i lost another bet with portugal. ooof! but morocco, extraordinary as a team. a revelation.

tha final is shaping up to be great.

and the 3rd place match should be very entertaining for spectators even if some players don't want it.

Despite the weird surprises, it's the final many expected before the tournament started. It's also another opportunity for Argentine players to get pissed off and take off their silver medals after the game, as they're wont to do. :D

i hadn't been following too closely but i didn't expect argentina to get here.

according to world hype, brazil was supposed to be the great south american savior.

and then...



sorry they were knocked out but i guess under every cloud there's always a silver lining haaaahaaaahaaaahaa. seeing neymar cry is always a delight. even if he scored a beautiful goal for the ages. seeing him cry is even better than seeing him score. glorious!

so we'll see what happens sunday... france is short kanté and pogba and maybe benzema (more later on that). two more on the defensive side of things have been sick and isolated, not sure of their medical progress.

benzema: i am not sure if fit or not, might return? might play? something? weird...

france has defensive flaws in the midfield. and individually rabiot and upamecano were fucking up and resorting to fouls when they played england. one step here one step there or a different ref can change the outcome. (plus they are the sick ones, so there's that)

of course, mbappé and griezmann and giroud upfront are murder incarnate, even without benzema along or a great defense behind them...

so yeah, odds are that france wins, but... it ain't over till it's over. messi y la araña might have something to say about that come sunday.

Neymar, Ronaldo, and Suarez crying in the same few weeks, this is the greatest World Cup of all time.

Regardless of the result, I'm going to claim that Australia's the third best team in the world now. But because the idea of a French dynasty is repulsive, and I have a few friends there, gloria a la albiceleste...

VIVE la RÉSISTANCE!

Dunno whether this has been posted on this thread before - it's a CLASSIC from 2005:

Mark E Smith reads the football results on the BBC's Final Score

The best part starts about five minutes in, but ya gotta hear the man read the results first. A total pro!

Meanwhile in Australia...

morocco-croatia started super lively...

--

and in the end i guess croatia successfully shut it down

well well well... here comes the big day...

i would love for argentina to win, but right now can't help to see france having higher chances with more great attackers and a better keeper.

i think argentina has a better defense. i expect the real battle to happen in the midfield.

it's very hard to predict what will happen, what tactical schemes will be proposed by each team. and then whoever is tasked with chasing mbappé better be ready.

--

okay we have lineups:
Argentina: Martínez; Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Acuña; Di María, De Paul, Fernández, Mac Allister; Messi, Álvarez.

France: Lloris (c); Kounde, Varane, Upamecano, Hernandez; Tchouameni, Rabiot; Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe; Giroud.

dimaría starts!!


.

hah, scaloni winning the tactical battle by sending everyone forward to overwhelm france's defensive defficiencies. tight midfield control. and dimaría involved in both goals. brilliant.

-

they took out dimaría and now argentina fallen back risking their advantage. this i do not like.

-

well i saw this coming. goddamn. tactical blunder to get on the back foot. 2-2 right now.


--

this game is pure madness. waiting for the penalties now. fucking nuts.

TODAY'S LUNCH: ASADO Y FERNET

what a final!!!!!!!

Absolutely insane.

I missed both French goals because I was in the kitchen.
Going to write a complaint to the FIFA that they shouldn't schedule World Cup Finals around dinner time :D

Confirmed: Marcelo Bielsa, new Uruguay coach.

They will destroy us.

Then they'll be World Champions.

I'm gonna go hang myself now.

i like uruguay! this is great news

but that guy from the office is fucking annoying. why dont we hang HIM instead?

it would be an extra extra extra bonus hahahaha

And now...



carn the fuckin Tillies

Congrats Chocie!
I think you were great against the Canadians, but I literally watched the match with only one eye. While working, and from my "desk" (= dinner table) I can watch only one half of my TV screen :D
That's still more than what I saw from the Dutch matches so far, they are at 3AM or so. Impossible timing.
Tomorrow's match is better timed, at 9AM, but Tuesdays I'm at the office so I still won't be able to see it... but I'll try...or not...not really interested in Vietnam actually.

Went to all six games in Melbourne throughout the tournament.
*Nigeria 0-0 Canada was thrilling, really fast football from both sides and some great play - Nigeria were the moral victors.
*Germany 6-0 Morocco wasn't something I'd want to see again, the Germans looked clinical but I guess that was a red herring.
*Australia 4-0 Canada was so much fun once we got a couple on the board, loved the fan experience. Mary Fowler is going to be one of the best out there by the next World Cup.
*Jamaica 0-0 Brazil was a hugely shocking result, it was incredible hearing the Brazilian crowd instantly go silent.
*Sweden 0-0 USA was one of the greatest goalkeeping performances I'll ever see, and an absolutely mental penalty shootout - always fun to curse out the seppos.
*Colombia 1-0 Jamaica was alright, I was sat behind a mascot for the Colombian team so I didn't see too much...

