Quarter Finals

[Martin Alvito]

Deliberate handball isn't an automatic yellow card though, only in certain circumstances like attempting to score a goal or stopping a promising attack.
Messi did neither so I think the ref was right not to book him to be fair.

It's not an automatic card when attempting to score a goal if your name is Maradona, either. ?

 

[LinekersLegs]

Deliberate handball isn't an automatic yellow card though, only in certain circumstances like attempting to score a goal or stopping a promising attack.
Messi did neither so I think the ref was right not to book him to be fair.

Thanks, didn’t realize it wasn’t an auto.

Even so given he seemed to do it just because he was annoyed I personally would have done it on the basis of dissent, similar to kicking the ball away.

 

[PeregrineT]

I'm not really sure they should have been. The game was not handled well and was very unruly but I just don't think you can point to one team or incident like that.

The Paredes incident was as blatant a red card(through two yellows) as you can get, and the fact it kicked off so badly especially after the match was over showed it was handled very poorly. Nobody is going to argue the tackle isnt a yellow, and blasting the ball right at the bench is a blatant yellow. The only fortunate thing is he accidentally found the one seat in the bench without someone in it.

Then benches clear, theres a brawl, and a grand total of 1 yellow card is given out even with players being charged into. Messi doesnt get a yellow for the blatant handball earlier. The ref will get reprimanded for it and has a 0% chance to ref important matches for some time now. Itll make good TV for FIFA but wont help the image from critics.

 

[TheBigIguana]

The Paredes incident was as blatant a red card(through two yellows) as you can get, and the fact it kicked off so badly especially after the match was over showed it was handled very poorly. Nobody is going to argue the tackle isnt a yellow, and blasting the ball right at the bench is a blatant yellow. The only fortunate thing is he accidentally found the one seat in the bench without someone in it.

Then benches clear, theres a brawl, and a grand total of 1 yellow card is given out even with players being charged into. Messi doesnt get a yellow for the blatant handball earlier. The ref will get reprimanded for it and has a 0% chance to ref important matches for some time now. Itll make good TV for FIFA but wont help the image from critics.

I will literally argue the tackle wasn't a yellow. It really wasn't bad and arguably wasn't even a foul because he got the ball.

 

[twoblue]

C

Ultimately you're going to watch it, but if England win it, it'll be like when Liverpool won the league and have a huge black mark next to it.

Not really.
World Cup was held in Russian last time. In Argentina during Military dictatorship.

Wasn’t a great choice of host but it hardly stands out historically

 

[twoblue]

Turning to the England game: obviously I'd rather the Crusaders didn't win, but one thing I would say is that they are a very multicultural bunch, and like in '98 when Les Blues won it as a multicultural team the England team could be a real statement.

England's squad is a kaleidoscope of different ethnicities.

6 Irish (Bellingham, Kane, Grealish, Rice, Maguire, Coady)
1 Nigerian (Saka)
7 West Indies (Walker, Rashford, Sterling, Phillips, Wilson,Trippier, Alexander-Arnold)
7 White English (Henderson, Mount, Pickford, Foden, Shaw, Stones, Dier)


You have to tip your hat to that inclusivity.

As it has been for 20 years but well done ?

 

[PhilM]

If he had wanted to send him to the showers, he probably had enough to go on in the melee to send van Dijk there with him. Trouble is, that also affects the game. Rightly or wrongly, people will feel that banishing the Dutch captain and marshal of the defense gives the Argentines a relative advantage 10v10.

It's already a no-win situation by that point. If you want my opinion, he could have handed out a very marginal card rather than a lecture around the 13th or 14th minute and asserted a lot more control over the game. This bothered me at the time. By the time he started distributing cards around halftime, it was too late to keep the proceedings from getting chippy, and it was already obvious that he would be avoiding a sending off at all costs.

This then goes right back down the rabbit hole of refereeing the players and the game state rather than applying the rules consistently, though.

Aye, he was the master of his own downfall because his inconsistent use of cautions and the card allowed the game to spiral rather than asset his authority.

While he may have been trying to stamp down on the game later on with the spree of yellows, it actually did the opposite; by then, nobody really cared. It was petty.

It was one of the worst refereeing performances I've seen in a very long time because, ultimately, he looked way out of his depth.

 

[BullensRoad]

Can't wait to see the Southgate masterclass ie: project stop Mbappe.

 

[Dutch Toffee]

Well a lot of sour grapes being picked by both teams. Guess the Dutch and Argentinians just don't mix well. Me, I've had a soft spot for the Argentine national team since I was a kid. Love the passion, philosophy and determination. This won't change my mind. I'll be rooting for them from now on.

 

[BornBlue76]

Just saw the pic of the Argentina team teasing the Dutch… can’t tell how disgusted i am. This actually reminded me why I didn’t like the Argentina team back in the days of Maradona.. they just never come across as anything other than [censored].. Messi had got me to forget this to some extent but happy to be reminded why I really don’t have time for them.

 

[Billy Dean]

Just saw the pic of the Argentina team teasing the Dutch… can’t tell how disgusted i am. This actually reminded me why I didn’t like the Argentina team back in the days of Maradona.. they just never come across as anything other than [censored].. Messi had got me to forget this to some extent but happy to be reminded why I really don’t have time for them.

I can understand why people don’t like it. Personally I wasn’t too bothered by it. It was a bit of an aggro sort of game from both sides. Dutch were dishing it out too.

Also wondering whether it might be part of some sort of Argie siege mentality. I can remember their game against Colombia in the Copa America they were both going at it there too.

 

[Lobster Johnson]

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.

This is not how the rules of football work.

 

[Lobster Johnson]

Me and my apparently hopeless predictions eh? Funny how the naysayers only pipe up for the few I get wrong.

"When zee seagulls follow zee trawler it iz because zey think fish will be thrown into zee sea".

Now now Dave, you can't be calling out racism imperialistic arttitudes amongst England fans then do a comedy French accent.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Just saw the pic of the Argentina team teasing the Dutch… can’t tell how disgusted i am. This actually reminded me why I didn’t like the Argentina team back in the days of Maradona.. they just never come across as anything other than [censored].. Messi had got me to forget this to some extent but happy to be reminded why I really don’t have time for them.

Ah yeah cuz the Dutch were just sitting and taking the abuse, defo haven't said anything to provoke this behaviour lol

 

[YoboCopter]