Saw him on the ground there at the end, he absolutely emptied himself and definitely went through the pain barrier there. He just takes up positions both offensively and defensively that KDB couldnāt even fathom, every pass looks easy with the clever spaces he picks up and his weight of pass and timing of release is always perfect. He is also seemingly completely one-footed, the way he uses the outside of his right boot makes him impossible to close as he is carrying the ball with it, he just flicks his passes away with it.
Iād say he has the best attributes of both Xavi and Iniesta and is probably better in a battle.
It did fly at him and hit him on chest though after completely looking like lovren would get it. Those are commonly missed. It was just the fact they all came together and he has a big hangdog sad looking face.
Ohhhh, look at me, if it shows that Iām bawling on worldwide TV after my country went out of world cup, itāll show Iām a great fella who loves me country.
They played brilliantly against Belgium in the group too. Really ought to have won that game. I think the emotion of it all actually helped them in a way. Like when the limited enough Munster rugby team of 2016/17 went on a brilliant run after the untimely death of Anthony Foley. Ultimately they came unstuck against better quality opposition in a European semi-final too.
Was only thinking this myself on my way home from work. The Spanish would be at slight risk in the unlikely event that they lose to Japan. Germany do have a history of winning games 8-0 at a World Cupš
The doom/negativity of Ray and Ronnie can be a bit draining
As they played with distinction for Liverpool Football Club, I suppose the modern game does not really appeal to them and is a constant let down compared to what they saw in training on a daily basis
Itās still shaping up for Brazil v Spain in the quarter-final. That could be the game of the tournament. Two of the top three teams meeting each other early enough.
Theyāre four really attractive matches but you can guarantee a few cunts of underdogs will get through and Iāll only find out the score from the 2fm sports bulletin in the morning
5 changes for the Spanish; Azpi comes back in for Carvajal, Alba drops out for Balde and Laporte is replaced by Pau Torres. Morata in up top instead of Asensio and Nico Williams in for Ferran Torres.
A lot of changes but team not weakened at all, I donāt think.
Japan somehow still donāt start Mitoma or Asano.
Looks like they may have switched to 3 at the back; Taniguchi, Junya Ito, Tanaka, Kubo & Maeda all come back in for Yamane, Endo, Doan, Soma & Ueda. They also have the likes of Tomiyasu & Minamino on the bench, but Mitoma was superb off the bench the last day & Asano similar the first day.
I always felt Argentina v Belgium 1986 was one of John Motsonās finest commentaries, along with Italy v Brazil 1982 and the Liverpool v Everton 1989 FA Cup final.
My favourite moment is the one where Maradona misses just past the far post for is hat-trick.
