OT Soccer World Cup Final Argentina France

[BritPat]

You obviously don't know Haringey (or Harringay) but trust me, I do -- and it's pretty evenly split between Arsenal and Tottenham. There are decent arguments for both clubs. Of all the mega-clubs, Arsenal is the one that has done most to produce and promote its own players and just at present are probably the best team to watch. Tottenham, as you say, have a fine new stadium and host the NFL. Their ownership seems particularly unpleasant to me, but I wouldn't want to judge on that because all of the big clubs' owners are unattractive. They have a very good, very tough, Italian coach. So long as he stays they will be a club to be reckoned with.

I take the point about Norwich, but, even if they get to the Premiership, they are as likely as not to go down again. And you can't really watch the Championship in the U.S. so far as I know. Likewise the Bundesliga, although @Shed83 makes a really good case.

That I get, but specifically it is Spurs territory, with their ground being in the Borough!

 

[Mike the Brit]

That I get, but specifically it is Spurs territory, with their ground being in the Borough!

Nope.

 

[Mike the Brit]

I usually create a World Cup thread but their didn't seem much interest this time around. Definitely will next time with it being on home soil for you guys.

My thoughts on the tournament - it was a farce they were chosen as hosts and never again should there be this kind of question about the host of the tournament. As ever though, once the football started, the questions went away, as we saw in 2018 and Russia.

Before now, the seminal tournament of my life was World Cup 90 in Italy - it was the first one I was old enough to really understand (I was 10) and it helped that England got to the semi finals (before as ever being knocked out in glorious failure on penalties). As a spectacle it wasn't *that* good with some dreadful games played out (including maybe the worst final ever) and the lack of any of the top players really grabbing the tournament by the horns (top scorer was Toto Schillachi who very nearly didn't make the Italian squad).

There's been some great World Cups since, France 1998 was outstanding with the emergence of Zidane as the best player on the planet, 2002 also was one of my favourites with some great games and some unfancied sides getting deep into the tournament.

I think this though has been the *best* World Cup of my life; quality of football; unfancied sides getting into the knockout rounds (Morocco!!) and above all, the best players in the world saving their best for it. Mbappe was absolutely breath-taking and I'm gutted he walks away with little. but if he could lose to anyone, it had to the best player that I've ever seen and that we can only be thankful to have seen play in our lifetimes.

Messi was on another level from the off. He looked reborn, almost as though the pressure was off. It could never have been due to the questions of his "legacy" and where he stood in comparison with his hero Maradona. This will always bee Messi's World Cup and we will always remember where we were when it happened.

Great post.

I actually watched very little because I'm not much of a football fan any more and I'm staying in a place without a TV (!) As you say, the quality of the games and the performance of some of the underdog sides was fantastic, even without such a pulsating final. I'd also add that there were fewer really cynical teams.

Some World Cups have been very lacklustre, which I blamed on holding the tournament in midsummer heat. But perhaps it was also that players are exhausted at the end of a long (northern hemisphere) season. I wonder how they'll hold up when the different leagues get going again.

 

[PP2]

I usually create a World Cup thread but their didn't seem much interest this time around. Definitely will next time with it being on home soil for you guys.

My thoughts on the tournament - it was a farce they were chosen as hosts and never again should there be this kind of question about the host of the tournament. As ever though, once the football started, the questions went away, as we saw in 2018 and Russia.

Before now, the seminal tournament of my life was World Cup 90 in Italy - it was the first one I was old enough to really understand (I was 10) and it helped that England got to the semi finals (before as ever being knocked out in glorious failure on penalties). As a spectacle it wasn't *that* good with some dreadful games played out (including maybe the worst final ever) and the lack of any of the top players really grabbing the tournament by the horns (top scorer was Toto Schillachi who very nearly didn't make the Italian squad).

There's been some great World Cups since, France 1998 was outstanding with the emergence of Zidane as the best player on the planet, 2002 also was one of my favourites with some great games and some unfancied sides getting deep into the tournament.

I think this though has been the *best* World Cup of my life; quality of football; unfancied sides getting into the knockout rounds (Morocco!!) and above all, the best players in the world saving their best for it. Mbappe was absolutely breath-taking and I'm gutted he walks away with little. but if he could lose to anyone, it had to the best player that I've ever seen and that we can only be thankful to have seen play in our lifetimes.

Messi was on another level from the off. He looked reborn, almost as though the pressure was off. It could never have been due to the questions of his "legacy" and where he stood in comparison with his hero Maradona. This will always bee Messi's World Cup and we will always remember where we were when it happened.

Agreed; one of the best World Cup games I have ever seen. It had everything, a masterful duel between two of the game's biggest stars, great back and forth, a nail-biting OT, and of coursed a shootout at the end.