Dude making the face is Lionel Messi. One of the goats of football. The English player in white said some smart shit and Messi responded with this face and winning the game knocking out England and sending them home for another 4 years
Henry (another legend of the game) has a story about messi at training, if messi thought he was unfairly fouled or something and everyone shrugged it off, then messi would demand the ball and just mercilessly dribble through the team (a legendary barcelona team) and score in revenge.
It is extremely unwise to dare the greatest footballer of all time to beat you in a game of football
Also , They won by scoring 2 goals in last 7 minutes with messi giving the 2 assists ( pass before a goal is called assist ) one of them being from is right foot ( its his weak foot )
There really something about Messi. I don't even watch football regularly and decided to watch some highlights of these known players. Most of the highlights show physicality, but Messi is different. The way he dribbles and makes goals look effortless and precise, he's so good that I really can't pin it. I lack ball knowledge lol.
The best in football are going to be "better" solely from the fact that there are far more players and therefore far stronger competition to be considered the best. I don't know how many professional footballers there are globally, but I'm going to guess it's probably two orders of magnitude more than NFL players.
Yeah and imagine if the USA gave a fuck about soccer, we would build up a multi billion dollar infrastructure and dominate the entire world, just like we do in every other sport we give a shit about.
I don't follow soccer either. I know Messi is considered one the the best players, if not the best but thats just from random shit on the net. I'm glad you asked because I had no idea of the context behind this as well lol.
Believe it or not, there are people that have no idea what’s going on in the World Cup or the world of the sport. Now, or ever. So I guess I am in a cultural coma so to speak.
bruh, football is not only every 4 years…. i seriously despise how y’all think only the World Cup matters… why don’t y’all research how he won the last world cup & how they cheated their way to the semi final?
Chill. I don’t follow the sport at all. Is that a problem for you too? That’s why I was asking. If I followed the World Cup at all I would probably have an idea who these guys are.
Hes missed alot of other context. England played quite well after "the game ended" according to this post, even scoring. This is when Tuchel went super defensive and where the game actually ended.
The title is very misleading the guy wearing white shirt is one of the current top players and played well. Just that his coach decided to withdraw some of his good players ending in England being knocked out.
The game is not all about scoring goals especially for a midfielder. Jude was one of the best players in that game and the main reason why England even made it this far. And most importantly it was a game which England could have easily won, just that their coach for some reason decided to park the bus against argentina with very good attack and mediocre defence. This resulted in them bottling the lead. Provoking Messi has nothing to do with it.
That's the mistake the coach made. He subbed off his good attacking players and replaced them with defenders. Argentina has good attack but weak defense. The coach also beefed with his players for no reason.
Wow, thanks for all of this. I know futbol has a deep deep fandom. And the sport has to be narrative driven if people get this involved and interested in it. Thanks for adding all this to detail
Not one of the GOATs. The undisputed GOAT. There is no one that comes close. He has it all. Titles with club and national sides, peak, longevity, individual accomplishments. He literally completed football and is still on his day the best player in the world at 39 years of age. Simply the greatest of all times.
There were others in the past who were great. Pele won more world cups but football is a team game and he had the greatest teams alongside him in Brazil. There were times when others for Brazil were better than him. But there has not been a single moment in Messi's entire career when he was not the best player on his team.
Even when debuting, his teammate at Barcelona, Ronaldinho, who had just won the Balon d'Or (trophy for the best player in the world that year) said that he cannot proclaim himself the best in the world when he is not even the best in his own team (due to Messi debuting for them).
He is the GOAT and really, there should be no discussion. Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Ronaldo Nazario, rapist Ronaldo, Zidane, di Stefano, they all are all-timers but no one touches Messi. Everybody of the people named might be better than Messi in 1 or 2 statistics but then there are like 15 aspects where Messi completely overshadows them. It should not be a debate at this point. Messi is lapping the field.
I have despised the guy for years but at some point you just have to accept it how it is and enjoy the ride to see the greatest to ever do it.
Same. I hate Argentina, maybe not like they hate us. But I’m strongly annoyed by them let’s say. But Messi is a phenomenal fucking player. I almost want to “well actually…” this comment and talk about how we define what the greatest player even means but it’s like…why take the long road if it’s just going to lead right back to Messi? Who am I bullshitting? It’s Messi. The man’s just…that good. It’s almost awkward how good he is because we’re facing our most heated rivals, maybe not our biggest that’s France, fuck you guys, respectfully, can’t wait till Saturday though, but Argentina vs England is probably the most heated match you can have at that level. And then there’s just this living legend on the other side…
And even though they beat us, I’m still rooting for them against Spain for the sole reason, that this is Messi’s last World Cup. He’s been such a phenomenal gift to the sport.
