Guys,

A little sum up and purely focus on the under-performing stars. This thread focus on top tier world class stars or close to that who were total crap during the WC.

If you have to choose 5, who it that be? Please think of some one "high profile, high expectation, have been consistently great this year or the past years, either club or international level".

My pick:

1. De Gea. easy pick, he has been godly in MU... but this WC is nothing but a disaster for his status
2. Dembele What can I say... I have always been saying he was Barcelona's panic buy, but I did really expect more.
3. G. Pique has a little doubt here, not because he wasn't bad, HE WAS TERRIBLE. But he's quite overrated at club level IMO.
4. Kimmich. should replace Lahm, nothing but an absolute weak point.
5. Sterling Might be unpopular here, but I think he should be subbed off far more often...

Had disaster performance but I didn't have high expectation anyway:

• Mascherano
• Piotr Zielinski - the star of Napoli,
• MullerAlthough he's getting old, but this was beyond bad.

What do you think?

@iHEART He is angry because you said something negative about a Chelsea player. But yeah, his comeback was pretty weak. Really should have compared him to Fekir, Thauvin, Lemar or Dembele instead. :(

N E Y M A R J R
maybe he needs to be in argentina squad for once to see how precious starting11s are.
too much individualism in brazil.

I S C O
this guy is expected by every la liga fans to be heir to iniesta in NT. yes, nutmegging verrati is fun
but what about the world cup???

K H E D I R A
I thought this guy and granit xhaka switch soul.

M A S C H E R A N O, M E Z A, C A B A L L E R O
enough said.

Messi had once again a bad World Cup

Messi still had a less bad World Cup than your hero CR7..

"Once again" - just carried an average Argentina side to the final last WC and won the golden ball. More than Ronaldo have ever done in the World Cup, or in any international tournament really.

We had the same as Croatia, Rabiot also refused to join the squad because he didn't want substitute. How foolish could he be ? Even worse situation for him, but glad we won it without these arrogant people...

I would say CR7 and Messi had a pretty similar wc in terms of performance. They both were brilliant a few times but mainly not reaching their full potential. Messi had two decent games (France, Nigeria) one mediocre (Iceland) and one really bad (Croatia). Ronaldo had one incredible game (Spain) and three mediocre games (Iran, Morocco, Uruguay).

@expertfootball Not exactly the same, Rabbiot was actually part of the backup, would have been given a place in the team if a player in the list wouldn't have been able to participate to the world cup because of a last minute problem.

And yeah Messi didn't had a bad world cup, I mean, it was much worse than 2014 but at the end of the day, the results for Argentina and Portugal are the same, no matter the stat of Messi or Ronaldo. :(

Sadly Kalinić took place in squad and we could have surely used another player to rest Mandžukić... and yeah Rabiot is proper cunt.

just carried an average Argentina side to the final last WC and won the golden ball. More than Ronaldo have ever done in the World Cup, or in any international tournament really.

Oh, you mean the 2016 Euros? Where, you know, Ronaldo actually won?

Love how a team filled with players starting at top clubs can be called "average". Mascherano, Rojo, Banega, Messi, Di Maria, Aguero, Dybala, Higuain all constitute an "average" squad, right? Four or five of those players are world-class.

Argentina are not average at all. They have one of the best squads in the world. What they are is dysfunctional; none of the players seem to enjoy playing with each other. Too many have egos that get in the way of the seleccion, and that includes the likes of Messi and Aguero (both of whom should be leaders!). Not to mention all the nonsense with Sampaoli and the AFA as well...

Wanna know what an average squad looks like? William, Moutinho, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Jose Fonte, Eder, Joao Mario, Andre Gomes, Nani, Eliseu, Quaresma... that is the hallmark of an average squad. People are so spiteful towards Ronaldo because they can't accept the fact that Messi can have poor tournaments.

That is how you spot a Messi fan-boy, when their only retort to someone saying Messi had a poor tournament is to conjure up false narratives about Ronaldo.

