On a purely football level, this was a great World Cup, capped by a fantastic final. Only a few bad games, and from the qfs onwards, no bad games. Unfortunately that fact is going to be used by those wishing to airbrush out the monstrous nature of the rest of it. FIFA will just be counting its money. It has got away with it.Sure, thought that kind of added to the drama as well. In any event, whereas France got completely outclassed and outsmarted for most of the normal time, which is a great credit to Argentina’s manager, they are far better a side than the first two thirds of normal time would suggest. If the match had finished 2-0 to Argentina it would have been a fair outcome, yet a distorted prism of France’s overall campaign. Not to mention their recovery ultimately delivering the most fantastically gripping WC final in my lifetime.
And even the French would be hard pressed to contest that the ultimate outcome was the right one. In all, the way it turned out felt more like a film script than what you’d expect to happen in a WC final. Fucking great all round (ignoring the wider human rights issues).
Both the French players who missed their penalties were black. Hope that doesn't work out the way it did here.
Yeah, I have to say the one thing bugging me after such a final is the inevitable Infantino smirk ge will undoubtedly display for the next solid couple of years.On a purely football level, this was a great World Cup, capped by a fantastic final. Only a few bad games, and from the qfs onwards, no bad games. Unfortunately that fact is going to be used by those wishing to airbrush out the monstrous nature of the rest of it. FIFA will just be counting its money. It has got away with it.
Both the French players who missed their penalties were black. Hope that doesn't work out the way it did here.
Er. I'm sure you remember the awful racist abuse our players got after missing their penalties in the euros? I just hope those French players don't suffer the same.
Er. I'm sure you remember the awful racist abuse our players got after missing their penalties in the euros? I just hope those French players don't suffer the same.
She's got through the evening without finding out the result.I'm picking my wife up from work at 8pm and am under strict instructions not to spoil the score, so we can go home and watch the second half together (I dropped her off at half time when Argentina were winning 2-0).
Going to be tough, this one.
Hmm, I'm not sure the whole 'Black, Blanc, Beur' thing ultimately had that much of a positive impact unfortunately.On other hand didn't 1998 break down at least some of racial divides that existed in French football and wider society? Desailly, Thuram, Zidane, Djorkaeff, Lizarazu, etc.
Prizes were already distributed19:50.
I just voted Argentina penalties,
I doubt there are any WC winning teams in history who didn’t have at least one mediocre game along the way. In fact, Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia in the opening match was probably the biggest humiliation any big nation has endured in any WC, yet one would be mad to say they don’t deserve to have won it because of a stinky game.Didn't watch the final. This still doesn't feel like a proper world cup. Still, happy to see that France lost after they played like a right filthy shower of shit against England and weren't actually that good.
I doubt there are any WC winning teams in history who didn’t have at least one mediocre game along the way. In fact, Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia in the opening match was probably the biggest humiliation any big nation has endured in any WC, yet one would be mad to say they don’t deserve to have won it because of a stinky game.
Unless you’re coming from the angle that England were the better team against France and deserved to have gone through. Which you were, and fair enough for cheering on their opponent on the day. But purely as an objective analysis of a team’s performance, every team has had at least one stinker.
Admittedly I didn’t watch the full match as it was my work’s Xmas do, but did France actually cheat at all? The ref had a shocker and England were hard done by, but that doesn’t equate to France cheating.I meant that they cheated a lot. England weren't good enough to score from open play, but at least they weren't just taking out French players for fun.
France didn't cheat. Ref was shit. One of the few bad refs in the tournament. Not a conspiracy either. Just shit.Admittedly I didn’t watch the full match as it was my work’s Xmas do, but did France actually cheat at all? The ref had a shocker and England were hard done by, but that doesn’t equate to France cheating.
In fact, I could be wrong but I believe Argentina are only the second nation to win it after losing the opening match.
France didn't cheat.
You take a yellow for the team to stop a breakaway. All teams do it, including England.'Professional fouls' constitute cheating as far as I'm concerned.
Did Messi...die?
so beautiful
If I were him I'd go for a bit of a break before returning. But I'll bet attendance goes up when he does.The Carabao Cup is back this week. Good luck to Alexis Mac Allister who won the World Cup last night, and is due to turn out for Brighton at The Valley against Charlton on Wednesday.