National Forum

Non-Gaa Forum

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


Replying To Cockney_Cat:  "You'll probably be too busy celebrating Galway's 6th hurling All-Ireland title, to be bothered about England."
Most Galway people I've spoken too are more worried about England winning the world cup than they are about Limerick winning the all Ireland.

Pathetic really.

Seniorleague (Galway) - Posts: 164 - 15/07/2026 17:33:58    2685877

Link

Replying To Pope_Benedict:  "
Replying To Lockjaw:  "[quote=Cockney_Cat:  ""Mbappe has a serious Ballon D'Or itch to scratch, and I reckon he's gonna get it by winning the World Cup with France, and ensuring that he's out on his own as the top World Cup goalscorer of all time." Ah that old chestnut 'of all time'. Mbappe is on 20 World Cup goals in 20 matchces. Messi ihas 21 goals in 32. So, Mbappe has a chance of being the <b>highest </b> goalscorer in WC history. But if you're going to talk about 'the top World Cup goalscorer of all time', then surely you have to consider Just Fontaine (France), 13 goals in 6 mathes. Or Sándor Kocsis (Hungary), 11 goals in 5 matches. Or Gerd Muller, 14 goals in 13 matches . Imagine how many goals they would have scored if they had played 20 games?"</div>Oh for sure. You only have to look at Harry Kane's international goal scoring record as an example. It's an impressive tally of goals, but how may of them were against mickey-mouse opposition? International goals back in the day were definitely harder to come by"
Not alone that, but the added 'industrial disease' of heading those footballs back in that era. I think it was Jeff Astle's autopsy that used that specific term. More than half the England '66 starters died with dementia of sorts, which is quite the stat. And we say rugby is bad for the health."]The first thing I saw and read, somewhere else, after reading your comment was:
Nobby Stiles died with brain condition caused by repeatedly heading a football, coroner rules

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2945 - 15/07/2026 17:59:18    2685880

Link

Big win for England. Think they beat Spain Sunday. Stuck 100 on them to win WC 6/1

hlynch12 (Limerick) - Posts: 211 - 15/07/2026 21:28:50    2685892

Link

Get in there Argentina

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2885 - 15/07/2026 22:02:35    2685894

Link

Las Islas Malvinas Argentinas

Lúla571210 (Louth) - Posts: 200 - 15/07/2026 22:03:11    2685895

Link

What a beautiful way to go out of a tournament. Glorious.

Square_B (Leitrim) - Posts: 2272 - 15/07/2026 22:06:58    2685896

Link

Well we are saved from the It's coming home for another 4 years

ColmFlaherty (Galway) - Posts: 167 - 15/07/2026 22:17:59    2685897

Link

Replying To hlynch12:  "Big win for England. Think they beat Spain Sunday. Stuck 100 on them to win WC 6/1"
For all our sakes quit.

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2885 - 15/07/2026 22:48:39    2685898

Link

Talk about going into your shell when 1-0 ahead. Argentina on the other hand only started to play to their capabilities after England scored.

The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 4436 - 15/07/2026 23:26:51    2685901

Link

Jesus but this is a lovely sunny morning to be alive. Nobody could annoy me today

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2885 - 16/07/2026 08:17:16    2685906

Link

Bit of a false narrative emerging that England made substitutions and lost control. In actual fact, England lost control from 55mins to 72mins as well, before any substitutions were made. Nobody seems to be analysing why keymen like Kane and Rice had no legs after 55mins. England had no control, no offence, no outball, and minimal possession after they went 1-0, and Tuchal waited a whole 17mins looking at this disturbing trend, before any substitution was made to try and stick fingers in their deteriorating dykes.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4864 - 16/07/2026 08:42:33    2685910

Link

Replying To hlynch12:  "Big win for England. Think they beat Spain Sunday. Stuck 100 on them to win WC 6/1"
At this rate you wont be able to afford to
post.

Brummiejoe (UK) - Posts: 20 - 16/07/2026 08:59:06    2685911

Link

Replying To Pope_Benedict:  "Bit of a false narrative emerging that England made substitutions and lost control. In actual fact, England lost control from 55mins to 72mins as well, before any substitutions were made. Nobody seems to be analysing why keymen like Kane and Rice had no legs after 55mins. England had no control, no offence, no outball, and minimal possession after they went 1-0, and Tuchal waited a whole 17mins looking at this disturbing trend, before any substitution was made to try and stick fingers in their deteriorating dykes."
Correct. And still some of the experts have been slamming Tuchel for "shutting up shop early" and leaving them unprepared for having to chase a goal, completely ignoring the fact that he still had the time and substitutions left to bring on Toney and Rashford, albeit into stoppage time.

Given the reaction since full-time, I think they're going to go to town on Tuchel. If we thought Erikson, Capello et al got it bad, this could be worse....

streaker (Galway) - Posts: 581 - 16/07/2026 11:37:45    2685926

Link

Replying To Brummiejoe:  "At this rate you wont be able to afford to
post."
That would be a Godsend .

Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2885 - 16/07/2026 12:03:21    2685927

Link

Replying To Pope_Benedict:  "Bit of a false narrative emerging that England made substitutions and lost control. In actual fact, England lost control from 55mins to 72mins as well, before any substitutions were made. Nobody seems to be analysing why keymen like Kane and Rice had no legs after 55mins. England had no control, no offence, no outball, and minimal possession after they went 1-0, and Tuchal waited a whole 17mins looking at this disturbing trend, before any substitution was made to try and stick fingers in their deteriorating dykes."
Correct. Tuchel will be the sole scapegoat and easy target, but the players themselves have to take a huge amount of the blame. They hardly put two passes together after they scored. Tuchel definitely made some poor calls also, but the players have to take the bulk of the responsibility.
There were 35 minutes left when they scored, and we had 9 minutes of injury time. Argentina had 88% possession in that time, which is staggering, and a large chunk of it in England's half in and around the box.
A bit of luck and they could have held out, and people would be hailing a backs to the wall performance. But they made a rod for their own backs by completely retreating.
Compare that to Spain who continued to be brave after scoring the first goal against France on Tuesday. They kept doing what they knew gave them the best chance and trusted themselves. They ended up neutralising France completely, got the second goal and were unlucky not to get another.
As with 4 years ago, people have questioned Argentina's quality. They're not going to overwhelm teams and will even struggle with teams they should be beating more comfortably, but that's not how to judge a team with their characteristics.
They are incredible battlers, will give a match to anyone and then have some real quality in key moments. This team has character in spades. How they dug in 4 years ago in the final when France equalised is still one of the most impressive things I've seen in soccer. Most teams would have folded in that scenario, but they actually got back on top in the game and the rest is history. Spain will be favourites, but I'd be surprised if they get anything easy on Sunday. I expect Argentina to give them a much bigger challenge than France did.
Looking forward to it.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2952 - 16/07/2026 12:39:51    2685932

Link

Replying To WanPintWin:  "Correct. Tuchel will be the sole scapegoat and easy target, but the players themselves have to take a huge amount of the blame. They hardly put two passes together after they scored. Tuchel definitely made some poor calls also, but the players have to take the bulk of the responsibility.
There were 35 minutes left when they scored, and we had 9 minutes of injury time. Argentina had 88% possession in that time, which is staggering, and a large chunk of it in England's half in and around the box.
A bit of luck and they could have held out, and people would be hailing a backs to the wall performance. But they made a rod for their own backs by completely retreating.
Compare that to Spain who continued to be brave after scoring the first goal against France on Tuesday. They kept doing what they knew gave them the best chance and trusted themselves. They ended up neutralising France completely, got the second goal and were unlucky not to get another.
As with 4 years ago, people have questioned Argentina's quality. They're not going to overwhelm teams and will even struggle with teams they should be beating more comfortably, but that's not how to judge a team with their characteristics.
They are incredible battlers, will give a match to anyone and then have some real quality in key moments. This team has character in spades. How they dug in 4 years ago in the final when France equalised is still one of the most impressive things I've seen in soccer. Most teams would have folded in that scenario, but they actually got back on top in the game and the rest is history. Spain will be favourites, but I'd be surprised if they get anything easy on Sunday. I expect Argentina to give them a much bigger challenge than France did.
Looking forward to it."
Good post. That was some bottle job by England.

We can relax now and enjoy hopefully a good game on Sunday. I have a great grá for Spain in general, a fantastic country. But Argentina winning wouldn't bother me either, they're some bit of stuff. Bucketloads of character.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10424 - 16/07/2026 13:57:13    2685940

Link

Argentina were far better
The 2-1 flattered England
Argentina hit the woodwork twice and had other near misses.
England keeper was their best player.
I'm not a fan of any club in the UK; I never cared for it.
Best 2 teams are now in the final.
Spain might shade it but I dunno.

suckvalleypaddy (Galway) - Posts: 1812 - 16/07/2026 14:14:36    2685941

Link

A disgusting World Cup Final coming up.....horrible boring Spain coming up against Argentina who Spain "introduced " the language of Spanish amongst those innocent Argentine folk many many years ago!
Argentina to win their 4th World Cup.

katser (Galway) - Posts: 2923 - 16/07/2026 16:49:50    2685964

Link

I like the continental and Latin styles of soccer, good final in store

maroondiesel (Mayo) - Posts: 1285 - 16/07/2026 17:20:34    2685968

Link

England held on from the 55th to 85th minute with a 1-0. Ultimately it was poor defending that ended their campaign. 1st Argentina goal, to give Enzo Fernández that time and room to shoot was poor the 2nd goal was even worse, Messi left completely unmarked to pick out a cross and Lautaro Martínez able to get in the middle of two six foot plus defenders to head home the winner.

From what I've seen of Spain so far they are unlikely to defend as poor and will have to produce something special to win.

Gaa_lover (USA) - Posts: 4047 - 16/07/2026 20:04:53    2685979

Link