World Cup: Group D: Argentina vs. Croatia, 6/21/2018

[John Pedro]

Really? God damn it NHL, they really are just the worst. Just because half the hockey press is in bed when MacK’s games start, is no reason to not give the Hart to the only guy who genuinely challenged McDavid for the title of best player in the sport this season. Hall & Kopitar has great years that proved they were franchise players but neither of them was 8 games missed to injury from challenging for the Art Ross. That’s some bull****.

Jogi better get his **** together now

It's close. Hall had a ridiculous point streak, he carried a whole team on his back while MacKinnon had some great players to work with like Rantanen and Tyson Barrie. I didn't watch enough Avs games to judge it fairly, but I like MacKinnon a lot too. Thanks for Boucher, he sure helped Hall win the Hart, too.

 

[Nalens Oga]

Just saw the game and interestingly, Modric/Rakitic were both much more effective than Messi. He was marked more closely obviously but still, interesting to watch how their usage was different.

What I was shocked at was how Argentina just weren't able to press at all. After the first goal, they did a but but in that last hour, you'd have expected them to at least have 60 to 40 percent possession in the last half hour. I think the issue is that Argentina just doesn't have any skill in the midfield right now.

Anyways, they have a -3 goal differential, if Iceland beats Nigeria then Argentina's probably done barring a huge win against Nigeria. I still expect them to go through though.

 

[cgf]

It's close. Hall had a ridiculous point streak, he carried a whole team on his back while MacKinnon had some great players to work with like Rantanen and Tyson Barrie. I didn't watch enough Avs games to judge it fairly, but I like MacKinnon a lot too. Thanks for Boucher, he sure helped Hall win the Hart, too.

Nah f*** Hall, this is some Eastcoast-bias bullshit!

 

[Nalens Oga]

Who gives a f*** it's an individual award voted on by morons like John Shannon. Just win the f***ing cup.

 

[darko]

Impressed.

 

[cgf]

Who gives a **** it's an individual award voted on by morons like John Shannon. Just win the ****ing cup.

That happens after we leverage the Ottawa pick + Timmins into Drae. This is why it’s so important that we draft Denisenko to complete that line with Drae & Jost

 

[Ban Hammered]

Sampaoli has made massive coaching errors.
Chiefly today...subbing Costa right after Croatia scored. Messi looked pissed...then disinterested once they got down...I wonder how much he trusts his coach and to an extension his teammates.
He'll be blamed for it...and it's not so much him as it is the team as a whole that is bad.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Who is dumb enough to start this Meza guy over Dybala?

 

[Deficient Mode]

This game was soooo bad.

 

[koyvoo]

 

[Adele Dazeem]

I know there's dbags on the team, but unlike you and that other clown I don't look down on everybody from my high horse.

What the f*** does that even mean? You sound incredibly insecure. Croatia is a "dirty" team face the reality of things.
Does that make them bad? No. But they play like "C" words.

 

[Adele Dazeem]

Ludicrous.

Croatia went up 1-0 thanks to that egregious error and then Argentina had no response whatsoever.

Man, go back to watching hockey. You don't understand football. There is no place for roughing in football.

 

[DatsyukOwns]

Not sure if this is the proper place for this but apparently Argentia players gathered for a meeting and asked for Sampaoli to be removed as manager before there next match against Nigeria

 

[The Abusement Park]

Not sure if this is the proper place for this but apparently Argentia players gathered for a meeting and asked for Sampaoli to be removed as manager before there next match against Nigeria

Wooof... the dysfunctional football federation that is Argentina continues to be a mess.

 

[kovacro]

What the **** does that even mean? You sound incredibly insecure. Croatia is a "dirty" team face the reality of things.
Does that make them bad? No. But they play like "C" words.

Put the bottle down man. You’ve had enough for one day.

Either that, or your a fan of a neighbouring Balkan nation that is currently in the WC and you are a tad irritated Croatia got the win today.

 

[kovacro]

Not sure if this is the proper place for this but apparently Argentia players gathered for a meeting and asked for Sampaoli to be removed as manager before there next match against Nigeria

Can’t say it’s a suprise. I honestly will not be shocked once the WC is over, that they ask Ricardo (current Peru gaffer) to be their next coach.

