The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 23/24

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by Zeppo »

Well, I know I’ve been silent this whole tournament, and frankly haven’t been able to see much outside of the USA games and the first two Germany games, but oy, what a crazy tournament!

I’m pretty unhappy that Germany AGAIN failed to get out of the group (for the second time ever, and also second time in a row). And I’m frankly pretty happy that the USA is the only CONCACAF Team to get out of the group. I feel bad for Mexico, as they had a really tough group, but I think Canada, as exciting as they have become, just got served some well-earned humble pie now that the stage is the real big time.

But the whole thing, even as I can’t avoid being pretty obsessed about it, is just weird and gross. This tournament should never feel like the world club championship, taking place in the middle of the European season (all apologies to CAF). It’s just weird.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by wco81 »

South Korea wins in stoppage time.

Uruguay needs another score or else they're out.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by 10spro »

The last couple of days when advancing or not depended on the goal differential, saw some of the most exciting matches in the tourney.

Happy for the S.Koreans but sad for Suarez’s last chance at a WC event.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by wco81 »

Suarez has been a great player.

But he was given the chance to apologize for his hand ball in 2010 and he didn't.

So probably not a lot of sympathy for him and Uruguay other than Uruguayans.

Especially the way they angrily got in the faces of the refs after the match, probably for not giving them penalties as they were flopping towards the end of the match.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by RobVarak »

With a full day to process things after the US loss, I am now a bit at 6's and 7's about how to feel about the campaign.

By and large, I think the conventional wisdom is correct. The youth and inexperience of the team means that a loss in the knockout stage against a perennial power is an adequate result.

OTOH, World Cup finals are rare and fleeting things and there are plenty of small things that make me feel like there were missed opportunities here. The weird reluctance to play Reyna. The failure to put the hammer down on Wales, which resulted in the squad having to effectively go to the limit in both subsequent games (the cost of which was evident in the Netherlands match). Not taking any of the chances against England. A strange fixation on crossing in the air against a Dutch team with arguably the best defensive pairing in the tournament and a GK the size of the Burj Khalifa...

That's not to say that I count myself among the legion of #GreggOut torch-wielders. I think he did ok, for the most part. If every manager who got tactically pantsed by LVG was a disaster, there would be few who aren't. Is he elite? Obviously not. How many of those guys are there, though? I would be happy to see him leave for someone with exceptional tactical and man-management skills, but I don't see any reason to assume that US Soccer could find that someone.

I suppose that we need to wait and see what the fallout from this cycle looks like. Were there really some shenanigans around the Reyna injury? What does the dressing room think of how he handled things? Is there a viable and quality successor out there?

So many more questions than answers.
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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by 10spro »

Haven’t had so many mixed emotions in one day for awhile. From witnessing the burial of my Dad today to watching the magic of Messi at its best.

Both Brazil and Argentina played thrillers more so the latter game when the Orange tied it in the last minute only to be decided in PKs.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by wco81 »

Condolences on your father.

Argentina survived but apparently Messi and some other Argentine players were ungraciously complaining about the referee after the match.

Would have been a disaster if they lost that match up 2-0 until the 83rd minute and then giving up the equalizer in the 101st minute -- I think they had issue with 10 minutes of stoppage time.

After a rough beginning, they may make the Final. Could be the furthest Messi has gotten in the WC or did they make a Final at least with him?

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by 10spro »

wco81 wrote:
Fri Dec 09, 2022 7:49 pm
Condolences on your father.

Argentina survived but apparently Messi and some other Argentine players were ungraciously complaining about the referee after the match.

Would have been a disaster if they lost that match up 2-0 until th e 83rd minute and then giving up the equalizer in the 101st minute -- I think they had issue with 10 minutes of stoppage time.

After a rough beginning, they may make the Final. Could be the furthest Messi has gotten in the WC or did they make a Final at least with him?
'
Thanks.

Regarding the ref, there’s a history between him and the days of Messi in Barca. He’s known to be the guy that likes to immediately show the yellow, to tell everyone who’s the boss. During the Classicos between Madrid and Barca of yesteryear while Messi was playing there, He was quite Pro ‘Real’ whether you believe it or not.

And on the Argentinian side before the game there was quite a concern that he would be bias against Messi’s side. Personally, I would have added an additional 8 minutes to the game so again take it for what it is.

Messi made it to the finals back in 2014 when the Germans won it all, and today broke all records with that beautiful pass assist surpassing Pele in KO stages.

There was some surprising upsets in this tournaments to say the least least, some great footie gameplay but this game was the best yet in terms of excitement.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by GB_Simo »

Well. This is odd.

Usually on these occasions, I can point to a bunch of tactical errors, bits where we let Croatia have the ball for an hour or decided that Owen Hargreaves on his own might beat Portugal (which, in fairness to the bloke, he had a bloody good go at). But this...

I mean, we were good. Undone by one excellent finish and one excellent cross, though I'll accept there are question marks over our centre backs and our collective decision not to bother pushing out once we'd "cleared" the initial corner. Not a huge number of clear cut chances for us, not a huge number for France either, in a proper contest that might have swung for us on another day.

