HaroldShipmanAg said:

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ah yes the "GOAT"

1. walks for the majority of the games
2. doesn't play defense
3. Misses Penalties
4. Disappears in the biggest game


Must have been a rough Sunday for you mEssi fan girls.

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Messi? I thought you were talking about CR7 or Neymar

HaroldShipmanAg said:

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ah yes the "GOAT"

1. walks for the majority of the games
2. doesn't play defense
3. Misses Penalties
4. Disappears in the biggest game


Must have been a rough Sunday for you mEssi fan girls.

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who is this child?

Messi is 39 and is the top scorer in the world cup


yes mmmbops exhibition nonsense doesn't count

deadbq03 said:

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THE_CHOSEN_ONE said:

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People who think Messi is suddenly not the goat after taking Argentina to a 3rd World Cup final at 39 years old while scoring 8 goals and 4 assists are insane. There has never been a better soccer player, and he had that locked down before this World Cup ever happened. Who is the goat if not him? You could make an argument for Pele, but outside of Messi and Pele, I don't think there is anyone else.

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I think GOAT definitions depend largely on what you think is important.

I'd absolutely accept arguments for Cruyff, especially if we define GOAT as the greatest overall impact/legacy on the game as both a player and coach.

And certain arguments for CR7 are valid as well in my book. He's unquestionably the greatest persona/aura backed up by world class skill. It's not something folks want to admit, but showmanship is a huge part of sports and especially so in soccer and CR7 is king there.

For me, Messi is GOAT because he simply did things with a ball at his feet that no one else could, and used that skill to win obscene amounts of team and individual trophies… to include having the most Ballons.

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IMO, what separates Messi from the rest is that he has been the best at three unique phases of the game. He was the best striker for a period of time (this will get the CR7 fanboys in a tizzy but whatever), he has been and probably still is the best passer of the ball, and he was been the best dribbler of the ball for a lengthy period of time. Other players may have an argument for the best at any one of those skills but NO player can make an argument that they possess all three in sufficient levels that they can be included in a "Best Of" list. At this point, anyone making an assertion that Messi isn't the GOAT is either trolling or profoundly ignorant.

carl spacklers hat said:

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deadbq03 said:

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THE_CHOSEN_ONE said:

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People who think Messi is suddenly not the goat after taking Argentina to a 3rd World Cup final at 39 years old while scoring 8 goals and 4 assists are insane. There has never been a better soccer player, and he had that locked down before this World Cup ever happened. Who is the goat if not him? You could make an argument for Pele, but outside of Messi and Pele, I don't think there is anyone else.

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I think GOAT definitions depend largely on what you think is important.

I'd absolutely accept arguments for Cruyff, especially if we define GOAT as the greatest overall impact/legacy on the game as both a player and coach.

And certain arguments for CR7 are valid as well in my book. He's unquestionably the greatest persona/aura backed up by world class skill. It's not something folks want to admit, but showmanship is a huge part of sports and especially so in soccer and CR7 is king there.

For me, Messi is GOAT because he simply did things with a ball at his feet that no one else could, and used that skill to win obscene amounts of team and individual trophies… to include having the most Ballons.

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IMO, what separates Messi from the rest is that he has been the best at three unique phases of the game. He was the best striker for a period of time (this will get the CR7 fanboys in a tizzy but whatever), he has been and probably still is the best passer of the ball, and he was been the best dribbler of the ball for a lengthy period of time. Other players may have an argument for the best at any one of those skills but NO player can make an argument that they possess all three in sufficient levels that they can be included in a "Best Of" list. At this point, anyone making an assertion that Messi isn't the GOAT is either trolling or profoundly ignorant.

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Different ways of measuring greatness are appropriate, perhaps. He was well served by la masa and Spain's golden generation in being formed (with xabi and iniesta), in a way that Ronaldo wasn't while gaining his own accomplishments. He was a different player at PSG.

THE_CHOSEN_ONE said:

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People who think Messi is suddenly not the goat after taking Argentina to a 3rd World Cup final at 39 years old while scoring 8 goals and 4 assists are insane. There has never been a better soccer player, and he had that locked down before this World Cup ever happened. Who is the goat if not him? You could make an argument for Pele, but outside of Messi and Pele, I don't think there is anyone else.

