Good shout
Quarter Final 1: France vs Morocco at Boston Stadium at 9pm BST, Thursday 9 July
- Thread starter Melbourne Red
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We don't need to know your nightly habits mate.
They just decided to play defensively because their striker was missing. Probably a decision from the coach.
His talent is still obvious, but yes he's very raw.
Did the Argentina refs stick to the script?
He could have at least bought El Kaabi to have a proper striker, get the ball in the box and try something
France were always heavy favourites but Morocco could have made them fight for it - shame to go out with a whimper
Mbappé absolute is and will be an ATG. Since his Monaco days he has been unbelievable. In my view he is very underrated. Should already have bagged 3 Ballon d'Ors but for bad luck or football politics.
Well, they've only conceded twice in six games. They have great players all over the pitch, on the bench and even watching from home. As for their defence they have some really strong individual players but more than that they are also able to suffocate you from offense. Dembele and Doue are pressing monsters, Olise is in the top 5 players of how much ground covered per game. Even a guy like Tchouameni is on the bench while Camavinga is at home which should tell you everything about the crazy level.
Clutching at straws. Every team hits roadblocks at some point -- that's football. The fact is Morocco were poor tonight. They looked shaky against Canada in the first half and only advanced from the R32 because Holland were complete cowards.
Morocco played beautifully this World Cup sad to see them leave but also applaud them for being the only African team to make it this far! Especially because they got a new coach 3 months before the cup
They’d just put Dembele false 9 and bring in Barcola. Sorted!Ya no offence to Mateta, he's a solid player, but he really sticks out like a sore thumb in this team
I think this world cup will put Mbappe on a superstar realm globally....Haaland to an extent too.
He's not Pele, but I think people underrate this generation of superstars and this world cup is really showing it.
Nostalgia clouds memories, but when you go back, watch the game and see the influence of stars - Mbappe, Olise, Kane, Haaland, Bellingham and Rodri are underrated. The world cup just puts that into context. Ronaldo and Messi have negatively impacted how people view this generation due to their sustained level of brilliance.
We are not because that’s stupid. Ronaldo is 10 times the player Klose ever was despite the WC records.
Spain still need to beat Belgium. All it takes is one red card, set piece, penalty or penalty shootout for a good team to get knocked out.
All time great, sure. As will Yamal I think.
But Pele sits at the table with Messi and Maradona. Those are his direct completion. Not Mbappe ffs. He’s along the best of his generation but despite WC records etc surely nobody has etc has watched Mbappe and consisted him an equal of Messi? That’s where Pele stands isn’t he game
No, he shouldn’t have had any Balon Dor yet - his club career hasn’t reached sufficient heights of greatness. Can win it now at 26 if France win this.
France clears Spain side easily IMO. I’ve not been impressed by Spain.
France vs England final.
It’s finally going home lads.
Of course we need to keep in mind Pelé had 20 points in 14 games if I remember correctly (14G 12G 8A) + 3WC so I do understand why he is rated the way he is. Absolute GOAT until a few contenders like Cruyff, Maradona, Zidane, Messi and so on showed up and very much still in top 5 of all time. Some might even have him top 1 or 3 which is alright.
Thing is Mbappé already has a WC, a silver (while scoring a hattrick in the final and winning Golden Boot) + this campaign that might end up with a second WC at the age of 27. He might be able to win 3 or even 4 WC by the age of 35. And on top of it all his records for clubs is legendary too. He has an UCL silver. He and Haaland are absolute ATG. It's preposterous that it is controversial, should be a no brainer.
Very good player. Although needs to build 5 kg of muscle. Shame that Saibari couldn't play and help Ounahi, big big loss for Morocco.
The same straws you are clutching at indeed.
Of course every team hits roadblocks at some point, and that's why you can't accuse a limited team of being pathetic in their game approach when facing a much stronger opponent who would have punished them much more severely had Morocco been a bit more adventurous.
Why? Because Nico hasn't got a game?
Where have I accused them of being pathetic?
I have not seen anything from Yamal to suggest he is a Mbappé talent. He is very good but Mbappé is what Ronaldo R9 should have been if injury free. Yamal has yet to reach Neymar levels and I'm not even sure he ever will, anyhow its a level below R9 and Mbappé.
I agree about Pelé sitting there with Messi and Maradona. But I also believe Mbappé deserves a place at the same table. In France they have finally, after much discussion, started to put Mbappé above Platini and Zidane in their all time rankings. No one even debates Mbappé vs Henry, Cantona, Papin, Griezmann, Trezeguet, Ribéry or whoever you can think of. To be above Zidane you have to be at that Pelé, Maradona, Messi table level.
agreed, MOR were poor today but when they did decide to attack they looked ok. pity they didnt do it more often.
The biggest danger to the french goal came from their own defenders slicing the ball.
The biggest danger to the french goal came from their own defenders slicing the ball.
