This is a very underappreciated thing, the ref probably runs 10k every game.
Just $700? I’m guessing the average Scottish fan would have an opinion on that.
They should make the perpetrator eat natto, fermented shark, sauerkraut juice, thousand year old egg, some habaneros, circus peanuts, a bite of McDonald’s new burger, some malőrt, some screech, Dutch licorice, and a swallow of the gas station reservoir holding windshield fluid - while being mocked by the other team. No cards.
Dibu Martinez would do it just to see what it feels like…
The card system is a complete joke. It has turned football into a long running Academy Awards ceremony. The penalties are based on the worst acting ever while allowing obnoxious behavior to go unchecked. Players are grabbing and climbing over each other with abandon and that is something that is affecting play. Getting a yellow card for swearing is beyond stupid. Carrying over the cards into future games is insane.
I’ve seen some speculation on referee forums that there may have been one or two instances in this tournament of referees using the one minute off the field for injury treatment as a sort of temporary time penalty for simulating injury. Like if the simulation wasn’t a situation that would warrant a yellow card, but the player is rolling around in feigned injury, the ref is like, “you poor thing, spend a minute on the sideline recovering while your team plays a man down.” We’ll see if it cuts down on simulation at all, but maybe this could lead to more time-based penalties.
I just heard the Argentinian government, gave FIFA USA a list of 13,000 men who haven’t been paying their child support. They want them denied entry to FIFA events.
I love this !
It’s a law from back when we had actual human beings in government, I’m happy the current Randroids have at least followed it.
Dutch are working the Swedes over. 2-0 right now Holland, still very early.
The Dutch or, as my wife said this morning, “Those orange ones that I hate”. (She didn’t enjoy the Battle of Lusail and drew a blank when trying to recall the team we played against)
My history lack of knowledge had me thinking for a moment the Battle of Lusail was some sort of 1800s-era naval clash between the Argentine and Dutch navies or something like that.
We’ve had naval clashes with Brazil, France and England (and even won some of them! (not most)) but not with the Netherlands.
I had to google that and then remembered that battle, and got directed to this wiki site:
I wasn’t quite aware of this rivalry, the only other big match between the two nations I remembered being the 1978 final. I’ve always thought that the biggest transatlantic rivalry was between Argentina and Germany, this has been the record WC final three times (one win for Argentina in 1986, but then two wins for Germany in 1990 and 2014), and we also met in the 2006 and 2010 quarterfinals we both won. I can’t think of another country we played more often in WC knock-out games.
ETA: and now that I think about it, it’s a hate triangle, because of course German and Dutch football fans hate each others guts, too. This is our traditionally main rival.
We can manage more than one international rivalry 
But in fact the rivalry with Germany is greater in a sporting sense than with Netherlands, but the spicier games have been with Netherlands.
A lot (probably the vast majority) of the footballers will be rich. Monetary fines really mean very little to multi-millionaires. Hit them where it hurts: appearance bans.
Completely agree. Why do refs (at least, this happens in England, so I assume it has been happening in the World Cup too) always hold up the corner to go and chat to the players about the wrestling? Just let them get on with it and if there is a foul when the ball is in play, give a free kick or a penalty. Just do it.
That’s been a thing since I can remember. It stops persistent offenders over a long period of time. The same thing is done in league football, albeit the threshold is higher due to the larger number of games.
You’re right, I watched all WC games between Argentina and Germany, and none of it was an ugly game. But boy, have I seen ugly games between NL and Germany! ("Llama Rijkaard against “Käthe” Völler in the 1990 quarterfinal in Italy)
The beauty of 2014 semifinals was that no matter what, there was going to be a spicy Final.
Either Argentina vs. Germany,
Argentina vs. Brazil (the best possible matchup,)
Holland vs. Germany,
or Holland vs. Brazil (okay, I guess this one’s not much of a rivalry.)
There was a small brawl at the end of the 2006 game, but that’s it.
(well and y’all tried to amputate Diego’s legs but that was par for the course :D)
Wow, I’ve never seen that photo, and it’s a great one! Lothar Matthäus (with a mullet) and Ditmar Jacobs against Maradona? From the 1986 final?
And to get back to the present game, impressive performance by the Netherlands against Sweden so far.