‘Argentina have been carried’ as Egypt get ‘hosed’ at World Cup
Have Argentina been given a helping hand through to the quarter-finals? Have Egypt been absolutely done?
Send your World Cup mails to theeditor@football365.com
2-0 the most dangerous lead
Reckon Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, much as a pair of careers and legacies can dovetail, are now able to swap stories on a pair of World Cup exits for the ages. And for me, no…
No Heimlich maneuvers in sight.
Eric, Los Angeles CA
Argentina wamebebwa!
Here we go again, just like last time while watching England v Congo, it is me and my son, giddy, privileged for a 7pm kick off watching Argentina struggle vs Egypt.
It’s the 68th min, and you just know…we are both over the moon, enjoying it, laughing at the horrible Swahili commentators on SuperSports channel, having a blast…and then bam! (deja vu) it is full time and just like we were for England v Congo we are sat here gobsmacked, quiet, just both confused. And then my son let’s out the truth in the only way a naughty unhinged-truth-saying child can and he yells “Argentina wamebebwa!”
Now it’s not exactly cursing but it’s a very very veery unsportsmanlike thing to say…
A direct translation from Swahili to English is “Argentina have been carried” and I have to agree with him right now.
After seeing:
1. That Messi penalty that wasn’t (surely none of the players got to the ball, the players feet collided, neither got to the ball, and no VAR check).
2. That disallowed Egypt 2nd goal after Martinez was LEGALLY dispossessed. And…3. That offside header by Romero, his arm hair was offside!!! Isn’t that what we have been doing all past EPL last season. Isn’t that the anal-retentive nonce we have come to all accept, until the exception which is tonight? I am sure I am not overreacting.
I am livid (not really)…my son is livid. But quietly in my pretend maturity I am calming him down because we have both witnessed a great injustice (in our opinions) that is out of our control and that we can do nothing about.
But compared to the piping hot salty garbage we had to swallow watching Trump overturn a red card, this is creme brulee…
I’ve had to send my son to his room to calm down because he yelled that wamebebwa thing again. It’s true but he needs to shut his mouth and accept this. I’m a good parent (maybe).
PaddyG, MUFC, Mombasa, Kenya. (That 3rd Argentina goal was fkn glorious tho)
…In a shock to the world, the team of Muslims gets a load of dubious decisions against them and the team of white Christians triumphs because the officials seem to apply a different set of rules for both teams.
Twas ever thus.
Minty, LFC
Some World Cup anger
The snowflake covered mouth red card rule, while the Paraguayan fans scream ‘hijo de p..a’ for 90 minutes (I was there)
The Egyptians were hosed. If a foul on one side of the pitch invalidates a goal in the build up, it should at least merit a VAR when the very same thing happens on the opposing side.
The disgraceful treatment of the Iranians by the supposed ‘hosts’ and kudos to the Mexicans and Tijuana for showing how it’s done.
Best cheering section; The Norwegian ‘rowers’.
Greatest Cinderella team since Iceland: Cape Verde. (Again, disgraceful situation with their goal keepers mom’s inability to travel to her son’s first game)
Ridiculous and indicative how many of the players (even coaches) don’t know their own country’s anthem words. All that high tech, but Fox is unable to translate and subtitle those hymns with the lyrics.
Friedrich Bellerman
Two more years
Ronaldo said it was his last World Cup, not his last Euros, meaning Portugal is officially locked into two more years of this.
Toby
US domination is coming
I totally understand the perspective from where Keith Reilly was coming from in response to my mail. But I also think that a lot of people across your side of the pond tend to judge American fans of the game in a certain way when there are a lot of us who are just purely dedicated and objective observers of the game and really support the game the same way you do on your side of the pond.
In particular I wanted to bring this up – “Maybe MAW got a bit caught up in the fervour that erupted after a couple of group stage wins against mid-tier opposition. God knows you didn’t have to look far to find a news bulletin featuring a flag-draped American fan declaring that they were going to win the whole thing.”
You have to understand that I actually, truly follow the game and in no way did I get “caught up in the fervour that erupted after a couple of group stage wins against mid-tier opposition.” You can apply that to Wrighty – who literally said on the TRIF podcast he thought we could win it all. I thought he was insane when he said that. Did I think we could beat Belgium? Yes. But losing that badly was nothing remotely approaching a shock to me – we are who we are as a soccer football nation.
My point about the grassroots level – because it was meant to refer to a more broad concept – I need to expand upon that concept a bit. In Europe – a continent I have visited many times, particularly Paris but also about 10 other countries during my travels – you see kids playing soccer in the streets. In parks big and small. On concrete. On whatever surface they can find. It doesn’t even have to have a real goal net – you just create one ad hoc. The only people in America who treat soccer in this fashion are Latinos (particularly Mexicans, as someone born and raised in LA I can tell you they will play the game anywhere and everywhere). The dedication and love of the game is different in Europe / the rest of the world than it is here.
