World Cup 2022

[Messigician]

Btw, if you somehow think that I am favoring CR7, lol.
I was happy when Morocco kicked them out.
I was happy when Neymar was kicked out.
I would be the happiest if Morocco wins the whole thing, since they are the small team, not pushed by FIFA's money and agenda.

I am writing now against Messi because we lost to his team.
But for me, Messi is the same as France or any big team, and as I have explained, my life experience and idea is that they are heavily pushed when the stakes are high.

I wish Messi winning a WC, and all of his hard core fans the same, to make them happy.
But I have a bad taste in the mouth, even if he wins it.
But it will be the same if France wins it. Or if Brazil/Portugal would have won it.

In the sense of all of this, I am looking in a different way to Barca's 2009 title and to some of RM's CL with shady last minute soft pens.
It might have all been just a coincidence, or a biggest pattern/system which works in the same way since a lot of money is involved from sponsors in football.

So, this is not a dig on Messi, but a dig on a corrupted corporation named FIFA/UEFA who have their clear monetary interests.
Which, as explained, are fullfilled when you give to fans what they want the most: famous actors/idols winning titles and in main roles.
Messi is not favored over Cr7 or Neymar.
Neymar is not favored over Cr7 or Messi.
When they meet eachother, matches are fair.

But when they meet minows, who are 90% of the world, the sport is cruel and rigged if the match is not going into a favor of the most popular idols.

** regarding rigging and giving people what they want, weren't we on Barcaforum saying for years how UEFA wanted to rig a potential Barca-Real final for years, but every time one of them got KOd before that.
Do you know how many people will watch a WC final next Sunday? How much money will be earned on pay per view, sponsors, shirts?
France-Argies will easily earn/attract 200-300% more fans, sponsors and money than any combination with Croatia and Morocco.
The same as with aftermath in the next 1-2 years with new sponsor deals, shirts sales, Adidas, Nike.

I have explained even back in 2018.
Just imagine that 1 in 100 people buy a home jersey from a WC winning team.
214m Brazil
68m France
45m Argentina
4m Croatia

That would be:
2 millions shirts sold in Brazil
0,7m in France
0,5m in Argentina
40 000 in Croatia

If one shirt costs roughly 100e or 100$, only on shirt's sales you get:
200m dollars from Brazil
70m from France
45m from Argentina
4m from Croatia

Brazil has 7m registered footballers, iirc.
When the hype and buzz is high, people buy shirts, boots and everything.
Now imagine money on pay-per-view if France wins the world cup (lots of buzz among fans) or if Croatia wins.
French people are richer and there are 68m of them.
Croats are poor and there are 3,9m of us.
Or regarding sponsors. Who attracts more sponsors: Neymar, Messi, Cr7 or Modric/Perisic?

When you dig deeper, apart from a belief how the world is fair and nice place, there is absolutely no FINANCIAL reason to have teams like Croatia in the final.
FIFA, Nike, Adidas, pay per view channels, no one is profiting from Croatia's win.
Each of them can earn 200-300-500% more if "big boys" come to finals and win it.

Each business has it's own superstar actors, posterboys who attract fans, buzz, sponsors, money.
Modric is not one of them.
Messi, Cr7, Neymar, Mbpappe, France/England/Spain/Brazil are.

Sorry, but I am really sad and disappointed in people's IQ if someone believes 100% that football is fair play sport on the highest level.
Do you know any big corporation from mobile phone makers, Apple, Chinese manufacturers, car manufacturers who cheat on results, Google & Facebook with spying, the whole cryptocurrency world being one big ponzi-scheme scam etc?
I mean, is there anyone among multi-billioner companies who is not connected with corruptcy, politics, cheating in any way?

In which universe football (the most lucrative sport in the world) could be any different than those companies?

Greece won Euros over Portugal so L take

 

[utility73]

LOL woke up, checked the forum only to find you guys had practically only been arguing pages and pages about a perfectly correct penalty decision.

And as a bonus BBZ went completely bonkers producing walls of texts filled with conspiracy theory lorem ipsum.
Always good to start the day with some good entertainment.

