There is no freaking way in the world a Matuidi challenge was a red card. We see moments like this at every WC game.
We see moments where a player's ankle is broken every game, with a studs-in challenge? Spoken like a true supporter of ......................................................................................kung fu football
Matuidi's challenge deserved a red. Two former french international referees (Derrien and Lannoy) voiced their opinion and said that it deserved a red. Secondly, Valencia was sent off against France for a much less dangerous and unintentional foul against Digne.He touched the ball first and his foot slipped on Digne's knee. Marchisio against Uruguay & Defour against Korea were red-carded for the same fouling. So, the zero intent to injure is a little bit lame as excuse. But what is done is done, and good luck to France for the next match.
Disciplinary actions on the pitch cannot be decided because of what happened in other games. This sport has never been truly consistent in disciplining players for dangerous fouls, but we cannot go around saying "Well so and so was disciplined so clearly he should have been." That goes both ways. As I said before, had he received a red card, I wouldn't have been crying foul of the ref. I just hate that people are using challenges like Matuidi's to cast Europe as some pampered child who gets all the calls.
As I have stated before I don't believe the calls were made because of bias, or even to get France as "the big team" or "the UEFA team" through. I believe they were made because the ref chose to be somewhat passive and let the game flow without incident. This works in most games, however for this match it was terrible and ended up changing the outcome of the match and influencing it more than it would have, had Geiger done his job properly. In the end France only won because the ref helped them out. They were slightly the inferior side, and under mounting pressure before that incident, and that's even if we ignore the fact that Giroud should also have been red carded, and Nigeria were denied a stone cold penalty before the Matuidi tackle. Worst reffed match of this worldcup so far, easily. Now where I do believe there is bias is in the commentary and football pundits and "experts". Also with FIFA itself. I have not heard much of a stink about this match. Not many people, if any have talked about what an injustice this was, or how poorly the match was handled by the ref. Of course I repeat again if it was Messi, Neymar, Valbuena, Robben, Muller, who had their foot broken without the opposing team (especially if it was a "smaller team") being rightly punished, it would be the talking point of the worldcup, and there would be a call to action for refs to "protect the players" and be harsher in issuing reds. Here there is absolute bias and discrimination and it stinks. This is part of the reason why the "big teams" always dominate the games. They usually get the calls, and nobody cares if Nigeria or whoever gets screwed.
Definitely don't agree with that bit, and while that could be attributed to bias, I am usually pretty quick to call the French team out for underachievement. Nigeria certainly had their chances, and at times they were dominating the match, but I would never go so far as to say they were the superior side, just like I would never say Algeria was the superior side against Germany.
I did say France was SLIGHTLY inferior, although you can call it an even game if you want, but IMO we were controlling the tempo of the match, had more possession etc. Though I will concede that France were defending pretty well against our attacks, but France wasn't really showing much to be honest. If you look at the final statistics of the match. Nigeria had 51% possession to France's 49%. But keep in mind that you guys totally dominated the last 20 minutes of the match after Onazi was injured. Had this not happened our possession would be much higher than 51%. So we were basically dominating possession BEFORE ANYBODY SCORED A GOAL. Dangerous attacks were 41 to 37 in France's favour. Again you must account for the fact that France completely dominated the last 20 minutes because of Onazi's injury. Even with that 20 minutes of complete domination, France barely edged Nigeria overall in dangerous attacks, and they were still behind in possession. We controlled the match. We were the better team. France won beause of the ref. Maybe you would have eventually won, maybe not, but up until that key moment Nigeria were slightly better. It looked like a match heading for ET tbh.
Did I call it or what? Today's France v Germany game was a bit of a snoozer for anyone who is not French or German. Anyway congrats to both teams for giving their all and special congrats to Germany and their fans for making the semis 4 times in a row.
Contrast with the Brazil v Colombia game going on now. Both teams have decided to play football and it shows
Another reason we don't need so many UEFA teams. They don't add to the overall quality of the tournament, and they definately do not make it more entertaining. If FIFA want to promote the sport as a more entertaining game, well we know what they should do.
If bad defending, allowing huge spaces, rushing over the field is called "playing football", sure Bra-Col is a great match compared to the Ger-Fra. It actually is very entertaining. But the quality remark, Serious? I am watching Bra-Col and you can call it all you want but a quality play it ain't. Entertaining, yeah.
Whatever it was that France presented was neither 'quality' nor 'entertaining'. I prefer at least 'entertaining'.
Sure, now I like you to get into the rest of my post. Is Bra-Col a game which satisfies your own criteria for a quality game?
No, the best game in terms of overall quality from both sides (tactically, individual skill, entertainment value) has been Ghana vs Germany. That said the intensity with which Brasil is playing against Colombia makes them nigh unplayable. Germany - Brasil could be a superb game.
Absolutely agree on that one. Chile v Brazil Brazil v Colombia Germany v Algeria Holland v Chile Colombia v CIV Argentina v Nigeria England v Italy Were also great matches.
Fair enough, thanks for the reply. I look forward to most matches and hasn't been disappointed much, Germany vs Brazil should be superb indeed.
I doubt Neymar plays any further part in this World Cup. Without him they are below mediocre in attack.
Brazil-Colombia was not a "Kung-fu" game? si James and Neymar agree with you Belgium 12th UEFA squad in 1/4 of world cup since 98 today
Yes, it was. Even worse than the Nigeria - France game, simply because both sides decided to participate in the kicking contest, whereas Nigeria decided to play 'nice' and lost out because of it. You mean the seeded UEFA team (one out of 4 seeded UEFA teams) is the 12th UEFA squad??? ROTFL. Logical fail.
About Nigeria i agree! but both Croatia and Bosnia have been robbed and i don't use it as an argument in their performances when i see UEFA results in this world cup, they're out and that's it! France in 82 lived one of the worst refereeing in the history of world cup but the stats show they were semi-finalist and not finalist whether they deserved it or not! France and Holland were not seeded, nor Greece you can look at it as you wish! Holland without be seeded is 10 classes above any CAF team in this world cup Fact is that Belgium is the 12th UEFA nation to reach 1/4 finals of a world cup since 98, seeded or not seeded whatever...
You ain't Dutch, French or Belgian, you are ....................................................................... Croatian . Stop trying to bask in glory,................................................................., that you did not ............................earn
I don't have any problem admiting that Croatia is top 16-24 range at the moment. So what? Unless people want a world cup with only 16 squads they proved they had the level of the competition : ) 19h in world cup 2014. does it mean we should let people talking non sense about UEFA compared to others confederations? Croatia in only 20 years of independance had a better performance than any CAF nation in the entire world cup history... 1 semi-final and 3rd place in only 20 years after war and restructuration > 1/4 final at best in 84 years... see you in 2018 i don't know where you're from, but you don't have any glory in world cup to bask for....
I couldn't give a furry rat's ass about entertaining. Give me quality. There was more quality in FRA-GER than in all BRA games this tournament.