2022 FIFA World Cup Finals

[Webster]

(The Guardian) 85 min: I’m not sure anybody in the entire stadium believes what they’ve just seen. Kane – who would have become England’s record goalscorer had he slotted – looks utterly stunned. So does everyone else. Usually so reliable! Wow. Rashford comes on for Foden.

 

[PGen98]

Shouldn't have taken the second pen.

 

[Webster]

(The Guardian) 89 min: Mount buys a ticket for the lottery from the best part of 30 yards. The ball sails serenely into the stand.

 

[Webster]

It wasn't all bad today, @PGen98: England's women won in T20 cricket against the West Indies....

England cruise to 3-0 series win over West Indies

Nat Sciver and Sophie Ecclestone star as England complete a 3-0 one-day international series clean sweep over West Indies in Antigua.

www.bbc.com

England thrashed West Indies by 151 runs in the third and final one-day international in Antigua to complete a dominant 3-0 series win.

Nat Sciver struck 85 from 69 balls as England were bowled out for 256.

It was an improved bowling display from the hosts - Hayley Matthews and Shakera Selman taking three wickets each. But their batting let them down once again as the were dismissed for just 105 in 37.3 overs, with England spinner Sophie Ecclestone claiming 3-9.

West Indies ended nine down as number 11 Selman did not bat because of an injury.

For the second match in succession England were bowled out inside their 50 overs despite winning the toss. However, the game followed the same trend of the first two as what looked a below-par total proved to be plenty with another strong bowling performance.

The two sides move on to the first of five Twenty20s on Sunday at 22:00 GMT.

 

[PGen98]

Yay, we got one

 

[Webster]

Yay, we got one

Taking a page from the Sporting Times' and the Ashes....

Here, 10 December 2022, lay the Ashes of English football, which died on the desert sands of the Al Bayt Stadium in Qatar.
Its' loss is keenly felt by fans of the English men's national team.

P.S. - the Ashes will be cremated and the remains interred at the Arc de Triomphe.

 

[PGen98]

Yep, exactly how it should be!

 

[Webster]

The Guardian: The Mac Allister family - friends with Maradona to a World Cup with Messi

"I cried,” Carlos Javier Mac Allister admits and then he falls silent. Five seconds pass before he continues, or tries to. “I cry often,” he adds, swallowing and stopping again, taking a breath. “But …” He raises a hand to his eye, pressing gently, and eight seconds go by. “I try to be alone.” There’s another pause, longer this time, that moment, the moment, repeated in his mind. “If you’re a father, you know,” he says eventually, his voice breaking.

Not any father, either. Ten days ago, Mac Allister sat at Stadium 974 alongside his two eldest sons and watched his youngest, Alexis, score for Argentina. Kevin and Francis are footballers at Boca Juniors and Rosario Central respectively. Their cousin plays in Malaysia. Mac Allister senior was a professional, as was his brother Patricio, and together they founded Club Deportivo Mac Allister. Nicknamed Colo, red, Carlos Mac Allister played with Diego Maradona; Alexis plays with Lionel Messi.

There can’t be any family with a claim like it – “actually, there’s one: Diego and Gio Simeone,” Mac Allister says with a grin – and Alexis jokes that the debate is as never-ending as it is inevitable. He says Messi is the greatest; his dad says it’s Maradona, not just a teammate but the closest of friends. But that’s at home, and this is here. And maybe it’s time to admit defeat.

“Compare Messi with those playing now. Don’t compare Messi with Maradona or Maradona with Di Stéfano,” Carlos Mac Allister says. “But, look, no doubt Messi’s the best of all time. The best at the World Cup too, and at 35; it’s like his birth certificate is lying. Modric’s lying, too. We went to the World Youth Cup in 2005 and came back talking about a player who would be better than Maradona. He’d just turned 18.” Mac Allister draws an impossible dribble in the air. “Tic, tic, goal. Seventeen years on, he’s still there! No one reigned as long. Maradona was retired by 32. People say this is his last World Cup. Che, are you sure?”

“I’m a rational man and Messi’s numbers are unarguable. What more do you want?! Thing is, there’s a context. Maradona had all sorts of personal problems and despite those won a World Cup. He went to Italy, carried an entire city on his shoulders, made them champions. Now you see Messi at 35 and think: che, Maradona was extraordinary, truly great, but Messi is an example. You should look at Messi, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Ramos: not to play like them, but to be like them.”

-Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...iends-with-maradona-to-a-world-cup-with-messi

 

[Webster]

 

[PGen98]

Wow, that's horrific. Hopefully Iran's government sees sense.

 

[Tempt]

They're quite obviously going for 'Making an example' route to prove if it can happen to a famous person, it can happen to you. But executing someone as high profile as an NT soccer player is quite the next step.

 

[Webster]

Well @PGen98, we've now heard from the gibbon corner as to Argentina-Croatia (sorry, Maradona!)...

(The Guardian) PRIMATE PREDICTION CORNER with Kent the Zagreb Zoo gibbon. Kent’s got all of his predictions correct to date, and this afternoon the simian seer favoured the food box with the Croatian flag on it. Again. Some observers may question the sporting and political neutrality of this exercise, or quibble with the methodology and sample size, but we’re just presenting events as they happen, without comment or spin. So congratulations to Croatia for making it through to the final!

 

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Books of condolence have been set up at the stadium for the three journalists who have passed away while covering this World Cup: ITV technical director Roger Pearce, Qatari photojournalist Khalid al-Misslam and US sportswriter Grant Wahl. Condolences to the family and friends of all.

 

[PGen98]

Well @PGen98, we've now heard from the gibbon corner as to Argentina-Croatia (sorry, Maradona!)...

(The Guardian) PRIMATE PREDICTION CORNER with Kent the Zagreb Zoo gibbon. Kent’s got all of his predictions correct to date, and this afternoon the simian seer favoured the food box with the Croatian flag on it. Again. Some observers may question the sporting and political neutrality of this exercise, or quibble with the methodology and sample size, but we’re just presenting events as they happen, without comment or spin. So congratulations to Croatia for making it through to the final!

Well done Gibbons

 

[Webster]

Well done Gibbons

And unlike Maradona, they didn't use their hands either to score....

 

[PGen98]

And unlike Maradona, they didn't use their hands either to score....

Or 300lbs of various drugs

 

[Webster]

Or 300lbs of various drugs

What can I say; Maradona was a Magnificent Bastard back in the day.

 

[Webster]

Alas, poor Yorick Modric...

(The Guardian) 80 min: Modric shoots from distance. The ball pings off the nearby Mac Allister’s boot and straight back up into his startled grid. That just about sums it up for Croatia. Nothing’s gone their way.

---

81 min. What an undignified last act in World Cup football for poor Modric. The ball blootered in his face. Such a shame for such an elegant player. He makes way for Majer … and everyone in the entire stadium gives the great man the warm ovation he deserves. That’s better.

 

[Webster]

One half of the Final is set....

(The Guardian) FULL TIME: Argentina 3-0 Croatia
Dejan Lovren sends a decent rising shot inches over the bar from the best part of 30 yards. It’s as close as Croatia have come all evening. The whistle immediately goes, and the irrepressible Lionel Messi is heading to a career-defining final against either France or Morocco on Sunday evening!

 

[PGen98]

Disappointing, Gibbons...disappointing!