VAR strikes again. I could see in the future where after every goal teams will just gather quietly by the corner flag and wait for actual confirmation before celebrating. Not the world we want to live in.
Iran will still qualify though, so it's not quite a perfect VAR nightmare.
And after the game, the Canadian analysts said this was the closest we've come to a knockout-game-feel in the group stage. It was certainly better than watching Norway rest their whole first team vs. France (even their goalkeeper!)...I was really looking forward to an Mbappe vs. Halaand battle, and I felt cheated.
The Iranian team is terrible.
After the bloody dictatorship barred Azmoun for political reasons, Taremi is basically playing alone.
That’s their only play: long balls to Taremi.
@MontyCircus Well for Iran it depends on today's games, but yeah I agree with you on that that teams will probably hold off on the celebrations till its a confirmed goal.
And yes I was disappointed too with Norway/France like you I was looking forward to Mbappe vs Halaand but I can understand why Norway did what they did.
RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.
Confederations ranked after the Group Stage based on PPG:
#.) PPG (W-D-L)
1.) 1.83 (9-6-3) South America (CONMEBOL)
2.) 1.80 (20-12-8) Europe (UEFA)
3.) 1.33 (10-10-10) Africa (CAF)
4.) 1.11 (6-2-10) North America (CONCACAF)
5.) 0.67 (3-9-15) Asia (AFC)
6.) 0.33 (0-1-2) Oceania (OFC)
% of teams from each Confederation to make R32:
1.) 90% (9/10) Africa (CAF)
2.) 83% (5/6) South America (CONMEBOL)
3.) 81% (13/16) Europe (UEFA)
4.) 50% (3/6) North America (CONCACAF)
5.) 22% (2/9) Asia (AFC)
6.) 0% (0/1) Oceania (OFC)
5 best pre-tournament teams (according to ELO) to crash out in the group stage (world rank):
1.) Turkey - 13th
2.) Uruguay - 16th
3.) Scotland - 26th
4.) Iran - 29th
5.) South Korea - 33rd
5 worst pre-tournament teams (according to ELO) to qualify for R32:
1.) Ghana - 81st
2.) South Africa - 80th
3.) Cape Verde - 68th
4.) Bosnia and Herzegovina - 65th
5.) DR Congo - 55th
Group stage 5 biggest ELO points gainers:
1.) Ghana - rise 13 places in the world rankings, from #81 to #68
2.) France - remain #3
2.) DR Congo - rise 12 places from #55 to #43
4.) South Africa - rise 12 places from #80 to #68
5.) United States - rise 12 places from #39 to #27
Group stage 5 biggest ELO points losers:
1.) Uzbekistan - fall 15 places from #41 to #56
2.) Panama - fall 14 places from #38 to #52
3.) Tunisia - fall 14 places from #58 to #72
4.) Czechia - fall 15 places from #35 to #50
5.) Turkey - fall 7 places from #13 to #20
The last 10-straight World Cup winners all won their groups. The last winners that failed to win their opening group was Italy in 1982 (actually there were 2 group stages that tournament...it was weird).
The 12 group winners ranked by Elo:
1.) Argentina
2.) France
3.) Spain
4.) England
5.) Brazil
6.) Colombia
7.) Netherlands
8.) Germany
9.) Switzerland
10.) Mexico
11.) Belgium
12.) United States
Damn, heartbreak in Houston. I was hoping Japan was going to do it and after that goal by them. However in the second half it just seems they got complacent and thats when Brazil got them.
Pretty sure the stadium cleaning crews were probably hoping Japan would have won.
RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.
That was a excruciating difficult match for Brazil against Japan, terrible in the first half, got better in the second half when Endrick entered, and we got a surprising turnabout with a goal in the last minute, man the streets here were cheering like i haven't seen in a long time.
Sad for Japan tho, they had a chance to prove themselves in this tournament, if only they weren't in our way...
Ancelotti is an excellent coach; Brazil’s first half was terrible, but he knew how to make the necessary changes, and the match completely turned around.
But... he's worse at making call-ups than Dunga.
Danilo was largely to blame for Japan's goal, which I expected, since he's nearing the end of his career and isn't even a starter in the Brazilian league (Ibañes needs to play the next match), Paquetá is completely useless (it seems he got injured, which is good news). With Carlos Augusto and Caio Henrique available as left-back options, he chose Douglas Santos—it's a joke. Beraldo is a great player and wasn't called up either; neither was Antony...
Let's see what happens from here on out.
Wow another heartbreaker as Germany is going home. Why on earth would you kick a ball like you are kicking an extra point in a NFL game in a penalty kickoff, makes no sense.
As far as the game goes I felt like I was watching a WWE match with all the selling going on. Serously the refs should punish more for that *****. Players barely touch each and one flops around like he got his block knocked off. Thats the one thing that always annoyed me with soccer.
RetiredPush Square Moderator and all around retro gamer.
@anjinh00 Both had already recovered and even played in the final rounds of the European season.
It was Ancelotti's choice, he clearly prefers Douglas Santos and Alex Sandro (!!!).
What is going on with the World Cup?? First Germany is out and now Netherlands. In all honestly they need to do away with penalty kicks after extra time because in its just luck. The team that plays the best doesnt win when it comes to penalty kicks.
they need to do away with penalty kicks after extra time because in its just luck. The team that plays the best doesnt win when it comes to penalty kicks.
Nah, Penalties is not luck, its a psychological game, is knowing when to kick and the goalie response, there's specific training for it, and honestly its one of the most exciting things to watch, over here in south america if theres penalties in a game you NEED to see it, even if its not your team (honestly its better not be your team then its not heart attack inducing)
And also, what you're gonna do if the knockout ends with a tie? the team that kicked more wins? the best ranking team pass? thats boring
@Tasuki They literally did that in the 1998 and 2002 World Cup, it was called the Golden Goal Rule, it was underutilized and it made the prorogation worst because the teams would not try to attack and would just defend, so in most cases it went to penalties regardless. It was abolished in 2006 onwards for that reason.
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