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Meaningless friendly emphasizes how Messi and Ronaldo should never be allowed to retire

The lasting feeling from Thursday's 5-4 friendly between PSG and a Riyadh All-Star XI in Saudi Arabia is that Cristiano Ronaldo, on the verge of his 38th birthday, and Lionel Messi, 35, could play forever. Neymar, 30, looks like he's got a year or two left in him.

It was Ronaldo who scored Riyadh's first two goals while Messi opened the scoring for PSG in the third-minute. Both provided moments of dazzling skill, much to the delight of the businessman who paid $2.66 million for a single ticket.

Messi opens the scoring off Neymar's pass

Marcos Acuña scores goal right after being honored by Sevilla for winning World Cup

Argentina's victorious World Cup squad members have all gone back to their club sides where they've been given receptions befitting the return of conquering heroes. PSG gave Lionel Messi a guard of honor on Wednesday when he returned to training, Alexis Mac Allister was serenaded by Brighton teammates and Enzo Fernández...

Lionel Messi's record-breaking photo was with a fake World Cup trophy

After getting more than 74 million "hearts" and becoming the most-liked post in the history of Instagram, the iconic photo of Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup trophy is again in the news. 

This time for a very different and weird reason: Two Argentina supporters claim the trophy Messi was holding is a fake. 

FIFA investigating how Salt Bae was able to crash Argentina's celebrations and touch the World Cup trophy

FIFA has launched an investigation to determine how in the hell restaurant owner and famous chef Salt Bae got access to the field during Argentina's World Cup celebrations in Qatar. 

"Following a review, FIFA has been establishing how individuals gained undue access to the pitch after the closing ceremony at Lusail Stadium on Dec. 18," the world soccer body said in a press release.

Salt Bae World Cup acts anger fans 

Although FIFA didn't name Salt Bae, whose real name is Nusret Gökçe, you don't need to be a genius to know what's going on here. 

Here's the history behind the black cloak Lionel Messi wore while lifting the World Cup trophy

Written by Pardis Mahdavi courtesy of The Conversation

Shortly before Lionel Messi took to the stage to lift up the World Cup trophy, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani put a black cloak, called a “bisht,” over the Argentinian soccer star’s shoulders.

The top 6 things to do with your life now that the World Cup is over

The World Cup has this supernatural power over soccer fans. It fills a void we didn’t even know we had, but now that the tournament is over, this missing piece in our lives is impossible to ignore.

For the past month, we have been treated to endless soccer of the highest caliber. Like babies being fed, we haven’t needed to think about what our next game was going to be. It was always there, waiting for us, and it never disappointed. 

The 10 best assists at the 2022 World Cup

Assists are often overlooked in favor of their more flashy and prominent neighbor, the goal. In many ways, they require more technique and ability than scoring a goal because finding the goal is easy. Knowing where to place a ball to find a teammate while avoiding defenders and keepers, and actually having the technical ability to do it, requires a soccer mind of the highest order. One of the greats, Andrea Pirlo, famously said, "Football is played with the head. Your feet are just tools."

Argentina breaks the record for most penalty kicks awarded to one team at a World Cup

Argentina made history during the 2022 World Cup Final as they were awarded their fifth penalty kick of the tournament. The previous record was shared by the Netherlands in 1978 and Portugal in 1966 with four penalty kicks each. With his subsequent goal, Messi now is level on four goals with Eusébio and Rob Rensenbrink having scored the most penalty kicks in a single tournament. 

The GOAT: Messi delivers World Cup to Argentina with defining performance in final

It was Lionel Messi's World Cup. With almost 80 minutes gone in Sunday's final and Argentina leading 2-0, the 35-year-old looked destined to lift the trophy while capturing both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball — a clean sweep of everything on the GOAT's World Cup swan song.

Then, in 97 seconds of Kylian Mbappé-inspired madness over the 80th and 81st minutes, France pulled level with Messi's PSG teammate scoring from the spot before unleashing a 15-yard side-volley for the equalizer. 

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