Is there a FIFA directive saying that Brazil should win the World Cup this year? First they stage the tournament because nobody else thought of putting in an opposing bid, but the sheer volume of suspect refereeing decisions going their way is an utter farce. Croatia, Chile and now Columbia have all been robbed, and there comes a point where it stops looking like a coincidence. The only hope is that, in eight years time, FIFA won't try to rig a World Cup so Qatar win it...will they?
Neymar out of the world cup. What chances now? The two premier league midfielders Oscar and Paulinho have been hopeless in this tournament . Hulk has been their best attacker in terms of drive and energy but just can't score. Silva also out of semi final but he has been poor so Dante can replace him, just no quality backup for Neymar. For all the talent Brazil produce, kids growing up wanting to play football, they arrived at their home world cup with Fred and Jo as two strikers.
Fred looked decent at the confederations cup last year but he has been woeful. Imagaine how good they'd be if Kane had a Brazilian passport!
He did, as did the Brazil team but Seedorf made a good point about the timing of that competition being one of the reasons as to why Brazil looked energised. But a country like Brazil should be producing better strikers then Fred & Jo. They will be wondering how we can produce players like Harry Kane and Tom Carroll, who would both walk into the Brazil team.
World Cup 2014: BBC receive 172 complaints after Mark Lawrenson made a 'sexist' comment during Argentina vs Switzerland http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-during-argentina-vs-switzerland-9583926.html Lawro the WUM!...Although he was just being honest!
I remember hearing that and knowing he'd get in trouble for it. Just goes to show how out of date he is. I don't even get why he's a commentator, all he does is moan all game, make excuses for Liverpool players and lay in to anyone else that makes a mistake.
Lets see if Chelsea ruin him before we mention quality and Costa in the same sentence, unless we're talking about the coffee!
Don't worry, he'll be gone after the final. Should've got complaints about him slandering all Argentine players past, present and future after Shaquiri's dive, too.
The first job of any announcer is to enjoy the game. McManamon also sounds like he'd rather be doing something else. I thought Brazil were exciting and passionate in the period before the crap ref let the game turn chippy. There were a number of impressive dribbles. I hadn't seen Brazil attack as freely before. Brilliant, free flowing Brazil? No. But a more vibrant team than I've seen. Brazil certainly kicked James early and often. But Colombia broke Neymar's back. The foul which resulted in the second goal was a foul, even though the card for James was farcical. The Spaniard didn't favor Brazil much, I thought. He merely lost control of the game completely. The Colombian coach said something like that. Many of these officials make the English refs shine by comparison. The best reffed game I've seen was Webb's. First, that's sad. Second, it makes me realize I'd appreciated the officials role as traffic cop too little. The fact remains that compared to US games, the officials get calls wrong far more often. The fact that the calls tend to be more difficult is no excuse when technology could solve the problem. It's a case of a game refusing to get itself sorted, which I find mystifying, infuriating, and highly suspicious. Maybe it doesn't want to get itself sorted.
Hansen leaving paves the way for one of your favourites, Robbie Savage. Lawro leaving paves the way for Danny Murphy? or if we'e going by dour annoyance then Phil Neville.
The viewing figures dropping overnight as soon as he gets on the sofa will pave Savage's route to Talkballs that much quicker.
It's long been my theory that neither refs nor the FA want to bring in technology, for two simple reasons:- (1) it would expose the incompetence of officials to an alarming level more often than it would demonstrate their prowess; and (2) it would end any form of bias. In respect of (2), god forbid the likes of 'Pool and Chavs were ever forced to play the game with unbiased officials!
People have suggested a system similar to that in tennis where you can challenge a set amount the ref's calls, but there's times where that won't cover the sheer volume of times their incompetence affects the games (cases in point: Brazil vs Croatia, Brazil vs Columbia, 2010 WC Final, or our game at Stoke a couple of seasons back) Also, the usual defence is that football is a flowing game...yet the game was not flowing when James Rodriguez got booked for not making contact with a Brazilian player on the edge of the Columbia area last night, was it?
