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The World Cup finals

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cernjSHU

Senior
Jul 17, 2001
165
463
63
My initial thoughts on this Final. Great matchup and storybook ending to this World Cup as the defending Champion with the greatest player of all time faces off against Spain. Spain the country that Messi spent most of his life in since he was 13. Spain the team that has Lamine Yamal who Messi bathed as a baby and now they face off against each other. You really can't make this up.

IMO, Spain is the better team with quality all over the pitch. However, their goalie Simon is a little sketchy. This game is going to be greatly influenced by the referees in this game. Argentina plays aggressively and at times pretty dirty. If the refs allow that physical play to happen, Argentina will be able to disrupt Spain's dominance in the midfield. Uruguay played dirty kicking and hacking Spain all game and it disrupted that flow to Spain's game. If that happens, this is going to be a tough close game.

If the refs call the fouls and cards players appropriately, I don't see how Argentina's midfield can match up to Spain. This will isolate Messi up top and will force him to fall back deeper to get involved in the attack. In turn that will tire Messi out. Will Argentina play defensive against Spain and look for some Messi magic at the end? I have no idea. But if Argentina plays an open game and the refs don't allow the Argentina players to mug Spain, this could 3-0 result for Spain.
 
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The Crows Nest

Senior
Jun 3, 2001
325
456
63
cernjSHU said:
My initial thoughts on this Final. Great matchup and storybook ending to this World Cup as the defending Champion with the greatest player of all time faces off against Spain. Spain the country that Messi spent most of his life in since he was 13. Spain the team that has Lamine Yamal who Messi bathed as a baby and now they face off against each other. You really can't make this up.

IMO, Spain is the better team with quality all over the pitch. However, their goalie Simon is a little sketchy. This game is going to be greatly influenced by the referees in this game. Argentina plays aggressively and at times pretty dirty. If the refs allow that physical play to happen, Argentina will be able to disrupt Spain's dominance in the midfield. Uruguay played dirty kicking and hacking Spain all game and it disrupted that flow to Spain's game. If that happens, this is going to be a tough close game.

If the refs call the fouls and cards players appropriately, I don't see how Argentina's midfield can match up to Spain. This will isolate Messi up top and will force him to fall back deeper to get involved in the attack. In turn that will tire Messi out. Will Argentina play defensive against Spain and look for some Messi magic at the end? I have no idea. But if Argentina plays an open game and the refs don't allow the Argentina players to mug Spain, this could 3-0 result for Spain.
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Nice summary and preview.

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the matches in this World Cup, and the Final should not dissapoint.

I am rooting for Spain...but how can you count out Argentina after what they have done.

I will say this...Spain better play all 90 (more with added time) minutes, because Argentina appears at their most dangerous when they are cornered or behind...boy are they deadly at the end of matches.
 
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HallLine69

Heisman
Aug 24, 2001
10,538
10,775
112
"Vincic was only held by authorities as a witness and not accused of being involved in the operation."

Once again the Post creates a story where there is not an actual story. So many good newspapers are gone, yet the scummy Post thrives on. What a shame.
 
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BrklynGrad

Sophomore
Feb 1, 2026
232
162
43
Halftime Report: Argentina will open-up offensively in the second half. With all of Spain's ball control in the Argentine end, they can't score.
 
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STLPirate12

Junior
Mar 16, 2017
285
315
63
I appreciated Spain's aggressive start, unfortunately they didn't keep it up and settled back into conservatively holding the ball, and Argentina were content to let them.

It was never realistically going to be as fun as the 3rd place game was, but an Argentina goal would really open it up.
 
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Hall-O-Daze

Sophomore
Jan 8, 2020
107
157
43
Thanks be to Spain! That was a victory for the whole sports world. For a team that controlled the match, they sure made it more nerve-wracking than it needed to be though🤣
 
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catholicman

Junior
Nov 19, 2007
238
355
63
Spain was definitely the better team but they also were favored by Eurocentric refs, who made some bad calls. The yellow card on the Argentine player for disagreeing with a call, which contributed to a red card via a second yellow card due on a collision, were exhibits A & B of the Euro bias.
 
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lokiSHU

Redshirt
Jun 12, 2001
22
29
13
Great game. Congrats to Spain. Glad it was Ferran with the goal; gets a lot of unfair flack from fans
 
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hallsoccer03

Sophomore
Feb 5, 2003
105
176
43
catholicman said:
Spain was definitely the better team but they also were favored by Eurocentric refs, who made some bad calls. The yellow card on the Argentine player for disagreeing with a call, which contributed to a red card via a second yellow card due on a collision, were exhibits A & B of the Euro bias.
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Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
 
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HallLine69

Heisman
Aug 24, 2001
10,538
10,775
112
catholicman said:
Spain was definitely the better team but they also were favored by Eurocentric refs, who made some bad calls. The yellow card on the Argentine player for disagreeing with a call, which contributed to a red card via a second yellow card due on a collision, were exhibits A & B of the Euro bias.
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Oh baloney. The officiating had no impact on this result. "Eurocentric refs'? What the heck is that?
 
