*** 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP ***

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  • Congrats Argentina.  This was the 2nd game where they blew a 2 nil lead and went to PK’s.

    Was it entertaining?  Hell yeah.  Glad Messi got his.  He is now cemented on the Mt Rushmore of Soccer greats if not the greatest but Pele still is to me.

    Mbappe is in that convo already at 23 also.

    ref was great in this match.

    Idiot goalie doing that in front of royalty and a country that usually imprisons you for that type of behavior.

    Quatar bought a good one.
  • josevolution
    josevolution Posts: 31,540
    Congrats Argentina.  This was the 2nd game where they blew a 2 nil lead and went to PK’s.

    Was it entertaining?  Hell yeah.  Glad Messi got his.  He is now cemented on the Mt Rushmore of Soccer greats if not the greatest but Pele still is to me.

    Mbappe is in that convo already at 23 also.

    ref was great in this match.

    Idiot goalie doing that in front of royalty and a country that usually imprisons you for that type of behavior.

    Quatar bought a good one.
    Agreed! 
    jesus greets me looks just like me ....
  • pjhawks said:
    Where is the guy who would rather watch hockey. ?
    That is football right there.
    Beat that
    Well in all honesty, there is one hockey game I witnessed in my life that would beat what we just saw. Canada vs. USSR in the ‘87 Canada Cup. Game full of HOFers (Gretzky, Lemieux, Larionov, Makarov, Fetisov, Krutov, Messier, Coffey, Bourque, Fuhr, Anderson, etc). That game may never be topped for me, but I am Canadian and we won 6-5 with Gretzky setting up Lemieux for the winner with 1:24 left. 

    If this game doesn’t turn you into a football fan, nothing will. Better than any Grey Cup, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup final, or other World Cup game I’ve ever seen. 
    Except it ended in a clown show way,  penalty kicks is no way to end such an incredible game. 
    I love the penalty kicks. The pressure, the psychological battle. 
  • 23scidoo
    23scidoo Thessaloniki,Greece Posts: 19,937
    Athens 2006. Dusseldorf 2007. Berlin 2009. Venice 2010. Amsterdam 1 2012. Amsterdam 1+2 2014. Buenos Aires 2015.
    Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
    EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.

    I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
  • 23scidoo
    23scidoo Thessaloniki,Greece Posts: 19,937
    Athens 2006. Dusseldorf 2007. Berlin 2009. Venice 2010. Amsterdam 1 2012. Amsterdam 1+2 2014. Buenos Aires 2015.
    Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
    EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.

    I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
  • goldrush
    goldrush everybody knows this is nowhere Posts: 7,787
    That will be remembered as one of the greatest World Cup matches of all time. Mbappe did his best to drag France back into it but Messi was not to be denied.

    The undisputed GOAT. End of discussion.
    “Do not postpone happiness”
    (Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)

    “Put yer good money on the sunrise”
    (Tim Rogers)
  • josevolution
    josevolution Posts: 31,540
    goldrush said:
    That will be remembered as one of the greatest World Cup matches of all time. Mbappe did his best to drag France back into it but Messi was not to be denied.

    The undisputed GOAT. End of discussion.
    I’d go as far as saying it was the best championship final game of all time in any sport! I can’t think of a better game played not a Super Bowl , WS , Stanley cup final unless I’m missing one? 
    jesus greets me looks just like me ....
  • Johnny Abruzzo
    Johnny Abruzzo Philly Posts: 12,352
    I had to listen to a lot on the radio but that 2nd Argentina goal was absolutely beautiful - yeah there isn't much in sports prettier than that. Happy for Argentina - they are a rich soccer nation and Messi deserved a World Cup. Also happy for my former Juve guy Paolo Dybala!

    As for being the greatest sports event of all-time or whatever - maybe let's not get carried away. Especially ending in the lame PK's. Unfortunately it seems there is little will to change the rules. Free kicks just outside the zone (maybe wherever the kicking team wants? plus 30 seconds of potential attacking time - IDK) would be fun to do instead and get all 22 players involved. I'm not under any delusion you can make the teams play calcio for 3 hours or whatever.
    Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila,  PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24; Pittsburgh 5/16/25; Pittsburgh 5/18/25

    Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
  • F Me In The Brain
    F Me In The Brain this knows everybody from other commets Posts: 31,798
    I wouldn't put it on the list of best ever championship games but that is a personal thing and soccer/football isn't on my top 4 of favorite sports so my bias is strong.  (Were this my #1 sport i probably would agree with it being best.) 
    However, I do enjoy the sport, love the fact that the world revered this tournament above all other events, and enjoyed amazing finish and some astonishing moments to view in TV.
    Golden goal is the way to go, for me

    Props to Argentina and to their fans.  Great win.  

