2018 World Cup Thread

[charliepanayi]

Zidane was better than Messi and Ronaldo

Really can't see Portugal winning it, they had their moment at Euro 2016 anyway.

[Loony BoB]

Ronaldo, already the greatest player in history except for the fact that he has a contemporary who is better than him.

Ronaldo can carry Portugal, who are probably worse than Argentina, for which Messi doesn't seem to be able to manage with. I sometimes wonder how Messi would manage in a different team than Barcelona. Both are incredible players of differing styles though. Shame we'll never see them on the same side, because that would be something special.

[Psychotic]

How many international titles has Messi won while being attacked by a really angry moth?

[Spuuky]

Ronaldo can carry Portugal, who are probably worse than Argentina, for which Messi doesn't seem to be able to manage with.

???

Competitions both these teams have been at in the last decade:

World Cup 2014, Argentina 2nd place, Portugal group stage
World Cup 2010, Argentina round of 8, Portugal round of 16

Are there others? Or are you counting things like Portugal doing well in European tournaments and Argentina not?

[Old Manus]

Messi's habit of not quite managing to replicate his Barcelona genius for Argentina is pretty well documented, though it does look like he's done better in the last few years. Ronaldo really did win Euro 2016 on his own though, the rest of the team were rubbish. Saying that I'm not getting drawn into a Ronaldo v Messi debate

[Loony BoB]

Indeed. Was gonna reply directly but Manus has covered the gist of it.

[The Captain]

Created a little fantasy World Cup league if anyone feels like playing:

https://fantasy.fifa.com/en/leagues?...51514D4859555A


And to be fair, Portugal pretty much won the Euro final WITHOUT Ronaldo as he went off injured pretty early on and the team actually came together and pulled out the win. He did some heavy lifting to get them there though. As much as Messi did to get Argentina to the World Cup final in 2014.

Still, I'm team Salah

Take care all.

[Rocket Edge]

I'll join that shiz Cap. Who do you guys think is the best player in the world currently playing? Can you really say it's Ronny/Messi anymore?

[Cell]

At the minute, Messi is definently the better footballer as Ronaldo is aging he's more of a penalty box striker now as he just doesn't have the legs anymore.

Away from them, you're probably looking at Suarez, Kevin de Bruyne and Mo Salah as potential candidates to replace them.

[Psychotic]

I've joined the FF league.

Also, yeah, I think you can still say it's Messi and Ronaldo. Their era is definitely in its final throes though.

[Bubba]

I've joined the FF league.

Also, yeah, I think you can still say it's Messi and Ronaldo. Their era is definitely in its final throes though.

... and Portugal’s World Cup win will be the messy climax.

[Loony BoB]

Can you really say it's Ronny/Messi anymore?

I mean, you can, but there's much more debate than there was before, they're no longer the monsters streets ahead of everyone else that they once were.

[Rocket Edge]

I would have a few players level or ahead of them at the minute but then again I don't avidly follow La Liga so I'm not entirely sure. I think we could see a lot of people talking about Neymar as the best player in the world after the tournaments over. I think he's the best player ATM myself.

[Loony BoB]

I really don't know about Neymar. He's expensive, but he's scored 19 goals in 20 games in the French league, which to my knowledge doesn't have better defences than the four leagues generally regarded above him. I know it's tough to judge someone on such a simplistic statistic, but when you have Ronaldo scoring 26 in 27 appearances and Messi scoring 34 in 36, both in a better league, and Salah also scoring 32 in 36, also in a better league... I just don't feel Neymar is going to ever be regarded as the best while in PSG unless they do amazingly well in the Champions League, which they didn't. I guess he could perhaps manage it if he did well in the World Cup and won it but yeah. If he's better than Ronaldo, Messi and Salah, he certainly hasn't got the stats as a forward to show for it.

I think he's up there but he's not the best at present.

Perhaps the best player in the world right now is a defender or a midfielder instead of a forward? For me there just aren't standout performers this season.

[The Captain]

I really don't know about Neymar. He's expensive, but he's scored 19 goals in 20 games in the French league, which to my knowledge doesn't have better defences than the four leagues generally regarded above him. I know it's tough to judge someone on such a simplistic statistic, but when you have Ronaldo scoring 26 in 27 appearances and Messi scoring 34 in 36, both in a better league, and Salah also scoring 32 in 36, also in a better league... I just don't feel Neymar is going to ever be regarded as the best while in PSG unless they do amazingly well in the Champions League, which they didn't. I guess he could perhaps manage it if he did well in the World Cup and won it but yeah. If he's better than Ronaldo, Messi and Salah, he certainly hasn't got the stats as a forward to show for it.

I think he's up there but he's not the best at present.

Perhaps the best player in the world right now is a defender or a midfielder instead of a forward? For me there just aren't standout performers this season.

Neymar might have the most potential but the issue is just as BoB said, he's playing in a watered down league. Both him and Mbappe very well could be Top 5 in the world but they need to prove it against more consistent competition.

Two other fun questions as we round the final turn:

Will Mexico's little "party" effect them in any way?
Which team is the most reliant on their best player? Is it Argentina? Egypt? Poland?


Take care all.