General World Cup Chat

[Twizzle]

Well its only been one game so far but Croatian fans on ABC TV this morning already accusing the Japanese ref of match fixing.

The spot kick was a bit sus for mine. Bit of a dive.

 

[ElectricEelMan]

And we thought NRL refs were bad ...

 

[Jimbo]

Very soft pen, and Brazil definitely got the lion's share of the decisions

Good call from Tyler a bit later on when a foul on one of the Brazilians wasn't paid - 'That was more of a foul than the penalty'

 

[Mong]

Great.. Accusations of match fixing..

That's what we need to be hearing immediately after the first game..

 

[umina panther]

It's the FIFA world cup, of course it's corrupt

 

[Valheru]

The frustrating thing is not in a million years would Croatia or any other side outside the top 10 get that call against Brazil. It is always the top teams who benefit.

 

[jargan83]

I only saw the second half but that penalty looked like a dive.

 

[Twizzle]

The frustrating thing is not in a million years would Croatia or any other side outside the top 10 get that call against Brazil. It is always the top teams who benefit.

especially when they are the host team and the crowd is all green and gold

 

[Big Sam]

It's soft but don't put your hands on a player in the box.

 

[Big Sam]

Great.. Accusations of match fixing..

That's what we need to be hearing immediately after the first game..

Nothing new. The entire 1978 WC was fixed by the Argentine military.

 

[McNulty]

Swings and roundabouts!! Great start to the world cup

I don't recall the cro's being up in arms when it took 3 yellow cards to send josip simunic off in 2006

 

[Danish]

It was a ridiculous penalty, just a complete dive. Yeah he had a hand on his shoulder but if thats the standard then there should have been a penalty awarded during every set piece.

What was more annoying to me was the amount of decisions Brazil got throughout the game. The elbow from Neymar was very close to a red IMO, plus there were a number of other yellows by Braziliians that the ref seemingly just ignored (an extremely blatant jersey pull late in the 2nd half was just waved on as an advantage, for example). David Luiz in particular seemed to have a free pass to come through the back of players all game. Hell even in the lead up the last goal I thought it was a pretty blatant foul for Oscar to win the ball in the first place.

Its to be expected though. The favoured sides have always and will always get the decisions against the minnows, and Brazil will have the path paved for them to make the final. I certainly wouldn't want to be the referee that gives a decision against them in their own backyard. You would need a SWAT team to get you straight to the airport... and hope that the SWAT team is made up of foreigners as well :lol:

 

[Mong]

Swings and roundabouts!! Great start to the world cup

I don't recall the cro's being up in arms when it took 3 yellow cards to send josip simunic off in 2006

Yep, you win some you lose some with the officials.

If all someone wants to do is whinge and bitch about officials, they may as well not watch games as they will always find something to be unhappy about.

 

[Mong]

It's soft but don't put your hands on a player in the box.

Agreed

In isolation it's not a penalty, however, I'd be happy if they gave them all tournament long..

It's incredible what players get away with in the box these days.

 

[Bulldog Force]

Well its only been one game so far but Croatian fans on ABC TV this morning already accusing the Japanese ref of match fixing.

The spot kick was a bit sus for mine. Bit of a dive.

Dive without a doubt, but they were never going to win that game the Croats.

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

i jugde all box contests by the no pen against viduka in 06, when he was tackled with more force and ferocity than anything ayshford has done all year for the sharks....
so if thats not a pen...

anyway i was happy with the result as i bet on brazil -1

getting real keen for tomorrow

 

[t10do]

Dive without a doubt, but they were never going to win that game the Croats.

Yeah. But were they going to lose it?

Anyway, hindsight is one of those things. Feel sorry for them (RE the penalty), however they need to dust themselves off and move on.

P.S.- Was Fred really in the starting line-up? I think I saw him touch the ball once:sarcasm:

 

[Russell Crowe's Band]

thought the finish on the third goal was pretty rad. the toe poke.

bad keeping there?

 

[Shaun Hewitt]

I don't believe it was a penalty, a clear dive. Should have been to a yellow to Fred for simulation
However the defender shouldn't have a complaint, his hand/arm shouldn't have been there in the first place!

Neymar should have seen red for the elbow, if you watch the replay, a second or two before it happens, he's watching the Croatia player and knows where his own elbow is. Straight red and a different game entirely

Also, I don't see what the problem was with the Croatias second goal, the Croatian player went in for the ball, pardon my ignorance, but I didn't see anything wrong with it at all.

Brazil were probably the better team on the day though, I thought the score line was a bit flattering. Should have been a one goal difference, if not a draw.

Should they (Brazil) play like that out of the group, they may be in trouble. They will most likely play Spain or the Netherlands in the round of 16

Will be interesting to see which team gets out along with Brazil

 

[Mong]

thought the finish on the third goal was pretty rad. the toe poke.

bad keeping there?

He was certainly slow to move, perhaps wasnt expecting a toe poke or unsighted.