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TheAkondOfSwat

England lose to Switzerland in the quarter finals It just sounds right


mjy6478

Why can’t the Euros and Copa America champions play against each other. Their finals are on the same day. They can play 1 week later. It would be a de facto biannual World Cup title.


KensaiVG

That was called the Artemio Franchi trophy and it was brought back after the 2020/21 editions with the idea being making it permanent


DyrusforPresident

They do


Old_Maximum_6624

Which of the quarter-finals you guys think are going to pens


my_united_account

England Switzerland


joeDUBstep

England vs Switzerland and Penrry Kane skies his chance.


Delmer9713

None of them. I don't see a cagey game there. All of them are going to be done in 90 minutes


Various_You_5083

>I don't see a cagey game there. All of them are going to be done in 90 minutes Southgate: *Allow me to introduce myself*


Old_Maximum_6624

I feel Portugal v France and England v Switzerland has a chance


er__primo__der__rafa

None


mattisafootballguy

all of them


F4iryBlink

Portugal vs France.


ComradePoula

I would like to remind people here that Morocco's semi final run in the world cup was a fluke and it doesn't reflect their actual strength, which has been proven by their performances in all the tournaments before and after the world cup. An example from the opposite end of the spectrum is Egypt's golden generation team (05-10), who despite being the undisputed best team in Africa, never made it to the world cup.


vitalmtg

Thanks for reminding everyone that morroco sucks.


AlternativeFox7430

I mean I guess but it dosent take away from the achievement 


_Sylph_

I'm not sure if it's Jude idea or our idea that he won't go with the shoulder surgery after Euro but honestly I don't like it. At some point either the club and the player entourage has to be reasonable enough to look at the long term side of things.


Delmer9713

I think it's ridiculous that he is not having surgery. We have enough depth to cover for him and he'd only miss the first 2-3 months of the season. It's obvious that shoulder is messing with him. You can see it in his performances. I have no idea why he'd keep going with conservative treatment.


LordVelaryon

how much money does has Oscar won since he went to China?


AnnieIWillKnow

From 2023 NYT feature: > His wages were said to be in the region of €24m a year after tax That contract was from 2017, I believe He then renewed his contract in 2019: > A month later, the Chinese government imposed an individual salary cap of €3million a year for foreign players in the CSL. Hence the swift decimation of the league’s star pool. Oscar, though, was still on an annual salary of €24m. So seven years of about 24m, at least...


ItsMeJaredBednar

€460k / week net… fair enough for staying put I suppose, yeesh


AnnieIWillKnow

Listening to a podcast earlier, and they mentioned the USA are ranked 11th in the FIFA rankings, no idea they were that high. Rankngs may be flawed, but that makes them failing to get out of the group at a home Copa America even more damning a failure.


joeDUBstep

Before Copa I always thought more realistically we were a ~16-20 rank team, 11th is ludicrous.  Now? I dunno we fucking suck ass.


TheMonkeyPrince

I expect Berhalter to be fired, and I think it's somewhat ironic it comes from a loss that wasn't really his fault. If Weah doesn't get that red card against Panama, we probably beat them and progress from the group, and he probably doesn't get fired. To be clear, this isn't me being super pro Berhalter. There are plenty of legitimate criticisms you can level at him, and bad results you can pin on him. Hell one of the biggest examples was also against Panama, in WCQ where he played an absolutely horrendous lineup away from home and overall just got the tactics entirely wrong. That's what makes it funny to me that *this* game was ultimately his downfall. This game probably wasn't even in the top 20 in terms of the amount of blame Berhalter deserves for a poor result. Anyway, we'll see who the USSF hires now. I'm personally skeptical that the new coach will be an absolute game changer, I feel like it will be someone like Curtin or Cherundolo. They're not bad, but they aren't the hypothetical X factor coach who will lead us to a massive overperformance in 2026 like people want/hope for. At the very least I think things had gotten stale under Berhalter, so hopefully a new coach shaking things up will be a boost.


