Soccer World Cup 2022/2026

"Paul 13 wrote:

Glad they didn't go out on fair play tiebreaker... which would have been the case had the Saudi's not scored at the end.

There is a lot of stupid rules in sports, but this is one of the stupidest.

It's completely obvious to anyone that watches any amount of soccer, that different referees, have vastly different thresholds for giving yellow and red cards.

To put someone out of the World Cup on the basis of which random referees they've drawn during their group matches, is both naïve and stupid.

"Lloyd Heilbrunn wrote:

There is a lot of stupid rules in sports, but this is one of the stupidest.

It's completely obvious to anyone that watches any amount of soccer, that different referees, have vastly different thresholds for giving yellow and red cards.

To put someone out of the World Cup on the basis of which random referees they've drawn during their group matches, is both naïve and stupid.

One of the commentators here suggested that shots on target would be a better tiebreaker after goal difference and goals scored, and I have to agree with him. As you say, number of cards is a stupid tiebreaker due to different referees being more or less card-happy.

Nuts for Belgium. Tremendous defending by Lukaku :sidelol: how a side with the best player at the cup didnt advance is beyond me. Martinez will have managed his last game for the national team. Give Croatia all the credit in the world for not playing overly defensive until the end. And u could see why they didn’t play that way to start. Lovren as CB and u invite pressure wont end well. Gvardiol was immense.probably the best game ive seen this tournament so far. Such crispness by both teams. Didnt see teams wasting time. Croatia certainly deserved it but woeful from Lukaku.

then theres Morocco. Good on them. Crowd is huge for them. Canada on their way to the future but they must find a better keeper.

Looks like order has been restored in group E. Spain and Germany up 1-0 and dominating so far. Dont know why Japan didnt start #9. He was awesome albeit in a loss v Costa Rica.

Well…. lol. Currently Costa Rica have just tied it. And Japan leads Spain 2-1!! Madness!!

Looks like both Japan and Costa Rica did plenty of coke at HT.

Germany cant get the ball passed the right post lol.

"Paul 13 wrote:

Looks like both Japan and Costa Rica did plenty of coke at HT.

Japan and Costa Rica to qualify...surely not.

And as I'm just typing that, I see CR have gone ahead. Wow!

And now Germany equalise. This is going back and forth from minute to minute. Still could all change again...and probably will!

Germany now in the odd position of helping Spain. Germans need Spain to do their part and return the favor. And Germany needs to score again. Wild scenes.

Germany helps Spain if they tie or win. Spain can help Germany by scoring. Its nuttttts

Germany scored again. The announcers are saying Spain is out if results hold. Think thats wrong. Goal difference.

"Paul 13 wrote:

Germany scored again. The announcers are saying Spain is out if results hold. Think thats wrong. Goal difference.

Yea germany need to score six more goals lol.

Germany should concede two goals.

"Paul 13 wrote:

Germany should concede two goals.

F Spain lol.

Germany have gone full blitzkrieg mode on Costa Rica.

Spain: Danke.

Germany out

Now the Germans should concede three.

Three surprise teams through to the last 16 so far, Australia, Morocco and Japan. Always good to see when some big guns go out and unfancied teams go through.

"Claymore95 wrote:

Three surprise teams through to the last 16 so far, Australia, Morocco and Japan. Always good to see when some big guns go out and unfancied teams go through.

Ill post my bracket predictions tomorrow after the games but needless to say there will be some surprises. Japan my favorite team not counting England and USA.

Japan beat Spain and Germany...and lose to Costa Rica. Work that one out :laughy:

No idea what they'll do in next game!

I thought Japan would concede as they are too nice to play the style of play that kills out the clock. Staying down after being fouled etc etc. good on them.

A cynic might look at just the results and say that Spain wanted to finish runners-up, as they now face Morocco rather than Croatia, and it's also knocked Germany out. However, they clearly were trying to win the game right up until the final whistle, and the after match pictures showed that it was obvious they didn't even clearly know whether they'd done enough to go through themselves.

Crazy WC so far. I've been discussing with my friends that each tournament the skill gap gets closer and closer. I am not surprised to see juggernauts losing to underdogs.