Goooooooooooooooooooooooooool

[Dmitry]

Pékerman, I believe, and Falcao said that the ref didn’t entiende espanol. At this level I'd imagine they could find a ref who could. No matter, ahora se abrigo.

Kane is one hell of a player. Without him England hasn't got a prayer.

Anyone else notice , didn't the same Colombian player cause both of their penalties? I think it was the same guy.

Edited July 4, 2018 by Dmitry

[Brad]

4 hours ago, Dmitry said:

Interesting refereeing in the E-C match yesterday. 6 yellows to Colombia, 2 to England. 3/4 if all whistles against Colombia,  soft penalty call, referee who only spoke English...I’m just sayin’. 

Someone who understands. Having a ref who was American and spoke English and English only gave the English an unfair advantage, not to mention he did a terrible job. 

The only goal in this match was scored by Colombia 

As for James, he isn’t the player he was several years ago. Why do you think Real Madrid sent him to Germany?

Edited July 4, 2018 by Brad

[soulpope]

3 hours ago, Dmitry said:

I’m sorry but that just isn’t true. James is a great player, but only has 2 assists in 3 games in this WC.  

Now imagine where England would be now without Kane. He won all their games for them, and has 6 goals. They only have 2 other goal-scorers beside him, both in the 6:1 Panama match. Talk of one player team...

 

I believe it says something about a team which misses a player who priot to this the game was not a absolute force ....

[Brad]

14 minutes ago, soulpope said:

I believe it says something about a team which misses a player who priot to this the game was not a absolute force ....

I think the point is that they didn't miss him greatly; he's not the James of 2014.  It's not like Portugal missing Ronaldo or Uruguay missing Cavani, which appears a possibility; he missed training yesterday.  

14 minutes ago, soulpope said:

I believe it says something about a team which misses a player who priot to this the game was not a absolute force ....

I think the point is that they didn't miss him greatly; he's not the James of 2014.  It's not like Portugal missing Ronaldo or Uruguay missing Cavani, which appears a possibility; he missed training yesterday.  

[mjazzg]

45 minutes ago, Brad said:

not to mention he did a terrible job. 

too true, he should have sent off the Colombian for the headbutt on Henderson. He then allowed Colombian players to spend 4 minutes (!) protesting against his penalty decision before allowing the penalty to be taken.

Other than that I thought he ref'd in a manner that responded well to the Colombian tactic of physical intimidation, once again, I'd cite the completely unnecessary barge on Sterling by a member of the coaching staff as he lift the pitch at half-time as indicative that this was a predetermined tactic sanctioned by the coach and his staff.

Yes, the ref missed a couple of retaliations but these were a direct result of intimidation so the fact they were missed was poetic justice of some sort

I also think the issue of the ref not speaking Spanish is a red herring. How many of the games up to now have been ref'd by someone bilingual in the languages of the competitors do you think? Indeed if he had spoken Spanish he may have een able to explain to the Colombians that their intimidatory tactics were not acceptable. Conversely if he understood Spanish we may have seen a couple more Colombian cardsfor what was being said to him in their petulant displays of protest - maybe it was better for them he didn't fully understand

[Brad]

Again, letting your biases show.  The English player was hit in the chest primarily and only incidentally did his his head hit the English player.  It was a terrible call. 

To you it may be a red herring but it gave them a distinct advantage.  I'd wager that most refs in these matches don't know the language of either team and he uses his hand signals to make his point. The English were able to sell their points to him and the Colombians didn't have the same advantage. 

By the way, I'm still waiting for England to score a goal  The only one I saw scored was from Colombia. 

Anyway, at the end of the day, the result won't change and England will count itself as lucky and the Colombians will rue the opportunity they let slip through their fingers. 

[soulpope]

56 minutes ago, Brad said:

I think the point is that they didn't miss him greatly; he's not the James of 2014.  It's not like Portugal missing Ronaldo or Uruguay missing Cavani, which appears a possibility; he missed training yesterday.  

I don`t want to question your expertise (well who am I) but to state that the participation of individual player (in this case James Rodriguez) would have not enhanced the chance for a (decisive) moment of magic is remarkable  ....

[Dmitry]

1 hour ago, soulpope said:

I believe it says something about a team which misses a player who priot to this the game was not a absolute force ....

That's a pretty limp-fisted retort, my brother.  Proves me right.😎

[mjazzg]

So it's now OK to headbutt your opponent in the chest and only accidentally move your head up from that chest to happen upon their chin? Funny as most people's chins overhang their chest I find and any upward movement from the chest will find their face

I've stated elsewhere on this thread a number of times that England are a limited side and haven't produced chances or goals from open play. It will be their downfall as soon as they face a more creative team. I think the sad aspect of yesterday's game is that Colombia could have been that opponent if they'd concentrated on playing England rather than kicking them. 

[Dmitry]

1 hour ago, mjazzg said:

too true, he should have sent off the Colombian for the headbutt on Henderson. 

 

That grave injury shook the brains inside his skull, causing him to miss a penalty. 

