Beyond the Score

Every Game has a story

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

Senne Lammens getting World Cup minutes before David Raya is not what we all expected 😎

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Jude Bellingham and David Beckham.

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

Lionel Scaloni: "There is a campaign, some people have been saying we’re favored for a very long time, for as long as I can remember. Maybe they don’t want us to win because we won the last World Cup.

"Nowadays, with VAR, it’s very difficult for anyone to help you. Lisandro Martínez had his foot stepped on, it was a foul. Everything gets exaggerated on social media, but there is no favoritism.”

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

Cuti Romero: "We’ve conceded too many goals lately, and as defenders, we don’t like that. We have to improve in that area. It’s going to be a difficult game, Switzerland are coming off a great performance against Colombia.

"We’re doing well, but we know we need to improve because we’ve conceded four goals in our last two matches, and that bothers us."

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

Every Team needs a Mikel Merino on the bench!

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You must all be loving this great brotherly love ❤️

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

@Bryan258728401 Arteta should give us more of Merino next season!

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A huge mistake by Senne Lammens got a deserving punishment from the man of late goals Mikel Merino. The few golden minutes that Lammens has got at the World Cup are likely to see the Red Devils packing.

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

Spain vs France in the World Cup Semi Finals. Belgium are out. The last dance for Kevin De Bruyne will see him dancing to the airport!

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Should we start counting Belgium among trophy contenders?

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Charles De Keteleare not only Equalised the match for Belgium but also made Spain concede for the first time since the World Cup started.

Spain had gone a record 5 matches without conceding a single goal.

Keteleare has so far scored 3 goals and 1 assist in this World Cup!

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

Fans seem to have been surprised when Spanish coach De la Fuente benched Pedri for Fabian Ruiz. But the midfielder PSG midfielder already had a goal in his name, his first ever in World Cup.

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Éderson to Manchester United, deal OFF has collapsed - Fabrizio Romano reports.

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

The best ever finish for Belgium came in 2018 World Cup in Russia when they defeated England in the third place play off to finish 3rd.

The Red Devils have only reached World Cup semi finals twice in 1986 when Mexico hosted and 2018.

Whereas no one seems to be counting them among the favorites for the apex football trophy, their performance has been decent in this World Cup.

Can they pull a great game tonight against Spain and go to the semi finals for the 3rd time in their history?

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

As per @FabrizioRomano: "The Adeyemi deal does not affect the Julian Alvarez deal, who is their dream target."

"In any case, Julian or not, Barcelona still plan to sign a striker."

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

Two important players for Spain have arrived at the stadium. Pedri and Ferran are on the bench.

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@Bryan258728401 👏 💪

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

Pedri is benched for Fabian Ruiz in the Spain vs Belgium match. Curious to see how it goes.

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Romeru Lukaku has been helpful coming off the bench for Belgium in this World Cup.
Belgium's all time top scorer with 93 goals starts on Bench again vs Spain.

[Beyond the Score @BeyondScoreCF]

I have read a lot of tweets about Portugal and everyone is criticizing the team for not ‘playing for Ronaldo the way Argentinians play for Messi’ and everyone is bringing that out as a reason why Portugal faced an exit in the round of 16.
Valid as the point may be, the team do not necessarily need to play for an individual. A good example is France and Spain who have both achieved success in recent years and still strong in this World Cup with everyone on the team working hard for the team’s success not playing for a single player.

In France for instance, they don’t care who scores the goal as long as it is in. Mbappe, Dembele and Barcola are all scoring. In Spain, the team does not depend on a single player, Oyarzabal, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Ferran are all trying to create chances for the country and score.

Portugal, a team with arguably the one of the two best players in the Premier League Fernandes, Vitinha, Felix, Leao, G Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo had they doubled their efforts could have seen Portugal become a threatening force.

The players can be fairly blamed for not giving their all for the flag as they do for their clubs, but not failing to play for ‘Cristiano’ as most analysts do it.

I have seen Argentinians give their all when Messi is down, like how it happened in 2024 Copa America victory. The Portuguese too could easily do it with what looks to be a better squad depth than Argentina’s.