2018 FIFA World Cup - Russia

[chris_e_fresh]

See ya Messi

 

[Juicydog]

Croatia absolutely annihilated Argentina.

So far the best game of the World Cup along with the Spain-Portugal game

Croatia look fit, strong, quick and skillful, boy they are going to be hard to beat

 

[boggie23]

Croatia absolutely annihilated Argentina.

So far the best game of the World Cup along with the Spain-Portugal game

Croatia look fit, strong, quick and skillful, boy they are going to be hard to beat

Exactly what makes me think it’s not looking like a big nations World Cup. Germany, France, Spain, Brazil don’t look hot. Portugal won’t go too far. The belgiums, Croatia’s and the like are looking solid. But anything can happen in the playoffs.

 

[coach]

@Wahesh Messi stood up today...... lol
I told you he goes missing in the big games
Can never be the best if you don't perform in the bog dog games

 

[Wahesh]

@Wahesh Messi stood up today...... lol
I told you he goes missing in the big games
Can never be the best if you don't perform in the bog dog games

It was practically Messi vs Croatia. Not going to deny the better team won. The problem with Messi is that he doesn't have the same stars around him as Ronaldo does.

I dare say if Messi took as many penalties as Ronaldo, I guarantee you he would have a higher goal scoring tally. Ronnie is the better penalty kicker no doubt, but let's be honest, Messi relies on his skill more than simply his boot, and it's vice versa for Ronnie.

 

[berries1935]

Australia need to start with Cahill in the middle and Arzani out wide. Leckie and Arzani are capable of putting the ball in the from wide and Cahill is the master of being in the right place at the right time. There was a few chances last night that I feel he would of got a boot or a head to the ball.

 

[CaptainJackson]

Longevity at the highest level is what separates the good from the great, to give such a prestigious title to someone (The Goat), they had to have proven it for a consistent period time that stretched to at least 8 years (Ronaldo has been doing it for 12 years at the highest level). We have seen plenty of class players have an amazing 2-3 seasons and then just drop off, but CR7 just turns up every single season and at the age of 33 he is still banging in more than 40+ goals a season.

Longevity is your opinion just as pure natural talent is mine. In any case 1991 commenced a shift in world football. 1991 was when the English league 1 rights were bought by a pay tv operator and league one became the English premier league. As the years progressed clubs became richer and had a lot more money to spend on their infrastructure and research. Which again comes to sport science. These athletes have highly paid medical and sport professionals looking after them and telling them what to do to look after their bodies. The extent to which this exists is no where near the environment in the 80s and early 90s. Hence I wouldn't consider longevity over 8 or more seasons as a deciding factor even though maradona was dominating on the field from the age of 16.

Maradona might have scored a few spectacular goals but he also went missing a lot in games, missed a key penalty in the world cup against Yugoslavia and wasn't all that great in the 3/4 world cups he played (86 aside).

A missed Penalty? Seriously?

82 hacked to death by Claudio gentile vs Italy
82 hacked again by Brazil and he took his frustrations out on the field and was sent off

86 goes down in folk lore

90 busted ankle at the end of the serie A season, played the WHOLE world cup with a busted ankle and still took his team to the final

94 Argentina fell apart after maradona was busted for drugs

So he was still THE MAN for all 4 teams and all 4 teams either would have or did fall apart without him. There's plenty of leadership qualities about him and I haven't even touched on his napoli days or the famous 1990 semi final vs Italy

The famous 1990 semifinal vs Italy was to be held in Naples stadium. Italy has a history where their northerners hate the southerners. Pre game maradona played on this and told the Neapolitan that for 364 days maradona was with them and them with him. Now that the rest of Italy was respecting them for one day he asked if they were betraying him. And result more than half the italian supporters in that stadium were supporting maradona and not Italy.

The bloke oozes leadership on the field.

I don't see how a man who didn't even win half as much as another in a sport with the end aim of winning can be regarded the greatest of all time. Sure he can be considered the greatest of his era, but when comparing the best of the best and they all have something special about them that separates them then the argument on who has the most achievements has to topple the rest.

Pre bosman ruling, each team was only allowed to field 3 foreign players in their matchday squad.

Now compare the lack of money and 3 foreigner rule to real Madrid who had a side full of galacticos (zidanes side).

