The World Cup Final: France vs Croatia (Kickoff 16H00 BST)

Disgusting finish to the world cup.

Griezman dive + Pogba offside when the free kick for the first goal was taken.

Made up penalty (Croatian player was behind Perisic to pick up the ball, so you can't count it as blocking the assist).

Croatia never had the chance. Fifa always acts like mafia when it comes to small nations. They're a cute story but that's all they'll ever get. No small country will ever go all the way.
 
Strange game, to say the least. Croatia played most of the football over the course of the game but those two goals in the first half were very hard to take. I thought Mbappe would have really given Vida and Lovren a tough time but he wasn't involved as much as I expected apart from a few runs.
Perisic and Modric were both outstanding yesterday but over the tournament Croatia as a whole did themselves proud, a pity it wasn't to be in the Final but they gave it their all.
 
gaucho_10 said:
Disgusting finish to the world cup.

Griezman dive + Pogba offside when the free kick for the first goal was taken.

Made up penalty (Croatian player was behind Perisic to pick up the ball, so you can't count it as blocking the assist).

Croatia never had the chance. Fifa always acts like mafia when it comes to small nations. They're a cute story but that's all they'll ever get. No small country will ever go all the way.
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Pogba was kept onside by the trailing leg of the defender. It’s very clear.

And imo the penalty decision was correct and many people agree. So even after watching videos you have people with conflicting opinions so you can’t exactly say the decisions are awful.
 
ZAGREB RED said:
Strange game, to say the least. Croatia played most of the football over the course of the game but those two goals in the first half were very hard to take. I thought Mbappe would have really given Vida and Lovren a tough time but he wasn't involved as much as I expected apart from a few runs.
Perisic and Modric were both outstanding yesterday but over the tournament Croatia as a whole did themselves proud, a pity it wasn't to be in the Final but they gave it their all.
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Thought those first 45 minutes were the best we played in this tournament.

Also think, France deserved to win it in the end, looking at the teams they faced and overall quality.
 
El Zoido said:
Pogba was kept onside by the trailing leg of the defender. It’s very clear.

And imo the penalty decision was correct and many people agree. So even after watching videos you have people with conflicting opinions so you can’t exactly say the decisions are awful.
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That's the thing, if there are so conflicting opinions then there cannot be "clear and obvious error" to overturn no penalty call.
 
El Zoido said:
Pogba was kept onside by the trailing leg of the defender. It’s very clear.

And imo the penalty decision was correct and many people agree. So even after watching videos you have people with conflicting opinions so you can’t exactly say the decisions are awful.
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Let's agree to disagree.

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It's marginal but it's offside. The point is that Griezman should have gotten a yellow card for that dive instead.

The penalty call was bs. Hand was in natural position (he was jumping) and the rules clearly say that if the unintenional handball is blocking the shot on goal or attempt to assist the penalty has to be given. This was an assist attempt, but like I said, there was no path for the ball to get to French player because there was a Croatian player behind Perisic and he actually got VAR to see it clearly. Even Griezman said after the game that it was strange for him that penalty was given.

VAR is just awful the way it is set up, but they will never give up control and that's why the tenis like challenge concept will never be implemented.
 
gaucho_10 said:
Let's agree to disagree.

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It's marginal but it's offside. The point is that Griezman should have gotten a yellow card for that dive instead.

The penalty call was bs. Hand was in natural position (he was jumping) and the rules clearly say that if the unintenional handball is blocking the shot on goal or attempt to assist the penalty has to be given. This was an assist attempt, but like I said, there was no path for the ball to get to French player because there was a Croatian player behind Perisic and he actually got VAR to see it clearly. Even Griezman said after the game that it was strange for him that penalty was given.

VAR is just awful the way it is set up, but they will never give up control and that's ehy the tenis like challenge concept will neve4 be implemented.
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There’s a much better overhead angle of it, where it’s very clear he’s onside.

