Unbelievable turnaround. Could easily have been the smashfest many if us expected if a couple of players had held their run for a second. 3 disallowed goals!
This is the world of different refereeing standards. All of those officials are now competing to stay at the World Cup and also progress through to the latter stages which is why they are being card happy and looking for little/no assistance from their assistants. They want to be seen to be following every letter of every law so that FIFA will keep them in the competition. This always happens at every international competitions where different standards are on display. Once the World Cup gets to the latter stages, half of the officials will be sent home, some of the teams of officials will be split up depending on who has performed well / getting rid of the weak link(s). Also some of the referees become more relaxed / willing to let the game flow because they know there is less competition and they will already be honoured by their FA's when they get home. (All of this I have understood from hearing some ex-referees present at after-dinner functions or by reading their autobiography's)
An example of different standards is with the assistants / linos. If you have the officials from (mainly) South America, Asia, the linos have been trained to be looking up / down the line so that they are looking square on at the corner flags (first image). Whereas officials from (some) European countries will have trained their officials to always look square on to the field of play. (2nd Image)
What FIFA should do during a World Cup year is mix the officials around the different leagues so that they can experience how other leagues and players expect a game to be officiated and to get them used to the different paces of the game.
The inventors of shithousery got totally out-shithoused. I'd like to rescind my tip for them to win the tournament because there's clearly a serious mentality issue.
Can't believe the panel and Referee pundit Walton, cannot see the clear push on the Tunisia player, as the ball comes over for the non penalty when it hit the Tunisian players hand. Not one of them has questioned, that at the time of the review, a corner was awarded to Denmark, now after the review it was a free kick to Tunisia.
The VAR world cup, thought that was handball anyway tbh, it does hit his arm rather than him hitting it but it seems to come from a decent distance and it's his fault he doesn't seem to be paying attention
Very much a fan of the extended stoppage time. Should hopefully discourage teams from time-wasting if it is all correctly added on. Would like to see this approach rolled out here too.
You have to feel for Australia, good opening spell against a French side that looked they were still in the dressing room, which led to a well taken goal. Sadly that woke the French up & before you know it they are 2-1 up and slicing through Australia at ease.
It does feel like Champions League vs Championship.
Yeah but we can't take any credit for him playing at the World Cup!
From Sport Bible:
And that's exactly what happened to Matty Cash, who was told by Wycombe that he wasn't physically ready to make the step up.
"I had a meeting with Richard Dobson and Gareth Ainsworth," he says. "They turned to me and just said, 'Thank you for everything'. I was absolutely gutted. I was only 16 at the time. I knew that I was a late developer. I knew that I wasn't as physically strong as the other lads my age, but I think that was just me as a kid. Some players develop late, some kids develop early."
Comments
He's doing alright, shows promise this kid
Oh boy. Could be on for a WC classic here.
Just leaving this here.
That's Pochettino's next job finally sorted.
Unbelievable turnaround. Could easily have been the smashfest many if us expected if a couple of players had held their run for a second. 3 disallowed goals!
Argentina were utterly abysmal, hardly had SA hanging on for dear life after taking the lead.
This is the world of different refereeing standards. All of those officials are now competing to stay at the World Cup and also progress through to the latter stages which is why they are being card happy and looking for little/no assistance from their assistants. They want to be seen to be following every letter of every law so that FIFA will keep them in the competition. This always happens at every international competitions where different standards are on display. Once the World Cup gets to the latter stages, half of the officials will be sent home, some of the teams of officials will be split up depending on who has performed well / getting rid of the weak link(s). Also some of the referees become more relaxed / willing to let the game flow because they know there is less competition and they will already be honoured by their FA's when they get home. (All of this I have understood from hearing some ex-referees present at after-dinner functions or by reading their autobiography's)
An example of different standards is with the assistants / linos. If you have the officials from (mainly) South America, Asia, the linos have been trained to be looking up / down the line so that they are looking square on at the corner flags (first image). Whereas officials from (some) European countries will have trained their officials to always look square on to the field of play. (2nd Image)
What FIFA should do during a World Cup year is mix the officials around the different leagues so that they can experience how other leagues and players expect a game to be officiated and to get them used to the different paces of the game.
I hope that Saudi defender is okay that clash with the keeper was brutal
Argentina haven't had a shocker like that since the last world cup.
Expecting FIFA to announce that players under 5' 8" with M's in their surname are allowed to transfer to different nations.
They did cruise through their madly high line 4 or 5 times in fairness. But second half were zero threat.
It caught them offside every single time. Nothing made about it
The inventors of shithousery got totally out-shithoused. I'd like to rescind my tip for them to win the tournament because there's clearly a serious mentality issue.
What an absolute cracker this morning. Seeing Messi blast a free kick over the bar was a highlight.
I think injury time may be truncated in Denmark v Tunisia now Hannibal is on.
Mexico Poland. Has to be Poland as Matty Cash goes from Wycombe youth team to World Cup.
AC Milan tried to buy him but it turned out to be a mistaken translation. They thought Cash was Sterling.
Can't believe the panel and Referee pundit Walton, cannot see the clear push on the Tunisia player, as the ball comes over for the non penalty when it hit the Tunisian players hand. Not one of them has questioned, that at the time of the review, a corner was awarded to Denmark, now after the review it was a free kick to Tunisia.
How they cannot see the push is baffling.
Yep, from the first replay I thought, ahhh there's a big infringement. Then it was a totally separate ball to hand incident!
Oddest pundit comment for me so far, was after Wales had scraped a draw against the US, Aluko thought Bale should be "rested" against Iran.
Resting a fully fit player for a team whose whole World cup could well depend on scoring more against Iran than the USA do.
That result leaves them a mountain to climb.
The VAR world cup, thought that was handball anyway tbh, it does hit his arm rather than him hitting it but it seems to come from a decent distance and it's his fault he doesn't seem to be paying attention
Very much a fan of the extended stoppage time. Should hopefully discourage teams from time-wasting if it is all correctly added on. Would like to see this approach rolled out here too.
I'll leave this here
We'd probably still be playing on Sunday. Always assuming that we were ahead at half time..... So nothing to worry about there then.
You have to feel for Australia, good opening spell against a French side that looked they were still in the dressing room, which led to a well taken goal. Sadly that woke the French up & before you know it they are 2-1 up and slicing through Australia at ease.
It does feel like Champions League vs Championship.
It literally is Champions League v Championship and worse
That's what we thought for the Argentina game though in fairness.
It's the rarity of these upsets that make them so special.
The group stage always has a fair share of utter mismatches. Imagine what the 48 team world cup will be like!
Here go the Bucks Free Press again - "Former Wycombe youngster plays for Poland". Really clutching at straws.
I said something similar and got a thumbs down for some reason!
Was he not with Wycombe for a couple of years?
Yeah but we can't take any credit for him playing at the World Cup!
From Sport Bible:
And that's exactly what happened to Matty Cash, who was told by Wycombe that he wasn't physically ready to make the step up.
"I had a meeting with Richard Dobson and Gareth Ainsworth," he says. "They turned to me and just said, 'Thank you for everything'. I was absolutely gutted. I was only 16 at the time. I knew that I was a late developer. I knew that I wasn't as physically strong as the other lads my age, but I think that was just me as a kid. Some players develop late, some kids develop early."
I am a lot more interested in "former Polish youngster plays for Wycombe" (Stryjek).