World Cup 2022

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Hopefully a win for France tonight, but we have seen bigger surprises this World Cup if they don't.

[Charger]

If Moronocco wins again that's it for me...Most certainly won't be watching the final as it won't be a final of the two best teams for sure...in fact the bronze game is going to be the real final then.

[Zzzptm]

France scored a very important goal in the first half. If they can play strong defense, there will be a proper final.

[Zzzptm]

That second goal seals Morocco's fate, well done France.

[Charger]

WOOOOOOHOOOOO FRANCE!!!! You rock!

What I found very interesting was that Morocco changed their game plan for this match...and instead of going for their usual every player and their uncles in the penalty zone defence they actually tried to control the ball and be bit offensive which backfired ofcourse big time. Which ofcourse just proves that the team has very little skill to actually PLAY footsy. They can do the bus block defence but they just can't PLAY BALL! I am glad that it finally came evident to everyone...hopefully even to themselves.


What I do fear is that this will lead to an increase of stupid block bus defences in upcoming tournaments from weaker countries.

[Jack the Stripper]

Teams have been playing a defensive park the bus style of football for forever and a day. Especially weaker teams against stronger teams. Even strong teams go 1-0 up and park the bus. It’s all about getting results. Well done to Morocco for getting as far as they did I say.

[Charger]

Yeah some have...Iran few tournaments ago did the same but they luckily didn't get anywhere... Moronocco sadly got this far by doing it up to the max and it was damn shameful. Adding couple of extremely lucky goals to go with it just added insult to injury.

I guess the next step would be to put 9 players on the goal line at all times.

I'm not saying that it's not a succesful tactic...it is they showed it here, but it does destroy the game for both the other teams and for the viewer.

[Zzzptm]

And this is why people in the USA love gridiron and people in Australia love footy - there's never a near-foolproof way to shut the game down with ultra-conservative defense.

When association football is good, it can be very very good. But when it is bad, it's time to change the channel. Granted, there are still mismatches and bad games in other sports, but I would much rather watch a pointless NFL game between two teams without a clue than a pointless soccer match.

[Charger]

Indeed... Team that plays like moronocco surely don't play for the sport or for the fun.


Croatia vs Moronocco
Croatia better win this...but I fear that moronocco will revert back to the bus block defence shit again and ruin the game.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Not a big fan of the 3rd/4th place play offs, I may not even watch it. Difficult to get excited about it, Croatia should win, but who knows what this Moroccan team can scrape up!

[Jack the Stripper]

For some strange reason the final will be on much earlier tomorrow which will mean a 2am kick off in Australia. Doubt I’ll getting up to watch it. Other games have been on at 6am which are night games in Qatar.

In other news, absolutely disgraceful scenes in Melbourne this evening I never thought I’d ever see in Australian sport.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/aleague-melbourne-derby-descends-into-chaos-with-violent-pitch-invasion/news-story/eab656b4548172fb1d3ae37e49bda448

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
Yes, I saw that earlier, it is a little worrying, I would expect it more in South America or Africa.

Do we know what caused the pitch invasion in the first place?

=======
Anyhow, watched the second half of the 3rd place play-off. It would appear I missed all the interesting stuff... like the goals... that happened in the first half. Croatia won 2-1 with 2 really good goals

[Charger]

Yes! Croatia did well indeed! And that first goal was another great free kick play! Loved it!

I am also extremely glad that Moronocco's playing wasn't awarded...they most certainly deserved to lose here.

[Jack the Stripper]

^^^
Yes, I saw that earlier, it is a little worrying, I would expect it more in South America or Africa.

Do we know what caused the pitch invasion in the first place?

So the APL earlier this week announced they’d cut a big money deal with the NSW government to hold the A League final in Sydney for the next 3 years(we have a finals system in our league) Anyhow, it caused a major shitstorm amongst fans and commentators of the game. So the fans were going to stage protests at the games this weekend culminating in mass walk-outs at a certain stage of the games. Well lots of flares got thrown onto the pitch in the derby game between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City and the City goalkeeper decided to pick a couple of them up and threw them back in the direction of the Victory supporters which then caused the stampede of the pitch from Victory fans who surround the city goalkeeper and assaulted him.

[Charger]

What an amazing first half from Argentina... France didn't get anything done..

Second half will be interesting...will France find a way to get back into the game...?