Hoy presenciamos algo histórico y no precisamente por ser positivo.
Le anularon un gol LEGÍTIMO a Vinícius Junior, privándole de su Hattrick (desde Pelé en 1958 ningún brasileño ha vuelto a marcar tres goles en un mismo partido en Copas del Mundo).
Lo peor es que todos sabemos (preocupante que lo tengamos tan interiorizado o asimilado) que el mismo gol a Lionel Messi JAMÁS se lo anularían.
That things stay popular doesn’t make them sound, and some pundits are experts at rehashing popular opinions.
Belgium indeed had a golden generation of footballers and Martinez remains the most successful manager they’ve had. They were top of FIFA ranking for three years. That’s golden. Bronze medalists at the World Cup.
That’s a feat many countries will never achieve.
Only 19 teams have won a medal in the 96-year history of the World Cup and Belgium are one of them. They weren’t before Martinez.
He has the highest winning rate of any Belgium coach in history. That third place in 2018 remains the biggest thing achieved in Belgian football. People look at international football coaches and think they see Sir Alex Ferguson.
Didier Deschamps has been France coach for 12 years, and he’s only won one trophy. If you tell that to a novice in football, they’ll think “one in a dozen years doesn’t seem a big achievement” but the nuances hold the facts.
Martinez could have won with Belgium simply because it’s international football and anyone can win. After all, Portugal won in 2016 when they were drab and dull. When you zoom in, you’ll appreciate the sheer difficulty of pulling any triumph internationally. But to paint him as a failure is being unfair.
He didn’t ‘waste’ a golden generation. He achieved some of their best feats with them.
Many golden generations have come and gone in football without winning. The label ‘golden’ is human. England had it, and they never made a semifinal. Brazil had it in 2006 and they didn’t go past the quarterfinals at the World Cup.
Cote D’Ivoire didn’t win jack with their golden generation. But you can’t dub them failures.
From a Nigerian perspective, our much-vaunted golden generation only went as far as the round of 16 at the World Cup and won the AFCON once. Anyone will be asinine to think of that generation as a failed one.
It’s not about the achievements you see at the end only. International football is ghetto. It’s hard to win there. You can be a national team manager for 20 years and not win a single thing, yet you’re doing a fantastic job.
There’s nothing that guarantees success in international football. You can do your best and that’s it. If you win, lucky. That Spain 2008-2012 run isn’t a feature. It’s a bug. We won’t see it every time.
To even think that the only senior international title of Schmeichel’s career was won by a coach he swore would ruin their football, and refused to play for initially because he disliked his methods. Not sure what he thinks about the man today. Maybe the best coach of their ‘golden’ generation?
I always think 2006 WC was the most special for pure talent we saw.
Can any tournament beat it?
Italy - Pirlo, Cannavaro, Totti, Buffon
France - Zidane, Henry, Vieira, Ribery
Portugal - Figo, Ronaldo 7
Germany - Ballack, Lahm, Klose
Brazil - Ronaldo 9, Ronaldinho, Kaka
England - Beckham, Rooney, Gerrard
Argentina - Messi, Crespo, Tevez
Netherlands - RvN, RVP, Robben
Spain - Ramos, Torres, Xavi, Iniesta
Others - Drogba, Ibrahimovic, Larsson, Eto’o, Nedved, Shevchenko, Cech, Yaya T, Yorke
It's so weird that he didn't know until after the last game of the season. Clearly he wanted to say. Disgusting that the club didn't give him what e deserves
أرتيتا يستحق الخسارة بعد القرار الكارثي اللي أخذه داخل المباراة 😶🔥
المباراة انتهت 1-1.
ودخلت للأشواط الإضافية.
وأنت أصلًا كنت قد استخدمت 4 تغييرات فقط.
يعني ما زال لديك فرصة للتعامل مع سيناريو ركلات الترجيح.
لكن الغريب إن أرتيتا قرر إجراء تغييرين إضافيين أثناء الوقت الإضافي.
وبكده ضاعت فرصة إخراج رايا وإشراك كيبا قبل الترجيح.
وهنا السؤال:
إذا لم تكن ستستخدم كيبا في هذا السيناريو...
فمتى ستستخدمه أصلًا؟
كل جماهير الكرة تقريبًا تعرف الفارق بين الحارسين في هذا الجانب.
كيبا بنى جزءًا كبيرًا من سمعته على ركلات الجزاء.
أما رايا فلم يكن يومًا من الحراس المعروفين بالتفوق في الترجيحيات.
بل إنه أحيانًا يختار زاويته مبكرًا جدًا قبل التنفيذ وتظهر بشكل مضحك جدا
صحيح إنه تصدى لركلة.
لكن الفكرة ليست في ركلة واحدة.
الفكرة في الاحتمالات.
وفي مباراة قد يحسمها تصدٍ إضافي واحد فقط.
لذلك بالنسبة لي...
أرتيتا لم يخسر النهائي بسبب ركلات الجزاء فقط.
أرتيتا خسر جزءًا من فرصه في الترجيح قبل أن تبدأ الترجيحات أصلًا
🚨 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: The Premier League Fan Team of the Season:
🇪🇸 David Raya
🇳🇱 Jurrien Timber
🇧🇷 Gabriel Magalhães
🇫🇷 William Saliba
🏴 Nico O'Reilly
🇭🇺 Dominik Szoboszlai
🏴 Declan Rice
🇵🇹 Bruno Fernandes
🇧🇷 Igor Thiago
🇳🇴 Erling Haaland
🇬🇭 Antoine Semenyo
Do you agree with the XI? 🤔
🚨🚨 EXCLUSIVE: ARNE SLOT AND LIVERPOOL TO PART WAYS WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT. 💣
It’s over between the Dutch manager and Liverpool after end of the season review. 👋🏼
Andoni Iraola, clear favorite to take over as next #LFC head coach.
🚨 Pep Guardiola is leaving Manchester City. And before City fans start writing his obituary as the greatest manager of all time, let’s have a quick word.
19 trophies in 10 years at City. Impressive. Genuinely. Nobody is taking that away.
But let’s put some context around those numbers before the statues get commissioned.
Guardiola had the most expensively assembled squad in Premier League history at his disposal. Every single transfer window. Every single year. Limitless resources. A club willing to spend whatever it took, and a Financial Fair Play case hanging over them that somehow never seemed to slow anything down.
Need a full-back? £50 million.
Need a centre-back? £60 million.
Need a striker? £100 million.
Need depth? Buy another international.
Most managers are forced to solve problems. Pep simply replaced them.
Now compare that to Sir Alex Ferguson.
Sir Alex won 13 Premier League titles, 2 Champions Leagues and 5 FA Cups with a club he built from the ground up. He developed young players, rebuilt multiple generations and dominated English football for 27 years, not 10.
He did it through the Eric Cantona years, the Roy Keane years, the Cristiano Ronaldo years and the Ryan Giggs years. Different squads. Different eras. Same outcome.