World Cup 2022

[DonAK]

It was a penalty. If the GK got a hand to the ball it would not be a penalty but he did not.

That is the rule.

 

[JamDav1982]

If Argentina and Messi pass around the ball I. Defense 1000 times they will be finally worthy .

Also part of being a good team is not to have those moments when lose concentration or can take opporunities to score.

Birdys obsession with xG ignores the moments teams switch off and make defensive errors even if just once/twice and ignores missed chances..as it is irrelevent in xG if miss or not.

If anything Birdy rewards those who finish poorly as being 'unlucky' and ignores those moments and how imprtant it ts to take them.

If Spain have 70% of ball and have an xG of 4.0 and score 0 or 1.. that is on them for not finishing. Likewise if they only conceded 1.0 xG but those moments are poor defending and lose goals then that is a negative.

xG doesnt tell the story he thinks it does.

Spain v Japan prime example.. defended poorly twice and two goals from nothing then couldnt finish their chances... yet that gets celebrated to show their class as a 'top team due to xG..

In reality Spain were a side that were not solid defensively and cant be with likes of Busi and a DM at CB.. while they were prone to missing too many chances. That is a negatv not a positive due to xG.

 

[Windhook]

They gave it away a good bit in the first 30 and last 20 against the Netherlands. Absolutely dominated extra time though

It's more down to tactical decision and physical condition at the end. Switching from control of the ball to hand it to opponents, awaiting for mistakes is part of the game. Sadly this fluidity is not applied at Barca.

 

[DonAK]

Its a wild world when passing the ball for 120 mins and barely creating any chances means you are unlucky or play great football.

The kind of shit mentality Barca are stuck in right now.

 

[Horatio]

It's more down to tactical decision and physical condition at the end. Switching from control of the ball to hand it to opponents, awaiting for mistakes is part of the game. Sadly this fluidity is not applied at Barca.

Same can be said about Netherlands. Huge part of their tactics in WC to play more defensively and allow opponent to play as well. After Netherlands got 2-0 behind Van Gaal figured @(# it we are switching to a 4-3-3 finally(this is what all the Dutch wanted but Van Gaal believed we not have the quality to play consistently. I think he was right).

But admit Argentina did deserve it more. I concede. But do not think Argentina dominated as much as some claimed. Enough spells where NL controlled it.

 

[Birdy]

Regarding Spain and Germany : it is not like they just got unlucky this tournament, those two have been on a steep decline for quite some time now after their successes of the previous decade.

Germany have been grouped twice in a row now at WC, knocked out early last Euros also - Spain went out in similar fashion to Russia in 2018, and in qualifying for this WC nearly lost their qualifying group to Sweden, where it came down to the last game with a late goal from Morata.

So in summary both sides have been poor for quite some time now and are not what they used to be. This tournament's performance was simply a confirmation of that rather than a surprise if we look at recent historical trends, which BBZ has pointed out previously.

Germany hit rock bottom in 2018 and restarted since then.
This Germany team is far from the finished article, but is much much better than what ignorant people make them to be, because they were eliminated in the group
The best team of the tournament on xG created says a lot

As for Spain, they are much better as well than 2018 Spain. Last Euro proved that as well
They happened to play Marroco who are the worst fit for Spain qualities.

Not saying these necessarily beat Argentina in a knock-out, but we simply didn't get to see the game, which we should have

 

[JamDav1982]

Germany hit rock bottom in 2018 and restarted since then.
This Germany team is far from the finished article, but is much much better than what ignorant people make them to be, because they were eliminated in the group
The best team of the tournament on xG created says a lot

As for Spain, they are much better as well than 2018 Spain. Last Euro proved that as well
They happened to play Marroco who are the worst fit for Spain qualities.

Not saying these necessarily beat Argentina in a knock-out, but we simply didn't get to see the game, which we should have

See my post above for why Birdy doesnt understand xG and how he uses it to make so many inane conclusions.

Genuinely thinks Germany were one of best sides at World Cup due to xG..when only team they could beat was Costa Rica.

 

[serghei]

It was more of an obstruction penalty really. He stuck is leg out after the ball went over his head to block alvarez getting past him. So it was a pen

Old obstruction, true, which doesn't exist anymore in the rules, and it's seen more as standard tripping an opponent.

It's as if you run and I put a leg out in front of you. Now, you hit my leg since you are moving towards it, but my leg should not be there in the first place. It doesn't appear there, I put it there.

