Lionel "The Greatest of All Time" Messi

[Birdy]

Argentina are a far cry talent wise from the teams you mention. No national team in this wc has played champagne football anyway and they don't have Messi.

True, no team in this WC has reached the heights of Spain and Germany of the past

But, IMO there are several that have played better than Argentina.
France, Brazil, Spain (I know many would disagree), Portugal, even Germany

 

[Temptation]

Usually don't like your posts

You don't need to lie mate.

 

[feggydinho]

No. Morocco are all about fighting spirit. All united. BELIEVE!!! I love them and what they are doing but double standards a bit. How many chances did Spain and Portugal bottle against them? Let's be real. That will be chalked up to Moroccan's making their opponent shaking in their boots or something.

Don't forget that Morocco also missed clearer chances against Portugal, one of Morocco's challenges is the lack of a clinical finisher else they would've won Portugal by a minimum of 2 goals.
Portugal had chances, but Morocco had clearer chances (probably due to the counters from defense)
They also created a clear chance against Spain but lacked finishing.

It'll be interesting to see how tonight's game goes, but I think France should be able to go through since most of Morocco's players seem to be injured (the two starting CBs and lb)

 

[DonAK]

Argentine press saying his plan seem to be one more year in Paris, then 6 months/12 months in Newells before he goes to MLS for a year or two.

 

[Horatio]

Not really

Their opponents haven't managed to create a lot of clear-cut chances, especially in the knock-out stage.
Pepe's header in the dying minutes is the best chance a Marroco opponent had
Look here:

They haven't lost on xG the whole tournament

Look, I don't like this defensive anti-football.
But it's a small nation that is doing admirably the only way they can. Reminds of Greece 2004 a lot.
I am much more critical of big sides like Argentina when they play like that

What about all the crosses from Spain? Spain got dangerous with Inaki and Morata and Soler in. Pretty sure they were close a handful of times to scoring.

 

[Birdy]

What about all the crosses from Spain? Spain got dangerous with Inaki and Morata and Soler in. Pretty sure they were close a handful of times to scoring.

The chances are the squares on the map

All the rest falls under the 'non-shot xG' which reflects the activity before a final shot
I am sure Spain did well there, but they couldn't translate it to shots ...

 

[Birdy]

That's right,
on the one hand (new team without Messi) you have "THEY MIGHT HAVE WON" and played good football.
On the other (team with Messi) you have "THEY ACTUALLY WON" and played meh football.

Do you think it is possible to compare the two levels?

According to my standards,
winning with defensive football is only proper to small sides, like Marrocco this time around
I can't accept it for the big nations that have the best squads, like Brazil Argentina, France etc
Same at club level

 

[DonAK]

Argentina had the fourth highest xG in the tournament before the semi-final.

 

[DonAK]

 

[Horatio]

Feeling like a single mother in a 3rd world Islamic nation here.

da hell....

Still in your movie buff group hopefully (clutching at straws here).....

Your movie club membership has not been revoked as far as I know.

 

[Birdy]

Argentina had the fourth highest xG in the tournament before the semi-final.

25% of Argentina's xG created comes from penalties.
The graph you posted doesn't account for that

 

[JamDav1982]

Haha and penalties are won through being in opponents box and drawing errors from them.

Simple.

 

[DonAK]

Don't think there's anyone who moves goalposts as much as this lad. Now he want to remove penalties from his dear xG he loves to use so much just because it doesn't suit his narrative. I feel bad for you.

Hopefully you'll find joy in Spain passing the ball around for 120 minutes in the next EUROs in 2024 before they inevitably get booted out on penalties again because they're unable to create any chances.

 

[CatalinR10]

 

[Windhook]

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Manu Ginobili
No se puede creer lo que hizo este pibe. No se puede creer! Incre?ble! Qu? genialidad!👏👏👏👏

Translated:
Can't believe what this kid did. It can not be believed! Incredible! What genius! 👏👏👏👏

I believe he reacts to Leo's assist for the third goal.