That's what everyone is saying in Morocco but maybe he would lose his agility if muscles up.
Yamal is more talented than Mbappe and will surpass him imo. He’s the first player of the post Messi that looks to have a sort of absurd natural talent imo. Long way to go of course.
Mbappe sitting a the same table as Messi is hilarious. I mean, you’ve watched the two players right? Messi is elite at what Mbappe is and then 3-4 other things he shouldn’t humanly be. It’s the Messi Ronaldo logic again. People conflate success and stats with quality. Zidane, Henry, Platini co were nowhere remotely close to Messi. There are levels to this.
I never said it was you
Doesn't matter, you might as well try otherwise what is the point of being there? It is a World Cup quarter final, how is losing 2-0 without trying any worse than giving it a go and losing 3-1 or something. If they tried to actually compete and found themselves 3-0 down then maybe shut up shop but the way they played was as if they were hoping to just lose 1 or 2-0 and go home.
I was expecting Rahimi to start and then El Kaabi would have been the natural sub but the coach decided to start without a striker...
Mazraoui as a CB wasn't a great idea, not that he was that bad in that role but more because we missed him in the LB.
But what hurt us the most was the poor performances from Diaz and Hakimi.
Obligatory, Maz now gets a rest.
He's fulfilling a diversity quota.
tbf to him he did have at least one good game in this WC so far.
MBappe is absolutely among the absolute greatest footballers of all time. There have been between 1 and 3 million professional footballers since its formal professionalisation in the late 19th century. If he's a top 50-100 player of all time, that puts him 99.997th percentile of all professional footballers to ever exist.
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Spain can what ? Never. Not this average team
Did they ever show that "handball" ? The moroccan players around it insisted it was.
I always find this such an insult to R9. Their similarity are in speed and power, But Ronaldo had a lot more “magic” in him. As in he could dribble like Ronaldinho and still be a great finisher. Mbappe is not a great dribbler. He is a kick and run guy.
They did in Bein France but that's anecdotal to me, France was clearly better and deserved to win.
Mbappe is certainly not at R9's level in dribble but he's not just a kick and run guy either.
Agreed but last part is a little harsh.
That's a bit of a myth. I don't think Mbappé is at R9's 96–99 level, but he absolutely wasn't just dribbling past everyone like Ronaldinho and then scoring. He could beat a man, yes, and he had a tendency to drop deep, drive forward, and explode into space, but it wasn't something that worked every single time. If you watch the actual games rather than the mythology around him, you'll realise Mbappé and R9 are a lot more similar than people like to admit.
People have a tendency to romanticise the past, and this is a perfect example. A lot of people didn't watch R9 week in, week out because it simply wasn't possible back then. Instead, we had newspapers, highlight packages, and magazines that built up these legendary images of players. Meanwhile, Messi and Cristiano were analysed every single week, so their bad games were constantly put under a microscope. R9's poor performances often disappeared from the conversation.
Imagine how Mbappé or Haaland would have been viewed if they played in that era. They probably would have been even more mythologised. The modern game gives us so much access that we end up taking current talents for granted because we see every flaw.
Also, similar to Cristiano, I think people have a very narrow idea of what "talent" actually means. Physical gifts like Mbappé's speed are just as devastating as elite dribbling. His first step and acceleration are almost unmatched. That's why every time he gets the ball, there is a sense that something can happen. But because he's not constantly beating three players with skill moves, some people act like he isn't as gifted. Anticipation, shooting power, composure, movement, athleticism — those are all forms of talent too.
I don't think Yamal is anywhere near Messi's level yet, but because of his age, people are already pushing him into those conversations when he is still a tier below and has a long way to go. Haaland gets a similar treatment. He's stronger, faster, more athletic, more clinical, and more inevitable than any striker I've personally seen, yet some people downplay him because they value passing and dribbling above everything else and treat that as the definition of talent.
My list is Messi, Pelé, Cristiano, then Maradona. For me, greatness is about the work, consistency, and level a player maintains over multiple seasons — not just the moments that become highlights.
Great post. As an avid Serie A follower growing up R9 did have stinkers -- quite a few of them, in fact. It's just that, like you said, football was consumed a lot differently back then. Here in Indonesia we basically only had two weekly highlight shows: one dedicated to Italian football (Serie A was the Premier League of those days and then some) and the other the 'best of the rest'. They only showed the good bits.
I think Spain will struggle with France’s front four.
I see what you did there
Ruthless execution. It’s not exactly beautiful football, but this France side plays the game to near perfection.
There has to come a point before you respond, that you actually bother to read the post you are replying to. I’m referring to the absolute greatest 2/3 other dimensional geniuses that have ever played the game. Like Messi, Pele or whoever one considers part of that tier (use Messi as a point of reference if you will). There’s a difference between them and Henry who would also make the top 100 and hence by your definition were among the all time greats. That’s not what the discussion was about.