Corruption at the top of the E.U. and Qatar? Will the madness never end?
I am so disillusioned.
Well, we can be happy for Lloris!
But it would have been better if he’d made a spectacular save instead of…what happened.
This just proves the fix is in for Croatia to make the Final! 
I have also heard that Ismail Elfath is in the running provided Morocco doesn’t make the Final. Which would be a bit surreal (in a good way, IMO), to see an MLS ref be the ref for the World Cup Final.
In fairness, the Argentina-Netherlands match was particularly physical and refereeing it would have challenged anyone. Many cards were given, too many, but it could have been more - for example he kept his cool after the Netherlands bench ran onto the field. I thought he did a decent job under very difficult circumstances, but he was certainly heavy with the cards - not all those tackles were that egregious - so I understand the players criticism. But Messi might have fared worse.
I was less enthused with the France-England referee who missed several important calls. I understand you don’t want to slow the game down using too much review, but don’t understand why you wouldn’t use information from a review once that decision is made (e.g. a penalty just outside the box). However, I do not blame the outcome on the referee.
That is what you saw?
I saw an Argentinian assaulting our bench.
In a normal country we’d be pressing charges.
Group F really was the group of death, considering the #2 ranked team in the world didn’t make out of the group stage. While it would have been great for Canada to get a win or 2, they absolutely did not embarrass themselves against the competition.
Kicker.de had a detailed article about this today which mentioned every Inter and Bayern player who played a final since 1982. It’s really a freak statistic. The most curious case is Kalle Rummenigge who played the 1982 final as Bayern player and in 1986 for Inter.
So, to the surprise of nobody, I’m rooting for Modric.
(Or more rooting for the handballers to lose)
Nobody takes any risks so far in the ARG-CRO game.
That wasn’t a penalty. Unfair to Croatia.
That was one hellva counter attack.
And a really poor job of clearing by Croatia.
What a goal by Alvarez.
Almost Maradonaesque.
2-0. Even Croatia will struggle to get back.
I saw an Argentina player make a rough and illegal tackle and angry Dutch players react to that. I thought it should have been a red card for Argentina. But it would have been easy to overreact after the fact.
It was a rough game. The ref hoped to control it using yellow cards. He would have been better giving far fewer yellows and a few more reds. But, as I said, it was a hard game to ref. The handball was tricky since he was already falling and intent was arguable. I might have called it; my father wouldn’t have. (We have 30 years of provincial level soccer refereeing experience between us). The brilliant Netherlands 2nd goal had a player in offside position near the right post, the ref was wise not to call that.
Schumacher, Magath and Ruminegge played both the ‘82 and ‘86 defeats and didn’t make it to 1990.
So how many solo goals from the player’s half have been scored in a semi or final at a World Cup? Two Argentinians have done it now; has anyone else? To be honest, Alvarez was a bit lucky and the goal wasn’t nearly on the same level as Maradona’s but I am sure he will take it.
Croatia haven’t created too many chances and I don’t see them coming back from this but who knows?
Maradona was in the QF. It should have also been called back since there was an Argentine mugging Hoddle during the setup.
Croatia has the ability to create more chances. But will they?
Ah yes. Anyway does anyone know of any comparable solo goals in the late stages of a World Cup ? I am struggling to think of any.
I was thinking the same, then I remembered that the Netherlands in the quarterfinal also didn’t look like making up a 0-2 deficit until the 70th minute or so.