One other annoying thing VAR is going to bring about is that refs are gonna err on the side of not calling offside, because VAR can easily reverse it later, whereas the opposite situation--calling offside when there isn't any--isn't fixable. This will lead to a lot overturned goals. You're never gonna be confident any time the ball hits the back of the net that it'll actually count. Takes some of the excitement away.
You're absolutely right. I brought something along these lines up conversation today; you can allow a play to continue and then review the resulting goal, but if you wrongly whistle a play dead for offside and kill off a 1v1, you can't redo the 1v1 that should have been allowed to play out. That's another issue I have with this: they will review every goal (even if it isn't officially reviewed) but an incorrect offside could just as easily take a goal away. Adding this version of VAR will obviously make an impact, but at this rate it will more often take away from the match. I'm not sure the current VAR + GL tech is ultimately better than just GL tech, and I say this as someone who wants referees to get things right and goals to be legitimate.
I can see some of the group matches being on there (notably the 3rd group game for certain teams, while the other matchup that's at the same time is on FS1)
Regarding FS2, if you don't have the channel as part of your TV package, you can use one of the streaming app alternatives to cable/satellite. I've been playing around with FuboTV (watched the Portugal-Mexico match that way while in an AirBNB without cable over the weekend) and it's pretty excellent. It'd likely be worth the money for a month during the World Cup at the very least. I highly recommend doing the free trial for a week to see for yourself.
That or sling which I have, it's like $5 less than fubotv I think and that's with DVR choice to record games.
Yeah, Sling and Fubo seem to be the two best options. Or there's borrowing a friend's cable/satellite login and using FoxSports2Go for free. I very briefly tried Sling while out of town recently and preferred Fubo because it's so sports-centric with a very mobile-friendly menu. When you login a calendar of all the live sporting events for the day shows up and it's heavenly. All Fubo is missing is ESPN. Otherwise it'd be perfect from a sports perspective. It even has local sports channels so you can watch your local MLB and NBA teams, which you can't do elsewhere with streaming-only cable/sat. alternatives.
For both groups, when the two games of the third matchday are at the same time, one game will be on Fox and one on FS1.
This might be the only time I will ever root for Portugal. I hope they score all the goals, I hope Ronaldo pulls a muscle from doing his stupid jump celebration too often and they win 13-0.
Oh I'm 100% certain we'll be in Russia's group if we qualify. As soon as there are odds on it I'm laying money down.
It won't be good news when Dempsey and Pulisic are sent off in the 1st half and we lose 2-1 on two PKs conceded.
Come on New Zealand! Game just kicked off. Mexico making 8 changes for this one. No Chicharito, no Rafa Marquez. Giovanni Dos Santos gets the start. New Zealand will most likely be overmatched here, but if they can be physical and turn this into a scrappy game, maybe they can sneak something here...
Still 0-0 in the 30th minute. Stoppage now as Salcedo may have dislocated or broken his arm. Juan Carlos Osorio lost his sh** at the New Zealand coach because he felt New Zealand should have kicked the ball out of play (New Zealand almost scored while Salcedo was on the ground in his own penalty box).
I was sure I'd dislike VAR but having watched it in the u20 wc and now this tournament, I'm on board. It's quicker then I feared it would be. That said, the refs don't seem to be adding much injury time for VAR delays and I think they should.