Group H - Japan VS Poland and Senegal VS Colombia (3pm)

[Orzelek]

Going out on yellow cards is crazy  The only time I remember a thing similar to this, was a ACN group which was decided by lottery a couple of years ago 

 

Also I'm happy that Poland at least managed a win   Generally they were a disappointment during this WC though  

 

[D_LO_]

3 minutes ago, GreenTriangle said:

... from the penalty area only

Yeah even better. 

[grff]

13 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

It's not just the weird incentives for Group H to get yellows. It's the ludicrous nature of Japan getting awarded a "fair play" progression for cynically refusing to play anything resembling football for 10 minutes even though they were actually losing. Judging from the clips, that was much worse than the Disgrace of Gijon.

At least sides trying to game shots makes the game entertaining to watch, and give the opposition the ball back, and doesn't depend on arbitrarily lenient refereeing

 

Phil Jones is in the lineup, which should also be handy if they fancy conceding a goal.

Japan have clearly been taking tips from Conte's tactical approach at the Etihad.

I have to agree on the referee comment as it does bring a degree of randomness in to a rule.

[Rashidi]

6 minutes ago, Orzelek said:

Going out on yellow cards is crazy  The only time I remember a thing similar to this, was a ACN group which was decided by lottery a couple of years ago 

 

Also I'm happy that Poland at least managed a win   Generally they were a disappointment during this WC though  

 

Screw fair play. The end of the game was just comical. They should have just done a coin toss. At least that would have been more entertaining.

[Bunkerossian]

Penalty shootout should be the tie-breaker in future competitions. I'm a fan of Asian teams, but that wasn't great.