Match 11: NED : JPN - ELFATH (USA)

Home game for our Texas boys!

 

So the game starts exactly at top of the hour instead of a minute or two after?

Either FIFA pivoted or some stadiums have been sloppy following protocol?

Wonder with all the added time that broadcasters were complaining that games couldn't fit in the two hour window if you don't start exactly at the top of the hour.

 

I tried being open minded about the referee shorts and not being an old man about everything, but they look awful. Which is a shame because I like the shirts. They are much better than what was in 2018 and 2022.

It looks like a brand new grassroots referee who doesn't have money to get the full kit so he is just wearing the only black shorts he's got before he makes enough money to buy the whole kit.

 

Continuing the tradition of top FIFA referees from Texas, started by Dr. Bob Evans in 1979!

PH

 

The black shirt and back shorts combo looks to me like the many youth clubs in the area that took advantage of a special offer on soccer dot com.

 

It went out back off the Japanese attacker.

 

Missed that throw in call

 

Is it just me or is his positioning notably central through the middle 2/3 of the field? It's almost like he's just coasting around until the ball enters the final third and then he comes alive.

 

31' - The nittiest of nitpicks, but he doesn't have to stop play there.

 

Ball went orange - ref - orange and he stopped it for a drop??

And no, it didn't start an attack.

 

Darn it. I hadn’t noticed and now I can’t unsee it. They are awful with the yellow shirt. I guess adidas really wanted to highlight their three stripes.

 

13 on Japan didn’t look like he had shin guards. If he does, they are tinier than I’ve seen.

 

Seems like that requirement went out of the same window as the keeper shirts colors.

PH

 

Exactly the type of half you want there.