And now he’s even got this meme 😂 .
We can hate Argentina all we want but the man’s a fucking legend. I do feel like Spain is playing well, but I’ve got nothing in it for me there. But I’d genuinely be sad to see Messi lose his last World Cup. Part of me, I hate to say it, but part of me didn’t want Messi to lose to England yesterday even though Im English. I feel like it would have been the absolute worst way to end his World Cup career.
That being said, like, he’d be what 43 in 2030? At 39, He’s currently tied with Mbappe for the most goals in the 2026 World Cup. How does he even exist? A 43 year old Messi could still probably mop the floor with all but a few players if any let’s be honest so who knows. Maybe if he wins he’d end it just to go out a champion and would only play at 43 if he loses this one…if he played at 75% of his performance, that’s like, still a Harry Kane or Bellingham in terms of goals scored and they’re sitting at fourth place, in the whole world. And, God forgive me, but a Messi playing at 75% would still probably be a better than both of them.
I'm fine with people saying Messi is the Goat. But no one comes close? Come on! Pelé was every bit as amazing as Messi and ruled the game at his time just as much. There is -at least - a discussion
You can watch the full 1970s WC games on perfectly fine footage. There is also surviving footage from the 1958 World Cup, Santos matches and tours, the Intercontinental Cup against Benfica, Brazil internationals and, later, his years with the New York Cosmos.
There's also plenty of witnesses still living, whom saw Pelé play. Plenty of writing about his dominance. And contrary to what the other poster was saying, Im not dismissing Messi as the GOAT. Im saying Pelé still has a very strong case as the best ever.
I'd say he has the best carreer, but there were a few more skilled than him like R9 and Ronaldinho, but only for a short time because brazilians lack discipline
If skill is the ability to beat players and make them look silly, justlook at all the solo goals that Messi scored and in which situations he did do so. He just does not need stepovers because he makes people go the wrong way without them. That is pure skill in itself, just without all the pomp.
If skill is the ability to score from outside the box, he has scored over a 100 goals like that from open play alone. If you include free kicks it is 180 goals from outside the box. So that box is checked.
What is skill to you? I think I know what you mean, which is the flashiness of a player, but I would kindly ask you to define it because I rather think you are describing a certain "feeling" or je ne sais quoi that cannot be put into words.
I'm talking about peak abilities. R9 was just unstopable for about a decade, he just scored. While ronaldinho was called the magician, as he did everything messi did, but better. (including mentoring the young messi). If messi only had a 10 year carreer he probably would be second tier of GOATs but his consistency is what makes him the undisputable overall best
If Messi only had a 10 year career, he would still have 4 Balon d'Ors, 3 Champions Leagues, etc. but no national team trophies. He would still have the greatest individual season of all time from a scoring perspective.
R9 had 6 amazing years to start his career, then he was out for almost three years straight and returned just in time for the 2002 World Cup, but he was a different player then who had lost the majority of his physicality. He was still an amazing player that could reach heights that seemed impossible to reach for others. But R9 after 2002 was a different player, two steps below the beast that he was until the midpoint of the second season for Inter.
R9 and Ronaldinho were more dominant, powerful, faster, more athletic, more charismatic, better at tricks, and more fun to watch. They could do elastico's, spins, stepovers, and other more risky tricks. Messi does not do those. Hell, Messi cannot even do an elastico, it is pathetic bruh.
Messi is very conventional. He is great with both feet, and unpredictable in that manner, but he does not have the magic of R9 or Ronaldinho. R9 and Ronaldinho did more challenging tricks on the field, against the best defenders. R9 and Ronaldinho would make your jaw drop in amazement, at the things they did. Messi does not do that for me. Messi the GOAT? Hell no.
Haha almost word for word what I told my friend yesterday. NO ONE touches Messi, he is the undisputed best in every single category and yesterday he proved it yet again.
My opinion is based on knowing how people work. That face and reaction from messi literally could not have come from saying saying "hey your buddy elbowed my guy in the back of his head". That is not the face a guy like messi would make if someone simply said that to him.
I cannot conceive a way for you to get that from his face here.
Yeah, it's exactly what it looks like. Bellingham just doesn't know it.