    Was exciting for the world.

    Oh, and 💩 on FIFA and Qatar in general.
    The love he receives is the love that is saved
  • Johnny Abruzzo
    Johnny Abruzzo Philly Posts: 12,352

    Oh, and 💩 on FIFA and Qatar in general.
    Also on Fox Sports for happily participating in the sports-washing campaign. Think about this: the radical religious government of Qatar literally financed the United States' coverage of the World Cup. They built their set, and paid for all of the Fox Sports staff to travel to Qatar. Not to mention flooding their airwaves with puff piece commercials (travel to Qatar! - ski in the desert, or whatever that was). It's just crazy.
    Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila,  PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24; Pittsburgh 5/16/25; Pittsburgh 5/18/25

    Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
  • Get_Right
    Get_Right Posts: 14,108
    I enjoy football on occasion. I do not really follow it but appreciate it.  That WC final was one of the best sporting events I have ever watched.  The last time I remember enjoying an event this much is when Buster Douglas knocked out Tyson!
  • cutz
    cutz Posts: 12,227
    pjhawks said:
    Where is the guy who would rather watch hockey. ?
    That is football right there.
    Beat that
    Well in all honesty, there is one hockey game I witnessed in my life that would beat what we just saw. Canada vs. USSR in the ‘87 Canada Cup. Game full of HOFers (Gretzky, Lemieux, Larionov, Makarov, Fetisov, Krutov, Messier, Coffey, Bourque, Fuhr, Anderson, etc). That game may never be topped for me, but I am Canadian and we won 6-5 with Gretzky setting up Lemieux for the winner with 1:24 left. 

    If this game doesn’t turn you into a football fan, nothing will. Better than any Grey Cup, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup final, or other World Cup game I’ve ever seen. 
    Except it ended in a clown show way,  penalty kicks is no way to end such an incredible game. 
    I don't like it to decide the game on PK's, either. 


    I equate it to a game 7 of the Stanley Cup being decided by a Shootout. 
  • Lerxst1992
    Lerxst1992 Posts: 7,808
    cutz said:
    pjhawks said:
    Where is the guy who would rather watch hockey. ?
    That is football right there.
    Beat that
    Well in all honesty, there is one hockey game I witnessed in my life that would beat what we just saw. Canada vs. USSR in the ‘87 Canada Cup. Game full of HOFers (Gretzky, Lemieux, Larionov, Makarov, Fetisov, Krutov, Messier, Coffey, Bourque, Fuhr, Anderson, etc). That game may never be topped for me, but I am Canadian and we won 6-5 with Gretzky setting up Lemieux for the winner with 1:24 left. 

    If this game doesn’t turn you into a football fan, nothing will. Better than any Grey Cup, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup final, or other World Cup game I’ve ever seen. 
    Except it ended in a clown show way,  penalty kicks is no way to end such an incredible game. 
    I don't like it to decide the game on PK's, either. 


    I equate it to a game 7 of the Stanley Cup being decided by a Shootout. 


    Or like settling a boxing match by jumping rope. PKs have little to do with how soccer games are played. Why fans put up with it is unreal.  do the players have somewhere more important to go that they need to end the game quickly?
  • cutz said:
    pjhawks said:
    Where is the guy who would rather watch hockey. ?
    That is football right there.
    Beat that
    Well in all honesty, there is one hockey game I witnessed in my life that would beat what we just saw. Canada vs. USSR in the ‘87 Canada Cup. Game full of HOFers (Gretzky, Lemieux, Larionov, Makarov, Fetisov, Krutov, Messier, Coffey, Bourque, Fuhr, Anderson, etc). That game may never be topped for me, but I am Canadian and we won 6-5 with Gretzky setting up Lemieux for the winner with 1:24 left. 

    If this game doesn’t turn you into a football fan, nothing will. Better than any Grey Cup, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup final, or other World Cup game I’ve ever seen. 
    Except it ended in a clown show way,  penalty kicks is no way to end such an incredible game. 
    I don't like it to decide the game on PK's, either. 


    I equate it to a game 7 of the Stanley Cup being decided by a Shootout. 


