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RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-15-2026

(07-11-2026, 09:00 PM)dabigv13 Wrote:  This Argentina team is not as good as 2022, but they got some huevos. A lot of people on social media keep whining about rigging but if anyone is rigging these games it's the Sociedad Argentina de Cardiologia.

England - Argentina in the semis, what a matchup, even if Spain-France is probably the "true final".

And the “cardiac albicelestes” continue, tying in the 85th minutes and going ahead in the second minute of injury time.  I think this is the fifth go ahead goal (if it holds, the fourth game-winning goal) that happened in either injury time or overtime.

BC

RE: Happy World Cup - PVTree - 07-15-2026

Yep... Argentina has a way to pull these games out with a late goal.

RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-15-2026

(07-15-2026, 02:08 PM)PVTree Wrote:  Yep... Argentina has a way to pull these games out with a late goal.

They are going to have their work cut out for them against the Spanish defense.  I don’t think they are going to be able to turn it on in the last ten minutes and win.

BC

RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-15-2026

Just re-watched Argentina’s two goals.  Messi is really something (he assisted on both).  But what the hell was England thinking on the first goal; they had 10 men in the box, and no one within 10 yards of Enzo Fernandez, who had already show a proclivity for shooting from just outside the box (the corner leading up to this action happened because Fernandez had taken a shot from a few yards further out that Pitchford managed to deflect over the top of the crossbar.  Bellingham tried to close, but was a step too late to alter the shot from Fernandez because he started so deep in his own box.  The strategy worked against Mexico, which simply didn’t have the strikers to be able to penetrate the English defense to score the equalizer, but Argentina had Messi, and even before the goal, they were close several times (England being saved by the woodwork at least twice, and by Pitchford a couple of times as well).

On the second goal, Lautaro Martinez was bracketed between two English defenders, that was just a perfect pass by Messi to where only Martinez could get to it.

BC

RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-15-2026

Last thought: who made David Shaw England’s manager?  I haven’t seen this much turtling since the late 2010’s Stanford football team.

BC

RE: Happy World Cup - cardcrimson - 07-15-2026

(07-15-2026, 05:18 PM)BostonCard Wrote:  Last thought: who made David Shaw England’s manager?  I haven’t seen this much turtling since the late 2010’s Stanford football team.

BC

I was logging back on to post the same thing. Hilarious. 

Still, they had 10 guys in the box, and didn't have anyone close to Fernandez on the tying goal.

RE: Happy World Cup - jacket3ree - 07-15-2026

Sounds like we were a mere 12 minutes or so from France v Argentina in the Carquest Bowl, er 3rd place game. 

It seems Spain is the better side but maybe Messi is a man of destiny or something. Just feels like Argentina is going to win the whole effing thing. (Was hoping England b/c Ted Lasso was such a good series.)

RE: Happy World Cup - 82lsju - 07-15-2026

(07-15-2026, 05:18 PM)BostonCard Wrote:  Last thought: who made David Shaw England’s manager?  I haven’t seen this much turtling since the late 2010’s Stanford football team.

BC

the UK press not too happy with the end game "strategy"

Quote:England somehow lose a place in the World Cup final, because Thomas Tuchel loses his bottle.
 
This dogged campaign, that had England on the brink of their greatest moment since 1966, somehow ends as the worst yet: a 2-1 defeat to Argentina that should never have happened.
 
They ceded the initiative, ceded the pitch, ceded the space around their box and – finally – ceded the game. The decision to go to five at the back as early as the second-half hydration break – in the 67th minute – was inexplicable at the time and now feels like it will go down as one of the most confounding moments in English football history.


https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/england-argentina-thomas-tuchel-sack-world-cup-2026-b3015766.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawTFG3tleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF1RmNpbWpOSmVaRlFPdmd0c3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHo2ZYFhZ7lxmwposhQs9gA-Ft0IyqsN9UsZkeFyH9gPThDld-us-YSrgu0FD_aem_Z02vG4vp-taxjUrGTyPyjQ

RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-15-2026

Fun fact, none of the English side’s goals this World Cup has come from a player playing in the Premier League.

BC

RE: Happy World Cup - PVTree - 07-16-2026

An additional fun fact, Inter Milan has had one of their players on the roster of a World Cup finalist (Championship Game) since the 1982 World Cup.

Bayern Munich's similar streak was broken this year. The HarryCane plays for England so they would have kept the streak if England had beaten Argentina.

RE: Happy World Cup - SkiBum80 - 07-16-2026

(07-15-2026, 05:18 PM)BostonCard Wrote:  Last thought: who made David Shaw England’s manager?  I haven’t seen this much turtling since the late 2010’s Stanford football team.

