Some ridiculous comments from the pair of them after yesterday:
He (Falcao) said: "I found it peculiar that they put an American referee in this instance.. to tell you the truth, the process leaves a lot of doubts.
“He only spoke English, some bias was certain. Through small calls he was pushing us [toward] our goal, that was clear for me."
"The referee disturbed us a lot, in the 50-50 plays, he always made the calls in favour of England. This situation was undermining us. He didn't act with the same criteria for both teams.
"When in doubt he always went to the England side. It's shameful that this happens in the round of 16 of a World Cup."
Maradona has also weighed in:
"I saw a monumental theft," said the Argentine. "I apologise to all the Colombian people, but they must know the players are not to blame.
"It is the man who decides who the referee is who is to blame. A man like that [Geiger] should not be put in charge of a game of that magnitude.
"With all due respect, Pierluigi Collina, as the man who designates the referees, he is very bad. He must apologise to the Colombian people.
"The referee will know a lot about baseball, but he has no idea about football. The Colombian players asked for VAR and he did not give it to them
"Twice the English threw themselves to the ground and he did not admonish them. This was theft."
Maguire probably should have been booked for that dive. Apart from that i really struggle to see what theyre moaning about.
Expect this sort of guff from Maradona but professionals like Falcao should hold themselves to a higher standard. Embarassing stuff.
Falcao and Maradona
posted on 4/7/18
comment by BerbaKing11 (U6256)
posted 47 minutes ago
England might have gotten the rub of the green slightly, but what do teams expect when they hound the referee all game, commit stupid fouls, delay set plays and contest decisions that have actually gone in their favour (like the red card that should have been?).
I thought Colombia could easily have had a couple of reds (the butt definitely, and then repeated fouling + dissent from several players).
In fact, had it not been for all the hounding of the ref, they wouldn't have incurred as much extra time as they did and might not have had time to score their goal.
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Hi Berba. Some counterarguments, just to try to provide you with a non-England perspective.
Colombia had a player booked per 3.8 fouls; England saw one booking per 6.5 fouls. I can't remember each one of those fouls, but the above stat doesn't seem to suggest they got away with that much more.
As for the red card for the (imho extremely soft) head butt, there've been plenty of instances of flying elbows, stamps, last-man tackles and other misdemeanours in this World Cup to be able to tell that refs have been instructed to keep sending-offs to a minimum. Viewed in isolation and following the rules as we generally see them applied in Europe, yes, that would quite probably have been a red, but taking context into account and going on what's been seen at this tournament, it would have been asking more favourable treatment for England than for the other competitors.
On the surrounding and harrassing the ref, we were talking about this on another thread a couple of days ago. It's been going on throughout this World Cup. It goes on game after game in leagues across the globe, and, once again, it's clear that refs have been tolerating it in Russia. Do you think it's reasonable to expect opponents be treated differently when theyface England? It would be totally unreasonable to expect everyone else to adapt to England's or Northern Europe's refereeing standards.
Finally, the time at which Colombia scored is neither here nor there really, since added time is to make up for time the ball should've been in play or wasn't. Just for your peace of mind though, Pickford pushed the ball behind for the corner on 91'59. Mina then headed the ball at 92'31 precisely. There'd been five subs, so that's already 2'30 added time.
Unless you're telling me England didn't waste a single second when clinging on to their slimmest of leads in the dying minutes and that you'd have expected the ref to do a Clive Thomas (check Brazil-Sweden 1978 for further reference), then that one doesnt really have a leg left to stand on.
posted on 5/7/18
Itsonlyagame some decent points.
Like with most stats, we need to see what kind of fouls they were and why bookings happened. Stats like that alone don't really prove anything. Last season, in the first few games, Mhiki had decent assist stats but he played poorly. The stats masked his poor performances. Even Di Maria's time at United, looking at it through only stats, would be a success if we don't look at the whole picture.
As for your take on the headbutt, it should have been a red card. No excuses. FIFA are supposed to represent football at the highest form/level. This includes the referee and following the rules of the game. For them to allow that, in most leagues would deem a red card offence, is either down to poor refereeing or poor management of Refs.
The teams and players need to be told before the tournament that hounding isn't allowed. We have seen a few yellows given by refs for players hounding them. So it seems to be more down to the ref rather FIFA dictating it. Same for cards given. Sanchez received a straight red on the 3rd minute of the first match Colombia played. Different ref may have given just a yellow.
