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2018 World Cup

DanTheHorn

By DanTheHorn
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Zepol87
Zepol87

This morning was awesome. I love this damn thing

Schulz2.0
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strangulation!
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Woodrow Call

Woodrow Call 494

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Kroos with a legendary strike. He's the best player on the German side, and for Germany to do well, Kroos needs to be a big part of their system. This is one of the weakest German sides I've seen. There's not been a real leader on the pitch and certainly not a reliable closer in the tradition of Gerd Muller or Klose. Weak defensively. Then again, they lost three of the greatest Germans ever in Lahm, Schweini and Klose. 

Brandt should start every match. Muller's invisibility and ineffectiveness is really hurting Germany.  

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Newy25

Newy25 7638

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51 minutes ago, Woodrow Call said:

Kroos with a legendary strike. He's the best player on the German side, and for Germany to do well, Kroos needs to be a big part of their system. This is one of the weakest German sides I've seen. There's not been a real leader on the pitch and certainly not a reliable closer in the tradition of Gerd Muller or Klose. Weak defensively. Then again, they lost three of the greatest Germans ever in Lahm, Schweini and Klose. 

Brandt should start every match. Muller's invisibility and ineffectiveness is really hurting Germany.  

In the last World Cup, Klose was largely irrelevant on the pitch. His specific skill set was easily replaced at that point in his career. If he is not two goals from the record and not named Klose, he does not even make the squad. 

With Phillip Lamb, you had a converted midfielder to right back out of necessaity. From the offensive part, Kimmich is far more talented and effective. 

Schweinsteiger is another story. His loss is the one Germany has not replaced and it is evident. His job was to sit on top of the defense and clean up against the counter when the backs pressed for offense. As of now, Germany had not found his replacement. 

The biggest issue I have with roster is the specific chemistry and makeup. If Germany is going to play on that high line and press both backs on the wings, then the middle has to be covered against the counter. If you do not have that player (Rudy is more of that guy I think) then your forwards better be committed to coming back to play the counter. Draxler, Ozil, Khedira, Mueller, Reus are all offense first. Playing Ozil, Draxlr and Mueller together is a recipe for giving up chances if there is a turnover in the middle. 

If Rudy can play against Korea, they should be better off. But if not, you cannot have all of those scorers on the field and expect to keep the middle contained. Another option would be to have Hummels play left back and keep Ruitger and Boetang in the middle. Of course they cannot try this now until the round of 16.

It would be interesting to see if Brandt can actually start. Either that or sub him in earlier in the second half. The guy is instant offense. 

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Captain Ron

Captain Ron 12793

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, skipperj said:

FIFA opens disciplinary case against Xhaka and Shaqiri.


http://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/3541617/fifa-opens-disciplinary-case-over-xherdan-shaqiri-and-granit-xhaka-celebrations

The more I read about this the more it is complete bull-fucking-shit.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jun/23/xhaka-and-shaqiri-goal-celebrations-bring-balkan-politics-to-world-cup

https://deadspin.com/fifa-will-investigate-two-switzerland-players-for-contr-1827080111

 

 

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DanTheHorn

DanTheHorn 4896

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5 hours ago, Kringelbert Fishtybuns said:

If Mexico only loses by one and they score a goal, I think they go through.

Below is a tie breaker explained. Germany will win by more than one goal.That is why I say Mexico loses and they are gone. Playoff round starts early. In the beginning I thought Mexico had no chance and then they decided to give us hope. Then Germany destroyed an assured birth to the next round with 30 seconds to go.

Quote

Germany and Sweden win 1-0

All of Germany, Sweden and Mexico would then be tied with six points, a plus-one goal differential and three goals scored. Each would have three points in games played against each other and an even goal differential against each other. In the next tiebreaker, Germany and Sweden would have two goals in games between the three teams, while Mexico would only have one. That puts Germany and Sweden through to the knockouts, with Germany getting the top seed thanks to their three points from Saturday. (https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/news/germany-world-cup-scenarios-tiebreakers-how-the-defending-champs-rest-of-group-f-can-advance/)

 

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MaybeACoordinator

MaybeACoordinator 8349

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1 hour ago, Firemans4Horn said:

Serbia is a fucking wasteland. Buncha genocidial middle aged dudes looking for a fight. 

