Oh yeeeeah, me too.
Phew, that’s a downer for Brazil, I didn’t want him to be out of the next game like this. I don’t remember the particular foul that lead to this injury, but I’ve read that this was one of the many instances that didn’t get carded when it should’ve been. The ref work in that game was a bad, bad joke.
I hope FIFA is happy. They’ve clearly given instructions to the referees to have a high threshold for yellows, because persistent infringement and tactical fouls that would be yellows in basically any league or CL match I’ve ever seen are being inconsistently called or outright ignored, and it was at an absolute extreme today with something like 56 fouls and only 4 cards. Now, in their apparent effort to avoid players accumulating yellows and getting suspended, Thiago Silva has gotten suspended anyway for an absolutely daft GK interference that HAD to be called by the rule book or there would have been suspicions of fixing, and Neymar has been knocked out of the Cup because the referee’s strategy caused the match to get out of control and players did not fear real consequences for the kind of challenge that took him down. And might not have done it if they weren’t frustated at James Rodriguez being hacked all day with no repercussions.
Good work, guys!
Dunno it it was overall or just this particular ref. Others have been way less lax, and even in this thread there have been comments about other refs who were clearly card happy.
I would still like someone to respond about Yepe’s offside. The way I saw and heard it, it was offside, but what I read afterwards, some journalists have been trying to make it look suspicious.
No, it wasn’t overall. There have been some very wrong calls by refs in this WC, but not such an abysmal ref effort by anyone so far before the Brazil-Colombia game. As someone said before, it looked like he had left his cards in the locker room.
According to Wikipedia, the 2010 WC averaged 3.77 yellows per match. The 2014 WC averages 2.86.
2006 averaged a whopping 5.39.
I think you watched the same ESPN feed as me. As they explained it, he was clearly offside (which was borne out by the replay) but the linesman waited to raise his flag until the player touched the ball, since technically it’s not an infraction until the player touches the ball or gains an advantage from his offside position. Is that how it’s usually called, though? It seems to me that the linesman usually whistles almost immediately, often cutting short players runs before they reach the ball. Maybe I’m misremembering, though.
Frankly I’d like to see a lot more retroactive yellows (and resulting match suspensions) based on replays after the match, similar to how fines or other penalties will be meted out in the American leagues. The refs do the best they can and do pretty well (well, other than today maybe), but by nature they can’t catch everything. The only way you’re going to discourage some of this behavior is by sufficiently penalizing it such that there’s an appropriate balance when you decide to take a “professional foul”.
Shame for Brazil no matter what, though.
I watched the CBC feed and they said it was offside and had been called by the linesman well before the goal. Unfortunately, the camera angle was such that I didn’t see the linesman at all. During the scrimmage inside the penalty box, they said that the referee whistle had also blown and that was prior to the goal. The replay also showed a clear offside. I don’t see it as contentious.
I’ve DVR’d the game, but haven’t seen it yet. Not that I’m an expert, but I’ll let you know what I think.
These yellow card stats helped ruin those World Cups.
And the consequences of “not ruining” the World Cup are that one of the world’s best players in the world now has literally a broken back from a bullshit foul that never even got a card.
Los Ticos over Brazil in the final.
It. Can. Happen.
Just catching up on this thread, but that was an indirect free kick and the Brazilians wisely charged after the first touch. I don’t think the ESPN commentators even recognized that.
Does anyone think that there’s at least a possibility that Brazil could end up stronger without Neymar? They seem to rely on his ball possession, dribbling and pace too much. They end up watching and waiting for him to do something. Now they might be more of a team. This is similar to Argentina with Messi. That team is loaded with world class talent at every position but they just wait for Messi to perform his miracles. Meanwhile teams like France (without Ribery) and Colombia (without Falcao) gelled better and performed better than expected. The bigger problem for me is the upcoming absence of Thiago Silva. He was their rock and Dante scares me. His decisions from the back are very often too risky.
Still not impressed with Brazil, for all the promise last night’s match was pretty ugly and they seem to have advanced on a combination of Neymar brilliance and crowd ecstasy. Now he’s out along with Silva I think they could be up for a torrid time against Germany. I’m with those who would like a Germany-Holland final but let’s not rule out Belgium. They have been consistent and probably getting slightly better. They should certainly challenge Argentina.
I got the British feed, I think, based on the accents. Definitely not ESPN. So perhaps it is the same feed Amara_ got. I couldn’t see the linesman, but I could hear the commentators saying that it had been marked offside clearly before the goal. The article that mentions that it was afterwards (casting doubt and basically implying they did it to favor Brazil) is a Spanish article, one of the first reports that was put online after the match.
Neymar is fast, and that is/was an advantage of Brazil over other teams. And yes, I think the lack of the captain may be more important than the lack of Neymar in the next game against powerhouse Germany.
And I do believe that was a horribly refereed game, unlike other games in this World Cup. Has that ref participated in other games so far in the tournament, and if so, how did he do?
This Belgian side has been weird. Without playing well they have got through fairly comfortably(or at least they should have been comfortable winners versus the US). Im not sure if this is to be admired or not. It can be an art in itself to win without playing well.
Brazil have been getting better imo. I thought against the Chileans they could have won that game comfortably. They did at least create numerous chances. Chances which were not exclusively made by Neymar. Last night I thought they were by far the better team too. On the other hand Argentina have looked too dependant on Messi. I certainly wouldnt rule the Belgians out, especially if Messi is on anything other than top form.
The ESPN guys have British accents. At least the main play by play guy. (Not sure what he’s called in soccer.)
I hope Argentina can find a second gear here, today. It’s pretty much been Di Maria doing the heavy lifting and Messi occasionally slotting it into goal.
If they continue to play poorly, yet miraculously advance, I’m afraid they will eventually get humbled, much like how they went out in 2010 to the Germans. Despite having an embarrassment of riches in 2010, thanks to the tactical witlessness of their manager, they never formed a cohesive team and got beaten badly by the Teutons.