    Or like settling a boxing match by jumping rope. PKs have little to do with how soccer games are played. Why fans put up with it is unreal.  do the players have somewhere more important to go that they need to end the game quickly?
    This makes no sense. Three of the six goals in the game were scored off penalty kicks. How does it “have little to do with how soccer games are played”.  It has everything to do with it. 
  • goldrush
    goldrush everybody knows this is nowhere Posts: 7,787

    Taken from a Sky Sports article.

    https://www.skysports.com/football/story-telling/11095/12771021/lionel-messis-world-cup-win-with-argentina-is-the-perfect-ending-for-the-greatest-of-them-all


    The defining image of this World Cup was just about its last one. There was a kiss for the trophy. Lionel Messi finally became acquainted with the World Cup. On a night high on drama and higher on emotion, it had the perfect ending for the greatest of them all.

    The one prize that had eluded him was won with the help of two nerveless penalties, perhaps the only perceived flaw in his game. Even his other goal came with his weaker right foot. It was a game in which every question was answered. Football? Completed it.

    He joins Pele and Diego Maradona as World Cup-winning greats after a final that showcased the magnificence of not just Messi but another in Kylian Mbappe. But in truth this was all about an achievement that separated him from the rest. He has the missing piece now.

    The Messi story needed its narrative arc and it is the World Cup that has provided it. People prefer their geniuses flawed, it makes them more compelling. From the days of antiquity, the idea has persisted that there must be a price to pay for one’s gifts, a toll taken.

    With Messi, that struggle had long been hard to see. Uprooting to Europe aged 13 inevitably brought challenges but he made the transition seem seamless on the pitch and off it. Even the childhood sweetheart came with him. His life has been characterised by success.

    That can leave people a little cold. Gabriel Batistuta said it comforted him that he had lost his Argentina scoring record to an extra-terrestrial. Carlos Mac Allister, who played with Maradona and whose son Alexis is now a World Cup winner alongside Messi, summed it up.

    “Without a doubt, Messi is the greatest in all of history,” he said recently. “I am rational. I believe in what I see. Messi's numbers are compelling.” And yet, still there was the caveat that Maradona had given the people emotions that Messi had not been able to provide.

    Messi was a Champions League winner as a teenager and scored in two more Barcelona triumphs before the age of 24. He had an Olympic gold medal at 21. Seven Ballons d’Or. 800 goals. One big problem. The Copa America just was not enough.

    The World Cup was his final labour, the tournament that would not bend to his will. This fifth and final opportunity had come at a time when his powers had appeared to be waning. He was no longer viewed the best player at his own club let alone on the planet.

    That he hauled Argentina to glory after the setback against Saudi Arabia, ensured that we finally saw the struggle. Leads were lost, once to the Netherlands and twice to France. But he endured. He overcame. It did not come quickly or easily. That makes it more special.

    His final trick might just be his greatest too. Stripped of the searing pace that when coupled with his ability to manipulate the ball made it almost unfair, this version of Messi is battling against his own 35-year-old body. The physical advantage is with the opponent.

    To watch him solve that problem with a glance here and a feint there has been to witness genius. Ronaldo fans never have grasped that it is about more than goals. It is the passes he receives that others cannot. The passes he makes that never require others to break stride.

    Messi will know that he needed those others to make this happen, he has always been a team player. He can think back to 2010 to remind him of the need for the right manager. He will recall the misses of others as well as his own in the 2014 final. The mess that was 2018.

    Here, it came together amid barbecues with a band of brothers. “Everything that he transmits to his team-mates is something unparalleled, that I have never seen before,” said Lionel Scaloni after the final. “A player, a person who gives so much to his team-mates.”

    But that is reciprocated. Julian Alvarez had watched him on television as a child. He was Messi’s legs in Qatar. Rodrigo De Paul spoke of going to war for his captain. He was Messi’s minder. Emiliano Martinez admitted that he would be happier for Messi than himself.

    Such responsibility could have been suffocating but cheered on by their supporters, it emboldened him and everyone around him. Burdened with glorious purpose, it became a mission – and the clarity of that mission helped carry them all the way to victory.

    Messi might be elevated to sainthood in Argentina but this was also a World Cup that showcased his ruthless side like never before. He has learned to embrace the emotions with the national team and that has been a factor in Argentina’s success under Scaloni.

    So beloved is Messi that there were occasions during this run to glory when even his opponents appeared to be willing him on to win the World Cup. Mexico captain Andres Guardardo took his young son up to Messi to meet his hero after their group game.

    Australia’s players were queueing up for selfies after being beaten in the round of 16. Croatia striker Andrej Kramaric said beforehand that he wanted Messi to win it. “Perhaps even some French people would like to see him win,” offered Didier Deschamps.

    An English radio phone-in after the final ran a debate featuring callers who claimed that Messi winning the World Cup was preferable to England winning it. He has long been seen as this benevolent figure – in juxtaposition to his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

    But a new Messi has emerged. After losing in the Copa America in 2019, his claim that ‘Brazil control everything’ resulted in a ban. In winning that trophy last year, he yelled at Yerry Mina after beating Colombia in the semi-final, unhappy at his earlier histrionics.