Your arguement could be turned around and say that the referee level has seemed to favour those who cheat (rather than Europe level refereeing), or South American "gamesmanship" than following much of the rules that FIFA themselves have laid out. How many dives have we seen gone unpunished? One could look at Naymar, who has dived as many times as he has been fouled. Once the refs have seemed to have established that diving - even when caught on VAR - isn't punished, it will encourage players to dive.
The level of Refs have been poor to decent but also very inconsistent. What one gives as a card or foul, another doesn't. VAR has improved it but hasn't cut it out completely.
I agree about their equaliser. The time added wasn't much when they scored.
posted on 5/7/18
A strong ref would have made a better game. Even if it had resulted in 1 England player being sent off it would have meant 3 Colombians going too.
#5 got away with the headbutt and then went on to make at least 3 or 4 more fouls. No excuse for that.
posted on 5/7/18
https://youtu.be/yQQuq-dUyo4?t=654
posted on 5/7/18
England being helped to win a World Cup, first ive heard
posted on 5/7/18
China, fair points too. I do agree that more should be done to curb the amount of feigning, diving and spoiling tactics, but I also feel that other aspects of the officiating have veered towards more European standards. The relatively low number of booking is actually one of them. There have been several games that would've easily drawn a double-digit number of booking if they'd been played in the Spanish league, for example.
While I agree about the stats not being a fair indicator provided in isolation, but looking at the broader context, 6 yellows for one team is the joint highest so far for any game at this World Cup. The same ref awarded 42 fouls in the Portugal-Morocco game and only booked 1 player on each team.
A fair number of teams committed over 20 fouls in a game, but none got as many bookings as Colombia. Given the context, I can't help but feel the outrage is way overblown.
Spoiling tactics haven't been exclusive to Colombian or even South American sides either. Russia, Sweden and Morocco have all been at it. In fact, terms of repetitive fouling, the discreet South Koreans have been the worst at this tournament, averaging over 20 fouls per game.
So, looking at the overall number of bookings and red cards, it's fair to say refs have generally been lenient on that count for pretty much the entire tournament, which, contrary to the overall perception, is rather more in line with the Northern European leagues than others in other parts.
It's also interesting that you should put forward the Neymar example, because as much as he ought to have been booked for his massive exaggeration, that's where all the focus seems to have been, despite the fact Layún clearly meant to stand on his leg when the ball wasn't on play.
Fast forward just 24 hours, and the attention switches to the Colombian player brushing Henderson's chin, and the condemnation of Henderson's collapsing to the ground clasping his forehead/face in agony has been framed and partly brushed off as understandable within that context. Neymar has been given no such allowance, despite the fact he's arguably one of the most fouled players in world football and was forced out of the last World Cup when a crunching knee into his back broke one of his vertebrae.
England themselves have not been devoid of their own forms of gamesmanship either. National hero Harry Kane, in particular, has been seeking to draw penalties all tournament by pulling opponents onto himself and then going down to simulate a foul. He's actually been so good at it, that many fans and pundits have been drawn in to clamouring for VAR reviews and 'stonewall' penalties.
The underlying point is that every country could have reasons to complain over certain incidents or approaches, but if you look at the bigger picture, I don't think any country has been particularly favoured nor hindered by the officiating. It's actually quite a refreshing change from other World Cups, where you always had the lingering feeling that certain nations would get the rub of the green -or not- depending on their opponent, and I certainly can't see how England have any more cause for complaint than anyone else.
posted on 5/7/18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-5kmSm7njE
posted on 5/7/18
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posted on 5/7/18
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posted on 5/7/18
comment by sandy (U20567)
posted 1 day, 5 hours ago
comment by Stretty - mr mourinho (U3123)
posted 1 hour, 56 minutes ago
comment by sandy (U20567)
posted 25 seconds ago
Whilst Colombia were up to all the old tricks last night, I don`t think us English can really moan about it. We see this sort of behaviour in the Prem every week at every game, English players and foreign players alike, all trying to con the ref.
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I have Never seen a less sporting team than them. Prem teams do not remotely compare. they didnt want a game of football.
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Well you obviously have not watched much football over here then. Simulation, diving, elbowing, face to face square ups, shouting at and surrounding the refs are all seen in pretty well every game in the Prem. Not sure what planet you have been on.
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you only watch spurs you lying @unt.