For the handball, it is what it is. The player moves his hand to the ball and the ref interpreted it as such. Can’t block a cross with your hand and expect to get away with it I’m afraid. I’m struggling to understand the outrage if I’m honest. Maybe some people just wanted Croatia to win and are upset at a perceived robbery. He blocked a cross with his hand that appeared to move toward the ball, you can argue it either way but it’s hardly some great injustice.
 
El Zoido said:
There’s a much better overhead angle of it, where it’s very clear he’s onside.

For the handball, it is what it is. The player moves his hand to the ball and the ref interpreted it as such. Can’t block a cross with your hand and expect to get away with it I’m afraid. I’m struggling to understand the outrage if I’m honest. Maybe some people just wanted Croatia to win and are upset at a perceived robbery. He blocked a cross with his hand that appeared to move toward the ball, you can argue it either way but it’s hardly some great injustice.
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I think this is clearly what the referee saw. However it's not clear to me yet whether the penalty should be only because of deliberate handball or not.The penalty yesterday may have been given because Perisic's hand was in the way. It can even be clumsy. But ultimately the hand stopped the ball from entering the box so it goes down as a penalty even if it wasn't 100% deliberate. It wasn't too dissimilar to the one Pogba conceded against Liverpool at OT in 2017. That wasn't deliberate either but the hand stopped the ball from reaching the intended target. The rules are not crystal clear to me yet because we see penalties being given in both instances.
 
El Zoido said:
There’s a much better overhead angle of it, where it’s very clear he’s onside.
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I'll buy that, but it's not relevant in the end because it was a dive, not a foul to get the free kick.

For the handball, it is what it is. The player moves his hand to the ball and the ref interpreted it as such. Can’t block a cross with your hand and expect to get away with it I’m afraid. I’m struggling to understand the outrage if I’m honest. Maybe some people just wanted Croatia to win and are upset at a perceived robbery.
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It's two goals of which one should never have happened and the other was a questionable penalty.

There's nothing perceived here. France got the first lead because the ref fecked up and the second because the ref interpreted that hand ball the way he did. It's a bit too much all together for a wc final game.

Those player didn't play a month of football to be served with that bs in the final game. It's just not right.
 
LMAO at questionable penalty. It was from a corner and Perisic slapped it like he was playing handball. If his hand was stationary then it's understandable, be he moved towards the ball.
 
:lol: at all you bitter cnuts and anyone complaining about the final being shit

Great tournament, entertaining final, and France were deserved winners.
 
breakout67 said:
LMAO at questionable penalty. It was from a corner and Perisic slapped it like he was playing handball. If his hand was stationary then it's understandable, be he moved towards the ball.
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Well Perisic is beach volleyball player.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Croatia were easily the better team in the first half. An own goal and a very dodgy penalty helped France to have a 'comfortable' second half.
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Like Neville said post match, possession doesn't necessarily mean you were in control. Croatia ran them ragged early on but they never fully broke the defence down. France held on when they needed to hold on and once Croatia tired were ruthless when they needed to be ruthless.
 
MrMarcello said:
He's like that often. Labels players world class when they're clearly not on that level, has argued that the college system in the US is just as good as the academy system anywhere else*, and on and on. He's like a paid cheerleader for all things must be positive for the US leagues and players.

*He pointed out how the likes of Dempsey et al have performed at top levels for top clubs and the US. Yet, imagine how much better Dempey et al could have developed by training in proper academies from an early age versus dysfunctional travel youth clubs and a collegiate system that stunts sporting growth in the sport.

As for Howard, that was for me the greatest goalkeeping performance I had ever witnessed, at any level or event.
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Not for me. Man of the match for sure but most shots were straight in to his hands and no venom in them. I've seen a dozen keeper performances like that against United the last two seasons but none of them compare to the 0-3 against Arsenal. De Gea stopped at least five certain goals that day. fecking amazing perfoemance from a goalkeeper.
 
11101 said:
Like Neville said post match, possession doesn't necessarily mean you were in control. Croatia ran them ragged early on but they never fully broke the defence down. France held on when they needed to hold on and once Croatia tired were ruthless when they needed to be ruthless.
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Yeah but they had control and were the more dangerous team. France held on and played miserably till the referee handed them the advantage. Had France genuinely held on well to follow it up with a smashing response all on their own I'd be willing to give them more credit and play down Croatia's misfortune. But that wasn't what happened. One team, the less fancied team, was the better team till the referee screwed them over. As much I love that Pogba got the main goal and was impressed by Mbappe's strike while the game was on even terms, the French stars offered nothing.
 
