lemon

Friendlies

Argentina3 - 0Benin

taha@taha

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★1d ago

Well, this is one of those days in football I never wanted to witness, but sadly, it has arrived. You’re not leaving the game entirely, but stepping away from international football feels like the first step toward that day, which I can hardly bear to think about. Maybe the funniest way to honor you is to recognize what you did for millions of people: you made us willingly tune in and support Argentina, all to watch you play this little sport called football. I’m not Argentine, but somewhere along the way that stopped mattering. When you played, we all became a little bit Argentine. I’ll never forget the highs and lows I experienced following you. The 2014 World Cup final, when you were so close to conquering the sport so early on in your career. The back-to-back Copa América finals lost on penalties. But you deserved more than that. You got more than that. You finally lifted your very first international trophy in 2021. Of course I’ll always remember 2022, the greatest World Cup campaign I’ll ever witness, with the most entertaining final of all time. Then we got another Copa in 2024. You literally won every trophy that you lost, how perfect was that? After years of people saying you couldn’t do it for Argentina, you won everything there was to win. But the trophies aren’t what I’ll remember most. It’s the way you played, the way you always entertained me. The dribbles that made defenders look lost, the passes no one else could see, the free kicks that felt like penalties the moment the referee blew the whistle. You made the impossible look routine, and you did it with a quiet humility that made billions fall in love with you. This summer’s ending was bittersweet, and honestly, part of me wishes you’d won it. But you had nothing left to prove. You gave me more than I ever had the right to ask for: the story of your career. There will never be another player who can do what you did. You are football. You are eternal. Thank you for everything, Leo.

World Cup

England1 - 2Argentina

midgetlover@midgetlover

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★15 Jul 2026

This game pretty much summed up both England and Argentina perfectly. Argentina played rather defensively for the most part and, one might add, very aggressively, while all England wanted was one goal, the first goal. And they even got that goal from Gordon, who was found with an absolutely delicious cross by Rogers. And then Tuchel made some baffling tweaks that just made the entire English team sit back in an extreme low block and defend for their lives for the next 40 minutes. England ended the game with six, yes, SIX defenders on the pitch. What this also causes is that if you happen to concede a goal or manage to hoof the ball out of your own penalty area, you have no attacking outlets remaining with Gordon, the only one in this English side who could exploit the Argentine defensive line with his speed, being taken off. Every single English player was behind the ball, and all Argentina had to do was pepper them with crosses and passes into the box to pin them back. The problem with this game plan is, and why it worked against Mexico and not against Argentina, is one man: Messi. You CANNOT go into that defensive of a structure without any intention of attacking with that absolute DEMON on the pitch. And once again, just like against Egypt, he stepped up, took the onus on himself in the last 20 minutes, and turned this game around pretty much single-handedly. He had able allies in Enzo and Lautaro, but pretty much 90% of everything went through Messi on the right flank, either beating his man on the outside and whipping a cross in or cutting in and playing those absolutely sublime one-twos to open up the English backline. And I can't lie, I enjoyed every minute of him running the clock back. One has to soak it in; he might only play one more game in Argentine colors. People may dislike this Argentine team, but watching Messi play at his absolute best is always a special, special thing to witness.

World Cup

France0 - 2Spain

carbonfiverr@carbonfiverr

☆☆☆☆☆★★★★★14 Jul 2026

Spain dominated from the start, according to my gimmick i have to talk about the midfield again because i have every single game of Spain. They used the midfield they had in 2024 again, yayyyy!!! Took until quarter finals but they now use a good midfield again for two games in a row. I do of course like Pedri, but with Olmo and Rodri he doesn’t work. With this midfield they perfectly dealt with France their entire attack which often went through Olise down the middle. While the French wingers both were dealt with easily too, and also had a bad game. More or less completely nullifying the deadly French attack, especially Mbappé who couldn’t be reached. Digne with just an awful challenge that led to the penalty after generally a good tournament by him, definitely because he left Villa. Spain just deserved this one, they came out with a plan to beat France and they worked it out perfectly. They will be huge favorites to win the final. A great tournament by France nonetheless, obviously wouldve hoped for more but losing to Spain is not a shame. Not the greatest of fans of Deschamps as a manager but he has done an incredible job for 14 years now and deserves a nice retirement. Very excited about France being led by Zidane though. Fun stat, never has someone who won the Ballon d’Or before the world cup, gone on to win the world cup, lmao. Man of the match is Fabian Ruiz for me, the man was just everywhere and he makes this midfield work. I think he’s generally very underrated as well. Such a good player.