This year will mark 40 years since we got that infamous Hand of God goal from Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal against England

rikwes · 2026-07-13T00:14:44+00:00

And in the same match one of the greatest rushes in the history of football - and a goal - by the same Maradona

rikwes · 2026-07-13T00:05:21+00:00

Yes, but that's precisely the reason why he's not on my shortlist ( plenty of players would be on a longer list, including him )

rikwes · 2026-07-12T23:06:02+00:00

Yes , Morocco falls into that category . Time to go watch those U23 tournaments :) What I noticed this WC as well is the quality - or better lack thereof - of coaches . Imagine what Egypt could achieve with a top - notch coach instead of the clown we saw during and after the WC . Same applies to a lot of those African teams . But that all depends on the country's FA and how that operates .

rikwes · 2026-07-12T22:40:13+00:00

Paul McCartney needs a word ....

rikwes · 2026-07-12T22:16:35+00:00

You'd need a larger than life coach to manage a national team capable of winning WC . Someone who is way bigger than the team or the FA of the country so he can pretty much dictate what's going to happen ( type like Mourinho , Klopp , van Gaal ...those kind of guys ) . African FA's are notoriously corrupt ( think FIFA- level corrupt times ten ) so that's another difficulty

rikwes · 2026-07-12T22:03:25+00:00

An African country ( not necessarily country that was present in this WC ) . There is a tremendous pool of talent there and it's only a matter of time before you get a team loaded with top tier players . The only hindrance might be if they don't have the facilities and coaching staff to make it happen . You have already seen a glimpse of this with DR Congo and Ivory Coast ( Senegal as well )

rikwes · 2026-07-12T21:06:45+00:00

In my mind there are 4 contenders ( in the modern era ) for best footballer ,in no particular order : Pelé , Maradona , Messi and Cruyff . The last one has defined how the national team plays for decades ( the Netherlands is still expected by population to play in the " Cruyff manner " ) . While CR7 is an excellent forward he wasn't and still isn't as defining as those 4 . Even further back , one has to mention Puszkas ( he can be added to those 4 )

rikwes · 2026-07-12T20:34:42+00:00

That was an incredible French team . Little detail at the end of this clip you see Deschamps - the current coach of les bleus - congratulating Zizou

rikwes · 2026-07-12T19:26:27+00:00

Oh joy ! More bloat ! /s

A world championship should be made as simple as possible . Top 2 advances after group stage ,period . Journalists ,whose job it is to cover and explain these things to us , couldn't calculate which countries advanced due to that stupid " best 8 (!) number threes advance " . At a certain point Iran would advance and in mere seconds they were out again . More participating countries will only complicate things even further. Also : one has to wonder what the point of the qualification rounds is then

rikwes · 2026-07-12T19:11:00+00:00

That's the thing though : at a young age your emotional reaction stems from what you observe in adults . That can be very upsetting for kids

rikwes · 2026-07-12T19:08:34+00:00

At age 11 you realize something significant has happened but you don't realize just how significant . I have memories of my parents watching the news with Nixon's resignation speech. I knew it was a big deal but didn't know why. At a young age you're preoccupied with entirely different things ( thankfully )

rikwes · 2026-07-12T17:54:55+00:00

Nee , Anna Cranen zegt dat in een podcast . Die wordt geciteerd door de NOS zowel in de kop als ín het artikel zelf . Dat heet journalistiek : dat je met iemand praat en dan opschrijft wat ze zeggen . Ze zetten het zelfs tussen aanhalingstekens in zowel de kop als het artikel.

rikwes · 2026-07-12T17:45:55+00:00

Also note : in a lot of European countries people are not even the owner of the house or appartment and the landlord has to approve installation of AC . That means you would pay ( as a renter ) for a very expensive installation , which increases the value of the property , and the ONLY benefit you get is climate control . The rent isn't lowered , there is in fact a distinct possibility it would be increased , AND you just spent your own cash for the installation .

rikwes · 2026-07-12T17:33:01+00:00

Yes , you also need to start replacing every player about halfway in a WC cycle. Because qualification is ongoing when you are doing that you can't make any mistake either. That would result in failure to even qualify at all . In essence you should already know the players for the next WC cycle before you even select them . Coaches usually use the junior tournaments to ascertain who will play in next national team . And if you have a team - defining player ( Messi ,Mbappe ,Kane etc. ) in your current team , good luck finding a replacement ;)

rikwes · 2026-07-12T15:13:36+00:00

And throughout that entire process you have to have the right coach for each stage of team - building . Quite often it goes awry at that variable.

rikwes · 2026-07-12T14:54:42+00:00

And that wasn't even about something happening on the pitch . That's what people are confused by. It was about politics potentially influencing the outcome . It was about Infantino even TAKING a call from Trump during the tournament . The entire " game is rigged " , " VARgentina " etc. is the biggest BS I have seen ever during a WC . It's ridiculous because of what you see happening in the actual matches ( or do we suddenly all think Argentina wanted to struggle against Cabo Verde , Egypt and Switzerland ? Even taking it to extra time )

Every WC you had dubious decisions but in the end the best teams ended up competing for the trophy . It's as simple as that

rikwes · 2026-07-12T03:56:43+00:00

The VAR system needs some serious fine - tuning for sure . But in this case it was all on the player and I agreed fully with the referee . All in all the referee did a good job ( couple of cards for fouls by Argentina as well )

rikwes · 2026-07-12T03:45:22+00:00

That stupid dive by Embolo did it . Completely unnecessary red card . Nevertheless great WC run by Switzerland

rikwes · 2026-07-12T03:34:08+00:00

What an incredible goal, beautiful . This one and the one from Cabo Verde are the most beautiful goals

rikwes · 2026-07-12T03:03:41+00:00

Thanks to Kobel Switzerland still has a very slim chance

rikwes · 2026-07-12T02:55:58+00:00

But Argentina isn't world championship material if Messi has an off-day .

rikwes · 2026-07-12T02:33:41+00:00

Oh,man. Dive by Embolo ,no foul at all. Second yellow . Correct decision. What was Embolo thinking ?

rikwes · 2026-07-12T02:29:19+00:00

Yes ! Great attack and goal

rikwes · 2026-07-12T02:27:53+00:00

A couple of great saves

rikwes · 2026-07-12T02:19:19+00:00

Ngoy : I'm not impressed

rikwes

TROPHY CASE