Originally Posted by
nigel-harps1954
I've always seen it, that there's careless tackles, and there's careless challenges. You can challenge someone very carelessly without much chance of getting the ball and give away a poor free, like a swipe of the leg, similar to that of Maxi Perriera of Uruguays red card in their first game.
On the flip side, you can tackle someone carelessly where the ball is there to be won and still get a touch on the ball, however poorly timed it may be. I wouldn't necessarily call it a foul.
With the Zabaleta tackle in question, I don't think it was a foul. However slight, he still got a touch of the ball, just enough to take it away from Dejaggah, and I don't see anything wrong with that.