FIFA World Cup 2022 Discussion Thread

[coinerer]

I must say a big congratulations to Argentina on their outstanding performance today, for which I applaud them. I never imagined them winning Croatia by three goals. It appears to be so simple, but it was all worth it in the end. I expected more from Croatia than what they played against Argentina. I believe Modric's World Cup dream, as one of their star players, has come to an end today, as this may be his final World Cup appearance. Good luck to Argentina in the finals, hope Messi will win this one and can retire with joy.

After they conceded the first goal (in the form of penalty) the Croatian players lost hope and their morale was down. And this explains the large victory margin for Argentina. It was a very tough match and till the first goal was scored by Messi during the 34th minute, both the teams were equally placed with neither of the teams dominating the other. But after the penalty kick, the situation changed and Julián Álvarez managed to score the second goal in just five minutes time. And after that, the Croatian players simply gave up.

The goal would have been scored if the Croatia goalkeeper had not committed a foul during the first goal and it had not gone to penalties.  Because the entire penalty area was empty and Croatia players were not present, it was not possible for the goalkeeper to stop the goal alone in such an empty space.  So the goalkeeper is forced to commit a foul but even then they are not saved as the penalty kick completes the goal. Argentina played very well in this match and they finished the match with focus and active so they beat Croatia by a huge goal margin.

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[Fullcoinese]

Did Croatia win their match against Brazil with this style of play they demonstrated today, I want to know. I find it hard to believe that Croatia, who recently held Brazil to a full-time draw (winning on penalties), faces Argentina and collapses uncontrolled in their defense, allowing three goals. Croatia would rather not have advanced this far with a humiliating loss than enable Brazil to win them. Should I imply that Argentina's loss is retaliation for Croatia's victory against them in the last world cup?

Having said that, Argentina deserves congratulations. see them next at the World Cup Finals on Sunday.

I must say a big congratulations to Argentina on their outstanding performance today, for which I applaud them. I never imagined them winning Croatia by three goals. It appears to be so simple, but it was all worth it in the end. I expected more from Croatia than what they played against Argentina. I believe Modric's World Cup dream, as one of their star players, has come to an end today, as this may be his final World Cup appearance. Good luck to Argentina in the finals, hope Messi will win this one and can retire with joy.

Argentina is now one step closer to the trophy. and that would be an extraordinary achievement for Messi at his no longer young age. but still able to display extraordinary game performance. score goals as well as make assists. not many players have as good skills as Messi. if he retires, it will be a yearning for fans.

[Sithara007]

Argentina is now one step closer to the trophy. and that would be an extraordinary achievement for Messi at his no longer young age. but still able to display extraordinary game performance. score goals as well as make assists. not many players have as good skills as Messi. if he retires, it will be a yearning for fans.

Even before the start of the world cup, I had posted that Argentina are the favorites to win the trophy this time. They sent their strongest ever team since 1986, and there is great bonding and cohesion with players such as Lionel Messi, Julián Álvarez, Enzo Fernández and Alexis Mac Allister working together as a team. They are just one step away from lifting the trophy. This will definitely be the last world cup for Lionel Messi, as he is 35 years old. Being a legend, he deserves to be in a world cup winning team for at least once in his career.

[Pierre 2]

And finally Argentina got very clean win in World Cup semifinals. Well I expected a lot more from Croatia. I expected them to resist and bite - meaning they wouldn't easily concede a goal and even if they do they would reply back. But my guess was wrong. Argentina dominated the match. Argentina can easily beat Morocco too if they play like yesterday night against them. But France? Its very hard to say same thing.

[Silberman]

It is the match in which Argentina performed almost flawlessly in terms of defense and reached the final. They responded to all offensive actions of Croatia. They cut the single passes, they cut the intermediate balls, they closed the edges and the center very well. I'm baffled as to how Croatia got all the way to the semi-finals. Let's admit they played infamous football against Argentina. I think Argentina's possible opponent in the final will be France. Their job is very difficult against France in the final. They are physically superior to Argentina. If Morocco knocks out France they're also pretty good physically but France will most likely knock out Morocco with their individual skills.

Everyone has different ways, many are probably puzzled how, after the terrible first two rounds of the group stage, the Argentine national team managed to get all the way to the final Each team may not have its own day and it is obvious that Croatia had exactly this case today. 2-0 after the first half in favor of the Argentina national team broke all the scenarios that the Croatian national team probably counted on. Also, I would not rush to talk about knockouts, because Morocco is a strong team that has not just yet lost a single match at the tournament, unlike France, but also conceded only one goal during the entire tournament, which is an autogall. Therefore, if Croatia failed to beat the favorite, then why couldn't Morocco have done it?

