#Fall Winter 2018-19

[phaeon]

Moving Creations of Architecture

Guo Pei FW 2018-19 Collection

[vintagelasvegas]

Club Bingo and Sahara Hotel & Casino

Club Bingo became the Sahara. Photos c. 1948 and 1952.

Club Bingo, predecessor of Sahara ('47-'52)

‘46: M.D. Close builds a restaurant on this site; sold a year later to Prewin Inc (Milton Prell, Al Winter).

‘47: Club Bingo opens 7/24/47. Prell, Winter & partners, owners. Wurdeman & Becket, architects. Signs by YESCO.

‘48: Bonanza Room opens in May, signs added.

‘49: New sign by YESCO and Aloysius McDonald.

‘52: Club Bingo closed in May. Club Bingo’s main building incorporated into the Sahara as the coffee shop. Casino items sold to the public in June.

Sahara Hotel & Casino ('52-)

‘52: Sahara opened 10/7/52. Prell, Winter & partners, owners. Max Meltzman, architect. Built by Del Webb Corp. Approx. 240 rooms.

‘55: 200-room, low-rise expansion on the south side of the resort.

‘60: 14-story, 200-room Tunis Tower addition opened in May. (600 rm total.) M. Stern Jr, architect. Built by Del Webb Corp. Tunis tower said to be Nevada’s tallest building. 127-ft sign by YESCO added in Fall.

‘61: Sahara, The Mint, and Lucky Strike Club sold to Del Webb Corp, under new subsidiary, Sahara-Nevada Corp. First public company to own casinos.

‘62: New main lobby, casino expansion, House of Lords steakhouse addition.

‘63: 24-floor Alexandria Tower addition. M. Stern Jr, architect. Don the Beachcomber addition.

‘68: Convention Center addition.

‘78: 26-floor Tangiers Tower addition. M. Stern Jr, architect.

‘80: Second sign, by YESCO

‘82: Sahara sold to Paul Lowden.

‘88: Parking garage, “T” extension of Tangiers Tower.

‘95: Sold to Gordon Gaming.

‘96: Beginning of a renovation and rebuild project that lasted through 2000. Last of the ‘50s-era low rise rooms demolished in 3/96, replaced with new porte-cochere and parking garage; New sign with two camels with matching signage on the Paradise Rd entrance all by Jack M. Larsen Jr. & Mikhon Lighting and sign (‘97); Speedworld addition (‘97); Speed-The Ride roller coaster addition (2000).

2007: Sold to SBE Ent & Stockbridge.

2011: Sahara closed.

2014: Reopened as SLS Hotel. Tunis, Alexandria, and Tangiers towers renamed Sam, Society, and Citizen. Society tower becomes W Hotel 2017-2018.

2018: Sold to Meruelo Group.

2019: renamed Sahara.

Photos of Club Bingo / Photos of Sahara

Club Bingo & Sahara photos both likely by Las Vegas News Bureau. ‘41 and ‘51 Cadillac in the Sahara photo. First Sahara photo from the Manis Collection, UNLV Special Collections. Photo below is a scan from a commercial 35mm slide, Vintage Las Vegas collection.

Sources include: Becket Architectural Drawings and Photographs, Getty Research Institute; Close Property on Highway 91 Sold for Club. Review-Journal, 5/2/47 p3; Strip Values. Review-Journal, 8/9/55 p3; Modern Room Design. Review-Journal, 5/26/60; Skybound at Sahara. Review-Journal, 9/15/60; Associated Press. Sahara’s Merger Plan Gains Okay. Review-Journal, 7/19/61; Jude Wanniski. Yanks Boss Vetoes Vegas Named Tie-In. Review-Journal, 7/21/61.

[booklovershallway]

Ravishing Red

Elie Saab FALL 2017 COUTURE

PAOLO SEBASTIAN The Nutcracker 2018-19 Autumn Winter Couture Collection

Ziad Nakad Fall Winter 2017 – 2018

Elie Saab haute-couture-autumn-winter-2023-24

[medievalandfantasymelee]

COME ONE, COME ALL to the MOSTE ILLUSTRIOUS TOURNAMENT of the FINEST, the MOSTE PUISSANT and HOTTEST MEN MEDIEVAL MEDIA HAS TO ITS CREDIT.

Be it known that we shall accept submissions of the hottest men OF THE PEOPLES’ CHOOSING from any live-action* TV or movie media property set between the years AD 500 – 1550 (Tudors WELCOME!!), and any fantasy properties which emulate said period!

KNOW ALSO that we, by the grace of this fine hellsite and with the counsel of the moste honorable and illustrious @hotvintagepoll (many thanks), have made

THESE GUIDELINES here given:

ANY HOT GUY who appears in any movie or TV show released in ANY YEAR, from ANY COUNTRY, shall be deemed eligible for entry. Below are listed examples of eligible properties. If YE BE NOT CERTAIN whether your hot guy is eligible, submit him anyway!

Examples of Eligible Properties: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-03), Game of Thrones (2011-19) House of the Dragon (2022), Wolf Hall (2015-2024), The Tudors (2007-2010), Ladyhawke (1985), The Princess Bride (1987), The White Queen (2013), Rise of Empires: Ottoman (2020-2022), Vikings (2013-2020), The Last Kingdom (2015-2022), Diriliş: Ertuğrul (2014), A Knight’s Tale (2001), BBC’s Robin Hood (2006-3009), The Last Duel (2021), The Story of Minglan (2018), The Borgias (2013), Robin Hood (1939), Outlaw King (2018), Pilgrimage (2017), Legend (1985), Braveheart (1995), The Green Knight (2021), Excalibur (1981), Beowulf & Grendel (2005), The Lion in Winter (1968), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), The Black Adder (Blackadder Series 1, 1982), Rashomon (1950)

Remember: This is just a list of examples—WOW ME!

These following titles are examples of properties that do not fall within or emulate the stated time period and therefore DO NOT QUALIFY: The Three Musketeers (Any Version), Pirates of the Caribbean (2004), Barbarians (2020), Gladiator (2000), Ben Hur (1959), Shogun (2024), Elizabeth (1999), 300 (2006), Troy (2004), Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001), Disney's Robin Hood (1973)**, Yojimbo (1961), Shakespeare in Love (1998), King Arthur (2004)***

For the purposes of this tournament, "Man" and "Guy" are defined as any bi-pedal humanoid male character played by a man. As such, characters belonging to non-human races such as Hobbits, Orcs, Elves, Demons, Fauns, Werewolves etc. ARE admissible, and, indeed, encouraged.

If you have propaganda you forgot to include in your submission, just hold onto it and send it in an ask after the Tournament begins.

You may submit as many hot men as you like but please submit only ONE ENTRANT per submission.

Do not hesitate to submit ANY hot guy you think may qualify, no matter how popular he is. There is no such thing as a shoo-in with these tournaments. If you think "Someone MUST have submitted him already!" Everyone else is probably thinking that too and then he may well NEVER get submitted and we don't want that.

Do not worry about how many submissions your hot guy might have had already--I need to get a sense of who the strongest contenders are in order to fairly seed the draws, and the best way to do that is volume of submissions.

We are voting on the hotness of the characters. While the actors who portray them are of course a major factor in this, we are not voting on the actors themselves, therefore propaganda pertaining to the actors real lives (aside from anecdotes relating to their portrayal of the character) is not admissible.

By that same token, in the case of historical figures (e.g. Henry VIII) we are judging hotness based on the fictionalized portrayals of them in these properties, not on historical fact.

Regarding immortal/time-travelling/dimension-hopping/extremely long-lived characters, regardless of when the character was born, the main action**** of the story must take place within the Medieval Period (see dates listed at the top of this post) or Medieval-esque fantasy fantasy realm in order for them to be eligible for submission. As such, characters like the Pevensie brothers (The Chronicles of Narnia) and Ash Williams (Army of Darkness) are admissible, but Asgardians (the MCU Thor films) are not.

I, as the Administrator and Master of Revels of this tournament, am exercising discretion in the admittance of characters from works by Shakespeare, since many of them have no set date.

Re: characters adapted from books/written works - Book quotes by/ about your character are not admissible as Propaganda for their tv/ movie counterparts unless said quotes were also written into the show/movie.

Book illustrations and fanart are not admissible Propaganda

SUBMISSIONS SHALL REMAIN OPEN UNTIL MIDNIGHT, JULY 1st

The Tourney shall begin at a date yet to be determined with the Melee (Qualifying Rounds), wherein the entrants with the fewest submissions and least propaganda will duke it out in a free for all brawl to determine who will enter the Lists.

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRANTS HERE TODAY!!!

-- Master of Revels

*The "live-action" qualification does have a caveat: exception may be made for those CGI films which were all the rage in the mid-00's that used the motion-capture and likeness of the actors; for example characters from, Robert Zemeckis's Beowulf (2007) are admissible.

** this one doesn't qualify, not because it isn't the right time period, but because it falls solidly under the "Animated" category.

***Yes, sadly we are deprived of the beautiful countenances of Clive Owen, Mads Mikkelsen, Ioan Gruffudd et al because the producers of this film in their infinite wisdom and in an attempt to seem "more historically accurate" chose to set it during the Roman withdrawal from Britain, which occurred in the 5th Century (About a CENTURY earlier than Authurian tradition) and is generally agreed to have ended by AD 410. It therefore does not fall under the Medieval umbrella and is not eligible for submission.

**** "Main Action" here defined as "More than half an hour of a movie and more than two episodes of a series"

[tojifile]

@Satosugu . . . ( ´ ꒳ ` )

Tags: idols!satosugu, f!reader, very very cliché wattpad 2018 plot, fan!reader, satosugu x reader, fluff, suggestive, no curse au, cursing, use of petnames, clingy Satoru, kind of ooc (?), reader is 18 n the guys are 19, reader is shorter than both of them, NOT A SATOSUGU SHIP POST (PT.2)

A/N: Still thinking about idols!satosugu, wanna make them so touchy. They’re so adorable, my babies 🫶🫶 Read pt.1 frfr !! (I’m writing this in public lmao)

Kaisen - JJK Entertainment ☆

- Gojo Satoru

- Geto Suguru

idols!satosugu who trusted you too easily, falling asleep the second you submitted to their touch. Suguru’s head on your lap and Satoru’s chin on your shoulder as he pulled you in closer. You could feel the warmth of their breaths on your skin. The cold breeze of the air conditioner making you shudder a bit since Satoru had insisted on removing your heavy winter clothing off of you the moment you entered their hotel room.

idol!suguru who woke up first. He stood up gently, making sure not to wake both you and Satoru up. Although Satoru was a pain in the ass, they were still best friends. He went to the room’s closet and got a blanket and draped it over your and Satoru’s sleeping frames.

idol!satoru who’s still holding you tight. He doesn’t want to let go, he never wants to let go. His head was now hung over the couch’s back rest while you were leaning on his chest, curled up in a ball, still propped on his lap.

You wake up half an hour after Suguru did. Your eyes fluttered awake as the unfamiliar scent of Satoru’s cologne hit your nose. You placed your hands on his chest so you could steadily push yourself up, making the blanket fall to the ground.

The motion of your hands on his chest itself was enough to wake him up. He pulled you to his chest, rendering you unable to get off of him.

idol!suguru who sighed as he saw Satoru pull you to him. “Satoru, let her stand up if she wants to.” He softly spoke. Oh how you loved his voice. And when he’s singing, god! You just want him to hold you close and have him whisper dirty things in your ear.

idol!satoru who snaps you out of your thoughts by being the one to whisper in your ear. “G’morning princess,” he said in a low, sultry voice. Upon hearing his voice you turned red, you couldn’t even respond and this made Satoru chuckle. You were too easy to tease!

idols!satosugu who received new messages from their manager;

manager – kaisen

All flights from Korea to Tokyo are cancelled right now, I’m afraid that we can’t get to the both of you until next week.

For now, have your food delivered to the hotel room. Don’t go out and make sure the girl doesn’t talk. Who even is she?!

Seen by Satoru and Suguru– 6:09

Satoru – kaisen

Oh she won’t talk to the press, she’s literally right here!

Seen by manager and Suguru– 6:09

manager – kaisen

Wdym “she’s right here” ???

Seen by Satoru and Suguru– 6:10

Satoru – kaisen

*sent a picture*

Seen by manager and Suguru– 6:11

idol!satoru who took a selfie with you to show their manager. He got his phone in front of the two of you and he made sure to emphasize the intimate position you were both in. “Smile f’me princess.” And you did as you were told. “Good girl.”

idols!satosugu whose manager was livid knowing they brought you to their hotel room. Now their manager had no choice but to fix it.

idol!suguru who had already ordered breakfast for the three of you. His intimidating looks really didn’t match his caring personality. He was such a good malewife! His fans really weren’t kidding with the title they gave him.

idol!satoru who would stick his tongue out at Suguru, refusing to let you out of his grasp. “Come on Satoru! At least let her eat!” Suguru snapped.

idol!suguru who sighed and gave up. Instead of bringing you to the dining area, he brought the food to you, placing it neatly on the coffee table. Suguru then fed you since Satoru continued to act like a baby and restrict your movement. He was too clingy!

idols!satosugu who constantly cling onto you. They were taller and stronger than you were so there was no way you could escape. It wasn’t like you didn’t like having their attention though. You sighed to yourself. How would you survive the week with them?