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cernjSHU

Senior
Jul 17, 2001
165
463
63
I have never seen a game in which the opposing team was so utterly dominated and yet the game remained 0-0 into OT.

As I said a couple of days ago, Spain could have won this game by having 3 or 4 goals. The only Argentinian player worth anything today was the goalie Martinez. He had two excellent saves off the free kick of Lamine Yamal and the header by Nico Williams. He had a terrific game. The thuggery of Argentina was on full display during the game. The comments by Catholic man that the Eurocentric refs favoring Spain is a far out comment. If anything, the refs were too lenient allowing Argentina to thug it up on the field. Then to make matters worse, Paredes and other Argentina players attacked Spanish players right after the game. Disgraceful display.

I want to point out that I thought Spain became far more dangerous when Nico Williams entered the game. His goal was disallowed by a bs penalty call. That should have been the first goal. His header back into the box so Ferran Torres could score was phenomenal. And the second disallowed goal by Ferran Torres was painfully offsides by an elbow. Crazy.

In the end, France and Argentina could do anything against Spain. The second Spanish dynasty is on its way. With Spain being so young, they will be the favorites for the next Euro and World Cup. Viva España!!
 
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HALL85

Heisman
Jul 5, 2001
30,288
11,694
113
Looking back, the host countries did an excellent job and the U.S. especially showed it's best. The International guests enjoyed and celebrated in all the good things that this country offers. And as hosts, our country got caught up in the tournament and there were no incidents that could have created issues. We were all "rowing" in the same direction.
 
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radecicco

All-Conference
Jun 24, 2013
965
1,538
93
I really didn’t begin to focus on it until the England match. Then yesterday it became evident to a guy who doesn’t watch much soccer. Argentina really plays dirty. And all the bs after the conclusion of the match reinforced that. Thank goodness they didn’t win.
 
shupat08

shupat08

Senior
Mar 28, 2006
359
562
93
Coming from someone who's a big fan of how Ecuador and Colombia play.

Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina. And I don't just mean this world cup.

1000010758.jpg
 
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lokiSHU

Redshirt
Jun 12, 2001
22
29
13
Halldan said:

Argentina coach appears to punch Spain player after embarassing loss​

nypost.com

Argentina coach appears to punch Spain player after embarassing loss

An Argentine coach got in on the brawl after losing to Spain.
nypost.com nypost.com
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The Argentine player, Paredes, is a thug. At the last WC in quarters vs Netherlands he drilled the ball into the Dutch dugout setting off a bench clearing scuffle. 14 yellow cards please a couple reds in that game. Other than Messi, they are a hard team to rout for.
 
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HALL85

Heisman
Jul 5, 2001
30,288
11,694
113
Argentina was clearly frustrated, but that was totally uncalled for. Thought it had been a well played and clean World Cup for the tournament for the most part that was the one big blemish.
 
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BrklynGrad

Sophomore
Feb 1, 2026
232
162
43
Argentina's sudden offensive barrage after Spain scored in OT was impressive; and at one man down. Makes one wonder where this effort/plan was earlier. Has the Argentine coach been criticized? England's coach certainly was when he played defensively after its goal v. France in semis.
 
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STLPirate12

Junior
Mar 16, 2017
285
315
63
Spain was sitting back and letting Argentina possess the ball after the goal, much like Argentina was sitting back and letting Spain possess the ball prior to it.

Spain's style of spending large chunks of the game simply playing keep away really forces teams to sit back and let them have the ball because they're going to wear themselves out by chasing it around and Spain is plenty talented enough to punish you if the defense over extends themselves to win the ball.

The way to beat them is to take some early risks to try to get the first goal. If Spain fall behind, the game changes, but as long as they're ahead or level, there's not much you can do to prevent them from dictating how the game is played.
 
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Fishjam

All-Conference
Mar 27, 2016
949
3,319
93
Great World Cup. I thoroughly enjoyed every game I watched except for the USA no-show vs Belgium. Games were compelling & exciting and the stars of the World showed why they are stars. All of the venues did a good job and the U.S.& NJ were excellent hosts.

Expanding the field was successful. Got more countries involved, more fans interested, more games for the fans and networks and did not effect the quality of play.
 
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