4 hours ago, BruceVC said:

So who is everyone supporting tonight, Spain or France?

France seems the more enjoyable watch, but it wouldn't surprise me if Spain won.

Hopefully France can win it before they bring Merino on to save their asses

Guess Deschamps found out why you need a midfield, disgraceful performance by so many too

What can I say about last night....disappointing result from France

I dont think that first penalty was fair, arent penalties suppose to be intentional? But it doesn't matter because Spain scored another incredible goal and France failed to score any

End of the day Spain outplayed France but I do think Spain is overall the best team of the WC

Well done Spain !!

But France did really well to get this far and I expect a festive and boisterous welcome when they get home

Now its the most anticipated game of the WC so far...England vs Argentina

Its going to be epic

Go England !!!

8 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I dont think that first penalty was fair, arent penalties suppose to be intentional? But it doesn't matter because Spain scored another incredible goal and France failed to score any

It was intentional, on the part of the Spanish player. I've seen that a few times during this World Cup, where the player intentionally places a body part in a position to get fouled. Very crafty. Some players make a living off that, gaming the system. While the called fouls follows the letter of the law, I'm not sure they follow the spirit.

10 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Now its the most anticipated game of the WC so far...England vs Argentina

Its going to be epic

Whoever wins, we all lose.

2 hours ago, rjshae said:

It was intentional, on the part of the Spanish player. I've seen that a few times during this World Cup, where the player intentionally places a body part in a position to get fouled. Very crafty. Some players make a living off that, gaming the system. While the called fouls follows the letter of the law, I'm not sure they follow the spirit.

Absolutely but I also remember a game where the ref said no penalty for that reason

I think it was someone in England? And in this case the French guy had his back to the Spanish player

Simeone's a bigger **** than his dad

Thank the lord someone scored. Up to that point the game was making me sympathise with a certain Event Horizon character's attitude to sight.

2 hours ago, BruceVC said:

I think it was someone in England?

It was the penalty reversal via VAR in England's game against Norway.

Completely correct decision, not just because it made the English fans squeal. You're allowed to protect the ball, but Spence deliberately put himself in a position where he couldn't play it, in order to get in the defender's way and draw the penalty.

Gareth, come back!!

Everything is forgiven

England pulled an England. I still think Spain should win, but who knows.

Hopefully Mbappe goes on a tear and gets the Golden Boot

Deciding to Turtle after scoring might have been a justifiable decision if we hadn't had the Egypt match earlier. As it was, England got what was deserved.

Not overly great from England's leadership group.

A disappointing final result but it was a good game

Firstly the ref was brilliant, it made a big difference watching a WC game without the ref stopping the game every 5 minutes because of exaggerated injuries and desperate attempts by players to get awarded penalties

The game flowed which was great

End of the day England played well but Argentina did what they always do, they somehow come back in an incredibly strong and unstoppable way in the last 20 minutes or less. People use to say " Argentina is fatigued, that's why they do this "

I dont buy that for a second. Its like they reserve energy for an intense onslaught at the end and so far its been successful in every game. And Argentina missed several goals by a fraction, literally hitting the posts

The entire team always coordinates goal attempts, Messi is an exceptional player but its not just about him.

So well done Argentina !!!

But England should be proud of there effort and how far they got, they had some inspiring wins to get this far

Now all my preferred teams are out so who do I support in the final?


Its a tough one but I am going to support Spain. Argentina won the last WC so it makes sense we see an EU team winning this one

I am looking forward to seeing how these 2 teams square off considering there history in past international games. They have faced each other 14 times and its exacty equal around wins

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/spain-vs-argentina-matchup-history-234449522.html
"Few international series could enter a final with a cleaner deadlock.

Spain and Argentina have played 14 times across official competitions and friendly matches, per BolaVIP. Each country owns six victories, while two meetings ended without a winner. Sunday’s game will finally tip the overall record toward one side.

Argentina holds the advantage where the World Cup is concerned, although the sample includes only one match.

The countries met during the 1966 group stage, when Argentina earned a 2-1 win. Luis Artime scored twice for La Albiceleste, and Pirri provided Spain’s goal after briefly bringing the contest level."

First half Agincourt, second looking very much like Castillon for a while there.

