brilliant final.
what was the go with the dressing gown? (all jokes about FIFA and bungs etc etc aside, what the hell was that all about?)
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Some gooner said that Deschamps should have started his best center back in Saliba. Quite deluded lol 
. It’s Ibou all day
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Fantastic stuff…really happy for the Argies and the great man.
All the Qatar and FIFA fuckwittery aside, the football part of the tournament was terrific.
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It’ll be Infantino 
he loves to butt in on everyone’s action
Simply has to be the official historical meme of the 2022 World Cup.
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Quick reminder that the true final is still ongoing for the next 22 hours, and you can make the difference.
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Just finished watching it. Great match. Argentina were the best side for a good hour. Hungrier. Won everything. Then France finally woke up. I honestly thought momentum had shifted enough for France to win it, but Argentina would not be denied.
Looking at the goalkeepers for the shootout, Lloris looked small and timid. He didn’t fancy it, at all. Martinez was full of beans, and France missed a couple and that was that.
I’m not lover of Messi, but credit where it is due. He is a fantastic talent, and the best player of his generation. As a bonus, I’m sure Messi’s World Cup win is eating away at Ronaldo.
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Wonder if it was all so good because the players were fresher. Mid-season and all.
Heard it was a Bisht. It is the black tie tux equivalent in the Arab world. Worn by Kings as well in formal occasions.
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i was saying the opposite.
the conditioning of the players was sub optimal.
think on it…Jurgen’s not going to get his players peaking just under the redline in November for a world cup…then you had the weeks prep most countries would have had…that to me was like the great leveller…
even when you consider France, eventual runners up…again they werent a great team, but they were good in Moments, with the WCF being the ultimate example of that…great in moments…
i think vs England and Vs Argentine, it took Mbappe wellinto the second half until he took on his full back.
honestly think thats why we ended up with a WC that resembled something closer to 40 years ago where players just werent on the same page, mistakes were made and the spectacle, probably, benefitted from not having 11 robots playing each other.
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You mean Just Fontaine
I blame Qatar 
Just glad the proper football will be back.
First World cup since I was about 5, I have not watched.
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Great viewing, but glad it’s over.
I’ve watched bits but certainly not the end-to-end viewing that I normally do. I’ve found it to be mediocre to dull with the occasional entertaining match.
Putting entirely aside the human rights issues and sportswashing element I think the main problem has been Qatar itself. They have tried to import an entire football culture and it just doesn’t work like that.
The World Cups over the last 20 years have been in Japan/Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and Russia. These are all very different places but all have their own football fan culture and the tournaments have been built around these with the visiting nations bringing a flavour of their own. Even with Russia, which has a rather horrible government, the fans themselves have recognisable independent traditions.
This just hasn’t existed in Qatar. The local people have been sitting looking bemused or bored, not even having the passive involvement of wearing a half-and-half scarf. This has given the bulk of the games the feeling of being some pre-season exhibition match. Certainly, in the earlier stages, the only real atmosphere came from the African sides - Senegal and Morocco in particular.
In terms of the football, there were far too many poor games. There were many matches where you could see from kickoff that it was probably going to go to penalties. Far too many of the major footballing nations underperformed. Even in the final, France were atrocious for a good hour and it was only notable after Mbappe knocked in two in quick succession. After that the performances lifted but this was still a final decided by penalties. As World Cup finals go it was one of the more memorable ones but it doesn’t really compare to the Argentina of 1986 or France of 1998.
Maybe this posting belongs more to the “What’s wrong with FIFA” thread but these competitions need to be awarded to fans, not nations. I’m definitely in favour of joint bids and regional tournaments. I’d said further up the thread that a North African World Cup would be great but the fundamentals should be that everyone is safe and everyone is welcome. I don’t think this World Cup passed that test.
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Same for me, mate. It felt strange to disconnect myself from all of this when usually, I’ll watch as many games as possible during a world cup. But honestly, it was easier than I’d have thought beforehand.
And now, I’m fresh and hungry for the proper football to resume. 
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Liverpool players in Q22
Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands): five games, 480 mins
Alisson (Brazil): four games, 380 mins
Ibrahima Konaté (France): five games, 292 mins
Jordan Henderson (England): four games, 272 mins
Darwin Núñez (Uruguay): three games, 242 mins
Fabinho (Brazil): one game, 90 mins
Trent Alexander-Arnold (England): one game, 33 mins
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Couldn’t help thinking about Geoff Hurst last night.
He’s spent the last 56 years dreading a game of football that only comes around once every 4 years!
70 minutes in and he’s sitting all snug in his armchair thinking “thank fuck for that, where’s me glass of port?” and then less than an hour later he’s devo’d. Not as much as Ronaldo I imagine but still…
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Geoff Hurst seemed very gracious last night. He didn’t need penalties for his hat-trick either. Dodgy lineman, maybe, but definitely no penalties.
I just checked the rules for 1966. No subs and no penalties. There would have been a replay on the following Tuesday if it was still level. Different times.
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Aged 81(?) I really doubt he minds too much. He was never going to remain alone indefinitely
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