WWC19 | Final: USA v Netherlands

I really don't think that's a penalty and I do think there needs to be a big discussion with VAR now over how the slightest bit of contact/innocuous handball etc can lead to a nearly certain chance of scoring.

There's just too many of these incidents taking place and defining games, and it's shit.
 
I think 'clear/obvious error' has become 'any suspicion of a mistake' which I can kind of understand. It might be quite a big error, we'd best have a look. Then they go through it with the ref too. Due to not wanting to undermine their match official.

End result: always a load of faffing about.
 
Unsure if the 2nd was a Pen but there was context.

USA should have had 2 pens from Serb pieces also, both were stonewall so don’t think Spain can feel hard done by.
 
USA not unstoppable, just very good, and you'd need to be very good to stop them. Sets up a good match against France.
 
I really don't think that's a penalty and I do think there needs to be a big discussion with VAR now over how the slightest bit of contact/innocuous handball etc can lead to a nearly certain chance of scoring.

There's just too many of these incidents taking place and defining games, and it's shit.

Indeed. I think USA took two dives today that lead to two penalties, at least one of them should not have been called. The game is all about penalties, I absolutely loath them.
 
Spain can feel unlucky today. USA was bang average today against a very well organized defensive scheme. We will need to step up our ideas if we want to make a game out of the quarterfinals. France is dangerous and carries home field advantage - it should be an excellent game to watch.
 
Indeed. I think USA took two dives today that lead to two penalties, at least one of them should not have been called. The game is all about penalties, I absolutely loath them.

We'll see it more and more with VAR, the recent big occasions have been defined by VAR penalties, many of which have been soft and innocuous.

It's not entertaining and it's not satisfying at all, and I don't think awarding teams a nearly certain chance to score based on a situation where they were very unlikely to do anything is fair.
 
We'll see it more and more with VAR, the recent big occasions have been defined by VAR penalties, many of which have been soft and innocuous.

It's not entertaining and it's not satisfying at all, and I don't think awarding teams a nearly certain chance to score based on a situation where they were very unlikely to do anything is fair.

Today had nothing to do with VAR. Actually VAR did their job as they even called the ref to review the bad penalty she called.
 
Very curious to see how the Netherlands will do tomorrow. Seems they ve been sloppy at best, but if you re still winning and you can then manage to tighten things up during the knockout stage they may be a surprise contender for the title. Kinda funny the European champion is considered a bit of an underdog.

Spain showed the US is not as invincible as I thought it was. Winning this way will probably give their confidence a slight knock.
 
Well, now we can at least end the "myth" that the womens game is more fair and free from diving. There is alot of embellishing
We'll see it more and more with VAR, the recent big occasions have been defined by VAR penalties, many of which have been soft and innocuous.

It's not entertaining and it's not satisfying at all, and I don't think awarding teams a nearly certain chance to score based on a situation where they were very unlikely to do anything is fair.

Exactly. Its vital that if the attacking team is not stripped of a chance, for example if someone slightly trips up a forward moving out of the penalty area there should be restrictions on giving a penalty. There needs to be changes to the rules regarding this. And also, even if there is contact and then a player dives, it should be possible for the referee to give both a penalty and yellow card for diving. That would also reduce diving. Clearly both USA players this game were briefly touched, but decided to go down by their own force and sell it, its not right or fair. Certainly left a bad taste after this game which were decided by the referee.
 
VAR is becoming a farce in it's use for me. Unless it is violent conduct all replays should be in real time. Everything looks ten times worse in slow motion. That second penalty was a delayed dive for me, she was grazed on her right leg, still manages to plant it, plants her left leg and then miraculously her right leg goes out from under her....
 
VAR is becoming a farce in it's use for me. Unless it is violent conduct all replays should be in real time. Everything looks ten times worse in slow motion. That second penalty was a delayed dive for me, she was grazed on her right leg, still manages to plant it, plants her left leg and then miraculously her right leg goes out from under her....

They only reviewed the 2nd penalty in slow motion to verify if there was contact. They were just checking for contact, not how much contact there was. I’m an advocate of watching only in real time also except for verifying contact.

Indeed. I think USA took two dives today that lead to two penalties, at least one of them should not have been called. The game is all about penalties, I absolutely loath them.

The first is as stonewall of pen as you will see, she clearly stands on her foot and brings her down. USA should have had 2 other pens as well.
 
That 2nd penalty was extremely soft. If Barca or Real get a call like that, everybody would call it rigged.
 
They should drop VAR. It doesn't really improve the experience of the game.
 
They should drop VAR. It doesn't really improve the experience of the game.
I think the officiating at the Copa/WWC just isn't good in general. VAR at the CL was fine, other than maybe the handball penalties which are just a rule issue.
 
One thing I have noticed about the women's game is how they really struggle to have long passing sequences, I mean it doesn't even have to create chances but they struggle to keep the ball even between the back 4 and keeper. It is one big area of improvement needed there
 
Just a sidenote. I bought tickets from FIFA for the Le Havre and Valenciennes QFs - ready for whichever route England might (or not) take.

So today I put my Valenciennes ticket up for resale with FIFA again. It sold a couple of hours later. Sounds like good news for attendances at the later stages. Pleased to see the system in place and working as well.
 
I'd criticise these for their shonky passing too.

Canada right side is looking handy but a lot of the play is very fragmented.
 


He wasn't moaning about them being physical or fouling. He was complaining about them acting like pathetic children and deciding to almost go on strike a few times because the referee got some decisions right.

But yeah, congrats on finding something else completely irrelevant to the point. Gunna go for the hattrick?
 
One thing I have noticed about the women's game is how they really struggle to have long passing sequences, I mean it doesn't even have to create chances but they struggle to keep the ball even between the back 4 and keeper. It is one big area of improvement needed there

Depends on the match and the team really. Spain against weaker opposition than the US own the ball, though don't always do much with it. France can put together decent strings of fast (attacking) passes, England aren't bad at it, depending on the personnel.

If they're just recycling, even England can do that:smirk: United's new signing Abbie McManus, playing at centre back, made 118 successful passes against Argentina. Japan usually have no problem passing, but they've got a young team here, and they got pressed off the ball in a way that they normally wouldn't. So I wouldn't say it's a pattern - maybe just a consequence of certain games at the World Cup.
 
Depends on the match and the team really. Spain against weaker opposition than the US own the ball, though don't always do much with it. France can put together decent strings of fast (attacking) passes, England aren't bad at it, depending on the personnel.

If they're just recycling, even England can do that:smirk: United's new signing Abbie McManus, playing at centre back, made 118 successful passes against Argentina. Japan usually have no problem passing, but they've got a young team here, and they got pressed off the ball in a way that they normally wouldn't. So I wouldn't say it's a pattern - maybe just a consequence of certain games at the World Cup.
Certainly all the ones I watched