2022 FIFA World Cup

[Stuttgart88]

I'd always tend to agree with Dale and he supported this argument later on with a slide from IFAB.

I thought it was a nonsense of a decision myself but the only justification I can think of is that although his hand was breaking his fall, by virtue of it being between his legs he decreased the space available for the ball to get through. The same justification as "making your body bigger".

[joey B]

Is it a rule in this World Cup that every goal needs the bench emptied by every sub!?!?

[NeverFeltBetter]

There were lads booked for that, seemingly at random, yesterday. Don't see the harm myself, especially with the new additional time guidelines. I've read there's a worry it could result in confrontations on the field between teams, but that doesn't really cut it for me.

[Crosby87]

Young USA team....

[joey B]

Antonio Mateu Lahoz in charge of Iran/USA,a normal one ahead I’m sure!!!

[Crosby87]

Iran are absolutely terrible

[NeverFeltBetter]

They couldn't handle the US' speed at all, anytime they were on the ball they had no time to anything with it. I'd say the Americans will really put it up the Dutch, who wilted against a similar side in Ecuador.

How good do we think England are? They thumped two poor teams and barely put in an effort against a better one. Can Senegal beat them?

[NeverFeltBetter]

Denmark have to be biggest underperformer of the World Cup. I know Belgium are ranked higher, but a lot of people thought they would struggle a bit, Denmark seemed like they could go far based on last summer and the Nations League. What happened? No obvious goalscorer upfront, but that's nothing new.

[joey B]

Hopeless from Denmark but fair play to the Aussies though,they’re not great but deserved to go through in the end…..

[NeverFeltBetter]

Denmark could have had another 90 and they wouldn't have scored. Huge moment for Aussies and big validation for their manager Graham Arnold, who half of their football watching public seem to despise with a passion. They were apparently close to sacking him ahead of the inter-confederation playoffs earlier this year.

[Stuttgart88]

Man for man, how many Aussies are better than our best 11 or so?

[Stuttgart88]

They couldn't handle the US' speed at all, anytime they were on the ball they had no time to anything with it. I'd say the Americans will really put it up the Dutch, who wilted against a similar side in Ecuador.

How good do we think England are? They thumped two poor teams and barely put in an effort against a better one. Can Senegal beat them?They could but I don't see it. I'm worrying about England as usual because even in the France vs Poland / Argentina / Mexico / KSA last 16 tie there's more than a bit of vulnerability. Even this poor Danish side were very close to going 2-1 up against France. And I haven't been impressed by how France and Senegal have defended set pieces, a strength of England.

[joey B]

Great save from Wojciech Szcz?sny after a very soft penalty given to Argentina…

[Stuttgart88]

He made a super partial block too in the second half, allowing the centre back to clear off the line.

That was great drama all round last night. Argentina looking good again. Poland were awful.

[ifk101]

Denmark aren’t a poor side (although they could do with a good 9 in the team), rather they just had a poor World Cup for whatever reason. Feels the European teams, in a more generalised sense, are underperforming.

[osarusan]

Denmark aren’t a poor side (although they could do with a good 9 in the team), rather they just had a poor World Cup for whatever reason. Feels the European teams, in a more generalised sense, are underperforming.

I think the sides we'd see as traditionally weaker are a lot more organised these days.

In the past, a mis-firing French team would still have found a way over the line against Tunisia, or a malfunctioning Argentinean team would still get past the Saudis, but the gap has been closed a lot these days.

It makes you realise just how much Ireland has stood still in comparison. Intuitively, you think of 'Ireland v Saudi Arabia' or 'Ireland v Canada' and assume it should be an easy victory for us, but that's not the case any more, even if it remains that way in the mind of the casual fan.

[pineapple stu]

Canada go 1-0 down to Morocco through a good old-fashioned calamity of errors. Means Morocco are going through as it stands, and either Belgium or Croatia are going out.

Then Croatia get a penalty a minute later but with the ball on the spot, VAR intervenes, the ref has to zoom in on the picture to see better - and yep, an attacker had an inch of his shirt sleeve offside, so free out instead. What a daft decision, and I don't care if it was correct at a microscopic level.

[NeverFeltBetter]

That pitch is a state. Only one more game, Argentina/Australia on it at least. I'm sure the Australians are happier.

I'll save some longer thoughts on VAR in 2022 for maybe after the tournament, but for me this emphasis on the on-pitch ref being the ultimate arbiter for everything is not combatable with efforts to have tech and a good viewing/playing experience. If that is an offside call, and I know it's complicated by "interfering with play" considerations so they need some time to look at it, there's no reason why the VAR official can't just say "It's offside, give a free kick", and the ref having enough trust in his fellow officials to just do that without having to jog off the field to confirm.

[joey B]

Chelsea Lukaku showed up today!

[NeverFeltBetter]

How many chances does Lukaku want exactly? He's failed to score off five sitters (albeit one would almost certainly have been disallowed) in a half!

