ITT: LEO 'KING' MESSI

agreed onimo

Well said, that man

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0ctUgrc06x27b/x610.jpg

for extra aww factor that message up there on his t-shirt is for his newborn niece <3

― DJ Get Up Kids (jim in glasgow), Thursday, 18 March 2010 00:10 (5 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the sick little cunt

looking a bit ...

http://pentangle.net/blog/files/2009/10/da41600de893757c_landing1.jpg

this finding solace in the maculate is kinda catholic imho, valourizing the pitiful and the miraculous rather than enjoying the honest expression of rarified talents

i also prefer the seriousminded messi to the more playful, latterly clownish ronaldinho when you see the former just getting better and better with application and r10 happy to coast and play a great throughball once a game

i also prefer the seriousminded messi to the more playful, latterly clownish ronaldinho

Hate all that "Playing football with a smile on his face" bollocks

that was one of the more annoying tyldsleyisms of the mid 00s

i used to like that ronaldinho took pleasure in his greatness, and he was never shy with praising his teammates eg saying he wasn't even the best player at barcelona when messi came through

then you see the levity as the other side of the laziness that's afflicted him since

messi is protestant work ethic incarnate by comparison

i used to like that ronaldinho took pleasure in his greatness, and he was never shy with praising his teammates

Yes, I think he said Henrik Larsson was his hero at one point!

andy carroll stuck one on steven taylor?? man i already knew dude was gonna be a kitson x shearer dickhead to savour over the coming years but this just puts the tin hat on it. all hail your new #9 king:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hx1U8gDRC00/SWq3hH5K-GI/AAAAAAAAAHA/DsFMYEeQzSY/s400/andy+carroll+cornrow.JPG

maybe we should start a thread where we all basically lap dance for him for 200 posts until people start disliking him out of spite

Ronaldinho, lovely fellow:

"With Henrik leaving us at the end of the season this club is losing a great scorer, no question. But I am also losing a great friend. Henrik was my idol and now that I am playing next to Henrik Larsson it is fantastic."

The joy in the unexpected things that Ronaldinho would come up with was a great thing but yeah, he's got to be brilliant first or he might as well be a clown. But you can underachieve by going in the other direction too - I'm thinking of Shearer and his one career trophy

OMG <3 AC24 GONNA TAKE THE EPL BY STORM NEXT SEASON

ITT: carollus magnus 'king' novocastriensis

(kitson x shearer)

shit x cunt

LJ- I don't really understand this 'ok so i don't like him because most of his goals don't come out of the blue' thing. He's the sort of player who will win the ball and take on 3 players trying to hack at his feet and score... is that not out of the blue? How more surprising must a goal be to impress you? Will he have to score from taking a goal kick because Valdes is lol rubbish at them?

An awesome player who is super unfashionable and at a lol country stealing the show you say? We have a few options:

http://www.topnews.in/sports/files/Nicklas-Bendtner.jpg
http://img.skysports.com/08/03/218x298/ZdravkoKuzmanovic_750936.jpg
http://news.dipag.com/pictures/lowres/20060312/David-Suazo-walks-0000006239.jpg
http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u36/CaptainSneddon/AlexisSanchez.jpg

and a trio of exciting players from the most underrated team going into this

http://www.baybul.com/resimler/Resim-190309-1115/1225-diego+forlan-1.jpg
http://www.raxanreeb.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/luis-suarez.jpg
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/fifau20/assets/contentImages/newsmakers/edinson-cavani.jpg

if uruguay make it to the semis, don't say yr friend with the crazy footballing opinions didnt warn ye

I don't know who half these guys are, but I like your thinking

Bendtner, Kuzmanovic, Suazo, Sanchez, Forlan, Suarez, Cavani.

think you have the wrong suazo, david rather than humberto?

maybe both sure

neither very good tho

maybe Serbia

remind me of the blond nedved looking dude at CSKA (Krasic?)- he is a definite star turn waiting to happen

these aren't exactly recondite names, krasic would probably sell for around £20m and luis suarez even more

They rarely are though - Milla is the only genuine unknown I can think of who stepped up at a recent World Cup

No player is going to burst out of 'nowhere' to shine at a world cup this summer.

and even roger milla seems to have played in the french first division for years before 1990

For about thirty years.

Well there are still unknown quantities in world football but I'd think it very hard to believe there is some African striking God currently going unknown; a New Zealander who didn't take up rugby instead or someone from the middle east more worried about whether he'd get shot by the fans than being awesome.

smh all this lower league real English football played by real English men who hit people nonsense. Of course 3rd division fans leap with joy at sclaffed crosses hitting the top corner and at their cult clogger figure taking ball plus man plus man behind him and anything else that happens to be nearby, but none of these things (particularly when it's not your team) is even close to matching a Messi or a Best or a Maradona in full flight with a ball glued to his toe.