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I remember Pele I think he passed away a few years ago. Of course I heard about him from the movie Victory with Sylvester Stallone. I know a lot of people hate that movie, but I like it.

AGC said:

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tysker said:

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Ronaldo needed FIFA's intervention just to play in this WC. Classy guy
But at least he scored 3 goals in the tournament: 2 against Uzbekistan, a mid-tier Asian team at best, and 1 against Croatia. Croatia was at least a decent team, but then again his PK was due to VAR intervention.

Did you know that this PK was CR7's only WC knock-out round goal? Landon Donovan, Brian McBride, and Malik Tillman all have an equal or greater number of WC knock-out round goals than Ronaldo

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I see we've already forgotten Messi's high challenge in game one in talking about FIFA intervention. Tell me how many goals he'd have if he'd been red carded and suspended like others.

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Hard to prove a negative but.if we remove the 2 goals scored after the potential red card in game one and the two goals he would not have scored during the Austria match, Messi still would have scored 4 goals during the tournament. One more than Ronaldo.

annie88 said:

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THE_CHOSEN_ONE said:

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People who think Messi is suddenly not the goat after taking Argentina to a 3rd World Cup final at 39 years old while scoring 8 goals and 4 assists are insane. There has never been a better soccer player, and he had that locked down before this World Cup ever happened. Who is the goat if not him? You could make an argument for Pele, but outside of Messi and Pele, I don't think there is anyone else.

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I remember Pele I think he passed away a few years ago. Of course I heard about him from the movie Victory with Sylvester Stallone. I know a lot of people hate that movie, but I like it.

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Pele was better in the classic 80s soccer movie Hotshot

For me, one of the team sport GOAT criteria is elevating their team and how far. Does Argentina have the same success without Messi? Almost certainly not. Where is their ceiling without him?

The greater the difference between the ceiling with and the ceiling without, the more likely he's a GOAT.

Without Messi in 2026, Argentina lose to Cabo Verde in the R-32. With Messi, ARG lose the WC Final 1-0 in AET.

carl spacklers hat said:

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Without Messi in 2026, Argentina lose to Cabo Verde in the R-32.

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It's wild that that is a real and accurate sentence.

deadbq03 said:

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THE_CHOSEN_ONE said:

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People who think Messi is suddenly not the goat after taking Argentina to a 3rd World Cup final at 39 years old while scoring 8 goals and 4 assists are insane. There has never been a better soccer player, and he had that locked down before this World Cup ever happened. Who is the goat if not him? You could make an argument for Pele, but outside of Messi and Pele, I don't think there is anyone else.

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I think GOAT definitions depend largely on what you think is important.

I'd absolutely accept arguments for Cruyff, especially if we define GOAT as the greatest overall impact/legacy on the game as both a player and coach.

And certain arguments for CR7 are valid as well in my book. He's unquestionably the greatest persona/aura backed up by world class skill. It's not something folks want to admit, but showmanship is a huge part of sports and especially so in soccer and CR7 is king there.

For me, Messi is GOAT because he simply did things with a ball at his feet that no one else could, and used that skill to win obscene amounts of team and individual trophies… to include having the most Ballons.

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I'm a big fan of Cruyff for the reason you mentioned. When learning soccer, he was a big influence on me. I spent alot of time learning and perfecting the Cruyff turn LOL. Messi and CR7 are amazing. I'm not going to argue GOAT, but Messi was amazing still at 39. Truly one of the greatest players of all time if not the greatest. We were lucky to get to watch him.

Prob not the most appropriate thread. Sorry.

But Yan Diomande is signing with Real Madrid.

If anyone's an Astros fan, Jeff Luhnow's ownership group has a Spanish club, Leganes. They identified Diomande, signed him, developed him, and now he's being sold to Real Madrid. Pretty cool to see the same data-driven approach Luhnow used with the Astros paying off in soccer.

Thanks for sharing, but I will say that's a bit misleading. Leganes is in the second division, which is unquestionably worse than MLS… so not a huge leap of faith to find and take a talented kid and sign them for free on a cheap salary and hope it works.