Florida Man said:
:lol: at all you bitter cnuts and anyone complaining about the final being shit

Great tournament, entertaining final, and France were deserved winners.
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The final was great. The tournament was fantastic. Can feel that and hold the view that the result wasn't decided in the correct manner.

But it's been a blast. I really don't think that the club season can match this.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Yeah but they had control and were the more dangerous team. France held on and played miserably till the referee handed them the advantage. Had France genuinely held on well to follow it up with a smashing response all on their own I'd be willing to give them more credit and play down Croatia's misfortune. But that wasn't what happened. One team, the less fancied team, was the better team till the referee screwed them over. As much I love that Pogba got the main goal and was impressed by Mbappe's strike while the game was on even terms, the French stars offered nothing.
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It was a penalty imo.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Yeah but they had control and were the more dangerous team. France held on and played miserably till the referee handed them the advantage. Had France genuinely held on well to follow it up with a smashing response all on their own I'd be willing to give them more credit and play down Croatia's misfortune. But that wasn't what happened. One team, the less fancied team, was the better team till the referee screwed them over. As much I love that Pogba got the main goal and was impressed by Mbappe's strike while the game was on even terms, the French stars offered nothing.
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I think what it comes down to is who threatened the opposition goal the most. Croatia peppered France with long range and speculative efforts. They had a lot of the ball but they couldn't break the final French barrier down. France had more shots on target than Croatia, 10 in total to Croatia's 5, and 4 of them went in. In fact, they didn't miss once. They were just far more clinical and dangerous. To me that means they were the better team.

And you can't say the referee screwed them over when both decisions were easily defendable as being correct.
 
This wc show us that one thing will never change in football: tactics and preparation are important, but when you have superior talent, specially in attack, you just need to focus in organize the defense a little bit and the talent can decide games even when you are not dominant. Its an alternative perspective to Spain/Germany in the previous World Cups.
 
gaucho_10 said:
I'll buy that, but it's not relevant in the end because it was a dive, not a foul to get the free kick.



It's two goals of which one should never have happened and the other was a questionable penalty.

There's nothing perceived here. France got the first lead because the ref fecked up and the second because the ref interpreted that hand ball the way he did. It's a bit too much all together for a wc final game.

Those player didn't play a month of football to be served with that bs in the final game. It's just not right.
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France was the best team in the tournament by a fairly large margin (presumably you agree with this assessment - most do) and was very much deserved winners. They played the best football, they had the competitions most influential players in Mbappe, Greizemann, Kante, Pogba and Varane among others. They just looked the part from the first to last minute.

You can argue until you're blue in the face about the manner of their victory in the final - personally, I thought VAR was spot on for all the decisions - but when all is said and done, the best team came out on top - which isn't always the case in knockout competitions.
 
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MrMarcello said:
He's like that often. Labels players world class when they're clearly not on that level, has argued that the college system in the US is just as good as the academy system anywhere else*, and on and on. He's like a paid cheerleader for all things must be positive for the US leagues and players.

*He pointed out how the likes of Dempsey et al have performed at top levels for top clubs and the US. Yet, imagine how much better Dempey et al could have developed by training in proper academies from an early age versus dysfunctional travel youth clubs and a collegiate system that stunts sporting growth in the sport.

As for Howard, that was for me the greatest goalkeeping performance I had ever witnessed, at any level or event.
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That's not how I remember it at all, we were wasteful and most of our shots were just too close to the keeper. There were a couple of very good reflex saves with his feet but none of those shots were particularly well struck.
 
