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World Cup 2026 Thread

Ed H in Pasadena said:
Btw, this was inevitable

sports.yahoo.com

FA may challenge Jarell Quansah suspension

England are weighing up a challenge to Jarell Quansah’s suspension for their World Cup quarter-final in the fallout from Folarin Balogun’s ban getting reviewed.
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com
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Not only was the suspension not overturned, but…


Edit: Since I’m incapable of getting these links to embed, he got a two game ban.
 
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I really really really hope the second match is just because of them going full England and trying to challenge it cause of the Balogan situation. In that case it's a perfectly fair appeal process, the US appealed a completely bogus red card and got it overturned and England tried to appeal a blatantly obvious red card and got an extra game as punishment.
 
Look … I’m well past looking for fairness or consistency from FIFA, but that second game is kind of silly to me. And maybe all this bruhaha accomplishes in the end is justifying FIFA’s lack of a formal appeals process. If everybody’s gonna appeal everything then I get the “just take your medicine and shut up” approach to the whole thing. It’s easier to resist political pressure and the temptation to be petty by saying … hey, there’s no process to change any of this, so …
 
Meanwhile on the pitch, France just ground a very, very good Morocco team into a fine powder and dusted them off 2-0. Expected goals for that one were comedic, but accurate. I think Morocco ended up generating something like .15 xG and honestly that felt a little generous. They managed to possess the ball a fair amount, but created nothing. At all. Meanwhile France were just all over them. That is a deeply impressive team.
 
After all of the preemptive conspiracy peddling about how the Argentinian refs were going to screw over the Moroccans, the biggest controversy ended up being the VAR review of the penalty that Mbappé ended up missing. Which, to be fair, was a stupidly long review.
 
It WAS a stupidly long review.

Fun story … I was at an NWSL game in Orlando the first year they started using VAR, but they had too few cameras so the reviews always took forever. So, they pause to check a potential foul in the box which takes a good 3-4 minutes before, it being Orlando in the evening, the heavens opened up with one of those ungodly Florida thunderstorms. There was lightning so they had to clear the stadium for about 30 minutes. When they came back, the ref calmly walked up the to drink cooler where they stored the iPad and resumed the review … and proceeded to take ANOTHER 5 minutes before he waived off the foul. All told, that VAR review took a total of 45 minutes.
 
My friend asked me what the likelihood of Spain just really battering Belgium to help him feel some revenge for the US. I told him if by battering, you meant a 1-0 unwatchable win, sure. I was wrong on the total number of scored goals, but nailed it otherwise.
 
The heat maps were telling. Belgium couldn’t stay on the ball and had real trouble getting Spain off the ball … and yet in the end it came down to a loose rebound from their backup goalkeeper. Spain are back to trying to wear teams out without ever actually wearing anybody out.
 
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Boy for all the English whining about Balogan's clear non red card, they sure are benefiting heavily from officiating decisions. Norway goal wiped out for the kind of pushing that happens on every corner, and fortunately VAR decided that Spence's obvious dive right in front of the ref that he fell for was just a bridge too far. Nothing as bad as the match earlier in the tournament where Konsa got away with a clear penalty and Pickford got away with what probably should have been a red card for DOGSO and VAR didn't look at either, but they are definitely living a charmed life. I hate all the countries that are left, but at least France is fun to watch, so I guess I'm rooting for them? That or I hope Dibu gets to hump another trophy.
 
Holy crap, I just saw the clip of the first English goal and it ABSOLUTELY should have been blown dead as the goal kick hit a wire or something in the stadium and that's why it dropped down quickly to the English player and started the break. Woof.
 
Then in the nightcap, the old Ream/Almirón Mistaken Identity call showed up for an encore, only this time it resulted in a Breel Embolo getting a second yellow for diving, and Switzerland having to play down a man for the last 18 minutes plus all of extra time.

It does feel like the VARs have been a little spicy with the creativity this tournament. Then again, maybe don’t dive? Especially if you’re already on a yellow?