@Dynastian Well, Pupper reaction to Golazo comment is natural. You can't say Messi had a bad world cup in 2014, so saying "once again" is exagerated. Now, about Messi doing better than Ronaldo at any international tournament, I agree thats also exagerating. However, you need to think about who started the talk. Anyway, I personally think both Messi and Ronaldo had decent tournament with this world cup, however like you said, they got punished because in Messi case, his team was dysfunctional and in Ronaldo case, he lacked quality around of him and Uruguay were on fire. Especially Cavani.

Oh, you mean the 2016 Euros?

Yeah, where Portugal got carried by Patricio and Pepe.

People are so spiteful towards Ronaldo because they can't accept the fact that Messi can have poor tournaments.

Of course Messi had a poor tournament to his standards, no one is denying that. I just find it amusing that the troll Golazo keeps on talking about Messi out of nowhere, and at the same time claiming Ronaldo should have won the golden ball. Or Kane, since he scored the most goals of course.

And regarding this topic I also thought Dele Alli, Kane, Suarez was disappointing as well, considering the high expectations. Not bad enough to be on a top 5 list though.

At Dy, a team can be average despite having high profile players. Football is more than just your starting 11. Lack of proper tactics, mentality, chemistry, and depth is what makes Argentina average.

Yeah, where Portugal got carried by Patricio and Pepe.

Hardly. Go back and watch some of those games and remind us who scored the goals that got Portugal to the finals.

Funny how of all the most popular thread are those where people goes out topic to have debate about Ronaldo vs Messi. :(

Also, back on topic, other player which dissapointed me were Rashford and Vardy, you're gonna tell me they weren't given much chance but every time they were given one, they bottled, not badly mind you but still would have hoped to see more from them. :(

@Dyn: i have to strongly disagree with you here pure on the statement and the list of player you mentioned: that exactly the problem they have, bunch of good STRIKERS on paper.

Forget about the Messi and Ronaldo bullcrap. The fact that troll like Golazo poped up all the time praising Ronaldo and discredit Messi in anyway is boring, it started the sh1t again. And disgusted me.

Rojo world class at that year, that extremely laughable. A team without peoper mid, back wings suck... The whole team act like an unit is way more important.

Portugal acted right, Ronaldo shined when it needed, and the team stayed without him in the final (obviously with him they would have been a lot stronger). Last WC, Same with Messi, except in the final, the opponent locked him up and he didnt do much.

This WC, i already saw and said it 10 times, Argentina is a very poor team, no mid, no defend, aging stars. Same with Portugal, they both heavily relied on their captains... I do think they both were decent, not as their usual standards but were the rare sparking point in their teams, especially Ronaldo.

@Emo: i really feel bad for the 2... And such short time given didnt help, thats why i was upset why Sterling stayed on the field for so long

Rojo world class at that year, that extremely laughable.

What the hell? Learn to read. I listed off players like Higuain, Dybala, Messi, Di Maria, and Aguero, and said four or five of them are world class, and the others start at top clubs in Europe (Rojo, Mascherano, Banega).

Yeah, where Portugal got carried by Patricio and Pepe.

Haha, and you guys are mad that Golazo said he thinks Messi had a poor World Cup campaing... look at this little liar.

@tuan_jinn Agreed about what you said on Ronaldo and Messi. And about Rashford and Vardy, its the same, its true that they weren't given enough chance because of Sterling and that frustate me. Still would have love to see them do well.

@Dynastian Calm down mate, misreading or reading too fast happen. Anyway, nobody agreed with that statement from Pupper about Patricio and Pepe carrying Portugal even if they were instrumental in its success.

Also, its ok for Golazo to say he think Messi had a poor tournament this time around but he said "once again", implying he had a poor tournament in 2014, thats what is annoying for us. However, that statement didn't seem to bother you at all it seem, contrary to the one against Ronaldo.

Look at the end of the day, people have their own opinions and will keep it that way unless the opponent will have come into their homes and beat them up senseless until they change their minds. Perhaps Golazo's expectations on Messi is a lot higher than all of us expected, but this whole thread is wrongly directing towards yet another pathetic Ronaldo/Messi debate. Let's just all agree that both players had disappointing runs and leave it at that.