World Cup? - Why hockey is better

Mister T

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I'd prefer a France Croatia one. They are the two most exciting teams, no ulterior reason, honest!
Your wish is fulfilled. These Croats combine physical resilience and excellent ball handling. However they may run out of gas after two consecutive extra time and France has the momentum. Let's hope for a great final (some of them have been a bit too closed in the past).
 

Vinnie

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Your wish is fulfilled. These Croats combine physical resilience and excellent ball handling. However they may run out of gas after two consecutive extra time and France has the momentum. Let's hope for a great final (some of them have been a bit too closed in the past).
This was my pick from the time the knock out stages were decided. Although Belgium could have beaten France and Russia or England could have knocked out Croatia, if I had been a betting man, tgsrs where my money woukd go.
For the final, I can't see past a French win, unless they implode after an early Croatian goal. Unlikely, but I've seen the French rugby team do just that.
 

Martin Mayers

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Not sure what point you're making.

"Football's coming home". Been saying it every tournament for years, whether a good team or not. Just a rallying call. No-one from England thought we were going to win it. We hoped. But we're happy with where we came.

Best team won yesterday. England didn't quite have enough to beat Croatia's golden generation.
 

Martin Mayers

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Your wish is fulfilled. These Croats combine physical resilience and excellent ball handling. However they may run out of gas after two consecutive extra time and France has the momentum. Let's hope for a great final (some of them have been a bit too closed in the past).
Honestly, even as a pretty dispassionate English fan, I thought Croatia got slightly lucky. We could have been away and clear first half (where we outplayed them. pretty dramatically but couldn't quite make it count due to our main striker having a stinker of a game. Plenty of referees would have disallowed their goal for the high foot, especially in Europe. Goal cleared off the line in first part of injury time where we came on strong. One mistake to concede the injury time goal to let probably the worst striker in the tournament in to score (having been writhing in agony two minutes prior, and pretty much the entire remaining 10 minutes after).

All that said, and disappointment aside. They just had enough and fair play to their resilience and quality to get through. Glad we lost in the manner we did to deny our press the opportunity of demonising the guy who missed the penalty (as they did with Southgate way back).
 

hongkongwargamer

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I love the singing at the pubs and in the Tube though. Pretty sure London's part of England :)


Not sure what point you're making.

"Football's coming home". Been saying it every tournament for years, whether a good team or not. Just a rallying call. No-one from England thought we were going to win it. We hoped. But we're happy with where we came.

Best team won yesterday. England didn't quite have enough to beat Croatia's golden generation.
 

MAS01

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Honestly, even as a pretty dispassionate English fan, I thought Croatia got slightly lucky. We could have been away and clear first half (where we outplayed them. pretty dramatically but couldn't quite make it count due to our main striker having a stinker of a game. Plenty of referees would have disallowed their goal for the high foot, especially in Europe. Goal cleared off the line in first part of injury time where we came on strong. One mistake to concede the injury time goal to let probably the worst striker in the tournament in to score (having been writhing in agony two minutes prior, and pretty much the entire remaining 10 minutes after).

All that said, and disappointment aside. They just had enough and fair play to their resilience and quality to get through. Glad we lost in the manner we did to deny our press the opportunity of demonising the guy who missed the penalty (as they did with Southgate way back).

Hey Martin!

Believe it or not, I actually watched the game on replay after I already knew the score. One question on the bolded; was it really a high foot (it looked to me to be about waist high) or did it look high because the defender was so low? Not sure how that rule is written.

Cheers,


Mark
 

Vinnie

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The foot was high but since he made contact with the ball and not the defenders head, it was a fair shot.
The "high foot" rule is a safety one rather than an absolute one.
 

Martin Mayers

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Hey Martin!

Believe it or not, I actually watched the game on replay after I already knew the score. One question on the bolded; was it really a high foot (it looked to me to be about waist high) or did it look high because the defender was so low? Not sure how that rule is written.

Cheers,


Mark
Waist high tends to be a foul. Very much left to the interpretation of the ref but it's basically an unnatural height to kick a football right? As Vinnie says, it's a safety matter.

Hey, I'm not complaining. It was a good goal. But a different referee might have pulled it for dangerous play.

On another day, it's a consolation goal. What a shame. But, it's a long time since this country has been galvanised by our national football team.
 

Ric of The LBC

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Waist high tends to be a foul. Very much left to the interpretation of the ref but it's basically an unnatural height to kick a football right? As Vinnie says, it's a safety matter.

Hey, I'm not complaining. It was a good goal. But a different referee might have pulled it for dangerous play.

On another day, it's a consolation goal. What a shame. But, it's a long time since this country has been galvanised by our national football team.
Would a bicycle kick be illegal then?
 

Martin Mayers

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Would a bicycle kick be illegal then?
Yes, if there was a player in the vicinity of the kick.

Basically you can do what you want when there is no player close. If you're stood alone you can do a triple back flip, connecting with the ball 8 foot in the air, and land with a spinning pirouette.

But if you do that when another player is next to you, then it's dangerous play.

Same with an overhead/bicycle kick. Do it when a defender is challenging for the ball and it won't stand. In fact almost all players would pull out of the kick in such circumstances.

Basically you have a duty of care to those around you and players aren't obliged to make space for your champagne moment :)
 
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