BC

LOL
England didn't just park the bus, they set up a tailgater and started roasting smores.

RE: Happy World Cup - dabigv13 - 07-16-2026

I didn't really have any other place to put this, but wanted to put my thoughts into words, at least as well as I can. This Argentina team is just so incredible to me, I have never seen anything like them. As reigning champions, who have been on the receiving end of some fortunate (but correct) calls, I can understand some of the antipathy I have seen.

But consider a few facts- they have the oldest starting lineup of the entire World Cup, of 29.8. Messi will be the oldest outfield player to ever play in a World Cup final. They have covered less distance than almost every other team in the World Cup, comparable to Qatar. As a guy well, a few years older than Messi, there is a lot of appeal to seeing a wily old veteran, his body starting to fail him, somehow conjure the magic again, and again, willing his team to improbable victory.

They are not untalented, but the rosters of Spain, France, England have more players from top leagues.

This is a team powered by brotherhood and love and service and sacrifice- these players genuinely love and revere Messi, and they run and defend and give up their offensive chances to preserve his energy. They would give their lives for him, and he for them. The way these guys regulate and use their emotions is unparalleled, every game they play con el cuchillo entre los dientes. And it's not just that they do it for each other, but the connection they have to their fans and their country is also unique. After the England game, and the Cape Verde game I went to, and all the games, they stayed and sang songs with the fans. And then in the locker room they sang more. These players know all the songs from years ago, because they too grew up in the religion of Maradona and Messi. The Viking Row was fun with Haaland banging the drum. Singing Wonderwall, ok that's pretty neat, but there is no other national team, in any sport, that can go 10+ songs deep and every player not only knows the words but sings along.

And then of course there is Messi. The greatest of all time. Smallest guy on almost every pitch he's played on. After 2022, I suspected he would be back for this, though I envisioned a different role. Like Del Piero for Italy in 2006 (at the ripe old age of 31!), an experienced leader in the locker room, a sub to bring on with 30 minutes to look for a goal. 

What a fool I was! Messi in 2026 is not the world beater he was at Barcelona. He is not even the player he was in 2022. He looks decidedly mortal these days. He hits some balls into the wall on free kicks, average defenders can knick the ball off him sometimes when he dribbles. But he is still somehow even better than ever. Leading the race for Golden Boot at 39 with 8 goals and 4 assists is insanity. His goal against Egypt, his goal against Cape Verde, both world class goals worthy of the Messi youtube highlight videos I watched from 10, 15 years ago, and oh yeah he also scored two from outside the box against Algeria. The two assists last night both demonstrated his influence- on the assist to Enzo, the English defenders are drawn to him as moths to the flame, opening the space for the shot. On the cross to 5'9" Lautaro, he puts the ball in the perfect spot amongst the towering English defenders, in stoppage time, with his "weaker" right foot.

My feelings with this team are of joy and disbelief. But also mourning- we will never see a player like him again, and I don't think a team like this either. What good fortune we have to live in the time of Messi. Now we have one more game to live in his world, win or lose I will cherish it. Vamos!

‐------

Here's a few videos that I have been watching recently. The first is Leo's incredible team speech before the 2021 Copa America final against Brazil, Leo's first trophy with Argentina and the victory that started the run of La Scaloneta. I would run through a wall after hearing that.

https://youtu.be/f-FGYH6AkXg?is=df7KnQAMe-CVLHW9

The celebration in the locker room after the England game.

https://x.com/DiarioOle/status/2077530159956042091?s=20
https://x.com/sudanalytics_/status/2077518861461590301?s=20

Just a bunch of guys having the time of their lives.

https://x.com/golden_waldo/status/2076464266593419588?s=20

And what it means for the people back in BA.

RE: Happy World Cup - 82lsju - 07-16-2026

(07-16-2026, 11:20 AM)dabigv13 Wrote:  And then of course there is Messi. The greatest of all time. Smallest guy on almost every pitch he's played on. After 2022, I suspected he would be back for this, though I envisioned a different role. Like Del Piero for Italy in 2006 (at the ripe old age of 31!), an experienced leader in the locker room, a sub to bring on with 30 minutes to look for a goal. 

wily indeed

Quote:LLionel Messi has spent 63% of this World Cup walking

...
And even these strolls were among his more energetic movements, with Messi spending a further 25 per cent of the match simply standing still. Occasionally, 8.6 per cent of the time to be precise, he breaks into a jog, lagging far behind the tournament average of 23 per cent, while he rarely accelerates into a sprint.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7434324/2026/07/11/lionel-messi-walking-world-cup-argentina/?unlocked_article_code=1.yFA.fRqd.c1SCCgsUfEXo&source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta

RE: Happy World Cup - Canalejas - 07-16-2026

Maybe it’s best to not heap too much praise on Argentina for the songs they sing. At least the ones about France.