I get the impression here that Messi's genius needs to expose a flaw to make him less boring when in actuality there's nothing more boring than the Flawed Genius who has 5 great career moments if he's lucky and spends the rest of his life snorting coke and punching his wife.

This isn't remotely what I've been saying. You're deriving a pretty crass stereotype from my sentiments. I am NOT only concerned with 'lower league real English football played by real English men' - I spend more time thinking about the Premier League and European football than I do Charlton! I don't believe lower-league football is 'real' as opposed to top-level football. Your generalisations of my beliefs are insulting.

What I'm saying is that football is a large church, and it permits all denominations a pew. You can have your hardworking striving-for-consistent-genius Messi types; doubtless if he's still turning it on in ten years he'll achieve a similar status in my mind to Sachin Tendulkar, who's potentially his nearest sporting equivalent of modern times. I still cheer Tendulkar, his wondrous, impregnable technique, his copious achievements, his occasionally transcendent act of truth (Messi's equivalent of the 200 in an ODI could be a WC hat-trick - he isn't there yet but I have no doubt he'll do incredible things in his career). I dearly love Tendulkar and fully understand the worship. But Messi is at the start of his career. Furthermore, Tendulkar will never bash a brilliant 60* from number 9 to win a Test; he'll never bowl a five-wicket spell to turn a match around. He won't do anything dramatic out of *nowhere*; when he takes to the crease, it is the expectation of a billion Indians that he'll do the business, and the only way he can exceed expectations is to do the unthinkable. Messi must follow suit if I am to lionise him equally.

But I am not solely concerned with acts of unpredictability and maculate agency. Indeed, the Flawed Genius who beats his wife and wrecks his body is of little interest to me; he is talented but has elected himself out of the pantheon. The flawed geniuses I am compelled by are those who try their damnedest and create an achievement of personality and memory, even while their recorded feats may not exceed a few. Most of all I am interested in anything good or remarkable (hence, not any old sliced cross into the top corner - the aesthetics have to be singular or spectacular) that I bear witness to on a football pitch. Naturally, at higher levels of the game, there is more exposure, and more prestige - and perhaps a greater level of skill required to best the opposition - but I am saying that while we praise Messi for his Tendulkar-like march upon statistical and popular dominance, we must keep an open mind for the lower-league footballer who dances through a defence with the ball glued to his toe. It does happen now and then.

cos those defences are shit. next!

Firstly can I mention how much I hate 'genius' being used in sporting terms? I guess a manager can be 'genius' but being able to hit a six or round three players is 'talent'. Or am I rong here?

Also wanna talk flawed 'genius? Growth hormone deficiency has different effects at different ages. In newborn infants the primary manifestations may be hypoglycemia or micropenis, while in later infancy and childhood, growth failure is more likely. Deficiency in adults is rare, but may feature diminished lean body mass, poor bone density, and a number of physical and psychological symptoms. Psychological symptoms include poor memory, social withdrawal, and depression, while physical symptoms may include loss of strength, stamina, and musculature. Other hormonal or glandular disorders frequently coincide with diminished growth hormone production.

lj the thing that bugs me about yr point is you are fighting against no one. we all still like seeing underdogs and lol lame lower league players do something of accidental brilliance. no one looks down on it here and as far as i can tell no one takes the insiped 'i support united and they have won more than yr team so i must like/know more about football than you do' 6 yr old argument. we can and do appreciate both. but is messi less exciting because he plays for a big team? should we back off from enjoying his brilliance because something exciting also happened on the football league show w/ manesh? can't we just shut up and enjoy both?

Being able to hit a six is talent, being able to average 50 and score 150+ in a ODI more than 5 times in a career while shouldering the burden of an entire people's expectation and never falling foul of personal demons once = genius

if Messi grows up to be half the sportsman Tendulkar is I will gladly declare him a genius of our time - but he won't be the only one. He is singular, perhaps, but what will beatify him is a genuine attempt upon the illusion of immortality.

I am saying that Messi IS exciting, but we KNOW he is exciting - it is a problem of expectation, which he must surmount

he is surmounting it and has been for a few years now. he's had expectation as a burden since ronaldinho declared him the best player in the world three years ago or more, and he wears it extremely well.

rooney has been a 'developing talent' for twice as long as messi has been a great footballer.

