Funny as fuck
Wales were tepid, the occasion possibly, more fluid after an hour. England have nothing to worry about, still think their team aren’t scarred as deeply as previous shirt bearers were, not just pretty boys for once even though the sport is full of cheating cunts. Ribbing aside, wasn’t expecting degrees of cohesion
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Good question actually. I tried to get into the narratives and then watch the rugby world cup, but it was still so fucking boring I had to turn it off after about 20 minutes. So it's not a guaranteed way in but it's worth a shot.Never watched a World Cup before but it's never too late to start. What are the narratives to hook a fella in?
Never watched a World Cup before but it's never too late to start. What are the narratives to hook a fella in?
George Tawlon Manneh Oppong Ousman Weah (/ˈwiːə/; born 1 October 1966)[5] is a Liberian politician and former professional footballer who is serving as the president of Liberia, in office since 2018. Prior to his election to the presidency, Weah served as Senator from Montserrado County. He played as a striker in his prolific 18-year professional football career, which ended in 2003.[6] He is the first African former professional footballer to become a head of state.
After beginning his career in his native Liberia, Weah spent 14 years playing for clubs in France, Italy and England. Arsène Wenger first brought him to Europe, signing him for Monaco in 1988. Weah moved to Paris Saint-Germain in 1992 where they won the Ligue 1 in 1994 and became the top scorer of the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League. He signed for AC Milan in 1995 where he spent four successful seasons, winning the Serie A twice.[8] He moved to the Premier League towards the end of his career and had spells at Chelsea and Manchester City, winning the FA Cup at the former, before returning to France to play for Marseille in 2001. He ended his career with Al Jazira in 2003. FourFourTwo named Weah one of the best players never to win the UEFA Champions League.
Weah represented Liberia at international level, winning 75 caps and scoring 18 goals for his country and playing at the African Cup of Nations on two occasions. He also played an international friendly in 2018, where his number 14 jersey was retired. Regarded as one of the best players never to have played at the World Cup, Scott Murray in The Guardian refers to Weah as "hamstrung by hailing from a global minnow".
Good question actually. I tried to get into the narratives and then watch the rugby world cup, but it was still so fucking boring I had to turn it off after about 20 minutes. So it's not a guaranteed way in but it's worth a shot.
One pure footballing story might be Messi and Argentina. Now Messi is often counted as the greatest player of all time, with Barcelona he won every possible club trophy numerous times and scored countless goals, many of them wondrous. Last year (or the year before) Messi's Argentina won the Copa da America so that is one of the two main international trophies for which they are eligible. However, Messi has never won the world cup and many feel that if he really wants to be seen as the greatest beyond any shadow of a doubt then he needs to lift that. I'm not saying that a player needs to win the WC to be the best cos they could be from a minor football power - but Messi is from Argentina and they are a strong football nation, arguably you would expect the teams they've had over the last few years to have performed better than they did if one of them is seriously going to go down as the all time greatest. Especially cos one of Messi's rivals for the all-time number one spot is Maradona who did lead Argentina to the world cup.
And this is surely Messi's last chance to win the world cup. Argentina have come into the world cup looking very strong, they have been 36 games unbeaten, can they do it this time?
And then their first game is against completely unfancied rank outsiders Saudi Arabia and.... in one of the biggest world cup first game upsets ever, Argentina lost 1 - 2 to SA! So, what does that mean? Is the dream dead... can they bounce back stronger? The only equivalent fuck up I can think of is way back in 1990 when the then champions played no-hopers Cameroon who after a very violent match finished the game with only 9 players, but one more goal than the champions. However, the champs did pick themselves up and made it all the way to the final where they were defeated by West Germany. Who were those champions? Yep, it was Argentina of course and Maradona was seen as almost single-handedly dragging a team significantly weaker than the one that won it previously, all the way to the final.
So, the stage is set for Messi... can he deliver?
Isn't a main narrative also that this is probably the final World Cup for some big stars: Messi and Ronaldo, obviously, but also Luka Modric, Dani Alves, Thiago Silva, Luis Suarez.