World Cup 2018... OFFICIAL THREAD....

[JoeAwesome]

Mourinho’s type is proven winner. He doesn’t groom new players at all.

Unfortunately for him, he seems to let a lot of future talent go.

Edit: Of course, it is about winning now, but I wonder how he can once again be successful in Europe with his shortsightedness.

 

[oliverclaude]

Mourinho’s type is proven winner. He doesn’t groom new players at all.

Lukaku is his type because he proved himself at Everton with a boatload of goals. Sanchez was his type because he was a standout at Arsenal.

Martial is not his type because Martial has not scored a boatload of goals after being demoted to the bench with the arrival of Sanchez, after scoring or assisting in the 3 games before Man Utd bought Sanchez.

Hmmm, I don't know. Why was his Madrid time relatively unsuccessful then? A lot of proven winners there. Over the recent seasons I also got the impression, that he doesn't like stars. Or maybe even worse, that he can't handle stars. Something Zidane has seemingly a natural talent for. A key feature.

I would like it to be as straightforward as you described it, but I can't shake the feeling that he became a prima donna himself, and, after his father passed away, a very insecure one, too. I like Mourinho, I think most do, but I'm convinced, that Mourinho's biggest problem is Mourinho, not his players.

 

[evil wasabi]

Unfortunately for him, he seems to let a lot of future talent go.

Edit: Of course, it is about winning now, but I wonder how he can once again be successful in Europe with his shortsightedness.

Money compensates for short sightedness.

And Zidane isn’t better. He hasn’t assembled a team, rebuilt a squad, etc. he knows this.

 

[Rot]

France vs Argentina... Rot predicts Argentina...

Uruguay vs Portugal... Rot predicts Uruguay...

I just hope they are good matches tbh

xROTx

 

[wyo]

Argentina should have had 2 players sent off already. Cheating fucks...

 

[Rot]

Mbappe is MURDERING that defense with his pace...

GO GO SPEEDY GONZALES!

xROTx

 

[oliverclaude]

Mbappé was already fouled before the box, but the push inside was more severe and equally unnecessary. Di María's shot was state of the art, he had so much time to prepare it -- and it worked. So far, a good game from both teams but I can't imagine there could be an overtime. My guess is, they'll decide it in the next 45+ minutes.

 

[StevenK]

I'm not sure why but I always find myself wanting Argentina to win in recent years. It's possibly because I feel sorry for Messi, looking all forlorn.

 

[oliverclaude]

Rot's hopes were fulfilled: this is a superb match .

 

[Rot]

Rot's hopes were fulfilled: this is a superb match .

Great match!

France deserved to win it... that kid Mbappe was electric....

"Messi's" Argentina go home and I will confess... they just didn't play like a team all through the tournament...

xROTx

 

[evil wasabi]

Great match!

France deserved to win it... that kid Mbappe was electric....

"Messi's" Argentina go home and I will confess... they just didn't play like a team all through the tournament...

xROTx

Great match indeed. France played great. Pogba and Giroud were elegant. Kante expansive.

 

[RAZO]

So as usual I'm disappointed in another world cup. Portugal played their asses off but in the end they couldn't find the net. I really thought this was Portugal's year.

Hat's off to Uruguay. Their Defensive performance was something to be remembered and Cavani and Suarez are the perfect tandem up front.

 

[Tw3ek]

So as usual I'm disappointed in another world cup. Portugal played their asses off but in the end they couldn't find the net. I really thought this was Portugal's year.

Hat's off to Uruguay. Their Defensive performance was something to be remembered and Cavani and Suarez are the perfect tandem up front.

So much for the final match we were all hoping for

 

[StevenK]

France played the first game I've seen a team play this world cup that made me think they could win it, and would deserve to do so.

As for the exit of Messi and Ronaldo, I'm almost glad to see the back of Messi for his own sake, he hasn't looked comfortable for Argentina for a while. And Ronaldo thinks he runs the national team.

 

[evil wasabi]

France played the first game I've seen a team play this world cup that made me think they could win it, and would deserve to do so.

As for the exit of Messi and Ronaldo, I'm almost glad to see the back of Messi for his own sake, he hasn't looked comfortable for Argentina for a while. And Ronaldo thinks he runs the national team.