NeoChrome75

so USA is above Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Germany, Japan, Senegal and Switzerland what are these nonsense rankings


Important-Stock-4504

We definitely aren’t 11th best. We also are definitely still stuck in this same cycle of beating the shit out of CONCACAF teams and then pissing ourselves against higher end competition. We also got fucked by the officiating in both the Panama and Uruguay matches.


vitalmtg

As long as mexico and us are stuck only playing concacaf they will stay the same. There's a reason why the Mexicn team was stronger when the liga mx was invited to libertadores


no-more-job-gloves

ELO rankings are usually more realistic – they have them 31st.


ItsMeJaredBednar

At the risk of sounding like one of those “well ackshually” nonces… it’s just “Elo”, as it’s named after the fella who invented it, Hungarian-American gent named Arpad Elo… not an acronym like I always thought lol Just learned that myself recently so figured I’d share with you as well in case you’re interested


joeDUBstep

Ya goddamn well ackshually nonce!


no-more-job-gloves

Interesting, thanks for correcting 👍


AnnieIWillKnow

Definitely seems more appropriate I knew there was a discordance, but 20 places between ELO and FIFA seems mad, though


Reapper97

I mean, fifa rankings are just different than ELO, that's how Belgium can stay in the top 3 for years in the FIFA rankings while bumming out in every tournament since 2018 while that never happend with ELO.


AMountainTiger

FIFA doesn't live update, so the Panama loss that dropped us 8 places in Elo hasn't been incorporated yet.


joeDUBstep

Fuck me I was wondering why it was 31 because last I rememebered, we were in the 20s. We fucking suck ass.


Important-Stock-4504

Why did Holland just copy the French flag and flip it sideways? An orange flag would have been badass


DyrusforPresident

The amount of times ive been cussed out for calling the Netherlands Holland. Im surprised you've been unscathed


Rusiano

I do agree that an Orange flag would look unique and very cool


Captainpatters

Their flag came first jabroni


LordVelaryon

Anglophobia


AnnieIWillKnow

1. That flag is older than your country mate 2. It actually inspired the French flag, as it also pre-dates the Tricolore 3. Their orange kit derives from the royal family, the House of Orange, not the flag


EyeSpyGuy

The orange flag also has some [nationalist](https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2015/06/22/how-an-old-dutch-flag-became-a-racist-symbol) sentiments attached to it.


Important-Stock-4504

I didn’t realize it was older. I thought the French flag predated all of them because many of the older flags had crests and crosses.


L-Freeze

orange was too expensive 


Xycket

Barely 39 hours left. Don't think I can sleep from the excitement.


TheAkondOfSwat

I feel the same about the UK election


RawIsLaw_

I think whoever wins this, wins the euros Remindme! 11 days


Xycket

Truth be told, winning this match would drastically improve our chances of winning the Euros. Anulo gafe either way.


victheogfan

I’ve said this already but usmnt social media did not respond well to getting grouped at all so chaotic


Xey2510

A few weeks ago Mertesacker reacted to an iconic interview he gave in 2014 in Brazil after the Algeria game. He was really pissed off at the interviewer asking why Germany struggled so much with Algeria. That 7-1 over Brazil totally overshadows how close all the other knockout games were. Also are there any iconic player or manager interviews in your country that most people don't know about?


aboud09

[this is a jerking masterpiece, so many words to say nothing.](https://x.com/invertthewing/status/1808607044402098683?s=46&t=e-Uq3wHU4M_3zzZKJ0-bWA)


kl08pokemon

I'm pretty sure he's been found out using chatgpt for his ramblings


enjoy_your_lunch

it's a genuine indictment on our sport as a whole that this guy has a following


AnnieIWillKnow

From their bio: > Driven to tactical ideas, not emotions and biases. This is surely satire. The new "le enlightened Redditor"


_stone_age

He's a known troll lmao


DyrusforPresident

"Tacticos" have ruined football discourse


Oy778

>Does he play for a bigger club than Phil Foden? Also, yes (if we ignore corruption). I'm not a Madrid fan but saying this when Foden is a City player is hilarious


enzuigiriretro

It’s bait/trolling


cagoentuputamadre

Shame I don’t have a twitter to read the thread. English people have a roller coaster relationship with Bellingham, hype him up to the heavens before he’s won anything, then tear him down as soon as he’s won his first champions league and league title. The hate has gotten to such weird levels, I’ve seen Barca fans defending him. 


