BigFatCoward Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 1 hour ago, AncalagonTheBlack said: Best PL defender at World Cup. Suck it Saliba fanboys! The best defender in the premier league wears clogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 The referee for the final is going to be Polish ref Szymon Marciniak. I hope he holds no hard feelings against France for eliminating Poland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 3 hours ago, Tywin et al. said: I have to ask, what happened with him? At his peak he was really hyped up here in the US and then he was just a complete afterthought if you were a causal fan like I was growing up. "Eu gosto de bolo e cerveja." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 3 hours ago, Tywin et al. said: I have to ask, what happened with him? At his peak he was really hyped up here in the US and then he was just a complete afterthought if you were a causal fan like I was growing up. Lack of professionalism. He was an absolute beast at his best, which unfortunately was for a very limited amount of time (PSG and first years at Barca). However during his later years at Barcelona he spent more time partying and did not show up for training and his performances suffered. When Guardiola became headcoach Ronaldinho and Deco showed up drunk for a session in training camp, and as they feared him becoming a bad influence and ruining a young Messi they sold off both, Ronladinho and Deco. Deco went to Chelsea and Ronaldinho to Milan (he was in his late twenties then, those should have been his prime years). There his disciplinary problems continued, which meant more meh performances. He was eventually phased out there, too and went back home to Brazil aged 30. He continued to live the life there, but not the life of a professional athlete, that is. Thus he became a bit of a journeymen living of his past glories fooling a number of clubs to sign him in the hope to get consistent performances out of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterfell is Burning Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 Same thing happened with Adriano (who seemed to have genuine problems with alcoholism, and probably depression too: reports indicate he begun his spiral after the death of his father) and Ronaldo (which had injury problems, but by the time he was 28/29 had begun to let go). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 Yeah, but they at least got some performances (goals) out of a bloated Adriano (which doesn't speak for the quality of the Brazilian leagues btw.). Ronaldinho was really just a washed up version of himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 Ronaldinho was magical to watch, but his production was nowhere near Messi or Ronaldo. His best la Liga season was 21 goals and 8 assists or 17 goals and 14 assists. Messi had 13 consecutive seasons with much much greater production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 Peak Henry > peak Ronaldinho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 Tough one. If you say Peak Henry > Peak Ronaldinho fine, if somebody else says Peak Ronaldinho > Peak Henry, also fine with me. As ridiculous good as Ronaldinho was, there'll always be that bit of unfullfilled promise/unused potential. He could have been so much more. While Henry pretty much got the maximum out of his career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sunland Lord Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 Adriano by early 2007 was finished in Europe, being only 25 (two and a half years after his father died). He started partying and once didn't show up in training (one of those parties were in a club in Belgrade, there were pictures of him being drunk sleeping on the table). Mancini has had enough of him and never gave him real minutes ever after, while Dunga didn't call him up for Brazil. He had some successful loans back to Brazil but by the age of 28 there he was utterly finished. Never recovered in any shape of form as a footballer. Absolute beast in his good times, but mentality and behavior is part of a top player's longevity. Anyway, some of the stuff he did as a player (click to watch it on youtube): We thought we finally replaced fat Ronaldo with a new generational talent. Well at least he gave us good 2 and a half years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 13 hours ago, Tywin et al. said: I have to ask, what happened with him? At his peak he was really hyped up here in the US and then he was just a complete afterthought if you were a causal fan like I was growing up. Ronaldinho said that if anyone wanted him to focus on football only they'd have to close all the bars, clubs etc. and completely ban alcohol, as he "was young and enjoyed life" or something like that. That tells you pretty much everything you need to know about him, along with his highlight reel. Also he ended up in prison for trying to go to (I believe) Paraguay with a fake passport or something like that. He was in prison for a couple of months and was a total star in prison, he played football with other inmates and all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3CityApache Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 13 hours ago, Corvinus85 said: The referee for the final is going to be Polish ref Szymon Marciniak. I hope he holds