 

[JohnN]

Greece won Euros over Portugal so L take

Oh you don't get it, he will just answer: "That's because they wanted underdogs to win for marketing reasons and not be so obvious with fixing matches. A Cinderella story once ina while is needed to restore faith, etc.."
Conspiracy theories close all the loopholes they create, by using even more loopholes and assertions to self proof.
They are impossible to be proven wrong.

 

[Illuminator]

Why would you still watch football on the big stage if you're convinced that everything is rigged? Why not bet crazy amounts of money if you've got everything figured out? Sure there have been scandals, manipulation and human errors in the history of football but to say it's all after a playbook for the show like in WWE is mostly a coping mechanism.

 

[kilian]

The penalty is definitely not as clear as day. The fact that a lot of people are arguing about says it all. For me it was not a penalty, but a collision.
Regarding the rest of the game, Croatia is a top team with a very toothless attack. A top striker like Mandzukic is really missed here. Good luck to Argentina in the final and hopefully our little GOAT will win it.

 

[Horatio]

The penalty is definitely not as clear as day. The fact that a lot of people are arguing about says it all. For me it was not a penalty, but a collision.
Regarding the rest of the game, Croatia is a top team with a very toothless attack. A top striker like Mandzukic is really missed here. Good luck to Argentina in the final and hopefully our little GOAT will win it.

BBZ is a lot of people?

 

[kilian]

BBZ is a lot of people?

No. I'm talking about pundits, ref experts and other forums as well. I didn't read the conspiracy theories here.

 

[JohnN]

No. I'm talking about pundits, ref experts and other forums as well. I didn't read the conspiracy theories here.

Mostly Gary Neville and Mark Bosnich triggered a discussion. Their takes are not so pro-Messi / pro-Argentina as we all know for some time now.
Their predictions and analysis have been crap too.
It's a penalty and would be given in 90% of cases against anyone. Not even called the ref to see it again, so clear it was.
This is just coping at this point. The penalty was NOT the deciding factor of the game.

 

[Horatio]

No. I'm talking about pundits, ref experts and other forums as well. I didn't read the conspiracy theories here.

Majority on tv says it was clear penalty.

 

[kilian]

Mostly Gary Neville and Mark Bosnich triggered a discussion. Their takes are not so pro-Messi / pro-Argentina as we all know for some time now.
Their predictions and analysis have been crap too.
It's a penalty and would be given in 90% of cases against anyone. Not even called the ref to see it again, so clear it was.
This is just coping at this point. The penalty was NOT the deciding factor of the game.

Penalty turned around the game, so it was definitely one of the most important factors. Not even a discussion. But aftet that, Argentina was a better team and deservedly go through. Croatia was simply not good enough.

Penalty still not clear for me.

 

[malvolio]

Penalty turned around the game, so it was definitely one of the most important factors. Not even a discussion. But aftet that, Argentina was a better team and deservedly go through. Croatia was simply not good enough.

Penalty still not clear for me.

Not even turned the game. Croatia had like first 20 minutes of sterile possession and then Argentina started creating chances and looking the better team.

 

[Porque]

Greece won the Euros to stop the nation from mass suicide after the collapse of the Greek banks.

If anything, UEFA acted as modern day Jesus

 

[malvolio]

Greece won the Euros to stop the nation from mass suicide after the collapse of the Greek banks.

If anything, UEFA acted as modern day Jesus

Was thinking about it last night while seeing the crowds of people in Argentina out in the streets. A WC win might really be a turning point for them from a psychological point of view. They are having big economic issues if I remember correctly, no?

 

[JohnN]

Greece won the Euros to stop the nation from mass suicide after the collapse of the Greek banks.

If anything, UEFA acted as modern day Jesus

Wrong. Greek banking system collapsed after the USA banking system collapsed in 2008.

 

[kilian]

Not even turned the game. Croatia had like first 20 minutes of sterile possession and then Argentina started creating chances and looking the better team.

I don`t remember anything special from any of them until the penalty. It was a pretty boring match.