I am also not the kind of man to blame officials on days when my team came up a tiny bit short, perhaps lacked that ultimate cutting edge. That's probably just as well.
10spro wrote:
Fri Dec 09, 2022 7:39 pm
Haven’t had so many mixed emotions in one day for awhile. From witnessing the burial of my Dad today to watching the magic of Messi at its best.
My condolences to you, mate.
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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by wco81 »

Backlash for that PK miss is going to be brutal for Kane.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by pk500 »

10spro wrote:
Fri Dec 09, 2022 7:39 pm
Haven’t had so many mixed emotions in one day for awhile. From witnessing the burial of my Dad today to watching the magic of Messi at its best.

Both Brazil and Argentina played thrillers more so the latter game when the Orange tied it in the last minute only to be decided in PKs.
So sorry for your loss, James.
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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by wco81 »

Story out that Reyna wasn't training hard enough and that dissatisfied the coaches, may explain why he got such little playing time.

They made him apologize to the rest of the team.

Maybe he was fearing re-injury or just trying to protect himself for his league matches.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by 10spro »

Mateo Lahoz the Spaniard ref responsible for 14 yellow cards which included bench players and coaches was rescinded for his services until future notice. As I posted above this individual had a history of trying to make Messi’s career a short one way from the days when he was still in Barca. By constantly showing the yellow he thinks that he commands authority.

Instead, the match between Argentina-Netherlands got hotter as time went on and should have never gone into 10 minutes ET.

Not taking anything for granted but the suspension to Acuña and injuries to Di Maria and De Paul will make this match a close affair. Croatians are very good on the counter.

Vamos Argentina!

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by wco81 »

Now Reyna disputing earlier reports that he was not training hard and thus had limited playing time in the WC for the USMNT.

He claims he was told from the beginning that his role would be limited.

So a rift between Reyna and Berholter?

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by 10spro »

It’s only fitting that the best two players in the world face off on Sunday. Quite a finale.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by 10spro »

Just speechless now. In tears actually as I think of dad. Best finals in awhile, the game had everything, the best team won. Hate that it went to penalties but in the end Messi deserved to go this way.

Because of generations, my love for the other #10 that passed, I always had Maradona as my hero but this WC just changes my opinion as Messi being the GOAT.

He won it ALL!

Vamos Argentina, best #12 in the world Too!

🇦🇷
Last edited by 10spro on Sun Dec 18, 2022 2:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by wco81 »

Congratulations.

Was a terrific match.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by F308GTB »

wco81 wrote:
Sun Dec 18, 2022 2:08 pm
Congratulations.

Was a terrific match.
Except for ending in free throws. Hate that about footie.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by pk500 »

10spro wrote:
Sun Dec 18, 2022 2:04 pm
Just speechless now. In tears actually as I think of dad. Best finals in awhile, the game had everything, the best team won. Hate that it went to penalties but in the end Messi deserved to go this way.

Because of generations, my love for the other #10 that passed, I always had Maradona as my hero but this WC just changes my opinion as Messi being the GOAT.

He won it ALL!

Vamos Argentina, best #12 in the world Too!

🇦🇷
Congrats, man. Very happy you got this title in a tough time for you.
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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by pk500 »

All things considered, that final was one of the most extraordinary sporting events I've seen. Breathtaking.
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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by fsquid »

Greatest game these eyes have ever seen.

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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by pk500 »

fsquid wrote:
Sun Dec 18, 2022 10:47 pm
Greatest game these eyes have ever seen.
Yep.

Only comps that come to my mind immediately are 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul and Aguero scoring in extra time on the final day of the 2012 season to snatch the title from one side of Manchester to the other. U.S. women winning the 1999 World Cup final -- the "Chastain game" -- also was pretty special, but that match ended 0-0 before going to penalties.

But yeah, this is tops.
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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by GB_Simo »

Certainly one of the greatest endings to a match I think I've ever seen. For a good 70 minutes or so, it was so hugely one-sided that France seemed to be in need of tactical advice along the lines of, "Lads, the match has started."

Credit to them for showing the strength of character needed to get back into it, and to Kylian Mbappe for the kind of composure under pressure and absolute belief in his ability that only the very best possess. Not only was that volley superb, but he gave the lie to the idea that you should only take one penalty per match through the apparently simple act of just taking three penalties extremely well, on behalf of an expectant nation and in front of a global audience. Easy when you write it down, innit?

Ultimately, the right team won, not just through its attacking talent (that second goal...wowzer) but through the physical and psychological prowess of its goalkeeper. While that save in the final seconds was tremendous, what I'll remember most about Emi Martinez's performance was his elite, top-tier sh*thousing during the shootout.
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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by Dave »

I'm not sure my teenager has laughed harder than when Emi did...that motion with the gold glove.

I'll echo everyone else's sentiments, just a phenomenal event to watch. My parents aren't into soccer at all and they were riveted.

And to have both Messi and Mbappe have huge moments in the game made it even more special. The greats put on a show.
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Re: The Beautiful Game, Fútbol, Calcio, Footie Season 22/23.

Post by 10spro »

Cancer sux. Pele was and always will be the King of Footie. Humble, classy and many of his peers still think he’s the best representative of the sport. He changed the sport into an Art, he dominated the field in his years, may he rest in peace.

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