Capt. Pants 4,090 Posted December 14, 2022 Good end to the half by Morocco, a little unlucky but just lacking in that final bit of quality. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mengo 806 Posted December 14, 2022 🇲🇦Morroco looking good towards the end of first half. Great support 👏 from their fan's.👍 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Well b back 3,139 Posted December 14, 2022 France are all over the place, and under the cosh, so will probably score a second goal soon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KiwiScot 1,418 Posted December 14, 2022 Same as England game. France get a lead and sit back making them look in trouble, but the opposite get limited real chances Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capt. Pants 4,090 Posted December 14, 2022 Good spell for Morocco, but they need to make this pressure count. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Virtual reality 670 Posted December 14, 2022 Morocco are seriously impressive here. Really having a go at France and playing some fantastic football 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capt. Pants 4,090 Posted December 14, 2022 Game over. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Virtual reality 670 Posted December 14, 2022 Shame. Didn’t score when they were on top Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sonyc 5,447 Posted December 14, 2022 I've enjoyed watching Morocco. A real pleasure to watch their commitment and enthusiasm and one of the stories of the tournament. Not been disgraced by France at all but just don't have that final quality. But they play with real heart. I felt whoever won the England/France match would win the World Cup. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cambridgeshire canary 6,512 Posted December 14, 2022 France V Argentina final? Messi vs Mababpe? FIFA getting exactly what they wanted. They must be over the moon🙃 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Capt. Pants 4,090 Posted December 14, 2022 Morocco have been the team of the tournament on and off the pitch for me. Hopefully France go on to win it now and Morocco can pick themselves up to win the 3rd place play off. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mengo 806 Posted December 14, 2022 3 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said: Morocco have been the team of the tournament on and off the pitch for me. Hopefully France go on to win it now and Morocco can pick themselves up to win the 3rd place play off. Fantastic commitment from a highly entertaining football side. Brilliant to watch and a fantastic fan following As you say . Team of the tournament without a doubt. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 2,579 Posted December 14, 2022 (edited) You have to love Morocco but they just didn't quite have the quality. They mixed it with the best for a while, but not quite in that bracket. For passion and endeavour, they certainly deserve recognition. Best team in the tournament they are not though. France playing on the break, lived dangerously at times, but so clinical. In all fairness, had Giroud not left his boots on the pitch of the England game he'd have scored 2-3 in that first half. Personally I hope France tank Argentina. They have relied so heavily upon Messi and have arguably had the easier route to the Final. Croatia were a reasonably stiff test for them but like Belgium, were probably relying on too many 30-something players to grind out results and they never looked free-flowing, just battling. Edited December 14, 2022 by chicken 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheGunnShow 5,805 Posted December 14, 2022 Some of the punditry has been ridiculous, and the BBC are prone to letting old national rivalries flavour their thinking. Can't believe anyone thought Morocco should have had a penalty when Hernandez clearly played the ball first and couldn't do anything about contact with Boufal afterwards in a classic example of refereeing in slow motion! Clearly a piece of sour grapes that France beat England. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 2,579 Posted December 14, 2022 (edited) 7 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said: Some of the punditry has been ridiculous, and the BBC are prone to letting old national rivalries flavour their thinking. Can't believe anyone thought Morocco should have had a penalty when Hernandez clearly played the ball first and couldn't do anything about contact with Boufal afterwards in a classic example of refereeing in slow motion! Clearly a piece of sour grapes that France beat England. Spot on. I never get that poor loser thing when it comes to tournaments. I'd much rather see that team win it so you can at least claim you lost to the champions, though they are already reigning champions. Edit: I am also not one to buy into those "historic" rivalries either. I've been to France many times and have lifelong friends there, though mainly Normandy and Brittany. Fantastic people. Edited December 14, 2022 by chicken 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Danke bitte 965 Posted December 14, 2022 20 minutes ago, chicken said: Spot on. I never get that poor loser thing when it comes to tournaments. I'd much rather see that team win it so you can at least claim you lost to the champions, though they are already reigning champions. Edit: I am also not one to buy into those "historic" rivalries either. I've been to France many times and have lifelong friends there, though mainly Normandy and Brittany. Fantastic people. You’re lucky then. My French friend on England losing was like “Are you surprised?”