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Spain v Argentina might well be the least played game between two heavyweights in recent years. In all of Messi, Xavi and Iniesta's time, they never met in a tournament at any point. Might make sense when you consider World Cup seedings and that they don't play in the same continental...

Good defender, but never thought he was anywhere near as good as he was made out to be. Ramos and Pepe were both far better. He was good though. But no surprise to me that he struggled a fair bit at Man United. He was well in decline when he joined them. He was brilliant when France won the...

Fair enough mate. He always seemed more of a CM to me, but I acknowledge you guys have seen him far more than I have as I am not a Barca fan. I am upvoting most posts - even conflicting ones - since most people are putting forward decent points and I respect that.

Like KingLeo said, America isn't a football country. It isn't really built to hold 'soccer' matches, and a lot of these stadiums are NFL stadia that they call 'multi-purpose'. The pitches are compromised too, often being plastic. I have played on plastic pitches myself - it doesn't bother me...

It seems like there's a lot of conflicting views on here from Barca fans, as to whether Pedri is a central midfielder, a number 10, or a hybrid. A lot of you guys can't come to a consensus on it. Like I said (and it's the impression you get from watching him) he's a hard guy to define...

It sounds like you don't rate him much then :ROFLMAO: I agree though - he is a talented dribbler but he doesn't really know what he is doing half the time and - even though I say you can affect games outside of goals and assists - he doesn't affect games qualititavely or quantitatively. He...

Colombia have more cute and creative players who could carve them open. Uruguay are a very high-pressing team too and their energy and dirty nature could make that game a fight or a battle. Either way, Argentina have a tough game ahead. If Colombia or Uruguay turn up and Argentina still...

There's something about these Spanish midfielders with a surname Hernandez.

Canada did well to be fair, and had a lot of decent chances. Both Argentina goals came at points too when the game was fairly evenly contested. 2-0 was a bit harsh on Canada. Still, Argentina move forward. But I fear they'll have to play significantly better than they have been, whether it is...

Fair enough. I know what you mean. He's not exactly like a Rodri or Busquets or even Xavi (who wasn't a DM), but he's not a pure attacking midfielder either. He's a bit in between, like an 8. I still think - me personally - that his skillset leans more to pure CM. But I fully understand your...

He gets stuck in though. And his work rate helps the team. Ref has been poor, agree.

I agree with that - I have always said that a player can affect the game a lot by controlling it or doing stuff before the actual goal and assists. I didn't know that Pedri was being played as more of an AM. He can be just as good and effective a player though as a pure CM. Yeah he was injured...

I get the guy's point - Olmo seems to have more end product (and he's a talented footballer too). Pedri is even more gifted but he seems like a typical heart of midfield type of player. Spain in this tournament seem have tried to use him as a player driving into the box. like the main box threat...

What makes Argentina so formidable is not just that they're so good in forward areas and have technicians like Mac Allister and Fernandez in midfield - it's also that they have so many warriors in their team. I have noticed it for a few years now - something switched and they started showing so...

Just googled why E Martinez is nicknamed Dibu - looks a cool character. On the game - been pretty good and entertaining. Canada unlucky to be behind, goal from nothing though a beautiful pass from De Paul. Alvarez's feet were too fast for the defender and lovely finish. Messi had that beautiful...

Yeah we will see. I think I will change to 2-0 - 1-0 seems conservative. They could lose though too, you're right. They have to be wary of the counter

I understand the reasons for it but it has been annoying me for a while. The Premier League don't do this and it's by far the most watched league in the world with hundreds of millions of eyes on it every week. I wanna watch Spain in red and France in blue.

True. But even though people were sleeping on Spain - they were still seen as a realistic winner. It's just that people were hyping up the flashier players from Portugal and France. You're essentially right though - Spain as a unit play the type of football that then allows the gamebreakers to...

Yeah, France wore their home shirt once in the tournament I believe. IN SIX GAMES. This is because they were the designated 'fourth team' in their group, so were only the 'home' team vs Poland. Then from there on out they were the 'away' team in QFs and SFs. They were the 'home' team vs...

That's a very good point - international football is more methodical often than the club game, and he has an advantage as you (and some of us others) have said in that Spain are a better unit and better drilled than many other international teams. It has let him play his own game. At club level...