LucaAltieri

Flip is trying to rationalize the result and dispel some of the completely justified horror at that refereeing. The ref won Brazil the game and Flip can't help but be gleeful about it. For shame.

It was a wrong decision but I can see why the ref gave it. From his position and angle it looks like first Fred got his left hand pulled and then he saw Lovren's hand on Fred's shoulder. Add to those the perfect dive from Fred and it does look like a pen from his position. Impossible to tell from his angle whether Fred really got pulled or threw himself to the ground. Nothing corrupt, just the way football sadly works now. Thank you. It's nothing more than an appaling decision. But Fred sold it so I can see how the ref was conned. To think the ref just pointed to the penalty spot for no reason is ridiculous. I still don't agree with saying three decisions went Brazil's way. There really was only one game changer and it was the penalty. A draw would've been fair, but if Neymar deserved a red for that then I'm sorry to disappoint but you won't see any reds like that in football. He gets a yellow because he shouldn't have his arm up there, but peoples bias and hate towards him thinks he deliberately elbows him in the face in the first half of the World Cup in pure rage. It's ridiculous. You had a better angle to see it than the ref. The ref is exactly in the position to see the arm on the shoulder and Fred throwing himself. I'm happy with three points, I think by the end of the game it owuld've come anyways. Also for all of you guys saying the ref is corrupt, how was Croatia able to escape this game with 11 men on the field? 21 fouls against Brazils 5. Persistent fouling and not a yellow ones to Vrsaljko or Perisic. This ref is horrible, but that's on FIFA for putting a god damn japanese ref that in the last World Cup was pretty bad as well for an opening game. ** Before some tiresome posters on here begin, I'm not being biased at all. I think a draw would've been fair. But you guys want a red for Neymar and an allowed goal for Olic who jumps elbow first into Julio Cesar. Neymar checked over his shoulder to make sure the player was there then smacked him in the face. And the "penalty," from every angle, looks like a dive. There was nothing even remotely convincing about it. He clearly just drops to his arse hopefully. Of course you're showing bias. I'll leave the Neymar incident out, maybe I'll have to check it again, but I didn't see the deliberate smack across the face, I saw a bad elbow coming up for a header just like Paulinho, Olic and Corluka did in the game. I'm not going to go lenghts with dicussions. Penalty wasn't a penalty, but I can see why the referee would give it other than he was handed a bag with millions of gold coins to trade back in Japan. He gave it because he bottled it. It was big club syndrome at play again. Doesn't change the fact Croatia were robbed of at least a point.

It was a wrong decision but I can see why the ref gave it. From his position and angle it looks like first Fred got his left hand pulled and then he saw Lovren's hand on Fred's shoulder. Add to those the perfect dive from Fred and it does look like a pen from his position. Impossible to tell from his angle whether Fred really got pulled or threw himself to the ground. Nothing corrupt, just the way football sadly works now. Thank you. It's nothing more than an appaling decision. But Fred sold it so I can see how the ref was conned. To think the ref just pointed to the penalty spot for no reason is ridiculous. I still don't agree with saying three decisions went Brazil's way. There really was only one game changer and it was the penalty. A draw would've been fair, but if Neymar deserved a red for that then I'm sorry to disappoint but you won't see any reds like that in football. He gets a yellow because he shouldn't have his arm up there, but peoples bias and hate towards him thinks he deliberately elbows him in the face in the first half of the World Cup in pure rage. It's ridiculous. You had a better angle to see it than the ref. The ref is exactly in the position to see the arm on the shoulder and Fred throwing himself. I'm happy with three points, I think by the end of the game it owuld've come anyways. Also for all of you guys saying the ref is corrupt, how was Croatia able to escape this game with 11 men on the field? 21 fouls against Brazils 5. Persistent fouling and not a yellow ones to Vrsaljko or Perisic. This ref is horrible, but that's on FIFA for putting a god damn japanese ref that in the last World Cup was pretty bad as well for an opening game. ** Before some tiresome posters on here begin, I'm not being biased at all. I think a draw would've been fair. But you guys want a red for Neymar and an allowed goal for Olic who jumps elbow first into Julio Cesar. Neymar checked over his shoulder to make sure the player was there then smacked him in the face. And the "penalty," from every angle, looks like a dive. There was nothing even remotely convincing about it. He clearly just drops to his arse hopefully. Of course you're showing bias.

That was mainly the failing of the Croatian defence. Brazil like to press high which vacates a lot of space in the midfield. Which means playing Modric and Rakitic in there was a great idea as they should have had a lot of space to work with. Unfortunately the defence, when the did manage to win the ball, weren't finding them often enough or fast enough. It was a good game plan, just not quite executed properly.

With this result I think the suspicion is more because it's Brazil - the golden boys, host nation, money-making brand for FIFA. If it had been England winning that way over Croatia it would have been attributed mainly to shit refereeing.

