World Cup 2018

[Husky]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

You have to laugh at the at the BBC coverage it is so anti-Russian that it is embarrassing really.

I'm watching on Telecinco. But after Russia's first game the BBC news reports on the game were really anti Russian.

[Mike E]

How the hell was that not another penalty?

[perthblue02]

Just now, Mike E said:

How the hell was that not another penalty?

https://twitter.com/i/status/1008794582551879680

[Husky]

Just now, Mike E said:

How the hell was that not another penalty?

Shirt pulling and holding doesn't seem to count. Egypt have been doing it on every corner. At least VAR has been consistent on that.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Husky

[JHRover]

16 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

You have to laugh at the at the BBC coverage it is so anti-Russian that it is embarrassing.

BBC are instructed by the government to be anti-Russian in their news coverage so hardly surprising they're also showing anti-Russian bias at the World Cup. Russophobia widespread in the UK media.

[Husky]

1 hour ago, JHRover said:

Gary Lineker introduces BBC coverage of this game by saying 'good news, Mo Salah starts for Egypt'.

I don't see why it is 'good news' that the best player in a rival team is fit to start. At this stage it is more of an irrelevance to England what Egypt do but I wouldn't describe it as 'good news' any more than I would consider the absence of Messi, Griezmann or Ronaldo to be beneficial to our chances of being successful.

The BBC seem utterly obsessed with pushing the Premier League product by giving massively disproportionate amounts of coverage to players who are regulars in England, presumably because they think the majority of those watching are only interested in Premier League players or only understand it if there is reference to 'famous names'

Personally one of the things that makes the World Cup worth watching is daily exposure to different players and countries to the same old faces from the Premier League, I'm certainly not getting excited that Salah is fit to play for Egypt so we can all pay homage to him and his goalscoring last season for Liverpool.

I only turned on after the game to laugh at their Russia phobia.

But the Salah love-in was puke-worthy.

[Audax]

Bah, Salah was hurt in the Champions League final; very unfairly by the Spanish team. Of course, a lot of people were curious about Salah just as in the past, they were curious about Rooney in which was it? 2010? or 2006 and then, this time, the way we are hearing a lot about Neymar limping at practise. It may be overblown to be reporting this news on the "superstars" but Salah is no exception.

[Audax]

I largely try to leave politics and such out of the World Cup,  I admire a number of athletes from all over, Alex Ovechkin helped lead the Washington Capitals to the NHL's Stanley Cup. I'm happy for them, I grew up playing chess, the top chess players were mostly the Russians with a few others.  I'm not talking about their government.

That goalkeeper for Russia is Akinfeev, he's the same one who had a laser shined his eyes I believe last time in Brazil.

That was very unfair and I think the other team scored in this sequence of events.

They were hard done in 2014, before that, last in the WC in 2002, little success in 2016 Euro,  I'm glad for their success, looks like they could hit the quarters at this pace.

 

 

 

[Mike E]

15 minutes ago, JHRover said:

BBC are instructed by the government to be anti-Russian in their news coverage so hardly surprising they're also showing anti-Russian bias at the World Cup. Russophobia widespread in the UK media.

I thought people in the UK liked Russ Abbott?

[philipl]

Not too far removed from the equivalent of the 1936 Olympics

[Husky]

I suspect had it been a team like Brazil that had played with dominating intensity for 90 minutes in 2 games whilst crushing the opposition scoring worldies in the process the press would be creaming themselves.

About that intensity, it was really nice to see, trying for a 4th goal instead of dropping off, time wasting and generally being bores.

It would be interesting to see how many minutes on the pitch the Russian players played last season as there wasn't any drop off (as we saw with England last night). I know Russia haven't been pegged back yet - so there's been no psychological test in that regard, but from a purely physical point of view, if players are used to playing 90minutes then they should be fitter than those that have been rotated and substituted a lot.

Edited June 19, 2018 by Husky

[DE.]

Certainly is some turnaround in form.

[Butty]

15 minutes ago, DE. said:

Certainly is some turnaround in form.

Absolutely, played some tough opposition there though too be fair. Interesting to see how far they can go. Made a great start but too be fair the Saudi's were absolutely useless and Egypt bar Salah are a poor side. Can only beat what's in front of you though and they've done it really well. Got a cracking national anthem to them Russians. 

[Norbert Rassragr]

Paddy power will be paying more money to homosexual causes then. They advertised they'll pay for every goal Russia scores.

[Miker]

5 hours ago, DE. said:

Certainly is some turnaround in form.

Hard to tell from friendlies. I assume there was at least some experimentation being made with lineups, formations and tactics in those games.

You would really expect them to beat Saudi and Egypt though. Not exactly great teams. Uruguay will be the real test for them.

[Roverthechimp]

Regarding VAR: who decides if the referee has missed something? In the England game he was staring at the Kane incidents - do the VAR mob have the right to say "oj - look at this!"?

[arbitro]

1 hour ago, Roverthechimp said:

Regarding VAR: who decides if the referee has missed something? In the England game he was staring at the Kane incidents - do the VAR mob have the right to say "oj - look at this!"?

Yes the VAR will advise the referee of what they deem to be a clear and obvious error. The clear and obvious element is still an opinion.

Refereeing is not and will never be an exact science although the authorities think they can turn it into one.

[Roverthechimp]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

Yes the VAR will advise the referee of what they deem to be a clear and obvious error. The clear and obvious element is still an opinion.

Refereeing is not and will never be an exact science although the authorities think they can turn it into one.

Agree with you. Part of the game for me is bitching about the ref when the decision favours the opposition whilst have a wry chuckle when it goes our way.

Tragic that perfection is demanded from refs but players make 10s of mistakes in a game.

[matt83]

I think each team should get to review at least one decision. Eg Harry Kane rugby tackles x2. I’m up for giving referees as much assistance as possible but if the match officials and the VAR officials are just going to blatantly cheat then there’s no point whatsoever in having it.

For those who don’t like VAR I believe the authorities also want it to fail and if they keep using it in the way they are doing it 100% will. 

[Husky]

Today looks like it could be the most sobering day in the World Cup so far.

Would anyone here bet against Uruguay, Portugal or Spain?

 

[Admiral Nelsen]

3 minutes ago, Husky said:

Today looks like it could be the most sobering day in the World Cup so far.

Would anyone here bet against Uruguay, Portugal or Spain?

 

Will be interesting to see how Portugal deal with having to be the team on the front foot. They were pretty abysmal in the Euros when they couldn't counter attack towards Ronaldo.

The other two will be training exercises. 

 

[Husky]

Ronnie will be eyeing a hat-trick again.

Which team is going to score the most goals?

Don't phone it's just for fun: I'll go for Portugal 3. Uruguay 4. Spain 5.

[Tom]

I’ll go for Morocco 2, Iran 2 and Saudi 4

Nurse! 

[Tom]

Ronnie scores within 4 minutes, scary for Morocco 

[Husky]

Certainly after that Golden Boot. He seemed really relaxed at the start.

Oh if only he'd been born in Maidstone.