no hard feelings against France for eliminating Poland. Naah, nobody in Poland does, it was simply inevitable. And he is actually a really good ref, he used to ref both France and Argentina games on this WC already. BTW Poland is the only team at this WC which only lost to both finalists and noone else. This clearly means we are the third best team, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 13 minutes ago, 3CityApache said: BTW Poland is the only team at this WC which only lost to both finalists and noone else. This clearly means we are the third best team, right? Saudi Arabia is the only team that beat Argentina so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterfell is Burning Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 6 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Yeah, but they at least got some performances (goals) out of a bloated Adriano (which doesn't speak for the quality of the Brazilian leagues btw.). Ronaldinho was really just a washed up version of himself. Adriano had a good season in which he became focused again around 09', even managed to get himself recalled by Dunga again- who, of course, was very strict to a fault. Once the season ended and Flamengo had won the title, he felt back into his old habits again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 Very little beats peak henry, to be fair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 Infantino 'best world cup ever' plus new 32 team club world cup from 2025. I hate that ball bag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winterfell is Burning Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 28 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said: Infantino 'best world cup ever' plus new 32 team club world cup from 2025. I hate that ball bag. So, let me see- for Europeans, it adds a new tournament at the start of an already bloated season (a WC season, no less) they won't care much, if at all, but also has extra potential for a humiliating defeat that can cause problems (imagine being the first European to lose to Auckland City, that will make the supporters happy for the upcoming season) as well as more risk for injuries. For non-Europeans it adds a new tournament at the start or middle of an already bloated season (in many cases, even more bloated than European ones), while also reducing their chances of winning it due to more games and more Europeans. FIFA always achieves maximum efficiency in making everyone hate them. 2 hours ago, baxus said: Ronaldinho said that if anyone wanted him to focus on football only they'd have to close all the bars, clubs etc. and completely ban alcohol, as he "was young and enjoyed life" or something like that. That tells you pretty much everything you need to know about him, along with his highlight reel. That's a key problem to three guys I mentioned- they were all clearly inspired by Romário's "going from the party straight to the pitch" style but the difference is that Romário didn't drink, which is why he had a much longer career with a high level (he was still playing for Brazil as a starter and captain at 35, and didn't went to the WC in 2002 at 36 only because Scolari knew he wouldn't take kindly to be on the bench for Ronaldo and be a super-sub, and decided it wasn't worth the hassle; meanwhile, all other three were done long before that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 3 hours ago, baxus said: Also he ended up in prison for trying to go to (I believe) Paraguay with a fake passport or something like that. He was in prison for a couple of months and was a total star in prison, he played football with other inmates and all that. Shit, this touches close to home. When I was studying abroad in Argentina we took a trip to Iguazu National Park. The background picture I have when you click on my profile is of the Devil's Throat, one I took and just love. When returning back to Buenos Aires we went into Paraguay and then the bus reentered Argentina and I woke up with a gun pointed at me. Border Security down there took that shit seriously and I did not have a physical copy of my passport, just a scanned copy of it because we were never suppose to leave the country on our trip. Anyways, based on the responses I've gotten, it shouldn't be shocking that someone with that level of fame had a short window. It's incredible how some people, whether they're athletes, movie stars, politicians, etc. can survive that kind of public scrutiny and thrive for a very long time. I'm pretty sure if I had been blessed with such gifts I'd have burned out quickly as well. Just being an aid to a few politicians for less than a decade took several years off of my life and made me walk away from the field entirely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said: Infantino 'best world cup ever' plus new 32 team club world cup from 2025. I hate that ball bag. I'm eagerly awaiting the clubs' uprising against FIFA/UEFA. It's long overdue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denvek Posted December 16, 2022 Share Posted December 16, 2022 3 minutes ago, baxus said: I'm eagerly awaiting the clubs' uprising against FIFA/UEFA. It's long overdue. I believe that was called the European Super League. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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