String fellow

The only positives from this 3rd Place Play-off match seem to be: 1. Kane, Bellingham, Mbappe and 2 others still have a chance of depriving Messi of the Golden Boot award, 2. The result is factored into the world rankings, 3. The Bronze Medal winners go home happier than the losers of the WC Final, apparently, 4. Players who've not previously played much get their chance to prove the manager wrong.

Aren't International Friendlies equally as pointless?

The tactic of defending deep and trying to hold out against Argentina was probably based on the Mexico game, when it worked. But against stronger opposition, it never was going to work and Tuchel is to blame. We were thrashed, despite the scoreline and despite all our superstars, and even lowly Cape Verde did better against them than we did.

Source of Infantino's power? The eyes have it!

Tbh, I'm amazed that the French referee didn't give Messi a second go at taking his penalty. Clearly the ref and his VAR mates didn't look hard enough for an excuse to have it retaken.

It's bizarre that a goal can be given following a foul in the build-up, which occurs in the opposite penalty box, but which doesn't quite reach the threshold of a penalty-giving offence. In effect the team conceding the goal is being penalised twice, once for not getting anything for the foul on their player and secondly for the goal being allowed to stand. No wonder the Egyptians were furious.

On the basis that, in France, they refer to NATO as OTAN, maybe we English should anglicise the French acronym FIFA to AFIF, standing for Association Football's International Federation, especially as English is the de facto international language.

For me, the corruption is as much about Messi not being red-carded, presumably because of his star status.

Before 1974, the competition winners won a cup called the Jules Rimet Trophy. Now, they win a trophy commonly called the World Cup.

Why is Morocco abbreviated to MAR on ITV's caption?

With all of the pre-match stuff going on - noises keeping players awake at night, security risks, possible spying, bad weather forecast and high altitude issues, it's like England are already rehearsing their excuses. Earthquakes seem to be the only thing missing from the list. Mexico has them regularly.

I see no point in celebrating at the instant that 'goals' are scored, especially if the penalty box is crowded. The chances are that there will be some absurdly minor technical infringement somewhere in the melee of players just as the ball is entering the net, causing VAR to intervene and destroy the moment of joy for the attacking team. Imo, it's ruining top-level football - it's as if the beautiful game is suffering from OCD.

With an atmosphere 20% thinner at an altitude of 7,220 feet above sea level, the ball should travel faster as it encounters less air resistance. As for hydration breaks, maybe England's players will be more in need of O2 than H2O, and the water for their post-match cuppas will boil at only 92.5 deg C.

Recording radio programmes has never been illegal in the UK, provided it's for time-shifting, personal, private or domestic purposes. My first recordings involved placing a microphone next to the radio, hoping there'd be no noises off, and that the (open-reel) tape was long enough.

When Boris then later on in 2022 Liz resigned, Sir Keir called for immediate general elections. So what's the difference now? Oh yes, Labour are in power.