Comment 🪩 to be on my taglist !

[wintfleur]

⚘ ˖˙𓈒ִֶָ☾.˙ ᰋ ── WHERE’D ALL THE TIME GO?

aka ophelia’s timeline

━━━ ❛ it’s starting to fly

ᯓᡣ𐭩 EARLY LIFE & SCHOOLING !

april 11th, 2002: ophelia is born on a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon in Vernon, British Columbia.

may 9th, 2006: ophelia (4) takes her first ballet class

2008 - 2013: early childhood / elementary school

august 2010: ophelia (8) joined the soccer team and met her now best friend Amber Jameson; they have been inseparable since.

october 2013: ophelia (11) got an ankle injury during a soccer game and sadly had to quit the sport. Her love for ballet was stronger and she didn't want to risk not being able to dance again.

She had to stop dancing for the rest of the year so her ankle could heal, it was miserable for her.

2013 - 2016: start of her teenage years / middle school

march 2015: ophelia (12) joined the theater club and helped make the costumes for their play, in turn finding her love for fashion designing.

april 2016: ophelia (13) went to get her photos taken for her ballet portfolio and was approached by a teen modeling agency.

summer 2016: ophelia (14) went to south korea for a ballet summer intensive program.

She was housed by a sweet family, where she met one of her bestest friends seunghan and his younger brother park sunghoon who is her age. Seunghan is a fellow ballet dancer and went to the training camp with her.

Ophelia became very close with the family, only becoming closer with them as the years go by, she's an honorary park! Seunghan’s parents think of her as their own child and his little sister thinks of her as her big sis!

2016 - 2020: teen years / high school / start of her modeling career

december 2016: Ophelia (14) was on the cover of pointe magazine.

june 2017: ophelia (15) won first place in the Helsinki international ballet competition, in juniors for women.

august 2017: ophelia finished her first wedding dress that she made for her cousin's wedding.

may 2018: ophelia (16) won first place in the american ballet competition

july 2018: ophelia won first place in the varna international ballet competition

was invited to be on jimmy fallon after her win.

february 2019: ophelia (17) made her debut by walking the catwalk and attending the New York fashion week.

may 29th - june 2, 2019: ophelia walked and attended the miami fashion week

september 2019: ophelia walked and attended the paris fashion week

october 9th 2019: the creation of ophelia's youtube channel

Ophelia created her youtube channel so she could have another way to communicate and become closer with her fans.

She mainly posted vlogs of her days as a model and a ballet dancer, and her just traveling and doing random activities with her friends.

december 2019: ophelia walked and attended the NYFW: December pre-fall and fall-winter, fashion week.

february 2020: ophelia walked and attended london's fashion week, fall-winter.

Ophelia meets Ryan James, a fellow model, they exchanged numbers and Ophelia then got in a relationship with him in may.

June 2020: Ophelia (18) graduated highschool with honors.

july 2020: ophelia moved into her apartment/loft in manhattan, New York. With her best friend seunghan.

Throughout 2016 - 2020 ophelia modeled for many different high end brands, her favorites being Dior, Dolce and Gabbana, and GQ.

She was given the nickname “the next model it girl” for her sudden dominating presence in the modeling world.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 JUILLIARD & JACK !

september 2020: ophelia (18) starts her first year at juilliard

february 23 - march 1st 2020: ophelia walked and attended milan’s fashion week

march 2 - 9th 2020: ophelia walked and attend paris fashion week

Throughout the rest of the year ophelia really focused on her ballet career, putting modeling to the side, and focusing on her studies.

march 2021: ophelia (19) won the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP)

may 2021: ophelia won first place in the american ballet competition

july 2021: ophelia won first place in the varna international ballet competition

for the rest of the year, Ophelia modeled for many different brands, but she really just focused on her ballet career and getting more known in the fashion design world.

2022 : breakup era

april 11th 2022: Ophelia (20) broke up with Ryan after finding out he has been cheating on her for many months.

april, may, june, july 2022: ophelia took a break from anything that evolved with modeling during those months, trying to heal from her breakup. Throwing herself into training, practices, and her studies.

august 2022: ophelia modeled for celine as her comeback into modeling

was invited back on the jimmy fallon show where they talked about what she's been up to, the celine shoot, and her comeback to modeling

october 6-9th 2022: ophelia walked and attended los angeles fashion week

november 2022: ophelia was interviewed by WIRED where she talked about ballet and modeling and her love for fashion design

2023: meeting jack

march 3rd 2023: curtis gets traded to the new jersey devils

march 28th 2023: ophelia and Jack meet for the first time at a club and share a kiss.

april 18th 2023: ophelia joins curtis out at a bar to meet some of his teammates, and she sees jack for the first time since the club.

they keep what happened at the bar to themselves (besides Jack freaking out about it to Luke), and pretend to just meet each other for the first time.

april 25th 2023: ophelia and jack run into each other at a bar, things escalate and jack ends up bringing her back to his place where they hook up for the first time.

the next morning they talk about what happened, and how they need to keep what happened between them a secret. They want to keep seeing each other, so they decide to become friends with benefits.

july 2023: ophelia models for calvin klein

july 17th 2023: jack confesses his feelings to ophelia after 3 months of being friends with benefits.

Ophelia didn't take it well and left his apartment in haste (girly was afraid of her feelings and commitment) and they didn't talk for two weeks.

july 31st 2023: ophelia goes to jack’s apartment where she apologizes and asks him on a date.

august 1st 2023: jack and ophelia have there first date and officially start dating (secretly)

november 6th 2023: curtis holds a dinner at his home for his teammates, curtis finds jack and ophelia kissing in the garage and did not take it well.

curtis gives her an ultimatum ‘him or me’ in a moment of anger and that leads to ophelia not talking to either of them for a week, locking herself in her apartment.

november 14th 2023: curtis comes to see her early in the day to apologize for his reaction and what he said, later in the day jack comes to see her and they have a sweet moment, happy that everything is now okay between them.

january 12th 2024: ophelia and jack said i love you for the first time

january 24-28 2024: ophelia walked and attended miami fashion week

february 9-14th 2024: ophelia attended new york fashion week fall-winter

february 16th 2024: ophelia and jack's relationship is exposed to the media when videos and pictures of them at the njd’s family skate go viral.

february 26th - march 5th 2024: ophelia walked and attended paris fashion week

may 2024: ophelia did the 73 questions with vogue

june 2024: ophelia did the “10 things I can't live without’ with GQ

may 6th 2024: ophelia (22) attended the met gala for the first time

ophelia did a get ready with me / last looks with vogue for the met

june 2024: ophelia did diary of a model with vogue

july 2024: ophelia and jack do a couple quiz with GQ

may 2025: ophelia (23) graduates at juilliard

ᯓᡣ𐭩 WHAT'S TO COME !

aka phia and jacks future

. . . to be added

ᝰ.ᐟ 𝓇oro's note. I didn’t add every detail about her modeling and dance career in the ‘julliard and jack’ section, it would have taken forever for me to do that 😭 I will update the timeline as time goes! I hope this helps give you a better understanding about the AU >.<

au masterlist

˖ ་ feel free to send in any thoughts/requests you have !! And please let me know if you want to be added to the taglist mwah

˖ ་ taglist : @yoontwin @toasttt11 @winterbarnesblog @iceflwers @cixrosie @bunbunbl0gs

[judith-orshalimian]

Baroqco Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2018-19 Details!

[majorhortonisonleaveinlondon]

An updated (January 9, 2025 9:04pm pst) list of WW2 movies and TV shows in chronological order

thought out WW2 -(Imitation Game 2014) -(The Book Thief 2013) -(The Zookeeper’s Wife 2017) -(The Pianist 2002)

1937

October 26, 1937 Defence of Sihang Warehouse (The Eight Hundred 2020)

December 13, 1937 Nanjing Massacre - (John Rabe 2009) - (The Flowers of War 2011)

1938

Fall of 1938 (Munich – The Edge of War 2022)

1939

Summer 1939 (Six Minutes to Midnight 2020)

September 3, 1939 King George VI first wartime speech (King’s Speech 2010)

September 17, 1939, Soviet Union Invitation of Poland (The Way Back 2010)

November 30, 1939 Soviet Union invades Finland (The Winter War 1989)

1940

April 9, 1940 Operation Weserübung -(April 9th [movie] 2015) -(King’s Choice 2016) -(Narvik 2022) -(War Sailors 2023)

April 27, 1940 (Into the White 2011)

June 4, 1940 -Churchill gives “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech (Darkest Hour 2017) -Dunkirk Evaluation (Dunkirk 2017)

July 10-October 31, 1940 Battle of Britain (Battle of Britain 1969)

1941

May 1941 (Call to Spy 2019)

June 22, 1941 Operation Barbarossa -(Fortress of War [The Brest Fortres 2010) -(Defiance 2008)

September 8, 1941, Siege of Leningrad begins. -(Battle of Leningrad [Saving Leningrad] 2019) -(Leningrad 2009)

October 1941 Battle of Moscow (The Last Frontier [The Final Stand] 2020)

October 1941 Battle of Sevastopol (Battle for Sevastopol 2015)

December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacks Pearl Harbor (Tora! Tora! Tora! 1970)

December 8, 1941 Japan invades Shanghai International Settlement (Empire of the Sun 1987)

1942

January 20, 1942, Wannsee Conference (Conspiracy 2001)

February 1942 Battle of the Atlantic (Greyhound 2020)

February 1942 (The Railway Man 2013)

February 19, 1942, Bombing of Darwin (Australia 2008)

Spring 1942 (U-571 2000)

April 18, 1942 The Doolittle Raid (In Harm’s Way 2018)

June 4, 1942 Battle of Midway (Midway 2019)

1942 Summer Occupation of Jersey Island (Another Mother’s Son 2017 Prime)

July, 10 1942 Easy Company Trains in Camp Tocca (Band of Brothers 01x10 Currahee 2001)

July 21, 1942, Kokoda Track Campaign (Kokoda: 39th Battalion 2006)

August 7, 1942, 1st Marine Division land on Guadalcanal (The Pacific Ep. 1 Guadalcanal/Leckie 2010)

August 19, 1942, Dieppe Raid (Dieppe 1993)

August 23, 1942 Battle of Stalingrad begins (Stalingrad 1993)

September 1942 Formation of Troop 30 (Age of Heroes 2011)

September 18, 1942, 7th Marines Land on Guadalcanal (The Pacific Ep. 2 Basilone 2010)

Autumn of 1942 Battle of the Atlantic (Das Boot 1981)

October 18, 1942, Operation Grouse (Heavy Water War Ep. 2 2015)

November 8, 1942, Operation Torch (The Big Red One 1980)

November 10-17 1942 Vasily Zaytsev kills 225 German Soldiers during the Battle of Stalingrad (Enemy at the Gates 2001)

December 1942 The 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal is relieved (The Pacific Ep. 3 Melbourne 2010)

December 15, 1942, Battle of Mount Austen (Thin Red Line 1998)

1943

March 13-14 1943, liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto -(Schindler’s List 1993)

April 17, 1943 Operation Mincemeat (Operation Mincemeat 2021)

April 19, 1943, beginning of the Warsaw Uprising (Uprising 2001)

May 4, 1943, Final Mission of The Memphis Bell (Memphis Bell 1990)

May 15, 1943, Salamo Arouch and his family arrive in Auschwitz Concentration Camp (Triumph of the Spirit 1989)

May 27, 1943 Louis Zamperini plane crashes on a search and rescue mission (Unbroken 2014)

May 30, 1943 first All-American Girls Professional Baseball League game played (A League of Their Own 1992)

June 25, 1943, 100th Bomb Group flew its first 8th Air Force combat mission (Master of the Air: Part One 2024)

July 1943 -(The Tuskegee Airmen 1995) -(The Liberator Ep. 1 2020) -(Heavy Water War Ep. 5 2015)

July 16, 1943, The 100th Bomb Group bombed U-Boats in Tronbhdim (Masters of the Air: Part Two 2024)

August 17, 1943 the 4th Bomb Wing of the 100th Bomb Group bombed Regenberg (Masters of the Air: Part Three 2024)

September 16, 1943, William Quinn and Charles Bailey leave Belgium (Masters of the Air: Part Four 2024)

September 18, 1943 John ‘Bucky’ Egan returns from leave to join the mission to bomb Munster (Master of the Air: Part Five 2024

October 14, 1943, John ‘Bucky’ Egan interrogated at Dulag Lut, Frankfurt Germany (Masters of the Air: Part Six 2024)

December 26, 1943, 1st Marine Division lands on Cape Gloucester (The Pacific Ep. 4 Gloucester/Pavuvu/Banika 2010)

1944

January 22, 1944, Battle of Anzio -(The Liberator Ep. 2 2020) -(Red Tails 2012) -(Anzio 1968)

February 20, 1944, Hydro Ferry bombing (Heavy Water War Ep. 6 2015)

March 7, 1944, Stalag Luft III Sagan, Germany, Germans find the concealed radio Bucky was using to learn news of the War (Master of the Air: Part Seven 2024)

March 24/25, 1944 Allied Mass Escape of Stalag Luft III (The Great Escape 1963)

June 1944 (Cross of Iron 1977)

