Official Soccer Thread
The ref for the Copa final has given 14 red cards in his last 27 games. How the fuck was he chosen to ref a final? The entire game was ruined by his shitty calls holy fuck. Both reds were garbage, so many shit yellows, lost control of the game within 10 minutes.
EDIT: Messi and Mascherano retire from the NT. Aguero considering as well, and according to him, a few other players will be following Messi out. Sad day for Argentina. but I'm going to enjoy seeing all the Argentine fans who rarely appreciated him and were quick to criticize and berate Messi beg him to come back once they realize how big of a difference he made.
Literally every headline I've read about his tax fraud is so clickbait lol. He's not doing jailtime since if the sentence is under two years in Spain, you don't get jailed. Also, the Spanish tax authorities already cleared him of all charges and dropped the case against him since they were convinced that it was mainly his father, especially since he was 18 or 19 at the time. However, another prosecutor still went after him and the judge still passed a sentence and, coincidentally, they were ex-Madrid board members. A bunch of other athletes were charged as well like Nadal, Casillas, Figo, Eto'o, Mascherano, and a few more. However, the only two taken to court were Mascherano and Messi, both Barca players, and the prosecutor both times was from Madrid. Seems a bit fishy but that's just me. Either way, it doesn't really matter. No jailtime, tax authorities are happy, w/e.
Him (and the rest of the squad) leaving the NT is likely just temporary. The AFA has been pretty terribly managed and many of the players have talked about how bad it is. Their picks for manager over the past few years (Maradona, Sabella, Tata) have been ridiculous and they're wasting what is essentially a golden age player-wise for Argentina. A squad with the attacking talent of Messi, Di Maria, Aguero, Lavezzi, Dybala, etc. should not be going entire games without scoring and when these same players are all performing magnificently for clubs, you have to look at the manager and FA.
I think Messi will be back for the 2018 WC. And I felt bad for Lavezzi, he probably could have made a difference in the final but that broken arm vs USA screwed him out of that.
Im ecstatic I'm off Sunday to watch the final. Hummels is out vs FRA, hoping they will be able to push ahead and take out Portugal. I want to see tears flowing from Ronaldo. I'm just praying it doesn't go to penalty kicks again. Such a bullshit way to win a game.