Quarter Finals

[Wizard]

The order has to be misbehavior, warning, misbehavior, ejection excepting that the first instance on its own warrants an ejection. It can't be misbehavior, misbehavior, warning and then ejection with nothing happening in between the warning and ejection.

That’s not how the game works. If you think it should then fair enough. But it doesn’t. Bad decisions by refs don’t mean they should all make bad decisions

 

[4737carlin]

Van Gaal is a football terrorist with a weird hatred of South Americans. Hopefully his career is over soon.

I've never liked him purely because of the shape of his head

 

[Martin Alvito]

I've never liked him purely because of the shape of his head

Oddly-specific prejudice whose more general prevalence (physical attractiveness generally) is backed up by a mountain of research.

 

[TheBigIguana]

That’s not how the game works. If you think it should then fair enough. But it doesn’t. Bad decisions by refs don’t mean they should all make bad decisions

As I said it would have been far more unfair to do it that way. I have no complaints. Don't think the tackles was yellow anyway either.

 

[Wizard]

I just don't see refereeing this way. There are the laws of the game, and then there's the way they're being interpreted by today's judge. It would be nice if every referee enforced the laws in exactly the same manner, but in practice they don't. Even the poorest lawyers/barristers will tell you much the same about actual judges.

Referees aren't even internally consistent on the rules from game to game. My money says that Webb handles the 2010 final very differently if it isn't a final. It probably never gets out of hand enough for de Jong to explode Alonso, and if he does then he 100% gets marching papers.

So because some refs get it wrong we should just accept them all getting it wrong? I am all for consistency. But in the absence of that I’m also happy for the rules to sometimes be applied properly. Paredes should have been sent off, I think that’s very clear. Did the ref miss other situations like that? Maybe.

 

[Wizard]

As I said it would have been far more unfair to do it that way. I have no complaints. Don't think the tackles was yellow anyway either.

I mean it’s a yellow all day long. Nowhere near the ball, cleans the guy out

 

[Drico]

Would love to see messi lift the World Cup, but I’ve a bad feeling that tw@t ronaldo might just do it with Portugal. I think they’re underrated, have plenty of match winners and are somewhat under the radar. They could even do it with Ronaldo on the bench.

The dream FIFA final, Messi v Ronaldo is creeping up on us unawares...

The winner of France-England goes favourite tomorrow in my book. I think the Portuguese are dark horses and if they get to the final would win it. The winner comes from this half of the draw for me. Argentina and Croatia look like they are getting the very most out of what they have - which is admirable - but their limitations should be punished in the end by less restricted squads: the three in the other half. But who really knows at this point. We seem to have upsets every second day now.

 

[Walken]

Messi fanboys have a very Elon musk kind of feel to them, it's okay to admit a brilliant footballer acted badly

 

[bernie inn]

Oddly-specific prejudice whose more general prevalence (physical attractiveness generally) is backed up by a mountain of research.

He always looks surprised to me

 

[Connor]

Messi fanboys have a very Elon musk kind of feel to them, it's okay to admit a brilliant footballer acted badly

This is low tier bait, and I respect it

 

[mmmmsnouts]

Didn't Gary Neville get a straight red for kicking the ball in the crowd in the 1-0 over Man U? Although he chipped it from close range, he didn't blast it into the bench which is probably worse

 

[Drico]

It felt to me that Argentina got the bulk of the 50/50 decisions. Interesting to know whether the Dutch retreated in extra time or Argentina got their act together. The psychology of football. The Dutch had a tall keeper but not as many technical players as Argentina to take penalties. They needed to go for it in extra time

Yup, it's been a pattern in this tournament. A team gets into a good position and immediately deviates from it to protect what they've got - only to lose the advantage. Brazil were, basically, celebrating at half time in extra time. Manager included. Talk about presumption. Worse, they got all defensive and paid a huge price. Same for Holland. They did all that hard work to get the two goals and then, basically, abdicated from the rest of the match in extra time. If attacking has got you into a winning position, keep attacking.

 

[TheBigIguana]

Messi fanboys have a very Elon musk kind of feel to them, it's okay to admit a brilliant footballer acted badly

I'd argue Musk, unlike Messi, should have his head removed from his body at the earliest possible moment however. A key difference imo.

 

[Drico]

Portugal and Uruguay both in that discussion too IMO

Yes, agreed. Uruguay are the gold standard -. two World Cups and 15 Copas America is incredible for 3 million people. Croatia have been superb since independence. Three World Cup semi-finals. And Portugal have been magnificent since 2000.

 

[Martin Alvito]

So because some refs get it wrong we should just accept them all getting it wrong? I am all for consistency. But in the absence of that I’m also happy for the rules to sometimes be applied properly. Paredes should have been sent off, I think that’s very clear. Did the ref miss other situations like that? Maybe.

Should we accept it? No. Is it going to happen? With certainty, sooner or later. The relevant question is how well we manage the problem.

The refs are human. We could turn it all over to electronics, but then we're just vulnerable to someone manipulating the programming. We can have a perfect information game with exceedingly clear rules, and people will still find ways to cheat and engage in gamesmanship because they're people. See: Hans Niemann cheating scandal in chess, and some of the more entertaining theories about how to cheat in an over-the-board game of chess played in full view of cameras.