June 6, 1944, 00:48 & 01:40 First airborne troops begin to land on Normandy (Band of Brothers 02x10 Day of Days 2001)

June 6, 1944, 06:30 D-Day landings -(Storming Juno 2010)

-(Saving Private Ryan 1998)

June 10, 1944, Easy Company Takes Carentan (Band of Brothers 03x10 Carentan 2001)

June 15-July 9, 1944 Battle of Saipan

-(Windtalkers 2002)

-(Oba: The Last Samurai 2011)

July, 1944 The Monuments Men land in Normandy (The Monuments Men 2014)

July 20, 1944 Operation Valkyrie (Valkyrie 2008)

August 12, 1944, The 332nd Fighter Group attack Radar stations in Southern France (Masters of the Air: Part Eight 2024)

September 15, 1944, U.S. Marines landed on Peleliu at 08:32 (the Pacific Ep. 5 2010)

September 16, 1944, U.S Marines take Peleliu Airfield (the Pacific Ep. 5 2010)

September 17, 1944, Operation Market Garden

-(Band of Brothers 04x10 Replacements 2001)

-(A Bridge Too Far 1977)

October 2, 1944 Battle of Scheldt (Forgotten Battle 2021)

October 12, 1944, Battle of Peleliu, Assault on Bloody Nose Ridge (the Pacific Ep. 7 Peleliu Hills 2010)

October 13, 1944, Rovaniemi public buildings were destroyed (Sisu 2022)

October 14, 1944, Erwin Rommel is arrested (Rommel 2012 Prime)

October 22/23, 1944, 2100 – 0200 Operation Pegasus (Band of Brothers 05x10 Crossroads 2001)

November 1944 middle of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest (When Trumpets Fade 1998)

December 16, 1944, Battle of the Bulge (Band of Brothers 06x10 Bastogne 2001)

December 1944 (Hart’s War 2002)

1945

January 2, 1945 (The Liberator Ep 3 2020)

January 10, 1945 (Attack Force Z)

January 13, 1945, Battle of Foy (Band of Brothers 07x10 The Breaking Point 2001)

January 30, 1945 The Raid at Cabanatuan (The Great Raid 2002)

February 14, 1945, David Webb rejoins the 506th in Haguenau (Band of Brothers 08x10 The Last Patrol 2001)

February 19, 1945, Battle of Iwo Jima starts. - (Letters from Iwo Jima 2006) - (The Pacific Ep. 8 Iwo Jima 2010) - (Flags of our Fathers 2006)

February 15, 1945, 6888 Battalion was inspected and marched in review before Major General John C. H. Lee (Six Triple Eight 2024)

March 7, 1945, Battle of Remagen (The Bridge at Remagen 1969)

March 21, 1945, Operation Carthage (The Bombardment 2021)

April, 1945 (Fury 2014)

April 5, 1945, 506th Finds abandoned Concentration Camp (Band of Brothers 09x10 Why We Fight 2001)

April 17, 1945 Lee Miller arrives at Concentration Camp Buchenwald (Lee 2023)

April 26, 1945, near the end of the war in Europe (A Woman in Berlin 2008)

April 29, 1945, 45th Infantry Division liberated Dachau Concentration camp (The Liberator Ep. 4 2020)

May 2, 1945, Fall of Berlin -(Downfall 2004) -(Jojo Rabbit 2019)

May 1945 Battle of Okinawa -(Hacksaw Ridge 2016) -(The Pacific Ep. 9 Okinawa 2010)

May 7, 1945, Germany Surrenders V-E Day - (Master of the Air: Part Nine 2024) - (Band of Brothers 10x10 Points 2001)

July 30, 1945, USS Indianapolis sank. (USS Indianapolis 2016)

August 15, 1945, The Empire of Japan surrenders end of the War. -(Oppenheimer 2023) -(The Pacific Part Ten: Home 2010)

September 11, 1945 US Military search and Arrest Japanese Leaders for war crimes (Emperor 2012)

1946 April 29, 1946 Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal (Tokyo Trial 2016)

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Yale Climate Connections:

Asheville, North Carolina, seemed like a good place to escape the worst of a warming world. The city’s appealing four-season climate includes summers with a typical daily high around 84°F – unusually low for the Southeast U.S. – and winters that aren’t too frigid. There’s typically plenty of moisture throughout the year, but with a mountain rain shadow that keeps Asheville a bit less wet than most of its neighbors. And the city takes climate seriously: findings from a climate resilience assessment have already been incorporated into Asheville’s comprehensive planning document.

In a 2018 Rolling Stone article, Jeff Goodell profiled one climate refugee who had considered the Tampa area before settling on Asheville. “No place is without risk, but in Asheville, the risks seem manageable,” Jeff Kaplan told Goodell. A 2021 Blue Ridge Public Radio segment portrayed Asheville as a climate “winner.”

Then came Hurricane Helene. After striking the Florida Panhandle at Category 4 strength, the storm took a quirky left hook across the southern Appalachians, pushing mammoth amounts of moisture upslope. Making matters worse, a predecessor rain event ahead of Helene had dumped six to 12 inches of rain across the region a day before the storm itself arrived.

The result was one of the most devastating, prolonged, and deadly hurricane-related U.S. flood disasters since the cataclysm of Katrina in 2005. Across the southern Appalachians – including Asheville – Helene destroyed roads, knocked out power and water lines, crippled communications, and took dozens of lives.

Among the things that make Helene different is that it arrived at a time when hurricane behavior is being measurably amped up in multiple ways by human-caused climate change. And it hammered a place now widely viewed to be at least somewhat insulated from the worst impacts of that changing climate.

Many folks seeking out climate-change-protected places in the U.S. have leaned toward small, progressive cities in relatively cool parts of the Midwest and East. Spikes in heat, drought, and wildfire that have plagued the West seem more likely to be tempered in these apparent havens. And in many of them, climate adaptation efforts are already underway.

As it turns out, most of the country east of the Rockies is getting wetter. Especially over the central and southern Appalachians, some locations saw a 5 to 10% rise in official annual precipitation when their 1980-2011 climate averages were replaced by the 1991-2020 figures. In Asheville, a typical year’s precipitation jumped from 37.32 to 40.61 inches.

Along with Asheville, a couple of other often-cited climate-change oases in the U.S. Midwest and East have experienced landmark rains and floods in recent years.

Duluth, Minnesota, referred to in a 2023 New York Times writeup as “climate-proof Duluth” (and the subject of a study on how climate migration might change the city), experienced the worst flooding in its history on June 19-20, 2012, when the city was swamped by a record 7.24 inches of rain in 24 hours. Colossal rains were even more widespread across northeast Minnesota on June 18, 2024, when a number of stations reported 5-7.5 inches of rain – a daily total with an expected recurrence interval of 500 to 1,000 years, according to the National Weather Service.

Vermont has long stood out as a potential U.S. climate refuge, with its environmentally friendly reputation, ample greenery and mountains, and normally mild summers. But when former Hurricane Irene ripped across the state as a tropical storm in August 2011, it brought massive rainfall that triggered��one of Vermont’s worst disasters on record, rivaling or exceeding the notorious floods of 1927 in some areas. Then in 2023, weeks of early-summer wildfire smoke filtering south from Canada were followed by the Great Vermont Flood of July 10-11. Triggered by up to 9.61 inches of rain, the floods caused more than $2.2 billion in damage across northern New England and triggered the region’s first-ever flash flood emergency.

[ststsgsg]

All of the Fic Recs I Have Received, PT. 1

tysm to: @kltar0 @itsthecityoftheflower @neighborhoodlum @sablegear0 @fadingbasketballgoopprune :D !

SATOSUGU

bluebird, spread your wings (here’s a piece of the broken dream) by tangerineseason

Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)

Relationships: Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru, Fushiguro Megumi & Gojo Satoru, Fushiguro Megumi & Getou Suguru, Fushiguro Megumi & Getou Suguru & Gojo Satoru, Minor Haibara Yu/Nanami Kento - Relationship

Characters: Getou Suguru, Gojo Satoru, Fushiguro Megumi, Other Jujutsu Kaisen Characters

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Sports, PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, Speed Skater Getou Suguru, Figure Skater Gojo Satoru, Speed Skaters Nanami Kento and Haibara Yū, Past Child Abuse, Past Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fushiguro Megumi Has Abandonment Issues, Gojo Satoru has Abandonment Issues, Touch-Starved Fushiguro Megumi, Touch-Starved Gojo Satoru, Child Fushiguro Megumi, Parental Gojo Satoru, Gojo Satoru is Fushiguro Megumi’s Legal Guardian, Gojo Clan Bashing (Jujutsu Kaisen), Protective Getou Suguru, POV Getou Suguru, Alternative summary: Megumi finds joy while Suguru and Satoru fall in love, Additional Warnings In Author's Note

Language: English

Stats: Published: 2023-11-06 Completed: 2024-01-19 Words: 74,291 Chapters: 8/8 Comments: 111 Kudos: 482 Bookmarks: 138 Hits: 12,087

Summary:

Fill your eyes with wonder, Suguru.

His mother had always said to him, a sort of incantation that had clung to his heartstrings, returning to him in the moments of daze, accompanying the awed breaths that would tumble past his agape lips.

He had devoted himself to chasing that gentle murmur, spoken to him as he had waded into the world of dreams, but his eyes, no matter how desperate for such a sight, had yet to behold a wonder that would draw his heart to a standstill, a momentary interruption in the steady hum of its beats, falling silent in the presence of something it perceived holy.

At least, until now.

For Suguru was no poet, but as he watched the man on the ice with a caught breath, every graceful twist and turn of his body enchanting, resembling a blue star gone waltzing across the night sky, he thought he might have finally understood what they had meant.

me and my husband, we're doing better by interludewings

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)

Relationship: Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru

Characters: Gojo Satoru, Getou Suguru, Fushiguro Tsumiki, Fushiguro Megumi, Hasaba Nanako, Hasaba Mimiko, Gojo Satoru's Parents, Getou Suguru's Parents, Ieiri Shoko, Iori Utahime, Nanami Kento, Haibara Yu (Jujutsu Kaisen), Itadori Yuuji, Tengen (Jujutsu Kaisen), Uraume (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Curses (Jujutsu Kaisen), Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fake Marriage, Exes, Exes to Lovers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Slow Burn, Fluff and Crack, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Light Angst, Family Fluff, Crack Treated Seriously, Title from a Mitski Song, Accidental Marriage, Parental Gojo Satoru, Parental Getou Suguru, Gojo Satoru-centric, Gojo Satoru Being an Idiot, Jealous Gojo Satoru, Jealous Getou Suguru, Kid Fic, Child Fushiguro Megumi, Child Itadori Yuuji, Minor Haibara Yu/Nanami Kento, Minor Ieiri Shoko/Iori Utahime, Minor Fushiguro Megumi/Itadori Yuuji, The Parent Trap-Style Shenanigans, this is really unserious

Language: English

Stats: Published: 2024-02-04 Completed: 2024-02-04 Words: 46,260 Chapters: 3/3 Comments: 70 Kudos: 675 Bookmarks: 159 Hits: 9,043

Summary:

If someone had told Satoru a week ago that his impulsive choice to adopt children would lead to him standing at his front door, ready to welcome his ex-boyfriend—who also turned out to be his lawfully wedded husband—who was going to move in with him for three months in an elaborate ruse to deceive an orphanage director and a social services officer into believing they were still a couple in love, Satoru would have simply laughed in disbelief.

In which Satoru Gojo decides to adopt two children, only to discover that he accidentally married his ex-boyfriend, Suguru Geto, during a drunken episode just months before their breakup. Now, they find themselves living together, forced to maintain the facade of a loving couple. This leads to a series of petty tricks, cringe-worthy pet names, and the unexpected challenge of raising children together.

Fleeting looks of Clashing Purple and Opal Blue by Lexili333

Rating: Not Rated

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)

Relationships: Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru, Getou Suguru & Gojo Satoru

Characters: Getou Suguru, Gojo Satoru

Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Eating Disorders, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hair Brushing, soft touches, First Kiss, Idiots in Love, Getou Suguru Needs a Hug, Gojo comforts Geto, they're so in love, Really they are, no beta we die like junpei, Hugs, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Protective Gojo Satoru, Communication, Yes they actually talk it out this time, Soft caresses, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepy Kisses, Cursed Techniques (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Language: English

Stats: Published: 2024-03-08 Words: 6,260 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 27 Kudos: 235 Bookmarks: 44 Hits: 2,077

Summary:

''And reaching out for the soft white strands softly brushing Satoru’s forehead came as easily as breathing for Suguru.

At first it was just fingertips, hesitantly lifting up some of the fringe that fell over Gojo’s blue eyes.

Suguru smiled, for he had been right.

It was soft.

The barely there touch of his fingertips grew into a greedy desire to comb his whole hand into the cloud of white. And so Suguru did. His fingers grasped at Satoru’s hair, rubbing at his temple and snaking his hand to the back of Satoru’s head.''

