**** 2018 WORLD CUP THREAD ***

BS, that is a red card. Tripping DiMaria outside the box , denied a goal scoring opportunity.

Probably should have been RED. Not sure why it didn't go to VAR (Maybe it can't).

In full speed, case could EASILY be made that was last defender. Problem is, where the ref was located, he didn't know that defender was a step behind.

What an idiot. Why would you want to blatantly hold in the box. PK to Nigeria. Equalizer. Mascharano ought to be subbed out.

Tough for Nigeria with the entire stadium and the announcers rooting against them.

Messi and Argentina are thru.

For the love of soccer, would the coach of Argentina please put the best players on the field. Sits Higuan vs. Croatia...Sits Aguero for 80+ minutes today...

MurderDub wrote:

Tough for Nigeria with the entire stadium and the announcers rooting against them.

Why would the announcers on TV have anything to do with it being tough for the Nigerian players?!?

That was a great run by Nigeria, they played to win, but the attacking play by Argentina was too much for them in the end.

They are a very young, and they will grow from this experience. Once that midfield evolves, and they learn how to keep and stay on the ball, that is when their offensive prowess will able to shine.

Victor Moses will now get some much needed rest so that he will be ready for the upcoming season for Chelsea.

Senegal is africa's only hope. Let's go.

meanwhile on another thread wrote:

Scorpion_runner wrote:

The will need a win against Croatia. A draw might not cut it since Iceland will be going in as a favorite against Nigeria.

You admit right here that it’s not a must win game. They could draw and still get through. Hell, they could lose and still get through. You’re math is as woeful as your soccer knowledge if you don’t realize that.

As I told you, the Croatia game was not a "must win" game for Argentina. They lost and still advanced.

Did you figure out how goal differential works yet?

Argentina was very lucky to advance.

SB runner. wrote:

What an idiot. Why would you want to blatantly hold in the box. PK to Nigeria. Equalizer. Mascharano ought to be subbed out.

What do you guys think of the PK call? I guess in terms of setting a precedent I"m glad they did it so there will be more goals for the rest of the World Cup but didn't he almost dive into it? Great acting job?

rojo wrote:

SB runner. wrote:

What an idiot. Why would you want to blatantly hold in the box. PK to Nigeria. Equalizer. Mascharano ought to be subbed out.

What do you guys think of the PK call? I guess in terms of setting a precedent I"m glad they did it so there will be more goals for the rest of the World Cup but didn't he almost dive into it? Great acting job?

If you look at the penalty call in isolation, you can see why it's given. There is holding contact and Mascherano is not even looking at the ball. The problem is, this exact sort of incident happens 10 times a game. It is absurd to give a penalty once for it, and then just ignore all the other times it happens. Especially in a knockout tournament where calling a penalty could be the difference between advancing or being knocked out.

VAR isn't really helping either because it is so subjective as to when it is actually used.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

That was a great run by Nigeria, they played to win, but the attacking play by Argentina was too much for them in the end.

They are a very young, and they will grow from this experience. Once that midfield evolves, and they learn how to keep and stay on the ball, that is when their offensive prowess will able to shine.

Victor Moses will now get some much needed rest so that he will be ready for the upcoming season for Chelsea.

Senegal is africa's only hope. Let's go.

I thought France was Africas only hope?

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

MurderDub wrote:

Tough for Nigeria with the entire stadium and the announcers rooting against them.

Why would the announcers on TV have anything to do with it being tough for the Nigerian players?!?

They wouldn't. I was just frustrated by the one-sided sentiment of the announcing. Sometimes when I'm frustrated, I write dumb things.

Jean Jacques wrote:

Scorpion_runner wrote:

That was a great run by Nigeria, they played to win, but the attacking play by Argentina was too much for them in the end.

They are a very young, and they will grow from this experience. Once that midfield evolves, and they learn how to keep and stay on the ball, that is when their offensive prowess will able to shine.

Victor Moses will now get some much needed rest so that he will be ready for the upcoming season for Chelsea.

Senegal is africa's only hope. Let's go.

I thought France was Africas only hope?

Only to the ignorant.

Reality is real wrote:

If you look at the penalty call in isolation, you can see why it's given. There is holding contact and Mascherano is not even looking at the ball. The problem is, this exact sort of incident happens 10 times a game. It is absurd to give a penalty once for it, and then just ignore all the other times it happens. Especially in a knockout tournament where calling a penalty could be the difference between advancing or being knocked out.

VAR isn't really helping either because it is so subjective as to when it is actually used.

Yes but 10 times a game a guy doesn't go down in the box alone.

rojo wrote:

Reality is real wrote:

If you look at the penalty call in isolation, you can see why it's given. There is holding contact and Mascherano is not even looking at the ball. The problem is, this exact sort of incident happens 10 times a game. It is absurd to give a penalty once for it, and then just ignore all the other times it happens. Especially in a knockout tournament where calling a penalty could be the difference between advancing or being knocked out.

VAR isn't really helping either because it is so subjective as to when it is actually used.

Yes but 10 times a game a guy doesn't go down in the box alone.

Mascherano definitely makes contact with Balogun and is obviously trying to hold and impede him. Mascherano isn't even looking at the ball either. That is a penalty.

The problem is this exact incident happens multiple times a game, and no penalty is given.

So, Rojo (not "our" RoJo) was the hero today.

Now we could see CR7 vs Messi in QFs. It could be, given the age of Ronaldo (33) and Messi (31), the last "big battle" between them.

But Portugal and Argentina are underdogs, Lets see what happens. The logic is Uruguay vs France for QFs, but I assume that CR7 vs Messi is the rivalry that every casual fan/average joe wants to see.

rojo wrote:

SB runner. wrote:

What an idiot. Why would you want to blatantly hold in the box. PK to Nigeria. Equalizer. Mascharano ought to be subbed out.

What do you guys think of the PK call? I guess in terms of setting a precedent I"m glad they did it so there will be more goals for the rest of the World Cup but didn't he almost dive into it? Great acting job?

The commentators mentioned that FIFA are cracking down on this behavior, which leads me to believe that it was also communicated to the teams in advance. I personally do not think it was a PK, but having heard the announcers mention the change in FIFA's stance and instructions coming down to the referees, it was stupid to risk it in the box. However, you are right, we have seen much worse in this very WC!

To answer you latter question, the defender tracked and pulled down the attacker. It wasn't a blatant dive, but he did sell it a bit.

Here is the video of the PK today:

Agreed that this was a weak call but I have seen a couple of PKs this World Cup for similar actions that have not been called in the past.