|
Replying To katser: "A disgusting World Cup Final coming up.....horrible boring Spain coming up against Argentina who Spain "introduced " the language of Spanish amongst those innocent Argentine folk many many years ago!
Argentina to win their 4th World Cup." Looking forward to it now that we can relax.
Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2885 - 16/07/2026 22:37:20
2685989
Link
0
|
|
Replying To Lockjaw: "Good post. That was some bottle job by England.
We can relax now and enjoy hopefully a good game on Sunday. I have a great grá for Spain in general, a fantastic country. But Argentina winning wouldn't bother me either, they're some bit of stuff. Bucketloads of character." Sorry Lockjaw, I didn't read your post until I had posted mine. Copy and paste would have done.
Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2885 - 16/07/2026 22:39:08
2685990
Link
0
|
|
Replying To WanPintWin: "Correct. Tuchel will be the sole scapegoat and easy target, but the players themselves have to take a huge amount of the blame. They hardly put two passes together after they scored. Tuchel definitely made some poor calls also, but the players have to take the bulk of the responsibility.
There were 35 minutes left when they scored, and we had 9 minutes of injury time. Argentina had 88% possession in that time, which is staggering, and a large chunk of it in England's half in and around the box.
A bit of luck and they could have held out, and people would be hailing a backs to the wall performance. But they made a rod for their own backs by completely retreating.
Compare that to Spain who continued to be brave after scoring the first goal against France on Tuesday. They kept doing what they knew gave them the best chance and trusted themselves. They ended up neutralising France completely, got the second goal and were unlucky not to get another.
As with 4 years ago, people have questioned Argentina's quality. They're not going to overwhelm teams and will even struggle with teams they should be beating more comfortably, but that's not how to judge a team with their characteristics.
They are incredible battlers, will give a match to anyone and then have some real quality in key moments. This team has character in spades. How they dug in 4 years ago in the final when France equalised is still one of the most impressive things I've seen in soccer. Most teams would have folded in that scenario, but they actually got back on top in the game and the rest is history. Spain will be favourites, but I'd be surprised if they get anything easy on Sunday. I expect Argentina to give them a much bigger challenge than France did.
Looking forward to it." Gaelic Football has changed to the point where a corner back is expected to be as much an attacking player as a forward, but yet to your point, we are expected to believe that professional players paid millions but as defenders are still only expected to header the ball and hoof it out of defense. When it came down to it the players just were not good enough.
zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 2221 - 17/07/2026 06:57:51
2686003
Link
0
|
|
Watching Trump present the trophy to Spain will be glorious if it happens after what he said about Spain recently.
yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 12214 - 17/07/2026 09:09:57
2686008
Link
0
|
|
Replying To katser: "A disgusting World Cup Final coming up.....horrible boring Spain coming up against Argentina who Spain "introduced " the language of Spanish amongst those innocent Argentine folk many many years ago!
Argentina to win their 4th World Cup." I'm looking forward to the final, should be a good game, neither team will sit back. Plus, I had an e/w bet on Argentina to win the cup at the beginning.
Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2946 - 17/07/2026 09:20:34
2686009
Link
0
|
|
I've had a bit more time to digest the game the other night and for me, England's demise comes down to a fundamental issue in their psyche which affected them not only in this tournament, but in many others previously as well.
They have an obsession with World War Two and their role in it. Yes, we are all extremely thankful that they held out, and ultimately prevailed against the Nazi war machine. But it has adversely impacted their thinking across a number of areas in the decades since. If you think of the "spirit of Dunkirk" for example, it was a mad, brave, last ditch rescue attempt which saved thousands of lives. A very commendable effort for sure, made possible in part by civilians taking their non-military boats across the channel to aid in the effort.
Similarly with Brexit. Despite all factual evidence illustaring that it was/is an act of prfound economoic stupidity, the prevailing attitude seems to have been, "Old Blighty will be ok, we'll muddle on through and in time we'll come out on top because there's nothing we love more than a backs-to-the-wall job where we emerge victorious at the end"
I heard some of their main pundits saying that the Mexico performance at this World Cup was one of England's best ever and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. A fantastic result in a hostile environment for sure, but performance? It's not often I agree with Michael Owen, but what was hailed as a brave and heroic performance was anything but. Football bravery is not retreating and camping in your own box with Dan Burn heading everything away. Real football bravery is demanding and using the ball correctly in the hairiest of situations, and trusting your superior ability to see you through.
We saw it the other night again for the umpteenth time. England get ahead and immediately retreat into backs-to-the-wall mode. The trouble is it wasn't Mexico they were up against this time. It was an Argentina team with ferocious character, and oh - the best football player of all time. It wasn't his first rodeo playing against a low block.
They can go on about their Premier League and their superstar players all they want. But time and again, when the real pressure cranks up, they go into their shells and into survivor mode instead of grasping the nettle and playing to win.
Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10426 - 17/07/2026 10:08:18
2686016
Link
1
|
|
Replying To Lockjaw: "I've had a bit more time to digest the game the other night and for me, England's demise comes down to a fundamental issue in their psyche which affected them not only in this tournament, but in many others previously as well.
They have an obsession with World War Two and their role in it. Yes, we are all extremely thankful that they held out, and ultimately prevailed against the Nazi war machine. But it has adversely impacted their thinking across a number of areas in the decades since. If you think of the "spirit of Dunkirk" for example, it was a mad, brave, last ditch rescue attempt which saved thousands of lives. A very commendable effort for sure, made possible in part by civilians taking their non-military boats across the channel to aid in the effort.
Similarly with Brexit. Despite all factual evidence illustaring that it was/is an act of prfound economoic stupidity, the prevailing attitude seems to have been, "Old Blighty will be ok, we'll muddle on through and in time we'll come out on top because there's nothing we love more than a backs-to-the-wall job where we emerge victorious at the end"
I heard some of their main pundits saying that the Mexico performance at this World Cup was one of England's best ever and I couldn't believe what I was hearing. A fantastic result in a hostile environment for sure, but performance? It's not often I agree with Michael Owen, but what was hailed as a brave and heroic performance was anything but. Football bravery is not retreating and camping in your own box with Dan Burn heading everything away. Real football bravery is demanding and using the ball correctly in the hairiest of situations, and trusting your superior ability to see you through.
We saw it the other night again for the umpteenth time. England get ahead and immediately retreat into backs-to-the-wall mode. The trouble is it wasn't Mexico they were up against this time. It was an Argentina team with ferocious character, and oh - the best football player of all time. It wasn't his first rodeo playing against a low block.
They can go on about their Premier League and their superstar players all they want. But time and again, when the real pressure cranks up, they go into their shells and into survivor mode instead of grasping the nettle and playing to win." I personally find our collective obsession with them losing a game of soccer a bit sad tbh.
And perhaps we should get our own economic problems,housing shortages and emigration under control before lecturing other nations about stupid decisions,especially when many of our people (some of whom i know) have moved FROM Ireland TO these countries.
Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 166 - 17/07/2026 22:22:06
2686123
Link
0
|