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On June 23 2026 04:14 Acrofales wrote:
The Lionel Messi show continues. Wtf even was that last goal? He made a good run and a brilliant pass. You'd think that'd be enough, but Alvarez fumbled it badly (or if you want to be charitable: good goalkeeping, but I'll go with fumble). So Messi has to run in for the rebound (twice). It's like the rest of Argentina are all useless twerps and only really exist to showcase how brilliant Messi actually is.
Going to be interesting to see if anyone else shows up once the games get tougher. Currently it looks like the usual issue of Argentina where everyone else is ballwatching and lacking any kind of decisiveness of their own.
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Maybe they depend too much on Messi on attack, but otherwise they are defending very well, and defending is very important to win a worlcup.
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United States10566 Posts
On June 23 2026 05:07 Bacillus wrote:Show nested quote +On June 23 2026 04:14 Acrofales wrote:
The Lionel Messi show continues. Wtf even was that last goal? He made a good run and a brilliant pass. You'd think that'd be enough, but Alvarez fumbled it badly (or if you want to be charitable: good goalkeeping, but I'll go with fumble). So Messi has to run in for the rebound (twice). It's like the rest of Argentina are all useless twerps and only really exist to showcase how brilliant Messi actually is. Going to be interesting to see if anyone else shows up once the games get tougher. Currently it looks like the usual issue of Argentina where everyone else is ballwatching and lacking any kind of decisiveness of their own.
I read Argentina not relying purely on Messi for their attack, but rather deferring to him as he's their strongest point of attack. Of course you want to get the ball to your best player and let him create. And when you have a star that's shining so bright, sometimes it makes the rest of the team look dull by comparison, but I don't see that. I still see a very cohesive team that's playing well even offensively, but their defense looks nice and compact. I think their biggest weakness is set pieces with Argentina not being a very tall team and Austria had a couple chances from set pieces today.
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Norway28896 Posts
I thought our first game vs Iraq was very poor even though we won 4-1 - the players looked real nervous and shaky, and the result was very flattering- could easily have been a draw.
Last night's game vs Senegal however was better - looking more like the level they were at in the qualification, and a very entertaining game. Nusa hasn't hit his stride yet (he was an absolute beast in the qualis, but been almost invisible in both matches), same with Aursnes, but aside from that, this was good. Haaland running at gks seems to make them very nervous lol. This Norway team is very different from the teams we had in the 90s: We competed in three championships (94, 98 and 2000) - and in both 94 and 2000 we ended up with 4 points after winning 1-0, drawing 0-0 and losing 0-1. 98 was a bit more exciting - 2-2, 1-1, 2-1 and 0-1, but either way, across those three championships, we scored - and conceded - a grand total of 7 goals over 10 games.
Now we're at 7-3 GD after 2 games. The qualifier gave us 37-5 GD. Haaland maintains his insane world cup related streak, and now has 20 goals in his past 10 qualifier/WC matches.
Slightly annoyed that we conceded a goal towards the end, otherwise, we'd be in first spot and would win the group with a draw against France. Now, we're second unless we win, and that's probably a tall order. Nothing impossible though, I imagine both teams might do some resting. Looking at brackets is starting to become interesting now; winning the group gives a most likely very managable ro32 match and then Germany ro16, while second place gets Ivory Coast, and then most likely Brazil.
We are, to my knowledge, the only team in the world to never lose an official match against Brazil (2 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses) - and the previous highlight of Norwegian football is beating Brazil to qualify from the group stage in the 1998 world cup. 
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Northern Ireland27405 Posts
On June 23 2026 16:32 Liquid`Drone wrote:I thought our first game vs Iraq was very poor even though we won 4-1 - the players looked real nervous and shaky, and the result was very flattering- could easily have been a draw. Last night's game vs Senegal however was better - looking more like the level they were at in the qualification, and a very entertaining game. Nusa hasn't hit his stride yet (he was an absolute beast in the qualis, but been almost invisible in both matches), same with Aursnes, but aside from that, this was good. Haaland running at gks seems to make them very nervous lol. This Norway team is very different from the teams we had in the 90s: We competed in three championships (94, 98 and 2000) - and in both 94 and 2000 we ended up with 4 points after winning 1-0, drawing 0-0 and losing 0-1. 98 was a bit more exciting - 2-2, 1-1, 2-1 and 0-1, but either way, across those three championships, we scored - and conceded - a grand total of 7 goals over 10 games. Now we're at 7-3 GD after 2 games. The qualifier gave us 37-5 GD. Haaland maintains his insane world cup related streak, and now has 20 goals in his past 10 qualifier/WC matches. Slightly annoyed that we conceded a goal towards the end, otherwise, we'd be in first spot and would win the group with a draw against France. Now, we're second unless we win, and that's probably a tall order. Nothing impossible though, I imagine both teams might do some resting. Looking at brackets is starting to become interesting now; winning the group gives a most likely very managable ro32 match and then Germany ro16, while second place gets Ivory Coast, and then most likely Brazil. We are, to my knowledge, the only team in the world to never lose an official match against Brazil (2 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses) - and the previous highlight of Norwegian football is beating Brazil to qualify from the group stage in the 1998 world cup.
