Knockout Stages - Round of 16

[OntarioFox]

46 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

This is why I don’t bet as I comment as though an Egypt v Columbia qtr final is a given ……

Spare a thought for the guy who sold me a Shawarma last night. He was from Egypt and had bet £2k on them to win. 

 

He was £8k richer when I left. By the time I'd finished my food and checked my phone he was down a month's pay. 😬

[fox_up_north]

4 hours ago, FoxTimmy2 said:

With VAR there is a better control of the narrative as they can conveniently decide when to / or not to intervene. Messi in the tournament drives more viewership and revenue.  It was even more blatant in the last world cup.

Didn't see it. Was it really that bad?

[purpleronnie]

13 hours ago, FoxesWalk said:

I don’t see why England should fear this Argentina side. Very real chance they get knocked out by Colombia, still just quietly dark horsing their way through top of their group over Portugal…

Well the fist part didn't go to well...lets see if england beat norway then we'll worry about argentina.

[Jonezy]

Think the VAR/non-VAR decisions in the Argentina-Egypt is a bit over dramatisized.

Egypt got the marginals against them, but really do not feel they were robbed. All the decisions makes perfect sense. 

 

 

[purpleronnie]

5 hours ago, FoxTimmy2 said:

With VAR there is a better control of the narrative as they can conveniently decide when to / or not to intervene. Messi in the tournament drives more viewership and revenue.  It was even more blatant in the last world cup.

I'm not a conspiracy believer.  But there's no doubt that the powers at be want messi in the final.  Do i think that maybe subconsciously those officials have a bias towards teams like Argentina...possibly. This is why I said argentina when they looked down and out would somehow find away, many teams like them do.

 

FIFA are about generating money.  they go on about taking football all around the world wanting the smaller nations to improve, but they would hate a 'smaller' nation to do well. 

 

You think they increased the qualifying to promote smaller nations?, nope, more matches more revenue.

 

Thats why i predicted Argentina v France final a while back, not because i necessarily believe they're the best sides (Argentina certainly not) but because of history, playing the percentages and everything else that goes with it.

 

I hope that changes, I hope for an unpredictable result.

[RowlattsFox]

I think Egypt are coming across a bit pathetic, unusual for a African federation 

I think they can feel a bit unlucky but if they defended better under pressure there wouldn't be a problem. 

[TheGoldenGod]

4 hours ago, Jonezy said:

Think the VAR/non-VAR decisions in the Argentina-Egypt is a bit over dramatisized.

Egypt got the marginals against them, but really do not feel they were robbed. All the decisions makes perfect sense. 

 

 

I mean there's no debate! Every decision was fine, there is zero corruption and I fully cringe at the "afters" from Egypt who totally shat the bed. There wasn't a single decision that match that should be raising eyebrows to the tune of "corruption" and the narrative I'm seeing peddled on here/socials is embarrassing.

Edited Wednesday at 11:54 by TheGoldenGod

[shen]

13 hours ago, Kitchandro said:

I’m disappointed in Colombia tonight, looked leggy.

 

Still, it’s a shame to see them go out because usually they’re a likeable side. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a good match involving Switzerland.

You missed their match against France at Euro 2020? That was a cracker! Seemed they had a fun friendly with Germany at the end of March this year too. 

Incidentally, I can forgive Switzerland for being a solid and efficient team whereas the stuff England has served up for almost two decades is bordering on criminal. 

They've been a better watch in the last couple of tournaments, but still...

 

13 hours ago, H.a.r.r.y said:

really thought Colombia would go far, definitely would've had a better chance at beating Argentina than Switzerland do in my opinion

I fancy Switzerland to push them all the way. If Argentina can struggle so much against Cape Verde and Egypt, they will find Switzerland an even tougher nut to crack.

[JonnyZeroFox]

1 hour ago, TheGoldenGod said:

I mean there's no debate! Every decision was fine, there is zero corruption and I fully cringe at the "afters" from Egypt who totally shat the bed. There wasn't a single decision that match that should be raising eyebrows to the tune of "corruption" and the narrative I'm seeing peddled on here/socials is embarrassing.