Edited Saturday at 11:05 PM2 days by Zoraptor

Olise's finishing is abysmal.

That was a Steve Martin kind of game: wild and crazy. It was a lot of fun too.

Who we all supporting tonight?

I am really looking forward to see if Spain can counter Argentinas ability to come back in the last 20 minutes

Its going to be an epic game between the 2 best teams overall of the WC

8 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Who we all supporting tonight?

I am really looking forward to see if Spain can counter Argentinas ability to come back in the last 20 minutes

Its going to be an epic game between the 2 best teams overall of the WC

Whomever wins... 😋 I don't think it will be as fun as the England-France match.

Los malvinas son Españoles

That was a fair outcome. Spain dominated throughout, and the only surprise was that it wasn't a 4-0 thrashing. I thought the ref-ing was of good quality and fair, letting just enough of the physical stuff go to keep the game flowing. All told a very enjoyable World Cup. I do think they need to clean up the VAR so it doesn't intrude into the game as much. Adding more VAR calls just makes it worse. If they aren't careful, it'll wind up like American Football where it seems like every play goes to the review for legal interpretation.

Would have been a travesty if Argentina had won that in all respects.

They can certainly play, but their game plan was about as negative in every meaning of the term as it's possible to get all tournament (until they go behind). Summed up best by Messi trying to get that Rowlf looking Spaniard sent off for 'covering his mouth'; quite an achievement given how well the sending off reaction otherwise summed things up.

Equally petulant and pathetic post whistle. Couldn't have been a clearer contrast to the Eng-Fra game in terms of either entertainment nor spirit of the game- well, Spain kept their tempers extremely well given the constant provocation. That's the problem with deciding not to punish obvious rule breaking like the Malvinas stuff, all you're telling them is that they can get away with anything if punishment looks like it might be embarrassing to fifa.

BBC always does decent montages. Maybe better with "The Hand that Feeds" by NiN

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by Malcador

What a game, Spain absolutely dominated Argentina and they deserved to win

The stats tell the story, goal attempts 20 vs 2 for Spain

Full confession, I was drinking an Argentinian Malbec Red Wine but thats okay because drinking good wine should be about a global selection. ( @Gorth have you tried Argentinian Malbec ? )

I was waiting for Argentina to do what they have been doing the whole WC, come back in the last 15 minutes and I remember thinking how utterly unfair it would be if somehow Argentina scored at the end. Im very glad it didnt end with penalty shootouts because as I mentioned Spain deserved this victory

Well done Spain !!!

Some interesting stats about this game and the 2 teams

https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments...icles/spain-argentina-final-report-highlights

• Spain's total of one goal conceded is the lowest for a World Cup-winning team in a single edition of the tournament.

• Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon has set a record for most clean sheets in a World Cup tournament with seven.

• Spain’s Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, both 19, are the fourth and fifth teenagers to have played in a World Cup final. As with Pele (aged 17 in 1958), Giuseppe Bergomi (18 in 1982) and Kylian Mbappe (19 in 2018), they have all ended up on the winning side.

• At 65 years and 28 days old, Luis de la Fuente has become the oldest World Cup-winning coach, surpassing the mark of his compatriot Vicente del Bosque who was 59 years and 220 days when winning Spain's first world title.

• Spain are the first team to be reigning champions of both the men's and women's World Cups at the same time, having won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023.

• At 39 years and 25 days old, Lionel Messi became the oldest outfield player to appear in a World Cup final, breaking the record of Sweden’s Gunnar Gren, who faced Brazil in 1958 aged 37 years and 241 days. Substitute Nicolas Otamendi beat Gren's record too to become the second-oldest outfield player (38 years, 157 days).

• Messi is also now the second player to have appeared in three World Cup finals, doing so in 2014, 2022 and 2026, after Brazil’s Cafu, who played in the 1994, 1998, 2002 deciders.

• La Roja are undefeated in regular time in their last 38 matches (W29 D9), having not lost since 22 March 2024, when they succumbed 1-0 to Colombia in a friendly in London. This is their longest-ever unbeaten sequence and has beaten Italy’s record for a European nation of 37, set between October 2018 and September 2021; it was Spain who ended that run by triumphing 2-1 in a UEFA Nations League encounter on 6 October 2021.

Edited 21 hours ago21 hr by BruceVC