🎙| Ivan Rakitic: If we win the World Cup this Sunday, I'll get a tattoo on my forehead. There's a lot of space there. But I'll have to ask my wife [Laughs]. pic.twitter.com/ZpGfZtam5m— BarçaTimes (@BarcaTimes) July 14, 2018
They are all French. It only serves the interests of far-right xenophobes to not say all those players are French. However, it's no coincidence about these men's backgrounds. In a word: colonialism. https://bleacherreport.com/articles...carrying-africas-hopes-in-the-world-cup-final
Count 'em up! FINAL RESULTS: 1. Name the player who will score the first goal of World Cup 2018. (48 points) GAZINSKY (RUS) 2. Name the first player who will be shown a yellow or red card. (50 points) GOLOVIN (RUS) 3. Predict the results/scores for these eight opening round matches: A) Egypt - Uruguay 0-1 B) Morocco - Iran 0-1 C) Peru - Denmark 0-1 D) Argentina - Iceland 1-1 E) Costa Rica - Serbia 0-1 F) Sweden - Korea Republic 1-0 G) Tunisia - England 1-2 H) Poland - Senegal 1-2 15 points each correct result (win/draw) 10 additional points for exact scoreline 25 total points possible for each match (200 total points available) * Helpful link for the next few predictions: * https://bracketchallenge.fifa.com/bracket/prediction 4. List in order the two teams that will finish first and second from each first round group: Group A URU RUS Group B ESP POR Group C FRA DEN Group D CRO ARG Group E BRA SWI Group F SWE MEX Group G BEL ENG Group H COL JAP 10 points for each team selected that advances. 10 additional points for each correct group winner 10 additional points each correct runner-up (320 total points possible) 5. Name the eight teams that will reach the Quarterfinals. (25 points each / 200 total points possible) URU FRA BRA BEL RUS CRO SWE ENG 6. Name the four teams that will reach the Semi-finals. (75 points each / 300 total points possible) FRA BEL CRO ENG 7. Name the two countries that will contest the 2018 World Cup Final. (200 points each) FRA CRO 8. What will be the score in the Final after 90 minutes? (Just post a score without listing any teams) (200 points) 4-2 9. Which player will end up as the tournament's leading goal scorer? (200 points) Kane (ENG) 10. What will be the goal tally of the tournament's leading scorer? (100 points) 6 goals (2 vs. Tunisia + 3 vs. Panama + 1 PK vs. Colombia; none in last 3 WC matches) TOTAL POINTS POSSIBLE: 2018
770 points (joining late did me no favors, but I did pretty OK guessing the group winners/runners-up.)
not a good WC for Umtiti IMO. Looked like a donkey next to Varane. Weakest among France' back 4 for sure. This feels a lot like a Madrid run in the CL. I mean, they were pretty good, possibly the best team, but also super lucky. Those first 2 goals tonight were BS!
Sinceramente, no entiendo muy bien el uso del VAR. El árbitro señala una falta que no es a Griezman. Gol de Francia en esa acción. No pasa nada.— Iker Casillas (@IkerCasillas) July 15, 2018
Don’t understand because you dont read the rules. Fouls outside the box are not VAR reviewed unless it’s a red card type of offense the ref might have missed .
I think in general he's being critical to the referee. Putana was great entire WC except this one, his dubious calls for free kick and soft penalty gave France a favourable edge in the game. Not saying France wouldn't have won it anyway but I wish it didn't have to be like that. In a final it has to be 100%!! I'm disappointed and feel sorry for Croatia they deserved more than a 4-2 loss.
Wrong foul calls happen all the time. For me the PK call was the correct one. Can't say it was bad luck for Croatia, they rode their luck throughout the whole KO round.
are you serious ?!?!? have you forgotten the most obvious handball from chicharito which lead to that blind ref reviewing it then deciding it's not a penalty http://www.espn.co.uk/video/latest-videos/600/video/3547177 seriously if you see the super slow motion replay on an ultra HD Monitor AND STILL GET IT WRONG then i can assure you that there is something fishy going on ...
They didn't ride on any luck they fought hard, very hard. Harder than France and that was not a penalty. His hand was not in a unnatural position. It was a shit decision of a ref in the FINAL. No understanding, just like that moron ref in CL for LPB against Juve. They need to change the handball rules. The interpretation part will cause chaos and controversy. A while back in Spain every handball was penalty no matter what, that or give refs more training.
I agree. Not only do you have to be 100% in the final, you have to be 100% to overturn the initial call on the field. I don't think he was because he stepped away from the monitor and then went back to it a second time to have another look. I think VAR is great for objective calls like offside but I'm not sold on its usefulness with subjective PK decisions. Especially ones like this that could go either way. Prefer if they just keep the call on the field.
I don't see how falling behind and coming back to level the score can be classified as luck, especially since none of their goals were controversial. Advancing via penalties, I'll give you. But coming back to score is something they should be credited for, not put down for as luck. They demonstrated this very well in the final: They came in having played 360 minutes of football over their last three games, had 24 hours less rest than France and were down by three goals in the second half. At that point I honestly expected their legs to get heavy yet they never gave up and continuously pushed forward hoping to get back into the game. Their second goal was a reward for that persistence which never wavered in the renaming 20+ minutes of the tournament. As fans watching the game, we were the lucky ones. But the shootouts, yes. Penalties are very much based on luck (imo). Especially when Schmeichel had stopped three total in those dying moments (one near the end of extra-time, two more during the shootout). Btw, speaking of those shootouts I was surprised FIFA didn't use the ABBA format instead of the (imo) traditionally unfair ABAB method.