It would have to be the captain who makes the call (or the manager) - ie only one person can make a challenge. It cannot be left to the referee. May as well not bother
World Cup so far: My accumulator bet sunk after leg 3 of 8. Didn't take long Best game of the tournament so far Portugal v Spain. Don't think I have ever watched such an entertaining group match and some brilliant football played. Worst match so far Croatia v Nigeria. Nigeria were awful and Croatia were only marginally better. Think they are a dirty side too. Side most deserving of something out the game - Peru. They played some lovely stuff but lacked composure in front of goal. A real shame. Oh and VAR seems to be working well and is not being over used although I wouldn't have the screen pitch side. Follow the rugby method of going to the video ref..bound to save time
No surprise, but a particularly nasty and snide comment about the Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldórsson a few posts back. Don't know the official 'Man of the Match', but for me, he certainly was. A brilliant goalkeeping performance IMO. Messi? I dunno what the hell is the matter with him sometimes, when he plays for Argentina, that is. Iceland goalkeeper Hannes Halldórsson isn't just useful at saving Lionel Messi penalties, he also works as a film director and does a lot of commercials, etc. Source: CNN.
As I was the only person to reference the Icelandic goalkeeper by name, I will refute the allegation that I was “nasty and snide”. I was merely pointing out the stupidity of taking short prices about Messi, who persistently underperforms at International level and was thwarted by excellent goalkeeping and defending for ninety minutes. Full credit to Iceland on their result – England and a few other Europeans found out two years ago not to take them for granted. A country with a population less than that of Manchester has put together a team, many of them part timers, that has qualified for the World Cup and they are going to give it a go.
OK, my apologies. Thank goodness we agree on Messi. Great goalkeeping display, and I meekly confess that I don't think I had ever heard of him!
Agree with all except the I don't think the ref should be the only one to initiate VAR (see above) and it wasn't used when it would have proved the ref wrong
That and the way their season ended hit all the players pretty hard. They will all have learned from that.
Years ago a friend of mine was at a holiday camp and Sir Geoff was the football coach for the week. On the last day he organised a match and played a half for each team. One kid nutmegged him and scored and, naturally, went wild. Hurst told him in no inverts in terms that he needed to win an FA and Cup Winners Cup and score a hat trick in a world cup final before celebrating like that...
Just about to watch Germany v Mexico. A bit odd when the National anthems were being played. Seemed as though not one German player sang along to their National anthem but every Mexican player sang to theirs. Don't have rewind option on this TV so can't check back
Loving this Mexican team. Their speed on the break is a joy to watch. They appear tireless whilst Germany appear to be strolling around in 2nd gear. The last 15 minutes could be nerve racking for the Mexican fans if they are still leading (or level)
BBC just showed a Berlin fan zone. A crowd of Mexicans were in the middle of it and all went a bit nuts when the goal was scored.
I know this belongs on the rant thread but these ****ing tattoos they all have - do they not realise what silly ****s they will look when they are 50 with a beer gut?
Well well. What a game. All Germany in the second half but couldn't make it count. And Mexico had a couple of chances on the break to put it to bed. That was exciting with a capital E
