OT: 2018 World Cup Thread
- Thread starter LionJim
- Start date
They certainly are, but France is packing it in, and making it difficult for Croatia to find any space to shoot around the goal.
So we waste 30-40 seconds waiting for the ref to blow the whistle for a Croatia free kick.
Now France will start stalling with faux injuries.
Soccer (FUTBOL.
FUSSBALL. ) can be a great game, but there is too much bullshit in between the great stuff.
Now France will start stalling with faux injuries.
Soccer (FUTBOL.
FUSSBALL. ) can be a great game, but there is too much bullshit in between the great stuff.
It’s been fun. France is a worthy champion.
A
anon_xdc8rmuek44eq
Guest
Certainly a great tournament on the field. It was a lot of fun discussing it on the board with many of you.
France is an excellent team. Croatia played a fantastic tournament, and in many areas of the game were the better team on the field today. France was pretty resilient today, and scored more goals than Croatia, so they are the winners of the 2018 World Cup.
Hopefully, we can have a nice thread in 2019, for the Women's World Cup.
Croatia really played well in that match. France had next to nothing in terms of a build up. A dive, PK, and two goals against the run of play, but that is how they played all tournament long. France's 2nd team probably would have made it out of the knock out round that is how deep and talented they are. Sucks they won, wanted new blood, but the tournament overall was incredible.
I really think they should stop the clock for injuries once you get to extra time. Really frustrating part of the game. Takes away from integrity of everything going on.
The ref essentially is supposed to do just that by adding more time on--and I've seen it happen recently.
In case this has been overlooked, Luka Modric was named player of the tournament.
The thing is now PK's are basically decided by the position of the arm. There is no way you can get your arm out of the way coming off another head that close. It's also very unnatural to jump up with your arms in, but it is what it is there. My problem with VAR is how selective it is currently used. France's first goal all stemmed from a very clear and apparent dive. Clear as day and in a very dangerous part of the field. Not only was the call wrong, it led to the first goal. You can't tell me someone in the VAR room didn't notice that. I get that it wasn't "reviewable", but that is the problem. It takes away from the integrity of the game.
I saw one official give a card for simulation, but I saw dozens of clear dives. Some even called dives by the official with no card. For some reason FIFA doesn't want to fix the diving problem.
Slow motion can change a perception of a call. I recall one time the Jackets lost a goal on "a clear kicking motion". The problem was that the player was on one leg at the time--and it is physically impossible to kick something with the leg you are skating on and not fall down immediately. But in slow motion....Toronto thought otherwise.
The arm was out enough that I can see why the penalty was given, though.
About a decade back they were supposed to crack down on diving, but it never really happened. There was going to be a bigger push this last season on diving and it never occurred.
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...ctive-bans-diving-feigning-injury-next-season
No, not at all. Very few actions are mandatory cards, and even in those situations the ref will look to see if there's something else they can do (give a yellow instead of a red, if any aspect allows them to try to sell it, etc.).
Keep in mind that cards are there to try to control the behavior in a game. A ref that brings out cards like they are candy will lose the respect of the players and coaches, and the game become a mess. On the flip side, if too many card-worthy events take place and no cards are issued, then a ref can lose control of a game. In many instances, a verbal tongue lashing of the player makes the point to him/her, as well as to the other players in the game. And if it doesn't, the ref can start reeling in control by issuing cards later in the game.
Diving is a complex situation. The players wear shin guards that are so small they offer very little protection. In addition, the shoes are as thin as possible (to afford the players better control when playing the ball), so any accidental stepping on a player's foot hurts far more than most people would imagine. In addition, the shoes and shin guards offer no protection of the ankle, which as most people know, any type of blow to the ankle hurts like hell. And lastly, getting hit in the back of the heel, or in the calf, unexpectedly, also can hurt a great deal. My point here is that a lot of the falling down, and subsequent writhing in pain, is is the same thing that most humans would do if they were wearing the same gear, and were hit in the same manner.
Unfortunately, there is a totally opposite component. The players at the WC level practice hundreds of thousands of hours, and play thousands of games. Many are taught to embellish things when they are fouled to try and sell the ref that they were fouled. Those that aren't taught that see the top players in the game doing it when they watch them on TV, and most of them integrate that into their game. You'll see similar overreactions in American football, basketball, and other movement sports where players try to sell a ref that something illegal happened to them to get a call.
With the above two dynamics, the ref is in a no-win situation. To combat the embellishing, FIFA added a rule around 10 years ago (I'm going from memory; I could be off by some number of years) that a yellow card could be given for embellishing (which includes diving). As I mentioned above, the card is not mandatory. In most cases, it's far easier to 1) just not call anything to make a point to the embellisher or their team, 2) wave the players up and verbally say "get up; no foul" to make the same point, 3) to verbally tell a player that repeatedly embellishes to stop the nonsense. Most refs will only give a card for embellishing if a particular player repeatedly takes this action, and despite verbal warnings does not change their game. As most refs are used to a lot embellishing, they don't feel a need to card a player until it gets to the point where the player is disrespecting the ref by not responding to the refs warnings.
absolutely. I believe that's why VAR is supposed to be reviewed in real time. In slow motion, it may appear that a player has time to move their arm so that it does not hit the ball. In real time, most of the time the ball his the arm, it's because the ball plays the arm/hand, instead of the player using their arm/hand to play the ball.
I didn't like the call. I mean the ball he was expecting to be headed and then he swings his arm to get momentum for his leg to kick it. Pretty standard movement.
The dive to give France their first goal was also rather suspect. I suppose it does not get reviewed as it was not super important.
France would have won in the end, just wearing Croatia out. But at least it could have been competitive without gifting France a goal.
LdN
So true. Not that there aren't many players that fake it, but I always liken to it banging your thumb with a hammer. It's going to hurt like hell for a minute and you are going to hold it and yell all sorts of swear words - then a minute later you will be ok to resume hammering away. Same thing as getting stepped on with a cleat with almost no shoe protection or getting kicked in the ankle.
It actually can be given upon the first dive, but it's rare. It's about deceiving the ref and the only way they can change the direction of the dives is to get stricter in handing out cards. The refs have grown tolerant to it due to the high volume in which they see it. I don't see it changing even though it could have possibly decided a WC yesterday.
I think I mentioned this before but it would be nice if they introduced some sort of “equivalency rule.” When Neymar faked he was being stamped on, he was trying to get the opposing player red carded. If VAR showed Neymar faking (which I believe it did) the punishment for Neymar should have been red. Kind of like giving the death penalty to cops who try to frame someone of a capital crime.
