Until France scored it was all one way traffic with Les Bleus unable to retain possession and just hoofing it [a bit like the second half for us against Croatia].
The time factor between the ball coming off the attacker and hitting the defender’s hand was infinitesimal, so that alone rules it out as being deliberate. And Griezmann was clearly going down before the contact, so it was a dive rather than a foul.
Spot on. I turned it off at 2-1. Don't blame the ref for the first one because we see them given all the time but the penalty was unforgivable. Even Clatternburk apparently said "it was not a penalty, hand in natural position" from reading on the interweb.
Unfortunately for us, decisions by the referee heavily influenced the outcome of this match. It's a shame. France didn't have a shot from open play in the first half, and they scored two goal. We've clearly outplayed them but still ended the half one goal behind. That suited France who could play like they prefer, on the counter, and our players quickly tired chasing the game, which France used to kill the match and in the end, looking at the result, it seems like there was no contest. And the truth is far from it. But still, whole country is celebrating.
I disagree. He already nearly kissed the ground until any kind of contact was actually made. It was a blatant dive.
The thing is, if we really require handballs to be 100% deliberate there would hardly ever be handballs. Every once in a while a forward tries to sneak punch a ball in. Or a defender in the closing stages of the game absolutely knows they are beaten and blocks it. Perisic’s hand tracks the flight of the ball. It starts up when the ball is high, then goes down as the ball goes down. His hand also opens up as the ball approaches. In slow motion it looks very much like he’s batting the ball. Look at this replay. But then in regular speed he doesn’t appear to make any unnatural movement. The fact that his hand tracks the ball and lowers as the ball looks like coincidence. So I can see why it was ruled one way on the pitch and then overruled by VAR. Some of the arguments for why it is not a handball are inane. “You can’t give that in a World Cup Final.” Well, why not? It’s a game. The rules apply like any other game? What’s the supposed rule here? Close calls always go to the defender in a World Cup final? The other one was “If you are not sure, don’t give a pen.” Again, why? You watch the play, you make the best call you can using judgement. It’s like arguing over time added on. If they actually did it right there would be ten minutes added on to every game. There never is. So it’s the amount of time people FEEL is right. If there were more delays, we feel like 5-6 minutes. If the game was relatibpvely uninterrupted, then 1 minute. It’s made up either way. FIFA needs to clarify the rules. Almost all of them. Until then, we are left with “Did that FEEL like a handball?” I’d say 50/50. Also I will say again that automatic penalty kicks for fouls in the penalty area are stupid. There is too much riding on those decisions.
Tough lines there Croatia. I thought you were magnificent in the final and as you said, that penalty decision allowed France to sit and counter. They didn’t get a sniff in the first half and apart from the spell from the 3rd to 4th goal, youncomoletely outplayed them. A very strong and proud nation.
Just read the laws of football. They require handball to be deliberate, and the time factor, in real time not slow motion, is taken into account. VAR seems to be changing the laws of the game on the fly, with no reference back to the realities of how the game is played. As for time added on, both rugby codes deal with this simply and effectively by stopping the clock for injuries and TMO decisions. This could be easily introduced into football.
I said it before and I'll say it again, the biggest problem with VAR is everything looks bad in slow mo. The refs need to be trained in common sense or some other course where they realise that stuff looks much worse in slow mo and won't give everything that is a marginal foul even in slow mo. I think this will happen in the future, but right now any tap of the foot, handball or grapple looks 1000x worse and is being given as a foul when a lot of the time it isn't. There is also the issue of if you have someone telling you in your ear that you should review a decision you will instantly be thinking that you have made a mistake and are far more likely to go against your original decision. The refs in the VAR booth or whatever it is called should be the ones who make the call, not the ref who has already made his call in real time.
I absolutely agree with you, but for me the VAR people exceeded their authority whenever they asked the ref to review something that wasn’t a clear and obvious error. The topical example of France getting a penalty which no ref without VAR would have given sums it up for me. As I have said before, this World Cup should have just used VAR for offsides and left all the subjective stuff like deliberate or accidental handballs and foul or dive until a later date. The fact that many correct decisions were arrived at by VAR isn’t the point, it’s the fact that many incorrect ones were that is worrying.
Lovren has just confirmed that he is champion of the world, for single handedly dragging Croatia to the final. Oh and Liverpool. I'm starting to warm to his comedy gold approach to life!
Why not....massive achievement to do so well in a worldwide competition. And you've avoided having a riot unlike the French.
take a look at the gallery https://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/l...-delirij-ajmo-thompson-jos-jednu/2011695.aspx
I think the Northam should all invest in Hrvatska water polo caps for the forthcoming season, they look great!
There’s no way Young should be getting in that team either. Begrudgingly, Lovren did have an excellent tournament.