A friend of mine was a "peacekeeper" there in the '90s with the army as a cav scout. And then he did another combat mission in Iraq as commander of an artillery battalion. He now works on Capitol Hill as a security analyst for Congress -- he occasionally appears on C-Span and shit in that role. But -- he is not shy about telling you about how he HATES Serbs. He won't tell me why, but I surmise he saw some shit over there. 

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InkaUtexas

InkaUtexas 25486

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7 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

A friend of mine was a "peacekeeper" there in the '90s with the army as a cav scout. And then he did another combat mission in Iraq as commander of an artillery battalion. He now works on Capitol Hill as a security analyst for Congress -- he occasionally appears on C-Span and shit in that role. But -- he is not shy about telling you about how he HATES Serbs. He won't tell me why, but I surmise he saw some shit over there. 

arrogance in defeat is my rationale. You lose, suck it up and deal with it, instead they just started to prep for the next round. 

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TXSG8R

TXSG8R 3360

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17 hours ago, Woodrow Call said:

Kroos with a legendary strike. He's the best player on the German side, and for Germany to do well, Kroos needs to be a big part of their system. This is one of the weakest German sides I've seen. There's not been a real leader on the pitch and certainly not a reliable closer in the tradition of Gerd Muller or Klose. Weak defensively. Then again, they lost three of the greatest Germans ever in Lahm, Schweini and Klose. 

Brandt should start every match. Muller's invisibility and ineffectiveness is really hurting Germany.  

Muller plays better off of a true number 9. Werner just doesn’t have the size to require the bracketing that gives Muller his spaces to poach from. I think it’s also why Germany is taking short corners. Gomez is old, but he can play hold-up and give the rest of the team better space to play through. Right now they are trying to dribble the ball into the net.

As good as Kroos is offensively, he’s a big part of why they are suffering defensively. The midfield is giving up those transition passes letting teams counter. The 4-2-3-1 is a really fun system to play but requires the midfield to be dominant because the fullbacks are always so high up the field. Germany's troubles are in the midfield. 

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Whenever I think the NCAA is the most impotent organization in all of athletics, I remember there's FIFA making the NCAA look like a goddamn moral compass.  

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Hagbard Celine

Hagbard Celine 10749

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i read this a couple of days ago and decided to wait until the natural transition to elimination games (i.e. matchday 3) as we are now halfway through the tournament (32 played).....  it's fantastic stuff.....

++++

Pierluigi Collina was named FIFA's "Best Referee of the Year" six consecutive times and is widely considered to be the greatest soccer referee of all time. Since he retired from refereeing in 2005, he proved that he is a great soccer referee administrator as well as a referee. He took the helm of UEFA refereeing as Head of Refereeing and since then the refereeing in UEFA has improved a lot. The refereeing in Euro 2016 is considered to be best in all Euros by many experts.  FIFA has appointed Collina as the Chairman of the Referees Committee at the beginning of 2017. Now you can see the footprints of Collina in this World Cup.

I watched the first 16 games of the tournament. Although it might be a bit premature to say it but the refereeing so far has been very impressive. Except for four games -- which I consider as below par -- the refereeing has been either very good or excellent.

In the first 16 games:

There was one red card – for DOGSO – (0.06 per game) and the average number of cautions per game was 3.13 (One game with zero cautions and one game with eight cautions). There were 29.25 fouls per game. At the 2014 World Cup, the average number of cautions and sending offs per game were 2.8 and 0.2 respectively.

