Banning flopping may lead some players to try different ways of attracting fouls or penalties on their opponents that are not as obviously seen as “flopping”. For example, many articles have been written about James Harden drawing fouls.
NBA players still flop, but their acting skills have gotten better. Have you watched Stephen Curry when he falls backwards after a 3-point attempt? And I’m a Warriors fan. LeBron James is famous for flopping.
In terms of the WC, with VAR (Video-assistant Referee), the referees can overturn “clear and obvious errors” on penalties.
I’ve been working and haven’t been able to catch any games. I did check the score of Austrailia/Brazil and figured Brazil had it won at 2-0. Was surprised to see the final score this morning!
Oh, no, Brazil was leading 2-0, Australia tied up, then Brazil lost the game on an own goal. What a heartbreaker.
Got home from work in time to watch England vs. Argentina. Argentinian goalkeeper made an awesome save on a penalty kick.
I haven’t watched the entire game, but from what I can tell Argentina is playing for a 0-0 tie. They have everyone back on defense and have essentially ceded any offense for the most part. The “Bunker” mentality. England has countered with bringing their center back forward on offense.
And England just scored. Finally. Argentina actually played some offense and were penalized for their aggressiveness.
I can’t quite understand how a team’s fitness can be in question. I’ve heard this discussion a couple times now. Four years to prepare for a WC and they’re almost all in their 20’s and 30’s. Wow.
Curry and James are far from the biggest foul-drawers on three point attempts.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/james-harden-gets-fouled-on-3s-more-than-any-nba-team/
Anyway, it would not be surprising if floppy soccer players figured out new ways to flop without being as obvious about it.
England is one of the top teams, so playing for the 0-0 tie makes some sense. It could be argued that they should have beaten the US in a friendly a couple of months ago.
Nice to see Canada play well and advance.
My opinion on the score is the same as some college football coach I heard getting interviewed about the same thing years ago. If you don’t like it, you should get better. That’s kind of heartless, but it’s true. This is the world cup, not rec league at the YMCA. Everyone is trying everything possible to win. Frankly I think it would be disrespectful to not do so.
How many goals is enough? When the other team pulls their players off the field and concedes the game. Until then they are still trying to win, and you would be foolish to not do everything in your power to make that more difficult. Plus no one can know that early how the tiebreakers will settle out. Frequently in youth games there is a cap, if FIFA doesn’t like the score run up they could do the same.
On Carli Lloyd’s second goal (header on corner kick), she went over the top of the defender. Is there a point where contact with a defender results in a foul? Or does anything go?
Older kid mentioned today that someone in their city neighborhood set up an outdoor screen in a small park and people gather, bring food, and watch the matches together. After calling with father’s day wishes, they were heading out to pick up some takeout and heading over to watch the USA vs Chile match.
US team’s skills are pretty amazing. Every pass, shot, and header is powerful and deadly accurate.
Can anyone challenge them?
The first place team in the US’s bracket plays the second place team in E, the loser of Netherlands-Canada. The second place team plays the second place team in B, the winner of China-Spain.
Is it better to be second than first?
@“Cardinal Fang” – Jill Ellis has given her view:
"In a press conference on Saturday, U.S. Coach Jill Ellis was asked: Would she ever tell her team to play less than 100% to avoid encountering France so early in the tournament?
That’d be a no, Ellis indicated.
“I struggle to tell my team not to tackle each other in training the day before [matches],” she said. “At this point your focus is on yourself. You put yourself in the best position to advance in this tournament.”"-- from NPR
Yes, France is going to be tough if the US ends up having to play them in the quarterfinals but I can’t see the US throwing the Sweden match to avoid them.
Today I recorded the game to watch later because were hosting a barbecue for the 3 age divisions of my husband’s old man’s soccer league. During a break I called my 88 year old father to wish him a happy Father’s Day. It turned out he couldn’t stay on the phone long because he was watching the US-Chile match. 
I love Carli Lloyd’s golf clap after scoring! Take that critics. ?
They shut out Chile even though the coach only started half of the starting players from the last game. That’s depth.