This. I agree with the ref going over to check when it's something she couldn't see clearly -- which is going to happen when you have 22 players and three officials -- and needs to make a *judgment* on something that happened. For calls like this, it's like the replays we see in cricket where the "third umpire" gets a closeup of the bat, gets *audio* demonstrating whether the ball hit the bat, gets a Hawkeye depiction of the ball's path, and THEN makes the call, conversing with the on-field umpire the whole way.
You and I have very different impressions of FIFA then. Put it this way; I have more faith in MLS or individual leagues refining it than I do a thoroughly bent organization. FWIW I agree with you on how the offside law is written needing to change.
Fair point. My impression is that long term FIFA views VAR as as much of a revenue opportunity for sponsors as a means to correct errors.
I didn’t see it, but it’s supposed to be a dropped ball if the ball striking the referee causes a turnover or if it starts a promising attack.
All in all, a deserved victory for England. The drama from all the controversy is what’s going to dominate the conversation, but let’s also not forget that Cameroon could’ve seen a red card in the fourth minute. Let’s also not forget that there was a spitting incident late in the first half that, while maybe would have been overly technical, could have also seen a Cameroon player get sent off. And let’s further remember that Cameroon still had a chance on a breakaway after the offside goal that could have made it 2-1, and they shot it right at the keeper.
...and here comes VAR for the step on the ankle. OFR goes yellow. I don't know why it wasn't a card on field. I was also waiting on VAR or at least better replays of what happened to the Cameroonian in the box earlier. No comb. Disappointing.
I'm sure somewhere in Portland we have a group of hipsters claiming that the CONIFA World Cup is the only "Authentic" world cup.
The funniest part of the WWC have been the reports by American journalists about Sweden and Spain trash talking the US. The quotes used are responses to stuff the WNT players said. We might be a few matches away from having the papers act like Floyd Mayweather talking about beating Mexican boxers on cinco de mayo when fighting an Argentinian and Puerto Rican. Yes, it happened more than once.
You kind of think fox would be a little more tempered after the stuff from yesterday with the other african nation.
I was initially going to say Phil Neville can ******** off with his faux moral outrage. He could have stuck with saying how his team performed and said that everything was disrupted by uncertainty and emotions, but he decided to go on about behavior and how this is going out to the world and it's not football.
I don’t know. My opinion is kind of mixed on this. I thought Cameroon were acting like a bunch of spoiled snots over not getting the calls, but I’ve seen a lot worse. But right at the end, Phil Neville just saw one of his players get intentionally stomped on, and then saw the other teams captain scream her down while she was lying on the ground injured. And then she subsequently was screaming at the referee. Those images were probably fresh in his mind. I think he overshot, but I don’t think it’s completely wrong.