Anyhow, if you thought England and Argentina were getting all the calls, Wednesday’s semifinal is gonna be an interesting one for officiating.
 
It was such a blatant dive too. Like how are you still unaware that there are cameras and they're going to notice if you're that unsubtle about your dive. You at least have to stick a leg out before you dive like Spence did if you want to avoid a yellow.
 
VinatieriDefinesClutch said:
Boy for all the English whining about Balogan's clear non red card, they sure are benefiting heavily from officiating decisions. Norway goal wiped out for the kind of pushing that happens on every corner, and fortunately VAR decided that Spence's obvious dive right in front of the ref that he fell for was just a bridge too far. Nothing as bad as the match earlier in the tournament where Konsa got away with a clear penalty and Pickford got away with what probably should have been a red card for DOGSO and VAR didn't look at either, but they are definitely living a charmed life. I hate all the countries that are left, but at least France is fun to watch, so I guess I'm rooting for them? That or I hope Dibu gets to hump another trophy.
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VinatieriDefinesClutch said:
Holy crap, I just saw the clip of the first English goal and it ABSOLUTELY should have been blown dead as the goal kick hit a wire or something in the stadium and that's why it dropped down quickly to the English player and started the break. Woof.
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Yeah. I’m VERY familair with this English team, but since I’m neither a hater nor a fan (although the more I watch Harry Kane do anything, the more I want to punch him in the throat) I feel like I’m marginally objective. I think they had been relatively harshly dealt with by the refs before yesterday and then WHAM. All of that deficit erased itself in one game. I mean, I don’t expect perfection out of those donkeys with the whistles and cards, but pick your spots better guys. You don’t get to give England that soft push-off on Haarland AND the obvious deflection off the shaky-cam. One of those you can stomach, both of them makes people starting to investigate things. And nobody wants that.
 
Leoghann said:
It does feel like the VARs have been a little spicy with the creativity this tournament. Then again, maybe don’t dive? Especially if you’re already on a yellow?
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Both can be true. VAR has been a mess in this tournament, which is hardly surprising because its effectiveness is rapidly devolving across the football world. And I was absolutely screaming at my screen for Embolo to be booked for that ridiculous dive as it happened in real time. My only question is why it took video review. It’s not like it was a close call or anything.

The sad thing is, these refs don’t have the balls to call simulation without video evidence to back them up. So, the issues are kind of hand in hand on that score. You love to see divers actually getting punished and fraudulent cards getting the old UNO reverse, but the price to pay is VAR with all of its accompanying issues. Ugh.
 
All in all though, FIFA is still winning. They get their chalk final four and got just enough screentime and accomplishments for the 3 hosts and some truly popular “lesser" nations to make it seem fun. The only thing missing is the Germans and Brazilians, and let’s be honest. Nobody really misses them.
 
Croatia National team coach Zlatko Dalic stepped down after their round of 32 exit to Portugal. Slaven Bilic was appointed as the new National team coach. He had coached them from 2006-12 and qualified for the Euros in 2008 and 2012. He’s been out of soccer since leaving Saudi side Al Fatteh in August 2024.
 
andyt said:
Chalk and a tournament so commercially successful that they’re talking about an expansion to 64 teams the next time.
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Yeah, for all the handwringing about — and in some cases openly rooting for — this World Cup being a flop, it seems to have gone just fine. Stadiums have been mostly full, and people are packing out watch parties.

But 64 teams? How the heck long is that tournament going to last? Not that FIFA cares, of course.
 
andyt said:
Croatia National team coach Zlatko Dalic stepped down after their round of 32 exit to Portugal. Slaven Bilic was appointed as the new National team coach. He had coached them from 2006-12 and qualified for the Euros in 2008 and 2012. He’s been out of soccer since leaving Saudi side Al Fatteh in August 2024.
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Croatia are another Euro team that I found particularly uninspiring. They just looked technically old fashioned and just flat out old otherwise. If FIFA keeps expanding the WC field, it’s going to make for more churn in the job market in Europe because there’s a lot of boring, stodgy soccer being played in the middle of the UEFA ranks.
 
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