 

[soulpope]

4 minutes ago, Dmitry said:

That's a pretty limp-fisted retort, my brother.  Proves me right.😎

If a deprecatory valuation of my opinion makes you feel being proven right  ..... very compelling indeed ....

[Brad]

16 minutes ago, soulpope said:

I don`t want to question your expertise (well who am I) but to state that the participation of individual player (in this case James Rodriguez) would have not enhanced the chance for a (decisive) moment of magic is remarkable  ....

I'm sure you are more knowledgeable than I am and I agree that it would have been better to have him than not. 

13 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

So it's now OK to headbutt your opponent in the chest and only accidentally move your head up from that chest to happen upon their chin? Funny as most people's chins overhang their chest I find and any upward movement from the chest will find their face

I've stated elsewhere on this thread a number of times that England are a limited side and haven't produced chances or goals from open play. It will be their downfall as soon as they face a more creative team. I think the sad aspect of yesterday's game is that Colombia could have been that opponent if they'd concentrated on playing England rather than kicking them. 

For what it's worth, the following is from The Guardian's Fiver:

"Jordan Henderson even nodded to tradition by botching his penalty in the shootout but before that the dependable midfielder had innovated by collapsing to the ground and appealing for urgent medical assistance after having his chin stroked by Wílmar Barrios: if a Brazilian had done that, we’d be saying ‘stop that, Neymar, you utter git.’"

[mjazzg]

24 minutes ago, Dmitry said:

That grave injury shook the brains inside his skull, causing him to miss a penalty. 

 

[Brad]

We are in the middle of a sports smorgasbord, what with the World Cup moving into its decisive phase, Wimbledon taking place and the Tour de France starting Saturday.  I don't fully understand everything about cycling but I do enjoy the spectacle, especially the sprinter stages, not to mention the lovely views of the French countryside. 

[uli]

39 minutes ago, Brad said:

I

For what it's worth, the following is from The Guardian's Fiver:

"Jordan Henderson even nodded to tradition by botching his penalty in the shootout but before that the dependable midfielder had innovated by collapsing to the ground and appealing for urgent medical assistance after having his chin stroked by Wílmar Barrios: if a Brazilian had done that, we’d be saying ‘stop that, Neymar, you utter git.’"

[Dmitry]

 

7 hours ago, mjazzg said:

So it's now OK to headbutt your opponent in the chest and only accidentally move your head up from that chest to happen upon their chin? Funny as most people's chins overhang their chest I find and any upward movement from the chest will find their face

In all honesty, if you saw this in any PL match, you'd want a red? 

 

Edited July 4, 2018 by Dmitry

[Brad]

According to latest news reports, the likelihood of Cavani playing is almost nil. I think Uruguay were going to have a tough time beating France with him. Without him, the odds will be stacked against them. 

[Dmitry]

Well, that brings their prospects down quite a bit, especially against a young hungry side on a roll, like France. Could be a chance for Suarez to shine...

In other news, Ronaldo is possibly moving to Juventus, and Mbappe to Real.

 

[Brad]

According to Marca, Perez, the Madrid president, and CR’s agent are supposed to be meeting in a day or two to discuss his future. 

Madrid denied the Mbappé report but I don’t think anyone believes them. 

[BillF]

13 hours ago, Dmitry said:

Interesting refereeing in the E-C match yesterday. 6 yellows to Colombia, 2 to England. 3/4 if all whistles against Colombia,  soft penalty call, referee who only spoke English...I’m just sayin’. 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/04/mark-geiger-bias-allegations-colombia-england-radamel-falcao-world-cup

[Brad]

Andrés Cantor Thinks Everything Sounds Better in Spanish

Andrés Cantor calls football games for one of the Spanish networks in the US, Telemundo. His voice is very recognizable and he has been calling World Cup games for forever it seems.  Compared to him, other announcers sound tepid; no emotion.

He thinks games sound better in Spanish and I agree. I listen to most of the games that way.  The interviewer asked him, as follows:

“Q. If soccer sounds better in Spanish, what else sounds better in Spanish?

A. Everything. Life.”

Naturalmente!

[sidewinder]

9 hours ago, BillF said:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/04/mark-geiger-bias-allegations-colombia-england-radamel-falcao-world-cup

What a crock of horse-****. Did these bozos actually watch the same game?

He obviously lost his red card and could only find the yellow one !

Edited July 5, 2018 by sidewinder

[Brad]

A quiz:

Guess the Manager

A little guesswork, but not as hard as it seems. I guessed 7 right. 

Edited July 5, 2018 by Brad

[soulpope]

14 minutes ago, Brad said:

A quiz:

Guess the Manager

A little guesswork, but not as hard as it seems. I guessed 7 right. 

Same here ..... missed out on questions 4,5 and 7 .... thnx for sharing ....

[Dmitry]

5 hours ago, sidewinder said:

What a crock of horse-****. Did these bozos actually watch the same game?

He obviously lost his red card and could only find the yellow one !

It seems that country loyalty is profusely coloring the recollections if this game. Rashomon, anyone?