FIFA World Cup 2014 - GROUP A [Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon - 12/13/17/18/23 June] **spoilers**
- Thread starter Cosimo
- Start date
Saying they've 'killed' the World Cup with 'obvious corruption' is a bit of an over-reaction after one game with one obviously poor decision (the penalty), a couple of contentious ones (the red card and disallowed goal - both of which the ref got right IMO), and a poor goalkeeper.
Caporegime
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The major decisions weren't nearly as bad as people were making out and... corrupt... lol.
99% of refs 99% of the time will not send off a huge name in front of home fans for the first foul, that is fact. There is a reason being at home is an advantage, in the league, in the champs league, in the euro's, in the world cup. the home team in any cup almost always does significantly better than they do when it's played anywhere else, with the home team winning the tournament pretty often.
Anyone who thinks most refs would have sent off Neymar is daft frankly. If he'd been on a yellow or done other challenges, if that was in the 80th minute, maybe. That would almost never be a red card in the prem league and everyone here who can be honest knows it. How many times has Fellaini done that in the past 3 years and not been red carded for instance, 5-10, 20 over 3-4 years.
On the penalty, showing one picture and claiming something is daft. It WASN'T a penalty, but those are given on a weekly basis in the premier league also. THe gif from one angle doesn't show that he also had his right arm was relatively speaking infront of Fred's arm. He puts one hand on one shoulder, and his right arm slightly hooks around Fred's other arm, from the ref's angle that looks like he's holding him back. He isn't standing side on and can't tell how much force is being applied by the Croatian player.
Every single week on this forum in the league we talk about "it wasn't a penalty but by putting his hands on him he gave the ref a decision to make", and most of the time we say that because the ref has given the decision.
Brazil, cheaters, sure, undeserved win in general, yes, Neymar is a little runt, yup. The only thing I'm surprised by is a lack of Alves dives but no one really got close to him from what I can remember.
Croatia were the better team in the first 15 mins, defended well and broke forward well. But after getting the goal they sat back, they barely committed forward, it was your classic bottom 8 team vs Utd performance in the past 20 years. Team gets advantage and sits back deep inviting pressure. When they went behind they flooded forward and looked BY FAR the better team, but it was too late. They conceded another goal, but had they done that from the start they would have almost certainly won.
Croatia need a new goalkeeper though from somewhere, all three goals should have been saved, particularly the penalty, 20 hands on it, both weak. 1st/3rd goals, one of the slowest reacting keepers around with poor starting position.
Overall, Croatia, when they played, looked stronger and better than I thought they would, Brazil started off looking crap. Croatia could go further than I thought, Brazil will likely improve. Being nervous and a bit rubbish in the first game isn't unheard of for big teams at home, I wouldn't presume they'll play to that level throughout.
Not sure why people were saying Rakitic and Modric were good, Rakitic's main forward driving was when he was in loads of space, and before being close to pressure he passed down the wing and did very little himself. Modric was poor going forward and defensively fluffed a lot of tackles and, well the ball was passed to him in the build up to the first and a very very poor touch gave it right back to Brazil who went on to score. Rakitic ran out of the way during the build up to that goal as well. Neither were good defensively or offensively. Some of the other Croatian players were excellent though, the right sided guy, Ollic played well.
99% of refs 99% of the time will not send off a huge name in front of home fans for the first foul, that is fact. There is a reason being at home is an advantage, in the league, in the champs league, in the euro's, in the world cup. the home team in any cup almost always does significantly better than they do when it's played anywhere else, with the home team winning the tournament pretty often.
Anyone who thinks most refs would have sent off Neymar is daft frankly. If he'd been on a yellow or done other challenges, if that was in the 80th minute, maybe. That would almost never be a red card in the prem league and everyone here who can be honest knows it. How many times has Fellaini done that in the past 3 years and not been red carded for instance, 5-10, 20 over 3-4 years.
On the penalty, showing one picture and claiming something is daft. It WASN'T a penalty, but those are given on a weekly basis in the premier league also. THe gif from one angle doesn't show that he also had his right arm was relatively speaking infront of Fred's arm. He puts one hand on one shoulder, and his right arm slightly hooks around Fred's other arm, from the ref's angle that looks like he's holding him back. He isn't standing side on and can't tell how much force is being applied by the Croatian player.
Every single week on this forum in the league we talk about "it wasn't a penalty but by putting his hands on him he gave the ref a decision to make", and most of the time we say that because the ref has given the decision.
Brazil, cheaters, sure, undeserved win in general, yes, Neymar is a little runt, yup. The only thing I'm surprised by is a lack of Alves dives but no one really got close to him from what I can remember.
