McBruce

When this began there was snow in the forecast but nothing yet and the sun had not come up. Now I look out the window and there is three inches of the stuff on the ground.

Ref will probably call this at 120:00, despite all the missed time…

Golden boot leader change #3 in this match.

Argentina need to be told to get the hell out of the area once a penalty is awarded. Why this takes 30-60 seconds each time is beyond me.

Messi needs an extra time goal to retake the lead on the assists tie-breaker in the Golden Boot.

Directly from source: An indirect free kick is awarded if a player: […] • initiates a deliberate trick for the ball to be passed (including from a free kick or goal kick) to the goalkeeper with the head, chest, knee etc. to circumvent the Law So what constitutes a ‘deliberate trick?’

OK men, here’s the plan. Continue to play like crap for the next 30 minutes and then we’ll turn it on.

Hypothetically, if France get a third, should we have the 10-14 minutes of extra time that Argentina wasted while up 2-nil?

To hear the announcers describe the 2nd goal, the preantepenultimate touch by Messi imparted a magic spell on the ball that made the three passes that followed fall perfectly…..next they will be giving him credit for the goal for making the only pass available to him.

Amusing that Collina has chosen for the final a bald referee with no eyebrows….

Woke up in time to watch the Canadian pre-game crew decide that two weeks after Canada was eliminated, it was again time to double down on the idea that Croatia would never have beaten Canada if the coach hadn’t insulted their country (he didn’t), and failed to apologize (he did). Then they went into a great rant about the fact that the next great Canadian talent may never be discovered because we’re “not a soccer nation”, and the government should heavily subsidize leagues at all levels, because apparently talent at the game is undiscoverable unless you play 100 community games a year before you are 12. I repeat the point: at the end of today’s match we will have media from 31 teams claiming referees took them out, and that will increase to 47 in three and a half years time, especially on social media mechanized posts, but Canada is the undisputed winner of the World Cup of broadcasting self-loathing.

Sadly, here in Canada we’ve had five minutes of commercials immediately after the final whistle. Has it calmed down yet? Coming back now, will they notice?

Another game called 10 seconds after the scheduled time with a 45 second substitution during added time. Do they even notice?

Doesn’t quite rise to the level of “a clear and obvious error” or a “serious missed incident.” If the referee tells the VAR room that he saw the contact and judged it minor, VAR cannot overrule unless the video shows bone coming loose….

Two flaws in the way VAR is developing: refs 70% sure that what they saw is a penalty are not calling it, knowing that VAR will correct if obvious. Second, it has become nearly impossible to get a free kick just outside the box because referees don’t call these either, knowing that VAR will catch obvious penalties but ignoring that non-penalty fouls cannot be corrected by VAR.