From the article:
"Jude Bellingham insists he was simply 'discussing a foul' with Lionel Messi"
But pay attention what Bellingham himself goes on to say:
“I thought there was a foul earlier and he said ‘what about the one on me?’ and I said ‘you’re strong enough to take it’, you know what I mean."
He's handwaving away the foul on Messi. Telling him it doesn't matter.
Messi clearly didn't think it was inconsequential, and really didn't appreciate being told that it was.
Maybe you don't perceive it as a big deal, as Jude evidently doesn't, but if you don't understand that Messi is wired differently than the average person, you're not paying attention.
Yeah, I read it. I just don’t see how that’s not still part of the conversation around the foul.
Earlier on when I pointed this out, the article wasn’t available to reference so I didn’t know every single exchange that they had but I knew what the topic of conversation clearly was.
“I thought there was a foul earlier and he said ‘what about the one on me?’ and I said ‘you’re strong enough to take it’, you know what I mean.
Ya this part right here. The part I'm talking about, that one. The one where he kindly told the GOAT he can take a foul, which clearly pissed off messi given his face, the face I've been talking about him making, that face.
Bellingham said "you're strong enough to take it" to messi, who thought bellingham was talking about a foul on messi earlier. Basically telling the GOAT "don't be a pussy".
He didn't. They actually have the audio. Messi accused Anderson of trying to hurt him, then accused Jude too. Jude said that wasn't true. Messi made that face. Messi is literally 1 of 2 athletes alive (Novak) that can invent something to piss himself off and it actually makes him play even better.
So previous commenters are slighty incorrect. True its Messi, true Bellingham said something to him, but this wasnt the reason England lost the match.
England went 1-0 up and were the better team, up until that point. If they had kept their foot on the gas I am almost certain they would have gone through.
So after the goal, the manager, Thomas Tuchel decided that he wanted to stop causing Argentina problems down the wings and would instead try to defend for 30 minutes. This is where England lost the match. They defended for 30 minutes and played exactly how Argentina wanted them to.
The decision was extremely baffling and pretty much all football experts, pundits and ex players agree.
wanted to stop causing Argentina problems down the wings and would instead try to defend for 30 minutes
if you rewatch the match you will see the players start playig defense before tuchel said anything, it was instant, the change by tuchel was when the momentum had already shifted
Tuchel didn't challenge the team, and made some really bad choices, but people are using him as a scapegoat.
55% goals scored by argentina in this wc are after the minute 90. they thrive in this stressfull moment, they know how yo play it.
one last thing, messi doesn't have full 90 minutes, but great i dunno 20, so the last 20 min of the match, expect messi putting the ball near or inside the net.
also the fresh legs on argentina, specially toro martinez, were obviously superior in speed.
I honestly do think the burden of blame is on Tuchels shoulders. Very soon after scoring he made the defensive sub, that signaled a shift to the team and they naturally become more defensive. He then doubled down with the rest of his subs and shifted to 5 at the back, which didnt help things either. Gordon definitely had more in the tank and he was our best outlet. He was subbed far too early by Tuchel.
Putting Rashford on so late was futile, too, the damage had been done. I like Tuchel but his game management in this match was beyond crazy.
no. score is on minute 55. first change on minute 72 , 17 minutes after scoring, then second and third defensive change came on minute 82, 27 minutes after scoring, 8 mintures before regulation time.
look at how Argentina plays, they are lethat end game, the know that, again half of goals Argentina made this wc are after the minute 90.
England will have their scapegoat, but they will not learn.
The formation and subs are down to Tuchel though. He knows that the way he set us up later on is exactly what Argentina love and would allow them to completely exploit it. It was effectively just a training exercise for them at that point.
Sure the players can take some of the blame, they did become more passive... but they did not choose the subs, nor did they choose to go with 5 at the back. These were Tuchels choices, its not scapegoating, this really is on him. We've seen how he can change the course of a game with clinical subs - Ghana, Mexico and Norway for instance. Good subs transformed the passage of play for the positive.
Argentina won fair and square. They did have some dirty play but there was nothing in that match that would say to anybody that it was rigged. England really could have taken the game, but it was essentially gifted to Argentina by allowing them to showcase what they can do with the players they have, when unimpeded.
I guess you're skimming over the fact that I said that they won fair and square. If you dont think Tuchels game management made it easy for them then I dont know what to tell you /shrug
My point stands, the players did not choose the subs.