Random Task said:
France was the best team in the tournament by a fairly large margin (presumably you agree with this assessment - most do) and was very much deserved winners. They played the best football, they had the competitions most influential players in Mbappe, Greizemann, Kante, Pogba and Varane among others. They just looked the part from the first to last minute.
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Chasing Modric was making almighty Kate so dizzy and yellow that he had to be replaced to stop him from getting himself sent off with a second yellow. That's how the part they looked.
 
gaucho_10 said:
Chasing Modric was making almighty Kate so dizzy and yellow that he had to be replaced to stop him from getting himself sent off with a second yellow. That's how the part they looked.
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Sorry, who is Kate?

So you didn't think France were deserved winners?
 
Worst team to ever win a World Cup for sure and by a good margin imo. They were just using a sort of Catenaccio and looking for free kicks/corner to score during the whole competition, Croatia was far superior yesterday (specially during the first half) and yet they were losing 2-1 at half time thanks to the referee. I feel bad for Croatia and for the football in general.
 
I'll give you the Griezmann dive, but the handball was clearly a handball --you can see the motion of the hand reacting to the ball. And even if you take the first France goal off the board -- although it wasn't exactly a two-foot putt of a free kick -- France still wins the game 3-2. Apart from the Perisic goal when was Lloris otherwise seriously tested by a shot on goal?

I'm not having the "worst World Cup winner" talk. This France team is deep and strong and could easily have hung well with Italy 06, Brazil 94 and West Germany 90. Apart from Giroud there's no obvious weakness in the squad and even then Giroud, while not scoring, did a very solid job of creating space and chances. But no, this is not Brazil 70. We may not live long enough to see a side that stands next that great Brazilian side -- unless this France side can keep it together and strengthen the 9 position in 22.
 
lex talionis said:
I'll give you the Griezmann dive, but the handball was clearly a handball --you can see the motion of the hand reacting to the ball. And even if you take the first France goal off the board -- although it wasn't exactly a two-foot putt of a free kick -- France still wins the game 3-2. Apart from the Perisic goal when was Lloris otherwise seriously tested by a shot on goal?

I'm not having the "worst World Cup winner" talk. This France team is deep and strong and could easily have hung well with Italy 06, Brazil 94 and West Germany 90. Apart from Giroud there's no obvious weakness in the squad and even then Giroud, while not scoring, did a very solid job of creating space and chances. But no, this is not Brazil 70. We may not live long enough to see a side that stands next that great Brazilian side -- unless this France side can keep it together and strengthen the 9 position in 22.
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I agree with you that France are not the worst winner, they’ve got good to great players all over the field, fairly solid with varane at the back and lethal with mbappe up front. Before the final I would have said worthy winners, still are really but the final left a sour taste, they got let off the hook there.

But really? :lol: My 8 year old kid uses this argument, you can’t just take a goal away from the total and say “see they still scored more”.
The timing and order of goals is so important. If they go in at half time still 1-1 it’s a totally different 2nd half and Croatia wouldn’t need to chase as much and get caught so bad on the break plus France commuting more forward leaving Croatia more room.
 
Over 300k people. Players in bus are doing 20km route for nearly 4 hours. Now i am more sad that we didn't won gold medal.
 
Andycoleno9 said:
Over 300k people. Players in bus are doing 20km route for nearly 4 hours. Now i am more sad that we didn't won gold medal.
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Brilliant turn out for both fans and players. Something to remember forever and hopefully build on again and encourage more Croatian youngsters into the sport.
We did similar for Wales on their return from the euros, only a semi final appearance for us but was still a big deal for us being our first tournament for so many decades. It’s certainly inspired kids in the local area to enjoy and take part in football more so than Wales not doing anything on the international scene.

Really happy for Croatia :)
 
Andycoleno9 said:
Still leaves bad taste. But hey, just to remind you and @Ban , @No Idea For Nickname . Who said that we can be world champs month ago? Who? ;)
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Yeah, I thought you were just crazy. :D

As for the feelings... Was happy and proud last night (drink massively helped), absolutely devastated this morning and now again overwhelmed with joy seeing some of the scenes. In short, had more mood swings than my wife during a period.
 
Is it just me or is that Croatia parade with all the players singing just odd? They didnt win?

Fair you came second and will probably never get that close again, but a parade with 100s of 1000s there watching?
 
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