QuoteGreatest finale of all time. Delighted for Messi!! What a joy to have witnessed that. It had everything you could ask for.
As RTE said, Argentina had to win it three times.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Greatest finale of all time. Delighted for Messi!! What a joy to have witnessed that. It had everything you could ask for.
Can only imagine Maradona's reaction if he'd been around to watch that.
Hurst's record equalled. Maradona's legacy equalled. Pele's Final impact equalled by Mbappe. A real passing of the guard. Breathless stuff
Going to put it out there. It was a fantastic World Cup. It had it all really, plenty of goals (most ever), plenty of genuine upsets, a traditional minnow going deep, a finale up there as the best. Not much to argue against it as a sporting event!
What a superb match.
That was why we watch, every now & again you see something like that.
Delightful for Argentina. Sh it housery & all.
Stephen Kenny Saviour, Leader, Winner, An Autobiography - In All Good Bookstores Now
All of this - and don't forget injury-time goals changing the outcome in the groups too, more than onceOriginally Posted by SkStu
Some people might feel understandably uncomfortable praising this World Cup, but on a footballing level, on an entertainment level, it was outstanding.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
All of this, I was going to ignore it and then had a thought, I watched world cups in Argentina(ruled by a murderous military junta) Brazil( murdering indigenous people and street kids)Russia( just general oppressive towards countless minorities)etc etc, and thought why the **** not?
All of this, and also some incredible moments of tension and drama in the dying minutes of the simultaneous final group stage games.
A shame it was all in Qatar, but deep down, shallow ***** that I am, I truthfully don't much care where it was. I doubt I'm alone in that either.
Even the presentation was entertaining, between Martinez using the Golden Gloves as a phallus (annoying Daragh Moloney) and Messi's enforced wardrobe change.
Still don't think they should force the losing team to go through the rigmarole of a Silver presentation.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Exactly my feelings , the PC brigade out for this one big time but if we only play the world cup in countries with zero problems it will be a while before we have another one
A friend of mine who did boycott the tournament posted this on facebook after the final
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ld-cup-boycott
I wonder / ask ? ~ ~ Is one of the reasons that this was a good world cup ( football wise ) is that some of the refs at least allowed robust / physical tackling /physical contest ?
Soccer needs that physical side to it while at the same time we don’t want anybody getting injured / seriously injured ~ It’s a tricky part of the game to get right but as I say soccer does need that physical battle side to it, to make it a good watch / contest / entertainment.
There were a lot of tellings off instead of cards. Sometimes that's ok, sometimes it's not. It definitely suited Argentina, keeper Martinez went a bit mad with the gamesmanship in the shoot-out and the ref seemed to only begrudgingly give him a yellow after he wouldn't stop shouting at kickers or booting the ball away. A few Argentinian challenges in the 120 would have been reds at other World Cups too. France were no angels either - that practically kicked de Paul off the field - but that was the game the ref wanted to allow.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Maybe I’m old and contrary, but I don’t think it was that great a competition overall. Yes a good final, but overall only really came to life as a contest from about 75 minutes on. The final group games had a lot of drama, sure, but there was a lack of really top class contests in the knockout rounds. Would put 82 and 86 ahead of it by a distance.
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
Could be rose tinted glasses ~ ~ When you consider this was before the back pass to the goalkeeper was dis-allowed. The offside rule was more stringent. 2 Points for a win in the group stages.
I heard somebody saying somewhere that the 1990 world cup was a great world cup ~ ~ I reckon they must have forgotten that FIFA decided after that world cup that they had better do something to make football more entertaining ( In FIFA’s opinion there was a lot of bad games at that world cup) such as changing the rules I mentioned above.
That late save by Martinez has to be the greatest save of all time. Exceptionally good save in its own right with the added context that it absolutely 100% led to France not winning the WC there and then. Kolo Muani did nothing wrong, hitting it firmly and accurately. He arguably hit it too well, a shinner into the ground might well have won it.
86 is as far back as i can remember with any reliability and it was the tournament that first grabbed my attention and made me want to be a footballer when i grew up. Definitely a contender. I think seanfhear is generally right though. The game was totally different in that era and hit its low point in 1990!
1990 was a grim World Cup overall. 1978 and 1982 were good, though maybe viewed through the eyes of a kid falling in love with football.
I don't think the fact that the game was one-sided until 75 minutes took much away from its greatness. In fact it's what helped make it great. The first half saw one of the all time great WC Final goals. In my lifetime I think only 1970 may have seen a better goal in the Final. Di Maria had a great afternoon even without the goal. And Argentina weren't far away from a third at several stages in the second half, creating a few decent chances. So it was a very good final in many respects up until the first French goal. The early substitutions, the positive impact they made, the Argentina passing moves, the collapse, the late Mbappe run in normal time, the drama in ET. I thought it was an absolutely brilliant game with a lot to admire throughout.
perths analysis here is bizarre to say the least. not selling himself to any perspective clubs if this is how hes analysing the biggest game of the year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO9-...nel=OffTheBall
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