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Greg Lea
@gregleafootball.bsky.social
Freelance football journalist. Published: FourFourTwo, Guardian, talkSPORT, WhoScored, ESPN, The Blizzard and more
Maradona 1986: Inspires Argentina to World Cup glory Messi 2022: Inspires Argentina to World Cup glory Maradona 1990: Leads a worse Argentina team to final, loses 1-0 Messi 2026: Leads a worse Argentina team to final, loses 1-0 Maradona 1994: Thrown out for failed drugs test Messi 2030: ?
Not far off this game going to extra time, which I'm sure is what everyone involved wants
Seventh assist for Michael Olise, more than anyone else at a World Cup since 1966 (and maybe ever)
Goal and assist from Rice, Saka looking dangerous - Arsenal fans must be delighted to see their boys shining in this game
This has been France's most controlled performance yet. Given Morocco absolutely nothing
Desperate for one of these penalty decisions to get overturned so we can hear this ref issue another no-nonsense ruling on the mic
Kick-off pushed back to 2am then. What with the hydration breaks and possible VAR reviews, the pubs might have to kick people out before penalties if there's any further delay
Brazil beat Germany in the 2002 final. Since then, they've exited every World Cup as soon as they've faced a European team in the knockout stage
That Balogun decision is disgraceful, as was the removal of Ronaldo's ban for the start of the tournament. What's the point in rules if they're selectively applied?
How many players are gonna be involved in the post-match brawl then?
Paraguay 0-2 France. In yellow cards. Not sure how that's happened
Paraguay in their absolute element out there - 21% possession so far, and they'll be disappointed it's that high
They'll probably still win, but France are playing into Paraguay's hands here
Amazing moment. And fair play to Cape Verde - usually you'd expect the underdogs with such little possession to lose patience and shoot from miles out, but they've continually resisted that to work the ball into better areas
we are one day away from the funniest VAR offsides graphic ever
Polymarket@polymarket.extwitter.link · last mo.BREAKING: England players are reportedly permitted to use Viagra to help manage World Cup altitude conditions in Mexico City.
Don't think Cape Verde would be quaking in their boots about facing one of these teams in the last 16, let alone Argentina
Quite fancy Australia to edge this. Egypt haven't been as negative as in previous tournaments, but think they could struggle against Australia's contain-and-counter approach
Surprised how deep Ronaldo is dropping. He's often between the lines and Fernandes is up with the centre-backs, which doesn't seem ideal
Oliver Glasner, with a track record of publicly criticising his bosses, hired by Evangelos Marinakis? I'm sure that'll end well
Hard to blame Sweden for anything here. How do you live with this level of attacking talent?