@doschicos I’ll have to pick which of the 2nd halves to watch at lunch. Both games appear tied at the moment. I’ll lean towards Ronaldo of course. And Spain’s tempo can be like watchiing paint dry. Which game do you prefer?
@vistajay I’ve been so fortunate with jury duty in my CA county. I haven’t actually been called into a jury room for a decade or two. Usually, you call in, or now check via the Net, and they don’t need you. Knock on wood.
If it were me, then I’d make an announcement and ask the jury room if they wanted to watch the WC, instead of the Price of Right. Who cares if someone guessed the price of a can of beans correctly and won a Chevy NoOneCaresAbout. L-)
@sushiritto Spain v Morocco because I prefer both teams to Portugal and Iran. I’m not a huge Ronaldo fan.
The ref was just reviewing a play with a VAR to determine if Ronaldo struck an Iranian player in the face, which he just barely did because the Iranian player was impeding his path to the ball. Ultimately, Ronaldo got a yellow card, but the rules state that he should have received red card. And the announcers thought Ronaldo should have received a red card.
I disagree. IMO, the contact was minimal and soccer players are wimps. ;))
Drama in the other game as well. Spain scored a goal to tie it up. Ref called back the goal. Video review overruled the ref.
And I thought these two games would be lopsided and boring! Nope!
OMG hand ball in the box in favor of Iran, but it wasn’t intentional to me.
I watched the last 30 minutes of both games on two big TVs in a cafeteria next to my work place.
Tuesday’s lineup:
10AM
Australia v Peru Peru is already out of contention to advance.
Denmark v France Should be a good match. Rooting for Denmark.
2PM
Nigeria v Argentina Can Argentina actually show up for a change and play a decent match?
Iceland v Croatia Wooh! Definitely rooting for Iceland who needs to win to advance.
As bad as Argentina has played, if they manage to win they probably will advance. The team has struggled this whole cycle and the knockout stage is where things will end for them though.
Here are my match predictions for tomorrow:
Australia, France, Argentina and Croatia.
These are guaranteed winners, so bet the house. :-j
@sushiritto Argentina is in no way a guaranteed winner. If the team that showed up against Croatia shows up today, they are doomed.
As for yesterday, what a whacker of a match. No, make that matches. I would’ve died of happiness if Iran had knocked Portugal out with that 94th minute opportunity. Unfortunately, we must leave that to Uruguay now.
And Spain, well, they need to up their game, and fast. Russia should be an easy win, though.
As for simultaneous matches, they decided to do that in 1982 following W Germany and Austria’s disgraceful collaboration to eliminate Algeria in the final group game.
@DodosAreDead Argentina is a lock. Cash in your saving bonds and call your bookie. $-)
Both Morocco and Iran earned my respect for giving it their all and playing excellent matches yesterday.
What are your impressions of the diving/flopping this World Cup compared to previous ones?
Also, have there been fewer cards and dirty/unsportsmanlike conduct this year?
France colludes with Denmark.
@sushritto, you’re 0 for 2 so far. Hope you didn’t bet the farm.
Well, the other piece of information that I forgot to mention is that when I’m betting, just like George Constanza, “if every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.”
So, I’m actually 2-0, because I always bet the opposite of my instincts, because my instincts are always wrong. :))
I think there have been more yellow that could have been red. There seems to be a lot more intentional blows to the feet and ankles that clearly were not the result of mistimed attempts at the ball.
Great pass to Messi and a nice goal at 14 minutes.
I bet to the unobservant eye that goal looks fairly “pedestrian,” run of the mill, nothing fancy. But if you catch it in slow motion or just a closer view at full speed, Messi, running for the ball, gets a nice touch off his thigh, then down to his foot, where he perfectly puts the ball just in front of him and then knocks it into the goal.