@piersmorgan

World Cup Football

This was the dominant focus of the week. Morgan backed England throughout, praising Declan Rice as having 'an absolute stormer' [doc 18] and lauding Thomas Tuchel's tactical masterclass in the semi-final: 'This has been a Tuchel tactical masterclass. Take us home, Thomas!' [doc 5]. After England's exit, he fiercely defended Tuchel against abuse, noting he was '5 minutes away from leading us into our first World Cup Final in 60 years' [doc 95] and backing him to win the Euros [doc 30]. He expressed frustration at the 3rd-place play-off, calling it 'pointless' and sympathising with players forced to compete [doc 93, doc 54]. He relentlessly trolled Argentina, hoping Spain beats them 'as badly in the Final as we beat them in the Falklands War' [doc 53], and his most-engaged post — 3,999 replies — celebrated Spain's goal with 'Taxi for Messi' [doc 33]. He gloated at Argentina's loss, calling them 'nasty violent thugs' [doc 80] and posted 'Karma's a b*tch, baby. See ya' [doc 68]. He also called Messi a 'Nasty little sneak' [doc 73] and defended journalist Gabriel Clarke's questioning of Jude Bellingham [doc 46, doc 94].

Semi-final vs Argentina: Live-reacted to the England-Argentina semi-final, praising Tuchel's tactics and Rice's performance, while criticising the referee and Argentina's physicality. Defended Tuchel post-loss and backed him for the Euros.

3rd-place play-off vs France: Mocked the 3rd-place play-off as 'pointless' and sympathised with Arsenal players Rice and Saka being forced to play, while amusingly tracking the scoreline as 'Arsenal vs France'.

Final vs Argentina (Spain vs Argentina): Rooted for Spain against Argentina, invoking the Falklands War, and gloated at Argentina's loss and Messi's frustrations, calling them 'nasty violent thugs' and celebrating karma.

Tuchel/Bellingham/Clarke furore: Defended journalist Gabriel Clarke's right to ask players about Tuchel's honest criticism, arguing Tuchel rightly threw the 'hand grenade' and Clarke rightly reported it.