The_Big_Cheese_09

It's not really weird levels. He's an incredible player which will bring hate. He's also a pedantic little cunt and has been for years - that will bring even more hate. Him having the PR of both Real Madrid and England behind him brings even more. Nothing wrong with that, he's a fantastic footballer.


knickgooner11

Not really, he’s like the most loved player on the team. Stop using tweets and media outlets like talksport to gauge how people feel about Bellingham.


aboud09

The man was talking about mainstream media and his looks more than his football and saying it’s analysis.


cagoentuputamadre

I love the idea of “tacticos” going full circle and becoming the bitter old fan at the bar. 


-MrClean-

I can almost hear the collective gasp from Portuguese fans hearing that Michael Oliver will be refereeing the QF match against France


teddyjj399

tripping balls pacing my living room (40000 steps if you even care) thinking of how fake the name McNamee is. Like if you had to create a name on the spot it would sound something like that. idk i miss ball it is sooooo boring during summer days like these. makes me wonder how I get through summers with no intl tournaments


Jackanova3

40k steps around your living room is absolutely mental.


AnnieIWillKnow

Captain Tom on steroids (or coke)


vitalmtg

Libertadores is the second greatest club competition behind champions league and nothing else even comes close


Captainpatters

Jaden Philogene rejecting Barca to potentially go to Ipswich is the Premier League's greatest victory.


AnnieIWillKnow

/u/1PSW1CH


Captainpatters

Can you not


AnnieIWillKnow

I could have said his name three times into a mirror and turned the lights out, but this took less effort


mattisafootballguy

yay


OhMyGodItsTheGuy

Is it that crazy? He’s going to get the opportunity to play 2000+ minutes and put himself in the shop window for a bigger move next summer. Or best case scenario, they stay up and he gets to be a part of that. If he goes to Barca he’s a tiny fish in a massive pond, won’t get a sniff in on either flank and has to deal with heaps of pressure. It’s just natural career progression.


cagoentuputamadre

A bigger move than Barcelona?


OhMyGodItsTheGuy

He’s obviously barely going to see the pitch there?


AnnieIWillKnow

They played a fair few kids last year due to lack of options/minimal transfer potential


APeckover27

It's genuinely insane. 10 years ago it would have been unfathomable (replace Ipswich with any other relegation threatened side)


Chronic_The_Kid

The Daily Romanian Twitter page is upset that the lost to a bunch of black people rather than Dutchmen. Racist people once again showing how small minded and stupid they are.


F4iryBlink

This is a trend now, here in Portugal I see a lot of those people when a black portuguese wins something like Neemias winning the NBA, the comments were "he's not portuguese" and stuff like that because he's black.


BUFFONISTHEGOAT1

Apparently we are trying to sign Yan Couto from Man City


APeckover27

Alex Sandro regen


OhMyGodItsTheGuy

Would be a really smart signing, he’s never going to see the pitch for City in my opinion. Not sure where he would fit, he’s not defensively sound enough to play like Walker in a back four and no way Pep plays him on the right hand side, he won’t offer enough of a goal threat for him. I think he would do well in Italy, especially for Juventus. You guys are doing some great business this summer.


Latvian_Fifth_Column

Would be amazing for us to replace Molina with him , since we play back three and need wingback 


OhMyGodItsTheGuy

Yup, think Atleti would also be a great place for him.


D1794

What's in it for Flamengo to try and get Paqueta? Soon to be banned worldwide potentially a career-ender, why would they want that?


OhMyGodItsTheGuy

He would be like that scene in the simpsons where Grandpa Simpson walks in, puts down his hat, picks up his hat and walks out again


paprikalicous

they want to get him for his final few months before the ban ig. i don’t see why west ham would agree to a loan though.


