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halifax

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The bracket is posted now. 

I didnt take the 9th best team. I took the next best team on the other side of the bracket and had so we could have one team on each side of the bracket.

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24 minutes ago, kgman said:

I can't believe Senegal lost on fair play rule!.......I wonder who historically takes the fewest penalties?? coach and player

Me either. Drawing of lots would have been better. Japan knowing they had less yellow cards didn't even try to push for an equalizer vs Poland towards the end of their match. Not only that, but several of the yellow cards Senegal received in their last two matches did not seem worthy of a yellow card. (like the one in the 2nd half vs Colombia and some of their others)

That said, if it wasn't for VAR, it wouldn't have even come down to a drawing of lots or a yellow card comparison. VAR prevented Senegal from getting out to an early 1-0 lead vs Colombia on a penalty that Senegal rightly deserved. In the 16th minute, Mané got taken down on a slide tackle by Sanchez and the referee without hesitation awarded Senegal a penalty. But then the referee was summoned to the VAR booth and wasn't given the slow-mo camera angle that we got on TV following the reversal that shows if Sanchez got to the ball first before contacting Mané. On one of the angles shown on TV after the reversal, you can clearly see that Sanchez's leg collides with Mané's shin before his back heel gets on to the ball.

Here's a screenshot :

 oYevvyj.png

That's a foul, the referee's initial instinct to award a penalty was the correct one. We have yet another instance of VAR and it's poor use of technology making a mockery of the beautiful game. And this time it cost Senegal a spot in the Round of 16. Supposedly calls on the pitch are only supposed to be reversed by VAR when there is a clear and obvious error.

This was a close one for sure, from certain angles it kinda looks like he got to the ball first, but in that screenshot you can clearly see that's not the case. All the commentators were talking about is that he got to the ball, while completely ignoring the contact with Mané's leg prior to that, which is a foul. It's only a clean tackle if you get to the ball first. He brought down Mané by contacting him before he back heeled the ball.

I don't know about you guys, but VAR has been a big problem for football in this World Cup. Football is the last major sport to have resisted the temptation to have instant replay reviews, and for good reason due to its continuous flow. You can see the flaws that are inherent into trying to implement this kind of a system into a World Cup. I don't have a problem with the goal-line technology and I'm OK with using video to check for offsides. But the system of reviewing penalty decisions just isn't working and it's frustrating to see VAR play such a crucial role in these matches and to have gotten so many calls wrong. I don't know how this VAR system can possibly continue in it's current form. I'm absolutely gutted for Senegal to be eliminated in such a cruel way, both by VAR and the new yellow card tiebreaker.

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VAR seems like the least of soccer's officiating problems, no?

How many times was VAR right? We tend to notice the bad more than the good. (Negativity bias)

Japan had 2 players on near breakaways hauled down by Senegal with no real repercussions, from what I remember.

Stoppage time is a joke, it's regularly 10 minutes too short (see also that VAR was an average of 30s per game). 

Then there's the whole stupid card system. Japan beat Columbia because of a red card ~10 minutes in. But if the red card happens with 10 minutes left, the game is completely different, for the exact same foul.

Referees and stupid rules largely decide the games as it is.

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Most 'shots on target' is a far better metric than the 'least yellow cards.' When we have robot referees, we can do least yellow cards. And the whole Japan/Poland thing, what a bunch of crap. I hope Belgium smokes Japan 7-0.

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@smozoma VAR only works when it's right 100% of the time. I think Halifax is saying that even the video they likely had access to still produced a false outcome, which I will agree with. I think it is too 50/50 to overturn that call by the referee in the Senegal/Colombia match.

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1 hour ago, skip said:

@smozoma VAR only works when it's right 100% of the time. I think Halifax is saying that even the video they likely had access to still produced a false outcome, which I will agree with. I think it is too 50/50 to overturn that call by the referee in the Senegal/Colombia match.

This is kind of "perfect is the enemy of good" thinking, though... How many teams were saved by a correct VAR call? We just remember the bad ones even though overall it's surely better (Korea got through from an offside VAR call, though those are clearer). Yeah, they got this one wrong, but they should use this mistake to make the system better (why didn't they have this other camera angle?).

I don't think they can actually overrule the ref, anyway? He could say, "I know what I saw" if he was actually confident, can't he? Surely when the ref himself is feeling 50/50, adding 90/10 replays is better?

As Brodeur30 even said, "several of the yellow cards Senegal received in their last two matches did not seem worthy of a yellow card." It's the officiating and the rules that suck and created the problem, not VAR. Get 2 guys out there, so they aren't always 100ft away and on the wrong side of the play. The NHL can do it on a field 30% the size. Get an actually clock so the ending time of the game isn't arbitrary and game-able (when players grab the ball after a goal and run to centre to continue play, you know the ref's clock isn't trusted).

The World Cup will be decided by penalty kicks anyway, if not in the final game, in a game leading up to it. They should remove players like the NHL does for regular season OT.

Also the game being played by kicking a ball is just too dangerous, with all the slide tackles and tripping and kicking. They should use a stick and a smaller ball. And the ball's always going out. Put some boards up. And there are too many people, so the play is too ticky tacky. Make it 5 plus a goalie per side. But so they don't get tired and slow, let them sub off at will. They should just play hockey, really :D

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@smozoma make sure they flatten the ball into, I don't know, some kind of disc or saucer type shape :-)

I definitely don't hate VAR, it is a bit jarring sometimes but they need to get it right. They still got it wrong there because they made a ref second guess himself. Bad look when it's such a critical point. Every game is important, but the final group games are critical.

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that England game made me so mad lol I had England to win in normal time .......then end up routing for Colombia to win cause I've been there before .....and they lose.

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The VAR is amazing.  I don't know how anyone could complain about it?  They get it right > 90% of the time IMO, without slowing the game down (unlike the NFL video reviews, which slow the game down and get things wrong all the time).

It is near impossible for a ref to make the right call in the heat of the moment, and soccer has suffered for it.  With penalty kicks awarded for dives.  That is no longer an issue thanks to VAR.

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On 7/6/2018 at 6:07 PM, aqualizard said:

The VAR is amazing.  I don't know how anyone could complain about it?  They get it right > 90% of the time IMO, without slowing the game down (unlike the NFL video reviews, which slow the game down and get things wrong all the time).

It is near impossible for a ref to make the right call in the heat of the moment, and soccer has suffered for it.  With penalty kicks awarded for dives.  That is no longer an issue thanks to VAR.

Yeah, I've seen some calls corrected. Makes it better overall I think.

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I bet $10 at 10 to 1 odds back near the end of the Group Stage that Croatia would win it all. (I didn't think they were the best team, but they had the longest odds of teams that had a legit shot on Bodog.)  If I had bet before a game was played, I think they were 27 to 1. (But I needed to see some teams play before betting.)

Germany had about the best 10 minutes ever in the opening of their 2nd game vs Sweden.  Looked unbeatable.  Then they lost to South Korea, lol. Can't believe they didn't even make it into knockout stage.

Anyway, I rooting for Croatia, but the most exciting player this time around is France's Mbappe, and I do expect France to win.

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