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The 2017-2018 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
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The better team won. Martinez set Belgium to counterattack, and while they were wasteful with their chances Brazil were even more wasteful with theirs.
Belgium executed their plan better than Brazil did.
Everyone will talk about the penalty, but if you look at it in real time I think it's hard to fault the ref for the no-call, and there was no "clear and obvious error" to review with VAR. The ref expected Neymar to flop, and he wasn't interested.
Belgium executed their plan better than Brazil did.
Everyone will talk about the penalty, but if you look at it in real time I think it's hard to fault the ref for the no-call, and there was no "clear and obvious error" to review with VAR. The ref expected Neymar to flop, and he wasn't interested.
I didn't see the entire match but if you're referring to that one ball into the box near the end of the game that Neighmarrrrr tried to head, he wasn't even close to the ball. It was three feet above/behind him. You're correct, People will complain, but they made a great non call on that.
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Oh, don't get me wrong, it's a big upset. Brazil are the more talented squad, but Belgium were the better team today. Some of that comes down to Martinez.
Brazil played La Liga football while Belgium play Premiership football.
Courtis won the match and Hazard was excellent running out time in the last 10 minutes.
maybe Neymar should not fake death next world cup, he might get one of those flops called.
Courtis won the match and Hazard was excellent running out time in the last 10 minutes.
maybe Neymar should not fake death next world cup, he might get one of those flops called.
With Brazil's exit goes the last non-European competitor. This is now an all-UEFA tournament.
Not a fan of....anything outside Europe?
The foul on Jesus looks like an obvious pen in slo-mo. The question, though, is not why the ref failed to give a penalty (could have been hard to spot in real-time), but why the VAR didn't feel the need to intervene.
All I can say is, when Kompany and Jesus return to training for Man City, it's going to be awkward for a while...
Yes, that crossed my mind , too.
France and Belgium through to the semi-finals, while England and Sweden, and Russia and Croatia wait to do battle; all European teams.
And yes, I am pleased (actually, delighted) to see all of the central and south Americans out, though I will admit that I would have liked - very much - to have seen either Japan or Senegal - or both - progress at least as far as the quarter finals, if not further.
Yes, a fervent aspiration of mine, too, although - for a variety of reasons - I am no fan of Croatia's, either.
I hadn't considered that! I'm sure Pep will sort it out.
Well done Belgium. Hope we can join you in the semis tomorrow. Already nervous about that one though!
No, I don't think so.
Not in the slightest.
Historically, the Croats were Catholic, - the Ustashe slaughtered Serbs during WW2 - while the Russians (and Serbs) are Orthodox (Christians).
The Croats - who are a talented team - will fight hard, while Russia, frankly, have done surprisingly well and "exceeded expectations" to have come this far.
Nice to see a full European lineup in the closing stages. Neymar learned tonight that his cheating has a consequence when the penalty he perhaps deserved was ignored. He’s in great danger of his cheating being his legacy rather than the fact he’s an exceptional footballer. Belgium has been awesome throughout and i’ll be surprised if they are not in the final.
Yes, I know.
I do know.
Not only did I teach this stuff, (the history of Russia and central and eastern Europe) I have observed/supervised/monitored elections in each of these countries over the past twenty years.
However, the fact that Russia has been a friend of Serbia does not mean that they will win the match, as I rather suspect that Croatia are a better football team.
Russia's limitations may be exposed - and I doubt that the sort of sympathetic interpretations that they may have received in the group stages will be quite so forthcoming tomorrow.
Nevertheless, it seems I misread your post: I assumed that you thought that any country in the Balkans had historic ties of culture/religion/friendship with Russia; it sees we were both culpable of assuming the other party knew little about the complexities of this region and this situation. Mea culpa.
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