World Cup latest

[oldcolner]

France manage a 1-0 win over Peru to qualify
Australia take 2 points of Denmark courtesy of a VAR dodgy penalty.
Argentina lose all hope as Croatia get 3 (well the keeper donated 1)
Messi still firing blanks.

[Supersub6]

I do enjoy watching the Croatians play because they are a difficult team to beat and play how England should play.

[sinkov]

VAR has just awarded a penalty to Australia as I type and what a ludicrous decision that was.
FIFA need to re-write The Laws of The Game and state that if a ball hits the hand it is handball whether intentional or not,

No, no, no, supersub, that would be insanity even by football standards, why would any team work on ways to break down a defence and create goal scoring opportunities, just get the ball in the box and aim for a defender's arm or hand, and there are plenty of them, penalty, job done.
What they need to do is go back to the original law and leave it to the referee, no directives, no nonsense about un-natural arm positions, if there is contact between ball and hand and the referee thinks it was intentional, free- kick or penalty, if he considers there was no intent, then play on. There will be the odd controversial decision but it will be a vast improvement on the current shambles.

It's such a simple solution though, the cretins running football will never even consider it.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

No, no, no, supersub, that would be insanity even by football standards, why would any team work on ways to break down a defence and create goal scoring opportunities, just get the ball in the box and aim for a defender's arm or hand, and there are plenty of them, penalty, job done.
What they need to do is go back to the original law and leave it to the referee, no directives, no nonsense about un-natural arm positions, if there is contact between ball and hand and the referee thinks it was intentional, free- kick or penalty, if he considers there was no intent, then play on. There will be the odd controversial decision but it will be a vast improvement on the current shambles.

It's such a simple solution though, the cretins running football will never even consider it.

The Men from Vars and the match referee also missed a clear and obvious shove in the back of the Danish centre half by a rampant Aussie, moments before the ball hit the defender's hand.

The goal should not have stood. VARS is bobbins.

[oldcolner]

The Men from Vars and the match referee also missed a clear and obvious shove in the back of the Danish centre half by a rampant Aussie, moments before the ball hit the defender's hand.

The goal should not have stood. VARS is bobbins.

There is a VARS black hole where the ref thinks I’m not sure so I’ll let the man from VARS check it, and the man from VARs who thinks well the ref and assistants let that go so it must be ok, or I haven’t time as the balls out of play and will restart quickly. There were a number of red card fouls in the Argie game that weren’t checked too. Refs need to take control rather better.

[oldcolner]

Today’s games with Joberg in doubt.

GROUP D where an Iceland win could put the Argies out.
Nigeria. 16:00. Iceland

GROUP E where Serbia lead by 2 points from Brazil and Switzerland.
Brazil. 13:00. Costa Rica
Serbia. 19:00. Switzerland

[Supersub6]

There is a VARS black hole where the ref thinks I’m not sure so I’ll let the man from VARS check it, and the man from VARs who thinks well the ref and assistants let that go so it must be ok, or I haven’t time as the balls out of play and will restart quickly. There were a number of red card fouls in the Argie game that weren’t checked too. Refs need to take control rather better.

The problem is that VAR is taking control away from the onfield officials. The Australian penalty was the prime example, the referee saw nothing untoward as far as he was concerned, in fact, he may even have seen the shove in the back, however, the ball was saved by the keeper so he allowed play to go on ---correct decision and no unnecessary stoppage.
However, because the VAR operator expresses his opinion and tells the ref he MUST have another look, thus immediately putting the ref under pressure because, as I explained previously, VAR is now the BIG thing as far as FIFA is concerned. He is then faced with the dilemma that, should he go against VAR which showed that the ball did indeed hit the hand, he is going against the wishes of his bosses who swear by VAR, therefore, he could be ditched so he does what he thinks FIFA want him to do and goes against his correct decision which he mad in real time.
All we hear on commentary now is VAR this and VAR that, players drawing the shape of screens to the officials, even the goalkeeper the other day, when goal line technology deemed that a goal was scored, wanted a review by VAR!! It is taking over the game.

sinkov--- I was joking about FIFA changing the laws of a game which has flourished for over 130 years, I just wish that we could get back to letting the officials do their job without interference.

I wonder what today's games will hold. Come on Iceland!!

[Balanbam00]

I wonder what today's games will hold. Come on Iceland!!


As yet it's following the laws of Karma !

The Argie team refused to play in Israel,a match leading to the world cup. They perhaps listened to the arab boycott ,the game was to be played in that holy city Jerusalem. Its not just the game ,its to go and see the sights ,the holy sites ,the Wailing wall,The sages have said the ''divine presence '' never leaves the wall. In between the stones people stick messages ,and we know were they are aimed!!For example a request to that 'Divinity',and a note requesting to win against Croatia!!!! Been here ,done that ......but they didn't !!!!Oh dear you all know the rest of the story. (3-0) The last killing point could be today as they face Iceland ! ''To be or not to be that is the question?'' Conclusion: Don't mess with that upstairs department!!!!!

[Balanbam00]

Just for our Hi-tech guys and intellectuals : A did you know thing !

The tradition has been adopted by members of many faiths around the world. It is very common for Christian pilgrims traveling through the Old City of Jerusalem to stop by the Western Wall and leave a note, the rabbi says.“The notes are a way to pray if you don’t know how. After all, if you want to receive, you have to ask.” A dozen workers sweep the wall with wooden sticks in order to reach up high to snare the notes closest to the heavens.

They never read them and have never counted the number of scripted prayers, but in each collection there are enough to fill about 100 shopping bags, each with thousands of notes. The rabbi’s office, which manages the site, estimates that more than 5 million people visited the Western Wall in 2006. Israel’s Tourism Ministry said that about 1.5 million of them were foreign tourists.

“There is an old argument about whether to burn the notes or bury them,” Rabinowitz said.

According to Jewish law, it is forbidden to destroy holy texts. Instead, prayer books and scriptures are “reposited” in containers and often buried in Jewish cemeteries. If you were to stand at the base of those ancient stones in Jerusalem, what prayer would you leave?

Ex : Burnley 3 Tottenham 1 , Man U 1 Burnley 4, Man city 2 Burnley 3 , etc etc :-) :-)

[outwoodclaret]

Perhaps with World Cup highlights we can now have a new sub species of All-in-Wrestling as shown on VAR.