Also, while I'm sure most on here are aware, they're not the ones selling him to Madrid. I'm biased, but I'd argue that the Leipzig front office took a much bigger leap to spend 20M to sign him after just 3 months of first team action from the Spanish second division. (But to your point, even just 20M from Leipzig would be a massive ROI for a club like Leganes, and there's also evidently a sell-on percentage they'll get too).

What's most interesting about his story is that as a teenager he moved from Africa to the US to train at DME Academy in Florida. Definitely not a normal path and I imagine it was American contacts that got him on the radar of an American ownership group.

Looking past the doom and gloom of this past WC from a US perspective - I think the growth of American ownership of clubs abroad is going to help the USMNT. I gotta think Wrexham in particular would love to find the next US star and bring him in. Would be a heck of a story.

Argentine player Valentín Barco opened up about the fight with England midfielder Jude Bellingham after Argentina’s World Cup semi-final victory over England.

Barco claimed the incident began with what he insisted was nothing more than a joke.

“I jokingly called him a black… pic.twitter.com/UIGlnpeLQF

— MR M ONEY (@heisHIM3694) July 28, 2026

Just in case you don't have enough disgust for Argentinas players, here Barco admits calling Bellingham a "black monkey" as says it as if there was nothing wrong with it. "It was just a joke". Wow. I guess I'm now supposed to believe Jude overreacted?

No, I am going to with you being a racist ****** bag. I won't hold my breath to see what FIFA decides to do with this.

FIDO95 said:

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Argentine player Valentín Barco opened up about the fight with England midfielder Jude Bellingham after Argentina’s World Cup semi-final victory over England.

Barco claimed the incident began with what he insisted was nothing more than a joke.

“I jokingly called him a black… pic.twitter.com/UIGlnpeLQF

— MR M ONEY (@heisHIM3694) July 28, 2026

Just in case you don't have enough disgust for Argentinas players, here Barco admits calling Bellingham a "black monkey" as says it as if there was nothing wrong with it. "It was just a joke". Wow. I guess I'm now supposed to believe Jude overreacted?

No, I am going to with you being a racist ****** bag. I won't hold my breath to see what FIFA decides to do with this.

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FIFA is too busy selling out to be worried about this!

EXCLUSIVE: Fifa's president Gianni Infantino is planning to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors under a scheme that could potentially earn him tens of millions of pounds.
Investor discussions held with figures close to the Trump administration, say sources.…

— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) July 28, 2026

Other than from within UEFA, that won't happen. Infantino knows he just has to keep promising money and a larger and larger World Cup and no one outside of Europe will want to turn that down.

He will have to be taken down like Blatter was…someone will have to make the case he's breaking laws.

UEFA has already come out against this, but all the small, poorer countries want the upfront $$$$ promised. But if UEFA actually takes steps to break off (like they have been threatening for a while), things will get interesting.

Joseydog said:

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UEFA has already come out against this, but all the small, poorer countries want the upfront $$$$ promised. But if UEFA actually takes steps to break off (like they have been threatening for a while), things will get interesting.

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yep, we can all thank the Asian and African federations if this goes through.

Not sure how much of a bluff that is, but it's something…

European nations ready to boycott the World Cup in opposition to Infantino's plan to sell off part of FIFA to private investors - with an emergency meeting of UEFA nations planned this week, Sky News has learnthttps://t.co/kTw1DY5Vrh

— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) July 28, 2026

zgolfz85 said:

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Joseydog said:

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UEFA has already come out against this, but all the small, poorer countries want the upfront $$$$ promised. But if UEFA actually takes steps to break off (like they have been threatening for a while), things will get interesting.

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yep, we can all thank the Asian and African federations if this goes through.

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Yep. Same reason Blatter and now Infantino keep getting re-elected over and over

This is a mess. Infantino offering over 40 million if a country votes yes, but only 10 million if the country does not. CONCACF and AFC both issuing statements saying they have only learned about the whole thing through media reports.

Infantino tells FAs they have until 19 September to back the World Cup spinoff.
And if the majority backs him, the dissenting FAs will be left out in the cold without $40m - with the finances proposed now doubled by the FIFA chief.https://t.co/7oJnsVooWm

— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) July 29, 2026

When is Infantino's term up?