Or, Satoru and Suguru actually communicate this time. (I just had to write this because the headcanon of Gojo taking care of Geto while he's at his lowest is literally always on my mind)

i was confident alone (now my heart's craving another) by noctetsai

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)

Relationships: Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru, Getou Suguru & Gojo Satoru & Ieiri Shoko

Characters: Gojo Satoru, Getou Suguru, Ieiri Shoko, Nanami Kento, Haibara Yu (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Student Gojo Satoru, Student Getou Suguru, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Fluff and Angst, Gojo Satoru is a Little Shit, Protective Getou Suguru, Getou Suguru is Whipped, Slight Codependency, as a treat, Feelings Realization, this fic spawned from a shitpost, please treat it as such, it's supposed to be mostly silly, Slice of Life

Language: English

Stats: Published: 2024-06-20 Completed: 2024-07-16 Words: 32,774 Chapters: 5/5 Comments:141 Kudos: 528 Bookmarks: 139 Hits: 6,852

Summary:

Yaga levels them all with a look. "You're being reassigned."

Shoko sighs. Oh boy.

Twin scrapes can be heard as Satoru and Suguru leap up, voices overlapping in protest.

or, Satoru and Suguru get separate assignments; this is widely considered a bad move

Love is a Twisted Curse by le_paquet_fou

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: Major Character Death

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)

Relationship: Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru

Characters: Gojo Satoru, Getou Suguru

Additional Tags: Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Mild Blood, Canonical Character Death, Dead Getou Suguru, Grief/Mourning, because i wanted to make the final satosugu scene even sadder, we all suffer here, no beta we die like men

Language: English

Stats: Published: 2024-06-24 Words: 1,288 Chapters: 1/1 Kudos: 23 Bookmarks: 1 Hits: 177

Summary:

Suguru dies in Satoru's arms, leaving both of them cursed by their love.

~*~

A small look into the moment between Gojo watching Geto's final breath and rejoining his students after the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons

moonlight by cj_ackerman

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga)

Relationship: Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru

Characters: Getou Suguru, Gojo Satoru

Additional Tags: Sensory Overload, Established Relationship, Comfort No Hurt, suguru is head over heels, hes so down bad, Pure Comfort

Language: English

Series: Part 1 of suguru geto/satoru gojo adventures, Part 1 of jjk one-shots

Stats: Published: 2023-08-27 Words: 2,516 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 6 Kudos: 393 Bookmarks: 47 Hits: 4,447

Summary:

In Suguru’s arms, Satoru is warm, cozy, and sated. He lets down Infinity, drops his guard, closing his eyes. With a deep breath, he accepts the kiss pressed to his forehead. Only in Suguru’s arms will Satoru feel safe.

tentacles coveted, but sadly not present by Aamalysstuff

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)

Relationship: Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru

Characters: Getou Suguru, Gojo Satoru, Ieiri Shoko

Additional Tags: Sex Work, Public Hand Jobs, Phone Sex, Sex Toys Under Clothing, Top Gojo Satoru, Bottom Getou Suguru, Face-Fucking, Marathon Sex, Dirty Talk, So Much Trashy Porn Dirty Talk Oh My God, Roleplay, Light Dom/sub, Getting Together, Also Getting Back Together, Can Someone Be Your Ex If You Technically Didn't Date Them At All The First Time Around?, Nipple Piercings, And Nudes, Poor Shoko The Things She Has to Deal With, Both the Author and Gojo would have wanted to include a tentacle monster in this, Please handwave canon for the purpose of enjoying raunchy fanfic

Language: English

Series: Part 1 of tentacles coveted

Collections: Satosugu

Stats: Published: 2022-02-14 Words: 23,770 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 123 Kudos: 3,279 Bookmarks: 741 Hits: 52,902

Summary:

“So what do you do for money, then, Su-gu-ru? Do you offer mass murder bonuses? Catering services? Do you sell your nudes?”

“Hardly that.” Suguru scoffs. He rolls his eyes. “My nudes are not something people can afford to buy. ”

“Hmmm, I could afford them.” Satoru shoots back with a grin. “I'm rich enough to buy your nudes.”

Suguru levels him with a look, and there’s about half a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Do you wanna buy my nudes, Satoru?”

***

A story in which Satoru ends up funding Suguru's Cult activities by buying his overprices nudes and personalized nsfw otome CDs.

It's also character study in whether or not someone can be a genocidal mass-murder and a tsundere at the same time.

Kaleidoscope by Pandamonio

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga), 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)

Relationship: Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru

Characters: Gojo Satoru, Getou Suguru, Ieiri Shoko

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, but is it?, Past Lives, Dreams vs. Reality, Recovered Memories, References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Historical References, Mythology - Freeform, They're studying the classics, and incidentally discover they are meant to be lovers in every timeline, Holy Roman Empire, They think about it a lot, Bottom Getou Suguru, Angst and Fluff and Smut

Language: English

Stats: Published: 2023-11-19 Completed: 2023-12-03 Words: 10,099 Chapters: 2/2 Comments: 54 Kudos: 340 Bookmarks: 76 Hits: 3,932

Summary:

“I’m in the classics department,” he answers and has to bite his tongue not to say the word ‘actually’ because that would be pedantic and prove Satoru right.

“Ah, that’s better,” Satoru says, nodding his head, all traces of animosity forgotten. “Then you’re smart, like me.”

Or

In his dreams, Suguru is a jujutsu sorcerer at the verge of a breakdown.

once we have sufficiently tortured one another by irrevenance

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Manga)呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime)

Relationship: Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru

Additional Tags: Top Getou Suguru, Bottom Gojo Satoru, Trans Gojo Satoru, Choking, Ambiguous/Open Ending

Language: English

Stats: Published: 2024-01-21 Words: 4,664 Chapters: 1/1 Comments: 38 Kudos: 860 Bookmarks: 193 Hits: 7,844

Summary:

Suguru’s throat goes dry. “You’re no longer a sorcerer,” he realizes, a hysterical laugh bubbling in his throat in response to the sick joke that has laid itself before him. “And you came to me?”

“Yes,” Satoru says pleasantly. “What will you do about it,” and here he lowers both his eyelashes and his tone, a mockery of seduction, “Getou-sama?”

PT. 2 | PT. 3

[kodiescove]

How did you come to Islam?

I am glad you asked!

So the year is 2018/2019, there abouts.

I made my first Muslim friend!

I found this out by asking the most terrible question I've ever asked anyone ever "hey since you have x name, does that mean you're Muslim.?"

He said yes. He was SUPER chill about me being like innocently racist. I still cringe about this exchange. I am currently cringing typing this all out.

But I was like 19/20, and racial etiquette was new to me.

Now, I knew nothing, and I mean NOTHING about Islam.

For quite a few years, it was just something my super cool "got me through my abusive relationship" online best friend practiced.

Iiiiiinnnnnnn 2022? Around there.

I was at Michael's, the crafts store, and there were these GORGEOUS stickers for Ramadan. I immediately sent a picture of them to him talking about how beautiful they were, lamenting about how I'd love to get them, but that would be cultural appropriation. I think he said it would be fine if I got them, but I still didn't get them, it didn't feel right because at the time I wasn't Muslim(obviously.)

Sometime later, it's Christmas and I'm in one of my "I need to start a business or else I'm always going to be in poverty" moods. Don't ask me why this was a thing, because I very clearly cannot produce enough of anything to run a business. Anyways. I'm thinking about making Christmas cards and then my brain goes "Well what if I make something for Muslims? I don't want to leave them out of things."

So I message my friend, asking if that would be okay.

He explains that Islam doesn't have a winter holiday like Christmas, that Muslims go off a lunar calendar and he tells me about Ramadan.

And I'm like "mhm. Okay. What's Ramadan?"

And so I spent the literal rest of the night (literally HOURS) researching Ramadan and Eid. I read THE ENTIRE wiki page for both /including/ the parts that explain the different ways different countries and regions celebrate Ramadan and Eid.

Fall 2023 I find out that what I thought was an Indian take out restaurant (because I get curry there don't hate me I was told it was an Indian place) was acting, specifically, a HALAL restaurant and I'm like "mhm. Okay. So what does that mean?"

And again, I spend hours on Google with those drop down "similar questions" just learning a little bit about Islam.

And like through these experiences I learn a basic principle that I have embodied since becoming Muslim "Islam is a religion of love and peace"

Come to 2024.

I think February. Really wanna say February. My sense of time and time keeping is really bad.

But it's the beginning of the year. I'm having a real ROUGH time of it. I'm having intrusive thoughts of self harm. I'm constantly being triggered by Tumblr because of the I/P conflict. I'm constantly triggered by trumblr because of talks of transphobia of kinds. I'm triggered by Tumblr because of the porn. My best friend is increasingly becoming a bad friend. IM NOT COPING. To the point I was hospitalized twice, and should have been a third time (thanks Brylin for never calling me back for that admission)

And through it all, I'm praying to the universe. I'm like, I'm lost, I'm suffering, I need some guidance. Please someone, anyone, give me a sign.

And there was this feeling.... this VERY distinct feeling. It was in my chest and in my belly. I can't really describe it other than light and energy radiating. Like a pulling feeling. It felt like a calling. And something inside me kept saying "turn to Islam. Turn to Allah."

I was apprehensive at first. Yknow, being a pagan witch at the time and all. It felt... well, why would Allah be calling to me.? I'm a pagan witch!

But I don't know. I won't lie and say I never found comfort in being pagan. But there's something.... different in Islam. I can sit and listen to the Quran and crochet and I just feel... at peace. I can watch videos discussing Islam and the thoughts usually racing in my head just... stop. I'm fascinated by Islamic history in a way that other periods in history haven't fascinated, /and I say this as someone who loves history/.

I will admit, there's part of me that doesn't feel good enough for Allah, for Islam. But then I remember how many times the Quran says "Allah is the most forgiving, the most merciful" and that's... that's what I need. Someone to forgive the parts of me that can't keep up because of my disability, and is understanding (see, merciful) for all the things I am not.

So tldr: basically I had a friend who started my interested and then Allah answered my prayers.

[phaeon]

Moving Creations Of Architecture

Guo Pei Fall Winter 2018-19 Collection

[camillerowep]

From April 4, 2021 — Camille wears:

Mach & Mach – Silver crystal dress from the fall/ winter 2018/19 collection

[booklovershallway]

Elegantly Black

Elie Saab haute-couture-autumn-winter-2023-24

Paolo Sebastian Once Upon a Dream 2018 Spring Summer Couture Collection

Paolo Sebastian The Nutcracker 2018-19 Autumn Winter Couture Collection

Ziad Nakad Fall Winter 2017 – 2018

[bongaboi]

The REAL power behind the North Korean throne revealed

Always careful to walk at least several paces behind her baby-faced brother and keep out of shot if cameras are around, she looks so pale and fragile that its seems a strong wind might knock her down.

Indeed, compared to her obese and surly-looking sibling – North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un – she seems a gentle soul, charming even, who couldn’t hurt a fly.

When her brother met President Trump for a historic summit in 2019, she was seen shyly peering out from behind a wall. Observers thought it almost adorable.

And yet – according to a ground-breaking and revealing new book – those who judge Kim Yo-jong on appearances may be making a fatal mistake.

Believed to be 35, the youngest child of former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il is actually a ruthless political operator (even by her brutal family’s standards) who some tip to succeed her brother and who their father regarded as the most able of his offspring.

Yo-jong may even be heading for an explosive power struggle with her niece – Jong-un’s daughter Ju-ae – who is thought to be just 10 but has already been publicly hailed as her father’s heir apparent.

But judging by what this new book reveals about Aunt Yo-jong with her ‘trademark Mona Lisa smirk’, it would be foolish to assume that little Ju-ae will one day be sitting on the throne of the Hermit Kingdom.

For Yo-jong, say North Korea experts, is ‘the brains behind the operation’ – and terrifying brains, at that.

According to US academic Sung-Yoon Lee, whose new book ‘The Sister’ provides the first detailed insight into Yo-jong, it’s not for nothing that some Pyongyang officials have nicknamed her ‘bloodthirsty demon’ and ‘the devil woman’.

The de facto second-in-command to her brother, Yo-jong can have even the most senior government officials executed on just a word.

In 2021, she was elevated to the nation’s most powerful body – the State Affairs Commission. And since then, Lee says, she has had ‘the ultimate power of the cruel dictator; the power to play God and decide who lives and who is killed’.

Doted on from childhood, Yo-jong was largely hidden from public view for decades. But in 2018, she sparked a media frenzy when she attended the Winter Olympics in South Korea as her country's official representative and was pictured sitting close to Vice President Mike Pence.

Journalists hailed a glamour, delicacy and charm so lacking in her dumpy brother and many wondered if North Korea could finally be veering away from its dreadful past.

Instead, predicts Lee, Yo-jong is her 39-year-old brother’s zealous and spittle-flecked chief propagandist and is potentially ‘fiercer and more ruthless’ than him.

And, given his health problems with suspected heart disease, diabetes and obesity – the regime as good as admitted he was nearly killed by Covid-19 – North Korea may need a new leader sooner than expected.

Of course, obtaining information about the ferociously secretive dictatorship is immensely difficult but in 2021 Yo-jong reportedly ‘ordered several executions of high-ranking government officials for merely “getting on her nerves”.’

Those she found ‘less disagreeable’ were simply banished – along with their entirely innocent families – to detention camps and gulags, ‘where a life of grueling forced labour, beatings, torture and starvation rations awaited’.

According to Lee, rumors of Yo-jong’s ‘impulse to purge and kill’ soon became so rife that top officials started holding their breath in her presence. If she approached them they would avert their gaze or stare at the floor.

