England v Ghana

[sunnycrofter]

The BBC have wonderful feature on their website called 3D experience, and it's really interesting immersive view of all the games (sometimes live as the game is actually being played out!)

I must say, the referee's positioning for the Konsa penalty shout was... curious. Below is a screenshot of the exact moment Konsa lunges in.

 

[DavidObs]

The BBC have wonderful feature on their website called 3D experience, and it's really interesting immersive view of all the games (sometimes live as the game is actually being played out!)

I must say, the referee's positioning for the Konsa penalty shout was... curious. Below is a screenshot of the exact moment Konsa lunges in.


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At least 20 yards off from being anywhere I would expect him to be. It’s almost like he has been caught out by something, or lost his focus/concentration. Certainly doesn’t look like he has anticipated play.

 

[bester]

it was a quick break iirc, looks like he's breaking right to try and get an angle.
What does the 54 metre indicate?
Was that where the pass came from, or change in possession possibly?

Even more of a case for VAR to get involved.

 

[sunnycrofter]

The 54m (I think) refers to something else within the 3D simulator, I don't think it has any relevance to the pass/possession/referee.

 

[JamesL]

Ghana won the ball in an appealed challenge so my guess is the referee spent too long waving that away and coupled with a quick counter attack was totally lost positionally.

 

[RustyRef]

Hard to make much of this England game. Easy trap to fall into... not winning when seemingly not required to do so
The refereeing team was amateurish. Safe (swerving decisions) refereeing
I never envisaged this fella rocking up as a FIFA ref. I thought he was better in Home Alone personally

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I was out jogging for much of the Ghana first half

So were most of the England players.

 

[Big Cat]

Hard to make much of this England game. Easy trap to fall into... not winning when seemingly not required to do so
The refereeing team was amateurish. Safe (swerving decisions) refereeing
I never envisaged this fella rocking up as a FIFA ref. I thought he was better in Home Alone personally

View attachment 8752

We're now in a phase of farcical games for which the results will be determined as much by 'tactical manoeuvring' as the ability difference between the combatants (who may not be very combatant). Guesswork from a betting perspective. A draw between Australia and Paraguay is hovering marginally above evens! There could be some proper farce to facilitate FIFA's commercial aspirations

England showed 'German efficiency' in the first game, but this Ghana game resembled Sir Loser Southgate's tenure. No idea which performance we're most likely to repeat. I'm not that bothered either way for some reason. Shows how out of love I am with Infantino's world of professional football. I was out jogging for much of the Ghana first half

As predicted in this earlier post, last night's results all amounted to what we call 'bent heats' in the world of horse racing
The favourites didn't win under the non-triers rule

This game amounts to a repeat of the Algeria fiasco




The teams involved in this final part of the group stages are at a clear advantage when compared with the likes of Scotland who were one of the first to complete their games

The 8/12 third place qualifier thing is fundamentally flawed. The 0-0 above is beyond contentious. The xG and momentum graph are indicating they may as well have not bothered playing the game

 

[RefereeX]

The teams involved in this final part of the group stages are at a clear advantage when compared with the likes of Scotland who were one of the first to complete their games

The 8/12 third place qualifier thing is fundamentally flawed. The 0-0 above is beyond contentious. The xG and momentum graph are indicating they may as well have not bothered playing the game

I hate the format more than anyone as if you can't finish in the top 2 of your group you don't deserve to go through, and Portugal winning Euro 2016 having finished 3rd in their group and not won a single match in 90 mins other than their Semi Final against Wales is the perfect example of why, however I will say... on the contrary to your point about the teams whose groups finish later having an advantage... those same teams are at a disadvantage in the later stages on the basis that a team who make the final from group A will have played 8 games in 39 days and a team who make the final from group L will have played 8 games in 33 days, which is a fair difference. (Not saying this outweighs the other advantage you mention, but it could be debated).

Wait until you realise that the 2 teams in the Austria vs Algeria match are better off losing if they look at respective likely next round opponents.

 

[RustyRef]

This has been a problem for ever even before it was 48 teams. Classic being 1982 when both Germany and Austria knew that a 1-0 German win would guarantee both teams progressed. Germany scored after 10 minutes and then neither team played football, it became known as the disgrace of Dijon and the match of shame.

I get the argument about the best 8 third place teams qualifying gives an advantage to those playing later, but can’t see any fix for it short of playing every final group game at the same time which clearly wouldn’t work. And in Scotland’s case they didn’t give themselves a chance, 3 points might be enough but not with a minus 3 goal difference. Had they scored a couple more against Haiti they’d have had more of a chance.

 

[DavidObs]

This has been a problem for ever even before it was 48 teams. Classic being 1982 when both Germany and Austria knew that a 1-0 German win would guarantee both teams progressed. Germany scored after 10 minutes and then neither team played football, it became known as the disgrace of Dijon and the match of shame.

I get the argument about the best 8 third place teams qualifying gives an advantage to those playing later, but can’t see any fix for it short of playing every final group game at the same time which clearly wouldn’t work. And in Scotland’s case they didn’t give themselves a chance, 3 points might be enough but not with a minus 3 goal difference. Had they scored a couple more against Haiti they’d have had more of a chance.

I was aware of the 1966 World Cup (at age of 5) but certainly can remember starting to watch them from 1970 onwards - though I have never had the memory/ability to recall the facts you do. Have to say it’s impressive.

 

[RustyRef]

I was aware of the 1966 World Cup (at age of 5) but certainly can remember starting to watch them from 1970 onwards - though I have never had the memory/ability to recall the facts you do. Have to say it’s impressive.

LOL, I was still in short trousers at primary school in 1982 so definitely don’t remember it. Heard it discussed on talkSPORT earlier in relation to the game last night. Hawksbee and Jacob’s show so they were definitely both old enough to remember it.