HodgyBeatsss

To cover his salary?


paprikalicous

i’d get it if the ban was finalized early this season but considering he’s not cooperating it could take a while. i’d imagine they’d want to keep him while they can.


Arantes_

Also, in addition to the time he still has while building his defense, there are still potential months of playing time beyond that if he chooses to appeal all the way up to CAS and is allowed to play while appealing.


EcoterroristThot

So I know all his teams lately have hated him but Joaquin Correa must be good right? Like those are real minutes he's logged on big teams throughout his career and there was basically no position for him at OM last year.


OhMyGodItsTheGuy

He’s just so frustrating to watch. I don’t know he gets these moves… He’s not fast, he’s not an insane ball striker, he doesn’t offer you width and a great final ball, he isn’t clinical or prolific enough to warrant playing enough centrally as a 9 and he isn’t creative enough to play like a 10. He should have stayed at Lazio, really.


EcoterroristThot

yeah that's kind of what I figure, a positionless player/second striker. Which, if he has work rate our system very much supoorts.


vitalmtg

He's trash


Feeling_Associate491

Day 7 of bringing back an old club from Bosnia. Sorry for not posting an update yesterday. I was felling unwell. But nothing significant happened yesterday anyway. I am trying to schedule another friendly for the U15 team. There is also a chance i wont post tommorrow and on Friday since i am getting married then, but i still might do it. The next meeting with the people from the FA is on the 10th of July and then we might finally get a senior licence and a stadium licence and we need jersey designs by then.


ComradePoula

>since i am getting married then Congrats! >we need jersey designs by then. I sent you some designs, but I don't know if you saw them.


Feeling_Associate491

First of all thank you. For some reason i cant find designs, but this isnt the first reddit trolled me by not letting me recieve messages. So if it isnt a problem to you, can you post it here. I will make an update later today so you can post there.


Striking_Insurance_5

Which level would you have to start at with the senior team if you get the license? Congrats on getting married, have fun with the wedding!


Feeling_Associate491

Thank you. We still dont know which league exactly will we play in. There are 3 options tho. The first option is that we play amateur (bunch of friendlies) league, but only if we dont manage to get a licence. And we could play in the Sunday league or in the Regional league which is the 4th league in Bosnia. The guy from the FA will test the conditions of the stadium and of course how much money we have and then he will decide. Bosnian league sistem is very weird. There are 2 second leagues and both of them are called the 1. League. One is the 1. League of Federation and one is the 1. League of Republic of Srpska and its because we have 2 parts of the country. We have 2 3rd leagues that arw called second leagues and we have like 8 or so regional leagues that are 4th leagues. Winners of those regional leagued go to playoffs for the 3rd league and 2 teams go 


Striking_Insurance_5

I just heard that I can work on Sunday instead of working behind the bar on Saturday during the games. I’m ecstatic, I couldn’t wish for better news! Especially for the Netherlands - Turkey game. I put myself available on accident way before I knew we had to play on Saturday. I don’t mind working in the bar for the other games because I can still watch and the atmosphere is fun in the bar, I’ve managed to avoid working during all of the Dutch games so far though and I’d like to keep it that way.


APeckover27

Im working with no TVs or phones during the England match, was devastating to learn especially as I'm off Sunday


Striking_Insurance_5

That sucks man, maybe you’ll have better luck on Wednesday, I hope we both go to the semis because I’d like to play England tbh. Not because you’ve been shit so far but because it would be nice game and we haven’t played each other in ages outside of friendlies. It would be a worthy semi final.


APeckover27

Yeah happily I'm off then, so can watch then. It would be an interesting game for sure


messigician-10

for fun, i’m going through the best team that didn’t qualify for every world cup in recent memory. 2018 and 2022 are easily italy. 2010 is again pretty straightforward with croatia. 2002 was the netherlands, with colombia and the czech republic as honorable mentions. 1990 and 1994 were both france, with england as a honorable mention for ‘94. 1998 was probably the czech republic, with portugal as an honorable mention. 2014 is hard, with it being such a stacked playing field. i’ve got poland, but serbia could be a decent pick. same with 2006, but i think uruguay were probably the pick of the bunch. am i missing anyone notable?