Ignoring her is apparently far safer than trying to win her praise – for ‘just being recognized by her might in due course lead to a fall from favor and a brush with death’.

A computer science graduate, Yo-jong doesn’t reserve her bloodthirsty impulses just for cowering officials. On the few occasions she’s been allowed to show her teeth on the international stage, she’s left little doubt that her finger on Pyongyang’s nuclear button would be every bit as unsettling as her saber-rattling brother’s.

In April last year, the First Sister dropped the sweetness act and warned South Korea that if its military ‘violated even an inch of our territory, our nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty… and a dreadful attack will be launched’.

The South Korean army, she added, ‘will have to face a miserable fate little short of total destruction’.

As the head of propaganda, she has also demonstrated a knack for concocting particularly vile blasts against her nation’s enemies.

When, 2014, South Korea elected their first female leader, Pyongyang state media carried quotes calling her a ‘wicked sycophant’, ‘dirty old prostitute’ and ‘capricious whore’.

President Obama was outrageously branded a ‘wicked black monkey’, and a gay High Court justice in Australia was labelled a ‘disgusting old lecher with a 40-odd-year-long career of homosexuality’.

All of the comments were either written or signed off by Yo-jong.

Certainly, she’s come a long way since 2011 when her brother succeeded their father. At the time, few people outside Pyongyang even knew her name.

North Korea is also a staunchly patriarchal society. And one in which, for all its socialist pretensions, women generally look after the family at home while the men handle the politics.

Nonetheless Yo-jong’s own parents were said to be the first to recognise she was special. Even if they felt they couldn’t acknowledge it in public – her father instead elevating her underwhelming, basketball-obsessed brother.

Kim Jong-il had seven children by four women, either wives or concubines, but he reserved his chief affection for a dancer named Ko Yong-hui who bore him both Jong-un and Yo-jong.

Yo-jong’s own parents were said to be the first to recognise she was special. Even if they felt they couldn’t acknowledge it in public. (Pictured: Female North Korean soldiers march in parade).

They and elder brother Kim Jong-chul lived in the ruling family’s gated compound, given every luxury including the best food and toys money could buy, while their countrymen and women languished in poverty.

Up to the early 2000s, Jong-chul was all but set to succeed their father – until it was announced in 2009 that he wasn’t.

According to the family’s sushi chef, his father suddenly decided Jong-chul was ‘no good because he is like a little girl’.

And while Jong-chul reportedly now lives a quiet life in Pyongyang, appearing at occasional Eric Clapton concerts as far afield as Singapore and London, the actual ‘little girl’ in the family was clearly made of sterner stuff.

As a child, she was addressed by her proud parents as ‘sweet princess’ despite having a reputation for being strong-willed and stubborn.

Interestingly, the couple referred to their sons as ‘Big Brother’ (Jong-chul) and ‘Little Brother’ (Jong-un), in other words from the perspective of their sister.

Soon after she was born in 1987, she became the ‘axis of the royal family’, always sitting next to her father at meals while her brothers sat further down the table.

By the age of eight she was sufficiently sure of herself to fire her personal aide. Aged nine, she physically dragged her older brother – who was 16 – out of a women-only theatre on their family estate after he sneaked in.

She and her brothers were sent to be schooled in Switzerland, using pseudonyms and pretending to be the children of North Korean diplomats.

Her father was a psychopath who had his own half-brother Hyon murdered in 2007 to protect his children’s succession right. In the 1980s he attempted to assassinate the South Korean president and blew up a passenger plane in mid-air as one of many terrorist acts.

Lee says Jong-un and Yo-jong have clearly both inherited his murderous instincts. Indeed, Jong-un is suspected of having his own half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, assassinated in Kuala Lumpur airport with nerve agent in 2017.

Quite what his sister would be capable of is yet to be seen. But in the meantime she remains an increasingly powerful and vindictive presence in the background.

Even aged 21, when she was spotted trailing her father to an important meeting with Bill Clinton, it is thought she was already playing a key role in government.

And, unlike her Supreme Leader brother, she can speak English – a notable advantage when it comes to global politics.

When, during a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2018, the US delegation cracked a joke, she laughed while Kim Jong-un stared blankly ahead, clearly not understanding.

This may be one of the reasons as to why Jong-un clearly depends on his sister and keeps her close.

During the funeral eulogy for Kim Jong-il in 2011, his daughter – evidently overcome with emotion – suddenly left the official line-up.

For anyone else, such an outrageous break with protocol at a sacred ceremony would have been considered even worse than ‘half-hearted clapping’ and punishable by death.

But, from the earliest days of her brother’s rule, Yo-jong has been ‘untouchable’, says Lee.

Not that ordinary North Koreans would have known: state media never mentioned her once until March 2014 and that was only to say she’d cast a vote for her brother in an ‘election’.

She was mentioned twice more that month when she accompanied Jong-un to concerts. On both occasions, her name came last in the list of more than a dozen attendees and with no reference to her ‘blue blood’.

All considered then, it’s hardly surprising that her private life remains a mystery.

In 2018, during the trip to South Korea for the Winter Olympics, she appeared on one occasion without a coat and seemed to have a slight bulge around her abdomen.

Intelligence analysts speculated that she might be pregnant and South Korean media claimed she confirmed as much to Olympics officials. As to the likely father, she reportedly married Choe Song, a government official’s son, in 2014. It’s also claimed she had a child in 2015.

According to Lee, Yo-jong and her brother have devised a ‘good cop, bad cop’ strategy on the world stage whereby she employs her femininity and deceptive charm to offset Jong-un’s surly aggression.

But while it might publicly appear that she’s in a subservient role – standing happily aside and handing her brother a pen for him to sign the historic joint statement with President Trump in Singapore in 2018, for example – once again, appearances can be deceptive.

In 2019, Jong-un took a long train ride to Vietnam for a second meeting with Trump. He and his sister were caught on camera at a rest-stop during the journey, standing by themselves as he had a smoke and she held up a crystal ashtray for him with both hands.

Some commentators said it smacked of her subservience but in fact, says Lee, she was making sure he left no cigarette butts bearing traces of his DNA for foreign intelligence services to examine.

‘No one else, aside from his wife, has such intimate access to the Supreme Leader,’ says Lee.

But will she be loyal forever?

Just as her butter-wouldn’t-melt appearance hides a woman who kills on command and revels in vile abuse, perhaps nothing about Kim Yo-jong can be taken for granted.

[liamhaydn-blog]

Lionel Messi at the 2022 World Cup

The first ever winter World Cup appeared perfectly timed for Lionel Messi. The previous season, his first in the colours of Paris Saint-Germain, had been the toughest of his career to date. The flawless finishing we had witnessed for well over a dozen years momentarily deserted him and was replaced with efforts suddenly being denied by posts, crossbars and goalkeepers, more often than they were finding the net. For the first time since his teenage years, Messi failed to reach double figures in the league, scoring just six goals in 26 appearances, and 11 in all competitions. Those who saw this and declared Messi’s glory years over would quickly be proven wrong however as just a few months into his second campaign with PSG and his difficulties in the previous season were already nothing but a rapidly fading memory. 

By the time club football took a winter break for the mid-season World Cup, Messi had already outperformed last season’s goal haul, with 7 in the league and 12 in all competitions. On top of this he also added 14 assists in the 19 games he featured. The numbers and performances showed us Messi was coming into the World Cup bang on form, and given his age of 35, playing this tournament mid-season rather than at the end of another long 50+ game season, was likely to be more of a help than a hindrance. 

The Argentina side he would be captaining at the finals were unbeaten since they suffered a loss to Brazil at the 2019 Copa America, their 5th tournament in 6 years where they had been unable to end a trophy drought which stretched back to 1993. Messi may have dragged his nation to three major finals in as many years but falling short in all of them led him to announce a short-lived retirement. He was back playing for the Albiceleste shortly after but the 2018 World Cup in Russia looked like something akin to torture for him. Rarely if ever did he seem to exhibit the same joy and freedom in Argentina’s colours as when playing for Barcelona. 

That was until the 2021 Copa America in Brazil, when at his 10th major tournament, Argentina finally assembled the right supporting cast around Messi, and with it Leo dazzled scoring 4 and assisting 5 as he led Argentina to the final. In the final he wasn’t at his best, a result of an extremely physical semi-final against Colombia, but for this new Argentina they could find a way to win without relying solely on their talismanic captain. Di Maria scored the goal which won them the cup at the Maracanã against hosts Brazil and suddenly Argentina who had been so poor at the 2018 World Cup were now one of the top favourites for the next World Cup which would take place the following year in Qatar. 

Argentina only strengthened their credentials with a run of 36 games unbeaten going into the World Cup. This run took in their Copa America triumph and aswell included a 3-0 win over European Champions Italy and on the very eve of the tournament a 5-0 win over UAE. In that game Messi notched his 18th goal for Argentina in his last 22 appearances, it was with real belief he and his teammates would begin Group C. Assigned to a favourable looking group alongside Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Poland, it would be the Saudis first up for Argentina.

v.s Saudi Arabia 1:2- Group C

Saudi Arabia are regular World Cup qualifiers, Brazil in 2014 being the only finals they haven’t reached since first qualifying in 1994. They are not however regular World Cup winners, having won just one game since they reached the knockout stages for the one and only time at their first World Cup. They appear to be the perfect opponent for Argentina to lay down a statement of intent with an emphatic victory.

 It takes just 94 seconds for Messi to have his first shot on target, forcing Al Owais into an early save. A few minutes later and holding in the box as Saudi Arabia attempted to defend a corner drew the attention of VAR, who alerted the referee to have a look at a possible penalty. The referee decided it went beyond the acceptable level of grappling and pointed to the spot, giving Messi and Argentina the chance to make the perfect start. The chance was taken as Argentina’s number 10 calmly rolled the ball into the net for 1-0. 

Messi appeared to have his and Argentina’s second in the 22nd minute when a long ball over the top left him baring down on goal and he calmly slotted home. However the linesman’s flag was then immediately raised. Five minutes later there was an even tighter call after Lautaro Martinez had gone clear and lifted the ball over the onrushing Al Owais. This time it was VAR who intervened to rule it out, judging Lautaro’s shoulder to be offside. Remarkably 7 minutes later Argentina had the ball in the net for a fourth time, and for the third time it was disallowed for offside. This was the clearest offside of the lot, though Lautaro’s composed step-over and finish after Messi had put him through displayed Argentina’s supreme confidence and the control in which they exerted over the match. 

Despite Argentina’s dominance in the first half, they had just one goal to show for it. And the frailty of that lead was exposed just three minutes into the second half when Alshehri expertly shot through the legs of a sliding Christian Romero and from a tight angle the ball bobbled into the bottom corner past Emiliano Martinez. The goal had come from a simple ball straight down the middle after Messi had been dispossessed in midfield. Just 5 minutes later, things went from bad to worse for Argentina as Nicolas Otamendi’s failure to get distance on a clearance eventually led to the ball finding Aldawsari who made room for the shot by cutting inside and then let fly from just inside the area. Martinez got a hand to the ball, but the power beat him and suddenly Argentina were behind against Saudi Arabia. 

Argentina almost respond immediately when Messi is found in the box, but just as he is about to shoot a potentially goal-saving tackle flies in on him from Abdulhamid, who celebrates this tackle like a goal, and he isn’t the last Saudi player to do so. The Albiceleste come closer still when Lisandro Martinez’s close-range shot deflects off the knee of Tagliafico from even closer, but Al Owais’ reflexes are up to the task.  

Following these chances, you could see the panic start to set in for Argentina as the reality of what defeat here could mean began to dawn on them. They began to fall back into their old habits of relying on Messi to rescue them. Since the last World Cup, Argentina had ended their long wait for silverware and were on the verge of equalling Italy’s world-record of 37 matches unbeaten. However as the clock ran down on them here, they could have been mistaken for the Argentina of 4 years ago who had toiled against Iceland and Nigeria. 

For a period in the second half Saudi Arabia correctly identified that if they could stop Messi, they could stop Argentina as the nerves and pressure began to get to his teammates. With 10 minutes of normal time left, Messi won a free kick in a promising position for a strike at goal, but his shot sailed harmlessly over the bar. He was closer a few minutes later when he was found in the box by Di Maria, but the floated ball didn’t allow Messi to generate enough power on his header to seriously trouble the keeper. 

As they neared closer to a historic victory, the Saudi’s gave full commitment to every sprint and tackle, it was going to take something special to snatch victory from them. They time-wasted, they took yellow cards and did everything they could to see the game out. Due to the timewasting, there was in the end an extra 13 minutes of additional time played for them to defend for their lives. But it seemed not to matter if the board had showed 30 minutes, Saudi Arabia were not going to be denied 3 points on this day. 