RE: Happy World Cup - DC 86 - 07-16-2026

(07-16-2026, 03:46 PM)Canalejas Wrote:  Maybe it’s best to not heap too much praise on Argentina for the songs they sing. At least the ones about France.

Indeed, and Enzo Fernandez proudly broadcast their singing on his own Instagram account after the 2024 Copa America final.

Full respect for the greatness of Messi, and for how clutch the team has been throughout the tournament. But they have always been a thoroughly unlikeable lot, whether it's their surrounding and pushing the referee after seemingly every call against them, Emi Martinez with his nonsense on penalty kicks, their unparalleled reliance on the dark arts, or their hateful, xenophobic (and factually inaccurate) singing about the French national team. Will be rooting for Spain on Sunday.

RE: Happy World Cup - jacket3ree - 07-16-2026

Hoping for an interesting match that doesn't go to PK, even though those are interesting in and of themselves. Might even watch the JV game on Saturday.

My first inkling of Argentine-English beef came when I worked as the lowest laborer on the lowest pole at an estate on the outskirts of Denver in 1980. Not the Dynasty mansion (the introductory shot was actually Filoli in Woodside I believe), but nicer. I wasn't allowed in the main mansion other than to carry in heavy whatever but I befriended one of the Argentine maids, Marta, and she would let me come into the kitchen through the servants' entrance from the secondary garage. The secondary garage only held half a dozen cars and puny workbenches. The primary garage easily held a dozen automobiles plus a full auto shop and you could eat off that floor. I know because I was in charge of cleaning it. Anyway Marta was very nice to me, and sometimes invited me in when the rich overlords were elsewhere to feed me the same food they got to eat rather than jam the disposal. "You so skinny!!" (Boy where did those days go?)

The Taylors were good friends with the Mountbatten-Windsors. As in visit each other during the summer friends. The Taylors founded Vail. They were a big deal. Moose was in Big Oil and it turns out my first boss, Ann Bonfoey Taylor, was the most interesting woman in the world. Olympic skier, competed at Wimbledon, flew a biplane starting at age 12, taught Army and Navy aviators in WW II, fashion icon. No internet or phones back then so all I knew was that she was a tough, demanding boss, and overtime was out of the question for my Saturday hours. (In fairness, she cut a significant bonus check on my last day, saying that no one had lasted an entire summer before and she was proud of me.) 

Prince Philip and Princess Anne were bunking at the Taylor Estate for a week or so that summer. I actually met the Princess as I came off the tennis court to be sure it was sparkling clean - fire hose fun! - as she was coming on to play a set with someone early in the morning. I don't know why I wore a Mickey Mouse T-shirt that day, but she thought it was hilarious. I probably looked all of 12 with the Farrah Fawcett feathered hair that was all the rage back then whether guy or doll. "Oh my gosh, I didn't know Ann has child labor!" As instructed earlier, mouth shut, smile, and leave.

About a week prior when we were told, I asked Marta what kind of food they would serve and if she would get to serve it. (I knew full well I wouldn't be invited into the kitchen during the visit.) Marta's eye's grew cold and she said something like she'd be dead before she would ever served that Bastardo and Bastarda the shit from the bottom of her shoe. She planned her biannual trip back to Argentina that week or she might kill somebody. Wowzers.

Now the two or three weeks that the Taylors were in Europe, Marta was back, and we basically owned the place, were pretty cool. 

Jacketree did not purchase this property to close out the Hallmark movie.

Priced at $27.7 million. Sold for $6.94 million. Shoot, for Marta wherever she may be, let Messi hoist another one.

RE: Happy World Cup - pefloresjr - 07-16-2026

(07-16-2026, 04:52 PM)DC 86 Wrote:  
(07-16-2026, 03:46 PM)Canalejas Wrote:  Maybe it’s best to not heap too much praise on Argentina for the songs they sing. At least the ones about France.

Indeed, and Enzo Fernandez proudly broadcast their singing on his own Instagram account after the 2024 Copa America final.

Full respect for the greatness of Messi, and for how clutch the team has been throughout the tournament. But they have always been a thoroughly unlikeable lot, whether it's their surrounding and pushing the referee after seemingly every call against them, Emi Martinez with his nonsense on penalty kicks, their unparalleled reliance on the dark arts, or their hateful, xenophobic (and factually inaccurate) singing about the French national team. Will be rooting for Spain on Sunday.