There was only one game where there was a controversy with a goal and that was the last game of the first 16 games. In the game between Senegal and Poland referee Nawaf Shukrulla allowed a player from Senegal to enter the field of play after an on the field assessment/treatment without checking the potential consequences. As a result, the player in question followed a back pass by a Polish player who did not notice him coming on the field and scored the decisive goal.

This is not neither a violation /misinterpretation of the LOTG nor can the Senegalese player be accused of non-Fair Play. It was just a bad timing by the referee. Maybe this will trigger a change in the LOTG by IFAB. The LOTG state that any player who is treated/assessed on the field must leave the field of play. Following a restart that caused the stoppage for the treatment of the injury on the field, the player can enter the field of play any time the referee permits the player to do so.

Maybe the new change can state that for players who move out of the field of play due to an injury they can only enter the field of play after a stoppage. This change will not only make sure that what happened in the above-mentioned game will not happen again but it will also facilitate a mechanism through which teams who are trying to stall through “fake” injuries  to reconsider their tactics. Because if players go out for an on the field assessment/treatment of a “fake” injury they can leave their teams one player short for a considerable amount of time until the next stoppage.

Let us now go back the officiating in the World Cup 2018 and Collina’s footprints:

    The officials were extremely well prepared for the World Cup. In a pre-World Cup press conference, Collina told the press that they had five seminars – each one one week long – in the last six months. Prior to the tournament they had an eight-team competitive mini-tournament – with a considerable award for the winning team at the end – to test the referees and the VAR system. The referee teams have been helped by two certified coaches about possible team tactics on the field of play that they should recognize. Some of these tactics had been used by teams during the mini tournament.

The referees have been told that there are three concepts they should reflect onto the field: Uniformity, consistency and Fair Play.

All the participating World Cup teams were briefed by members of the FIFA Referee Committee about what the referees have been instructed. All teams were told that the referees have been instructed to “protect the image of the game” through their refereeing.  They were also told that the referees wanted good relations with players/teams. The teams were also reminded that games were being videoed by 35+ cameras and any acts of off the ball violent conduct (like spitting, biting, striking etc.) will be caught by the VAR system and the players will be sent off even if the game has restarted.

    The refereeing went back to its factory settings. Prior to the World Cup in Brazil, the referees were given directives by FIFA which were not in line with what they have been instructed for years, like avoiding early yellow cards. This confused the referees, especially those from Europe, and hence caused serious game control problems. This time through Collina’s directives they went back to their factory settings. There were very early yellow cards in the first 16 games as well as the only red card -- which was correct -- occurred during the third minute of the game. There were some cautions that were missed as well as some cautions issued that could have been avoided.

During the first 16 games, we did not see any serious dissent by players or coaches to the decisions of the referees. There was no serious foul play or violent conduct. I did not see a single black and white serious foul play missed by the officiating team, including the VAR officials. Although there were a number of injuries caused by contact that required the players to be substituted, none of them were caused by either reckless play (caution) or use of excessive force (sending off).

The best example of not reverting to just to your cards for controlling a game was given by Alireza Faghani (Iran) during the Mexico vs. Germany game. He used an incredible correct body language to control the game as well as his cards. Even though the previous world champions lost the game, there was nothing but praise from both sides for the officiating crew.

There are two criticisms to the officiating in the first 16 games. One of them is a major one: Giving lectures or preaching does not solve the problem of holding in the penalty area during set plays. There was one courageous decision by Sandro Ricci (Brazil) that resulted in a penalty kick where the attacking player was wrestled down during a set play (Nigeria vs. Croatia). In a similar position in the England-Tunisia game, Harry Kane was taken down, but the officials did not intervene. I am sure this topic will be at the top Collina’s agenda for the next rounds.

The minor one: Find a Velcro that keeps the FIFA badge on the shirt!

What is encouraging is that there was no evidence of favoritism towards “big” soccer nations as we have seen in the past.

