Now that the dust has settled, unless you're still partying in Buenos Aires anyway, that can only mean one thing: it's time for a poll Best Team Worst Team Most Surprising Team Most Disappointing Team Best Player Most Surprising Player Most Disappointing Player Player You Forgot Was Even At The Tournament Best Game Worst Game Best Goal Best Save Best Goal Celebration Worst Miss Best Fans Worst Fans Best refereeing Performance Worst Refereeing Performance Most Baffling VAR Call Worst Commentary Call (and Why Was It Sam Matterface After Kane's Missed Penalty?)
Brazil Qatar Morocco Spain Mbappe Amrabat Lautaro Martinez Foyth The Final England v USA Richarlison volley Martinez in dying seconds of final Brazilians dancing Kane`s pen Moroccans Ze Germans Michael Oliver (for once) The clown who refereed England v France Any of a number of soft penalties, take your pick Chelsea fan Sam Shatterface on Kane`s penalty miss due to being a Chelsea mug.
Best Team Until the semis I would have said France, but Argentina took it in the final Worst Team Poland. While Qatar were objectively the worst, Poland managed to be part of the worst match (vs Mexico), put in the most pathetic display (parking the bus hoping to not lose 5-0 to Argentina), and then got casually dispatched by France in the Ro16 Most Surprising Team Morocco. HM for Japan and their group stage heroics Most Disappointing Team Denmark, with Serbia a very close second Best Player Messi Most Surprising Player Pretty much anyone in the Morocco team (other than Hakimi, who people expected to be good) Most Disappointing Player Paulo Dybala Player You Forgot Was Even At The Tournament Dayot Upemecano. The French backline often looked like he wasn't, that's for sure... Best Game Japan vs Germany Worst Game Poland vs Mexico Best Goal Gareth Bale vs USA. While there were many spectacular goals, none of them could be said to have been worth waiting 64 years for Best Save Hugo Lloris vs Messi in the final Best Goal Celebration Since Emi Martinez's glove penis in the medal ceremony doesn't count, Osman Bakuri doing Ronaldo's signature celebration right in front of him Worst Miss Lautaro Martinez heading eight feet wide in the dying seconds of extra time in the final Best Fans Mexico, given they seemed to be at every match from the opening game to the final Worst Fans Jared Kushner & Elon Musk at the final. What, they don't count? Okay, the Qataris who ****ed off en masse at half time against Ecuador in the opening game Best Refereeing Performance Szcymon Marciniak in the final, mainly for seeing through Thuram's late dive Worst Refereeing Performance Daniele Orsato for Ecuador vs Qatar, because bloody hell did people start to believe the Qataris were bribing officials that game... Most Baffling VAR Call Take your pick of the two or three in England vs France Worst Commentary Call (and Why Was It Sam Matterface After Kane's Missed Penalty?) Why, I think it might be Sam Matterface's after H's missed penalty
Best Team - Argentina - the obvious choice but they did light it up at times, even if they did almost catastrophically bottle it on two occasions. Worst Team - Wales - Qatar the easy choice but Wales were terrible and their big stars like Bale and Ramsay were nowhere to be seen barring a Bale penalty. Most Surprising Team - Morocco - done their country and continent very proud, one or two players' agents will be fielding calls next month that's for sure. Most Disappointing Team - Uruguay - had them down as the dark horses for the tournament... Best Player - Messi - when they needed him most he showed up. Was majestic at times, 35 and still schooling players a decade or so younger. Most Surprising Player - Amrabat - phenomenal tournament, third best player after Messi and Mbappe for me. Ounahi also deserves a shout. Most Disappointing Player - Lautaro Martinez - for a highly regarded striker, he was ****ing awful and fluffed every single chance he had. Player You Forgot Was Even At The Tournament - Dybala Best Game - Cameroon vs Serbia - no defending, just vibes. Worst Game - Poland vs Mexico - shambolic display of football. Best Goal - Richarlison vs Serbia. Best Save - Emi Martinez vs Kolo Muani, France could've snatched a last minute undeserved victory, a fantastic save at a monumental moment Best Goal Celebration - Richarlison and Tite doing the Pombo! Worst Miss - just about any of Martinez's, let alone the final one. Best Fans - Senegalese - brought the party vibes and loved the lone Moroccan dancing amongst them at separate games, shout out to this absolute legend though: Worst Fans - Qatar - leaving at HT in the opening game of your country's tournament is pathetic. Best refereeing Performance - the ref in the final handled the occasion pretty well, agreed with all the big calls. Worst Refereeing Performance - the ref in the Argy vs Netherlands game, absolutely ridiculous and was sent home after it. Most Baffling VAR Call - there's about 5 or 6 at the least Worst Commentary Call - thankfully I tend to filter out a lot of what commentators and pundits say, though on the flip side, enjoyed whenever Townsend was on the mic, added some good insight and humour in the games he done.