Take into consideration too that in la liga so much of the tv money goes to barca and real madrid that a few years ago a massive club like Valencia were actually in a situation where they couldn't afford to pay their players.

Barca and real madrid financial might has stopped others from challenging them. The other teams and particularly their defences in la liga are much much weaker.

Now compare that to the distribution of great players serie A teams had across the board. Clubs like juventus, Milan, inter, Toronto, sampdoria, etc they all had their fare share of superstars.

And not forgetting that maradona led napoli to 2 titles against the galacticos of that period AC Milan. You know Milan right?

Baresi
Costacurta
Maldini
Donadoni
Van basten
Gullit
Rijkaard
A young albertini
Ancelotti

Also I know that it was off the field, but the whole drug incident does have to be brought up, when your a professional athlete you have to meet certain standards and Maradona failed to meet them... more than once.

That's his failings as a person but some of the blame lies on his clubs during those times too. If anything maradona was a learning lesson for clubs in how not to deal with superstars

 

[chris_e_fresh]

The problem with Messi is that he doesn't have the same stars around him as Ronaldo does.

aguero
mascherano
dybala
di maria
higuain

im no ronaldo lover but i dont know anyone in the portugal team other them him and the **** pepe

 

[GoTheDoggies]

Argentina got a beat down of epic proportions

hahaha watching the highlights now calamity Caballero

 

[Wahesh]

aguero
mascherano
dybala
di maria
higuain

im no ronaldo lover but i dont know anyone in the portugal team other them him and the **** pepe

Portugal have a great team bro. Guerreiro, Dias, Pereira, Silva (all 3 of them) and Guedes. But yes I agree with you about Pepe.

 

[Rodzilla]

If it goes by goals scored if two teams are on 4 points, we would go through wouldn't we if we beat Peru 1-0 and France beats Denmark 1-0. Our F/A would be 3-3 and Denmark's would be 2-2 so obviously we have 3 goals to Denmark's 2?

yes we would go through, i also prefer if france field a weaker team because the players will want to impress and force their way into the regular team

 

[Rodzilla]

Portugal have a great team bro. Guerreiro, Dias, Pereira, Silva (all 3 of them) and Guedes. But yes I agree with you about Pepe.

messi has a great team around him, certainly enough to beat iceland and not get beaten 3-0

the problem is he wants to be the hero and needs to create something with the ball or needs to take the penalty, its unhealthy

ronaldo is actually good at taking penalties so it makes sense

 

[Wayne Rooney]

1. Diego Armando Maradona
2. Pele
3. Messi


Daylight......


We should of beating Denmark last night.....the boys have given 110% so far in both games and you cannot ask for more....hopefully the French put a few away against Denmark and we upset Peru (Please God, no more Kruse)

That game this morning Croatia vs Argentina was an absolute belter....even though that first half was scoreless it was the best of the tournament - end to end football at 100 miles an hour. This game could of had 4 red cards and the chopping and stomping by both sides was amazing. That second half by the Croats was outrageous.....i have never seen Argentina outplayed by a European team like that before

 

[LFC Bulldogs]

Im not sold on Van Marwjik's coaching to be honest. He's persisted with Kruse who screws up all our attacks. Arzani shouls have come in earlier for Kruse and he should also have brought brought on Cahill who is much better than shit Juric who has hada knee injury..
Aussie teams always fight and never give up and always put 100% effort, this effort shouldn't be attributed to Van Marwjik in my opinion. Its the way Aussie teams play, they fight.
A good coach is one who knows when to make the right subs at the right time and with the right players. Last night, we would have been closer to a goal in the last quarter of the match if someone like Cahill was inside the box.

 

[GoTheDoggies]

This is the problem with Australian football, we are relying on 38 year old Tim Cahill to score goals. Until we can produce another top striker we won't do anything in the World Cup.

 

[Wahesh]

Longevity is your opinion just as pure natural talent is mine. In any case 1991 commenced a shift in world football. 1991 was when the English league 1 rights were bought by a pay tv operator and league one became the English premier league. As the years progressed clubs became richer and had a lot more money to spend on their infrastructure and research. Which again comes to sport science. These athletes have highly paid medical and sport professionals looking after them and telling them what to do to look after their bodies. The extent to which this exists is no where near the environment in the 80s and early 90s. Hence I wouldn't consider longevity over 8 or more seasons as a deciding factor even though maradona was dominating on the field from the age of 16.



