2022 FIFA World Cup

[The King of Kings]

17 hours ago, Kakanucks said:

Mbappe taking care of business in 2 min.

Talk about blowing a multi-goal lead ...

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

2 hours ago, GLASSJAW said:

When I say better team I mean in general. France was absolute garbage for the first 3/4 of the game, there's no question. But I maintain a healthy France would demolish that Argentina squad any day of the week.

 

How many reports came out about players not training, in isolation, experiencing some "mystery virus" in the last few days alone? Not to mention all the stars they had sidelined from the start. Varane coming off today looked like he needed to be put on a drip. 

 

I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but this is FIFA and Qatar we're talking about. how long before we hear that the French team's dressing room was used as a COVID ward in off hours?
 

dude of course he passes the test, he's Messi. who cares about stats, though? great, he scored a bunch of penalty kicks and he was able to create some chances against, hmm [checking notes] Saudi Arabia and Mexico. 

 

what I said was that I don't get it RELATIVE TO THE HYPE. my point is that when Messi touches the ball and beats a Polish defender, commentators -- both professional and amateur -- lost their collective minds as if each touch was a stroke of genius no forward has ever done before. that's what I don't get. it's very clearly about a culture and celebrity and NOT about stats. if this were about stats, why didn't Griezmann or Bruno Fernandes or the like get the same narrative delicacy or 1/20th the interest?

 

this world cup could have had a number of great story lines, instead there was just one. Messi. Messi. MESSI!!!! Frankly I just found it exhausting. Of all the great WC performances I've seen in my life, Messi's will ultimately be forgettable compared to the likes of Fat Ronaldo, Cannavaro, or the tiki taka Spaniards and so on. I'll remember the story for sure, but the fact that Messi only scored 2 or 3 open play goals despite booting 32 shots is something I'll likely forget very, very quickly. 

A lot to unpack here, but I want to keep it concise.  There is no doubt that a fully healthy French squad would mop the floor.  I'm talking about the players who couldn't make it to the tournament.  They got gutted up the middle.  They lost Benzema, Nkunku, Pgoba, Kante, and Kimpembe.  Five starters gone before the first kick.  But Deschamps and the team made the most of it, and the replacements did a fantastic job throughout the tournament.  But as thin as France's bench might've been (which it definitely was after that flu bug), Argentina also had a thin squad.  They had some glaring weaknesses, especially the rate at which they surrendered goals in the second half of games.  But it did make for an exciting, risky team.  They managed to finally pull behind Messi and play like an actual team, which we haven't seen from Argentina since 2006.  They deserve credit for that.

 

Maybe France does win 9/10 times.  But 1/10 we get the emotional roller-coaster slugfest that we saw today.  This final game will be an unforgettable moment for those who watched.  I'll argue that Spain and Italy were some of the most boring WC winners.  Their styles fit perfectly in a less technical international format.  Spain's knockout games all ended in 1-0 wins.  It might've been a passing marvel, but it was brutal to watch.  People won't forget the Mbappe hat-trick, people won't forget this crazy final, and people won't forget what Messi did.

 

You have to remember again that he is 35 years old.  Most players retire by that age, but Messi is somehow still at the very tail end of his prime.  If there's a hockey equivalent, it's Crosby.  Perhaps not the most explosive player anymore, but someone who has quietly become a veteran player who knows when to make the right play at the right time.  Messi has also quietly adjusted to a new playstyle that is far less physically demanding.  It's always the greats who are able to adjust as they get older.  Every single match, it was hard to find a player more important for Argentina than Messi.  He was always the biggest reason they moved onto the next round.  You have just witnessed the consensus greatest player of all time (or second, behind Pele) successfully lead his team to the world's greatest trophy.  The sports narrative is amazing, and I would just revel in it while we can.