2024-25 UCL Final: PSG vs Inter (5-0) Hakimi, Doue (2), Kvarashelia, Mayulu FT

[ohsee]

I sincerely hope you are joking, otherwise that would be a criminal information blind spot for a football fan.

Back to topic, former APOY winners like Kanoute and Mahrez (both born and raised in France ) show that place of birth is no barrier. Otherwise Erling Haaland (born in England) would be ineligible for Norway's footballer of the year award.

Wow! That's how much I am following events in African football. I had no idea Lookman is AFOY.

Guilty as charged of the "crime" of losing interest in African footie, which seems to be going downhill and dependent on European players passing for "African."

What we are seeing is fewer investments in Africa in fotball, or in the youth in general. A talented cameroonian has more chances to reach his potential if he was born in Paris instead of Yaounde.

You mean a talented Frenchman of Cameroonian ancestry. I remember you guys trying to claim Mbappe. Was never going to happen. The problems with sub-Saharan African teams go well beyond investments.

I admire Hakimi for choosing Morocco. Personally, I would have chosen Spain. Spain has to be one of the favourites to win the thing next year, and Hakimi would be an automatic starter. Morocco? I doubt it.

[The YeyeMan]

I sincerely hope you are joking, otherwise that would be a criminal information blind spot for a football fan.

Back to topic, former APOY winners like Kanoute and Mahrez (both born and raised in France ) show that place of birth is no barrier. Otherwise Erling Haaland (born in England) would be ineligible for Norway's footballer of the year award.

Wow! That's how much I am following events in African football. I had no idea Lookman is AFOY.

Guilty as charged of the "crime" of losing interest in African footie, which seems to be going downhill and dependent on European players passing for "African."

What we are seeing is fewer investments in Africa in fotball, or in the youth in general. A talented cameroonian has more chances to reach his potential if he was born in Paris instead of Yaounde.

You mean a talented Frenchman of Cameroonian ancestry. I remember you guys trying to claim Mbappe. Was never going to happen. The problems with sub-Saharan African teams go well beyond investments.

I admire Hakimi for choosing Morocco. Personally, I would have chosen Spain. Spain has to be one of the favourites to win the thing next year, and Hakimi would be an automatic starter. Morocco? I doubt it.

Morocco went further than Spain at the last WC.

[camex]

I sincerely hope you are joking, otherwise that would be a criminal information blind spot for a football fan.

Back to topic, former APOY winners like Kanoute and Mahrez (both born and raised in France ) show that place of birth is no barrier. Otherwise Erling Haaland (born in England) would be ineligible for Norway's footballer of the year award.

Wow! That's how much I am following events in African football. I had no idea Lookman is AFOY.

Guilty as charged of the "crime" of losing interest in African footie, which seems to be going downhill and dependent on European players passing for "African."

What we are seeing is fewer investments in Africa in fotball, or in the youth in general. A talented cameroonian has more chances to reach his potential if he was born in Paris instead of Yaounde.

You mean a talented Frenchman of Cameroonian ancestry. I remember you guys trying to claim Mbappe. Was never going to happen. The problems with sub-Saharan African teams go well beyond investments.

I admire Hakimi for choosing Morocco. Personally, I would have chosen Spain. Spain has to be one of the favourites to win the thing next year, and Hakimi would be an automatic starter. Morocco? I doubt it.

Mbappe has Cameroon written all over him. Look at players like Dembele and Ngolo Kante, you can easily see the difference. They are much more humble. Mbappe and Etoo come from the same country.

[wiseone]

Hakimi did not choose Spain for the same reason he did not choose to stay at Real Madrid: Dani Carvajal. Hakimi could not break into the Madrid first 11 when Carvajal was busy collecting Champions League trophies like an addict, and would have also had Carvajal standing in his way into the Spanish national team.

Hakimi blossomed because he chose not to play for Madrid or Spain and went elsewhere he could blossom. Ditto, Lookman would not be the star he is today had he chosen to play for England. He would probably never have played a single minute of international football and would be stuck in a long waiting queue behind Foden, Rashford, Gordon, Sancho, Eze etc al.

FYI, Morocco eliminated Spain at the last World Cup, and Hakimi scored the winning penalty...

I admire Hakimi for choosing Morocco. Personally, I would have chosen Spain. Spain has to be one of the favourites to win the thing next year, and Hakimi would be an automatic starter. Morocco? I doubt it.

[ohsee]

Hakimi did not choose Spain for the same reason he did not choose to stay at Real Madrid: Dani Carvajal. Hakimi could not break into the Madrid first 11 when Carvajal was busy collecting Champions League trophies like an addict, and would have also had Carvajal standing in his way into the Spanish national team.

Hakimi blossomed because he chose not to play for Madrid or Spain and went elsewhere he could blossom. Ditto, Lookman would not be the star he is today had he chosen to play for England. He would probably never have played a single minute of international football and would be stuck in a long waiting queue behind Foden, Rashford, Gordon, Sancho, Eze etc al.

FYI, Morocco eliminated Spain at the last World Cup, and Hakimi scored the winning penalty...

