World Cup FINAL - Argentina (p) 3-3 France - Sunday 18th December, 2022

[Cicero]

Di Maria has become an unsung hero for Argentina these past couple of years when he was on route to becoming an utter disappointment ala Higuain and Aguero. 

[Cicero]

11 hours ago, Gunnersaurus said:

Yeah I did think Ronaldo was better before until you told me why you thought messi was better was because of his all round game. Its still very debatable but I do think messi is better based of what I have seen and read. Also he is so much of a better leader than Ronaldo. You can see how much he inspires the team

I think it's unfair to Ronaldo who is great himself and arguably Top 5 of all time. 

Messi is well and truly another level. 

[Gunnersaurus]

3 hours ago, DeadLinesman said:

I’d pick United winning anything over England winning the World Cup. 

Wonderful great post 10/10

[Devil]

1 hour ago, DeadLinesman said:

He literally handballed in this tournament and didn’t even get a card for it Ffs .

Just because he didn’t score from it. The action is completely the same. He’s been in the refs ears throughout the tournament as well. 

Weirdly enough I said yesterday to my dad the refs aren't booking Messi for anything and a few seconds later Jermaine Jenas said the same thing.

 

[Cicero]

4 minutes ago, Devil said:

Weirdly enough I said yesterday to my dad the refs aren't booking Messi for anything and a few seconds later Jermaine Jenas said the same thing.

 

Wasn't just Messi. I remember watching the Portugal v Morocco game specifically and a lot of Moroccan players were getting away with cards for deliberately stopping counter attacks. 

I wouldn't be surprised if the refs this tournament were instructed to be very lenient on the matter. 

 

[Cicero]

Also, I was watching this on Fox Sports and I truly now know where American's prioritise soccer as they were stopping the coverage of the greatest player of all time lifting the world cup trophy for his country, in favor of a first quarter non playoff football game. 

[Spike]

1 minute ago, Cicero said:

Also, I was watching this on Fox Sports and I truly now know where American's prioritise soccer as they were stopping the coverage of the greatest player of all time lifting the world cup trophy for his country, in favor of a first quarter non playoff football game. 

Fox Sports coverage was like watching a really bad movie that is entertaining despite itself. 
Only two thing bother me outside of the hilarity, one being the cultural quirk Americans having to always relate something back to America seemingly unable to see anything for what it is, ie ‘Qatar is the size of Connecticut’, ‘He really is the quarterback of this team’. My mrs is American and I love her and her family but fuck me dead do Americans in general think that the world outside of the USA doesn’t exist, I made a comment about the Bond films being British productions once and all I got was an annoyed response and a ‘I recall seeing the MGM lion in the titles…’. Yep, 007 is American.
Two is the tone deafness and gloating smugness of the ‘It is called soccer’ campaign, no fucking Italian has to correct anyone on ‘calcio’

[Cicero]

6 minutes ago, Spike said:

Fox Sports coverage was like watching a really bad movie that is entertaining despite itself. 
Only two thing bother me outside of the hilarity, one being the cultural quirk Americans having to always relate something back to America seemingly unable to see anything for what it is, ie ‘Qatar is the size of Connecticut’, ‘He really is the quarterback of this team’. My mrs is American and I love her and her family but fuck me dead do Americans in general think that the world outside of the USA doesn’t exist, I made a comment about the Bond films being British productions once and all I got was an annoyed response and a ‘I recall seeing the MGM lion in the titles…’. Yep, 007 is American.
Two is the tone deafness and gloating smugness of the ‘It is called soccer’ campaign, no fucking Italian has to correct anyone on ‘calcio’

It was horrible. Glad I watched 98% of the tournament on peacock. 

[Stan]

16 minutes ago, Spike said:

Fox Sports coverage was like watching a really bad movie that is entertaining despite itself. 
Only two thing bother me outside of the hilarity, one being the cultural quirk Americans having to always relate something back to America seemingly unable to see anything for what it is, ie ‘Qatar is the size of Connecticut’, ‘He really is the quarterback of this team’. My mrs is American and I love her and her family but fuck me dead do Americans in general think that the world outside of the USA doesn’t exist, I made a comment about the Bond films being British productions once and all I got was an annoyed response and a ‘I recall seeing the MGM lion in the titles…’. Yep, 007 is American.
Two is the tone deafness and gloating smugness of the ‘It is called soccer’ campaign, no fucking Italian has to correct anyone on ‘calcio’

I noticed some Americanisms in FIFA's coverage in general.

'Receptions, defensive & midfield line-breaks, ball in contest'.

Never usually see such terms or stats on Sky/BT coverage. 

[Spike]

1 minute ago, Stan said:

I noticed some Americanisms in FIFA's coverage in general.

'Receptions, defensive & midfield line-breaks, ball in contest'.

Never usually see such terms or stats on Sky/BT coverage. 

I couldn’t tell you if they are American or not I had never seen them prior either. There was another one, ‘pressures’ I think?

[Stan]

20 minutes ago, Spike said:

I couldn’t tell you if they are American or not I had never seen them prior either. There was another one, ‘pressures’ I think?

I relate it to American Football. Oh and 'recovery time'.

Pressures I can actually understand because teams are generally low- or high-pressing, so that's actually relevant. It's just different language I guess, labelling something we're already used to as a different term. 

Like 'offensive line-breaks' is just a 'key pass forward' for instance. 

[Devil]

1 hour ago, Cicero said:

Wasn't just Messi. I remember watching the Portugal v Morocco game specifically and a lot of Moroccan players were getting away with cards for deliberately stopping counter attacks. 