That is why the great teams are great teams to begin with, if we take a look at the performance by Argentina we are going to see they have not been necessarily the best during the tournament, however they have won the games they needed to win, maybe it was not pretty but they were effective and that is all what matters, besides when it comes to the world cup I doubt there are many fans that would care about their national team not playing in an exciting way as long as they can bring the cup home.

[Sithara007]

And finally Argentina got very clean win in World Cup semifinals. Well I expected a lot more from Croatia. I expected them to resist and bite - meaning they wouldn't easily concede a goal and even if they do they would reply back. But my guess was wrong. Argentina dominated the match. Argentina can easily beat Morocco too if they play like yesterday night against them. But France? Its very hard to say same thing.

Argentina got the shock treatment from Saudi Arabia in their first match, and that really helped their performance during the latter stages. The same happened with France as well. They went down against Tunisia during the group phase. Morocco is the only team that has remained without a loss till now. They conceded a draw against Croatia during the group phase, but apart from that they have won all of their remaining 5 matches, including those against Belgium (2-0), Spain(0-0, 3-0) and Portugal (1-0) (the last two during knockout phase).

[RockBell]

Ronaldo would have preferred to play against Messi since this will be their final World Cup now I feel Ronaldo pain, and tonight is going to be a night Morocco will never forget after making it to the semi finals, and been the only African country to qualify and defeating Spain along the way, Morocco have made history. Argentina have qualified for the finals, and will play against any country that wins today's game between France and Morocco which I am certain France will win, and Croatia will play against anyone that loses the game for third place. Luck to both countries.

[Zanab247]

Croatia did a nice Job yesterday by leading the ball possession through out the game, despite Argentina manage to scored 3 goals to qualified for final, has made people to know how good Croatia are in this tournament. Croatia defenders really made mistakes in this game by focused on Messi alone that gave other striker opportunity to achieved goals, I believe, this is a lesson to Croatia coach and their potential players to make their defense secure no matter how good they are in the battle field.

[MarjorieZimmermanGinger]

And finally Argentina got very clean win in World Cup semifinals. Well I expected a lot more from Croatia. I expected them to resist and bite - meaning they wouldn't easily concede a goal and even if they do they would reply back. But my guess was wrong. Argentina dominated the match. Argentina can easily beat Morocco too if they play like yesterday night against them. But France? Its very hard to say same thing.

Argentina deserves a victory when facing Croatia because of playing pretty well, while Croatia lost his touch in building attacks, Luka Modric could not control the match, because Argentina played sufficient differentiation in all positions. Two goals in the first round made Croatian defense lose control, no measurable pass from Croatia and Croatian defense was not coordinated, although statistically Croatia dominated the ownership of the ball, but failed to create opportunities to score goals.

Julian Alvarez was the best player in the match, but Lionel Messi became an important player for Argentina's victory. France is a balanced opponent for Argentina in the final, because in terms of the quality of their players they are almost close and hope to win the match against Maroco.

[slackovic]

And finally Argentina got very clean win in World Cup semifinals. Well I expected a lot more from Croatia. I expected them to resist and bite - meaning they wouldn't easily concede a goal and even if they do they would reply back. But my guess was wrong. Argentina dominated the match. Argentina can easily beat Morocco too if they play like yesterday night against them. But France? Its very hard to say same thing.

Argentina deserves a victory when facing Croatia because of playing pretty well, while Croatia lost his touch in building attacks, Luka Modric could not control the match, because Argentina played sufficient differentiation in all positions. Two goals in the first round made Croatian defense lose control, no measurable pass from Croatia and Croatian defense was not coordinated, although statistically Croatia dominated the ownership of the ball, but failed to create opportunities to score goals.

Croatia held the ball because Argentina let them control it. Argentina put some pressure on the player with the ball but they quickly created an attack and finished it.

Julian Alvarez was the best player in the match, but Lionel Messi became an important player for Argentina's victory. France is a balanced opponent for Argentina in the final, because in terms of the quality of their players they are almost close and hope to win the match against Maroco.

I'm not sure that I agree with Alvarez being the best player. They scored two goals but actually Messi is the one who was creating chaos in Croatia's defense.

[Luzin]

My hopes of seeing croatia enter the final failed. The chances of a repeat final of the 2018 World Cup failed. Argentina played well, even Messi was argentina's goal actor. Right now my expectations are on Morocco, because yesterday I hoped the country final was not seeded Croatia vs Morocco. 
Although there are not many opportunities because the French seem to be too great. But there is a chance of victory if they can withstand the french attack and overtime until the penalty. They have to stack a lot of players in the defensive area and take advantage of a quick counterattack to make a goal.

[Daltonik]

At the beginning of the match, the Croatian national team did not look bad, but could not bring the attacks to an effective conclusion, and after, in my opinion, an unjustified penalty, the goalkeeper did not move towards the attacker but just stood on two legs, I do not know why the Croats did not request VAR?, well, then the game went wrong and the Croats will play for bronze.

[Naficopa]

At the beginning of the match, the Croatian national team did not look bad, but could not bring the attacks to an effective conclusion, and after, in my opinion, an unjustified penalty, the goalkeeper did not move towards the attacker but just stood on two legs, I do not know why the Croats did not request VAR?, well, then the game went wrong and the Croats will play for bronze.

That's true Croatia started off really well but rhe penalty and second goal they somewhat accepted thier defeat.  They didn't even score a single goal in yesterday's match.
Yes I was waiting for a VAR before penalty but nothing from the referee.

[coinerer]

At the beginning of the match, the Croatian national team did not look bad, but could not bring the attacks to an effective conclusion, and after, in my opinion, an unjustified penalty, the goalkeeper did not move towards the attacker but just stood on two legs, I do not know why the Croats did not request VAR?, well, then the game went wrong and the Croats will play for bronze.

Messi showed a very good performance in the semi-final.  It is true that Croatia was a very good team.  Since Argentina beat Croatia 3-0, no matter which team Morocco or France play against them, they can beat them in the final because they are a much weaker team compared to Argentina.  I think this World Cup will go to Messi's team Argentina.  And in the last World Cup in Messi's life, he will record the World Cup achievement

[3meek]

At the beginning of the match, the Croatian national team did not look bad, but could not bring the attacks to an effective conclusion, and after, in my opinion, an unjustified penalty, the goalkeeper did not move towards the attacker but just stood on two legs, I do not know why the Croats did not request VAR?, well, then the game went wrong and the Croats will play for bronze.

Messi showed a very good performance in the semi-final.  It is true that Croatia was a very good team.  Since Argentina beat Croatia 3-0, no matter which team Morocco or France play against them, they can beat them in the final because they are a much weaker team compared to Argentina.  I think this World Cup will go to Messi's team Argentina.  And in the last World Cup in Messi's life, he will record the World Cup achievement

Argentina and Messi did show a good game against Croatia, but Croatia must have been tired by now and the players were not able to play as well in this important match... So Argentina won effortlessly... But I'm not sure that Argentina will be the champion... Most likely France will win today and not Morocco and the final should also be won by France... Argentina are Messi and France have some players like Messi or even better...

[Docnaster]

I believe Croatia gave their best, though weren't good enough to lower the pressure from Argentina's attackers. They played closely the same way they did against Brazil; same momentum both in defense and attack. But the only difference is that the opponent *Argentina* had its way of breaking the bond binding Croatia's defense, an action which seemed difficult for the Brazilian to execute. I'll still say that Argentina's victory strategy was plotted right from Croatia's victory against Brazil.

[coinerer]

At the beginning of the match, the Croatian national team did not look bad, but could not bring the attacks to an effective conclusion, and after, in my opinion, an unjustified penalty, the goalkeeper did not move towards the attacker but just stood on two legs, I do not know why the Croats did not request VAR?, well, then the game went wrong and the Croats will play for bronze.

Messi showed a very good performance in the semi-final.  It is true that Croatia was a very good team.  Since Argentina beat Croatia 3-0, no matter which team Morocco or France play against them, they can beat them in the final because they are a much weaker team compared to Argentina.  I think this World Cup will go to Messi's team Argentina.  And in the last World Cup in Messi's life, he will record the World Cup achievement

Argentina and Messi did show a good game against Croatia, but Croatia must have been tired by now and the players were not able to play as well in this important match... So Argentina won effortlessly... But I'm not sure that Argentina will be the champion... Most likely France will win today and not Morocco and the final should also be won by France... Argentina are Messi and France have some players like Messi or even better...

The final match between France and Argentina will be a fierce battle between the two teams.  Because France is a very strong team almost equal to Argentina. So Argentina will have to play more actively to win the final.  Otherwise, France could take the World Cup ahead of Argentina.  It will be a painful event for Argentina.  Especially for Messi it will be more painful because he is a famous player who has yet to win the World Cup.  And this is the last game of his life and the last opportunity to take the cup in his own hands

[LUCKMCFLY]

Embarrassing game for Spain against Japan. Rumors say that the Spanish team lost deliberately, so that they could finish at the second place in their group and face Morocco at the round of 16. Shame on them. I really hope that Spain will be kicked out of the tournament at the quarterfinals. Croatia vs. Japan would be interesting, but I bet that the Croatian team would reach the quarterfinals.
Germany deserved to leave the tournament at the group stage. The German team is missing some key elements, in order to be competitive against France and Brazil, who are the big favorites for winning the World Cup.

