2018 FIFA World Cup

Sam21 said:

They have played with the idea of removing the offside rule many times, maybe it is time to give it another try.

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Maybe if only allowed when the ball originated from the half line in offense zone. If not it will look like local 9-10 years old soccer

That said true football fan, and this is the majority, have no problem with 1 goal game. The problem is only for tv rating in America used to sports with plenty of goals.

Cheers,

p.s. Personally that is why I primarily watch the UK Premier League. I have not look at the stats but I am sure they produce more goals per game then any other league. Also a faker like Neymar would not cut it long in the Premier League. Acting is much less tolerated by other players!

(1) We will never know. But I personally think the goalie would have punch it out for a corner. The problem on that goal was Pogba was offside no?

(2) Both of these goals I think the goalie was ready for a shot on the other side. If you look at the replay with the camera behind the net you seem to see the gaolie aiming for a shot on the other side.. Then be fooled by shot that were not that hard to catch.


(3) It was a clear penalty. The rule was applied and it was a good call to go to VAR.


(4) Agree... Moral victory is when you have nothing else positive to say I guess. Being Modric he should have only said that he is proud of how they played. Croatia played absolutely fantastic WC. For such a small country.

jalimon said:

(1) We will never know. But I personally think the goalie would have punch it out for a corner. The problem on that goal was Pogba was offside no?

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I watched the play again and I agree with you that it's 50/50 he would have punched it out for a corner kick. If you watch the reaction of the Croatian goalie, he is upset and seems to know that the inadvertent Mandzucic header misdirected a ball he had a bead on. This kind of play happens frequently in hockey where the defenseman tries to knock down the puck with his stick, but instead misdirects the puck past his own befuddled goalie.

I did not see Pogba being offsides.

With a game of this magnitude, the referee allowed himself to be the story of the game and that's a damn shame! Given that there are fair arguments on both sides and he himself hesitated before awarding the PK to France, this should have been a non-call in order to keep the spotlight on the game and the players as opposed to the ref himself. That's what the best refs in championship games do. Not this guy though.

Good thing that Dalic the Croatian coach showed a lot of class yesterday by urging his team and his country to respect and accept the outcome of the game....

I feel sorry for Perisic and Mandzucic because they will be reliving that handball and own goal in their heads for the rest of their lives. Short term, they may need prescriptions for ambien just to sleep blissfully and keep the thoughts out of their heads. But even 30 years from now, in a bar in Croatia, Perisic will saunter in for a drink and there will be some drunk old dude in the corner, taunting Perisic by shouting "handball, handball!" And Perisic will walk out the bar, his mind replaying it yet again, wondering why he jumped up with his arms flailing around in the penalty box, something that is fundamental. While Mandzucic will be across town somewhere on a practice field kicking a ball around with his grandson, when some wiseguy alone up in the stands yells, "show me how to score an own goal on a header............"

Although these guys had a heroic run, the history books will look back at them as goats............

EagerBeaver said:

A few years ago there was a controversy in the NFL over Tom Brady having overly inflated footballs in such a way that they could be thrown more easily..

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Actually they were deflated so they were easier to catch.

Versaute said:

With a game of this magnitude, the referee allowed himself to be the story of the game and that's a damn shame! Given that there are fair arguments on both sides and he himself hesitated before awarding the PK to France, this should have been a non-call in order to keep the spotlight on the game and the players as opposed to the ref himself. That's what the best refs in championship games do. Not this guy though.

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I do not agree. There is a need to adapt to new technology. As much as you try to keep old rules in and let the play going there is way too many camera's now that will show on all media's that there was an obvious hand on the ball. Sorry to say but Maradona's "main de dieux" would not have cut it in this era. That would have change the outcome of that game so much more then what we saw yesterday

The problem was not the hand on the ball, the problem that led to the penalty was Perisic jumping up with his arms flailing around in an "unnatural position." Soccer playing youths are taught that in the penalty area when you jump up for a ball, you put arms behind the back so there is no accidental contact. Perisic set himself up for the penalty to be called when he left his feet with his arms flailing around. The penalty had to be called. The result was harsh, but the rule was correctly applied! Perisic should have been more careful with his arms.

EagerBeaver said:

The problem was not the hand on the ball, the problem that led to the penalty was Perisic jumping up with his arms flailing around in an "unnatural position." Soccer playing youths are taught that in the penalty area when you jump up for a ball, you put arms behind the back so there is no accidental contact. Perisic set himself up for the penalty to be called when he left his feet with his arms flailing around. The penalty had to be called. The result was harsh, but the rule was correctly applied! Perisic should have been more careful with his arms.

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You can't jump with any elevation or aggression with your hands at your side or behind your back. It just doesn't happen. Probably not at any professional level. What players will often do is put their hands behind their backs to block a shot on goal but certainly not to defend a corner kick or cross coming into the box.

It's just fantasy to pretend that the rule regarding handball was correctly applied when almost no one can agree on what constitutes an unnatural positioning of Perisic's hand, including former referees like Howard Webb and Mark Clattenburg, both of whom were respectively the referees at the 2010 & 2014 WC Finals, and both of whom say Patina got it wrong.

It was a subjective call by Patina, as it would be by you or me or any legitimate official in similar circumstances; but crucially one Patina should never have made because the only rules-based means to change his initial decision was a "clear and obvious error."

