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The FIFA 2018 World Cup Thread (pg. 8)
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| DJ RANN |
Nigeria was bloody lucky the first half that iceland's finishes were off, but then Nigeria scored two great goals. They actually looks like a fast formidable team this year.
They've kept Argentina's hopes alive, and now it's down to them to make it through. If the rumors are true though, they've got serious problems ahead (apparently according to gossip, Messi had something of a nervous breakdown last night). |
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| DJ RANN |
YAAAAAAAASSSSSSS
HOP SCHWEIZ!!!!!!
One more and they're basically guaranteed to go through.... |
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| LoveHate |
| quote: | Originally posted by wotyzoid
Because that would make them would not neutral. |
Haha that's true , well in any case I am completely neutral when it comes to this serbia-swiss game. |
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| DJ RANN |
| Well, I'm ing not, and am ECSTATIC that the Swiss won! |
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| LoveHate |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ RANN
They've kept Argentina's hopes alive, and now it's down to them to make it through. If the rumors are true though, they've got serious problems ahead (apparently according to gossip, Messi had something of a nervous breakdown last night). |
I don’t see a single thing about that. Link?
And congrats on your team winning . |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| quote: | Originally posted by sensorium
Argentina was a favorite because of the players, most of them anyway. It was harder to qualify because every other team was hungrier and more motivated from the start. Brazil had that embarrassing 7-1 defeat and they had the pressure to qualify first. |
Why would they lack hunger and motivation? This is a team that has lost three consecutive international finals, that has repeatedly fallen agonisingly short of ending Argentina's 25 year wait for an international trophy. It's a team with one of the very best players to ever kick a ball, a player who is desperate to confirm his legacy with international success. Why would this team have any reason to be complacent?
Meanwhile, let's not forget that Brazil were truly abject at the last two Copa Americas. They had pressure to bounce back from the 7-1 in both those tournaments, and they were arguably even worse than they had been in 2014. In the 2016 Centennial, they didn't even advance from the group stage.
The difference is clearly about having a successful system, a balanced team that utilises the players available. Brazil's form improved only when they appointed Tite who managed to find a successful system. Argentina have been coached by Sampaoli for over a year now. I heard that he'd utilised something like 38 players in the qualifying campaign and never re-used the same XI once in all that time. You're looking at a team that quite literally don't know how they want to play. And it's not hard to see why, when they have a superabundance of attackers and a serious deficit of high quality midfielders.
Against this backdrop, I don't know how anyone could seriously consider them favourites. |
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| LoveHate |
this is some bull. |
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| sensorium |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Why would they lack hunger and motivation? This is a team that has lost three consecutive international finals, that has repeatedly fallen agonisingly short of ending Argentina's 25 year wait for an international trophy. It's a team with one of the very best players to ever kick a ball, a player who is desperate to confirm his legacy with international success. Why would this team have any reason to be complacent? |
You just answered your own question. It can be damaging psychologically and draining for a team to reach consecutive finals and just don't win any only for the whole process to be repeated again and again, which was one factor why they struggled to qualify earlier to the WC. Brazil has not had the difficulties Argentina has had in recent years. There's a reason why Simeone refused to coach this team. There's a reason the Argentine soccer association, AFA, has had three changes recently.
Messi has never said he was desperate to prove his legacy with international success. He has done that already on the club level and to many that's more than enough. If anything, that pressure of being a protagonist with Argentina has been a detrimental factor from the beginning for Messi. I don't think there has been any other player with more pressure from his people and from other fans than Messi in recent international competition.
Messi, in my opinion, did a great job with what he had, which was poor AFA organizations, mediocre coaches with no clear system and/or set of players and players who most of the time just relied on him to carry them, all the time--who couldn't even do the small things like kicking a ball in. Do you actually think he needs to win a world cup to cement his legacy? The man has done a lot and, the way I look at it, football needs for Messi to win a world cup. Argentina are desperate for him to win a world cup.
But he needs a strong AFA, a reliable coach, a good set of players who are not necessarily his friends. All of them also need to want to win the championship.
There were favorites coming in because it was a similar backdrop to the one they had four years ago and Messi made it work then. But fatigue of repeating the whole process again might be why Messi was just not moving at all this last game. |
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| DJ RANN |
| quote: | Originally posted by LoveHate
this is some bull. |
True. Definite Handball by the Serb. Don't know how the ref missed it.
Turns out the Messi breakdown was actually part of a much bigger problem:
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/argent...-133242114.html
| quote: | | Argentina players gathered late Thursday night after their disastrous loss to Croatia and asked for Jorge Sampaoli’s immediate removal as manager, according to reports. Sampaoli will stay on for Argentina’s final group game against Nigeria, according to the latest reports. But meetings reportedly carried deep into the early hours of Friday morning, past sunrise, with Sampaoli’s status in question. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| quote: | Originally posted by sensorium
There were favorites coming in because it was a similar backdrop to the one they had four years ago and Messi made it work then. |
Well, that line of reasoning was clearly erroneous, eh?
The best thing about the World Cup is that gets real almost immediately. Almost every game is high stakes. Germany are next under the spotlight. I must say I'm surprised by their situation and I'm still expecting them to progress. Their squad is far better than Argentina's and they have never failed to reach the quarter finals at least, unless you count some of the weird early formats. Argentina's woe is half-expected but it would be a major, major shock if Germany went out now. If they can win their next game, I'd still have them as one of the favourites. |
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| LoveHate |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ RANN
True. Definite Handball by the Serb. Don't know how the ref missed it. |
@wotyzoid football was meant to be enjoyed with a blissfully blinding bias . This is perfectly fine, without passion it lacks a certain flavor imo. |
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| wotyzoid |
| ? I didn't say anything. |
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