I kind of believe what you’re saying about Spain losing on purpose. Because at halftime, the two central defenders for spain made at least 90 complete passes with over 100 touches of the ball. It appear to me Luiz Enrique didn't want to attack after the goal. Seems like he was avoiding a win. They’re simply avoiding to play Croatia. They want to play Morocco and with what I have seen so far, Morocco might shock them in the round of 16.

it was luiz enrique tactic in staring at opponents in the next round and it seems he succeeded in doing it because spain will face morocco in the round of 16.  but I didn't mention that Spain played unprofessionally, which means they gave in on purpose but Japan did look better in that match. even though spain dominated possession but they failed to make the final solution a goal. Morocco also cannot be underestimated in the round of 16 because they have been quite consistent in this world cup by managing to make big surprises. but in terms of the quality of the players, I think Spain will have an easy road in the round of 16.  For today's match, we will soon witness Portugal against South Korea, where in this match I support Portugal to be the winner.

In the game against Spain I don't think they let themselves win on purpose because at one point Spain was left out of the World Cup, for me the Spanish lost their compass for a long time, however the surprise was always Morocco if this team entered the round of 16 , then the quarterfinals and now in the semifinals it's because they really have something that the others don't have, this game is really very good, because if they win against France it will be a great success and that is something that nobody knows how to expect, and it may be that the bets fall again as they have in most world cup matches, nothing is written here.

In today's match, I bet on Argentina's promotion. It will certainly not be an easy match for Messi's team, because the Croatians, even in the match against Brazil, showed that they can play really effective football. However, I consider Argentina to be the better team and I would be very surprised if they wasted their chance at the World Cup final. However, I do not rule out that today's match will also end after extra time or penalty kicks.

Argentina is not only representing itself, I think Argentina has all the support of South America and all of South America is Argentina, that is something that the Croats have to deal with, obviously the Croats will feel like they are visitors, because this match has many more followers who go to Argentina than to Croatia, but Croatia cannot be detracted from, it is a team that has everything, its players, coach, everything is very well established, and that is something that they cannot leave aside, Argentina always knew with whom he was fighting despite all the problems that were put into fifa due to arbitrations.

[dwminer1]

I am not surprised that Argentina advanced, but I must admit that I expected a better game from Croatia. Croatia had a significant advantage in possession, but little came of this advantage. Coach Dalic's team couldn't create a good scoring opportunity. Any interception by Argentina, on the other hand, immediately created a threat in Croatia's goal. Congrats to Argentina for advancing and the Croats need to play better in the 3rd place match if they hope for a medal.

[Slow death]

At the beginning of the match, the Croatian national team did not look bad, but could not bring the attacks to an effective conclusion, and after, in my opinion, an unjustified penalty, the goalkeeper did not move towards the attacker but just stood on two legs, I do not know why the Croats did not request VAR?, well, then the game went wrong and the Croats will play for bronze.

I had already commented on this thread that the crown had no chance of beating argentina, that's because Croatia has a good defense, but fails in the attack, while the argentina has a good defense that makes some mistakes sometimes but they have a good defense and it has a good attack, playing against Croatia it was clear that argentina would win without much difficulty, now argentina is in the final and I also already commented here in this thread at the beginning of the world cup that argentina, frane and brazil would be the only teams that would reach the final world cup final, brazil was eliminated so they don't even count anymore, but i got it right in argentina and if france wins in today's game which i hope they will win without much difficulties then it will be a final between argentina and france

I am not surprised that Argentina advanced, but I must admit that I expected a better game from Croatia. Croatia had a significant advantage in possession, but little came of this advantage. Coach Dalic's team couldn't create a good scoring opportunity. Any interception by Argentina, on the other hand, immediately created a threat in Croatia's goal. Congrats to Argentina for advancing and the Croats need to play better in the 3rd place match if they hope for a medal.

without a doubt this was an expected result, as for the game to decide who will take the 3rd place, I believe it will be a game between croatia against morocco, it will be a game between two teams with good defense and who play in a very similar way, They can even go on penalties, I see Morocco having a chance of winning third place if they play like they've been playing since the world cup started

In the game against Spain I don't think they let themselves win on purpose because at one point Spain was left out of the World Cup, for me the Spanish lost their compass for a long time, however the surprise was always Morocco if this team entered the round of 16 , then the quarterfinals and now in the semifinals it's because they really have something that the others don't have, this game is really very good, because if they win against France it will be a great success and that is something that nobody knows how to expect, and it may be that the bets fall again as they have in most world cup matches, nothing is written here.

morocco showed that it is a good team in terms of defense and good at taking advantage of the small opportunities they have and scoring a goal, but I think that when playing against franca, morocco will not have that same opportunity, franca is a team that has a great attacking and defensive power, just look at how franca coped well against england which was a very strong team, without the franca coach being very experienced, so for me morocco will lose in today's game, but the morocco can get the third place