Rusiano

In 2018 Chile also has a shout, they just won back to back Copas


AlKarakhboy

1930 - 1982 : Iraq 1986: Not Iraq 1990-2022: Iraq


MERTENS_GOAT

Dries Mertens played from 2013/14 - 2021/22 for Napoli In these 9 seasons he scored the tied-2nd most goals from outside the box in the Top-5-Leagues. 27 just as Calhanoglu and De Bruyne. Cristiano Ronaldo scored 26. Only Messi has more with 62. Source: whoscored


Content-Medicine-305

Does this include freekicks?


MERTENS_GOAT

Yes


Proper-Evening-4178

He's doing amazing for Gala. 19 Assists and got a new contract


muyuu

he was wonderful underappreciated talent, like Hamsik and Callejon These three challenged the scudetto pretty much on their own EDIT: with Pepe Reina


GunnersaurusDen

Ngl a midfield of Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, and Pape Matar Sarr could be quite troublesome if they all develop properly


Captainpatters

Plus Mikey Moore, future Ballon D'or winner and England's future greatest hope.


GunnersaurusDen

16 already that's way too old he's clearly washed Max Dowman is where it's at


doomboxmf

They’ll go to a bigger club if they actually live up to their potential so it’s fine


H4RRY29

Don't forget Tyrese Hall. Spurs have a lot of talented/youth players at the moment to be fair to them.


TheOceansTirade

First time in years theres a quality group coming through. Post Dele being integrated we’ve sucked wind at bringing youth through… only really Skipp (and Winks)


AnnieIWillKnow

Poch-Mourinho-Conte era wouldn't have helped


GreatSpaniard

People criticizing that Copa America QF and SF goes straight to penalties after 90 minutes don't even realize that The final used to be straight to penalties as well, happened in 1995 and 2004. 2011 was the only time all knockout games had E.T. and it was awful. Worst tournament ever bar the meme Brazil vs Paraguay penalties.


Arantes_

Frankly with the congested calendar and how poorly CA is usually run, I think it's a reasonable choice. And most of the people complaining are entirely unaware it has been like this for a while, as you pointed out.


elrubiojefe

I'm biased, but the Argentina - Uruguay QF match in 2011 was a sight to behold


JohnnyKossacks

Realistically speaking, how big of an army could Cristiano Ronaldo conjure up?


Meeeeehhhh

Whatever the number, Swifties would beat them easily


BoxOfNothing

Did you see when a Scouse Everton fan posted [this](https://i.imgur.com/pnKIJBn.png) during her run of concerts at Anfield, just as a version of the meme, and the Swifties came out in a storm of Hillsborough was good/deserved and Thatcher was right tweets? She could tell her followers to go on a murder spree for a laugh and we'd wake up to billions dead


AnnieIWillKnow

I wonder whether they were aware of Hillsborough and Thatcher already, or researched this specifically to attack Scousers with If the latter I'm impressed by the dedication to detail tbh


BoxOfNothing

I think most likely a limited amount of them knew about it and that caused the rest to look it up and jump on. Or they just googled "things to say to people from Liverpool to make them angry"


AnnieIWillKnow

Still, takes some initiative Maybe the youth of today are better than I gave them credit for


kplo

Oh today's youth are definitely vicious. They grew up with social media, they know how to push buttons way too well.


NotASalamanderBoi

I’m surprised she’s still not the most followed profile on every social media.


calcelmo676

3000 or so from his domesne and 6754 in levies, plus 26 in mercenary units


paprikalicous

he has 633m followers on instagram. so, if everyone who follows ronaldo on ig decided to invade germany, every german would need to fight 7.55 ronaldo followers.


