Anyone else forget the World Cup was back this morning?

Remembered 10 minutes ago and turned it on. Saw it was Croatia and realized I wasn't missing anything.

WOW

The one time Neymar doesn't flop, he scores.

3rd pic needed

Ha!

Croatian players have ice in their veins

So nice when rooting for chaos and against the most egregious floppers coalesces.

That game made me really happy I sprung for the WiFi on this flight to Vegas.

"Netherlands is not going to get beat in the middle."

5 minutes later...

Mark Clattenburg Mk 2 reffing the 2nd match today

I just turned on the Argentina v Netherlands match. Most players would not have tried that Messi pass for the goal in a FIFA video game of World Cup. Amazing.

Argentina has shown absolutely zero chill after going up 2 and I hope they complete the collapse.

what a play off of the free kick

A fairly entertaining day so far.

I wonder if the Argentinian soccer academies have special classes in which players are trained to dive. It's like they don't even need an opponent around to get a foul called. Watching this match is a bit like watching a Monty Python skit.

Despite the sensational comeback and the curious refereeing, over 120+ mins Argentina was the better team. I was disappointed in the outcome, but I was also entertained. In 2026 there will be a new opportunity. If our team gets through the qualifiers first.

two incredible games today

Holy shit. Grant Wahl died while covering the Argentina-Netherlands match today.


Edit: His brother is saying he was possibly murder.

WTF. Only 48 years old and looked to be in good shape.

He was kicked out of a match and detained earlier in the tournament because of his rainbow shirt. After which he was getting death threats. He had just posted an article last night critical of the Qatar government on the death of the workers used to build the venues. Now, he is suddenly dead.

I have always enjoyed his coverage of the game.

RIP

WTF?

I wonder if they or the US have been successful in getting custody of his body.

I guess he had been dealing with an illness for a few weeks. Checked into a hospital a few days ago. Theh had said it was bronchitis.

Probably one of those shitty situations where he was sick and should not have been working but couldn't skip such an important event.

It never occurred to me to that Bill Bellichick was Croatian - his grandparents were Croatian immigrants and had the name Bilicic. Anyway, he showed some rare outward enthusiasm over the game yesterday.

Enjoyed his coverage as well and been following for ages on Twitter, sad day :(


What would makes this (unproven but plausible) scenario more frustrating : his wife is a well known (part of Bidens Covid transition team) infectious disease specialist. Just utterly befuddling to take such a risk with that presumably existing knowledge base about how infectious diseases and stress go together (not). Though perhaps less surprising considering american attitude when it comes to work/illness on a societal level ...

Wow

Once again, another unfortunate result. Especially for Ronaldo. I really feel bad for him.

You feel bad for Ronaldo?

Yeah, feel awful for the guy who has been such an unlikeable prick that he alienated his club and his national coach in a couple of months. There’s about 7 billion people I feel bad for before poor baby Cristiano.

I'm basically the same age as Wahl and have been reading his stuff on soccer for my entire adult life. Easily the best American soccer writer, IMO. Huge loss, and I feel terrible for his family.

That's a god damn foul

Edit: Saka was mauled shortly before France's goal

This ref is pants

Seems England has some legitimate grievance here. Why have VAR if it can't be used effectively? Is a situation like the foul before the goal even reviewable as part of the VAR process the way they do with offsides?

Yes, as far as I know that could've been reviewed and overturned. Since they showed a replay of the foul a bit ago it shows they know it'll be a big talking point. They will analyze it at halftime.

I guess I overestimated the competence of the Fox production as they decided to not even mention it during the break.

.

Ridiculous no-call on a possible penalty. It was clear in real time and that ref should be benched for not calling it.

VAR! VAR!

Wow

Even worse than the one that made a complete mess of the Netherlands - Argentina match? Sure, both teams were unsportsmanlike, but it's quite an achievement to make Lionel Messi feel like the referee was bribed in a match where Messi himself should have been sent off and scored a penalty that was quite dubiously given.

Harry Kane, oh my! :eek:

The refereeing at this tournament has been incredibly poor. But dear lord, France is doing their best to implode and England just can’t twist the screw.

I don't really care who wins but I was hoping for another hours' worth of drama.

Let Maguire take this free kick!!!!!

Hah, that is fantastic tongue-in-cheek jabs. I do hope this is a friendly match

I Think Rashford was a good choice for the free kick, considering the absolute belter he hit against Wales from pretty much the same spot.

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