I wouldn't be surprised if the refs this tournament were instructed to be very lenient on the matter. 

 

Yeah, I agree there was a lot of bad challenges that went unpunished. 

How many players were actually sent off?

I can remember two Hennesey and also the Moroccan sub striker but other than that I can't remember any others. Must be a record. 

[Stan]

7 minutes ago, Devil said:

Yeah, I agree there was a lot of bad challenges that went unpunished. 

How many players were actually sent off?

I can remember two Hennesey and also the Moroccan sub striker but other than that I can't remember any others. Must be a record. 

Aboubakar for Cameroon after he scored against Brazil. Second booking after he took his shirt off in celebration. 

And Dumfries after the penalty shootout vs Argentina. 

[Mel81x+]

The only thing I begrudge Messi for is the fact that in a year that Wesley was in lightning hot form he got trumped by the Barcelona man for the Ballon D'Or and basically got robbed even though he was so instrumental to Inter and the Dutch side that year. 

[Stan]

10 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

The only thing I begrudge Messi for is the fact that in a year that Wesley was in lightning hot form he got trumped by the Barcelona man for the Ballon D'Or and basically got robbed even though he was so instrumental to Inter and the Dutch side that year. 

Did Messi decide that?

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Spike said:

Fox Sports coverage was like watching a really bad movie that is entertaining despite itself. 
Only two thing bother me outside of the hilarity, one being the cultural quirk Americans having to always relate something back to America seemingly unable to see anything for what it is, ie ‘Qatar is the size of Connecticut’, ‘He really is the quarterback of this team’. My mrs is American and I love her and her family but fuck me dead do Americans in general think that the world outside of the USA doesn’t exist, I made a comment about the Bond films being British productions once and all I got was an annoyed response and a ‘I recall seeing the MGM lion in the titles…’. Yep, 007 is American.
Two is the tone deafness and gloating smugness of the ‘It is called soccer’ campaign, no fucking Italian has to correct anyone on ‘calcio’

The best thing about watching their coverage was just knowing you’d hear something really stupid several times. Awful commentators, the shittest punditry team I’ve ever seen assembled (Landon Donovan and Alexi Lalas are impressively stupid, tbh).

Fox should be embarrassed by their production considering NBC does football better week in week out over the course of a season with the premier league. I wish they had the rights to the World Cup in the US - because they’re miles ahead of Fox/ESPN (unsurprising because Disney has gutted ESPN) in terms of football coverage. But Fox aren’t embarrassed at all & are getting the next World Cup too. 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

1 hour ago, Stan said:

I noticed some Americanisms in FIFA's coverage in general.

'Receptions, defensive & midfield line-breaks, ball in contest'.

Never usually see such terms or stats on Sky/BT coverage. 

Yeah, I did notice that and it was doing my head in really. Ridiculous really.

[Gunnersaurus]

Is fox sports the same company that does fox news? I'm assuming it is?

[Dr. Gonzo]

2 hours ago, Gunnersaurus said:

Is fox sports the same company that does fox news? I'm assuming it is?

They're both owned by the Fox Corporation (so Rupert Murdoch)

[Dan+]

5 hours ago, Cicero said:

I think it's unfair to Ronaldo who is great himself and arguably Top 5 of all time. 

Messi is well and truly another level. 

People have gone well overboard on him recently. He's still an absolute undoubted great for me. He's just clearly come to the end.

[Gunnersaurus]

26 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

They're both owned by the Fox Corporation (so Rupert Murdoch)

Skynews isn't as bad as fox news no where near. The nearest thing in the uk is GB news. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

10 minutes ago, Gunnersaurus said:

Skynews isn't as bad as fox news no where near. The nearest thing in the uk is GB news. 

Sky has the same owner as NBC in the US - Comcast.

In the US though, NBC's only marginally better than Fox tbh. And all 3, Sky, Fox, NBC... they're all shite.

[Carnivore Chris]

C.Ronaldo in 2017 was a different class.

Personally I still think Messi is a level above, I've never had a different opinion, but Cristiano is still top 5 or 6 of alltime and top 3 or so I've seen. I also can't think of any other player who could win 5 ballon d'or awards during Messi's era when you consider how Messi was practically born to play football. I don't see how you can consistently compete with that when a player has that level of talent mixed with the hunger and desire for prolonged success. However C.Ronaldo pushed and pushed(no pun intended @Devil-Dick Willie), won everything and broke many records.

In terms of goal scoring, it's pretty much a draw, but the difference for me is the dribbling and passing/playmaking abilities that Messi possesses, also how he can run a game. He's a more allrounded player. 

[Gunnersaurus]

7 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Sky has the same owner as NBC in the US - Comcast.

In the US though, NBC's only marginally better than Fox tbh. And all 3, Sky, Fox, NBC... they're all shite.

You can actually check these things they are checked by independent sources. Fox is in a league of its own for reporting incorrect or misleading information. But from what I remember NBC isn't great either. I've seen GB news report stuff that is bollocks. Just the other day HB posted a video from someone on there who said that there wasn't a consensus on climate change which there is and its been revified many times. If you can watch them without getting annoyed its good for a laugh

[Devil]

4 hours ago, Stan said:

Aboubakar for Cameroon after he scored against Brazil. Second booking after he took his shirt off in celebration. 

And Dumfries after the penalty shootout vs Argentina. 

Four we can think of, I remember a World Cup in the early 2000's where more than four were sent off in the first round of fixtures.