Ah well, at least Kovacic can come home, no doubt probably a bit more injured than before he left!

Imagine Araña scoring that goal vs Brazil instead, instant classic for all eternity, Maradonaesque. River fans probably crying of happiness for him, what a poacher it's crazy that Man City has him and Håland as well...

5 minutes ago, Mod said:

Ah well, at least Kovacic can come home, no doubt probably a bit more injured than before he left!

Sadly not, he will be staying for the 3rd place playoff if they go out tonight.

sh*t yea, forgot about that!

Really don't know what ITV are going on about, I thought that was a clear penalty. 

Congrats to Senegal for 2026.

3 minutes ago, Argo said:

Congrats to Senegal for 2026.

Let me just make a small bet on Hakim here...

Croatia have a forward problem every bit as bad as us.

Gvardiol value has just taken a huge hit. 

 

Croatia didn't look like themselves tonight. Feel sorry for them because I thought there was a big chance. But these mistakes combined with individual quality of Messi had to take its toll...

Counting on Ziyech now 

11 minutes ago, just said:

Croatia have a forward problem every bit as bad as us.

It's probably about manager's tactical decisions. Kramaric started as a no.9 even though it's not his preferred position. And yet he's got a forward in fantastic form sitting on the bench...

Messi in his second World Cup final, just like Maradona. If Argentina somehow wins, I won't have any argument against him being the greatest ever.

Enjoy Messi, players like him only come along once  in a generation. Inspirational.

 

35 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Gvardiol value has just taken a huge hit. 

 

Doubt it, his value has only gone up after this tournament. He lost out to Messi, not Lukaku.

Argentina seem to be getting better as the tournament progreses, hope it's Morocco they face rather than France.

For a semi final, that's as one sided as it get. Croatia just ran out of gas, not only physically but more mentally. Argentina played the tournament right, started off slow but picked up as she goes. Love or hate Messi, that performance is about as perfect as it gets, just controlled the game by himself from one end of the pitch to the other. The Messi 5 or 6 years ago was a better player , but he relied on others to feed him or he's out of the game ( which is why he doesn't get the amount of success at International level), this Mess controls, creates and scores himself.

36 minutes ago, icecoolguy22 said:

For a semi final, that's as one sided as it get. Croatia just ran out of gas, not only physically but more mentally. Argentina played the tournament right, started off slow but picked up as she goes. Love or hate Messi, that performance is about as perfect as it gets, just controlled the game by himself from one end of the pitch to the other. The Messi 5 or 6 years ago was a better player , but he relied on others to feed him or he's out of the game ( which is why he doesn't get the amount of success at International level), this Mess controls, creates and scores himself.

He reminds me of Zidane 2006 (prior to the Materazzi incident), fully carrying his team while older, though Messi is doing it with less big names around him. 

10 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

For a semi final, that's as one sided as it get. Croatia just ran out of gas, not only physically but more mentally. Argentina played the tournament right, started off slow but picked up as she goes. Love or hate Messi, that performance is about as perfect as it gets, just controlled the game by himself from one end of the pitch to the other. The Messi 5 or 6 years ago was a better player , but he relied on others to feed him or he's out of the game ( which is why he doesn't get the amount of success at International level), this Mess controls, creates and scores himself.

I don't think Argentina new success is because of Messi. The biggest difference is that now they have a good team behind him. So instead of relying on messi to do everything, Argentina is playing with messi. 

4 hours ago, Bob stark said:

I don't think Argentina new success is because of Messi. The biggest difference is that now they have a good team behind him. So instead of relying on messi to do everything, Argentina is playing with messi. 

Who would have thought you need 10 other mere mortal players in a team besides God to reach the final of the WC. 

 

Morocco aren't getting any decisions in their favour so far. 

Another game where the ref turns a blind eye to the filthy French football. 

I see a lot of similarities between Ziyech and Messi you know - they are both left-footed and loaf around listlessly off the ball.

4 minutes ago, PloKoon13 said:

I see a lot of similarities between Ziyech and Messi you know - they are both left-footed and loaf around listlessly off the ball.

And they share the same vowels in their names. Uncanny.

Morocco appear to have realised that they can enable Ziyech to do the one thing he's good at if they win endless corners or free kicks in square 8 of the pitch.

Edited December 14, 20223 yr by PloKoon13