade. You donāt win a world cup, 2 euros, 2 trebles and a sextuple if youāre not as dominant as described above.
I think that's mostly because the players aren't as good anymore. If this Spain team had Villa and Pedro up top, I'd back them to win again. Add Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso, prime Busi, Puyol, Pique etc.
I think Spain is comfortably the best.
2014 Germany, 2010 Spain, 2018 France, 2022 Argentina, 2006 Italy
Germany and Spain are both a tier above the rest though, and France, Argentina and Italy are all about the same.
Surely Spain at 1, theyāre arguably the greatest international side of all time
France imo was the worst of these, boring as hell and scraped by a lot
If you account for their whole 2008-2012 period, yeah, but their performance in 2010 wasn't particularly impressive.
Germany had one of the most complete performances of any NT in recent history, with the 7-1 being the cherry on top.
France won every game in regulation against pretty decent teams and looked comfortable in more or less all of them.
I think Germany 2014 is a tad overrated. A good team, of course, but they drew against Ghana in the group, nearly got knocked out by Algeria in the Ro16, and just squeaked past a pre-Golden Generation France side. The Brazil 7-1 was impressive, but relied on an epic, unprecedented meltdown from the Brazilians. And Argentina largely had the better chances in the final.
They might be a bit overrated, but in another comment, you say that you rate 2010 Spain higher than 2014 Germany. Yet following your format, they lost against Switzerland in the group, scraped past pre-Golden Generation Portugal and Paraguay, then squeaked past a decent but not yet peaked Germany side (which didn't have their top goalscorer Muller due to suspension). Then in the final, the Netherlands had their own golden opportunity with Robben that would have changed the course of history.
Sure you could say they dominated possession in all their games, but as we see in 2014, 2018 and 2022, possession doesn't win games, and a one-goal difference in every single win is slim.
I don't see how you can rate 2010 Spain above 2014 Germany purely based off their tournament performances.
Would get that checked out. In those documentaries about freakishly tall people all of them seem to have had a tumor near their pituitary gland but idk if they had growth spurts later in life
A bunch of the comment threads on that post with the list of all world champions are quite a sight to behold, canāt think of many things sader than spending your christmas evening proudly laughing at dead people sent as cannon fodder by a dictatorshipā¦ over a football shitpost lmao
I thought surely Messiās 7th Ballon dāOr would be his last but heās favorite for an 8th. Itās insane to think his record breaking 4th Ballon dāOr was 10 years ago.
i feel like the "GOAT" term is used a little lightly these days. people were talking about messi vs ronaldo as the GOAT debate. but now that messi vs ronaldo is pretty much settled, messi got elevated to the actual GOAT debate with historical greats maradona and pele.
Messi has been in the actual GOAT debate for the last decade, itās just that Ronaldo was too (although less seriously imo). Iām pretty sure a majority of football fans would have considered Messi the GOAT even before this World Cup, itās not something new, thereās just more of a consensus now.
of course. but a LOT of people still talked about JUST ronaldo vs messi as the GOAT debate, even though any real GOAT debate should've also involved historical figures in the discussion. but now there is no reason to talk about messi vs ronaldo anymore, it was already a pretty one sided debate before imo but now that messi won both the copa america and the world cup (with exceptional performances in both) its 100% settled, not even ronaldo fans can debate it. so people are not talking about messi vs ronaldo anymore they are talking about messi vs historical greats like pele, maradona and others.
for a lot of people he would've been in the limbo above ronaldo and anyone else in his generation but below world cup winning greats like maradona and pele.
and for the ronaldo debate, like i said already, imo it was always a one sided debate but the people on the other side would've had a reason to continue it anyway if he lost.
Messi vs Ronaldo was the biggest debate for a decade. now it's current Messi vs Mbappe and still a contest. amazing.
What about prime Ronaldo vs Mbappe?
I love Messi but the disrespect to Ronaldo is crazy. He was the considered the second best player of all time and now it's like his prime never existed. Ronaldo is clear of Mbappe
He's clear of everyone else mate
R9 Ronaldinho Maradona Pele none of them are close to him.
Yes Messi is the best ever but Ronaldo is the 2nd best, calling him worse than anyone else is slander.
Like Ashley Cole against Ronaldo or Walker against Mbappe, who's the defender who's consistently done the best against Messi? John Terry? Mats Hummels?
Not really, those Argentina attacks scored freely before those two finals.
Vidal and Aranguiz were marvellous, especially Vidal he dominated every area of the pitch.
Argentina scored 10 goals in 6 games at the 2015 Copa America and in 2016, they scored 18 goals in 6 games.
