It seems to me the referees have been briefed to be super strict this tournament, both about complaining (good, this is long overdue and hopefully will be quickly adopted worldwide) and fouls during play (slightly less good, but fine if applied consistently, which I think it pretty much has been so far).
@Mops linked video (in German, but watchable if you don’t understand German nonetheless, the images are ilustrating in and by themselves) in post #136 states otherwise, and the examples given of cases were the AI made mistakes support that explanation, but it is not a matter of life and death for me.
A lot of this is a change in the rules, in the past refs have been mobbed by half a team complaining about a decision, now only the captain can approach the ref but old habits die hard.
The ref still booked Ronaldo last night despite him being Portugal’s captain. You love to see it.
I still reckon Portugal might end up winning the whole thing though.
You do indeed.
It’s funny, I don’t have all that much interest in the Messi versus Ronaldo debate, but what I do know is that one of them is way more willing to roll around on the pitch dramatically clutching his knee.
1-0 for Switzerland against Italy at half time, totally deserved. They dominated by virtually every metric. But of course you shouldn’t write off the Italians at any time. But they’ll have to take a mouthful from their coach in half time.
Wow, and 2-0 seconds after kick-off for the second half! Beautiful goal by Vargas.
Italy continuing its run of poor form. I’m enjoying it, to be honest.
They look helpless and clueless.
Italy have a long-term habit of being either excellent or terrible. So expect them to get to the final in the 2026 World Cup!
You have a point, but they didn’t even qualify for the last WC in Qatar, so two bad performances in a row.
2000 lost narrowly in the final
2002 lost (controversially) in second round
2004 out in group stage
2006 won
2008 lost in QF
2010 out in group stage
2012 lost in final
2014 out in group stage
2016 lost in QF
2018 did not qualify
2020(1) won
2022 did not qualify
2024 looking to be out in 2nd round
Dear Italian football team: don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out of the tournament… because if it did, you would roll around on the floor in simulated agony clutching your buttocks.
(No idea if that’s still fair, definitely used to feel like it was.)
Not so much from Italy this tournament, you have to look at Portugal for the best (worst) divers.
Italy was driving their asses off vs Spain (the only Italy game I watched)
England look awful at both ends. This is the worst team I can remember in the last 20 years (that actually qualified for the tournament, at least). Southgate has been the best England manager of my lifetime but it feels like he’s lost the plot. Someone upthread posted that England have the best defensive statistics through the group matches, but that seems like luck. They didn’t deserve the win in the first match and arguably didn’t deserve the two draws either.
That seems like an erroneous data point to me. Spain has not conceded a goal yet, England has. How can they have better defensive statistics?
Germany is through, with a little help from the VAR. So close, until it wasn’t.
And arrivederci Italia! I will not miss you!
England has looked uninspired, but they are actually near the top of the list in terms of passing and crosses and such. They deserved their results, such as they were, but need to worry more about shooting and less about pretty passes and perfect plays. Lots of teams look livelier.
The question is what defensive statistic are you looking at?
On goals conceded Spains record is obviously better but you could also look at expected goals conceded, percentage of tackles gaining possession, or any of dozens of other things?
The question is rather, what are statistics worth, if you can choose from any number of variables to suit your needs. If you only look at corners defended from the right side during the first half of the game even Scotland may be in the top tier.
I believe that a good attack and a solid midfield are part of the defense, and Spain has both so far. If only actions close to your own box count as defending the word becomes meaningless. Spain has not allowed many such scenes yet, has not conceded a goal so far, therefore they did not defend? I would not agree with that interpretation of the concept of defense.