VAR is still a work in progress, there have been some vital calls which have decided games in a good way, still kinks and glaring issues, but its going in the right direction. 

The guys in the studio need to be much quicker to flag issues to the ref and ideally the referee would view the incidents on the big screen with everyone else in the stadium, just like they do for the rugby. Running to the little TV takes a bit too long, they need to figure something out to speed that up. 

Do the VAR officials tell the ref when VAR has picked something up ? Or is it only when the ref requests it ? Can players request it, because they have been, surely this will become an epidemic soon with players drawing squares in the air every few minutes. It's not been made very clear how the system works, yes we all know the "clear and obvious" bit, but that doesn't seem to be the case for every incident with "clear and obvious" things being missed, and not so obvious things being given. Last night after the 2nd Kane grapple i remember actually seeing the ref mimic a dive, a bit like that thing Tommy Cooper used to do when he said "just like that" Then the replay came up, and showed it was the complete opposite, all he had to do was have a look on the monitor, it was "clear and obvious".

Perhaps Kane's  reputation had preceded him.

Have to say based on first half only, we looked like the best team at the World Cup. Played some fantastic football, created a lot of goal scoring opportunities.

Mexico also looks very good, proved their defence are capable as they’ve kept ze Germans out.

COumbia are a Bunch of whiners and cheaters, Cuadrado included.

I actually think VAR is completely undeeded and the little football controversies of 'was it a penalty or not' to talk about at the pub were what made football so great. 

Uh, no.

That free kick looked very dodgy. 

Columbia are so lucky 

5 minutes ago, Jezq8 said:

That free kick looked very dodgy. 

Columbia are so lucky 

Dodgy to say the least.  Super slow free kick, not sure what the Japan keeper was doing,  Maybe his best de Gea impression?

52 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I actually think VAR is completely undeeded and the little football controversies of 'was it a penalty or not' to talk about at the pub were what made football so great. 

I feel that all we need is:

- Goal-line technology

- Retrospective bans for diving/faking injuries (the latter is one which never gets addressed - the rolling around feigning pain and then getting up and being perfectly fine, though could be hard to prove)

It seems to work well with baseball and the NFL, after they tweaked a few things.  I don't see why it won't work well in football matches.  I know that about the continuous play thing, but I still think VAR is the right thing to do, since leaving all the major decisions up to the almighty referee just seems wrong to me.

Columbia players are so lazy.

23 minutes ago, Zeta said:

I feel that all we need is:

- Goal-line technology

- Retrospective bans for diving/faking injuries (the latter is one which never gets addressed - the rolling around feigning pain and then getting up and being perfectly fine, though could be hard to prove)

Completely agree.

17 minutes ago, Phillip said:

It seems to work well with baseball and the NFL, after they tweaked a few things.  I don't see why it won't work well in football matches.  I know that about the continuous play thing, but I still think VAR is the right thing to do, since leaving all the major decisions up to the almighty referee just seems wrong to me.

Lots of major sports like tennis, football, rugby, and others are at their most exciting when the game/match flows with rallies and end to end play. Starting and stopping the game every 20-30 seconds cripples the game and takes away the beautiful part of the game. 

19 minutes ago, Phillip said:

It seems to work well with baseball and the NFL, after they tweaked a few things.  I don't see why it won't work well in football matches.  I know that about the continuous play thing, but I still think VAR is the right thing to do, since leaving all the major decisions up to the almighty referee just seems wrong to me.

That's because those yank sports are already stop-start every few seconds. The beautiful game has worked well in England for centuries. 

@coco beat me to it. What he said basically.

Colombians should be drugged tested after that game, they just ambled around, hardly pressed Japan, a truly pathetic performance from some very valuable players.

Japan did brilliant the second half, i dont think i have seen a team make use of the extra man like Japan did second half, passed it around with confidence, well done to them.

Well, they were a man down at the 2nd minute, so that may have something to do with Columbia playing the way they did.  Not sure how warm it was there, but playing with 10 men for such a long period of time will wear you out.

Edited June 19, 20188 yr by Phillip

1 minute ago, Phillip said:

Well, they were a man down at the 2nd minute, so that may have something to do with Columbia playing the way they did.  Not sure how warm it was there, but playing with 10 men for such a long period of time will wear you out.

think it's meant to be bloody hot over there atm. Read reports of over 30 degrees. 

3 minutes ago, Phillip said:

Not sure how warm it was there

Colombia is in the tropics you know Phillip.

I bet when Southgate chose England's venue he did not think about the Mozzies, they seemed to be swarming around some of our players yesterday hope they come down with something,,, Volga Virus 

Do they get to choose venues then? I thought they were just allocated.

I heard Southgate did, he wanted peace and quiet...…...

Poland 2-0 down against Senegal, one lucky and the 2nd a bad defensive error.

 

27 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

I heard Southgate did, he wanted peace and quiet...…...

Poland 2-0 down against Senegal, one lucky and the 2nd a bad defensive error.

 

Ref made a weird call on the 2nd. I'd have been fuming

Is it Egypt vs Russia tonight, or just Salah on the pitch by himself? Cos he's the only one I've heard anyone talk about.