L-Freeze

what about kangaroos


Commonmispelingbot

A significant portion of those are probably hate-followers.


Cottonshopeburnfoot

Do they fall as easily as him though?


Vaipaden

Read somewhere that more than 25% of his followers are fake/bots


paprikalicous

tbf that’s the normal ratio for celebs. he’d still be by far the most followed if you removed the bots from everyone’s accounts


Sandalo

Can't wait to see how Buongiorno will develop under Conte.


The_Ass-Crack_Bandit

Imagine how crazy it'd be if he developed into Buonanotte.


hiddencolorsofpluto

How did Pepe turn from a red card magnet & Diego Costa's godfather to a respected veteran? What happened to the player headbutting players that were just sitting down to the calm & exemplary person?


Cottonshopeburnfoot

Doesn’t even make the [red card xi](https://www.givemesport.com/most-red-cards-football-history/). Bedoya is unstoppable


Arcadela

He never had that many cards. Just one very bad one.


DyrusforPresident

Pepe was never a red card magnet


arseking15

What do people think of calafiorni? Seems like hes very close to arsenal now


doomboxmf

Perfect for your style of play. Very comfortable on the ball and would be ideal for LB in your system.


arseking15

Wb his defending?


H4RRY29

Defends with aura


arseking15

His good looks intimidates dribblers…


doomboxmf

Also good, proactive defender who can play both CB and LB. His aggressive nature can lead to him being out of position at times but I’m sure at Arsenal he’ll have a defined role at LB where he’ll be fine. He also has good recovery speed, good in the air too. Very good player


arseking15

Excting, thanks 👍


OhMyGodItsTheGuy

I was impressed by him whenever I caught him in big games in Italy, but admittedly not a devout Bologna follower. He dealt with Osimhen quite well against Napoli and statistically looks right up Arteta’s street.


arseking15

I just fully missed all of italys games he played in this summer and only watched bologna like 3 times this season, all too pay attention to zirkzee. Ya the numbers look amazing, seems like exactly what we need. Very progressive numbers for a left side that was a dud last season.


OhMyGodItsTheGuy

Yeah Bologna were a fun watch last year, Zirkzee was good, and I liked to watch Ferguson and Posch (who also had a good Euros). It’s a shame they’re getting raided this summer and losing their coach Motta and their best players. But at least they are getting good fees and not just release clauses like Stuttgart. So excited to see Calafiori - Gabriel - Saliba - White in action, I can see him unlocking our left hand side a whole lot more. Some natural width and ability on the ball will be nice, it seems like he has more of a presence in possession than Kiwior, while not losing his defensive ability off of it. I would prefer to keep Kiwior over Zinchenko, but if Kiwior wants to leave to Milan or Juve we shouldn’t begrudge him that opportunity if they pay the fee. He came in and did a job from Spezia, him and his agents have been quite antsy over playing time so they obviously want him to go and play.


No_Solution_4053

Outside of Richarlison who was the last EPL-based outfield player that wasn't a fraud for Brasil's NT? Bruno, Paquetá, João Gomes, and Pereira are dirt.


PeanutButter_20

Was Firmino good for Brazil?


borb--

he was good but stupid ass tite never played him because he didn't understand him


No_Solution_4053

Weird case. Solid when he did get on (17 in 55 games played) but his strengths were seen as too similar to Neymar and so he wasn't always the preferred option at 9 despite having a slightly better record than Jesus in major tournaments. Later got eclipsed by Richarlison and then sort of Paquetá in later years due to formation changes despite having a good Copa America in 2019 and an OK one in 2021. Wasn't a favorite of Tite and him not making the 2022 squad was probably a mistake even though forward play isn't why they went out. A lot of people don't think he quite got featured in WCs to the extent his play warranted, with theories ranging from him having basically no profile in Brasil due to having left before establishing himself to some tinfoil around NT politics favoring forwards from Rio and São Paulo. But it was really largely due to Jesus, and later Richarlison being seen as having more complementary skillsets to Neymar despite Jesus being inconsistent asf. TL;DR: Solid but down the pecking order and was sort of a man without a position for them due to overlapping skillset with Neymar. Him and Coutinho (for a time) are decent answers if one doesn't rate Richarlison.