. for the most part I find French people arrogant. And im bored of seeing their nation win the World Cup again. Tbh football of late for me has been nothing but tedium, which is why I’ve stopped giving much of **** and started to look to other sports. When Newcastle are sitting 3rd in the Prem with a whole state funding you know it’s time to think again… Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheGunnShow 5,805 Posted December 14, 2022 20 minutes ago, chicken said: Spot on. I never get that poor loser thing when it comes to tournaments. I'd much rather see that team win it so you can at least claim you lost to the champions, though they are already reigning champions. Edit: I am also not one to buy into those "historic" rivalries either. I've been to France many times and have lifelong friends there, though mainly Normandy and Brittany. Fantastic people. See it with BBC pundits and a few countries, usually France, Germany, and Argentina. Still remember how bad the commentary was in the EURO 2008 semi between Germany and Turkey. Turkey had a few missing with suspension and injury and practically every second comment was "plucky Turkey this, plucky Turkey that". Really boiled my p/iss, that. Be neutral in the commentary! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ged in the onion bag 847 Posted December 14, 2022 On 13/12/2022 at 20:38, Nuff Said said: France over Argentina every time for me. Despite myself I have to admit the Argies can play good football, but they are the epitome of cheating and dirty play in this tournament. Portugal set that benchmark for cheating, standard set by Ronaldo and epitomised by Pepe, Bruno Fernandes (horrible guy), Joao Felix, in fact, all the rest of the blatant scumbags. Argentina have been no worse than most teams, nowhere near Portuguese levels of ****housery, too many players from all teams collapse under minimal contact. Been quite impressed with the Argies battling spirit. They have over-achieved but they do have Messi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
littleyellowbirdie 2,412 Posted December 14, 2022 7 minutes ago, Danke bitte said: You’re lucky then. My French friend on England losing was like “Are you surprised?”. for the most part I find French people arrogant. And im bored of seeing their nation win the World Cup again. Tbh football of late for me has been nothing but tedium, which is why I’ve stopped giving much of **** and started to look to other sports. When Newcastle are sitting 3rd in the Prem with a whole state funding you know it’s time to think again… The arrogance is one of the things I love about France. Nobody's ashamed to wave a French flag here; you'll see at least one in every tiny village every day of the year. I own a France T-shirt and two France caps, which I tend to wear out and about quite a lot. It always goes down well coupled with my truly atrocious accent. The French are very like us in attitudes, largely because they're a former imperial power that waxed and waned pretty much in sync with us. They differ in being somewhat less isolationist and inward-looking, but that's simply down to the fact that they're not an island. You'll find the French down South much more friendly than the ones up North. In Aquitaine, the English still get credit for the wine trade from the locals, while the Parisians are resented for the brutality meted out on them for siding with the English and losing in the hundred years war. In some ways there's a parallel between the relationship between the English and the Scottish as far as Aquitaine and Ile de France are concerned. The bit that always makes me laugh is that Scotland, Wales, and Ireland all love the French, the French love them back, and they all hate us, but we English are basically French invaders who pushed the Scots, Welsh and Irish into the corners of the British Isles*. *Disclaimer: Yes, I know it's a massive oversimplification before anyone jumps on me... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheGunnShow 5,805 Posted December 14, 2022 (edited) 38 minutes ago, littleyellowbirdie said: The arrogance is one of the things I love about France. Nobody's ashamed to wave a French flag here; you'll see at least one in every tiny village every day of the year. I own a France T-shirt and two France caps, which I tend to wear out and about quite a lot. It always goes down well coupled with my truly atrocious accent. The French are very like us in attitudes, largely because they're a former imperial power that waxed and waned pretty much in sync with us. They differ in being somewhat less isolationist and inward-looking, but that's simply down to the fact that they're not an island. You'll find the French down South much more friendly than the ones up North. In Aquitaine, the English still get credit for the wine trade from the locals, while the Parisians are resented for the brutality meted out on them for siding with the English and losing in the hundred years war. In some ways there's a parallel between the relationship between the English and the Scottish as far as Aquitaine and Ile de France are concerned. The bit that always makes me laugh is that Scotland, Wales, and Ireland all love the French, the French love them back, and they all hate us, but we English are basically French invaders who pushed the Scots, Welsh and Irish into the corners of the British