finger crosses for Argentina against France
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Finally Marcos saved to Messi and his career then Country
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interesting match yesterday
They look very incoherent and out of sync.
And I don't understand why Sampaoli staring the dreadful Angel di Maria, who belongs in MLS, not on a World Cup contender.
But again, no team looks sharp and intimidating.
It took Germany 190 minutes to get a win!
Go El Tri.
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I am in heaven right now. Fantastic Argentina - best wishes going forward.
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Strange win !
A mediocre team around a superstar who hasn't been in Argentina since his teens. Rojo is the hero of the match. Yet, just like Germany, Argentina won due a lucky last-minute goal.
This is by far nowhere as good as the 1986 squad that won the Cup by clearly beating a good German team....or the 1990 team that was robbed blind in the final.
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They are weak, had a terrible overall he tonight despite the win
Literally created 2-3 chances the entire game, Messi ha great goal, overall poor game. Only upside is France are the 2nd most over rated team and Argentina could keep limping through
What is the FIFA rule regarding players being on the field playing with a bloody injury or with blood on their jersey?
Why hasn’t anyone mentioned Nigeria’s total domination of a good portion, the important portion, of the game?
I watched in amazement as Nigeria’s team. stayed clustered around a ball they held, minute after minute on Argentina’s turf, always near the goal, while Argentina’s team played the typical game, scattered over at least two thirds of the field, its players looking lost against a team that refused to play by soccer’s unspoken standard rules of keeping the entire field covered.
Then, unfortunately, it was my turn in the dentist’s chair.
When I came out, it seemed it was the challengers to a dominant World Cup team that had forgotten its tight-formation game plan in the last minutes, spread out in typical formation and lost, allowing the second goal against by giving up their plan - playing in a formation looking more like an arrowhead than a soccer squad, keeping the ball in its center, as their opponents played traditional positions and scoring a goal and several missed shots with such power there was no way for any goal tender, left alone by his team, to stop the ball.
I’ll have to watch the whole game - but for at least five solid minutes of play, the Nigerian knot was an incredibly beautiful thing to see - a team not worrying about what would happen when they lost possession of the ball because they decided not to allow that to happen.
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Probably because no one really cares ! Argentina won and that is that.
This is more important than life or death, it’s a different football!<g>
Every soccer fan should be rooting for Messi, but hi team gain seems unable to help him enough.
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Well, my money was on Nigeria to tie--young legs, etc, but just like Germany, Argentina pulled it out at that last moment. Even though I lost a little money, it is good to see these two powerhouse teams, and their fans, move on!
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Were it not for Messi on the pitch and Maradona in the stands, I would have been rooting for Nigeria to win this - and if that were not to be, for Iceland to win decisively over Croatia and qualify for the round of 16. We need these fresh young teams in the later stages of the tournament - but not, alas, at the cost of losing Messi.
Happily, Nigeria is so young and talented that I think they will come back in 2022 as a strong contender. And, let's be honest, there should be a permanent berth for Iceland in tournament because of what that team has accomplished.
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A penalty should have been awarded to Nigeria against Rojo who ironically scored the wining goal. That being said, African teams do lack the focus needed to close their games in the crucial time, just like Morocco against Spain. They do get affected by the bad calls against them and give the games away.
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