Spain football chief to resign after kissing World Cup winner on the lips

Good. Fuck him.

Wait - this guy has not resigned or been fired yet. Fucking douchebag!

triste pendejo, that's a red card

Sam Kerr - possibly the greatest women's footballer on the planet - is going to court for a day where she scored a hat trick, got drunk, munted in a taxi, started fighting about the fine, and called the cop booking her a "stupid white bastard".
Fucking legend, makes you proud to be Australian.

it looks to me like spain is shaping up to be the champion this year

Spain will win the Copa América? :confused:;):D

euros. playing right now. i mean spain looks like the best all-around team so far. good players and tactics. france without mbappé was disappointing. germany scraped by vs the swiss. italy not measuring up, and croatia is not what it used to be

for copa américa (playing later) i liked uruguay yesterday. their bielsa scheme is super fun to watch. although it shows some defensive weakness, an unusual thing for uruguay which traditionally defends first, then scores. but overall they're my favorite team so far, in terms of how they've played

-

italy saved their own asses literally at the last minute vs croatia

The Uruguay v Panama game was pretty entertaining to watch, yeah! The result was a foregone conclusion after they'd scored but it was some effective attacking.
Going to the pub tomorrow to watch Chile v Argentina, and also to get drunk before midday.

If we don't get our shit together that could be very ugly...

nice! chile vs perú was hilarious btw, machetes flying all around, a very well deserved cero a cero for both sides. the shadow of carlos bilardo loomed large over the pitch that night (look him up)

i had to miss colombia paraguay today due to work, but caught some of brazil costa rica, which was also cero a cero. i was originally hoping for a great brazil performance, but who reared his ugly mug by suprise? none other than neymar, who is out injured. i hate that guy hahahahahaha! hate him. he alone ruins brazil for me, and his tears are my joy. so i was glad they couldn't score, hahahahhaah

anyway, have fun tomorrow being a proper australian!


perú defended well but their attack suuuuuuuuucked. argentina has good defense, good attack, and i'm not going to say messi, i'm gonna say ... too many stars to mention hahahha, too many...

from the first round of games alone, i think it's shaping to be argentina #1 canada #2 in that group.,,

I'll be at an "old-fashioned British pub" for that, so we know where the fan sentiment should be :p


I've seen more entertaining games, although it was neat that the ref seemed happy to let a lot slide. Sanchez's miss was real unfortunate, I don't think either would be happy with 0-0. Anyway here's to entertainment and a hopeful surprise, and if not I can offer a shoulder to cry on for some select friends of mine ;)

Holy fuck me BLAME CANADA! This means the last game (vs Chile) is gonna be do or DIE, EH!

i don't know how argentina did not score 6 yesterday. probably miracles. gareca's response in the second half was a good one, but no team in this group can contend with argentina's overabundance of talent

perú did great with 3-5-2 bilardismo until it didn't: araujo's atrocious foul and red card doomed their schemes. canada was barely okay, much less impressive than they appeared against argentina (even though against argentina they lost)

chile vs canada is gonna be a duel to the death yeah. for the other one messi will probably rest a bit

Probably Bravo.

yes him for sure but also a lot of luck. the var was maddening

venezuela vs mexico 2nd half last night was a lot of bad quality fast action, superchaos, hilarious. but hey at least they tried unlike the dull euros

missed the euros today not sure if there were games actually... the fox app is a bit of a disaster

missed also ecuador jamaica but highlights show a vastly improved ecuador over what it used to be way back when. ecuador vs mexico should be intense

yeah that was a solid prediction lol. pity i didnt put money on it. 2 south americans got concacaffed. highly unusual but nice to see the full continent competing. should be like that always i think

--

and tomorrow's mexico ecuador is gonna be also for survival

not sure if valencia will be back from red card, but either way, barring major fuckups i would expect ecuador to win

What a fucking week.

Eighth finals of the EC started yesterday, and Italy is kicked out by the Swiss !!!
and it was well deserved, the Swiss were so much better

ah, i missed that yesterday, too much to do and it plays in my morning, but i am not surprised given that a) the swiss gave germany a good scare b) italy had not been playing well