France to win... way to fast for Croatia
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World Cup Finals:
- Thread starter The Franchise
- Start date
So he’ll do no work and possibly get a World Cup winners medal. What’s the difference between him and the back up keepers?Hahaha
So he’ll do no work and possibly get a World Cup winners medal. What’s the difference between him and the back up keepers?
Backup keepers still get to be at the game, sit on the bench, and not be pansies?
Well, all except the last one.
France were probably the best team in the tournament, but I doubt anyone has ever had an easier trip through... Belgium probably gave them the most trouble and they were running on fumes from seeing off Brazil... frustrating...
cascadesoccer
Well-Known Member
Argentina, Uruguay, Belgium, Croatia. Not to easy of a run.
Canucks4Ever
Well-Known Member
IMO the best team over the course or the tournament won the trophy. That being said, hats off to the Croatians who knew that anything can happen in a one game final and boy did they play their hearts out. On another day this easily could have been their moment. Unfortunate on the first goal, coming off Manzukic's head, but, even more so because I don't believe it was a foul on Greitzman. The turf comes out from under his right foot and he goes down, but even though there is a player closing fast to make a challenge, there never appeared to be any contact. Next, the penalty. Not a penalty IMO. The argument, I suppose, would be that the defender took a risk by making himself big and putting his arm in a position to potentially play the ball. For me however, his hand is in a natural position for jumping and the distance the ball travels given the potential for deflection as it comes over Matuidi leaves no time to react. I find myself agreeing with Howard Webb's post game comments on TSN (not sure what he said at half time as I didn't have the sound on) in that this was not a "clear and obvious error" and, therefore, not what we want VAR intervening on. If it had been given in real time I would likely have still disagreed with the call, but could have lived with it given that handball is a matter of interpretation. In the end I would have really liked to see the referee take a look at the monitor and say, no, I agree with my original call.
Overall, I think Croatia's biggest downfall on the day was Subasic. He has clearly never been healthy since pulling a muscle against Russia and he just did not have any ability to explode in the Croatian goal. I said it on the free kick Trippier scored for England in the semi final when he basically stood rooted to the spot and just stretched for the ball. Fortunately for Croatia that was England's only shot on goal in that game and they might well, looking back on it, rue not testing Subasic more in that match. It was the same story on the opening goal today; he was only able to stand rooted to the spot and stretch an arm for it. Now those are both difficult shots to stop and may well have found the back of the net anyway, but, to me, his inability to dive betrayed a lack of fitness. Again on the Pogba goal, yes the first shot is blocked and his weight it on his left foot while the eventual shot comes back to his right, but he should have been able to explode across in a dive and try and make a play on it. It was a lovely hit from Pogba and a deserved winning goal, but I can't help but think that a healthy Subasic could have just maybe denied him. The absolute clincher though has to be Mbappe's goal. It is from well out, he has plenty of time to get set, there are limited players to potentially impede his view or have to worry about for a deflection, it's along the ground, not in the corner and not hit with blistering pace, but all he can do is collapse. That should be a save all day.
Felicitations to the French, well deserved and well done Croatia as well. Only 1580 days until we go again!
Overall, I think Croatia's biggest downfall on the day was Subasic. He has clearly never been healthy since pulling a muscle against Russia and he just did not have any ability to explode in the Croatian goal. I said it on the free kick Trippier scored for England in the semi final when he basically stood rooted to the spot and just stretched for the ball. Fortunately for Croatia that was England's only shot on goal in that game and they might well, looking back on it, rue not testing Subasic more in that match. It was the same story on the opening goal today; he was only able to stand rooted to the spot and stretch an arm for it. Now those are both difficult shots to stop and may well have found the back of the net anyway, but, to me, his inability to dive betrayed a lack of fitness. Again on the Pogba goal, yes the first shot is blocked and his weight it on his left foot while the eventual shot comes back to his right, but he should have been able to explode across in a dive and try and make a play on it. It was a lovely hit from Pogba and a deserved winning goal, but I can't help but think that a healthy Subasic could have just maybe denied him. The absolute clincher though has to be Mbappe's goal. It is from well out, he has plenty of time to get set, there are limited players to potentially impede his view or have to worry about for a deflection, it's along the ground, not in the corner and not hit with blistering pace, but all he can do is collapse. That should be a save all day.
Felicitations to the French, well deserved and well done Croatia as well. Only 1580 days until we go again!
France played a tactical masterpiece, but I have to agree with you on both of the first two goals for France. Back to my beef w/ VAR, it is there to correct errors or missed calls. If the ref deemed it ball-to-hand live, then VAR calls down to look at it again, at what point does the official on the pitch change his mind? Who's decision is it, anyways? I think the head official is the one on the pitch, no? Seems to me about the only thing conclusive on this issue is that it's extremely inconclusive amongst people who live and breath the game. A massive, critical, back-breaking call in any game, do we want controversial calls like this deciding championship games?
I dunno.
I find myself in the camp of people that Croatia got the raw end of the officiating calls. Not just the non-contact foul leading to goal #1, not just that combined w/ goal #2, but even extra time...in a game where protesters came onto the pitch for a solid 5 minutes alone, there was only 5 minutes added time?
These are the types of small differences where the conspiracy theory people would point to and scream match fixing. I'm not one of those, I just feel that those three officiating decisions had some negative impact, obviously the first two.
I dunno.
I find myself in the camp of people that Croatia got the raw end of the officiating calls. Not just the non-contact foul leading to goal #1, not just that combined w/ goal #2, but even extra time...in a game where protesters came onto the pitch for a solid 5 minutes alone, there was only 5 minutes added time?
These are the types of small differences where the conspiracy theory people would point to and scream match fixing. I'm not one of those, I just feel that those three officiating decisions had some negative impact, obviously the first two.
cascadesoccer
Well-Known Member
Perhaps the call was made for the penalty not for intention but because the ball hit the hand and went out of bound, which took away a scoring chance and the balls opportunity to continue into the box. Never less it was an exciting final and Croatia was certainly the better team in that first half hour, deserving much better. Loved watching Mbappe fly, kid is a pleasure to watch. That was a fantastic tournament. 2 years to Euro.
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