Same here. Even if the keeper can't do anything to get himself out of the player's way once he missed the ball, he should not be there in the first place. He is there because of an error of judgment, in that he tries to get the ball and misses it.

 

[Birdy]

Old obstruction, true, which doesn't exist anymore in the rules, and it's seen more as standard tripping an opponent.

It's as if you run and I put a leg out in front of you. Now, you hit my leg since you are moving towards it, but my leg should not be there in the first place. It doesn't appear there, I put it there.

Same here. Even if the keeper can't do anything to get himself out of the player's way once he missed the ball, he should not be there in the first place. He is there because of an error of judgment, in that he tries to get the ball and misses it.

So you are saying it's not important who initiates the contact?

 

[Horatio]

So you are saying it's not important who initiates the contact?

What do you mean who initiates contact? If I run alongside you and you stick out your leg ball nowhere near, it is still a tackle. Even though my leg runs into yours.

 

[BBZ8800]

By that logic, that neuer thing against higuain in wc 2014 final should have been for jail. If livakovic did that it would be a straight red card, penalty, and at least one other croatian player booked for protesting. Never a fucking pen, like alvarez 'intentionally' wanted to bypass goalie with two players closing him down. Get fucking real.

This was a pen but what Messi and their GK did after 1/4 was a fair play.
Kovacic got a yellow card after 2 seconds after a pen for asking what happened, Mandzukic on Croatian bench got a red card for saying it was not a pen. And iirc even Dalic got a yellow card.
On top of everything, Italian ref (Infantino is also Italian and lives in Qatar btw) gave a pen from 30 meters and didn't ever bother to check the VAR.

Yet, Messi, their GK and Argies didn't get a yellow for this:
Nothing to see, a perfect sportsmenship and allowed behavior:

Again, Mandzukic got red card on Croatian bench tonight for arguing against a pen.

Nothing to see here.
No fixing or pushing by the refs.

Just a regular day in the office when it comes to World cup and CL semis and finals.
Remember guys how you often said that Papa Perez was buying Ballon D ors for Real? Or when La Liga refs favor Real? You see that, right?
Well, this is the same shit, the same money&interests business

It's just that you don't want to see since you are emotional about Messi.
It's all rigged to some extent on the top level.
Hollywood movie for emotional fans from all around the world.

** No one answered (at least I didn't see it): why didn't ref Orsato checked the VAR after awarding it?
** Btw, this is the same ref who stopped the match for 5 minutes on the opening match Qatar-Ecuador when Ecuador scored after 10 minutes, which was not good for the hosts.
Then he stopped the match for 5 minutes and let the VAR room check every single detail in order to find some offense and to disallow a goal.

Yet, tonight:
1. he didn't stop the match
2. he didn't consult his assistants
3. he didn't check the VAR. Why didn't he stop for even 30 seconds?
4. VAR room hadn't check whether it was a corner for Croatia at the start of that action

Lol.
Everything is perfectly legal.
Nothing to see here

 

[Birdy]

What do you mean who initiates contact? If I run alongside you and you stick out your leg ball nowhere near, it is still a tackle. Even though my leg runs into yours.

Yeah, but that's not what happened here

Livakovic makes a move which doesn't result in a contact (when he missed ball at T2)
THEN, at T3 Alvarez makes a move (his run) that results in a contact

Alvarez initiated the contact, and not Livakovic

PS: it would have been a tackle if Livakovic made contact with Alvarez within the same move in which he missed the ball
That didn't happen
That's what I am trying to explain

 

[serghei]

So you are saying it's not important who initiates the contact?

The keeper initiates the contact by impeding the player to get to the ball. He does not have to occupy that space. He moves into it.

 

[jamrock]

How has Argentina had a easy fun to the final?

Dutch is a nothing team?
Croatia pretty much unbeaten in back go back WC.
Coming back under huge pressure after a shock lost against, Saudi Arabia?

You can only meet who is in front of you, if other "big" teams didn't make it, that's on them.

Finishing first in their group after that lost, to have a "easier" side of the bracket is an achievement in itself.

 

[Birdy]

The keeper initiates the contact by impeding the player to get to the ball. He does not have to occupy that space. He moves into it.

WHAT?
You are saying that occupying just space is impeding?

By this logic if a player is stationed in the middle of the pitch w/o moving, and an opponent runs into him, this should be a foul because the former occupies a space the latter wants to move into
What fucked up logic is this?