soccer10k

Fake rally meter rising here.

Missed our shot in the 9th. Now we’ll be lucky to keep this a 2 run game after that error.

It's a style thing. Spain plays a heavy ball control game. They've got good defenders and a good goalie, but they prevent teams from scoring by possessing the ball and then when they lose it, they don't just retreat back defensively. Instead, they try to win the ball back immediately. Also, Argentina tends to struggle at winning the ball back when they don't have possession. Kind of a problem against a team that possesses the ball well. That's what made England bunkering and not even trying to possess the ball so confusing in the semi. In their semi, against a much more talented French front line (France had 20 goals in 8 games, Argentina had 19 but had 4 in extra time and France played a tougher group of opponents), Spain shut them down too. France had 0.04 xG in the first half and 0.31 xG for the game. xG is expected goals, which is basically how good your chances are based on where your shooting from. For example, the xG of a penalty kick is around 0.75, It seemed as if Argentina knew Spain's strength and knew their own weaknesses and probably just hoped they'd be able to get a few chances here and there. So they maybe played into it a bit and got too conservative going forward. Or maybe the Spanish strengths worked perfectly against the Argentine weaknesses, exploiting them and leading to what happened today. I was expecting the game to play out sort of the way it did, just not to this extreme. Like nobody figured Argentina would have 0 shots through 90 minutes. On the other hand, Argentina scraped by against Cape Verde (1-1 in regulation, 3-2 after extra time), needed 3 goals in the last 12 minutes plus injury time against Egypt, 2 goals in extra time against a 10 man Switzerland and two goals after the 85th minute against England just to get here. So maybe we should have seen this coming. The other day I heard Argentina compared to the 2024 Chiefs team that won like 10 1 score games, had an awful point differential for a 15 win team, made the Super Bowl and then got their ass kicked by the Chiefs. This might not have been an ass kicking by the score, but in every other facet of the game it was.

Trump curse strikes again. Pretty lame effort overall by Argentina even before the red card. Spain was the best team this tourney and deserved winners. Glad it didn’t go to PKs too and that the winning goal was a nice one rather than a goalkeeper error or something else lame.

Argentina with 0 shots through 90 minutes is shocking. I figured Spain would dominate the ball but not like this. Extra time will be boring unless Spain scores. Argentina will bunker, waste time and try to provoke Spain into getting a red. Hopefully Spain gets one because they deserve it.

Trump is backing Argentina. Drake also placed a huge bet on Argentina. Which means Spain is going to win.

This game is awesome.

Lol that’s a heck of a TOOTBLAN from the Twins. Should have had bases loaded no out and instead it’s 2 out runner on 2nd.

Is this some reunion day? Rizzo, Fowler and Heyward all in the bleachers.

I would equate it more to being like a football team that can control the ball for 40 minutes with a devastating ground game and they just keep your offense on the sideline the whole game. That’s not to say their defenders stink though.

Feel good about Spain over Argentina on Sunday, or at least as good as you can feel in a one game situation. If Spain gets the lead they’re not going to just sit back, bunker and let Argentina pepper their goal. They didn’t against France and that’s not how they play. So if Argentina is losing late, it’s going to be harder for them to score than it has been. Of course, they’re basically the “he can’t keep getting away with this” meme in real life.

Don’t know how they keep doing this but they do.

Spain has allowed a total of 2.14 xG in the tournament. They allowed 1.28 xG in 3 knockout games against Portugal, Belgium and France.

Well if Spain was going to win, this is how it was going to happen. They just completely shut down the French attack.

Some pretty terrible ball watching by 6 and 20 on the Porto goal. He passed the ball and they just didn’t follow.

I think both are fairly even matchups and wouldn’t say any of the four should advance.

Was at a Modesto Roadsters (Pioneer League) game on Thursday. Their manager was JT Snow. The next night, their promotional giveaway was a Robb Nen bobblehead.

Lol, I went to a River Cats game today and Jeimer Candelario was on the Salt Lake Bees.

Suarez is going to be 75 years old and still able to hit dingers against the Cubs.

Well I'm certainly looking forward to the two semis. The two best teams in the tournament in one semi. All the history between England and Argentina (Falklands War, Hand of God, the Beckham yellow in in 1998). Hopefully both games deliver.

They also think it promotes teams to attack more because one mistake won't end the game. You'll still have time to equalize.

Boy was that dumb by the Swiss guy. You're already on a yellow card and you dive near the sideline, 35 yards from goal. Like what are you hoping to gain there?

Bullpen of doom, only too often it's doom for us.

Well FIFA said there's no evidence that the ball hit the wire and they are always honest about everything so they must be telling the truth.