I raise you Cape Verde never losing a match to a nation who has won the World Cup :p
France may be a bridge too far depending which version of them show up, but I can definitely see Norway taking a few knockout scalps. While far from a one-man team, Haaland does give that X-factor
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The question then is, would you rather play vs Brazil or Germany?
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How's Norway defensively? Are they taking the wild scoring 3-2s or is it going to be more about playing tight and Haalanding something out of nowhere against the tournament favorites?
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On June 23 2026 18:44 Bacillus wrote:
How's Norway defensively? Are they taking the wild scoring 3-2s or is it going to be more about playing tight and Haalanding something out of nowhere against the tournament favorites?
They have ups and downs. They were generally solid against Senegal, but had some bad moments which were brutaly punished by a good opponent.
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Norway28896 Posts
Our defense is def our weak spot. They're ok at defending crosses and blocking shots but they are poor against quick combinations and overall, they're just not very fast. For that reason I think I'd prefer facing Germany, I think vini Jr in form crushes them. However havertz I think they could handle just fine.
No question our offensive players are much better. Ajer is decent, Ryerson is good, but LB, GK and the other CB is where we are mediocre.
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Northern Ireland27405 Posts
On June 23 2026 22:45 Liquid`Drone wrote:
Our defense is def our weak spot. They're ok at defending crosses and blocking shots but they are poor against quick combinations and overall, they're just not very fast. For that reason I think I'd prefer facing Germany, I think vini Jr in form crushes them. However havertz I think they could handle just fine.
No question our offensive players are much better. Ajer is decent, Ryerson is good, but LB, GK and the other CB is where we are mediocre.
Yeah, I don’t especially rate Brazil but if they have one big strength it’s their wide forwards and pseudo-10s interchanging, and some of those blokes are rapid too. Ancelotti has kinda gone all-in on that, perhaps to the detriment of the midfield. If you’re a bit weak against that kinda stuff, Brazil will be tricky, and France will be horrible if they’re on it.
Styles make fights and all that. Other sides I think Germany will be more tricky than Brazil
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This Uzbek team is not great....and we were needing something like this to avoid a quick exit :D
Lets hope this game gives Portugal some momentum.
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On June 23 2026 16:32 Liquid`Drone wrote:I thought our first game vs Iraq was very poor even though we won 4-1 - the players looked real nervous and shaky, and the result was very flattering- could easily have been a draw. Last night's game vs Senegal however was better - looking more like the level they were at in the qualification, and a very entertaining game. Nusa hasn't hit his stride yet (he was an absolute beast in the qualis, but been almost invisible in both matches), same with Aursnes, but aside from that, this was good. Haaland running at gks seems to make them very nervous lol. This Norway team is very different from the teams we had in the 90s: We competed in three championships (94, 98 and 2000) - and in both 94 and 2000 we ended up with 4 points after winning 1-0, drawing 0-0 and losing 0-1. 98 was a bit more exciting - 2-2, 1-1, 2-1 and 0-1, but either way, across those three championships, we scored - and conceded - a grand total of 7 goals over 10 games. Now we're at 7-3 GD after 2 games. The qualifier gave us 37-5 GD. Haaland maintains his insane world cup related streak, and now has 20 goals in his past 10 qualifier/WC matches. Slightly annoyed that we conceded a goal towards the end, otherwise, we'd be in first spot and would win the group with a draw against France. Now, we're second unless we win, and that's probably a tall order. Nothing impossible though, I imagine both teams might do some resting. Looking at brackets is starting to become interesting now; winning the group gives a most likely very managable ro32 match and then Germany ro16, while second place gets Ivory Coast, and then most likely Brazil. We are, to my knowledge, the only team in the world to never lose an official match against Brazil (2 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses) - and the previous highlight of Norwegian football is beating Brazil to qualify from the group stage in the 1998 world cup.
If you finish #1 then Japan is a possible Ro32 opponent.
Japan's possible opponents are Brazil, Morocco (if they finish #1 or #2) or France (#3)
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Northern Ireland27405 Posts
Probably the worst possible result for Portugal’s longer term prospects is Ronaldo starting and getting a goal.
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Well he got already two goals, he is going to play 90 minutes every match now.
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Northern Ireland27405 Posts
Yep, which I think will come back to bite them when they play a decent side
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Unfortunately i agree. Result is good for the team....cronaldo is not.
And several times in this game that was evident but alas...its impossible to get that notion around here.
PS i just realized that i use "around here" a lot and that might be confusing if im referring to here my surroundings or TL :D but its usually my country!
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regardless of whether ronaldo is good for portugal or not, its great to see him scoring at the highest stage again. all the big name forwards have showed up at this years tournament so far
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United States10566 Posts
Kane is gonna score a brace almost confirmed at this rate.
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England are really being England here.
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51693 Posts
back to the norm
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EPT
