And after 2010 they went on to win the European Championship again 2012, so they still have some work to do to replicate that. Then: European (2008) → World (2010) → European (2012) Championship. New goal: European (2024) → World (2026) → European (?? 2028 ??) titles.
We shall see, but it does not look bad.
A regular Jesse Owens moment…
Is it the general consensus that the foul that resulted in the Argentinian red card was sufficient to leave them a man down?
I am not knowledgable enough about soccer to figure out what is a foul, and what isn’t.
How good is Cape Verde looking right now?
Yes, the racist shit Enzo Fernandez ran in as the Spanish player was exposed and basically clipped through his foot, sending him twirling.
In all fairness, Fernandez might have already been wearing on the ref’s nerves by then.
To be clear, that wasn’t a straight red card. He was ejected because it was his second yellow card of the game. I don’t think it was a hard enough foul to merit a red card by itself.
Yes, the Argentinian player stepped on the Spanish player’s foot, that is a yellow card. Bad foul. As he already had been booked once (see below), it was the second yellow card for that player in that game. That means red card. No doubt about it.
That the first yellow card for that player had been, as fachverwirrt rightly wrote:
does not change the fact that the red card was rightly awarded. In other words: fuck him! He has only himself to blame.
That was his second yellow, which results in a red card. He got his first yellow in the 82nd minute.
Both yellows were the correct call, in my opinion.
ETA: Ninja’d by @Pardel-Lux.
I agree. So
It is.
Only team to draw both the finalists in 90 minutes!
Totally deserved red card.
Oof. Not a good look.
Yeah, one of the reasons I really liked Messi early in his career was (relative) lack of diving, asking for cards, whining to refs, etc. He’s definitely added going down easy and working the ref to his repertoire. Not the worst thing in the world, but I’d prefer he leave that alone.
Looking back on the game, Spain really could have won this thing about 4-0. Argentina did amazing work to keep theh goals to just one.
Rodri has cemented himself as one of the greatest central midfielders of all time.
World Cup winning captain and winner of the Golden Ball (best player)
Euro 2024 winner and awarded Player of the Tournament
Champions League winner for Manchester City scoring the winning goal in the final
Multiple Premier League titles with Manchester City
Balon d’or winner once before and possibly again this year now*
*he shouldn’t get it this year in my view because he was injured for most of the season after suffering an ACL injury. That made him miss most of the club season and it cost Man City a lot. But the precedent of a player who barely played all season for his club winning the Balon d’or because he went on to be the star of the show to win the World Cup in the summer was set in 2002 with Brazilian Ronaldo.
If Argentina won Messi would be the Golden Ball winner and Balon d’or frontrunner.
The Ballon d’Or is a calendar year award. If he’s playing all through the Fall I think he’s a near lock to win it. Yamal or Mbappe after him I think.
Kalshi currently has Harry Kane as the favorite?!
Before the tournament I saw someone pick a combine 2010 and 2026 Spain squad and raised an eyebrow over them choosing Rodri over Busquets, but he was phenomenal and is possibly the best d-mid of all time.
I guess Harry Kane isn’t that weird. Scored a million goals and got 3rd place in the WC. Mbappe’s Real Madrid didn’t win the UCL either and lost to England in the WC.
Harry Kane or Mbappe should be the frontrunners for me. Calendar year and seasonal records they were leading the pack. But Kane doesn’t get much PR while Mbappe gets lots of bad PR so they may not get it.
Some people look down on the Bundesliga a bit, so that will count against Kane as well.