    Messi’s celebration after scoring against the Netherlands was designed to goad their manager Louis van Gaal. So ill-tempered was that particular game that even in victory he refused Wout Weghorst’s handshake. “I am very disappointed,” said the Dutchman.

    It is at odds with the calm demeanour that Messi often conveyed in Catalonia but Argentina is culturally different and there is a demand for their heroes to display this feistiness when fighting for the nation. It has made it easier for supporters to identify with him.

    If Messi had to change to adapt to Argentina, so Argentina had to change to adapt to Messi. Tactically, Scaloni understood that his team’s best chance – perhaps their only chance – of winning this World Cup was to bring the best out of the best. That was his starting point.

    He needed runners around him and Scaloni provided them. Whether it was Nahuel Molina from defence, Alexis Mac Allister from midfield or Alvarez ahead of him, the passing options were always there. If Argentina just kept it together, they knew Messi could do the rest.

    He occupied that half space from where he could do the most damage and it became a World Cup of Messi moments. His intervention against Mexico. His momentum-shifting magic against Australia. The pass against the Netherlands. The dribble against Croatia.

    Despite periods in which he seemed to be strolling through matches, or perhaps even because of them, he was able to be decisive. He became the first man ever to score in the group stages of a World Cup and then the subsequent four knockout rounds.

    Seven goals in all. Only Mbappe’s late penalty prevented him from becoming the first to win the Golden Boot, the Golden Ball and lift the trophy as captain. He had the most shots at the tournament, created the second most chances and completed the third most dribbles.

    n doing that and more, he has flipped the narrative. The World Cup is no longer a stick with which to beat him but the scene of his greatest triumph. He overtook Maradona’s tally of World Cup goals against Australia. He surpassed Pele’s total against France.

    Those icons of the game became so by winning this tournament. Messi was already there. And so, there was almost a sense that the World Cup needed him to win it. After all, how could it be seen as the game’s ultimate prize when its ultimate player had not lifted it?

    It is moot now. Messi has done it.

    “I can’t ask for anything anymore,” he said after his coronation. “After this, what will there be? I was able to get the Copa America, World Cup. It came to me almost at the end.” And, on a night of magic and after a month of memories, his legacy was sealed with a kiss.

    “Do not postpone happiness”
    (Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)

    “Put yer good money on the sunrise”
    (Tim Rogers)
  • 23scidoo
    23scidoo Thessaloniki,Greece Posts: 19,937
  • 23scidoo
    23scidoo Thessaloniki,Greece Posts: 19,937
    Pathetic..


    Athens 2006. Dusseldorf 2007. Berlin 2009. Venice 2010. Amsterdam 1 2012. Amsterdam 1+2 2014. Buenos Aires 2015.
    Prague Krakow Berlin 2018. Berlin 2022
    EV, Taormina 1+2 2017.

    I wish i was the souvenir you kept your house key on..
  • Johnny Abruzzo
    Johnny Abruzzo Philly Posts: 12,352
    So nobody likes my close free kicks idea? Guess if you try however many of team then it's still tied you gotta do the dumb PK's.
    Spectrum 10/27/09; New Orleans JazzFest 5/1/10; Made in America 9/2/12; Phila, PA 10/21/13; Phila,  PA 10/22/13; Baltimore Arena 10/27/13; Phila, PA 4/28/16; Phila, PA 4/29/16; Fenway Park 8/7/16; Fenway Park 9/2/18; Asbury Park 9/18/21; Camden 9/14/22; Las Vegas 5/16/24; Las Vegas 5/18/24; Phila, PA 9/7/24; Phila, PA 9/9/24; Baltimore Arena 9/12/24; Pittsburgh 5/16/25; Pittsburgh 5/18/25

    Tres Mtns - TLA 3/23/11; EV - Tower Theatre 6/25/11; Temple of the Dog - Tower Theatre 11/5/16
  • josevolution
    josevolution Posts: 31,540
    So nobody likes my close free kicks idea? Guess if you try however many of team then it's still tied you gotta do the dumb PK's.
    I like PK’s it’s intense just you against the goalie! 
    jesus greets me looks just like me ....
  • josevolution
    josevolution Posts: 31,540
    https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/12/21/football/lionel-messi-rodrigo-de-paul-helicopter-fly-past-spt-intl/index.html
    Argentina population is 45 million! 4 million descended on Buenos Aires for the parade! Best fans in the world 
    jesus greets me looks just like me ....