WORLD CUP: Russia 2018 Commentary Thread

[Basil II the B.S]

Great game btw.

In terms of quality of games, this is the best world cup I remember and that's from 1994.

[Basil II the B.S]

Sorry but Brazil needs to come to terms with the fact that Neymar is a spoiled, overrated diver. He sells a ton of t-shirts, that's great for him, but he's also not the great player media present him as. This loss is primarily on him.

[athanaric]

I think someone should offer asylum to Fernandinho now...

[Knight of Heaven]

Apparently Uruguay's team had a truco championship and Suarez and Gimenez won it. Most charismatic team in the Cup, certainly .



By the way, I'm curious about something: how do your cities/countries react to the World Cup? I mean not the media, the people themselves. Here in Brazil (my city at least) there's a whole atmosphere that comes with the Cup. You feel it's happening. Everyone is talking about it. You hear two strangers talking and one of them says "England" and you know it's about the Cup. If you join the conversation abruptly they wouldn't mind. Someone might even comment about Gabriel Jesus performance to you in the street or the bus. There's flags everywhere, of course. And there's almost no one in the streets during a Brazil match. Is it like this where you live?

It is like this here in Portugal, more or less at least when Portugal was still in it.
There is still a big square in Paço that shows the games. Now is full of Brazilian people there watching Brasil. Always a big party here in Lisbon.


Nothing compared to when Portugal hosted the Euro 2004 though. That was really something with everyone putting flags on the windows and such. But that practice was discontinued over the years, mostly.

[Macunaíma]

Douglas Costa was a monster in this match. Too bad it served no purpose. Coutinho made his worst match with Brazil I've ever seen. Courtois saved Belgium a lot of times. I still think that with Casemiro it would have certainly been different. Well, anyway, a deserved elimination. Even with that possible penalty. I'm not sure if the ball went out of the field before Kompany hit Jesus. In that case it wouldn't have been, but if it was inside it was a clear penalty. Tackled, missed the ball and hit his foot.

And now we have an all-European semi-finals. Boring.

[Halie Satanus]

Seen the reply from every angle. Ball was still in play, Kompany kicks Jesus on the shin.

100% penalty.

France vs Belgium.... Tasty...

[athanaric]

And now we have an all-European semi-finals. Boring.

Well actually, I'm pleased to see all of the usual suspects out. Maybe a chance for one of the "smaller" teams to win the WC. Plus, it's hilarious to see Brazil losing to a puny Third World country. I think the whole thing just got a lot more entertaining.

[PikeStance]

Sorry but Brazil needs to come to terms with the fact that Neymar is a spoiled, overrated diver. He sells a ton of t-shirts, that's great for him, but he's also not the great player media present him as. This loss is primarily on him.

Neymar is a diver and embellisher, but he always looks dangerous on the field. Opportunities were there for Brazil, but they failed to score. I also believe that the no call on the "PK's" were a good call.

With Brazil out the last of the multiple WC winners are out.
France (98)
England (66)
Belgium (nv)
Croatia (nv)
Sweden (nv)
Russia (nv)


* It doesn't really matter, but does Russia inherit the legacy of the USSR? For that matter does Serbia inherit Yugoslavia's legacy? I would guess not.

[Macunaíma]

So we could say it was an unfair result. Anyway, Brazil could have tied the match without it. Coutinho and Renato Augusto lacked the competence to score. The first one horribly.

[Sar1n]

Douglas Costa was a monster in this match. Too bad it served no purpose. Coutinho made his worst match with Brazil I've ever seen. Courtois saved Belgium a lot of times. I still think that with Casemiro it would have certainly been different. Well, anyway, a deserved elimination. Even with that possible penalty. I'm not sure if the ball went out of the field before Kompany hit Jesus. In that case it wouldn't have been, but if it was inside it was a clear penalty. Tackled, missed the ball and hit his foot.

And now we have an all-European semi-finals. Boring.

The Neymar attitude definitely hurt Brasil in this match. There were many situations that might have warranted closer look, but referee didn't even flinch. And the possible penalty situtation...Kompany did his best to avoid contact, Jesus went against him, which was enough justification for referee to let it slide, most likely just because Brasil players were trying too hard to force the penalty all the time.

