Now that was superb play.
Wow, very exciting.
That was brilliant. Messi with a touch like Maradona in 1986, and Di Maria, injured in 2014, scores.
Spectacular team goal on par with Carlos Alberto’s famous goal in 1970.
France is looking very flat here. Have to wonder if that virus is playing a role.
And Deschamps reacts early with two subs.
My homeboy Marcus Thuram now in.
Mbele AND Giroud coming off in the first half. Seem a little panicky to me.
A non injury forced change in the first half.
It might be a great tactical change.
Steady, it was a nice goal but it is a fair way below that bit of brilliance.
France have gone for a double-sub in the first half. They look massively down on energy and urgency.
Y’know, after the Messi score I thought that over the voices of the US commentators I could hear somewhere behind some other broadcast still going “…oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!”
What the heck was wrong with France? Argentina played a fantastic first half, but why was France so passive, even after the first goal?
France didn’t have a single shot in the whole half; Argentina had 6. Really hard to see France coming back from this though I hope they can at least raise their game and make a fight of it.
Unsurprisingly, the stats show complete domination:
They haven’t looked good throughout the KO stages. Scoring on breaks. Against inferior teams like England, and as much as it pains me to say, Morocco, they could get away with it, and if Southgate was a better tactican and Kane a better PK taker, they would have lost in the QF.
yey, glorious times
Brazil were the last defending champions to win a World Cup final, in 1962.
Argentina (1990) and Brazil the last two defending champions (1998) to reach a WC Final both lost.
I cannot bear the idea of any nation ruling the world for 8 consecutive years, that would be too long a smugness
Well I doubt the French will be less smug even if they lose.
Mussolini’s Italy won in 1934 and 1938, technically making them champions for 16 years till 1950 though WW2 probably ended any smugness they felt…
Something deeply wrong with France here, Argentina are playing well but being flattered a little by France’s abscence.