    Tune up of the VAR system. There was too much criticism of the VAR system based on the previous experiments in the leagues and some FIFA competitions. Collina made a few but very important tune-ups to the system. The first one eliminated the possibility of stopping a potential goal or goal attack due to an incorrect flag for offside and ensuing whistle. The ARs were instructed to keep their flags down where there was not a clear offside on promising attacks. If a goal is scored and the build up for the goal had a missing offside call then the VAR can ask the referee to correct the call and nullify the goal. This helps the system in a very positive way knowing that only very few goals are scored in this first group stage.

The second instruction was to ask the VAR crew not to interfere for gray calls when the referee on the field had the correct angle and saw the incident. This boosts the self-confidence of the referees on the field. The VAR only intervened when convinced that the referee did not see the incident. This is the reason why the VAR did not intervene on gray calls that led to goals in the Spain-Portugal and Brazil-Switzerland games. In both cases, the referees had excellent angles/sight and decided not to call a foul

All three VAR-triggered decisions for penalty kicks were regarding incidents where the VAR team correctly decided that the referee did not see the offense. It also helped the tournament to reach a record-high number of penalty kicks awarded. The only other time that an on-the-field replay was used when the referee (Malang Diedhiou of Senegal during the Costa Rica vs. Serbia game) asked for an incident to be reviewed for a possible disciplinary action (yellow card vs. red card). So there were only four on-the-field reviews in 16 games. Three of them took minimal time even though time lost for video review is added as additional time.

So far, the VAR system in this tournament brought in a number of benefits all favoring more goals and potential goals not the other way around, as speculated.

It deterred the teams from off the ball violent conduct fouls. It also helps the referees and deters the players form simulating in the penalty area. The players know that or will learn soon if they take a dive and get a penalty kick, the VAR system will reverse the decision and they might get a caution.

In summary, the footprints of Collina is very detectable in this tournament. I hope I can write similar comments and will not be embarrassed about refereeing at the end of the tournament as the games will get more and more difficult to officiate. But I am very hopeful for a happy ending with Collina at the helm.

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Hagbard Celine

Hagbard Celine 10749

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57 minutes ago, DanTheHorn said:

Is Russia that bad or does Uruguay just have a whole other gear that they have not even turned on yet. They seem like a team one does not want to face.

Going to 48 is going to be a disaster.  FIFA needs to have a pre-cup and then the actual regular 32 cup.  Seed 24 based 1/3rd all time full international results, 1/3rd results in the last 5 majors (respectively, including (cough) all confederation championships), and 1/3rd results in qualifying.  The second 24 play a pre-cup the prior summer with 2 group stages, phase 1 is 4 groups of 6, top 2 each group go to phase 2 which is 1 group of 8, seeding in the big cup the following summer based on order of finish.

oops sorry, forgot about nations league, europe are out.

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DanTheHorn

DanTheHorn 4896

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I like the format they have decided on for 48. Three per group works if the top two teams in the group meet last since they would have probably eliminated the lowest ranked team by the time the game takes place. No additional games are played so the only fear is lower rank teams beating the hell out of players like Panama because that is how teams that don't deserve to be there play.

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FondrenRoad

FondrenRoad 4378

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1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said:

Going to 48 is going to be a disaster.  FIFA needs to have a pre-cup and then the actual regular 32 cup.  Seed 24 based 1/3rd all time full international results, 1/3rd results in the last 5 majors (respectively, including (cough) all confederation championships), and 1/3rd results in qualifying.  The second 24 play a pre-cup the prior summer with 2 group stages, phase 1 is 4 groups of 6, top 2 each group go to phase 2 which is 1 group of 8, seeding in the big cup the following summer based on order of finish.

oops sorry, forgot about nations league, europe are out.

We already have a pre-cup.  The current World Cup already lets in enough terrible teams.  I realize that our 3 host format fucks up the chances for other CONCACAF teams, but just because Panama and Costa Rica get fucked, that doesn't mean we need to have 14 other suspect teams added as well.  At most, go to 40, and make the groups 5 teams instead of 4.

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