It was a 50/50 ball there to be won. Contact with the goalie was minimal, not that it matters, since football is a contact sport. He was going for the ball and he won the ball. If it had been two outfield players challenging for a header that wouldn't have been given as a foul. It was a fair challenge. Regardless, in isolation it's not a big deal. Neither is the failure to send of Neymar for blatantly, and deliberately, striking another player in the face. There was no justification for the penalty. It just wasn't a foul. At all. Under any circumstance. There's nowhere in the rule book that says you're not allowed to touch an opponent. However, we didn't watch any of these in isolation. Three key decisions went Brazil's way and it cost Croatia the match.

Topical.

Entertaining match that the ref influenced way more than he should have. Another ref could have easily sent Neymar off, wouldn't have given the penalty, and/or wouldn't have blown for the 'foul' on Cesar near the end there. Seems Brazil got the benefit of the doubt on every decision. If I were Croatian I'd be pissed. Better team still won, but the nature of it was a bit shit.

To cushion the blow of them winning yet another world cup, Brazil are reminding us that they're shit at everything else that isn't football.

dat banta.

Let's hope he's better than his dad.

2010 had a spectacular goal from South Africa in the first game. That sticks in the memory as much as anything. Also the entire world simultaneously thinking, "he couldn't score that again even if he tried a thousand times. Enjoy your fifteen minutes."

I'm just saying, it doesn't necessarily distract from the atmosphere. It can add to it.

It depends on what's behind the small stand. Century Link Field has a small stand they call the Hawk's Nest. From the other three sides it gives a great view of the cityscape, space needle, etc.

I was reading about the Aussie coach and his track record, style of play, and forward-thinking mentality. They're obviously still going to be butchered but it will be interesting to see if they actually try and play some decent football.

Wondered how long that would take. Thieving buggers, Brazilians.

Played a pickup game against a Div 2 college player yesterday. More than held our own against him and his mates. I think that says more about the level of college soccer in the US than it does about our particular football ability.

People talk about Belgium having a good squad and being potential dark horses this year. I think Croatia might have an even better team.

Yeah, must just be a shit design. You'd expect it to list something under "my leagues" or something but I just get a blank page.

It must already have me joined. Other leagues have a "join league" button. But there's nothing anywhere showing this as something I'm a member of.

seriously, it's not fucking there!

FFS, this website is shit. Where does one find the option to join the league? I can view it, lists the "Top players of 'Newcastle-Online'", I can "invite friends" but there's nowhere that indicates I'm part of this league or that I can join it. Whoever designed this needs shooting.

How does pre-Pardewed work? ie. wasn't very good to begin with. Haven't seen much of him so reserving judgement. But from the tiny bits I have seen he hasn't seemed overly impressive. Hoping to be wrong, though.

I get the feeling that this one comes pre-'Pardewed'. Still, hope to be proven wrong.

Of course he's being an ass. He's trying to be funny - and some of it is. I can relate to some of it, particularly the part about none of it seeming authentic. Coming from British culture to American culture has that affect. When we go to support our team, the game has 100+ years of history behind it. It's just different in the US. It's like I replied to my mate: His overall tone is a bit harsh but I can sympathize with some of it. One of the points he seems to miss completely is when he's complaining about how American soccer culture doesn't seem authentic. It extends beyond soccer culture and into everything. American culture in general is very malleable. The Tea Party political movement came out of nowhere and was instantly a phenomenon.That doesn't happen in England. Our recent big shake up of political parties that "came from nowhere" took 16 years to develop. Back to soccer, the Sacramento Republic just appeared this season and draw gates of 20k people. When we have teams pop up in the UK start at the bottom of the pyramid (not in MLS like NYC FC) with a tiny fanbase and grow up into big teams with their own organic culture. It takes years. We're a nation rooted in tradition whereas America is a nation that manufactures its own sentiment very quickly. You look at the difference between how the US and the UK memorialize terrorist attacks and such. 9/11 is cause for show, flag waving, expressions of emotion. Our 7/7 bombings are marked quietly and subdued and will take time to become part of our identity. So when he's arguing about how American soccer fans are stealing other cultures instead of developing their own, he's dead wrong. American soccer fans know very well what they want their soccer culture to be and instead of just waiting for it to happen organically and becoming a tradition, like the British do, they take a very pro-active approach in creating the culture that they want. There's nothing more American than that. It's not at the detriment to how you guys feel about the game, either. The vast majority of the soccer fans I know here are completely genuine. I coach the kids, I've been to professional games, I play local league and the occasional pick-up games. Of all the people I've met I can probably count the number of posers on one hand. However, from the point of view of an Englishman there is always going to be a certain amount of snobbery towards American soccer culture because you guys have been awful at it for so long. But the tide is turning, the number of kids over here playing soccer is growing while in the UK it's falling. Before we die the USMNT is going to outrank England, easily. We may even see an American world cup win. We English find that a little annoying and will continue to tease you yanks for the remaining time we can.