Casciavit wrote:Worst part is you just know it’s going to happen after today.

Mbappe always dunks on Messi’s head and Croatia will bottle in the finals.

They’re not getting past Morocco

this is Messi's tournament

2-1 Argentina over Croatia

Morocco vs France is going to extra time, don't know who will win, but this is Messi's tournament

I expect either a France blowout, or a close game where a goal or penalties make the difference. I worry big time about France. We’ve had the athletic advantage every game so far.. not against France though. @sports, may the best win.

Also, Ty winter, family is going insane, very nice to see my morrocan side and Algerian side of the family unite during this WC. Especially with the bullshit politics between the two countries. As someone with half/half heritage it’s all nonsense, we are brothers and sisters at the end of the day

Griezmann stole the show this time. Great seats, good football, good match, great performance from Griezmann, Saka as well. Kane should have never taken a second penalty, that's always a mistake. England really had their chance tonight.

giroud has to get some credit. i've been one of those who has disrespected him, but guys like that are needed on teams, i don't think he has played that many games to take henry's record. and if he has, i bet he has not had as many starts.

My Canadian brothers, remember we were in the group with semifinalist in Morocco and Croatia. No shame in being dumped out. The real group of death.

What a match, n what QFs n WC we have had in general, loving it

Eng played pretty well to push France despite basically all the real chances from PKs n FKs Saka proving to be a real WC n was a handful, surprised Southgate took him off. Kane strangely messed up, u would think with his mentality n record he shouldnt, I guess its like part of the English bottler mental block? Strange...

Upemcano is worryingly mistake prone, hes like a bulldozer without a brain sometimes, but same with some of the French defending at times But in their end their overall abilities are just too good for all the see... who would have thought Griezmann n Giroud to carry them along the likes of Rabiot when Mbappe were kept relatively quite today.

So Morocco who look gassed by now surely so France in the final for sure, Arg should get past Croatia. Messi v Mbappe final Heart says Arg, head says France as predicted pre tournament

Oh yes, CR tears after coming on as a sub n does jack all again, PRICELESS XD As others said above, he either should move to an easier level so he can stat pad happily, or retire n become a Tiktok influencer or something, suits him fine He doesnt seem to like dealing with the media though so its not like hes gonna become Beckham like, so yea social media where he can hide behind the net n throw out bs to his superficial fans, that suits him best XD

Come on Messi, plsss make it, basically its been a relatively east route n the only real opponent is France... man the final will be epic...even more so if he beats Mbappe to win it

Leave it to barcalearning to take a historic win and turn it into CR vs Messi nonsense

Man this guy doesn't shut up about CR and adds a XD at the end each time to turn it tongue in cheek. Scram.

Congratulations to Morocco. No relation to them whatsoever but genuinely on their side even if I feel this is where their meteoric World Cup ends. Either way, they made history.

It's the same England, no creativity or tactical acumen in midfield, relying on set pieces, found out against the big boys.
The only thing different about this England team is the PR.

futbol_bill wrote:IMO, you lot are making this WC about Messi and Ronaldo when it’s more about
-the decline of Europeans,
-the porteros and
- PSG in that it’s their players leading most teams doing well, Messi, Mbappe, Hakimi and Neymar (although the latter faulted in the end).

Decline of Europeans? Croatia knocked out Brazil. Half of Morocco's team were born and raised in Europe.

To be fair to BL, it's the Portuguese players themselves making this argument. After the loss Bernardo and Pepe blamed the Argentine ref for the loss, even though he had no controversial calls against them and that we are in the other side of the key.

GRude wrote:

futbol_bill wrote:IMO, you lot are making this WC about Messi and Ronaldo when it’s more about
-the decline of Europeans,
-the porteros and
- PSG in that it’s their players leading most teams doing well, Messi, Mbappe, Hakimi and Neymar (although the latter faulted in the end).

Decline of Europeans? Croatia knocked out Brazil. Half of Morocco's team were born and raised in Europe.

You do realize that Germany, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, etc are European! Basically most of European teams have performed worst than previous teams over the past year plus you have several players missing because of injuries due to timing of this WC and subsequent overloaded schedules. You’re obviously new here as I’ve been saying for a couple of months now that the quality of most European teams have declined in comparison to other years. I wasn’t saying anything about European born players and obviously the European quality is still good enough to have 8 of 16 teams in knockouts, 5 of 8 in qtrs, 2of 4 in demis and likely IMO an all European final!

@Bill - I think it's less about a decline as opposed to the gap between the elite NTs and the rest of the world shrinking.  

Athleticism and good coaching can overcome talent deficiencies.  EVERY team plays modern organized football (for the most part).  In the past, talent was an issue but also, more importantly, players and managers on lesser teams were tactically inept.  That's no longer the case.

Also, in major competitions, elite NTs always fear losing while the others are fearless... another equalizing factor.

THAT SAID, i hate park the bus tactics...  really hate it.  How can FIFA open up the game?  How about proper referees and calling fouls that are fouls.  They need to make the game LESS about physical play and MORE about skill.  The amount of fouls that go uncalled in international play is ridiculous.  Also, not enough carding.  Teams are allowed to break the flow of the game too easily and without consequence.

I think it’s a bit of both Sports! France and Italy don’t have a shortage of top quality players now, but Spain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands (all the traditional strongest European teams) do. It’s also about the number of players out with injuries, primarily due to the mid season WC and the overly cramped schedules from September to November. But I agree with everything else you said. As to the refs, they could begin with resolving that problem in la liga, home to most park the bus teams!

There is a typo in first line, it should read France and England!