The Sports Thread
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Argentina is just one great team right now, a powerhouse. They manage to turn any game in their favor in the end. Should be an excellent finale against Spain.
I thought Argentina were there for the taking, especially after England got the first goal.
But negative tactics by Tuchel (possibly inspired by their 10 men holding out against an onslaught from Mexico earlier) cost them dearly.
The more the game progressed, England retreated and subbed offensive players for defenders, the more there looked like only being one outcome.
Two great goals made sure of that (the irony that they were badly defended AFTER the substitutions should not be lost on anybody).
The old adage ‘attack is the best form of defence’ never rang truer.
The long wait goes on (for the new Premier League season to start, I mean) 😉😉 YNWAThe old adage ‘attack is the best form of defence’ never rang truer.
Indeed. I’ve never been able to understand how some teams, if they get a lead goal, instantly retreats to extreme defense. Even when the goal is early in the match. In addition to being chicken-shit and a borefest for us neutral spectators, it’s proven time and time again that it’s only a matter of time until the opponent scores.
Yes, Thor. That’s why I loved Liverpool under Klopp. None of that defending a 1 goal lead from him.
His intense press and attack minded philosophy made us a joy to watch. If you sometimes got caught out and beat as a result, you didn’t mind so much, as you’d still seen an exciting game of football. But racing into a 3-4 goal lead with that intensity was great stuff.
It will be interesting to see how the German national team do under his stewardship, going forward (although International football is VERY DIFFERENT to week in/week out club footy).On reflection, I think it would be perfectly appropriate for Argentina to be disqualified for the (pointless) political gesture by the players at full time…
🙂
I think political slogan breaches tend to be monetary fines, Chris, from reading about previous ones levied against Croatia, the Swiss and the Argies (who have form for this kind of thing).
I just hope Spain do them over on Sunday.
All this bitter politicising from the Argies is really distasteful (and I wasn’t their biggest fan to begin with).It will be interesting to see how the German national team do under his stewardship, going forward
Klopp had been in discussion as Head Coach for the National Team before, but the DFB went with (more or less unknown to me) Nagelsmann.
Obviously, some heads had to roll after Germany’s poor performance at the World Cup, and I don’t think it can be fixed with just a new coach, but Klopp may have enough swagger to force some changes.Rather poor first half of the final. Pretty much as expected, Spain pushing, Argentina defending.
Is there supposed to be a halftime show now, à la Super Bowl? Ridiculous.
(With Trump watching loads of Hispanic people on the field, it’s a bit like Hitler/Jesse Owens during the 1936 Berlin Olympics.)
Yes. Probably the worst final I’ve seen. I’ve always found Spain rather boring, but I root for them now. Total dominance, but terrible final shots.
Rooted for Spain, and whew, they won. That means something, considering I often rooted for the loosers this tournament.
All in all, it was a great tournament, much better than the last one. Apart from some unfortunate but not lasting issues, it was an excellent World Cup, very well executed, I had a lot of fun watching many games, and it definitely was a much better World Cup than the last one. I had a blast. It even had a fun to watch third place game!
And Spain was the better team, so they deserved to win. Congratulations Spain!Probably the worst final I’ve seen.
At least we got a few seconds of «Ro!» led by Gustavo Dudamel. 😉
10 goals, wow. Congratulations to England with your first medal since 1966!
Shows how entertaining games can be when there’s little or no pressure. We’ve now finished first, third and fourth in various world cups, which doesn’t sound too bad until you look at the records of most of the other major European football powers. France, Spain, Germany and Italy have all won it at least twice.
The Netherlands have finished second three times, and should probably have won it twice on quality.
Mind you, our record in the Euros is worse, having lost in two finals in a tournament that Czechoslovakia (as was), Greece and Denmark have all won.
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