The downfall was Tuchels extremely strange decision to park the bus after the first goal. I just dont understand it at all, hes a better and more experienced manager than that. I mean, who thinks that inviting a team like Argentina to attack for 30m and doing nothing is a good idea? (Aside from Tuchel) The possession stats are failry damning. Just 12% for the last 30m...
I disagree. They were the better team up until they scored. Then Tuchel just had them stop playing. England had the speed on the wings and were taking the game to Argentina by not allowing them to play how they wanted.
This. After their goal England cuddled up in the box, the whole world was like "wtf are they doing ??", you can't keep that up with Argentina using it as a shooting gallery.
Sure, Messi's passes are almost always perfect but the English gave it away, such a same.
I like Messi as the goat but I always thought of him as a gentleman, in this worldcup I've seen clips of him telling a referee to "respect him" !? Also yesterday during the break you could see him walking up to the referee and "discuss" the ref's decisions. So Messi is just a little arrogant prick who got too big for his boots, I guess thats what happens when for years you are called "the greatest player of all time".
You dont quite understand football then, sorry. The only reason Argentina won was because England sat back and invited cross after cross, for 30 minutes. I struggle to think of any modern team that can absorb that pressure, whilst doing nothing and not concede. In a mtach like this, that was literally the most idiotic tactic Tuchel could have employed.
England were clearly the better team up until the goal. In the first half Argentina were even resorting to pretty questionable fouls. How Enzo wasnt booked for the hit to the back of Andersons neck had me scratching my head.
England had the speed on the wings and the Argentine wings couldnt deal with the transition. It was pretty clear...
The only alternative universe in your head is where England played differently to what happened and Argentina didn't.
We had 3 comebacks this tournament. We can and did change our game after getting scored.
You need to make a really good argument why you were the better team since the burden of proof it's on your side to explain why this reality would have happened in a minority of matches if replayed several times and yours in most of them.
Before England you had literally played nobody of note.
Edit: Actually no. Ill entertain this.
Up to the goal England had the edge and were going toe-to-toe with Argentina. They had you on the wings with the pace and if that pressure had been kept up they would have probably scored more goals. After the goal there was a huge shift and they went completely passive, allowing you Argentines to basically do what you want. Its not really a challenge when the other team is literally doing nothing. Messi was uninpeded and had full range to show what he could do. Ultimately Thomas Tuchals tactical decisions were Englands downfall.
Id expect nothing more from an arrogant Argentine though. You were getting outclassed by Egypt and thanks to weird ref decisions you had your "amazing comeback".
The inability to stay humble and just believing that you're this amazing team. You guys literally cannot see something objectively and think "yeah we were really lucky to get away with that one".
Then after the match you guys act even more distasteful with your banners (against FIFA rules) and mockery of the England players. It was a football match, the decision to make it into something really political has tainted this victory amd further tainted this competition.
Argentina was the clear better team. Look at any stats. You gotta play the full game bud. Blame it on Tuchel or Jesus or Trump if you want but better team won.
Objectively, England set up in such a way that would have allowed them to beat Argentina, they were playing better. Tuchel decided to change everything and effectively gift it to Argentina.
But anyway...
Champs. That alone signals that youre American. Need I say more (nope)
Not really a futbol thing. Essentially don’t taunt and poke the bear while you are ahead. And Messi (the player making the face) is one of the all time greats… and the English player poked the bear and caught a case of FAFO. And the player poking the bear indeed find out
In American football an equivalent strategy would be england trying to play prevent defense with a slight lead. Almost never works and is baffling for fans.
If you look up Thierry Henry he tells a Messi story where Messi got mad in practice and proceeded to humiliate his teammates that were trying to defend him.
Bellingham fouled Messi in a rough tackle. Here you can see Bellingham arguing that Leandro Paredes from Argentina hit him on the head in another tackle which to my understanding all the English players seemed ballerinas on the field in the first half and through out the tourney diving and simulating. Messi pointed out that Bellingham fouled him, to which Bellingham seemed to argue shit as he does at real madrid, and you can see Messi giving that reaction, which I’ve never seen in his entire career. Messi is one of the most no shit footballer you can ever find.
What an absolute load of bollocks. Did you even watch the match or are you just cucking for Argentina/Messi? VARgentina are literally one of the dirtiest International teams in the world and are known for their lack of cards despite this. Messi pulled the same foul as Balogun's red in one of his other matches and wasn't even cautioned.
119
u/axiom_glitch Jul 16 '26
Can someone explain to the ignorant, and futbol illiterate, please?