World Cup 2022

[jdmee]

Some of these flops don't even look realistic. England needs some lesson from UNI.

[Kel Varnsen]

An interesting developing story:

Gio Reyna was nearly sent home from USA World Cup, per reports; Gregg Berhalter reveals what happened in Qatar

It would certainly explain his mysterious absence from both the starting lineups and the games in general. Sounds like he has a little bit of an attitude already...his parents both played on the US national teams. That said, he's the team's best prospect and borderline best player.

Seems like the original situation was handled well by the coaching staff and the players, but not a great idea by Berhalter to mention it anywhere.

[Kung Wu]

Oof.

[SubGod22]

Sounds like I missed some excitement over the weekend.

[SubGod22]

Am I wrong to cheer for Croatia and Morocco this week?

[WuDrWu]

Ronaldo's last World Cup game ever. End of an era.

Is it really an era? I'm not questioning Ronaldo's greatness, but they finished 4th in 2006 (his first WC) then didn't win a knockout match until beating the Swiss this year when the draw set up for them to go deep. 1 knockout win since Turg was in the Sweet 16. Kind of eh era to me.

[Kung Wu]

Is it really an era? I'm not questioning Ronaldo's greatness, but they finished 4th in 2006 (his first WC) then didn't win a knockout match until beating the Swiss this year when the draw set up for them to go deep. 1 knockout win since Turg was in the Sweet 16. Kind of eh era to me.

It's not about the World Cups to me, per se -- though between the two of them they have plenty of World Cup records too. Ronaldo + Messi are the undisputed heavy weights of their generation. The goal records, assist records, international records, World records, Ballon d' Or, Golden Boot, Golden Ball records. Eesh.

Check this out: https://www.messivsronaldo.app/records/

The two of them playing in their last Cup ever is truly the end of an era of soccer, to me at least. Messi might be the greatest player to have ever played the game, World Cup champion or not. Maybe Pele then Messi? It's impossible to say, but he's up there.

[WuDrWu]

I know he's still very young, but Kylian Mbappe is rapidly entering the discussion, especially if France repeats as champs, which appears more likely than not.

[Kung Wu]

I know he's still very young, but Kylian Mbappe is rapidly entering the discussion, especially if France repeats as champs, which appears more likely than not.

I can't say greatest of all time by any stretch (too young and too early), but definitely one of the top 3 players in the world right now -- how can you argue otherwise? And on a trajectory to be one of the all-time greats, for sure. SOOOO fun to watch!

[Kung Wu]

Am I wrong to cheer for Croatia and Morocco this week?

Of course not. Everyone loves an underdog story. I'll tell you this, Morocco's style of play last game was fun to watch soccer. They didn't accident their way into the semi-finals.

But I'm such a huge fan of what Messi has done for the modern era of soccer -- and Argentina's defense has been less than good in the past Cups -- so I can't help cheer for him. I want him to finally win one. Unfortunately France and Mbappe are looking strong and I just don't see how Argentina could get by France. I'm not even sure they can get by Croatia.

I'm tossing the paper of expectations in the trash, because nothing is predictable this Cup. Anything can happen, but this is France's to lose at this point.

[SubGod22]

La France peut sucer une grosse bite!

[Kung Wu]

I'm not falling for this again.

[SubGod22]

What can I say? Putain de France!

[Kung Wu]

What can I say? Putain de France!

Going into the semifinals I am sitting on 28 points and 85% rank. A lot better than I thought I would be, but I had Brazil beating France in the final, so I'm kinda screwed. How did your bracket pan out?

[SubGod22]

Going into the semifinals I am sitting on 28 points and 85% rank. A lot better than I thought I would be, but I had Brazil beating France in the final, so I'm kinda screwed. How did your bracket pan out?

Still with 14 points (16%)

My final four were Brazil, Argentina, Spain and Netherlands.

Argentina ended up on the wrong side of the bracket which hurt me. I had them knocking off France, not the Dutch. Croatia ended my Brazil run the finals.

Morocco ****ed everything up