Croatia were the better team in the first 15 mins, defended well and broke forward well. But after getting the goal they sat back, they barely committed forward, it was your classic bottom 8 team vs Utd performance in the past 20 years. Team gets advantage and sits back deep inviting pressure. When they went behind they flooded forward and looked BY FAR the better team, but it was too late. They conceded another goal, but had they done that from the start they would have almost certainly won.
Croatia need a new goalkeeper though from somewhere, all three goals should have been saved, particularly the penalty, 20 hands on it, both weak. 1st/3rd goals, one of the slowest reacting keepers around with poor starting position.
Overall, Croatia, when they played, looked stronger and better than I thought they would, Brazil started off looking crap. Croatia could go further than I thought, Brazil will likely improve. Being nervous and a bit rubbish in the first game isn't unheard of for big teams at home, I wouldn't presume they'll play to that level throughout.
Not sure why people were saying Rakitic and Modric were good, Rakitic's main forward driving was when he was in loads of space, and before being close to pressure he passed down the wing and did very little himself. Modric was poor going forward and defensively fluffed a lot of tackles and, well the ball was passed to him in the build up to the first and a very very poor touch gave it right back to Brazil who went on to score. Rakitic ran out of the way during the build up to that goal as well. Neither were good defensively or offensively. Some of the other Croatian players were excellent though, the right sided guy, Ollic played well.
I'd keep him if he had 20 hands. That's got to be an advantage.
Perisic played out of his skin, as did Olic. I'm surprised Dortmund let the former go.
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A thousand times this. It was so blatant as well. Neymar knew exactly what he was doing.
The penalty I can take either way. The Croatian player's hands were on Fred where they probably shouldn't have been, but Fred went down very easily. Seen them given, seem them not. More annoying was the keeper's wrists being made of crème brûlée
I'm getting really annoyed at people on my Facebook/Twitter feeds raving about Neymar. He's by no means poo, but he's far from world class.
Spot the Brazil fan.
Well i mustve watched a different match iguess because i thought Brazil deserved to win. Yes it was a soft penalty but Fred had his back to goal and was pulled off balance so he fell backwards so yeah penalty. Sure Fred went down easy but thats par for course. Secondly.. a yellow for Neymar elbow was correct..he wasnt looking he didnt throw it at the guys face..he just put his arm out. Third..yes croat goal was correctly ruled out because he jumped into Julio Cesar thats a foul on the gk...look at the replay he goes into Cesar first. Finally i am glad Brazil won because Croatian were fouling them all over the park..especially Marcelo and Neymar. I thought they only had a few real chances whereas Brazil had plenty. Brazil werent at their best but im sure they will improve.....also im happy as i correctly predicted 3 - 1 for our work sweepstake
Spot the Brazil fan.
Yeah, I was really impressed with Perisic. I still expect the Croatians to go through, and when they get Mandzukic back they'll be a very difficult knockout game for anyone.
Olic started well, and then let himself down after about 20 minutes with that ridiculous roulette in his own half. Seemed to lose his way a bit after that.
Croatia are not a bad team at all. I don;t know much about Mexico or Cameroon, but have heard they are not great, so they could definitely go through.
If the tournament was in Europe I would consider them Dark Horses for the semis or better.
If the tournament was in Europe I would consider them Dark Horses for the semis or better.
Brazil certainly didnt look world beaters to me. I was quite disappointed in their play. The penalty was very soft and for the Croatian goalie was slow getting down to both Neymar and Oscars shots. They weren't that well struck or travelling quickly. Croatia were pretty good.
Modric looked a really good player. He's the player Man Utd should have signed to replace Paul Scholes. Jelavic is short at that level but as others have said, they have Manzukic to come back. I expect them to challenge well for 2nd spot.
Overall it was quite an open game which augers well. I was predicting a 1-0 for Brazil before the kick off as the opening games are normally so cagey.
Modric looked a really good player. He's the player Man Utd should have signed to replace Paul Scholes. Jelavic is short at that level but as others have said, they have Manzukic to come back. I expect them to challenge well for 2nd spot.
Overall it was quite an open game which augers well. I was predicting a 1-0 for Brazil before the kick off as the opening games are normally so cagey.
Brazil simply will not win the WC or get to the semi finals if they play like last night. Any true world class level keeper would have stopped all of those shots, even the penalty.
Going the right way for the pen, getting both hands to the ball and then fluffing it so it goes in anyway was just embarassing.
Going the right way for the pen, getting both hands to the ball and then fluffing it so it goes in anyway was just embarassing.