Having turned the game completely on its head in 5 mad minutes, they refused to squander their new-found lead through any fault of their own. There would be no shortage of desire, nor intense concentration in order to maintain their advantage and in the end it was enough to ensure one of the World Cups big upsets. And we were left wondering whether Argentina were just cursed in World Cups, having reached the Semi-Finals just once since 1990. But after this result the immediate worry was now just to ensure they got out of the groups. 

v.s. Mexico 2:0- Group C

In the lead-up to what was now a do-or-die game against Mexico, Messi spoke to the media: “In five minutes of mistakes that we made, we went 2-1 down and then it was really tough, we lost organisation and started punting the ball. It's up to us to fix what we did wrong and get back to the basics of who we are. We're OK, obviously hurt by the result, very bitter. But people must trust that this team will not let them down and we are going to go for it in the next two games.” It was strong words from the skipper and Argentina were also aided by results going their way in the other group games. First Mexico and Poland played out a 0-0 draw with Robert Lewandowski missing a penalty, then Poland beat Saudi Arabia 2-0. These results helped ensure Argentina’s destiny remained in their own hands. 

However as the game began it was clear these results had done little to settle Argentina’s nerves, nor had the 5 changes Lionel Scaloni made to the starting 11, including 3 in the defence. Though you regularly see both Argentina and Mexico in the knockout stages of the World Cup, the first-half here was more befitting of a League 2 match. The match was scrappy and extremely low on quality, littered with fouls which forced the game into a stop, start nature. The first sight of goal for either team didn’t arrive until the 40th minute when Lautaro’s header cleared the crossbar after being found by Angel Di Maria. Mexico’s one moment came in the 45th minute when a Vega free-kick forced Martinez into action. 

The most concerning sight in the first half for Messi and Argentina fans had been where the number 10 constantly received the ball and the movement, rather the lack of it around him. Argentina’s forward movement was very static, the player in possession left short on options so even Messi with having difficulty in progressing his team up the pitch when receiving it around the half-way line, where nearly all of his touches were. The first half had been in many ways, even more troubling than the second half against Saudi.  

At half-time in the ITV studio, Gary Neville said: “Players aren’t fearful of Lionel Messi anymore. They are taking the ball off him easily.” Joe Cole bizarrely put Messi’s struggles in the first-half down to the fact that “It's tough to get out of bed and get your roadwork done at 5am when you're sleeping in silk pyjamas." Neville and fellow pundit Roy Keane then found time to criticise Di Maria, with Neville saying “He’s got no heart.” to which Keane responded: “He’d break your heart, I’m not sure he’s got one.” Based on these words, Argentina may aswell not have bothered coming out for the second half. 

They did, but nothing appeared to have changed from the first. 5 minutes into the half and Messi won a free-kick in a dangerous position. Due to the lack of clear-cut chances this presented as good a chance as any for him to find the target. But his effort never threatened to harm the Mexico goal, flying high over the bar. It just about summed the game up so far for him and Argentina. 

Messi disappeared from the game once more, Argentina now had less than half an hour to find a goal that was looking increasingly unlikely. They were on the verge of having just one point from their opening two games, when Messi picked the ball up in the same kind of unthreatening position he had all game. He played a simple pass forward then continued his move toward the penalty area. Mexico’s midfield all then turned their attention to the ball and ignored Messi’s positioning. Di Maria however noticed exactly where he was and found Messi in a pocket of space. With one touch he set it out his feet and with the second he arrowed the ball into the bottom corner. 

Afrer scoring the vital opener, Messi shouted to the players: "Come on, look at the scoreboard. Now that's in front of you, look at it. 88,000 spectators are looking at you and 45 million Argentines are behind us watching. We won't let them down today, guys. Defend it like savage hyenas. Focus and never miss a ball." De Paul who had been struggling in the game conceding the ball cheaply was told in no uncertain terms by Messi that if he lost another ball, he didn’t want to see his face after the match. The midfielder responded to this by playing a lot better for the remainder. 

Mexico never looked like possessing the quality to equalise but the 3 points weren’t secure until the 87th minute when Enzo Fernandez doubled Argentina’s lead. With a step-over he bought room for the shot, and he didn’t waste it by bending it in past Ochoa. Messi played the pass for the goal to become the first man to register an assist at 5 World Cups. With the full-time whistle Argentina could breathe a huge sigh of relief. They were off the mark at the 2022 World Cup, thanks in large part to their captain whose wonderful goal came at a time when he and Argentina were clinging on to their dreams of glory. 

“Well they haven’t got much, but they have got him!”- Sam Matterface as Lionel Messi opens the scoring against Mexico

“One more Messi moment and Argentina are alive!”- Peter Drury

v.s Poland 2:0- Group C

Going into the final matchday Argentina knew that a win over Poland would near certainly be enough to see them secure top spot in the group. This was due to them having a positive Goal Difference, and Saudi Arabia having a negative one. Poland though would be mathematically certain of topping the group if they beat Argentina. Finishing 1st was vitally important as 2nd place in the group would meet France. Having faced France at the same stage 4 years ago, Argentina would be keen to avoid a repeat, with memories of an 18-year old Kylian Mbappe sprinting through the middle of their defence still raw enough to know if you get the chance to avoid him, you should take it. 

However from the offset Poland had only the draw they needed for qualification in mind. They lacked the belief to try and obtain the win to ensure they topped the group and instead sat back, inviting Argentina (wearing their purple away jersey for the one and only time in the tournament) to dominate possession which they duly did. Unsurprisingly it was Messi who had the best chances of the first half. Running into the box he was faced with a tight angle, but the power generated in the shot forced Szczesny into a smart save down low at his near-post. 

A golden opportunity would arrive in the 36th minute when a cross from Julian Alvarez was missed by the Polish keeper and reached by Messi though his header ended high over the bar. However, Szczesny caught Messi in the face when attempting to reach the ball, and as it was Messi who made contact with the ball, the Polish number 1 was judged to have committed a foul after the referee watched the incident back on VAR. Though Szczesny was to redeem himself with an outstanding penalty save, guessing the right way and getting a strong hand to Messi’s kick. The penalty was struck with power, but Szczesny’s hand remained firm and palmed it to safety. 

It seemed like nothing could go straightforward for Messi and Argentina at the World Cup. Given the chance to turn all their pressure and domination into a goal from the spot, they’d been unable to convert it. Was it going to be another one of those awful days for them? Such fears were quickly dismissed as they broke the deadlock in the very first minute of the second half. Molina’s cross into the box was fired into the feet of Alexis Mac Allister who opted against needing a touch and instead just stroked it into the bottom corner, hitting the inside of the post on the way in. 

Despite now trailing, Poland were unwilling to alter their game plan and it was Argentina doing all the searching for the game’s second goal. Messi took the ball from well inside his own half and dribbled it all the way into the Poland box before scuffing the shot well wide. In the 67th minute the Albiceleste made sure of top spot, after Enzo Fernandez had threaded the ball into Julian Alvarez who took two exquisite touches to make room for a shot that flew into the back of the Polish net.    

With Mexico leading Saudi Arabia 2-0, Poland were currently only progressing through by virtue of having fewer yellow cards than the Mexicans. Rather than pushing for a goal themselves, they seemed to be relying on Argentina not getting another. This plan appeared flawed however, as Messi looked like he was starting to enjoy the World Cup stage, spraying passes with ease and dribbling past bodies at will. The pick of the passes came in the 74th minute when from the half-way line he instantly spotted the run of Alvarez, and weighted it perfectly into his path. Mercifully for Poland, he could only find the side-netting. The match finished as one of the most one-sided of the tournament with Argentina managing 12 shots on target to Poland’s 0. 

It would however, be Poland joining Argentina in the last 16, a 95th minute goal for Saudi Arabia confirming it beyond doubt. After the game Rio Ferdinand said: “he wasn’t even at his best today but the best 3 or 4 dribbles in the game was Messi, the best 3 or 4 passes in the game was Messi and the best player on the pitch was Messi.” Poland were poor opposition and therefore did not provide much of a test, but Argentina were growing in confidence. For the first time in the tournament they started the midfield three of Enzo Fernandez, De Paul and Mac Allister. Julian Alvarez also made his first start after Lautaro had struggled against Mexico, and he had not wasted his chance. This was a significant game for Argentina as from this point on those four players would start every game together.

They had lost the first game but still topped the group just like Spain did before going onto win it in 2010. There was also the curious statistic that Mario Kempes missed a penalty in Argentina’s third World Cup game in 1978 as did Maradona in game three of 1986. On those occasions, Argentina went on to lift the World Cup, with Messi missing on matchday three this time, would history repeat?

v.s Australia 2:1- Round of 16

Australia would be Argentina’s Round of 16 opponents, and also the opposition for Lionel Messi’s 1,000th official senior game. It would also be Messi’s 100th match as captain of Argentina, so the stage was set for something special and expectation was high. Australia like Argentina had lost their opening game and then won their next two. They had recovered impressively from a 4-1 loss to France by notching back-to-back 1-0 wins over Tunisia and Denmark. 

For 34 minutes, not a lot happened. Argentina controlled the ball but they struggled to find space in dangerous areas against a well-drilled Aussie side full of tall, strong players keen to impose their impressive physicality on the contest. It would be who else but the smallest player on the pitch to spring the game into life. Messi whipped in a free-kick from the right-hand side which was headed out by Souttar only as far as Papu Gomez who recycled the ball back to Messi for him to lay into Mac Allister before moving inside, Mac Allister’s pass found Otamendi who played it back to Messi now inside the penalty area. Messi took a touch then stroked it firmly into the net, through the legs of the stretching Australian defenders and past the outstretched glove of Matt Ryan. 1,000 games, 100 as Argentina captain and a very 1st goal in the knockout rounds of a World Cup. 

“He’s only gone and done it again! A Thousand games and still he excels! They’ll never be another like him! Enjoy him while he’s here.”- Peter Drury

Argentina doubled their advantage 12 minutes into the second half as the result of an excellent press from Rodrigo De Paul, who sprinted at the Australian defence forcing them to play it back to keeper Matt Ryan. De Paul didn’t stop there and chased all the way back to the keeper who tried to take the ball past him with his second touch and tempt him into a foul. This proved a costly error as De Paul didn’t take the bait and instead let him past, as Alvarez was also on the hunt for the ball and picked the keepers pocket, before simply rolling it into the empty net.

For the rest of the second half it was absolutely vintage Messi. Receiving the ball inside his own half, he turned away from one Australian midfielder, then dribbled through a gap of another three, leaving them trailing in his wake and looking statuesque, with seemingly none of them willing to be the one to draw the short straw and attempt to tackle him. Before they could make up their mind what to do, the 35-year old had left them in the dust. Advancing onto the defence, the ball ricocheted to Alvarez who played it back to Messi who beat one challenge in the penalty area before finally being stopped by a second defender who gratefully conceded the corner.  

There is a sting in the tail however when an only half-cleared cross lands at the feet of substitute Craig Goodwin, whose powerful but wayward first-time shot changes direction in the air after cannoning off Enzo Fernandez and leaves Emiliano Martinez flat-footed and rooted to the spot as the ball diverts into the back of his net. A few minutes later and Australia almost completed the comeback, their full-back Behich embarked on an incredible driving run which saw him beat 4 Argentine shirts before finally being denied by Lisandro Martinez just as he prepared to take his short, it was a vital intervention. 

Though right back in the game, Australia could do nothing to disrupt Lionel Messi’s rhythm. He wasn’t feeling the pressure, he was playing the match as though a testimonial. He controlled the tempo and pace of Argentina’s play, if he wanted to slow things down the Australians could not find a way to rush him, if he wanted to speed things up he would subtly switch the gears and drive Argentina forward. Which ever one he opted for, the ball was always safe in his possession, and thankfully for Argentina he was seeing plenty of it. There was a chance to make the game completely safe in the 89th minute when a run from Messi enabled him to occupy all 4 Australian defenders and drag them away from Lautaro Martinez who was left in acres of room, at the perfect time Messi rolled it across to him but now lacking confidence he got under the ball and lifted a horrible shot well away from goal. 

Moments later Messi found Martinez for a second time, this time the striker was able to hit the target but Ryan was equal to it. The number 10 is doing everything to put the game to bed, beating another 2 men he finds himself in the box, faced with 3 opposition players he is still able to get a good shot away, he looks for the top corner and the keeper is well beaten, but it’s a fraction too high. As the 7 minutes of injury time run down, it’s Argentina and Messi who are pushing for the game’s 4th goal. He finds Martinez for his third shot on goal, but his deflected shot is saved by Ryan and Messi is not ready when the save rebounds at his feet, dragging his shot wide. 

Then suddenly with 30 seconds left on the clock, Goodwin’s cross finds Kuol who is able to spin his marker, luckily for Argentina Emiliano Martinez was ready and immediately sprinted off his goalline, narrowing the angle and the shot was blocked by his left arm which took the sting from the shot and allowed him to collect the ball and collapse onto it in relief. He was joined on the floor by a couple of his teammates, no doubt thanking him for getting them out of trouble. 

It had been an interesting night for all 3 of Argentina’s Martinez’s, Emiliano and Lisandro had made fantastic blocks to deny equalisers, whereas it had been a bad night for Lautaro, wasting opportunities that would have made the win certain. But overall, the game was the story of Messi. In his 1,000th game, he had produced his greatest World Cup performance to date, a performance described by Rio Ferdinand as “the best individual performance we’ve seen at this World Cup so far, by a mile.”   

v.s Netherlands 2:2 (4-3 on penalties)- Quarter-Finals 

Argentina vs The Netherlands was to be the mouth-watering Quarter-Final clash. To the surprise of everyone, the winner would not go on to face tournament favourites Brazil as earlier that day they had been dumped out on penalties by plucky Croatia. Given the history of this fixture which had been the final of the 1978 edition, the semi-final when Messi reached his first World Cup final in 2014 and produced one of the most memorable Quarter-Finals ever the last time they met at this stage in 1998, it was a game that scarcely needed spicing up. But it seemingly got it anyway, with comments made by Dutch manager Louis Van Gaal that “you would see his plan to stop Lionel Messi on Friday night” taken to be disrespectful and arrogant by the Argentine side. 

