FIFA World Cup 2018 - Final

[Dnigly13]

First France goal came off a flop by Griezmann. Sencond goal of a handball cause the French player missed the head on.

No dog in the fight but shitty for Croatia.

At least the Mexicans and the Nazis lost. (Pc?)

 

[Davo15]

France have an embarrassment of riches. The Strength in depth to get things done in any type of match. My boy Thauvin arguably the best player in Ligue one this year barely saw the pitch all tournament. Lenglet just moved for big money to Barcelona not even picked. Laporte who city paid big money for last winter not picked. Lacazette of Arsenal not picked. Second youngest squad in the world cup. It can very much be argued this team has not reached it's peak and their world champions. Lots of haters out there right now better get used to seeing France competing for the major trophies for the foreseeable future.

 

[Christopher Jee]

France have an embarrassment of riches. The Strength in depth to get things done in any type of match. My boy Thauvin arguably the best player in Ligue one this year barely saw the pitch all tournament. Lenglet just moved for big money to Barcelona not even picked. Laporte who city paid big money for last winter not picked. Lacazette of Arsenal not picked. Second youngest squad in the world cup. It can very much be argued this team has not reached it's peak and their world champions. Lots of haters out there right now better get used to seeing France competing for the major trophies for the foreseeable future.

Agreed, too bad they spend their riches like misers.

I can't fault them for doing what they need to do to win, but I won't say that it fills me with passion, surprise or delight. The way they have been playing mirrors the pragmatism of "real life" that football, at least at the best of times IMO, offers an escape from.

 

[LionNYC]

They have 2026 as well.

I really need to figure out this VPN stuff and how to watch on BBC.

 

[Keith Putnam]

not picked

Ousmane Dembelé barely saw the field either, IIRC.

 

[Davo15]

Agreed, too bad they spend their riches like misers.

I can't fault them for doing what they need to do to win, but I won't say that it fills me with passion, surprise or delight. The way they have been playing mirrors the pragmatism of "real life" that football, at least at the best of times IMO, offers an escape from.

I can appreciate it not being the most aesthetically pleasing brand off football to a neutral and I'd like to see the shackles come off a bit at Euro 2020. Still you play to win the game and as someone with some French blood who's followed the French National team since the mid 90's I'm enjoying the victory. I'm not sure how many people remember but the 98 team had a lot of detractors as well despite being one of the best teams I've ever seen save at forward. Still people with conspiracy theories on Brazil throwing the match out there.

 

[nickp91]

The president of Croatia is such a darling woman!

 

[Shwafta]

I really need to figure out this VPN stuff and how to watch on BBC.

Honestly I prefer fox over bbc. The bbc commentators just sit there and complain for 90 minutes, and are sooo much more boring. Even if the fox commentators are bland, their excitement levels make it much easier to watch the games in the background and flip over when you hear them pick up. xD I watched England vs Croatia on bbc and I didn't even know Croatia scored for close to 10 seconds....

 

[LionNYC]

Honestly I prefer fox over bbc. The bbc commentators just sit there and complain for 90 minutes, and are sooo much more boring. Even if the fox commentators are bland, their excitement levels make it much easier to watch the games in the background and flip over when you hear them pick up. xD I watched England vs Croatia on bbc and I didn't even know Croatia scored for close to 10 seconds....

Most of the complaints about FOX are within everything outside the 90 minutes of the match. The studio pregame, halftime, and postgame.

 

[Shwafta]

Most of the complaints about FOX are within everything outside the 90 minutes of the match. The studio pregame, halftime, and postgame.

Yeah, those are so terrible. Which is why I just tune out of fox for those parts, but open it for the actual game. Lalas is a joke.

 

[21Architect]

They have 2026 as well.

That’s gross.

I thought Fox paid $440 million for 2018 and 2022. I was misinformed.

 

[SoupInNYC]

First France goal came off a flop by Griezmann. Sencond goal of a handball cause the French player missed the head on.

That was weird. Griezmann flopped, and then was fouled while he was flopping.

