World Cup chat

[O Dinas Powys]

Very proud of my second daughter: her school have taken to allowing national kits to be worn to school on match days during recent World Cups (definitely the soccer, can't remember about the rugby).

Nothing had been mentioned about it for this World Cup, so she asked her teacher to ask the head master and there was a whole assembly about it yesterday and it's being allowed - you have to choose a nation and you can wear the kit on the days they play.

Personally, I'm not at all keen on the policy, but if you're going to do it at least have equality 

Cheers!

Meirion

[paulr]

Well done, that woman 

[Kiwidave]

The NZ girls managed to hold the European champions to 1-0; took them 92 minutes to score

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48599571

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Excellent

[steve_holmes_11]

Interesting......Didn't know that. 

Is that why the ball seems to 'swerve' so much more, from time to time ?

I wonder what a 'good' new football costs nowadays. (I'll go and look it up.)

Over £100 for a top notch one.  ......Though there look to be 'decent' ones for around £10.....Which somehow sounds too cheap.  :-

Cheers - Phil

I probably described it extremely badly.
The feel is a bit like foamboard - something spongy under the external layer.
The outside is far smoother than 2 decades ago, with an almost silky feel.
Tricky to catch with bare hands, but the  palms on the goalie gloves stick to it like blu-tak.

I think this is why they are now using 2 different grades of Latex - sticky stuff for the palms, and harder stuff for the punching areas.

[lowlylowlycook]

With these new rules about the goalie's feet actually touching the line when penalties are taken, I'm having a hard time calculating how long a shootout might take.    The combination of time spent on VAR and the huge disadvantage the goalies are dealing with might make for a "cricket like" experience.

Then again, maybe the North Korean referee will just call it over at 6-5 even though every penalty has been scored up to that point.

[Techno]

With these new rules about the goalie's feet actually touching the line when penalties are taken, I'm having a hard time calculating how long a shootout might take.    The combination of time spent on VAR and the huge disadvantage the goalies are dealing with might make for a "cricket like" experience.

Totally agree !

It'll have to be  pretty rubbish spot kick to give the goalie any chance of saving it.

Cheers - Phil

[Leman]

How the heck did the the Scots manage that! 

[steve_holmes_11]

With these new rules about the goalie's feet actually touching the line when penalties are taken, I'm having a hard time calculating how long a shootout might take.    The combination of time spent on VAR and the huge disadvantage the goalies are dealing with might make for a "cricket like" experience.

Then again, maybe the North Korean referee will just call it over at 6-5 even though every penalty has been scored up to that point.

Somebody's bound to balloon one up into row Z.

[lowlylowlycook]

Apparently the Premier League has got out in front of this and said they will not be using VAR to monitor goalies during penalties.

[Westmarcher]

I think this VAR thing at penalties is quite easily remedied. Introduce a rule that compels the goalkeeper to face the back of the net whilst standing on the line at the moment the kick is taken. And if the ball hits the keeper and does not go in, show the keeper the yellow card for unsports(wo)manlike conduct for not getting out of the way and order a re-take.  

[Leman]

Indeed. This new rule is utter b******s!

[Techno]

To repeat....

I totally agree.

Frigging stupid rule.....As it stands, at the mo'.

Cheers - Phil

[lowlylowlycook]

On the plus side, the yellow cards they are handing out for the goalie being inches off their line might make for less time wasting at the end of matches.

[lowlylowlycook]

The interview that Marta gave after the loss to Fance was pretty amazing.

https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/1142931040463290368

Hopefully people can see that but I'm not sure how FIFA handles twitter.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Cameroon shove on the ref was unnoticed, after a pretty bad tempered match?!   

[O Dinas Powys]

With these new rules about the goalie's feet actually touching the line when penalties are taken, I'm having a hard time calculating how long a shootout might take.    The combination of time spent on VAR and the huge disadvantage the goalies are dealing with might make for a "cricket like" experience.

Then again, maybe the North Korean referee will just call it over at 6-5 even though every penalty has been scored up to that point.

Isn't the goalie supposed to be at a huge disadvantage when the penalty is taken? 

Wasn't a(/the?) previous version of Law 14 that the goalie had to remain stationary until the ball was struck?  At least under the current law they can shift their weight in anticipation of the strike - like a tennis player waiting to receive a service.

[O Dinas Powys]

I think the major problem is the way they've decided to implement an American Football style VAR system where the referee gets a call and has to run to a viewingbooth on the half-way line to make a decision on supplied evidence.  I think a hybrid rugby system (taking from both codes) would work a lot better:

From RU the constant monitoring for foul play and bring such events to the attention of the referee for sanction.
From RL the system for adjudicating of goals and penalties, where if the referee thinks there is any issue or doublt they call for it and the video ref makes the decision.  This is also the cricket system and take the on field-officials out of the ultimate decision.  Personally I perfer this over the RU version where there is often a three-way discussion and it can seem muddy.

Ultimatel - for VAR to become accepted like it has in RL, RU, cricket and the NFL - it has to be stramlined AND both the spectaors in the stadium and at home need to know what's going on and why - whether they actually know the rules or not is another matter...

[Techno]

Wasn't a(/the?) previous version of Law 14 that the goalie had to remain stationary until the ball was struck? 

Pretty sure you're right on that one, Meirion.

Cheers - Phil

[fred.]

The issues with footballs VAR seems to be several fold
It's really slow - with the ref running over to peer at a screen
It's really slow - referrals seem to come in well after the play (this can happen a bit in RU too)
It's really slow - running through the various angles time and again (this is often an issue with any video review) cricket seems best at this but it is helped by having much more fixed points of action
It's very picky - the goalies feet and some of the offsides, feel like decisions that would never have been called in real time. So its not an assistant it's changing the play of the game.
It seems inconsistent - particularly around foul play. RU seems quite good at this.