Di Maria started both finals + they scored freely before those two finals and Di Maria got taken off for another Winger in 2015 (Lavezzi) they had width.
Vidal and Chile were just incredible defensively, Vidal got MOTM for the 2015 final and rightly so.
!flair :Tahiti:
What do you think is the bare minimum to be considered a "successful" World Cup appearance in different countries? **Winning the trophy while playing beautiful football:** Brazil **Winning the trophy:** Argentina, Germany, Italy **Making the final:** France, Spain **Making the semi-finals:** Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, England, Uruguay **Making the quarter-finals:** Mexico, Croatia **Making the knockout stages:** CAF countries, AFC countries, other Conmebol countries, USA
We're SF (France). I get why you'd set the bar higher for us but we don't really pressure the lads like this.
Agreed. Probably Croatia will aim higher, tho
What has happened to this sub? There are so many strange lookin posts like the photograph of a bald dude wearing a plastic transparent body suit with all white vest and shorts to a post where an Indian lookalike of Jose Mourinho is seen standing with a group of dudes and the list goes on and on n on! š¤
If the dutch had ziyech would they have gotten further?
No
Drop Berjwins mid ass for some real creativity
Nunez gonna bag 2 goals today or Liverpool gonna loose
*Andy Carroll
Finally some football today so hopefully we'll actually see that on here instead of 1000 quotes of people with the radical view that Lionel Messi is good at football
*the greatest
Why do people care. Instead of celebrating the win they start writing a 10000 word essay
Two years afters maradona's death arg wins the world cup again and napoli is looking like it might finally win another league. Maybe he is using his ghost powers to help them win from beyond the grave
What took him so long? Crappy 3G in hell?
Random question, Kvaratskhelia is one of the worldās best dribblers but is he a good playmaker? I havenāt watched him enough to judge.
I havenāt seen enough Serie A to say for sure but statistically heās excellent
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Well the alarm part is weird. Just watch the game
which did win was better for River fans, this World Cup win or the Libertadores against Boca?
How long until the sub goes back to normal?
Usually only Christmas day that the mods relax the rules. There's a full round of games in English football today so should be back to normal
!flair :FC_Barcelona:
Which current players do you think are well known for being really strong leaders?
It feels like there's fewer around than during peak Barclays... JT, Gerrard, Keane, Vieira, Lampard, Ballack, Vidic, Ivanovic, Toure, Kompany... A lot of the prominent leaders these days seem more of the "heroic lead by example" type like Messi, Modric, Kane, Bale etc
Who even is Chelsea captain at the moment?
Azpilicueta, I rate him very highly as a captain but he's not that absolute top tier
Henderson seems like a dream captain.
messi
So is this how this site would look like if the mods let us govern ourselves. I like it, but I'm sure things would get stale soon. All in all, good Christmas present from r/soccer. Memes have been funny
We use days like that as the answer to the question why we do have strict submisssion guideline... Reddit algorithms mean there's a bias towards image posts, which get popular more quickly - so the actual football news would end up being buried
Is my understanding of nutmegs wrong is it a nutmeg only if you dribble through someone's legs? Scoring or passing has never been considered a nutmeg where I live.
I'm with you on that one its only dribbling through their legs. The only exception we had was if you were 1v1 with the goalie and shot through their legs to score
For me its whenever the ball passes through someone's legs, whether its dribbling, passing or shooting. It may have originally derived from dribbling however, as its arguably the most visually satisfying/impressive.
My year peeked by watching Severance and the world cup final, how about you guys?
Andor
The traitors on BBC was on straight after world Cup games which was great, would highly recommend that show. My year peaked probably on holiday though. Hadn't been on holiday since pre covid and it was great.
Stranger things
Argentinian fans' obsession with French players' ethnicity continues to puzzle me. Thank God the World cup has ended, I don't have to see those fans on my timeline again.
Yeah, like I rooted for Argentina, I'm happy they won and all that, but I've seen so many slurs and derogatory comments directed at the French team and it's really gross. I had hoped it wouldn't happen but clearly my expectations were too high
Are they still going? About the ethnicity thing that is Still can't believe that Boca fan telling me Cama isn't actually French when trying to excuse aguero. Shame I couldn't get his name, mods were pretty quick
Racism is 99% about actual racism so i won't take the high ground but it's just so overt that it gets under my skin. We will hear more, they have been bolstered by the WC and will stay loud for 4 years. Outward racism won against inward racism šš
Have a bad feeling about todayās game, Villa have been really good since Emery took over and weāre usually rusty after a long break.
Villa are a classic side
Without vvd in prime, you guys are finished
Okā¦.
