Knockout Stages - Round of 32

[Jon the Hat]

5 minutes ago, spacemunky said:

All 3 hosts still in this! 

Until Monday....

[spacemunky]

27 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Until Monday....

I certainly don't expect us(Canada) to beat Morocco. I hope we can give them a game and who knows!

 

US has a very good chance against Belgium, but will be missing Balogun.

 

I can't remember who Mexico play 

[Jon the Hat]

13 minutes ago, spacemunky said:

I certainly don't expect us(Canada) to beat Morocco. I hope we can give them a game and who knows!

 

US has a very good chance against Belgium, but will be missing Balogun.

 

I can't remember who Mexico play 

I expect Morocco, Belgium and Mexico to go through.  Altitude will screw England completely.

[Sly]

Mexico how haven’t lost in Mexico City since 2013.

 

Massive game for them and one they’ll fancy winning I’d imagine. I’d give them a good chance, even if they were not playing at home! Let’s hope Reece James is fit enough to play at right back. 
 

USA stand a good chance against Belgium. Balogun is a big loss, however they are still steady.

 

Canada will struggle against Morocco I’d imagine!

[MC Prussian]

Bosnia's keeper for the second US goal. Oh dear.

[Aus Fox]

Based on the teams we’ve seen so far in the knock out stages, it’s hard to see anyone anywhere near France.

It’s France huge gap, and a whole load of mediocre teams who can perform well on any given day, but can all beat each other. 
it will be interesting to see if Spain, Portugal or Argentina can produce anything that looks like the sort of form that could challenge.

[Nalis]

Decent play to win it for Mr couldnt be arsed

[Super_horns]

Credit to the USA

Won and kept a clean sheet despite the 10 men.

 

Probably just as well for the ref /VAR they did though .
 

 

[The Bear]

Just seen the Tielemans penalty. 

 

Very little difference between that and the Kane one. Small contact on the foot and the attacker brings his feet together and goes down. 

 

Thankfully VAR did its job properly this time. 

[Super_horns]

10 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Just seen the Tielemans penalty. 

 

Very little difference between that and the Kane one. Small contact on the foot and the attacker brings his feet together and goes down. 

 

Thankfully VAR did its job properly this time. 

Yet the pundits and others didn’t think it was a penalty .

 

Kind of sums up the problem with VAR in a way - used so subjectivity still creates debate .

 

Definitely see why it was given though and agree about the lack of consistency.

[purpleronnie]

On form and home advantage you could argue the US should be favourites.  Belgium were awful, the US have impressed every game.

[st albans fox]

36 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Just seen the Tielemans penalty. 

 

Very little difference between that and the Kane one. Small contact on the foot and the attacker brings his feet together and goes down. 

 

Thankfully VAR did its job properly this time. 

Disagree

thats not a var overturn 

just as Kane’s wasn’t 

 

to give a pen in both situations is re refereeing and that’s not what var is for 

 

in the bbc studio there was no agreement on Kane pen - so no clear error 

in the 2 person poll in our household this morning both of us thought youri wasn’t a pen - so again no clear error 

 

var is not there to get the right decision.  It’s there to correct clear and obvious mistakes 

 

I can appreciate that the var had some reason to closely check the Belgium call because the ref may not have seen it. Obvs he saw the Kane one and was of the opinion that he went over the challenge. so for var to be involved in Kane’s incident would definitely be re refereeing.   

Edited 12 hours ago by st albans fox

[Samilktray]

16 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

On form and home advantage you could argue the US should be favourites.  Belgium were awful, the US have impressed every game.

USA are definitely favourites, Belgium are really crap 

[Finnegan]

57 minutes ago, The Bear said:

Just seen the Tielemans penalty. 

 

Very little difference between that and the Kane one. Small contact on the foot and the attacker brings his feet together and goes down. 

 

Thankfully VAR did its job properly this time. 

 

Kane was going down before anything happened to him, he brushed past the keeper's arms on his way down. England were under pressure, panicking and desperate at the time and he threw himself on the floor. He literally puts his arms out in front of himself and throws himself forward, it looked comical for Christ sakes. It doesn't matter if contact comes after it, he did it to himself. Even Rooney at half time came very, very close to literally suggesting he deliberately dived. VAR giving that would have been a travesty and you'd all be livid if it happened against you.

 

The Tielemans penalty looked quite soft but he's making a genuine attempt to get to the ball, he plants his foot and it gets trodden on. 

