Did Spain get a VAR decision in the first game too? They got away with that Costa foul on Pepe before he scored anyway, VAR had no issue with that.

Coombs wrote:

Ah finally a replay. Didn't see that touch. Good decision.

Yes.

I know everyone wants Spain knocked out but VAR is a significant improvement (already) on the crap decisions we otherwise can't even appeal or discuss since it's hidden by the referee couldn't see it. Even if it's rigged, it will inevitably promote transparency. It just has to be better than human error to be worth it's inclusion.

Klaus wrote:
Mirth wrote:

Belgium didn't really play well. England had a good 30 minutes.

Brazil had a good 30 minute spell too but then they just withdrew. I think it's sad to watch, and it's even sadder that these national teams are just emulating successful European clubs. Football is in a bit of a state all over Europe.

Result aside, Spain looked quality against Portugal. De Gea and Ronaldo's brilliance prevented them from getting all 3 points 

Also best match in the tournament so far INO

Haha, that was funny.

Tony Montana wrote:
jones wrote:

Handball not offside

No it was for offside.

Yeah sorry. My fault for trusting American commentators.

est wrote:

Haha, that was funny.

I'm amazed Ramos didn't get a stamp in.

I mean, Pique thrashing wildly and kicking prone players in the shoulder and whatnot should be punished with a card. This weird idea that in certain circumstances you can't blow for a foul needs to end.

Iran really should have equalised, another great chance

Hahaha what a dickhead

Iran can beat Portugal. This is a tougher group than appeared at first.

Portugal Iran is shaping up to he the ultimate shithouse contest. Genuinely worried football as a sport might end

😆 What an idiot, wasted so much time on that throw and denied his team the last attack.

Weird game, Iran had at least 5 or 6 chances to score but lost to an unlucky deflected goal despite defending for the first 50 minutes.

Clrnc wrote:

😆 What an idiot, wasted so much time on that throw and denied his team the last attack.

Weird game, Iran had at least 5 or 6 chances to score but lost to an unlucky deflected goal despite defending for the first 50 minutes.

Witchcraft. If you depend on dodgy goals to win, dodgy goals will do you in

Claudius wrote:
Clrnc wrote:

😆 What an idiot, wasted so much time on that throw and denied his team the last attack.

Weird game, Iran had at least 5 or 6 chances to score but lost to an unlucky deflected goal despite defending for the first 50 minutes.

Witchcraft. If you depend on dodgy goals to win, dodgy goals will do you in

My man Claude gets it. That was some next level juju horseshit they pulled in the first game come away with three points at the death without ever going for goal. Probably offered some fucked up sacrifices for that result

@Claude, So true.

Pointy end being ignored by 75% of coaches at this WC. Morocco were hilarious in front of goal, Iran as well. Spain just count passes. Costa doesn't finish moves, he just scores or tries to when the ball happens to come to him. Rest of their play is pointless.

Belgium, England, Senegal, Russia, and Mexico have played the best football for me. Focused more on what's important, even if the final ball was poor at least it was played with intent. Croatia have got something going for them as well.

Costa is the closest thing to Drogba in football at the moment.

Mexico have been the most impressive team so far.

Costa is insanely underrated for some reason even though Premier League watchers should know best. The guy won Chelsea two league titles virtually by himself not to speak of the historic title he won for Atletico. How many strikers around who did that for their clubs in recent years?

Jed wrote:

Costa is the closest thing to Drogba in football at the moment.

Didn't see your post when I typed mine. Imo he's long surpassed Drogba, that one was for knockout competitions and little else while Costa is lethal in any competition. Doesn't go missing for months on end either.

between ronaldo and costa for the golden boot. Costa will probably win it as portugal shouldn't be going too far.

Turns out that Iran player is trying to do this. 

Rory Delap is spinning in his grave at this nonsense.

arsedoc md wrote:

that's not a dive. He fell under the weight of his character.

Found a tweet to match the quality of this post.

😆 Hans Moleman's Man Getting Hit By Football: The Sequel.

Noticeable changes for Portugal with Guedes dropped and Quaresma starting

Deserved lead for Morocco. Spain should be down to 10 as well.

Mirth wrote:
est wrote:

Fuck VAR.

?

Ramos should have been sent off.

VAR is completely pointless if they get to pick and choose what situations to review and what not to.

Just like the other day when Germany should have went down to 10 men against Sweden. If the people making the decisions can be cowards and turn down making the right decisions, then the system is absolutely useless.

est wrote:
Mirth wrote:

?

Ramos should have been sent off.

VAR is completely pointless if they get to pick and choose what situations to review and what not to.

Just like the other day when Germany should have went down to 10 men against Sweden. If the people making the decisions can be cowards and turn down making the right decisions, then the system is absolutely useless.

Don't think VAR applies for fouls though. There's no picking and choosing since it would never apply here.

With Sweden it was because it was a penalty call.

What's the point of video assistance for the referee if the system doesn't assist the referee in making the biggest and most important decisions in the game? It's daft.

I don't buy this "slows down the game" argument either. Doesn't waste any more time than players rolling around after soft fouls. The assistants can review any situation in the game and signal when there's an incident that deserves to be reviewed by the match referee.

Mirth wrote:
est wrote:

Ramos should have been sent off.

VAR is completely pointless if they get to pick and choose what situations to review and what not to.

Just like the other day when Germany should have went down to 10 men against Sweden. If the people making the decisions can be cowards and turn down making the right decisions, then the system is absolutely useless.

Don't think VAR applies for fouls though. There's no picking and choosing since it would never apply here.

With Sweden it was because it was a penalty call.

VAR applies for foul. In the Uruguay Egypt match the ref stopped play to review for a red card. Est made a valid point, sometimes it feels like the VAR team doesn't want to make unpopular decisions against big teams.

Quaresma with his trademark goal, brilliant finish

est wrote:

What's the point of video assistance for the referee if the system doesn't assist the referee in making the biggest and most important decisions in the game? It's daft.

I don't buy this "slows down the game" argument either. Doesn't waste any more time than players rolling around after soft fouls. The assistants can review any situation in the game and signal when there's an incident that deserves to be reviewed by the match referee.

I mean the counter argument is that it' s slightly fairer than the old way. Referees are always biased/too scared to go against the bigger team but that doesn't make VAR completely useless. See the Neymar penalty appeal. Also its still the first time being implemented so its still a work in progress

@[deleted] was it the outside the boot or a rabona?