[pineapple stu]

One of the great Croatia World Cup performances there from Lukaku...

And he didn't even play the first half (with good cause, it seems)

Big changes ahead for Belgium - you'd have to presume Martinez (and Barry) will move on, and a fair few players will be retiring too

[NeverFeltBetter]

Lukaku's XG was twice the entire opposition.

[Stuttgart88]

Absolute nightmare for Lukaku. Georgie Kelly would have had a hat trick

[joey B]

Shocked to learn Gvardiol is only 20,he looks the real deal and his performance is only more impressive because it was beside Dejan Lovren!

[Stuttgart88]

Yeah BBC commentary team was heaping praise on him.

[joey B]

Martinez resigned as Belgium manager already…

[joey B]

Thought we were heading for a boring standard night at half time,everything went mental since then!

[NeverFeltBetter]

Crazy old World Cup so far it has to be said! Just need Costa Rica to get another now to send Japan out.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Crazy old World Cup so far it has to be said! Just need Costa Rica to get another now to send Japan out.

What did I say?

[pineapple stu]

And now we have that second for Costa Rica!

[SkStu]

This is mental stuff. Mental. (and i am not even watching!)

[pineapple stu]

So as it stands, it's Japan v Croatia and Spain v Morocco in the next.

So what incentive have Spain to equalise? They've got the perfect outcome right now

[SkStu]

Good point actually!

[NeverFeltBetter]

They've tried in fairness to them, had two good chances to get the equaliser. For some of these players this is an audition.

[SkStu]

So as it stands, it's Japan v Croatia and Spain v Morocco in the next.

So what incentive have Spain to equalise? They've got the perfect outcome right now

I suppose Portugal, France and Engalnd on that side of the draw... although not sure if they'd be thinking that deeply about it during the game :)

[joey B]

Spain happy enough there ,a perfect outcome for them after all that!

[NeverFeltBetter]

A remarkable night of football. Germany have fallen very far, but I expect Flick will be permitted more time.

[NeverFeltBetter]

Forgot that Croatian offside, that second Japanese goal is the tightest call I think I've ever seen in a game of football. It's literal centimeters, and I presume done by eyeball since goalline tech doesn't extend. They couldn't possibly have been sure one way or another, so the question is whether it was better to err on the side of the attacking team or the defending. My heart says the first one, my head says the other. If that was ruled out I don't think many would complain.

[Stuttgart88]

I think technically 1% of the ball might have remained in but in absence of goal-line tech proof it’d almost always be given out of play. But even crazier imho is how the player keeping the ball in play put enough downward pressure on the ball to bounce it up and over a sliding Maeda to set up the tap in.

A bad outcome for England I reckon as I think their path to final is a bit harder now.

Also, in context of the Kenny debate two things:

Football is very capricious. Lukaku scores, Croatia fail. Instead, Croatia are well organised blah blah

And the cliche about no easy games is becoming increasingly true. That’s not excusing Luxembourg or Armenia, but an increasing number of good teams are getting some embarrassing results and some countries we’d have looked down our noses at 20 years ago are now more consistently competitive. International footy is fascinating.

[osarusan]

Japan :love2:

[osarusan]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fi-FpIdUcAA-RvV?format=jpg&name=medium

[NeverFeltBetter]

Another penalty save after a lengthy VAR related delay (and after, with a lot of standing around complaining), that's four by my count. Took an age for Ayew to kick it, I wonder if the delay is a big factor there?

[pineapple stu]

It was a dreadful penalty in fairness; there's only so much you can blame on a delay. 2010 is weighing on their minds more than the VAR delay (which was still needless)

Uruguay go up the pitch and score and Ghana are bottle central here. Though another for the Koreans and they're both out. So another interesting group finale set up - such a pity this is the last World Cup with four-team groups...

[pineapple stu]

89th minute goal for South Korea and Uruguay - who've been coasting at 2-0 for the second half - are going out on away goals.

Another great twist, and the Uruguay players/fans can see it now.

[NeverFeltBetter]

What a last ten minutes. A little less time screaming at the ref and more time trying to score a third goal Uruguay!

And Suarez was never seen again...

[joey B]

The ref and VAR have had a shocker there,stonewall penalty on Cavani…

[Stuttgart88]

It looked a pen in real time and slow motion proved it imho.

[joey B]

It looked a pen in real time and slow motion proved it imho.

Seen loads saying it wasn’t a penalty so I don’t know anymore,Cavani definitely run’s into his path but there’s no rule in football that you can’t do that,he clearly gets kicked on the back of his leg so again I don’t know anymore!i

[joey B]

Another cracking game here,no defending in sight though…..

[TonyD]

Japan :love2:

I think the decision was a load of old cack, but you’d have to be a right curmudgeon not to be delighted for Japan. Love their spirit. Their fans reaction was brilliant too. I wouldn’t bet against them v Croatia either.