I think we can safely say Rooney is a great footballer now.

yeah i agree with that, but only since the beginning of this season imo, and possibly in the o of anyone outside of the daily mirror influence zone.

also Messi needs to score more flying volleys and first-time blaps if I'm really gonna love him ;)

Thierry Henry = Brian Lara - so many different shots, so many different and wondrous actions, such rich form, such glorious plunder, and an even more varied and outlandish cavalcade of iconic moments than Messi/Tendulkar - never really led his nation to great things - didn't have that intangible fire of continual improvement

first time blaps relates to losing ur virginity to a granwhore, yes/no?

hahahahaha

can't believe that lionel messi hasn't led his nation to great things he is shit

In the next match against Serbia, Messi became the youngest player to represent Argentina at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute for Maxi Rodríguez in the 74th minute. He assisted Hernán Crespo's goal within minutes of entering the game and also scored the final goal in the 6–0 victory, making him the youngest scorer in the tournament and the sixth youngest goalscorer in the history of the World Cup.[97] Messi started in Argentina's following 0–0 tie against the Netherlands.[98] In the following game against Mexico, Messi came on as a substitute in the 84th minute, with the score tied at 1–1. He appeared to score a goal, but it was ruled offside[99][100] with Argentina needing a late goal in extra time to proceed. Coach José Pekerman left Messi on the bench during the quarter-final match against Germany, which they lost 4–2 on a penalty shootout.[101]

2007 Copa América

Messi at the Copa América 2007Messi played his first game in the Copa América 2007 on 29 June 2007, when Argentina defeated United States 4–1 in the first game. In this game, he showed his capabilities as a playmaker. He set up a goal for fellow striker Hernán Crespo and had numerous shots on target. Tevez came on as a substitute for Messi in the 79th minute and scored minutes later.[102]

His second game was against Colombia, in which he won a penalty that Crespo converted to tie the game at 1–1. He also played a part in Argentina's second goal as he was fouled outside the box, which allowed Juan Roman Riquelme to score from a freekick, and increase Argentina's lead to 3–1. The final score of the game was 4–2 in Argentina's favor and guaranteed them a spot in the tournament's quarterfinals.[103]

In the third game, against Paraguay the coach rested Messi having already qualified for the quarter-finals. He came off the bench in place of Esteban Cambiasso in the 64th minute, with the score at 0–0. In the 79th minute he created a goal for Javier Mascherano.[104] In the quarter-finals, as Argentina faced Peru, Messi scored the second goal of the game, from a Riquelme pass in a 4–0 win.[105] During the semi-final match against Mexico, Messi scored a lob over Oswaldo Sánchez to see Argentina through to the final with a 3–0 win.[106]

the day Messi is caught with coke and hookers = the day he turns into Shane Warne* and becomes my favourite currently active sportsman <3

*the sort of flawed genius who never or rarely compromised his sporting talents or sporting intellect - was just a dude who didn't do it straight and narrow - hence the sort of flawed genius I adore beyond all reason. dude's life spun a yarn. LITERALLY AMIRITE

dmac that's not exactly leading his nation single-handedly to great things, please try and do batter than the second goal in a 4-0 win over peru

he's 21, he plays for one of the best teams in the world. the opportunity to lead trinidad to a world cup has sadly passed him by.

hang on why did I type 'batter'

getting flashbacks of my worst ILX moment here

grannybatter

no, this: battered womens syndrome c/d

oh me, oh my

that was a fucking classic and i can't believe it didn't garner you all sorts of spermabans

spermabatters

It's going to be pretty difficult to lead Maradona's team into anything other than ridicule but I'm sure he'll do his best.

I think it's unfair that Messi making the exceptional commonplace somehow makes him less worthy of admiration.

I wasn't intending to personally insult anyone and I apologise if I have. I love lower league last day of the season feats of heroism as much as the next guy but I wouldn't fetishise them to an extent that they eclipse your actual best footballers in the world doing it on a regular basis. It's the "regular basis" bit that makes them the best.

And they're not eclipsing! Merely coexisting. Messi's genius isn't so much a genius of moment (unless he really does run past an entire international defence) as one of consistency, and the two appeal to different parts of my sporting appreciation. He's gifted with the ability to jink past everyone, so he does. He hasn't changed the way the game is played - yet. He's worthy of enormous admiration, because he works so hard at improving himself, and because he clearly think about his game.

the day Messi is caught with coke and hookers = the day he turns into Shane Warne* and becomes my favourite currently active sportsman <3

FUCKING LEGEND

there's nothing more boring than the Flawed Genius who has 5 great career moments if he's lucky and spends the rest of his life snorting coke and punching his wife.