Argentina vs Croatia - Match Thread (21st June, 7pm)

[foxes_rule1978]

Messi’s chance went with those three major finals that were lost ... but he is better than Ronaldo, big part in all three of those tournaments including golden ball winner in 2014

[Bob Weasel Fox]

Messi is so overrated it’s untrue

 

poor internationally very very poor

[Arriba Los Zorros]

3 minutes ago, Bob Weasel Fox said:

Messi is so overrated it’s untrue

 

poor internationally very very poor

I'm coming round to this school of thought too.

 

Get the ball, cut left, cut left again, pass to the player furthest wide on the opposite side of the pitch. Rinse and repeat.

 

Could he at least try to use his right foot for some variety or do something different once every so often?

[ARTY_FOX]

That's the difference. Ronaldo can drag a poor team to and through tournaments. 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

Signs didn't look good during the Argentinian national anthem. Camera pans down the lineup and there was Messi, hiding his face with his hand, looking quite disturbed. He genuinely gives the impression of someone that hates playing international football.

[TeePee]

Ello all, first post, so I figured I'd wade in on Messi/Ronaldo. Start big and all that, although neither are a patch on Junior Lewis if you were to ask Peter Taylor.

 

For me, they're both phenomenal players, but very different characters - Ronaldo clearly loves the spotlight - he wants it to be all about him, and probably loves nothing more than having the entire national team being utterly dependent on him. Messi, on the other hand, doesn't seem to enjoy the focus and the pressure of basically single-handedly carrying his national team - take a look at him during the national anthem tonight - I've seen men look less stressed when Gemma Collins walks into a nightclub with four bottles of prosecco and a world shortage of Durex.

 

As brilliant as Messi is, he's not *that* kind of player - he needs quality players in and around him to link in with and to feed off - Ronaldo is basically the opposite, he doesn't want anyone around him, because they might steal his spotlight.

[Finnegan]

Let's be honest, neither of them are fit to lace this man's boots. 

 

[foxes_rule1978]

3 minutes ago, TeePee said:

Ello all, first post, so I figured I'd wade in on Messi/Ronaldo. Start big and all that, although neither are a patch on Junior Lewis if you were to ask Peter Taylor.

 

For me, they're both phenomenal players, but very different characters - Ronaldo clearly loves the spotlight - he wants it to be all about him, and probably loves nothing more than having the entire national team being utterly dependent on him. Messi, on the other hand, doesn't seem to enjoy the focus and the pressure of basically single-handedly carrying his national team - take a look at him during the national anthem tonight - I've seen men look less stressed when Gemma Collins walks into a nightclub with four bottles of prosecco and a world shortage of Durex.

 

As brilliant as Messi is, he's not *that* kind of player - he needs quality players in and around him to link in with and to feed off - Ronaldo is basically the opposite, he doesn't want anyone around him, because they might steal his spotlight.

I agree with this, Messi is certainly a team player more than Ronaldo. People were always comparing Messi to Maradona but Ronaldo is more like Maradona in a lot of ways including his cheating

[49er]

If only we could attract Perisic as a replacement for Mahrez

[Callabinho]

22 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

Portugal are a better side, Argentina have the better players. The two aren't always the same, something we as leicester fans should know well

Very valid point, I wasn’t clear with mine! The pundits have been giving it the whole “poor Messi” your poor is valid, however there’s no hiding that Ronaldo is largely dragging Portugal through, and I wouldn’t expect Messi to when he has several world class players around him. In short messi’s attitude is what is setting them apart for me, Ronaldo doesn’t know when he’s beat with Portugal, Messi spends more time looking at the floor. 

Edited 21 June 2018 by Callabinho

[ARTY_FOX]

Ronaldo is just amazing wether the players he's playing with are amazing or not. It doesn't matter the result is the same and that's Ronaldo being the best player on the pitch. He's just a different level to anyone. 

[Manwell Pablo]

Absolutely loving the fact a bloke just below in work fantasy league transferred six Argentina players into his team ahead of tonight and I had Ivan racktoic who has just scored nearly twice as many points as those six put together  

[Callabinho]

13 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

Let's be honest, neither of them are fit to lace this man's boots. 

 

I’m with you. The best ever.

[Guest MattP]

41 minutes ago, NewEnglandFox said:

no. they never would have made it through South American qualifiers without them. 

Errr....they play more than 13 games in the Commebol qualifying section.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

18 minutes ago, TeePee said:

Ello all, first post, so I figured I'd wade in on Messi/Ronaldo. Start big and all that, although neither are a patch on Junior Lewis if you were to ask Peter Taylor.