Scaloni decided to match up with Netherlands’ 3-5-2 by playing the same formation, dropping a forward out for defender Lisandro Martinez. This decision was made easier by an injury to Angel Di Maria who was only fit enough for the bench.

After a tight opening which was just about shaded by Argentina, Messi was the orchestrator of the game’s first goal in the 35th minute, the exact same minute he’d scored the games opener in the previous match against Australia. This time he was to be the provider however, with a body swerve and a drop of the shoulder Messi found the angle he wanted to thread a through ball between the legs of Nathan Ake and into the path of Molina, the weight of the pass was too perfect for Daley Blind to intercept, he was taken out of the game and Molina was left with just the keeper to beat which he duly did.

With a couple of minutes left in the half we were given a sign of what was to come as Lahoz’s fussy style of refereeing began to lose control of the match. The Spanish ref flashed 4 yellow cards in moments to Argentina coach Walter Sammuel, aswell as Dutch substitute Wout Weghorst who was yet to enter the game. More significant was the yellow card shown to Acuna, which would rule him out of the semi-final. In the second half Messi went close with a free-kick which was just too high and found only the side-netting, before an even better dead-ball opportunity presented itself when Dumfries brought down Acuna in the box giving the referee little alternative but to point to the spot.  

Faced with the 6 foot 6 inch goalkeeper Noppert, Messi stroked the penalty home with Noppert choosing to stay down the middle. With his celebration, Messi paid tribute to Juan Roman Riquelme’s trademark goal celebration, Riquelme whom it was noted famously clashed with Van Gaal when the two were together at Barcelona. Also noted was the fact Messi did the celebration with his eyes firmly set on the Dutch bench. 

The Netherlands had barely threatened all game, so the two-goal cushion was thought to have killed the contest and put Argentina safely through to the final 4. However with time running out and nothing left to lose, Van Gaal decided to throw the kitchen sink at it by taking off his more technical forwards and bringing on less gifted players who would be more of a threat in the air where they could use their height advantage. This strategy quickly paid dividends as the Dutch pulled one back with 7 minutes of normal time remaining, Weghorst directing his header past Martinez.  

With a minute of normal time left, the bad tempered game which had been simmering along finally reached its boiling point when Parades clattered into Nathan Ake and then blasted the ball into the Dutch bench. Luckily it didn’t hit anyone, if it did he may not have escaped with just a yellow card. The melee that followed saw all of the Dutch substitutes storm onto the pitch in fury, though it was Van Dijk who got to Paredes first and bumped him to the ground, for which he avoided punishment. 

The referee had frustrated both teams with his fussiness, which saw him constantly blowing his whistle to signal free-kicks for every minor and sometimes non-existent infringement. This led to 11 minutes of stoppage time being awarded and it was in the final of those added minutes when the Dutch equalised. From a free-kick, Koopmeiners, instead of shooting, worked a routine straight off the training ground by instead passing it past the wall and through to Weghorst who managed to hold off his marker and fire it past Martinez. It was the substitutes second of the game and the assist came from a fellow substitute, it had proved a tactical masterclass from Van Gaal. 

The first half of extra-time passed without notable incident, both teams looking to catch their breath. Netherlands seemed relieved to just still be in the competition, Argentina concentrated on re-composing themselves and looking to regain control of a game that had momentarily got away from them. 

All the big second half chances went Argentina’s way, they continued to probe for a winner, coming closest in added time at the end of extra-time when Fernandez let fly from outside the box and beat the goalkeeper only to be denied by the post. Like their encounter 8 years previously, the two sides would be separated by a penalty shoot-out when the referee finally called time on a game which had included 48 fouls, with 30 from the Netherlands. 

As in their 2014 World Cup shootout, the Dutch were first up. Again it would be a centre-back, then it was Ron Vlaar, now Van Dijk. Different names but the outcome remained the same, the player missed. Although more accurately, Martinez saved by diving correctly to his right and getting both hands to the ball. Next Messi faced Noppert from the spot for a second time, and the result was the same. He waited for the keeper to commit to his dive then just rolled it the other side. 

Berghuis then stepped up for the Netherlands, and he was also denied by Martinez who again guessed right, this time going left and making another outstanding penalty save. Noppert then guessed right for Parades’ kick but still couldn’t get anywhere near it due to perfect placement. Martinez stays in the middle for Netherlands third penalty and Koopmeiners blasts it into the far corner. Next up goes Montiel and he makes it 3 from 3 for Argentina sending the keeper the wrong way. 

Weghorst keeps the Dutch alive in the shootout but if Fernandez scores its all over. As he makes his way towards the spot, Dumfries is booked for gamesmanship as he goes with Fernandez, attempting to break his concentration. It seems to work as the midfielder fired wide, keeping alive slim Dutch hopes. De Jong then levels the shootout but Argentina have one kick remaining. It’s Lautaro Martinez who steps up, who had been enduring a difficult World Cup. Noppert hands him the ball and begins talking to him, begins the mind games. Martinez appears completely unruffled and he demonstrates this by sending the keeper the wrong way and his team through to the semi-finals. 

The drama still wasn’t over as quickly Argentina’s joyful celebrations were replaced with players and coaches from opposing sides coming face-to-face once more in angry confrontations. Messi became embroiled in a heating conversation with both Louis Van Gaal and assistant coach Edgar Davids. Messi’s hand gesture making plain what his issue with them was, the talking the Dutch camp had done in the build-up to the match. 

As Messi then gave a post-match interview to Argentine broadcasters he was distracted by Weghorst who was stood close by looking at him and apparently waiting for him. With the microphone still in front of his face, Messi snapped at Weghorst: “Qué mirás, bobo? Qué mirás, bobo? Andá para allá.” which translates roughly to “What are you looking at you fool? Go away.” When giving an interview to FIFA, Messi again didn’t hold back saying “It’s very frustrating. We were scared before the game because we knew what this was. I think FIFA must think about it, they cannot put a referee like that for these important games, for such a pivotal game — a referee who isn’t up to the task.” The Argentine public loved seeing this side of Messi, usually so shy and reserved. He seemed to be channelling his inner Diego Maradona as he angrily went at the Dutch coaches, Weghorst and the referee. This side of him showed just how much this World Cup meant to him and his desperation to win.

v.s Croatia 3:0- Semi-Finals

4 years prior when Argentina met Croatia in the World Cup group stages, during the national anthem, Messi had anxiously rubbed his forehead, looking like the loneliest man in the world, carrying a load too heavy for his weary shoulders, they went on to lose the game 3-0. Now as he prepared to face Croatia in the World Cup semi-finals, as the national anthem played, he stood with his chest puffed out singing from the top of his lungs. Just as much as the match to follow, this emphasised the transformation that had taken place within Messi and in the national side he represents. 

For the Semi-Final, Scaloni made another tactical adjustment. Seeing how strong Croatia were in possession and how their centre midfielders could dictate a game, Scaloni started four centre-midfielders against the Croatian three of Kovacic, Brozovic and Modric. Particular importance would be put on limiting the latter’s time on the ball, such was his role in the Croatian side. Despite this Croatia were still able to shade the opening half an hour, showcasing their impressive ability to keep the ball. The game changed in the 31st minute when a scooped through ball from Fernandez put Alvarez in on goal, his contact on the ball was not enough to find the net however goalkeeper Livakovic had taken him out and the referee pointed to the spot.  

Croatia had reached the semis by virtue of winning 2 shootouts, Livakovic had thus far faced 8 penalties, and had only been beaten by 3. However he was given no chance by Messi, his emphatic penalty was absolutely unsavable blasted right into the top corner. This goal made Messi Argentina’s all-time top goal scorer at World Cups, his 11th moving him ahead of Gabriel Batistuta. 

Argentina who had struggled to get into the game now had all the confidence and momentum. 5 minutes after Messi had given them the lead they doubled it. Messi was able to launch a counter attack by just about getting his foot to the ball after Argentina had cleared it from their area and this touch allowed them to spring an attack with Julian Alvarez driving forward with the ball at his feet. He met little resistance until reaching the box when the attempt to tackle him only ricocheted back to him, another failed Croatian clearance allowed the ball to set up nicely for him to strike after bouncing off his chest. The Croatian defenders had not covered themselves in glory but Alvarez had brilliantly profited with his perseverance.

Just shy of the hour mark, Messi gave us a little pre-cursor of what was to come when he received the ball around 40 yards from goal and dribbled to the edge of the box, all the while escaping the attentions of Josko Gvrdiol by holding him off and then playing a one-two with Fernandez to get into the box. Once there he made room for the shot but saw it saved by Livakovic from a narrow angle. 

A little over 10 minutes later and Messi was beating Gvrdiol again, only this time in even more astonishing fashion. Leo takes possession after a throw-in is touched into his path off the thigh of Alvarez, Messi is tight to the touchline but with two touches is away from Gvrdiol and driving into open space in the direction of the penalty area. Messi then slows down allowing the defender to catch up, accelerates again before checking back, all the while always keeping his body between Gvrdiol and the ball. He fakes to turn back inside with a body-swerve which sells the defender and Messi then sets off in the opposite direction towards the byline, he gets there and plays a pass into the unmarked Alvarez for a simple tap-in. 

The 20-year old Gvrdiol had been one of the standout performers of the tournament, but the man 15 years his senior had toyed with him. Messi had taken the ball in a harmless position, just inside the Croatian half and next to the touchline and had laid on a certain goal using just 15 touches of the ball. It was a masterclass in making every single touch count and placing the ball exactly where you needed it to set up your next move, no touch was wasted or less than perfect. 

It made certain Argentina’s progression into Sunday’s final and they saw out the remaining 20-plus minutes in comfort. They allowed Croatia plenty of possession but they could not land a meaningful glove on Argentina, whose attack of Messi and Alvarez had delivered a devastating one-two combination to knock them out. In the end it had been as straightforward as you could ever hope a World Cup Semi-Final to be and Messi was going to get one more chance to lift the trophy he had always dreamed about. 

v.s France 3:3 (4:2 on penalties)- Final

The final was almost certainly going to be less straightforward. Argentina would be facing France after they had defeated Africa’s first ever World Cup Semi-Finalists in Morocco. France would be looking to become the first side to retain the World Cup since Brazil exactly 60 years before and just like Argentina were looking to lift the trophy for a third time. Aswell as the World Cup, the smaller matter of the Golden Boot would be decided with Messi and Mbappe currently tied for 1st with 5 each, and their team’s strikers Alvarez and Giroud also tied on 4. Messi and Mbappe had been the two best players of the World Cup and the question was would Messi show the young pretender to his crown that he was not yet ready to exit his throne, or would Mbappe signal the start of a new era, his era.

Scaloni brought Di Maria back into the starting line-up which raised some eyebrows given the winger had not started since the group stages and had only featured in one knockout game. This decision quickly proved to be an inspired one as Di Maria and co started the game very much on the front foot, playing with an intensity and hunger France simply could not match. They constantly hounded France out of possession, swarming them, first to every ball. 

However they could not transmit their superiority onto the scoreboard in the opening 20 minutes, but the chance came in the 21st minute when trickery from Di Maria took him past Dembele and into the box, whilst assessing his options he felt the slightest of touches from behind and hit the floor. There seemed to be relatively little in it, but the referee felt he’d seen enough contact to award the penalty and VAR did not flag it as a clear or obvious error. It was soft and contentious, but the little flick of Dembele’s foot into the back of Di Maria was judged to be enough. Up stepped Lionel Messi for the most important kick of a football in his entire career. He coolly sent Lloris in the wrong direction and gave his nation the start they desperately wanted. 

The goal did little to wake France from there stupor, instead it was Argentina who played all the football, and their finest bit of football came 13 minutes after taking the lead when Mac Allister flicked the ball into Messi’s path. Just inside his own half with two touches he knocked it around the corner into Alvarez who played it first time for Mac Allister who had continued his run forward, the midfielder knew he had Di Maria for company and picked out an inch perfect pass for the winger to strike first time past Lloris. The counter-attack was the best team goal of the whole tournament, and one of the more memorable World Cup final goals with quick, incisive passing and movement that brutally exposed the disorganisation in the French team with defenders way out of position. 

The 2-0 lead was richly deserved and forced Deschamps into making 2 substitutions before half-time had even been reached, sacrificing Giroud and Dembele. The second half continued in the same vein, Argentina making all the chances, simply battering France and comfortably outplaying them. Things began to subtly shift when Di Maria who had been the man of the match up to that point, a constant thorn in the French side was taken off for full-back Acuna. This seemed to signify to Argentina’s players that they should start to be contented with the lead they already had and begin slowing the game down and trying to see it out. Rather than hungrily going for the third as they had in the opening 18 minutes of the half with Di Maria on the pitch, they now looked to just pass the ball around. This subtle change of tact appeared unlikely to be taken advantage of by France, emphasised by Varane who under no pressure passed the ball straight into touch, nowhere near any teammate. It was a pass that just about epitomised the French performance. 