But we are headed in that direction. You don’t live here so you wouldn’t know but kids of the 21st century generation are now becoming soccer obsessed. Instead of our young athletes only focusing on American football, basketball, baseball, etc. many of them are going to start playing soccer whenever/wherever they can. In other words, in the streets which is where many great footballers admitted they learned how to play.
My essential point is that it’s not a game yet in America where kids in a neighborhood will find any sort of round ball they can find and create a fake net in the same way they create a makeshift baseball diamond or put a basketball hoop at the end of a cul-de-sac and make that their basketball court and just play in the street. Kids have traditionally done that with our American sports but soccer is now joining those ranks.
So when you say cheques I can’t cash – sure you can say that. It’s just a prediction. But it’s one built on observing what goes on around me in my own locality and I promise you the inner-city kids of metropolises like LA, NYC, Miami, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, etc. will start treating the game the same way it’s treated everywhere else around the world. It’s why I said “decades(s)” with an “s” in parentheses (brackets, sorry) cause it will probably take more than another 10 years for this dynamic to fulfill itself.
But I’m telling you it’s coming.
MAW, LA Gooner (Messi is inevitable.)
How much is that England squad worth?
Since some quarters have been giving surprising praise to some of the squad, I figured I’d try a bash at an England player performance relative to value according to a generally well rated site, taking the view of prospective transfer activity. Basically, would you spend that for what we’ve seen?
Pickford: £12m
Definitely exceeding his value. Not Vozinha level, but still good.
Guehi: £60m
Pretty much par to value, possibly a bit below if we’re being honest, but context of that defence needs to be remembered. Some good signs.
Konsa: £35m
Yeah, that’s probably about what I’d expect for that value. Maybe a little worse. Pretty poor. More damning on selection than the player.
O’Reilly: £60m
Under performing although you have to note his age and inexperience at this level. Not really done anything bad or great, but you’d expect a bit more from a defender valued that high.
Assorted RB: all around the £25-40m mark and we’ve definitely got what someone might have paid for. No one is shelling out for that.
Anderson: £65m (£116m actually paid – you know they added 1m just to avoid 115)
Relative to value, decent; relative to actual cost, massively underperforming. Some good passes, some good tackles, a lot of chasing after the ball but leaving holes and getting beaten or robbed. Not all his fault mind, as he’s more an 8 than a 6.
Rice: £102m
Underperforming. Yes there are reasons, mostly injury but also tactically. Yes he’s running around and delivering some good moments but I challenge anyone to seriously say you’d pay that much for what we’ve seen. Again, yes injury, but we’re not even getting good set pieces!
Bellingham: £110m
Delivered in big moments, needs a better team around him to provide the platform. Expensive but worth it.
Rogers: £75m
Not really shown any signs of being worth that kind of valuation. Not really done anything much, although also not had that much time.
Eze: £55m (£67.5m actual spent)
A couple of ok moments, nothing great but that’s what you expect for a mid tier valuation. You’d expect more probably for the cost paid but he’s not had much time.
Saka: £95m
Again, major note that he’s carrying an injury. Hard to evaluate, but he exudes a different degree of calm and intent to the alternatives. Still, that’s a lot of money…
Gordon: £55m (£70m actually spent)
Some lively moments, some decent end product sometimes and others all show and no go. Needs development. Worth the valuation, doubts over the actual cost.
Madueke: £42m
Against that valuation he’s looked pretty decent, lively. Lack of end product would concern.
Rashford: £35m
Hot and cold, definitely looks a threat and been unlucky with assists and also a missed goal himself. For £35m probably performing above in the round, but not by much.
Kane: £50m
Noting that the valuation is relative to age, he’s still over performing. If Haaland can rightly get plaudits for doing nothing for 80 minutes and then scoring a couple, so can Kane.
If nothing else, my takeaway from this is how low the value is for so many of our squad. And also how fair a reflection it is of their performances. No one is exceeding their value, but a few are under delivering.
Badwolf
READ: New rival for Harry Kane as England’s World Cup MVP…
Paul Scholes: Tactical genius
Paul Scholes declaring, “We’re going to have to score more than them,” ahead of England v Norway is exactly the kind of cutting-edge tactical analysis we’ve come to expect from modern punditry. Until then, I’d been under the impression England could progress by scoring fewer goals than Norway.
Ant MUFC
A moment of realisation
Thought I’d take a look at your article on last 5 record transfers for each club, quite an interesting read as it goes. As I was reading about Mustapha Hadji to Cov in ’99 or Ryan Mason to Hull in ’16 it didn’t quite twig that the list was going to end with Spurs. I still expected to see West Ham at the bottom and was genuinely confused for a few seconds why we weren’t there. Then I remembered.
Andy the hammer (thanks F365, you b*stards)