FIFA World Cup group stages

[SaintPowelly]

I think you need to watch the incident again, the angle from behind the goal...Fred has hold of Lovrens arm, swivels and falls to the floor, its only as hes going down that Lovrens arm comes up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCVz31ywxr4

Watch from 0:17

Why did he put his hands on his back? I stand by what I said. It was soft, but he was running the risk, and got unlucky.

It wasn't soft, soft implies on some day it is a penalty, its a DIVE...you are the only person I have heard defend it.

[Gingerfinch]

I think you need to watch the incident again, the angle from behind the goal...Fred has hold of Lovrens arm, swivels and falls to the floor, its only as hes going down that Lovrens arm comes up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCVz31ywxr4

Watch from 0:17

Why did he put his hands on his back? I stand by what I said. It was soft, but he was running the risk, and got unlucky.

It wasn't soft, soft implies on some day it is a penalty, its a DIVE...you are the only person I have heard defend it.

It was a dive, but I can see why the ref was fooled. Others I know have said the same as me, though most are in agreement with you.

[D/L]

An entertaining first game. Firstly, there was nothing wrong with Croatia's disallowed goal, imo. As for the penalty. It was weak, but why put your hands on a player, when in the box, you're asking for trouble? Bad defending. Neymar could have gone as well. Brazil certainly got the decisions, but am glad they won.

Given the usual need for the host country to do well in a World Cup, I doubt there was any way Brazil would have been allowed not to have got off to a winning start last night.

Add to this all the protests about how money has been spent in Brazil, and it's hard not to have sympathy with the protestors, a draw or a loss may have inflamed the situation further. Match highlights would suggest that Croatia were a little badly done to and their post-match complaints justified.

Is that being overly cynical though in view of FIFA's reputation for honest dealing?

I personally think the ref felt the pressure of Scolari, and the crowd, and/or just had a bad game. He got the disallowed goal wrong, but it may have looked like a push from a distance??? As for the pen. The ref saw a defender put his hands on a player who had the ball, who then went down (too easily). Again, it was the wrong decision, but as I've said, raising your hands on a player who has the ball in the penalty area is a risky business. I'm not talking about off the ball jostling, btw, which is different.

The best team won, imo, but had the rub of the green.

If it was ever going to happen, I suppose it would have happened before now, but, just as it has in other sports, a video referee would raise refereeing standards in soccer. FIFA's opposition to it may be explained in terms of their welcoming the publicity and attention that poor and/or dishonest refereeing brings to the game. Some would say it also makes it easier for them to influence results.

Sebb Blatter did bring up the idea of managers having X amount of reviews ( like in cricket ), and its something FIFA is looking at.

Kicked into the long grass then, a bit like the results of FIFA's so called investigation into corruption surrounding the 2022 bid.

[SaintPowelly]

Not necessarily, goal-line technology did come in, may be a few years before we see it though.

[dan08]

Two perfectly fine goals from Giovani disallowed.

[yuppie]

Two perfectly fine goals from Giovani disallowed.

Maybe Blatter has promised safe Passage for African teams into the last 16 in exchange for votes

Right team leading now though, eventually. Mexico have suprissed a little here, didnt they struggle through qualification?

[mikesiva]

Mexico win 1-0 after having two perfectly good goals from Dos Santos ruled offside. The Mexicans can't claim that those mistakes were hometown decisions....

Maybe they're just sheer incompetence. God knows, we saw a lot of that in last season's Premiership!

I like listening to Clarke Carlisle as an analyst. He makes me think a lot more about the game than a lot of the former players who occupy the seat next to the commentator.

[Aidan11]

What has Franz Beckenbauer been up to?

[dan08]

Mexico win 1-0 after having two perfectly good goals from Dos Santos ruled offside. The Mexicans can't claim that those mistakes were hometown decisions....

Maybe they're just sheer incompetence. God knows, we saw a lot of that in last season's Premiership!

I like listening to Clarke Carlisle as an analyst. He makes me think a lot more about the game than a lot of the former players who occupy the seat next to the commentator.

I think Clarke Carlisle is dreadful and judging by Twitter, 90% of people share that view. Can't stand his monotone voice. He sounds like he couldn't care less about the match.

[SaintPowelly]

I agree Dan, I had to mute it.

[SaintPowelly]

Pen to Spain.

[Gingerfinch]

Good pen, 1-0.

[budgetmeansbudget]

I can't stick the score caption on itv's coverage. The font and colouring is all wrong and for ageing eyes like mine I struggle to see it clearly.

[SaintPowelly]

I can't stick the score caption on itv's coverage. The font and colouring is all wrong and for ageing eyes like mine I struggle to see it clearly.

I thought that yesterday during the Brazil game, it looked horrendous, hope they change it before too long.

[SaintPowelly]

David Silva fannies about and tries to lob the GK, would be 2-0 if he put his foot through it.