 

[TabascoDiva]

ViVA La France!! (Excuse my french)

I am thrilled. France Won

However I , got to be fair and honest and say that , the VAR technology influenced the outcome of the game on the second goal. I detest it !!!
I strongly believe that the only authority in the pitch must only be the referee , and his human assistant. WE are humans , not machines .
Futbol / soccer is played by humans and must remain like that. We make mistakes , our eyesight have limitations , we have our personal bias as much as we try to be fair and its fun to be humans( and, if you believe in God) , in the image of our creator .


The second french goal was a penalty awarded by the VAR tech. and it has taken off a bit off of the golden glow in my eyes and heart, in the French win.

 

[NickA]

France have an embarrassment of riches. The Strength in depth to get things done in any type of match. My boy Thauvin arguably the best player in Ligue one this year barely saw the pitch all tournament. Lenglet just moved for big money to Barcelona not even picked. Laporte who city paid big money for last winter not picked. Lacazette of Arsenal not picked. Second youngest squad in the world cup. It can very much be argued this team has not reached it's peak and their world champions. Lots of haters out there right now better get used to seeing France competing for the major trophies for the foreseeable future.

What are you talking about? France always has a formidable squad. They aren't new to this. The age has nothing to do with it either. England has the same average age and what does that mean really. France didn't play like some juggernaut in the final. A lot went their way. They deserved the win, because they capitalized on Croatian mistakes & took advantage of the momentum swings. Not gonna take that away from them. That said, Croatia could have beat them and any unbiased fan wouldn't have been that surprised.

 

[Keith Putnam]

awarded by the VAR tech

That's not how VAR works. The VAR team told the ref he should probably look at the potential foul again, and then the ref looked and made the call.

That call could have gone either way, really. There's zero consistency in the application of the handball-in-the-box rule. It was just as valid to give it as to not give it.

ETA: an almost certain effect of VAR is we, the fans, discovering that we may not like the laws of the game as much as we think once they start being more rigorously applied. It may lead, I hope, to refinements to both the specifics and the application of the laws.

 

[Davo15]

What are you talking about? France always has a formidable squad. They aren't new to this. The age has nothing to do with it either. England has the same average age and what does that mean really. France didn't play like some juggernaut in the final. A lot went their way. They deserved the win, because they capitalized on Croatian mistakes & took advantage of the momentum swings. Not gonna take that away from them. That said, Croatia could have beat them and any unbiased fan wouldn't have been that surprised.

France have had their lean periods. Their extremely strong right now and very young so likely to get better heading into the next couple tournaments it's sound logic and not that hard to follow. A lot of people not wanting to give them any credit because they think they didn't play with enough panache throughout the cup and that Croatia were "The better team today."

 

[ferrarinycfc]

That’s gross.

I thought Fox paid $440 million for 2018 and 2022. I was misinformed.

Originally that was the case.

Then FIFA said the 2022 edition might be played in the middle of December ie NFL season and FOX seemed pretty crook about it.

FIFA then gave 2026 to FOX for basically peanuts probably to stop being sued for shifting the tournament

 

[Midas Mulligan]

That's not how VAR works. The VAR team told the ref he should probably look at the potential foul again, and then the ref looked and made the call.

That call could have gone either way, really. There's zero consistency in the application of the handball-in-the-box rule. It was just as valid to give it as to not give it.

The fact that he watched it so long and in slowmo says that his non-call wasn’t a clear and obvious error.

That was a shitty penalty to give.

And I have no idea where this narrative of people not respecting France came from (not you, I know). But holy shit, weren’t they one of the main 3-4 favorites going in? Beyond that, I think they were widely considered the absolute most talented. The only questions were coaching and attitude.

They basically took Portugal’s plan that beat them in Euro 2016 and executed it with better players. Congrats to them.

It was shit to watch, and I always hate when pragmatism wins. Give me Pep and Klopp ball all day. I told my wife 20 minutes in when Croatia was wrecking France’s asses that it was going to be a UCL repeat where weird, shitty stuff gave France an easy win. Sure enough.

I like most of the French players. I hate the way they played. But they weren’t undeserving. Just uninspiring. Congrats to them. Wish I were in Paris. Would have been a blast.

 

[Midas Mulligan]

I’d like to also add that if the little pitch invader people were actually looking to get real political traction and western support, they’d have stopped a French attack, not Croatia.

Poor planning on their part.

 

[LionNYC]

Liberté, égalité, Mbappé