Their history, songs, and statements (including by the last Argentine President) about Mexicans and other Latin American countries has made many Latin American fans I know root for anyone but Argentina.  I'll be rooting hard for Spain on Sunday (Even though I wouldn't mind seeing Messi get one more goal for history).  I saw one post that had a chihuahua in a Mexico Jersey and hat next to the same dog in a Spanish jersey and hat.  It was captioned "'Y si, si?' is now 'Y thi, thi?'"  World Cup soccer is complicated and some rivalries run deeper than the history of the soccer matches.  

Cheers,
Pete F.

RE: Happy World Cup - BostonCard - 07-17-2026

I am shocked, shocked, I tell you, that Argentines are arrogant and racist (I lived there three years).  If you want to see the depth of it, search for “El hincha de Camerun” (the Cameroonian fan) on YouTube; it’s a short leading up to the 1982 World Cup, where Cameroon was making its debut.  Needless to say, it plays on every African stereotype you might think of someone from Africa and then some.

Then again, it’s not like Mexican fans were saints in their match against Ecuador (https://apnews.com/article/mexico-slur-ecuador-world-cup-f5fc4230a69c2c394d38b1e5b129f00f).

Soccer brings out the best of people, but it can also bring out the worst.  I won’t judge an entire nation by the behavior of some people.

BC

RE: Happy World Cup - DC 86 - 07-17-2026

(07-17-2026, 12:05 AM)BostonCard Wrote:   I won’t judge an entire nation by the behavior of some people.

BC

Indeed, and I happen to be a big fan of the country and its people. The criticisms that I made above were all about the team's antics on the field (and on the bus after the game.) Spain's former prime minister said some outrageous things about the French team last week as well, as did a Paraguayan senator. I don't hold those nations' players (or Argentina's) accountable for their fans or their politicians.

RE: Happy World Cup - dabigv13 - 07-17-2026

(07-16-2026, 04:52 PM)DC 86 Wrote:  But they have always been a thoroughly unlikeable lot, whether it's their surrounding and pushing the referee after seemingly every call against them, Emi Martinez with his nonsense on penalty kicks, their unparalleled reliance on the dark arts, or their hateful, xenophobic (and factually inaccurate) singing about the French national team. Will be rooting for Spain on Sunday.

My view is that tropes and stereotypes about "dark arts" have been around in northern Europe for many years as a way of delegitimizing the success of southern European and South American teams.

Alf Ramsay, the English coach, famously called the Argentinians animals in a WC match in 1966 that perhaps kicked off the animosity in the rivalry. 

As a white American, I'm wary to wade too far into matters of race in Latin countries generally or Argentina specifically. The song was very dumb and racist, and Enzo apologized. That being said, I don't think it was some uniquely Argentinian xenophobia, as I have heard similar sentiments about the France team from educated and ostensibly liberal Americans.

I doubt the Argentinian team is more hateful or xenophobic than your average soccer team, or that Argentina is more racist than Mexico, or the US, or Spain. They are all racist, in their own unique ways.

Scaloni, in a press conference after the England game, called his players "indios", in reference to their toughness, to their coming from rough circumstances. The word choice apparently drew a disapproving eye from his wife in the crowd, to which he clarified he meant "indio in the good sense of the word". I don't think there was any malice to the comment, but yeah it's not something that would really fly here in the US. Of course a team with Lautaro, Lisandro, Nahuel Molina, Paredes certainly does have a lot of native american heritage, and I don't think they were at all offended to be called "indios", rather the opposite, though in modern America ascribing even positive qualities to people based on their heritage would be, uh, problematic.

What is so beautiful about soccer is that it can be played in so many different ways, and that for many countries the style of play has some derivation from their society and culture broadly. For me, I much prefer the southern style emphasizing possession and passing over more direct play. It's very cool that the final is being played between two teams that emphasize technical skill and passing play, though tiki-taka done at a high level does put me to sleep and the Argentinian gambeta is more to my liking.

We all have our preferences and prejudices. Dibu, and the way he plays, understandably pisses a lot of people off, though I thoroughly enjoy his shit housing and mind games. I think it's totally fair that this Argentina team is not for everybody. I don't like Dani Olmo because I think he has a stupid looking face. Fandom is not rational nor should it be.

Also, wanted to say I really enjoyed jacketree's story, and what is so impressive is how many I have read without seeing any repeated tales. The Cardboard's own Forrest Gump.