Argentina v France (FINAL)

Guess I'll be paying for that one

 

Sad act.

 

DiMaria has become quite a hero for Argentina these past couple of years. Good for him as he was on route to becoming total a hasbeen like Aguero and Higuain.

The emotional gymnastics he went through on the bench poor lad.

 

Didn't have a particularly great tournament but he was fantastic in the final. Best game I've ever seen him play.

 

Up there with CL final 2014 (sure was that year)

 

Agreed.

 

He's the goat for me but am I buzzing he won the world cup? No, I'm not. Just like I wasn't buzzing when Ronaldo won the Euro's. People need to grow up.

 

Wouldn’t say I’m buzzing but it was nice to witness a moment and a player that people will remember forever. Felt like a proper historic moment.

 

Not taking anything away from GH's 3 goals in a game achievement. The record had stood for a very long time. Can put to bed though the he was the only one that got trotted out every tournament.

 

Yeah something to tell your grandkids that you saw Messi lift the world cup and watched him in his prime. Was a real feelgood moment I was delighted even though I had France in the works sweepstake lol.

 

Think it was a tactical move as they were 2-0 up at the time and Scaloni wanted to sure them up. Bet he was regretting it at 2-2!

 

Just seen the cloak thing for the first time. So embarrassing. Feel sorry for the bloke being used like that.

 

Well there're a lot of things to say!

Tactically, I thought Scaloni was brilliant and that he outplayed Deschamps head & shoulders. He put De Paul on the wing to be on Mbappé's side and managed to keep the ball without giving it away virtually ever and still managed to score on a counter! Argentina won the 50/50s and simply wanted the ball more. Our midfield trio had an absolute mare (Ngolo Kanté was clearly missing) as it was like we were playing with no ballwinner against resolute guys like Fernandez (potential MOTM looking past you know who).
Props to Deschamps for having the balls to make a sub before half-time. Thought he'd lost it but on the other hand it does feel like "**** it we can't possibly play any worse so might as well get the young ones on for a few minutes until the interval". Second half, game was closer to 3-0 than 2-1 I felt but Kolo Muani & Coman installed some fight and the likes of Rabiot quickly followed suit. Not gonna lie, never ever thought we'd score in that game let alone pull the game back to 2-2. We benefitted from our 1st counter attack and it paid off while the 2nd was majestic (best goal ever in a WC final). The game wasn't a classic until then but from the 80th minute but it was probably the most entertaining extra-time period I ever watched. Mesmerising stuff, something you have to regret not watching live.
The defeat on penalties doesn't surprise anyone around here. Had a think and realised we last won a penalty shoot-out back in 1998 vs Italy! Even England won one more recently! Lloris is ok at stopping penalties during the game but I don't think he's ever won as a player for Spurs/Lyon. That said, we could have scored ours to make things interesting but Argentina looked more confident (the Holland win on spotkicks must have helped).
A word on the ref. How did everyone thought he did? He got murdered by the French media and every fan I talked to today thought he was terrible but I thought he did alright given the circumstances. He didn't get everything right but most of it in a very demanding match (it usually is with those diving ****s). A solid 6/10 in my book.

France not being a football country isn't exactly bleeding with sorrow today. People are disappointed but it's a I'd rather we'd won disappointed rather than being completely distraught. C'est la vie and all that.

Oh and Benzema announcing his international retirement is wonderful news!

 

Pretty much sums up my thoughts. The lack of objectivity will always be an issue. Only few pundits are admitting that the ref was alright.

 

My thoughts
- Referee was really good
- Di Maria was the best player until he was subbed off. Why Scaloni?
- Mbappe scored the first hat trick in a WC final (For Germans only, for everyone else it's the 2nd)
- Something no one talked about is how every throw in in this game was thrown to an opposition player. Wtf?

Is there racist abuse online against Kolo Muani and Coman? I hope not

 

Di Maria has been struggling with hamstring problems, was never expected to last the full match. He was excellent in that first half though.