Argentina! Arsenal! Arteta! Let it be the year of the pirates!!!!!
World Cup 2022
England 2026:-
————————Ramsdale
Xxxxx——--White——-xxxxxx—-xxxxxx
————————-Patinho
————-Nwaneri———-ESR
Saka—————-Nketiah———Cozier-Duberry
Mirth I'll be honest prior to the competition starting I assumed that if Messi was to win the World Cup it would be by Argentina carrying him to a large degree. While his teammates in midfield and Di Maria certainly did their part, there's no denying that Messi was a key part of it too. Goals and assists aside the way he was spreading play and simply keeping the ball moving was class.
Still unbelievable that its Neal Maupay that has won Argentina their first WC in 38 years.
goon Really? Messi has probably been the best player in the world this season before the WC as well.
From playing two world cups in his prime without scoring a knockout goal to doing this at 35:
QuincyAbeyie don't know about best in the world but yeah, I applied a big slice of PSG/Ligue 1 tax on his revival this season.
Funny how Argentina never looked this good with prime Messi, Di Maria, Aguero, Dybala, Higuain etc. They had some god awful managers in that time though.
goon They always had terrible defences and keepers during those time.
I mean, Romero, Abondanzieri etc + absolutely poverty fullbacks. These days they could afford to have 50m Martinez on the bench, rotate Acuna/Tagliafico and Molina/Montiel etc. Scaloni deserves huge credit too. That game plan in the first half to concentrate all their entire attack on the right side only to constantly thread balls through to Di Maria for a Kounde 1v1 was superb.
Being a final, that was probably the greatest game of all time. What an epic. Messi always felt destined to win and the contrast between his and Ronaldo's contributions in this tournament couldn't have been more stark.
Feel for Mbappe though. Joins Hurst as a hattrick scorer in a final and one of only a handful to score in 2 finals. Great hit for the 2nd goal.
Can't help feeling happy for Martinez too. A little over 3 years ago he was our 3rd choice. At the time it felt wrong backing Leno, and I know we all now love Ramsdale but it was still the wrong call.
invisibleman18 7 years ago he was struggling to buy a start for Rotherham. It's just such an amazing story and he loves Arsenal too.
Ramsdale isn't far off his level currently but hard to imagine him being such a insane character to single handedly win a country their WC with that kind of save in the 122th minute.
Didn't Jairzinho score in every round of the WC?
daredevil Not in the round of 16. 
- Edited
Epic World Cup overall. Looking forward to getting some sleep now! These things are always a bit rough being on this side of the world. Managed to watch almost every game. For the final group stage games I mainly watched the one I thought was most interesting (ie, both teams still playing to get through) on my TV while having the other one playing on my phone to keep checking in. Only game I missed entirely was Senegal-Qatar as had a visitor staying and couldn't get away with watching all 4 games that day. Spain-Costa Rica I gave up on at half time (was watching delayed so moved onto the next game with that one over as a contest).
For the last couple of World Cups I remember catching buses/trains at ridiculous times to be able watch games in a bar in town before work. Now that working from home is a thing it's been easier to manage!