Webb:
https://www.tsn.ca/fifa-world-cup/v...ll-it-wasn-t-a-good-use-of-the-system~1439111

Clattenburg:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...inal-referee-got-penalty-call-wrong-5dgkhqw0t

And for devotees of ESPN:
https://youtu.be/sRdDIrRcwio

Well, said, Sam.

Perhaps a similar example is the Dutch side of 1974, which lost to West Germany, of course, but which is widely regarded as one of the most entertaining, even revolutionary, sides in the history of the game.

Top-rated players at this year's WC, based on a minimum four games played, according to the Guardian (*).

The first number is the avearage out of a mark of ten based on individual game performances as indicated in parentheses. As France played a 4-3-3 I'll fit them into this formation:

FORWARDS:

Eden Hazard (Belgium) 8.0 (8, 9, –, 7, 9, 8, 7)
Kylian Mbappé (France) 7.43 (7, 7, 6, 9, 7, 8, 8)
Mario Mandzukic (Croatia) 7.33 (6, 8, –7, 8, 8, 7)
TIED
Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) 7.33 (8, 9, –, 6, 9, 6, 6)

MIDFIELDERS:

Luka Modric (Croatia) 8.0 (8, 9, 7, 7, 9, 8, 8)
Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium) 7.67 (7, 8, –, 7, 9, 7, 8)
Ivan Perisic (Croatia) 7.57 (7, 8, 8, 7, 7, 9, 8)
Aleksandr Golovin (Russia) 7.5 (8, 8, –, 7, 7)

DEFENDERS:

Sime Vrsaljko (Croatia) 7.5 (7, 7, –, 7, 8, 8, 8)
Thomas Meunier (Belgium) 7.4 (6, 8, –, 7, 8, –, 8)
Kieran Trippier (England) 7.33 (7, 8, –, 8, 8, 7, 6)
Domagoj Vida (Croatia) 7.33 (6, 7, –, 7, 8, 8, 8)

GOALKEEPER:

Thibaut Courtois (Belgium) 7.57 (8, 7, 7, 7, 9, 8, 7)

* https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...-marks-for-every-single-performance-in-russia

Sam21,

In talking about the great Dutch teams you omitted mention of the 1998 team that lost to the Deschamps-captained France team. The Dutch had several good players including their striker, Patrick Kluisvert. At the time of the 1998 World Cup it appeared as though Kluisvert would become one of the better players in the world, but he never realized his potential and became a Neymar-like lightning rod for controversy, clashing repeatedly with his coaches, and also having assorted legal problems off the pitch. He was basically done as a player by age 27 and I think he became a coach in recent years, somewhat ironic because he clashed with every coach he ever played for until they finally got sick of it and put him off the national team.

You mentioned Franz Beckenbaur who played with Giorgio Chinaglia and Pele, winning a championship with the New York Cosmos in 1977. Chinaglia apparently wasn’t very well respected but he had a very very hard shot as I recall and was a dominant player in the US league at that time.

sharkman said:

I will say this as well...I have a serious concern that the VAR (consulting the video replay for offsides, penalties in the box, hand balls, red cards, etc) will end up screwing some team big time in the tournament. Too much latitude (especially on penalties and fouls) is being given to the VAR officials that are behind the scenes.

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Folks recall Post #139 from June 17th!

In any event, was it a penalty for France?...of course it was!...no doubt about it!

Is the VAR system flawed?...of course it is!...The VAR was a total total disaster in Italy this year...but what isn't a disaster in Italy these days!

Sam21 said:

But you are right the 1998 team which lost out to Brazil in the semifinals on penalty shots was a fantastic team also and probably would have won it all had the penalty shots gone their way, it included my personal favourite goalkeeper of all time Edwin Van Der Sar,

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Yes I forgot it was Brazil that took them out. Going into the final 4 I thought that Netherlands had a very good chance to win the World Cup that year. Then they lost in PKs to Brazil and then Ronaldo, who at that time was considered the best striker in the world, had some weird seizure before the final which Brazil lost to France. Which I think seriously messed Brazil up.

The thing I remember most about Ronaldo was one of the most remarkable commercials I saw, related to sports. Up there with the famous Mean Joe Greene Coke commercial from the 1970s which I think is probably my all time favorite sports commercial. The commercial I am thinking of featured Ronaldo and the Brazilian team dribbling a soccer ball through an airport. It was a Nike Commercial that ran during the 1998 World Cup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDV7YdPPbMc

Mean Joe Green coke commercial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xffOCZYX6F8

Deschamps' half-time team talk at the WC final against Croatia; basically, stay firm defensively and ping it to Mbappe:

https://youtu.be/c5--SkPbNR0

Deschamps seemed concerned by Mandzucic’s deceptiveness. He was the only Croatian player mentioned by name
and all the French team was warned to be careful with him. He also noted the energy Croatian team played with- this too was exhort his team to match that intensity.

And Pogba's short motivational speech before they went out on the pitch at the beginning of the game. Gotta love this guy:

https://youtu.be/XJiEBz8N-Tc

Meta said:

And Pogba's short motivational speech before they went out on the pitch at the beginning of the game. Gotta love this guy:

https://youtu.be/XJiEBz8N-Tc

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Earlier in this thread when I posted a news article praising Pogba, he was ridiculed as a head case, compared to Neymar, labelled selfish, etc. Every team should be lucky to have such a head case on their team. That was a terrific speech he gave to his teammates, especially citing the Euro 2016 loss and the pain it caused. And Pogba actually contributed very strongly with that critical 3rd goal which was all Pogba from the entry pass to the score. He is clearly a main man type player, on a team that has a few.