The officiating for the France Argentina game was revenge for 2014. You can’t put an Iranian there.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

Argentina should have had 2 players sent off already. Cheating fucks...

Cheating fucks?

Anyway. Fuck Argentina. We have the skills. Everything else is rotten to the core.
Can't wait for post Messi era

 

[DevilRedeemed]

France played like the nobility they are. Completely outclassed us. Agree with many comments here
Like Rot says, they didn't look like a team. But they haven't in literally years.

 

[wyo]

Cheating fucks?

Anyway. Fuck Argentina. We have the skills. Everything else is rotten to the core.
Can't wait for post Messi era

Argentina committed cynical fouls all over the place, dive excessively, complain to the referee constantly... Just terrible sportsmanship all round.

According to FIFA's rules, if a player is through on goal and the defender does a professional foul they should be sent off, PERIOD. This happened at least twice: the penalty and a subsequent foul right on the edge of the penalty area. By my count, it happened three times. Of course, sending 2 or 3 people off would ruin the great game we saw but that doesn't excuse such behavior.

 

[evil wasabi]

Cheating fucks?

Anyway. Fuck Argentina. We have the skills. Everything else is rotten to the core.
Can't wait for post Messi era

No dude. Argentina has a culture problem where the military pushes the team to field slow and invisible shitheads like Meza, Perez, Pavon, Mercado, and Armani, who is complete shit. River Plate sucks. The AFA needs to recognize.

Meanwhile, Sampaoli’s fucking shirts are too small for him and Lautero Martinez and Icardi didn’t get selected because what?

 

[oliverclaude]

France reminded me of Brazil pre 1/7, Belgium plays similar. Opposing are strong team spirit squads from Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay and Croatia. England is the last team in this tournament, which is arranged around one key player (Kane). Portugal (Ronaldo), Argentina (Messi) and Poland (Lewandowski) are already out. Obviously this system is flawed, because it strongly relies on the mood of one player.

In my opinion, it'll come to a very interesting clash of the tactical football of Rehhagel, i.e. team spirit, and the offensive football Netherland was once famous for, where even a defender like Pavard is able to shoot a decisive goal from a distance like Coutinho. The one-key-player teams had a rough ride so far, but England still has good chances, like the 2014 WC Argentina or the 2016 EC Portugal proved.

 

[StevenK]

France reminded me of Brazil pre 1/7, Belgium plays similar. Opposing are strong team spirit squads from Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay and Croatia. England is the last team in this tournament, which is arranged around one key player (Kane). Portugal (Ronaldo), Argentina (Messi) and Poland (Lewandowski) are already out. Obviously this system is flawed, because it strongly relies on the mood of one player.

In my opinion, it'll come to a very interesting clash of the tactical football of Rehhagel, i.e. team spirit, and the offensive football Netherland was once famous for, where even a defender like Pavard is able to shoot a decisive goal from a distance like Coutinho. The one-key-player teams had a rough ride so far, but England still has good chances, like the 2014 WC Argentina or the 2016 EC Portugal proved.

I don't see England as a key player team at all, in fact I would say we're the least single player centric side we've been in at least a decade. It feels like forever that we've waited to see whether Rooney turned up or not for a tournament (invariably not), this time there was no great mention of anyone as we went in.

This lack of pressure has been what's given them the freedom to relax a bit and enjoy themselves, look at the interviews, England players smiling?!

I think Kane has instead emerged as something of a key player through the number of goals he has scored, rather than entering the competition as a key player who has been organised around. And let's not forget even that is dubious, there's only talk of a golden boot because he happened to be wearing them against the competition's brown outfit.

 

[madmanjock]

This chap is confident of England’s chances

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_an...ent-england-fan-gets-world-cup-winners-tattoo

 

[Rot]

OKEY DOKEY...

Spain vs Russia... Rot predicts Spain...

Croatia vs Denmark... Rot Predicts Croatia...

xROTx

 

[oliverclaude]

I don't see England as a key player team at all, ...

I'm with you, but I'm not sure Gareth Southgate sees it that way, as he structured the team around Kane as a captain. I'll risk the assumption, that England w/o Kane would feel like Barcelona w/o Messi. Still a great team with other great players, but psychologically shaky. If such a key player has a bad day, the team he plays for is keen to loose.

 

[oliverclaude]

Congrats to Ignashevich, that was a MEMErable goal .