A missed Penalty? Seriously?

82 hacked to death by Claudio gentile vs Italy
82 hacked again by Brazil and he took his frustrations out on the field and was sent off

86 goes down in folk lore

90 busted ankle at the end of the serie A season, played the WHOLE world cup with a busted ankle and still took his team to the final

94 Argentina fell apart after maradona was busted for drugs

So he was still THE MAN for all 4 teams and all 4 teams either would have or did fall apart without him. There's plenty of leadership qualities about him and I haven't even touched on his napoli days or the famous 1990 semi final vs Italy

The famous 1990 semifinal vs Italy was to be held in Naples stadium. Italy has a history where their northerners hate the southerners. Pre game maradona played on this and told the Neapolitan that for 364 days maradona was with them and them with him. Now that the rest of Italy was respecting them for one day he asked if they were betraying him. And result more than half the italian supporters in that stadium were supporting maradona and not Italy.

The bloke oozes leadership on the field.



Pre bosman ruling, each team was only allowed to field 3 foreign players in their matchday squad.

Now compare the lack of money and 3 foreigner rule to real Madrid who had a side full of galacticos (zidanes side).

Take into consideration too that in la liga so much of the tv money goes to barca and real madrid that a few years ago a massive club like Valencia were actually in a situation where they couldn't afford to pay their players.

Barca and real madrid financial might has stopped others from challenging them. The other teams and particularly their defences in la liga are much much weaker.

Now compare that to the distribution of great players serie A teams had across the board. Clubs like juventus, Milan, inter, Toronto, sampdoria, etc they all had their fare share of superstars.

And not forgetting that maradona led napoli to 2 titles against the galacticos of that period AC Milan. You know Milan right?

Baresi
Costacurta
Maldini
Donadoni
Van basten
Gullit
Rijkaard
A young albertini
Ancelotti



That's his failings as a person but some of the blame lies on his clubs during those times too. If anything maradona was a learning lesson for clubs in how not to deal with superstars

Interesting.

While we're on the topic I remember that at the conclusion of the 2010 World Cup (when Spain won), Barcelona were in debt for... wait for it... €550,000,000.00. That's right. Over half a billion euros FFS.

That turns out to be AUD$864,759,500 - nearly a billion dollars.

You want to know why they are still standing today?

Nike. That's right, Nike.

Nike is their jersey manufacturer, and the amount of money they make of selling the jerseys to fans is through the roof, so much so, that Nike would bail them out of anything.

 

[Kaz]

This is the problem with Australian football, we are relying on 38 year old Tim Cahill to score goals. Until we can produce another top striker we won't do anything in the World Cup.

We won't do anything in the World Cup regardless.

We are only making up the numbers.

 

[CaptainJackson]

Interesting.

While we're on the topic I remember that at the conclusion of the 2010 World Cup (when Spain won), Barcelona were in debt for... wait for it... €550,000,000.00. That's right. Over half a billion euros FFS.

That turns out to be AUD$864,759,500 - nearly a billion dollars.

You want to know why they are still standing today?

Nike. That's right, Nike.

Nike is their jersey manufacturer, and the amount of money they make of selling the jerseys to fans is through the roof, so much so, that Nike would bail them out of anything.

Real Madrid were also in massive financial trouble. They owed massive amounts, and being an arm of Spanish royalty, the spanish government "bought" Madrid training grounds for a massive amount of money and practically gave it back for free.

Yes tax payers bailed out Madrid.

 

[Wahesh]

Real Madrid were also in massive financial trouble. They owed massive amounts, and being an arm of Spanish royalty, the spanish government "bought" Madrid training grounds for a massive amount of money and practically gave it back for free.

Yes tax payers bailed out Madrid.

That's true, and that sucks as well. This is why I don't understand how/why Royals are liked yet Politicians are loathed. Royals are practically like the Poli's except they don't make the laws. Both live off tax payers yet the Royals are treated with more respect. I never understood why.

 

[CaptainJackson]

That's true, and that sucks as well. This is why I don't understand how/why Royals are liked yet Politicians are loathed. Royals are practically like the Poli's except they don't make the laws. Both live off tax payers yet the Royals are treated with more respect. I never understood why.

Probably because royals very rarely get involved in politics. They stick to humanitarian aids and a few appearances for the public but they stay well clear of politics.