I admire Hakimi for choosing Morocco. Personally, I would have chosen Spain. Spain has to be one of the favourites to win the thing next year, and Hakimi would be an automatic starter. Morocco? I doubt it.

Chief, your argument is valid for Real Madrid, not for Spain. He was right to refuse Real and go to PSG where his talents were recognized by all and sundry. However, today, he would bench Carvajal on the Spanish national team if he had chosen Spain--to me, he is a better defender and even better going forward. He is rightly recognized as the best right back in the world. Most importantly, he is 26 and Carvajal is 33, and Carvajal has suffered some injury or another in almost every season.

As for whether Hakimi scored the winning penalty in the last world cup that eliminated Spain, it is irrelevant to my argument because neither Spain nor Morocco won the World Cup, Argentina did, and France eliminated Morocco while losing to Argentina. There was never any doubt in my mind that Morocco was going to lose to France. And of course, they lost to Croatia in the third place match. I felt they were lucky to get that far, and it is unlikely to happen again soon. Their run was hardly dominant, and the only team they defeated convincingly was Belgium.

Now tell me, if you were asked to bet your house and all your savings on either Morocco or Spain on who would win the next WC and who would perform better, whom would you choose? No way Morocco is going to win a World Cup, and least not in the near future. Spain is the most likely candidate at this one coming up, or the next.

[ohsee]

I sincerely hope you are joking, otherwise that would be a criminal information blind spot for a football fan.

Back to topic, former APOY winners like Kanoute and Mahrez (both born and raised in France ) show that place of birth is no barrier. Otherwise Erling Haaland (born in England) would be ineligible for Norway's footballer of the year award.

Wow! That's how much I am following events in African football. I had no idea Lookman is AFOY.

Guilty as charged of the "crime" of losing interest in African footie, which seems to be going downhill and dependent on European players passing for "African."

What we are seeing is fewer investments in Africa in fotball, or in the youth in general. A talented cameroonian has more chances to reach his potential if he was born in Paris instead of Yaounde.

You mean a talented Frenchman of Cameroonian ancestry. I remember you guys trying to claim Mbappe. Was never going to happen. The problems with sub-Saharan African teams go well beyond investments.

I admire Hakimi for choosing Morocco. Personally, I would have chosen Spain. Spain has to be one of the favourites to win the thing next year, and Hakimi would be an automatic starter. Morocco? I doubt it.

Morocco went further than Spain at the last WC.

Let's see how they will perform against this iteration of Euro-winning Spain. The issue is not whether Morocco beat Spain in the last World Cup, the issue is who is most likely to win a World Cup. After all, Nigeria beat Spain in 1998; how far did we go in 2002?

[ohsee]

I sincerely hope you are joking, otherwise that would be a criminal information blind spot for a football fan.

Back to topic, former APOY winners like Kanoute and Mahrez (both born and raised in France ) show that place of birth is no barrier. Otherwise Erling Haaland (born in England) would be ineligible for Norway's footballer of the year award.

Wow! That's how much I am following events in African football. I had no idea Lookman is AFOY.

Guilty as charged of the "crime" of losing interest in African footie, which seems to be going downhill and dependent on European players passing for "African."

What we are seeing is fewer investments in Africa in fotball, or in the youth in general. A talented cameroonian has more chances to reach his potential if he was born in Paris instead of Yaounde.

You mean a talented Frenchman of Cameroonian ancestry. I remember you guys trying to claim Mbappe. Was never going to happen. The problems with sub-Saharan African teams go well beyond investments.

I admire Hakimi for choosing Morocco. Personally, I would have chosen Spain. Spain has to be one of the favourites to win the thing next year, and Hakimi would be an automatic starter. Morocco? I doubt it.

Mbappe has Cameroon written all over him. Look at players like Dembele and Ngolo Kante, you can easily see the difference. They are much more humble. Mbappe and Etoo come from the same country.

Jokes.

[Coach]

Simeone Igbegbulam has resigned. Saudi it is.

[wiseone]

Looks like Thuram took the loss really well and has no resentment towards PSG players in the French national team.

https://x.com/nocontextfooty/status/1929897047475302760

https://x.com/XimasBets/status/1929840637500649639

[wiseone]

THAT run by Vitinha. Vitinha ran so much in that move that the video clip actually missed the beginning of his run!
Yes

https://x.com/eurofootcom/status/1929531327461695645

THAT PSG midfield could be the next great midfield of world football - to succeed Casemiro-Kroos-Modric, Busquets-Iniesta-Xavi, Beckham-Keane-Scholes-Giggs etc. The movement and passing of PSG's midfield was mesmeric.

The best demonstration of that midfield's talent was PSG's third goal. Vitinha ran back to take a FK in the CD position (what on earth was he doing back there?!), then ran to the RB position, then sprinted into CM, and then dribbled from his own half deep into the Inter half to set up Doue. He did all that in one continous sprint from one end of the pitch to the other without stopping.

He started a move deep in his own half, then helped to finish it deep in the opposition's half a few seconds later.