 

[Adele Dazeem]

Put the bottle down man. You’ve had enough for one day.

Either that, or your a fan of a neighbouring Balkan nation that is currently in the WC and you are a tad irritated Croatia got the win today.

I'm not, I'm just an observer and call it like I see it.

 

[Ivan13]

Then just clueless it is.

 

[S E P H]

You would think that Icardi and his goalscoring prowess would be better than one goal Aguero, zero goal Messi, zero goal Dybala, zero goal Higuain, zero goal di Maria, zero goal Banega, and zero goal Pavon...but I guess not.

 

[DatsyukOwns]

He also said this apperantly after the game during the conference. Again not sure who translated it and very well could of been taken out of context.


"The reality of the Argentine squad clouds Leo's brilliance. So we shouldn't be making any Ronaldo vs Messi comparisons right now."

 

[S E P H]

When the midget isn't surrounded by world class talent as he is at Barca he tends to disappear into his best Casper impersonation.

He retired for a three month period because he kept getting his ass kicked by Chile and Brasil all the time. It was purely emotional, the guy hides away like a scared cat. He simply flunks on the big stage, while Ronaldo's ultra competitive nature expands deeper and understands he needs to carry his nation on his back.

 

[Edo]

What the **** does that even mean? You sound incredibly insecure. Croatia is a "dirty" team face the reality of things.
Does that make them bad? No. But they play like "C" words.

Croatia aren't any dirtier than Argentina. There isn't a team that doesn't have a few guys that push the line.

This Messi v. Ronaldo debate is an interesting one. None of us know how the two really interact with their teammates and clubs. But it's pretty clear that the Portuguese players rally around Ronaldo and understand their roles. Argentina are an embarrassment. This is a pretty huge asterisk on Messi's GOAT resume. It definitely matters. I was more impressed with Peru than a Messi led Argentina.

Their starting XI just doesn't make any sense at all. Argentina have had 126 games with Messi at the senior level. They're both to fault for their lack of titles. They should've figured this out at some point. It's a gigantic embarrassment to not win anything. Messi shouldn't get a free pass. He just can't get it done.

 

[illpucks]

Croatia aren't any dirtier than Argentina. There isn't a team that doesn't have a few guys that push the line.

This Messi v. Ronaldo debate is an interesting one. None of us know how the two really interact with their teammates and clubs. But it's pretty clear that the Portuguese players rally around Ronaldo and understand their roles. Argentina are an embarrassment. This is a pretty huge asterisk on Messi's GOAT resume. It definitely matters. I was more impressed with Peru than a Messi led Argentina.

Their starting XI just doesn't make any sense at all. Argentina have had 126 games with Messi at the senior level. They're both to fault for their lack of titles. They should've figured this out at some point. It's a gigantic embarrassment to not win anything. Messi shouldn't get a free pass. He just can't get it done.

But there was a barbecue after first game and messi didn't go. And a another meeting and he stayed in his room according to some article today about the loss.

He also didn't shake hands and left the field pissed off

 

[illpucks]

Why isn't Messi quarterback of Argentina? He's supposedly the GOAT but his own teammates don't think so and don't respect him? He barely touched the ball today. They weren't passing to him much.

 

[Corto]

Why isn't Messi quarterback of Argentina? He's supposedly the GOAT but his own teammates don't think so and don't respect him? He barely touched the ball today. They weren't passing to him much.

The ball needs to get up the pitch to get to Messi. And Argentina's midfield just got dominated last night.
Seeing Mascherano trying to play vs Modric, Rakitic and Brozovic (who is coming off a fantastic last 6 months at Inter btw) was borderline silly.

You can "blame" Messi for not playing defense and not doing his bit in any sort of high pressure - because he doesn't. He walks around until he gets the ball or there's a chance he'll open up the pitch with off-ball movement when his team has the ball already.
It's just the way he plays, and who knows, if he was running himself into the ground like Mandzukic, maybe he wouldn't be able to constantly do the amazing things he does with the ball so often.

But saying his teammates don't respect him (when he is obviously the one the whole nation looks to) or that he's at fault for not "quarterbacking" them is off point.