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World Cup 2026: Mexico, USA and Canada

All Jon Champion's fault...Egypt 2 nil up camera pans to Simeone and he mentions the '98 game and says, "looks like we won't be seeing a repeat this year!" or words to that affect as I was walking out the room at the time. Bang 3-2!!
 
Kandi1977 said:
VAR can fudge right off! That only happens because it's Argentina and Messi! That goal would never ever be disallowed if it was against Egypt or Norway or England! This is not football! This is not how the game is supposed to be!
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There is no denying there have been some questionable decisions
 
DeanoAustin said:
Fair bit of it online. BBC article linked above drives at it.



It was impressive they overcame the conditions without doubt. Altitude is a factor in football games, Ecuador and Bolivia's home records would attest to that. However, Rooney and Hart did say on Sunday that despite a lot of talk of it in 2010, they didn't really feel any effects from it.

Mexico are a good side, they play lovely football. Technically, they are excellent and I enjoyed watching them. But they aren't France. England were the bookies favourites beforehand. The game also veered into unusual territory when England went to 10 and just packed the box for the last 15 minutes. That won't happen in most games.

I don't want to tinkle on the result or performance. I really enjoyed the game and England did well to win. But I look at, say, the 4-1 win over The Netherlands in 1996, the semi-final v West Germany in 1990, the 5-1 away to Germany and they were all better performances IMO. England will still need to be better than they were on Sunday if they want to win this tournament.
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Mexico's third defeat at home in 60 years or something, I think the altitude is a massive factor, it must be like playing with 1 punctured lung, the oxygen content is 30% lower or something crazy

I think its up there, even more so considering how limited this squad is

the 96 and 01 teams put in great performances yes, but how many of the current squad, beyond Kane and Bellingham, get in those squads, let alone the starting 11?
 
Kandi1977 said:
Ok, not really sure where to start. Or actually, that's easy. I want to start by submitting my most heartfelt apology for the frankly most idiotic comment I've ever made. I don't have words to describe how ashamed I am, and I I fully understand if the apology isn't accepted. There is no excuse for it, but at least let me add some context into how things happened, and also why some things DIDN'T happen.
At the time of gmae when that comment was made, I was sat at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok at 4am in the morning. I was pretty drunk too, though that's no excuse. Nothing is. Anyway, I wrote a comment I deeply regret, and at the time, for some reason, I did not realise how foul and upsetting it was, I was getting searched in the security check, getting delayed, and had to rush to make my flight to Chongqing in China, and before I manged to post an apology, I was out of WiFi range. I had also tried to delete the comment, but it seems that option is gone now? Or is it a time limit. Not sure, but I wasn't able to. At that time I was in full panic mode, but thought I'd do it once on the ground again.

That proved to be easier said than done. The great firewall of China is really great, and not easy to penetrate. I had prepared various tricks that were supposed to work, but it proved to be really difficult to get any VPN or other measure to work for more than literally seconds!
During one of those short spells, I manage to log in to this site, and by that time I had been banned, so was then completely unable to post an apology.

So there it is. I have been given permission from the mods to write this apology. Wether that is enough for you to forgive me remains to be seen. I accept whatever decision is taken. Again, my sincerest apologies. I'm absolutely not a racist. I can only blame my northern Norwegian heritage, as we do have a rougher language, without it meaning what the words actually say. There's even a supreme Court ruling where a guy was acquitted from charge for calling a police officer "forbainna hæstkuk" (fudging horse dingdong), because that's normal language in Northern Norway. Again, not a valid excuse for me, just some context.

I really hope this apology is accepted, and that I can continue to be part of this wonderful forum with all the lovely people in here. You really mean a lot to me.

Finally, I wish I could have written this in my mother language, because I feel that I'm not really able to describe and get my message across in the matter I would have wanted, as my English isn't quite adequate in such delicate matters.

Again, I'm really sorry, and I hope I get the honour of continuing to be a member of this forum

Regards Kandi
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Well done mate. You’ve made a mistake but you’ve owned up to it and apologised. I’m really not a fan of piling on and calling for someone to be banned, although I accept others may hold different views to me.
 
My philosophy before the tournament started was ABP: Anyone But Portugal. It wasn't really about Portugal as a team—I just didn't want Ronaldo to end his career by winning the World Cup.

Now that they're out, though, after such a low-key, underwhelming exit, I actually feel a bit sorry for him. I don't enjoy seeing players emotionally distraught... unless they're affiliated with Arsenal.

That said, he's partly brought this on himself. He should have stepped aside and allowed the next generation to take Portugal forward. But I also put a huge amount of the blame on Roberto Martínez. The man is unbelievably weak and spineless. He was leaving his post after this tournament regardless, so what exactly did he have to lose by making the difficult decision? Instead, he seemed content to let sentiment dictate team selection.

I also think the Portuguese players should have spoken up more. At the end of the day, it's their opportunity to win a World Cup that's potentially being sacrificed. If they genuinely believed the team would have been stronger without Ronaldo starting, someone should have had the courage to say it.

By my count, this is at least the third consecutive major tournament where Ronaldo has been largely mediocre. I know he's said he's retiring, but I wouldn't be remotely surprised if he did a U-turn or came out of retirement before the next World Cup. Portugal are co-hosts, after all. That might just be too tempting an opportunity for him to pass up. Or perhaps he'll become player-manager and simply play himself for 90 minutes every game.

Sorry to bring this back to Ronaldo and Messi, but it's almost impossible to discuss one without mentioning the other. I've said it before: if you had to compare their footballing styles to music, Messi is classical, while Ronaldo is heavy metal. One is built on subtlety, balance and effortless brilliance; the other on power, intensity and spectacle.

The contrast is even starker now. Messi, at 39, is still arguably Argentina's best player and has played a huge role in carrying them through this tournament, while Ronaldo has increasingly looked like a passenger rather than the driving force.

I know some of it comes down to personal preference, and football debates never truly die. But surely, at this point, the question of who was the greater player has been settled.
 
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