I dunno.. It kind defies physics.. The ball is moving forward, as is the France player's foot, but the ball ends up going behind her.
She's supposed to make a better, not-reckless attempt at the ball. She didn't have to make a challenge on it then and leave a leg in. The French player is jumping in with two feet - pull out of the challenge because your opponent is about to turn the ball over, or lean into it and draw a foul. She did make the challenge though, it was clumsy, she barely made contact with the ball, and committed a foul on the follow-through. She's a professional; she should have been cleaner with her decision-making and her tackle.
And if the referee on the field in real time had called it that way, I wouldn’t be anywhere near as upset about this. But for the VAR to get involved and reverse this when the play appears to be accidental at worst, and no one on the field seemed interested — I’m sorry. This doesn’t seem to be what replay should be used for. Not to me.
It's used for "clear and obvious errors." This was one. It's the same foul, in theory, as someone going in for a slide tackle, grazing the top of the ball, and going studs up into someone's leg. The force here wasn't as strong, so it's just a yellow, not a red, but it's still a foul. Encouraging players to protest in order to go to VAR seems like a bad path forward though.
That shocked me. She strikes me as such a quality player, and I can’t figure out what she was even trying to do with that touch in the first place.
The color commentator throwing in a '99 reference during the VAR pk review made me mute the rest of the game. That was 20 years ago.
I'm not sure she would know if you asked her either. Looked like the perfect example of "caught in two minds."
Yeah. Of the the three own goals, it's easily the most egregious error. Both the Nigerian own goal (for Norway) and the South Korean own goal (for Nigeria) were defenders making desperate stabs at balls because they weren't sure who was guarding their backside and they were trying to keep the ball from being free in the six. This was just a player who seemed to have their brain lock up at the wrong moment.
It's disgraceful how the @StLouisBlues keep celebrating these goals with the game out of reach. They're embarrassing themselves and being disrespectful to their opponents. #StanleyCup @USWNT #FIFAWWC— Andy Mead (@theAndyMead) June 13, 2019
After 51 years of trying, the Blues will finally get to hoist the Stanley Cup! With that in mind, I'm willing to give up my joke about their lack of success in the post season. I will offer it to fans of the Cleveland Indians, Toronto Maple Leafs, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, or anyone else whose team is victory-starved.
OK Sounders78, I'll use your team as an example. "When it comes to the playoffs, the Mariners choke more than a co-star in a Ron Jeremy movie!". (rimshot optional).
Congrats. How long have you been a fan? (I know you must have been to the Checkerdome because of your avatar.)
I don't think not being "accidental" is a requirement for being a foul or not. This wasn't a hand ball situation.
Well don gagliardi, I chose the avatar because it's soccer specific, and I always thought it looked pretty cool. I've been following the Blues since they first formed in the 1967-68 season (yes, I'm ancient!). Oddly enough, I've only been to one NHL game in my life, and that was a 1991 playoff game between Boston and the Hartford Whalers (Bruins won that day) at the Hartford Civic Center. My dad was a baseball fan first, and I saw many games as a kid in the old Busch Stadium, but I never saw a hockey or basketball game at the St. Louis Arena, AKA Checkerdome, let alone an MISL contest. Since every game is televised nowadays and not just the road contests, I find it best to save my money and watch from the comforts of home. I like most sports, and while my primary interest is St. Louis-centric (I live about 65 miles from the city), I've followed MLS from its inception, even though St. Louis doesn't have a team and has flirted with obtaining a franchise lo these many years! I used to work in radio as a news and sportscaster (small stations), and I've only done 3 high school soccer games and one on the collegiate level (Dartmouth beat Columbia to win the Ivy League in 1990 and gain an NCAA Tournament berth).
I used to walk to the Checkerdome to see Blues games while in college in the early 80s. Too many to count. Saw Gretzky in his prime and Mario Lemieux as a rookie. Met Scotty Bowman (then the Sabres coach). A great, decrepit old barn. Hockey was alien to St. Louis but the Blues still had a small, hardcore fan base. Happy for those still around after all these years.
When the NHL expanded in 1967 and doubled in size from 6 to 12 teams, the league did it in a smart way. All the new teams had a rival team come in with them (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Minnesota, Los Angeles and California). Of the 6 newbies, St. Louis was the last franchise to win the Stanley Cup. The North Stars never won one in Minnesota, but they did after the team re-located to Dallas. California re-located to Cleveland after the 1974-75 season(?), then folded after a couple of seasons there. The knock against St. Louis fans is that they care only about the Cardinals. To a certain extent, that's true, but the fans supported the football Cardinals very well until the Bidwill family insisted the city kick in large sums of money for a new stadium in order to keep the team there. When the Rams moved to town from LA, they too were very well supported, and it crushed a lot of fans who had to re-live the loss of a beloved team due to owner demands and avarice. Even in the early days of the MISL, St. Louis led the league in attendance. St. Louis was a charter member of the NASL, and prior to the league's campaign to attract well-known stars from Europe and South America, St. Louis led the league in attendance despite playing at Francis Field (capacity 8000), home of Washington University's football team. The Enterprise Center was sold out (18,000+) for a watch party for last night's Stanley Cup decider, and 25,000 fans attended a similar event at Busch Stadium for a watch party (in the rain, no less). So yes, St. Louis not only loves the Blues, but they love all their pro sports teams, especially if they're doing well and creating some positive buzz. If MLS does come to St. Louis, I have no doubt the team will be well supported, even if they don't do very well at the outset (like Minnesota and Cincinnati). About a hundred or so fans met the Blues at the airport when they arrived home at 4 a.m. The players took the Stanley Cup to the diehards to let them touch the trophy. A caravan followed the team back to Enterprise Center, and they stuck around after the players came out of the arena after putting away their gear to congratulate them all over again. The players were really touched by it.