Lautaro looked slow as hell but huge balls to nail that penalty after his recent messes. He did have 2 nice shots in extra time though. One was going in and blocked and the other was the unexpected turn and shot at the top of the left side box.
Just four red cards this World Cup: One was the spectacular Aboubakar goal/red, one Dumfries today, one the red card for coach Bento in the Korea match. The only onfield red card that mattered was the Hennessey foul vs Iran...
Silly things like kicking the ball at the opposition bench with excessive force after having committed a reckless tackle.......
Fire Collina, Busacca, and anyone else involved with refereeing at FIFA into the sun. To create a refereeing culture that spawned a farcical performance like this is beyond belief. I give up. I'm at a lost for words for what I saw.
I'm sure it's not how Mateu would have wanted to close out his international refereeing career, but he'll be fine.
What do we think about the management of KFTM? How do we have keepers holding onto the ball and the odd confrontation near midfield? How does that happen?
For all the antics that occurred, the one I would like to see stopped is the ‘keeper approaching the kicker in any penalty situation. That one is most definitely copied and it led to a post game fight and red card in a playoff game I did a month ago.
I think Lahoz actually did a great job of overall game management. No actual fights happened, no injuries. Bunch of fake pushing and posturing, but that was an amazing game to watch.
Of course. You won't find me disagreeing with that!!! But is too cheap just to talk about that tonight. On the highest, highest, highest level - in a beyond very challenging game, Mateu's game plan didn't work tonight. Much talk about whether the Messi handball should be YC or not - when players committ f**k the game fouls like that, you know sth went wrong. Paredes's absolutely ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous (emphasis needed) VC was a natural consequence. I need to go through the game again but the non-caution to Alvárez then booking Weghorst was quite a key moment I think. EVEN BESIDES the 'managing the event' non-RCs, Mateu's performance was terribly bad by the end. I'd be furious assessing an ultra-grassroots referee with the body language / lack of 'motivation' or focus he showed during ET. Together with Escobar the worst in this WC... (and ofc I know the level of difficulty, but one still has to say that). The non-RC to Paredes' VC is a deeply, deeply shameful moment for (FIFA) REFEREEING which (I am totally with AremRed) will cost many, many, grassroots referees dear in years to come.
Mike I can’t wait for you to hopefully do a breakdown with all the clips and everything. If any game deserves it it’s this one
I'm not defending the performance, but what gets lost--particularly by those in the media who criticize--is that the players bear responsibility for their actions. Yes, a different approach could have produced different results. But it drives me nuts when people say things like, "what did you expect the player to do?" I, for one, expected him not to do blast the ball at the bench, irrespective of what the referee did before that point. Players (and the media shilling for them) rarely if ever take responsibility for what goes on in games like this. It reminds me of an image I seem to remember from the 2006 Netherland/Portugal match. In my mind at least, I see a Dutch player and a Portuguese player, both sent off, sitting together in the tunnel chatting and watching the game, looking like they are commiserating about the predicament they find themselves in without any self-awareness of the role they played in getting themselves there. I guess what I'm saying is Messi should shut up.
The temerity. After he scored a penalty when he should not have been on the pitch. Regalos, always the regalos
Whenever his caution was. 88’? He continues to dissent publicly and, it would seem, pretty personally, after being booked. You could see Mateu fighting his inner instincts/demons and resisting the urge to toss him. We know he would have done it in Spain.