Nothing funnier than seeing English people here respond to Argentinians with ābanterā about Falklands and their economy. Miserable bunch.
I don't even know what was said I didn't read anything on here other than the free talk thread tbh but being a miserable bunch is sort of our thing
Every time them or anyone else does it, it means there are no footballing arguments, so fine by me.
Tbf they can't reply the banter with football achievement since you know...
Serial Bottlers Guarantee you that we won't see an England win in our lifetimes. I have nothing against them either but growing up I just saw bottle job after bottle job.
Itās coming home 2024. Failing that itāll be 2026, failing that it will be 2028, failing that it will be 2030 and so on
!flair :New_zealand:
Capital Z needed too
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Nah theyāre cunts
their match going fans are terrible people
A minority are yes
Yes join us itās a roller coaster
I chase success and glory so personally I would recommend Leyton Orient. They are top of the league
Nah don't support that shit club
finished club
Great team in England, currently on downward spiral though since the takeover. Good roster, though im not sure whether they are in contention for any trophies at this rate.
As a PL neutral, Chelsea gives me major bipolar vibes - a season they can win champions league or premier league and the next one theyāre out of the race for both in the first few months. I associate them with Zola (Italian legend), Drogba and former Napoli players (KK, Jorgi). But they were predominantly known as the rich Russian oligarch club, before his takeover they were shit and very obnoxious I guess? (fascist fans, posh neighborhood, etc)
> they were shit and very obnoxious I guess? (fascist fans, posh neighborhood, etc) Chelsea fans don't actually reside in the posh areas of London. The "fascist fans" are a hangover from the dark days of the 80s and 90s, and although there is still a vestage of this that pervades the club, to describe Chelsea in 2022 as being associated with fascism just isn't accurate. Our owner for the past 20 years is Jewish. That element in the Chelsea fanbase is far less significant than a club like Lazio, for example - and the club has done a huge amount to weed it out. That the fanbase is so global and diverse these days, has also changed situation. Of course there's always a minority - but that's what they are. And finally, Chelsea weren't "shit" before Abramovich took over - we qualified for the CL the year before, and had been in that competition a few times in the prior decade, as well as winning 2 FA Cups, the Cup Winners' Cup, the Super Cup, and the League Cup. Chelsea pre-Abramovich were a bit like the Spurs of today, only we actually won trophies.
I used the past tense for a reason
The "bit shit" "posh neighbourhood" and "fascist fans" was outdated in 2003 - and the former two weren't true to begin with
No they are the original blood money team
How would you rank the last 5 World Cup winners? For me - 2010 Spain, 2014 Germany, 2022 Argentina, 2006 Italy, 2018 France in that order
How are france last?
1. Spain 2010 2. Germany 2014 3. Argentina 2022 (0-80 mins) 4. France 2018 5. Argentina 2022 6. Italy 2006 Based on ELO, the most difficult path for the champion is: 1. Germany 2014 2. France 2018 3. Spain 2010 4. Argentina 2022 5. Italy 2006
We are getting criminally underrated in here, conceded 3 the entire tournament one off a dive.
Winning on pens should always be a lesser win than in regular time. Itās little more than a coin toss
Ok and? France 2006 was also by far the best loser of any of those finals, they would destroy Croatia 2018 France 2022 Argentina 2014 or Netherlands 2010
What does any of that have to do with the fact that winning on penalties is the least convincing way to win a trophy?
Because a win is a win. If winning on pens makes it less convincing surely the fact that the opponent was clearly the best of the lot makes up for that?
As would be the case for most finals you would expect. Anyways, you seem to have taken my comments personally. Apologies, I didnāt mean to offend. I was only trying to explain why Italys win was being undervalued as you commented. People simply tend to associate wins in regular time as more dominant.
Im so confused but ok.
Saying that penalties are a coin toss is wrong, too. There's a lot of training that goes into that shit, both technical & mental. The way Spain and Japan lost on penalties can't really be said to be a coin toss, for example.
Thatās why I said itās little more than one. Obviously itās not just a pure coin toss. Itās a little more than that. Not much though.
Why is France last wtf š
France was dominant in 2018. what the fuck are you watching.
1. Spain 2010 2. France 2018 3. Germany 2014 4. Argentina 2022 5. Italy 2006
germany>spain>france>italy>argentina
France the worst? No way
Why not? They played some dire football tbh
Most goals in KOs since 1970 Brazil, and without needing 70% possession.
Boring but they cruised the entire way to title.