 

Were both of them trying to draw a foul specifically to win a penalty instead of honestly attacking the ball to score? Yeah maybe. But Kane did it extremely poorly, hilariously so, and was never going to get that.

 

People compared it to some of Vards' but generally speaking, Vards being a better athlete would knock it by someone and sprint straight into their legs and take the hit with some force and go down. He was playing for it yeah but most of the time he took the contact solidly and it was undeniably there. Kane just leapt like a salmon and almost got lucky the keeper scraped by him a bit on the way down to give him some vague credibility haha. He also very obviously kicked the floor before any of it started.

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Finnegan

[FoxesWalk]

5 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I expect Morocco, Belgium and Mexico to go through.  Altitude will screw England completely.

I would not be shocked if England players have been training with oxygen deprivation masks for a while. Type of thing FA would plan for, we knew the possible route well in advance. 

[FoxesWalk]

7 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Kane was going down before anything happened to him, he brushed past the keeper's arms on his way down. England were under pressure, panicking and desperate at the time and he threw himself on the floor. He literally puts his arms out in front of himself and throws himself forward, it looked comical for Christ sakes. It doesn't matter if contact comes after it, he did it to himself. Even Rooney at half time came very, very close to literally suggesting he deliberately dived. VAR giving that would have been a travesty and you'd all be livid if it happened against you.

 

The Tielemans penalty looked quite soft but he's making a genuine attempt to get to the ball, he plants his foot and it gets trodden on. 

 

Were both of them trying to draw a foul specifically to win a penalty instead of honestly attacking the ball to score? Yeah maybe. But Kane did it extremely poorly, hilariously so, and was never going to get that.

 

People compared it to some of Vards' but generally speaking, Vards being a better athlete would knock it by someone and sprint straight into their legs and take the hit with some force and go down. He was playing for it yeah but most of the time he took the contact solidly and it was undeniably there. Kane just leapt like a salmon and almost got lucky the keeper scraped by him a bit on the way down to give him some vague credibility haha. He also very obviously kicked the floor before any of it started.

 

Kane is going to do the same thing Vardy does, he just goes down one pace too early. He just needs to take one more step and clatter the keeper.  

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Which of the no marks from Pumas, Locomotive Moscow, Tijuana etc will have th game of their lives to stop England then. 

 

Or a 35 year old Raul Jimenez turning into prime Drogba

[Finnegan]

28 minutes ago, FoxesWalk said:

Kane is going to do the same thing Vardy does, he just goes down one pace too early. He just needs to take one more step and clatter the keeper.  

 

So yeah. The TLDR: if he'd been less of a pussy he'd have gotten a pen.

[The Bear]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

The Tielemans penalty looked quite soft but he's making a genuine attempt to get to the ball, he plants his foot and it gets trodden on

Kane had already gotten to the ball and touched it past the keeper. That doesn't mean he then has to try and avoid the keeper at all costs. 

 

VAR should have intervened because the angle the referee didn't have showed clear contact on Kane's foot. It doesn't matter if he goes down easily or not. He gets to the ball first and the keeper makes contact afterwards. Penalty all day long by the letter of the rules. It was a crystal clear wrong decision by the ref and VAR didn't do it's job. 

[FoxesWalk]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

So yeah. The TLDR: if he'd been less of a pussy he'd have gotten a pen.

Yep, agreed. Goalkeeper action means it should be a pen, but Kane ****ed it. 

[ClaphamFox]

15 minutes ago, FoxesWalk said:

Yep, agreed. Goalkeeper action means it should be a pen, but Kane ****ed it. 

All the focus seems to be on the contact with the keeper, but the reason Kane was falling was because he had very clearly been shoved by the defender. 

 

https://x.com/Deanooo1990/status/2072600268789743780?s=20

Edited 9 hours ago by ClaphamFox

[David Hankey]

Pen without a doubt. Ref should be banned.

[The Bear]

20 minutes ago, David Hankey said:

Pen without a doubt. Ref should be banned.

I don't blame the ref at all. He made the call from the view he had, which looked right. The VAR should be stood down for a game though. 

[TheGoldenGod]

Anyone planning to watch Mexico game on record in the morning? I can't seem to find it scheduled on my TV guide yet...

[Basingstoke Fox]

12 hours ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

Still bitter about Youri tbh.

 

Class player, but I can't wish him well since he's lost about 3 stone, decided to put effort in and does well for Villa now. 

 

I'll like him when he retires. 

 

Looking back, I think this is more down to the culture at LCFC over the years than him personally. Should never have been allowed to happen.

 

Crap seeing him thrive for Villa of all clubs though.