I don’t agree with the corruption angle, but I also don’t agree that there’s no debate. Egypt absolutely lost their heads late on, but the disallowed goal and the Salah shout before the winner were both debatable. The issue isn’t corruption for me, it’s consistency. If VAR is using a microscope to rule out Egypt’s goal, then people are obviously going to question why the Salah incident before Argentina’s winner didn’t get the same scrutiny.

Edited Wednesday at 13:29 by JonnyZeroFox

[TheGoldenGod]

1 minute ago, JonnyZeroFox said:

I don’t agree with the corruption angle, but I also don’t agree that there’s no debate. Egypt absolutely lost their heads late on, but the disallowed goal and the Salah shout before the winner were both debatable. The issue isn’t corruption for me, it’s consistency. If VAR is using a microscope to rule out Egypt’s goal, then people are obviously going to question why the Salah incident before Argentina’s winner didn’t get the same scrutiny.

But the Egyptian stood on the foot of Martinez or whoever it was so it was a foul? And if you're referring to "Salah shout" as that penalty claim then it would have been the softest penalty ever awarded, he got his legs tangled up and fell over. They'd award 10 penalties a game for that sort of stuff, not for me Clive!

[JonnyZeroFox]

15 minutes ago, TheGoldenGod said:

But the Egyptian stood on the foot of Martinez or whoever it was so it was a foul? And if you're referring to "Salah shout" as that penalty claim then it would have been the softest penalty ever awarded, he got his legs tangled up and fell over. They'd award 10 penalties a game for that sort of stuff, not for me Clive!

Yeah I get that, and I’m not saying the Salah one was a stonewall penalty. It would have been soft. My point is more about consistency. If the Egypt goal is being ruled out because of a slight step/contact earlier in the move, then people are naturally going to question why the Salah incident doesn’t at least get the same level of scrutiny, especially when Argentina score straight after. I’m not saying corruption, and Egypt definitely collapsed late on, but I don’t think it’s embarrassing to say they had a right to feel hard done by.

 

My issue as well is VAR going back for soft contact on the other side of the pitch after a couple of passes. That feels harsh. Not corruption, but definitely debatable.

Edited Wednesday at 13:47 by JonnyZeroFox

[TheGoldenGod]

19 minutes ago, JonnyZeroFox said:

Yeah I get that, and I’m not saying the Salah one was a stonewall penalty. It would have been soft. My point is more about consistency. If the Egypt goal is being ruled out because of a slight step/contact earlier in the move, then people are naturally going to question why the Salah incident doesn’t at least get the same level of scrutiny, especially when Argentina score straight after. I’m not saying corruption, and Egypt definitely collapsed late on, but I don’t think it’s embarrassing to say they had a right to feel hard done by.

 

My issue as well is VAR going back for soft contact on the other side of the pitch after a couple of passes. That feels harsh. Not corruption, but definitely debatable.

We're sort of agreeing on the same thing I feel. I'm saying the aftermath has been ridiculous to listen to, Egyptian staff using words like "corruption" outright is a towing a line I'm uncomfortable with, and those on here saying "Fifa want Argentina to win" aren't all there!

[Parafox]

12 hours ago, shen said:

I found the game between Spain and Portugal to be more dull, but maybe that's just me.

The expectations weren't met. That's why.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Is that video of the Mexico coach with Bellingham and Gordon real? Class if it is

[Fox92]

On 08/07/2026 at 08:33, Jonezy said:

Think the VAR/non-VAR decisions in the Argentina-Egypt is a bit over dramatisized.

Egypt got the marginals against them, but really do not feel they were robbed. All the decisions makes perfect sense. 

 

 

Yeah but it's Argies so we're all supporting Egypt. 

[Nalis]

On 08/07/2026 at 07:27, OntarioFox said:

Spare a thought for the guy who sold me a Shawarma last night. He was from Egypt and had bet £2k on them to win. 

 

He was £8k richer when I left. By the time I'd finished my food and checked my phone he was down a month's pay. 😬

Classic example of why people should only bet what they can afford to lose

[OntarioFox]

1 hour ago, Nalis said:

Classic example of why people should only bet what they can afford to lose

Don't worry, the shawarma was a fiver so he's 1/400 of the way to getting his money back in time for the next world cup

 

 

[CrispinLA in Texas]

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Edited Friday at 19:31 by CrispinLA in Texas