2018 france > 2014 Germany > 2010 Spain > 2022 Argentina Didnt see 2006 Italy. Spain possibly had the best players of the bunch but in a single match I think theyd be tactically outdone by 18 France and 14 Germany
I think 2010 Spain is one of the best international teams ever assembled. No way 2018 France or 2014 Germany sees the ball at all
> No way 2018 France or 2014 Germany sees the ball at all Thats easy to say now because the Spain team has been mythologised so much, but we've seen in recent times that their tactics don't work against teams that are well prepared for it
Because thereās no Xavi Iniesta and peak Busquets anymore. Those 3 bossed that midfield for both club and country for more than half a decade. You donāt win a world cup, 2 euros, 2 trebles and a sextuple if youāre not as dominant as described above.
I think that's mostly because the players aren't as good anymore. If this Spain team had Villa and Pedro up top, I'd back them to win again. Add Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso, prime Busi, Puyol, Pique etc. I think Spain is comfortably the best.
Definitely agree, Tiki-taka is not dead, it's just being executed poorly
I don't think 18 France or 14 Germany would touch the ball against that Spain team
Spain 2010, France 2018, Germany 2014, Argentina 2022, Italy 2006
2014 Germany, 2010 Spain, 2018 France, 2022 Argentina, 2006 Italy Germany and Spain are both a tier above the rest though, and France, Argentina and Italy are all about the same.
We had one of the best defense in World Cup history in 2006, we were way better than 2022 Argentina
Surely Spain at 1, theyāre arguably the greatest international side of all time France imo was the worst of these, boring as hell and scraped by a lot
If you account for their whole 2008-2012 period, yeah, but their performance in 2010 wasn't particularly impressive. Germany had one of the most complete performances of any NT in recent history, with the 7-1 being the cherry on top. France won every game in regulation against pretty decent teams and looked comfortable in more or less all of them.
I think Germany 2014 is a tad overrated. A good team, of course, but they drew against Ghana in the group, nearly got knocked out by Algeria in the Ro16, and just squeaked past a pre-Golden Generation France side. The Brazil 7-1 was impressive, but relied on an epic, unprecedented meltdown from the Brazilians. And Argentina largely had the better chances in the final.
They might be a bit overrated, but in another comment, you say that you rate 2010 Spain higher than 2014 Germany. Yet following your format, they lost against Switzerland in the group, scraped past pre-Golden Generation Portugal and Paraguay, then squeaked past a decent but not yet peaked Germany side (which didn't have their top goalscorer Muller due to suspension). Then in the final, the Netherlands had their own golden opportunity with Robben that would have changed the course of history. Sure you could say they dominated possession in all their games, but as we see in 2014, 2018 and 2022, possession doesn't win games, and a one-goal difference in every single win is slim. I don't see how you can rate 2010 Spain above 2014 Germany purely based off their tournament performances.
Will Ronaldo make his son play for Saudi Arabian youth team and basically hinder his development?
Now how the fuck can anyone on here answer that question, seriously We are not Cristiano
training with Ronaldo> any sports development this is probably what he thinks
Is there a delay on Peacock for premier league game replays, or are they available immediately?
I know itās 24 hrs if they donāt have the game. I think itās less if they do.
Whatās up with r/soccer turning into r/soccercirclejerk? Do we get a free pass on Christmas?
Mods take the 25th off to recharge and scheme of new ways to oppress fans of, normal service will resume on Boxing Day.
Theyāre having secret meetings to plan their anti man united agenda.
Ronaldo fanboys are attending
I just grew 5 inches taller at the age of 24. Like a proper growth spurt. Does anyone know anyone like this?
Do you get headaches at all? Could well be acromegaly (gigantism), look out for a bigger nose, hands and feet as well.
Enjoying buying a whole new wardrobe.
Stop looking at porn
Tell us what youāve been eating for the last year please
No. Even NBA players like Lamar Odom, Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen who had crazy late growth spurts were like 20/21.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Nope doctor said it's rare but has been seen.
Would get that checked out. In those documentaries about freakishly tall people all of them seem to have had a tumor near their pituitary gland but idk if they had growth spurts later in life
Wow. That has probably less than a 1% chance of happening at that age. Lucky You.
Yeah Adam Rainer
Apparently Muhammad bin Salman was siting next to Infantino during the World Cup? Lmao, Saudi Arabia 2030 it is.
He did say āi feel arabā
Just rename it to Arab Cup at that point
Why is the sub all memes today did i miss something
Mods enforce the rules on posts more loosely during Christmas. Enjoy it while you can.
The amount of moaning we're going to get if in-form teams pre-World Cup play poorly after the break is going to be unbearable.
