Italy puts a bow on it with their 4th goal. Ukraine is going to beat the tar out of them and I'm going to enjoy it.
Looking at the last replay (not sure why they didn't show it again), it sure as hell did not look like a penalty. Loathe Italy.
i am not sold goalie ever made contact let alone enough to cause that reaction. garbage. they should be able to cancel out a ticky tacky penalty for obvious embellishment
No doubt, the first replay it looked like a PK, but the last replay they showed, I didn't even see contact, just saw him pull up his calf's to his knees and feign agony. Scumbag. Shades of Italy V Australia 2006, not sure which is worse, deliberately slowly dribbling and tumbling over an idiot Australian CB who did a log roll in the box as defense, or an inept flailing goalie misses you, but you still feign being the agony of a soldier shot at Omaha Beach on D Day.. Hope Ukraine curb stomp them. Really don't understand why they confirmed the PK when it appears the most accurate and clear replay showed no contact, and sure as hell not enough for a penalty if there was any and my 44 year old eyes didn't catch it.
HOw did the Italy defender not get the card on the Mali penalty kick? It seemed pretty bad - he was late on the ball
Again, that’s the kind of call that would never get called against Italy but will be called against African and Asian teams every damn day. It’d be nice to see whether European teams are actually better without the help.
Told ya, Mali was going to get jobbed. Colombia was too, but they deserved it. We may get a bit of help against Senegal, who knows. The final vs. the Ukrainians will be a single goal affair. I can see us dominating and losing it due to a single mistake at the start. Ukraine is, by far, the most defensively sound team out there, in this U20.
Basically VAR is as corrupt as FIFA. The England call was basically unbelievable and no one says a thing. Ref in ear piece: We're taking a look. Ref: A look at what? RIEP: Your mother....hahah, no seriously. That last play. Ref: But nothing happened. RIEP: We disagree. Ref: You're an idiot. RIEP: Pretty sure your fly is open. Ref: Suck it. RIEP: Annnnnnyyyywwwwaaaayyyy, he was offsides by a cat's whisker and the tackle was basically a dryhumprape of his pinky toe. Ref: Idiots.
Italian players work the ref basically from the first whistle by being aggressive early to give the ref a taste of the sweets to come. Then they start in with the hand gestures and the 'mama says more sauce in the pasta' face and fingers and hunched shoulders. The refs buy it every time. From first hand experience there are no more bigger beatings you will take than playing against an Italian backline. Off the ball they are kicking your ass.
The thing is.. Italy wasn’t even that good. Spotted a man and still were even on run of play goals. Ukraine is a bunker team but they’re way better st it.
That's the Italy MO. They literally will not expend one more $hit to get the job than is needed. Every team that has ever played Italy says this: We looked great against them, we dominated the ball, we had the better chances. But did you win? No.
At the end of the day, there is a method in their effective gamesmanship. It's Old World/Old School cynical but you can't complain about something you know is coming. Heck, even normally mild-mannered Zidane got caught out by their antics. The Italians, beyond that, also happen to be very competent footballers. If they weren't being true to their footballing character, we'd miss it. It's still just a game and like all things Italian, "rules" only count insofar as they can be stretched.
Won't lie between Sk and Japan would have preferred to keep watching Japan play football. But SK are extremely efficient at times. Senegal might find themselves run ragged and torn apart in the box by some quick passes and finishing...meanwhile, SK needs to body up early on defense and not let Senegal anywhere near the penalty box.
Senegal is going to be a tough rival for the Koreans. Doubt they'll be able to nullify their speed on the flanks.
Wild one. SK with a tying goal in the 8th minute of stoppage. The. Another one 6 minutes later in ot. This team wins.
Senegal and South Korea go to penalties. Each team scored in extra time with Senegal scoring in injury time of the second half of ET.
This may have been the game of hte tournament so far. Holy cow, rewatching now. So much better than the US game, sad to say.