 

For me, they're both phenomenal players, but very different characters - Ronaldo clearly loves the spotlight - he wants it to be all about him, and probably loves nothing more than having the entire national team being utterly dependent on him. Messi, on the other hand, doesn't seem to enjoy the focus and the pressure of basically single-handedly carrying his national team - take a look at him during the national anthem tonight - I've seen men look less stressed when Gemma Collins walks into a nightclub with four bottles of prosecco and a world shortage of Durex.

 

As brilliant as Messi is, he's not *that* kind of player - he needs quality players in and around him to link in with and to feed off - Ronaldo is basically the opposite, he doesn't want anyone around him, because they might steal his spotlight.

Welcome. Good first post.

[NewEnglandFox]

2 minutes ago, MattP said:

Errr....they play more than 13 games in the Commebol qualifying section.

And that graphic was made after 13 of 18 games.

[TeePee]

3 minutes ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

Welcome. Good first post.

Thanks for the welcome - always a tough first post when you're wading into a coin-flip discussion about the two best players on the planet, so I figured I'd open with a Junior Lewis gag. Can't go wrong with Junior.

[stripeyfox]

Argentina were abysmal. The third Croatia goal was one of the most shambolic goals I've ever seen scored (from a defensive point of view) in international football. Argentina were jogging back long before Croatia were queuing up to see who could score.

 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

2 minutes ago, TeePee said:

Thanks for the welcome - always a tough first post when you're wading into a coin-flip discussion about the two best players on the planet, so I figured I'd open with a Junior Lewis gag. Can't go wrong with Junior.

A Junior Lewis gag is always a good fallback. My first post was in the Best TV Theme Tunes thread. 

[The Doctor]

15 minutes ago, Manwell Pablo said:

Absolutely loving the fact a bloke just below in work fantasy league transferred six Argentina players into his team ahead of tonight and I had Ivan racktoic who has just scored nearly twice as many points as those six put together  

 my fantasy team is looking pretty decent for this round

 

 

[Jaspa]

What an absolute shambles Argentina. I had them down to win the thing

 

Thought because of the talent they had, the nearly moments of the past, a manager who had pulled international surprises off before, that they would have the mentality and players to pull it together. They made the Final of all their most recent Tournaments and failed but they're not even gonna make it out of the group.

 

Croatia though wow, their midfield is crazy and how they can bring Kovacic & Kramaric on up front with 20 to go shows their strength in depth and mentality, they knew what they could do today and they did it. Maybe weak in defence but they were solid for a second match in a row. Could see them making the semis and would more than likely give another one of the 'big' teams a very tough match.

 

Argentina should sack Sampaoli rn immediately + whoever is higher up & responsible

Edited 21 June 2018 by SpazticChicken
just had to chuck the last bit in there

[Blue ROI]

Watching that game you'd have to say that right now no one from the Argentina side would be good enough to play for Leicester.

 

Apologies to anyone from Argentina possibly reading here but I've always wanted to say that!!

[TeePee]

 

3 minutes ago, Blue ROI said:

Watching that game you'd have to say that right now no one from the Argentina side would be good enough to play for Leicester.

 

Apologies to anyone from Argentina possibly reading here but I've always wanted to say that!!

to be fair, I'd still have Cambiasso right now over anyone in their central midfield.

[Mrfox452]

40 minutes ago, TeePee said:

Ello all, first post, so I figured I'd wade in on Messi/Ronaldo. Start big and all that, although neither are a patch on Junior Lewis if you were to ask Peter Taylor.

 

For me, they're both phenomenal players, but very different characters - Ronaldo clearly loves the spotlight - he wants it to be all about him, and probably loves nothing more than having the entire national team being utterly dependent on him. Messi, on the other hand, doesn't seem to enjoy the focus and the pressure of basically single-handedly carrying his national team - take a look at him during the national anthem tonight - I've seen men look less stressed when Gemma Collins walks into a nightclub with four bottles of prosecco and a world shortage of Durex.

 

As brilliant as Messi is, he's not *that* kind of player - he needs quality players in and around him to link in with and to feed off - Ronaldo is basically the opposite, he doesn't want anyone around him, because they might steal his spotlight.

I agree Ronaldo loves the spotlight, but I think he values his teammates more than he did.

 

At the end of the 2014 world cup he came out saying "maybe were just an average team". Hinting Portugal would have gone further if we had a better team and he can't do it all by himself.

 

On the Messi/Ronaldo debate, being Portuguese myself, I always thought Messi was the better player. However if you gave me the option of Ronaldo and Messi for international football. I wouldn't even think twice and pick Ronaldo. The amount of times he's saved our ass is ridiculous.

[Manwell Pablo]

6 minutes ago, TeePee said:

 

to be fair, I'd still have Cambiasso right now over anyone in their central midfield.

 

Theres no one in the central midfield. Just a huge hole