Isles*. *Disclaimer: Yes, I know it's a massive oversimplification before anyone jumps on me... There's something of a North/South divide in Germany (the north tends to run a bit cooler and thankfully less religious, the south and particularly Bavaria runs very staunchly Catholic, Baden-Württemberg is still mainly Catholic but with more of a Lutheran and Calvinist influence), but there's a bigger one from west to east, and a large part of that is due to the split into two Germanies. Eastern Germany tends to run far less religious, with the irony that Dresden's arguably most famous building is a church in the Frauenkirche but I find the people there much more relaxed on the whole. (Including the possible Miss TGS). The exception there is around Cologne. Remember reading in an old Rough Guide that they had an almost Mediterranean sense of fun and from my time working in Bonn I'd agree that they're good at keeping work and fun separate - and going hard on both. Edited December 14, 2022 by TheGunnShow 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chicken 2,579 Posted December 14, 2022 1 hour ago, Danke bitte said: You’re lucky then. My French friend on England losing was like “Are you surprised?”. for the most part I find French people arrogant. And im bored of seeing their nation win the World Cup again. Tbh football of late for me has been nothing but tedium, which is why I’ve stopped giving much of **** and started to look to other sports. When Newcastle are sitting 3rd in the Prem with a whole state funding you know it’s time to think again… Odd. Never got that from the French at all. Where abouts in France were you? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Danke bitte 965 Posted December 15, 2022 (edited) 58 minutes ago, chicken said: Odd. Never got that from the French at all. Where abouts in France were you? Paris… I should probably have known better to post a bit of a generalised comment in hindsight. I live in Ldn now and I always cringe when I read the whole anti Ldn rhetoric on here. Apologies to you and your French friends buddy 😊 Edited December 15, 2022 by Danke bitte Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Danke bitte 965 Posted December 15, 2022 1 hour ago, littleyellowbirdie said: The arrogance is one of the things I love about France. Nobody's ashamed to wave a French flag here; you'll see at least one in every tiny village every day of the year. I own a France T-shirt and two France caps, which I tend to wear out and about quite a lot. It always goes down well coupled with my truly atrocious accent. The French are very like us in attitudes, largely because they're a former imperial power that waxed and waned pretty much in sync with us. They differ in being somewhat less isolationist and inward-looking, but that's simply down to the fact that they're not an island. You'll find the French down South much more friendly than the ones up North. In Aquitaine, the English still get credit for the wine trade from the locals, while the Parisians are resented for the brutality meted out on them for siding with the English and losing in the hundred years war. In some ways there's a parallel between the relationship between the English and the Scottish as far as Aquitaine and Ile de France are concerned. The bit that always makes me laugh is that Scotland, Wales, and Ireland all love the French, the French love them back, and they all hate us, but we English are basically French invaders who pushed the Scots, Welsh and Irish into the corners of the British Isles*. *Disclaimer: Yes, I know it's a massive oversimplification before anyone jumps on me... Cheers for this. Genuinely always love hearing people’s perspectives on things on here without engaging in **** throwing! I just apologised to @chickenfor chatting generalised ****e about the French and when I re read what I posted made me cringe at myself. But again, appreciate the interesting perspective! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheGunnShow 5,805 Posted December 15, 2022 Got this belter from a Scottish friend of mine. 2 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
littleyellowbirdie 2,412 Posted December 15, 2022 On 13/12/2022 at 21:38, Nuff Said said: France over Argentina every time for me. Despite myself I have to admit the Argies can play good football, but they are the epitome of cheating and dirty play in this tournament. I'll add to that an inability to feel very friendly towards a country whose people widely supported an unprovoked military invasion of a peaceful territory in my lifetime based on a Spanish King drawing a line on a map several centuries ago. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mello Yello 2,265 Posted December 15, 2022 No love for either of the finalists....but I will refrain from raising two fingers towards the French....and hope they just edge it.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
keelansgrandad 6,679 Posted December 15, 2022 Not interested anymore. Wanted Morocco to do what we couldn't but not to be. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Midlands Yellow 3,825 Posted December 15, 2022 I’m looking forward to the final and an Argentina victory. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheGunnShow 5,805 Posted December 15, 2022 Gotta admit, I'd like to see Messi crown things off with a World Cup. Was hoping Buffon would get his hands on a Champions League winner's medal but he couldn't quite make it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites