They just don’t quit fighting. What a match. That goalie was standing on his head

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Bye bye Neymar! Perfect start. Trent King

Messi survives, barely. Crazy game.

All these games have been crazy. Being decided by kicks a lot of drama

There has to be a better way. It's so artificial.

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First of all, two INCREDIBLE matches today, filled with high drama. The
teams I wanted to win, actually won:) (Alert the media!)

Regarding PK shootouts -Peter and any other commenters:

It is vital that I begin by saying I greatly, greatly prefer matches that end
after regulation. People express disdain for PKs but don't offer any other
way. The fact is that, in order to get to PKs, two teams are given THIRTY
extra minutes to resolve it, and most do. These teams don't get a million
timeouts and commercial breaks, and can't substitute ad infinitum either.
It's got to end somehow, and PKs are an art (both sides of the equation).
Today's PKs were tense, which was actually cool...

Regarding PK's being "artificial", I'm not so sure. I think the end of
practically every televised college basketball game- which is a glorified
free throw shooting contest brought about by (uncalled) intentional fouls
that often occur 80 feet away from the basket- is the true "artificial"
ending to a sports contest. Now THAT is a joke...

At any rate, no one has come up with a better way after decades of debate.
I'm just glad today was memorable- Trent King

I was reading his tweets today!

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/09/s...wahl-dead.html

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The alternative to penalty kicks deciding games is simple. Replace them with sudden death overtime at the 90 minute mark. No 30 minute extra time and no PKs. Score a goal and the match is over.

The problem with that is many extra time games will get decided by some dumb ass penalty call on a flop setting up the game winning penalty kick. It's already a huge problem, witness the second Argentina goal.

If a flopper gets up and runs like nothing happened, eject him and shoot the ref.:D

I feel, like with hockey, having important/elimination games decided at full strength would be best for soccer. I know fatigue is a huge issue at the end of games and they can’t just play indefinitely, though.

But maybe make it a half-field game after regulation (and maybe one extra 15-minute traditional period). At that point, let a team offensively attack for 5 minutes from midfield. If the defense clears it out past midfield then the attacking team resets and starts again. Then the other team gets 5 minutes of attack. Keep going until you have a winner.

That would mitigate the fatigue factor of playing a full-field game at that point, but allow for aggressive, risk-taking offensive play at full strength (without the fear of giving up a chance the other way) that would closely resemble normal play.

I'm thinking a simple option and an entertaining option to finish games.

Simple option: Rochambeau best two out of three at the end of regulation.

Entertaining option: switch from soccer to rugby rules, sudden death.

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I knew there had to be a bad side to the coin- France advances. Please,
please- ANY of the remaining 3 for the title! Tight games today. Trent King

I know Trent is not a big Ronaldo fan but I don't think it was very smart not playing him until the 55th minute or whatever it was.

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Hi Peter- I know you're just having fun, but you may have a point. Portugal
had been fine without him, just ran into a surprisingly tenacious Morocco
team today. Maybe Ronaldo could have provided a spark- despite all his
character flaws (on and off the pitch), he's not a typical Portugal player who
looks for grass to fall on:) Maybe he could have added spark. Problem is he's
made his own bed, and teams (not just his national side) have decided his
talent no longer merits the bucket full of headache that goes with him.

Trent King

I get the negatives but in a game you're not virtually certain to win (unlike the prior one which was a joke), how do you really justify not playing a scorer of that caliber?

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Peter- yep, I get it. You can say the same for Brazil though- did you see the
firepower on their bench? These managers have to balance what they think
will work best and, until Port ran into a staunch Morocco, it held up. Can't
wait for semis! Trent King

Right, and who knows if it would have changed the outcome, but I can't imagine too many people in the soccer world would have benched Cristiano Ronaldo in the knockout round of the World Cup.

If I was coaching I'd of benched Pele!

....of course he's like 82 years old so probably the right call.

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Peter- I did find an interesting stat about Ronaldo, as it relates to World Cup
knockout matches. Across 5 WCups, he scored exactly ZERO goals when it
was win or go home. Zero. Perhaps this consistent lack of production within
vital Cup games tipped the scales in his manager's mind; after all, the
manager already knew Ronaldo was a) ageing and b) a cancer. Who knows,
maybe it would have been best to leave him off the team completely? At
any rate, the semis should be fun. My heart says Croatia, but before yesterday
I was hoping for a feud W Cup rematch between Argentina and England:)

Trent King

Trent that is indeed surprising, although still a small sample size. As for the semis, I think France and Argentina, Morocco feels like a Cindarella team whose time is going to run out although with that goalie who knows.

So what's the deal with Reyna? It sounds like he didn't come to play, was breaking team rules and basically blew off a scrimmage. It was weird that Berhalter didn't play him, now we know there was more to the story than an injury.

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Hi Al- yes, I saw something about that as well. If true, it's a heck of an
indictment on Reyna. I'd wager these managers deal with a lot of "stuff"
behind the scenes. Trent King

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Here we go! Argentina and Croatia in a few hours. There will only be a 1/2 billion people watching. No pressure:) Trent King

Reyna made a statement yesterday acknowledging the story. He said he got emotional when Berhalter told him he would only have a limited role for the WC, and let his disappoinment affect his behavior. It's a shame that between Reyna, his dad and Berhalter, they couldn't figure out a way to get Reyna, who is maybe the most talented player on the roster apart from Pulisic, onto the pitch.

As for the game today, my grandparents came over from Croatia after WW1, so Go Croatia!

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Unless you have a tie to Croatia how can you not root for Messi?

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Whew, Argentina looked SHARP!

Peter- I admire Croatia. Tiny population, hard workers who are deceptively
skilled with "A" league European players. What's not to like? I love Messi
but preferred Croatia's team and story. Trent King

Go Morocco! Would be nice to see an African nation win the World Cup for the first time.

+1 agree

But for me no specific country to route for.

I just want to see great close and dramatic games

The stultifying defense that Morocco plays is definitely NOT my type of football. That said full kudos to their coach for what he has gotten the team to accomplish. They are extremely difficult to break down. Would strongly prefer France in the final with Argentina. Just think it would be a much more entertaining affair.

Well now we have two of the heavy hitters in the finals

Argentina vs France

Should be a great game

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It’s a compelling final for sure. I won’t root for France under any circumstances. I think Argentina can break their defense but the same is true in reverse. We shall see! Trent King

Fear Mbappe.

The after Celebration(winning fans) and Non Celebrations (losing fans) will be must watch TV.

Both countries have already added police and getting ready for riots and vandalism.

Both these Countries are extremely passionate about the sport and their teams

Taken in 2009 in The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul


https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...370&fit=bounds

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My heart says Argentina:) Trent King

The only result that would shock me would be an Argentine rout. I could see a French rout, the Argentine defense is still suspect IMO. Or of course a close match either way. My head says France by a goal no penalties.

HOLY Schnikes!!!!!!

Just an incredible final

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GOOD GUYS WIN! What a match, incredible drama. Argentina was able to
expose France's weak D and overcome a TON of French dives. Right team
won this one, glad I got to watch it- Trent King

We just witnessed perhaps the greatest performance ever by a soccer player, and it wasn't Messi.

That said, that should remove any objection to Messi as the best ever.

+1 agree amazing finals and the French comeback was amazing

Two equalizers each with time running down, and a hat trick in all. Messi is arguably the greatest ever now but it may not last long. Mbappe is only 23 LOL.

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Peter- good heavens I hope you don’t mean Mbappe. Absent for 70 minutes and putting in PKs earned by teammates. He played very well for 50 minutes.Nah””He’s a good player who is full of himself, but the more interesting story was the subbing off of Giroud and Griezmann early, when it was the French D that was bad. Better team win, happy for Messi. Not ready to anoint Mbappe for anything yet, way too young. Story today is Arg not Mbappe. Trent King

Trent only you could diss a hat trick including two equalizers in a World Cup final. LOL. A good player. Michael Jordan was also a good player. I get that you don't like France but seriously. Anyhow yes a great win for Messi and Argentina.

Wife was very happy with the outcome! She lived in Argentina two years in 2007-08. We had sentiments for both teams. We went to Paris for our honeymoon in 2011. We got married our senior year in college and a week later my wife won an academic trip to Europe.

Mbappe's goals were eye popping. Messi's 2nd goal had us bouncing off the walls. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...aeb6ee2da6.jpg

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Please excuse the typos, fat fingers on my phone…I thought Argentina’s subs were better, especially Martinez who is a firecracker. Argentina’s soccer was more honest (for those who despise diving as I do. #12 and Thuram were a joke, one got carded for simulation). Glad they won and that France didn’t repeat. Trent King

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Peter- again, my joy is for Argentina. Mbappe converted penalties for 2/3 of his hat trick and was INVISIBLE for 70 minutes. Great for him I suppose, but I prefer earned hat tricks. Trent King

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Last thing- it’s France I don’t like, not merely Mbappe. I’m glad they were foiled. Wonder how that PSG locker room will look? Lol. Trent King

Of course but it's still a great feat under that kind of pressure. Several of Messi's tournament goals were also penalties. Anyhow, we agree on Argentina and I am glad for Messi.