Their way back into the game appeared out of the blue. A heavy touch forward from Mbappe seemed to allow Otamendi time to clear his lines but he paused for too long and substitute Kolo Muani stole in to get goal-side of him. Otamendi panicked and brought him down once the forward had already strode into the box and from nowhere France had been gifted the chance to half their deficit. Kylian Mbappe gratefully took that chance, despite Martinez guessing the right way the power was too much. 

This gave France 10 more minutes of normal time to force an equaliser, in actuality they needed just 1. Messi was caught in possession by substitute Coman who then picked out Rabiot. His flighted ball to Mbappe was headed to Thuram who returned it instantly for the forward to strike on the volley, and strike it he did, hard and low past Martinez. After being outplayed for 79 minutes, in 2 minutes France had wiped away Argentina’s 2-goal cushion and made it all square. 

From that point, it was Argentina hanging in and France the ones searching for the winner, until the 7th added minute of a scheduled 8 when Messi let fly from outside the box with what may have gone down as the most iconic goal in football history, but Lloris was able to palm it up and over the bar. Messi was going to have to go at least another 30 minutes to secure a World Cup title.

The first big chance of extra-time came in the 15th minute and it went Argentina’s way, when Messi found substitute Lautaro Martinez in the box after interchanging with Mac Allister in a brilliant one-two. Martinez wanted time to take a first touch, but he didn’t have it and after taking the touch his shot was charged down. That wasn’t even to be his last chance of the half, Acuna put him through on goal but under the joint pressure of being closed down by Upamecano and Lloris he shot wide of the target. 

3 minutes into the second half of extra-time and a ball from Montiel was controlled into Messi’s path by Lautaro Martinez, the number 10 found Fernandez with one touch who with a single touch of his own gave it back to Lautaro who touched and shot, Lloris got one big, strong hand on it but the ball fell at the feet of Messi mere yards from the goal line, he bundled it over the line and chaos ensued. Argentina’s substitutes swarmed across the pitch to celebrate with Messi and co. right on the other touchline. But with the referee giving the goal, the linesman’s flag shot up for offside seconds after the ball was in. Messi celebrated with jubilant teammates, but concern was still visible on his face, is it definitely a goal? VAR put an end to his uncertainty by confirming Lautaro was onside and the goal stood, and then and only then did Messi fully give way to full delight.

His and Argentina’s joy would still be cut short however when Mbappe’s shot from just outside the box was charged down by the arm of Montiel, very much inside it. The referee pointed to the spot for a third time in the game, and mere minutes away from victory Argentina threatened to be denied again. Mbappe kept his considerable cool and sent Martinez the wrong way, he and France were level once more as the Frenchman became the first man to score a World Cup final hattrick since Geoff Hurst in 1966.

In the 120th minute, a near inch-perfect cross from Mbappe had Kolo Muani straining his neck muscles, given the pace on the ball any contact on it may have been enough to leave Martinez with no chance but he was just short of reaching the ball with his attempted header and Argentina could breathe a big sigh of relief. Not for long. With less than 20 seconds left of the final 3 minutes added on to the end of Extra-Time, a forward ball from Konate was missed by Otamendi as he failed to make any connection with his attempted slide clearance, this miss put Kolo Muani through clear of the defence with just the keeper to beat, the ball set up perfectly to smash on the half-volley and the strike was a good one, but Martinez pulled out perhaps the save of the tournament right when he and his nation needed it most. 

In one of the most exciting minutes in World Cup history, Argentina went right back up the other end and attempted to steal the game for themselves. The head of Lautaro Martinez was picked out from a cross, he had a free header but got it all wrong. Right in front of goal he only needed to hit the target, but he mis-directed his attempt and got it horribly wrong sending it way wide. And that was that, the final chance of an enthralling game. And for just the third time the destination of the World Cup trophy would be decided by a penalty shoot-out. 

France were to go first and Mbappe stepped up for his 3rd penalty in little more than an hour. Remarkably, for a third time he was able to beat Martinez, for the second time Martinez guessed right but the power and placement was too good. After France’s talisman number 10 came Argentina’s to take his second penalty of the night. Messi passed the ball into the net, with the kind of ease that felt out of place in a World Cup final penalty shootout. It shouldn’t be that simple. Coman took France’s second penalty, his kick was missed by the gloves of Martinez, but the ball went between his gloves and firmly into his chest. He had guessed right and kept it out with a tremendous save. Dybala had been brought on for the sole purpose of taking a penalty, and that proved a good decision from Scaloni as his firmly struck penalty went straight down the middle in the space the diving Lloris had vacated. 

Tchouameni took and subsequently missed France’s third penalty, shooting wide of the post. Martinez celebratory shimmy demonstrated the confidence Argentina now felt, they were close. Parades took them yet closer when he made it 3-1. Kolo Muani had to score to keep France in it and he did, blasting it home. This meant the chance fell to Gonzalo Montiel. The substitute could have been the villain of the piece after his handball with minutes of injury time to play saw Argentina lose their lead for a second time. Now he had the chance to be the hero. He sent Lloris the wrong way and Lionel Messi and Argentina were Champions of the World.

Argentina Campeones Del Mundo

Argentina were finally ‘Campeones del Mundo’ for the first time in 36 long years and Messi had equalled the achievements of Mario Kempes and Diego Maradona. Like Kempes he scored two in the final, and like Maradona he had captained his side to glory. Mbappe’s hattrick may have meant that Leo missed out on the Golden Boot, but he did win the Golden Ball for the tournament’s best player, in doing so becoming the first player to win the award twice. 

In 4 glorious weeks Messi had answered any criticisms that could ever be levelled at him. He struggled at World Cup’s under the intense pressure and scrutiny they said, referencing him only having 6 World Cup goals in his first 4 tournaments, and being without a goal in the knockout stage. After this World Cup he had 13, more than the great Pele and the joint 4th most in history. He had become the first player ever to score in all 4 knockout stage rounds at the same World Cup, netting 5 times in 4 games. They said he wasn’t a great leader and captain, now he had led his nation to the greatest prize on earth. Even the claim that he wasn’t a great penalty taker was answered, in 3 matches he scored 5 penalties including the shoot-outs, with the highest pressure and on the grandest stage imaginable, he kept his cool 5 times with unflappable penalty kicks.   

Though this wasn’t just the triumph of one man, this was the triumph of a whole team. Scaloni had been the best manager of the World Cup, his tactical tweaks against Netherlands, Croatia and France had all worked brilliantly. Bringing Di Maria back into the side when he had rather struggled in the group stage and the team had played better in the knockout rounds without him was a big call, but this allowed Argentina to stretch the pitch wide and gave Messi more room to operate in the middle, France couldn’t crowd him as they now had another dribbling creator on the flanks. 

Argentina hadn’t started the World Cup with a team good enough to win it, but Scaloni found it. An injury on the eve of the tournament to the important Lo Celso left him trying to find the best way to plug that gap. 19 different players started for Argentina at the finals, and only three outfield players in Otamendi, De Paul and Messi started every game. The turning point came in game three against Poland when the midfield of Fernandez, Mac Allister and De Paul proved Argentina’s most effective combination to date and they got better and better as the tournament progressed, peaking in the final where all three were absolutely outstanding. Also in that Poland game came the decision to drop the mis-firing Lautaro for the young, hungry Julian Alvarez who performed exemplary adding 4 goals to Argentina’s tally.  

Not to be forgotten for their role in Argentina’s success were the fans who covered each stadium with a sea of blue and white jerseys and were the wonderful soundtrack to Albiceleste glory. Less demand for tickets at this Qatar World Cup saw more tickets than usual land in the hands of regular supporters, the real hardcore and this was one of the best things about a controversial World Cup which came with many downsides. Also not to be forgotten were the heroics of goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, he provided the platform in the shootouts for Argentina to go and get the victories with his psychological warfare against opposition takers forcing 4 misses. Argentina scored 7 of the 8 shootout penalties they took, emphasising how every player including the sparingly used Dybala played their part in achieving the ultimate glory.

Rating the 16 Argentina players who started at least 2 games: 

Emiliano Martinez- 10

Made vital late saves against Australia and France, the latter being maybe the most iconic ever World Cup final save. Was the difference maker in Argentina’s two shoot-outs, dominating them with early saves to give his team the momentum.

Nicolas Molina- 7

Started all but the Mexico game and performed solidly, Argentina were rarely troubled down the flanks. Going forward he took his goal against Netherlands with great composure.  

Christian Romero- 8

Like Molina, Romero started every match bar Mexico and for the majority of the tournament he looked extremely solid. 

Nicolas Otamendi- 6

Performed well at times, and did momentarily silenced his critics and doubters. However, it always felt like he had a mistake in him, and if a costly error was going to come from the Argentina defence, he always seemed most likely to be the culprit. This was proven when he foolishly conceded a penalty in the final which made lifting the trophy much harder work for his team.

Lisandro Martinez- 8

Started against Mexico and was then brought back in for the Quarter-Final against Netherlands. Hardly put a foot wrong and made a crucial intervention off the bench against Australia to keep his side in front. A surprise he wasn’t given more minutes as when he did play he looked more solid than the calamity-prone Otamendi.

Marcos Acuña- 7

Like Molina wasn’t troubled often defensively and got into good attacking positions regularly. His end product could be somewhat disappointing, but he always proved a useful foil. 

Nicolás Tagliafico- 7

Started the opening game and was broke back into the side for the semi-final when filling in for the suspended Acuna, he did a solid job and kept his place for the final. 

Rodrigo De Paul- 9

Struggled against Saudi Arabia and especially in the first half vs Mexico, but Scaloni kept faith in him and De Paul rewarded that faith, he got better and better as the tournament progressed. His tireless running was essential to the success of Argentina’s campaign.

Enzo Fernandez- 9

Wasn’t chosen to start until the final group game. However once in the team, Enzo made the position his. He was involved in most things good in Argentina’s play, always neat and tidy but never overly cautious in possession. Deserved winner of the tournament’s best young player award. 

Alexis Mac Allister- 9

Going into the tournament we knew the Brighton midfielder was good, I’m not sure we knew he was this good. Scored the vital goal against Poland to break the deadlock, but his finest moment came in the final where he was one of the best players on the pitch, France just could not get to grips with him.

Leandro Paredes- 7

He started the opening defeat to Saudi Arabia and didn’t start again until the semi-finals against Croatia, where he came in and did a solid job. Converted both his shoot-out penalties including one in the final shootout to give Argentina a commanding 3-1 lead.

Angel Di Maria- 8

Wasn’t at his best in the group stages, however he more than made up for it with his final performance. He deserved his goal which gave Argentina a 2-0 lead, he terrorised Kounde and had the beating of him time and time again.

Papu Gomez- 5

Started the opener against Saudi Arabia and was brought back in for the round of 16 game against Australia. However he was largely anonymous in both games. 

Lionel Messi- 10

Scored one of the best and most important goals when his country needed him most as they toiled vs Mexico. He and his teammates never looked back from there. He was sensational against Australia and inspirational in the final against France. Between that he produced the two best assists of the tournament against Netherlands and Croatia. 7 goals, 3 assists, 5 converted penalties in a row, the 35-year old really could not have done much more.

Julian Alvarez- 9

Got his chance to start against Poland and was never in danger of losing his starting place. His energy, intelligence and lethal finishing were key components in the success of his nation. He led Argentina’s attack at the World Cup in ways much more experienced forwards such as Higuain, Aguero and Lautaro Martinez had been unable to do.

Lautaro Martinez- 5

His bad luck began when he had two goals ruled out for offside in the opener with Saudi Arabia. How different his tournament may have gone if one of them had counted as he finished both brilliantly. After that though, he couldn’t get into the game vs Mexico and lost his place to Alvarez. His one great moment came when he converted the winning penalty in the shoot-out v Netherlands. However he was very wasteful against Australia and again in the final, missing 3 good chances which could have proven costly. 

The Greatest of All Time

With 7 goals and 3 assists, Messi had matched the exact number of goal contributions Pele and Maradona had when they were victorious in 1970 and 1986 respectively. This brought Messi’s total to 21 goal contributions at the World Cup, which is the most of any player since the record books began counting assists in 1966. It took Messi’s goal tally in major international tournaments to 26, which is more than any other player in South American football history, and his 7 here helped win him his second major trophy with Argentina after the Copa America the previous year. 

Messi had long since surpassed Pele and Maradona at club level with an unquestionable collection of goals and honours, both team and individual. His lack of international success was always levelled at him when debating his position among the all-time greats, but now having peaked at international level in his mid-30′s, scoring more in tournaments than he ever has before, Messi has put that argument to bed. Never before had so many people around the world wanted one man to lift one trophy, Messi’s immense contribution to football had many feeling he deserved to win its showpiece event after a magnificent career spanning 17 years. People got their wish and at the 5th time of asking, Lionel Messi achieved a life-long dream formed in boyhood, he had lifted the World Cup for his beloved Argentina.

“Unparalleled. There will of course always be those who argue, always be those who debate. And the debate can rage on, if you like. But as he falls in love with the object in the world that his heart most desired, it is hard to escape the supposition that he has rendered himself today, The Greatest of All Time.”- Peter Drury