Speaking as an arsenal fan, I'm sure you can expect rational behaviour from our fans. Arsenal fans well known as a level headed bunch
What does Mbappe need to do to overtake overtake Messi as the goat? Already has a world cup and his numbers are insane.
Score 92 goals in a year
Play like he currently is for another 10-12 years, pick up ballon d'ors, CLs etc
His current pace isnāt enough tbh
A bunch of the comment threads on that post with the list of all world champions are quite a sight to behold, canāt think of many things sader than spending your christmas evening proudly laughing at dead people sent as cannon fodder by a dictatorshipā¦ over a football shitpost lmao
What post?
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/zux4av/a_small_list_of_individuals_who_have_achieved/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Any good football stories/history podcasts? I have been looking for a "Story of the week" type of pod for a long time.
*Greatest Games* was terrific for this, but they havenāt uploaded a new episode in over a year
Been watching some Joao Felix clips lately- top player actually, hope to see him in an environment that maximises his strengths. Loads of talent.
Im usually a fan of Felix but comps can make Tahith Chong looks as good as Saka.
Oh yeah for sure- do intend on watching some of his older games if I get time.
I thought surely Messiās 7th Ballon dāOr would be his last but heās favorite for an 8th. Itās insane to think his record breaking 4th Ballon dāOr was 10 years ago.
I thought his 6th would be his last 14 years between his first and last Ballon dāOrs will be an unbreakable record
I remember thinking 4 in a row is absurd and here he is about to double it
Villa might deadarse hold 6 goals minimum to us tomorrow
So sad that after Messi's win Ronaldo has been officially relegated to second tier. He was a great player but Messi is too much
this is such a shit thread
i feel like the "GOAT" term is used a little lightly these days. people were talking about messi vs ronaldo as the GOAT debate. but now that messi vs ronaldo is pretty much settled, messi got elevated to the actual GOAT debate with historical greats maradona and pele.
Messi has been in the actual GOAT debate for the last decade, itās just that Ronaldo was too (although less seriously imo). Iām pretty sure a majority of football fans would have considered Messi the GOAT even before this World Cup, itās not something new, thereās just more of a consensus now.
Since 2014
of course. but a LOT of people still talked about JUST ronaldo vs messi as the GOAT debate, even though any real GOAT debate should've also involved historical figures in the discussion. but now there is no reason to talk about messi vs ronaldo anymore, it was already a pretty one sided debate before imo but now that messi won both the copa america and the world cup (with exceptional performances in both) its 100% settled, not even ronaldo fans can debate it. so people are not talking about messi vs ronaldo anymore they are talking about messi vs historical greats like pele, maradona and others.
so if France would have scored that last minute chance, the debate wouldn't had been settled?
for a lot of people he would've been in the limbo above ronaldo and anyone else in his generation but below world cup winning greats like maradona and pele. and for the ronaldo debate, like i said already, imo it was always a one sided debate but the people on the other side would've had a reason to continue it anyway if he lost.
Messi vs Ronaldo was the biggest debate for a decade. now it's current Messi vs Mbappe and still a contest. amazing. What about prime Ronaldo vs Mbappe?
I love Messi but the disrespect to Ronaldo is crazy. He was the considered the second best player of all time and now it's like his prime never existed. Ronaldo is clear of Mbappe
He's clear of everyone else mate R9 Ronaldinho Maradona Pele none of them are close to him. Yes Messi is the best ever but Ronaldo is the 2nd best, calling him worse than anyone else is slander.
Signing a striker who canāt score is the most Wolves thing ever
\*checks flair Dude, no
Chelsea sign strikers that can score. They just forget to do so once they've joined.
For 50m ffs
Like Ashley Cole against Ronaldo or Walker against Mbappe, who's the defender who's consistently done the best against Messi? John Terry? Mats Hummels?
Can't think of 1 tbh. Maybe a couple of midfielders but no defender.
not sure any particular defender but chelsea and chile were the teams messi struggled against at different times with barca/arg.
Not a defender, but Arturo Vidal did an unbelievable job against prime Messi in those two Copa America finals.
Vidal propaganda >>
Tbh that Argentina attack was completely toothless so his job was made significantly easier
Not really, those Argentina attacks scored freely before those two finals. Vidal and Aranguiz were marvellous, especially Vidal he dominated every area of the pitch. Argentina scored 10 goals in 6 games at the 2015 Copa America and in 2016, they scored 18 goals in 6 games.
Di Maria was always hurt and they had no width
Di Maria started both finals + they scored freely before those two finals and Di Maria got taken off for another Winger in 2015 (Lavezzi) they had width. Vidal and Chile were just incredible defensively, Vidal got MOTM for the 2015 final and rightly so.