[PikeStance]

The Neymar attitude definitely hurt Brasil in this match. There were many situations that might have warranted closer look, but referee didn't even flinch. And the possible penalty situtation...Kompany did his best to avoid contact, Jesus went against him, which was enough justification for referee to let it slide, most likely just because Brasil players were trying too hard to force the penalty all the time.

Referees are not trained this way. You call what you see. If you see a foul, you call it regardless. In the PA, you want to be positive before calling a PK.

[Macunaíma]

The Neymar attitude definitely hurt Brasil in this match. There were many situations that might have warranted closer look, but referee didn't even flinch. And the possible penalty situtation...Kompany did his best to avoid contact, Jesus went against him, which was enough justification for referee to let it slide, most likely just because Brasil players were trying too hard to force the penalty all the time.

Kompany tackled and hit his feet. That's it. Avoiding contact would be to not tackle his feet and making a FOUL. If the referee didn't signaled the penalty then he's wrong, no matter what idiotic conception he has of Brazilian players. There was no "forcing" a penalty. Neymar even said that it wasn't a penalty in one of those situations. Nobody dived. In any match of the Cup. If the referee didn't do the right thing then it's his fault.

[Sar1n]

Referees are not trained this way. You call what you see. If you see a foul, you call it regardless. In the PA, you want to be positive before calling a PK.

That's the ideal. But everyone has their predjudices, and looks like referees were sick of Neymaring. I'm sure I've seen the referee smirk once or twice while he signed "play on" when Neymar went down.

[Macunaíma]

You're basically saying the referee robbed Brazil.

[Sar1n]

You're basically saying the referee robbed Brazil.

He did tend to judge borderline situations when Brasilian player went down not in their favour. Can't say I blame him, they went down way too willingly. Neymar hammed it up several times, in fact at least two times he, instead of playing and trying to create a good situation, went against Belgian defense with intention of falling down. He should have been carded for that.

[PikeStance]

That's the ideal. But everyone has their predjudices, and looks like referees were sick of Neymaring. I'm sure I've seen the referee smirk once or twice while he signed "play on" when Neymar went down.

Referees objective is to do the final. Assessors/Inspectors will pick apart every call you make and you have to justify each and every decision. It isn't ideal, it is exactly that. The only ideal is the perfect game and the perfect game is impossible.
I know fans and players think referees are prejudice, but it isn't true at all.

[Sar1n]

Referees objective is to do the final. Assessors/Inspectors will pick apart every call you make and you have to justify each and every decision. It isn't ideal, it is exactly that. The only ideal is the perfect game and the perfect game is impossible.
I know fans and players think referees are prejudice, but it isn't true at all.

They're just human. Even if they try, when you dislike someone it's hard to be objective toward them.

Though the one moment when I think he made a bad call was when Neymar, instead of passing, went through the middle of formed defense and fell without a touch. It was premeditated attempt to get a free kick instead of playing, and should have been carded for that.

[Pinarius]

Asterix vs Tintin then

* It doesn't really matter, but does Russia inherit the legacy of the USSR? For that matter does Serbia inherit Yugoslavia's legacy? I would guess not.

The actually do in the so called All-time table of the FIFA World Cup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-ti...FIFA_World_Cup

[Sar1n]

That is going to be interesting SF. Both teams actually seem quite similar to me in their style of play....

[Cope]

The BELl/BRA QF was the best game I've seen in the tournament with the exception of the 3-3 draw between Portugal and Spain. In the end I thought that Brazil were a little unlucky to lose. They were naive defensively in the first half (Casemiro was badly missed), but even so I think they did enough to merit a draw after 90 minutes. On second viewing, the Kompany tackle was a penalty for me because the ball was still in play at the time of contact.

France vs. Belgium is extremely difficult to call. Both teams have exceptional players across the pitch. Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne, Kompany and Courtois vs. Mbappe, Griezmann, Pogba, Kante and Varane. Hopefully it'll be a great game. I think we all expect the winner of the tie to win the tournament.