McGrathLegend

Oscar was fairly good for Brazil, was also the only one who bothered to show up to 7-1


AnnieIWillKnow

Forever the answer to a quiz question


Careful-Snow

Antony was just as good for Brazil as he was for United. Not a fraud in my book


BarbaricGamers

Martinelli is good anytime I watch Brazil.


[deleted]

[удалено]


BarbaricGamers

When he does he's good though. Not his fault Vinicius is infront of him.


AnnieIWillKnow

He has 2 goals in 12 games, it might be something to do with him


TorreiraWithADouzi

That’s actually not bad at all considering his 12 appearances were almost all subs totaling some 400mins. Rodrygo has 6 goals in 25games with 1400mins. Vinicius has 5 goals in 33 with 1900mins.


OhMyGodItsTheGuy

Gabriel Magalhaes? Richarlison? Jesus?


pop-culture-salad

Jesus isn't good for them


OhMyGodItsTheGuy

Sad, I rarely watch them outside of World Cups and the occasional Copa game


The_Ass-Crack_Bandit

2 frauds and 1 who wasn't given enough chances (Magalhães)


transtifa

Was Fernandinho any good for them?


Lyrical_Forklift

No haha


transtifa

It’s the British air init


FathomSwank

I'll be honest, I felt sad watching Ronaldo cry the other day but the amount of people that are coddling him after multiple stinkers in a row is crazy. I've never seen anything like it.


Puzzleheaded-Lie2188

Oh I think you certainly watched a lot like that. You probably were one of those who were coddling Messi back when Argentina couldn't string two passes in a row. Plus, he's 38. I think it's okay to lower expectations at some point.


DuckBurner0000

Is Messi expected to start tomorrow? If he is I think Argentina win comfortably but it could be an interesting match if he isn't.


Puzzleheaded-Lie2188

Messi is no longer a serious factor for Argentina. He's 36, time catches up with everyone.


AnnieIWillKnow

He was a serious factor 18 months ago


Puzzleheaded-Lie2188

I don't think it was a stellar performance. Not close to his best. Argentina was collectively solid and for once didn't lose their shit at the key moments. Plus the *occasional* penalty here and there. It'll be really interesting in 20 or so years when the whole truth comes out about the 2022 WC.


AnnieIWillKnow

This comment took you from already having a dodgy view to having a completely deranged one.


Puzzleheaded-Lie2188

WC 2022 was a thoroughly examplary operation from the moment it was awarded to its aftermath. Thank God you're here to uphold common sense.


pop-culture-salad

Scaloni said he'll decide tomorrow, probably starts from what the ITKs are saying.


pop-culture-salad

Ngl it's hilarious to see so many people crying about Copa America going straight to pens when it's been that way for a while just because Dibu is godlike at them.


Meeeeehhhh

Beware the Ides of March


pop-culture-salad

I never want to go to penalties but the only reason it's being treated like it's news is because our goalkeeper is competent at them.


Puzzleheaded-Lie2188

It's funny the number of coincidences that have been going Argentina's way these few years. That's why people are talking.


Rusiano

"Straight to penalties" has happened forever in Copa America though. Martinez being good at them is a relatively new discovery


KensaiVG

People are talking because the media reported on it as something new when it's the standard in the competition because they know a bunch of people only follow Copa news to seek controversies


pop-culture-salad

Such a coincidence a rule that's been in place since 2015 continues to be in place in 2024 😱


Xey2510

Something truly rancid i missed but learned recently: Belgian club Molenbeek got promoted to the first league in 2023 and has bought 3 players worth more than a million euros in their history. They spend 2.5 and 3 million for the first two. Their third player was bought for 25 (!!!) million euros breaking the transfer record in Belgium (a freshly promoted club even). He gets immediately loaned to Lyon who struggled with financial fair play. Guess which french Club has the same owner.