Guy Bifkin Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 It was a terrific tournament, arguable the best in my lifetime and the best team won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted July 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 16, 2018 It was a wonderful and in years to come we'll all look back with dewy-eyed mysticism at 'the Summer when it was 40 degrees every day and England almost won the Cup. And we would have done too, if not for The Germans, The Argies, Beckham, bad refereeing, Raheem Sterling's gun tattoo'. Without going full Carbomb, it does fuck me off that this wonderful event has given an authoritarian regime a nice and utterly unwarranted credibility boost though. Almost like backhanding major sporting events like this isn't a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members eugenespeed Posted July 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 16, 2018 I'm doing a poll on Twitter that ends in just over 40 minutes. It means bugger all, I just like doing polls! Basically, how did you follow the World Cup Final? https://twitter.com/eugenespeed2/status/1018569218458050562 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Fatty Facesitter Posted July 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 16, 2018 Epic tournament. I'd completely written it off before it even started, both in terms of England's chances, the overall quality of the matches and Russia's ability to host it as a whole. Russia's absolute plastering of Saudi Arabia in the opener definitely whet the appetite, and once the England bandwagon started to roll I was well on board. There's been some absolutely outrageous goals in some terrific games. My other half is Portuguese and we have French and Spanish housemates - the latter of whom has a Peruvian boyfriend, so we'd all sit together watching the games as we came home form work etc. That, to me, is the beauty of the World Cup. It's the little things like people coming together from different walks of life, when you get attached to your minnow sweepstake side, watch it with your mates (and in some cases mates from other countries), etc. Obviously you get a lot of tosh that comes with it too, like the experts the pop up every four years, fans going too far etc, but for the most part it's a powerful spectacle. Such a golden chance for England to reach the final though. We'd have likely lost to France, but it's still gutting. Just hope the fun factor returns in a couple of years' time with the Euro's even with the heightened expectations around the team now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Briefcase Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 VAR for all its rightful criticism (still a testing product) did seem to eradicate some cheating the further the World Cup went on to the point where it wasn't really used as much in the latter stages as I think players cottoned on that things would be picked up and highlighted so in some ways it worked well, but in other instances such as the penalty in the final it also finds a way to make things even more difficult, especially trying to determine things like whether a handball is deliberate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 VAR is a tool, it doesn't get anything right or wrong, it's also brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted July 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 16, 2018 1 hour ago, Briefcase said: but in other instances such as the penalty in the final it also finds a way to make things even more difficult, especially trying to determine things like whether a handball is deliberate. No it doesn't. That'll be the referee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Teedy Kay Posted July 17, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 17, 2018 Agreed with the above. VAR asked the ref if he'd seen the incident, he hadn't, they said he should review it, he did. Perfect system. When it breaks down is when interpretation of the laws come into it, but that was the same as when VAR didn't exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenryck Pilchards Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 The biggest shock for me was the amount of red cards at this tournament. There was only four in the whole thing. You have to go back to 1978 to find fewer red cards shown and you could get away with a waist high two footer back then. Can anyone explain this? Have players toned down diving in because of VAR? Or were the refs scared of showing a red in-case it was overturned by the full-kit wankers in a studio? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted July 17, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 17, 2018 Yeah I was thinking that yesterday. Honestly, I can't think of many red card offences in the entire tournament. There weren't many where you'd think that on another day that player would've received his marching orders. I guess you can make a case for players being more cautious because of the presence of VAR. They need VAR in the Premier League ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Souness didn't take France winning too well, did he? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted July 17, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 17, 2018 32 minutes ago, PunkStep said: Yeah I was thinking that yesterday. Honestly, I can't think of many red card offences in the entire tournament. There weren't many where you'd think that on another day that player would've received his marching orders. I guess you can make a case for players being more cautious because of the presence of VAR. They need VAR in the Premier League ASAP. During the KO stages maybe, but entirely? Those two penalty-box STOs on Kane during the Tunisia match, and Switzerland's Doomsday Device in front of goal on a Serbian player are the first three that come to mind. And I'm pretty sure there were a few more takedowns like that early on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted July 17, 2018 Author Paid Members Share Posted July 17, 2018 20 minutes ago, Carbomb said: During the KO stages maybe, but entirely? Those two penalty-box STOs on Kane during the Tunisia match, and Switzerland's Doomsday Device in front of goal on a Serbian player are the first three that come to mind. And I'm pretty sure there were a few more takedowns like that early on. None of those were straight red card offences though. All yellows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted July 17, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted July 17, 2018 2 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said: None of those were straight red card offences though. All yellows. Ah, right. I was thinking of sending-off instances following previous bookings. Fair enough - in which case, I agree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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