Best team - Argentina. Well, they did win it. After a shaky start, then became very tough to beat. Strong in midfield - which tends to be key to winning these tournaments. And they had Messi. Worst team - Qatar. Would never have qualified Most surprising team - Morocco. Surprisingly bad - Belgium Most disappointing team- Belgium Best player - Mbappe shades Messi. Most surprising player - Souttar, the Scottish Australian. But can he do it on a wet Tuesday night in Stoke? Most disappointing player - de Bruyne Player you forgot was there - Eriksen Best game - the final from 75 minutes onwards
Worst game - any of the dreary 0-0s Best goal - Mbappe’s 2nd in the final. For the drama as well, given the state of the game. Best save - Livakovic made some crucial ones for Croatia on open play and penalties Best goal celebration - It can get any better than Montiel’s decisive penalty Best fans - Argentina. Massive numbers . Worst fans - I just don’t like England fans and their brand of nationalism Best refereeing - don’t know Worst refereeing - the ref’s guide dog for England v France. Asleep on duty
Let’s leave VAR Worst commentary - all of it. Cliched drivel as usual. Meaningless stats. How does such a team going out on penalties in 1982 or whenever have any bearing on their successors’ performance in 2022?
Best Team - Argentina Worst Team - Wales Most Surprising Team - Morocco but Japan deserve a mention Most Disappointing Team - Belgium Best Player - Modric Most Surprising Player - Alexis MacAllister Most Disappointing Player - Gareth Bale Player You Forgot Was Even At The Tournament - Kevin De Bruyne Best Game - The final Worst Game - any game featuring Poland Best Goal - Richarlison Volley Best save - Pickford v USA Best Sub - Wout Weghorst v Argentina Best Goal Celebration - Brazil manager dancing Worst Miss - Kanes penalty unfortunately Best Fans - Morocco Best refereeing Performance - The final Worst Refereeing Performance - VAR in general Most Baffling VAR Call - Gvardiol penalty not given in 3rd/4th play off Worst Commentary Call - Sam Matterface After Kane's Missed Penalty?
Best Team - Argentina - got to be…gotten trophy to prove it Worst Team - Wales - all chest out bluster…nothing on the pitch. Most Surprising Team - Morocco - self explanatory…legendary run to the semi finals Most Disappointing Team - Would say Belgium but I didn’t expect anything from them…they’re a wasted golden generation long before this tournament. Id say Brazil…the all dancing flops Best Player - Messi - unlike Ronaldo, this guy has used his experience for the benefit of the collective. Played like a leader and gave us a fair few vintage Messi moments of magic Most Surprising Player - Amrabat and Mac Allister were both awesome and pivotal players for their teams Most Disappointing Player - Ronaldo, Neymar, Bale, De Bruyne…take your pick Player You Forgot Was Even At The Tournament - Ronaldo, Bale, De Bruyne Best Game - The final Worst Game - the Polish and Qatari games Best Goal - So many….wow…loved the Saudi winner against the Argies…that free kick by the Mexican? The Richy scissor kick…can’t decide Best save - can’t recall…thought Lloris pulled some classic saves in the final Best Sub - Jack Grealish in the 98th minute of a game 98 minutes long and we are chasing a winner Best Goal Celebration - any pile up wether it involves the fans or the bench. Best game win celebration was the Moroccans and their Mommas sharing the love…beautiful Worst Miss - Kane penalty - atrocious…lost his nerve Best Fans - Morocco Best refereeing Performance - The final Worst Refereeing Performance - VAR Most Baffling VAR Call - 95% of them Worst Commentary Call - some woman’s analysis of a cross and volley finish…can’t remember which game ‘that was a nice cross, cool play’ thanks for that insight
Best Team - Argentina Worst Team - Qatar Most Surprising Team - Morocco Most Disappointing Team - Belgium Best Player - Mbappe (a toss up between him and Messi but a hatrick in the final tips it for me). Most Surprising Player - MacAllister ... Brighton have got an absolute gem Most Disappointing Player - Bale was poor as was Argentina's striker Martinez but for me it was De Bruyne Player You Forgot Was Even At The Tournament - Eriksen Best Game - The final Worst Game - England v USA was bloody awful Best Goal - Richarlison Volley Best save - Martinez in the final with his foot Best Sub - The French double of Muami and Thurman in the final but Muami edged it cos of Thurman's dive. Best Goal Celebration - The geezer who out Ronaldoed Ronaldo Worst Miss - Kane's penalty is close as he should not miss the target but that Martinez header in the last seconds of the final was something special. Best Fans - Morocco Best refereeing Performance - I thought the first penalty was a poor decision but at least he was consistent when giving the second (not actually being sarcastic) ... other than that the refereeing of the final was very good Worst Refereeing Performance - can not split the France v England ref or the Netherlands v Argentina ref tbh so I'll choose the USA v England ref for not ending the mindnumbing ****fest early. Most Baffling VAR Call - The non pens in the England v France game were interesting but the play off non penalty was truly extraordinary Worst Commentary Call - Sam Matterface regularly talks about how fans should not target individual players and should remember that their mental health is important yet he was willing to stick the boot in on Kane when he was at a low point. ****ty behaviour imho. If spurs fans can understand the need to publicly support Saka the gooner at his lowest point then a professional commentator should. Spurs should refuse any interviews with Talksport in future
I thought she was brilliant in the Kill Bill sword fighting scenes surely that tips it but it’s all about opinions bro
