So, I thought I would make a thread were we will discuss ongoing event and results between team in the World Cup.

Let's start with what happened last, Russia won 5-0 against Saudi Arabia in the opener. I personally thought Russia didn't seemed so good at first, their first goal wasn't very impressive but at the end of the day, I feel they did a really good job. Golovin was motm in that first game imo. Also, it seem to me like Saudi Arabia are nearly officialy out of the World Cup. What about you guys, what do you think of the resutls and what it mean?

Round of 16:

@Emo. Won’t be too hard finding the energy. After all, Napoleon once said : « Give me 100.000 Croats and I’ll conquer the world »

@expertfootball Lol, never heard that one. But its good. :D Hope they get a variation out as a journal title if Croatia win. Like "Give me 11 Croats and I'll conquer the world" or something like that. ;D

Yes that is why when under the stalingrad when Soviet forces counter attack to encircle Germans they hit their army on the flanks where Croats, Romanians,Italians were concentrated. Napoleon was drunk.

That penalty call is a real head scratcher, I'm gonna call that a handball, but a seriously harsh one. You could even tell that the ref was troubled by it. Feel sorry for the Croatians, the French are playing diabolically.

Congrats to France, those two goals in the second half were brilliant. Props to Croatia for giving it a fight till the end.

I wonder what would've have happened if that penalty wasn't given, however. I thought it was a handball (a tough one) but that's VAR for you. I have to see that first goal again, however. Looked like a dive by Griezmann, but haven't seen the replays at another angle.

Griezmann dive and unfair penalty call really screwed Croatia over... very unfortunate. France were very lucky not to be down 1-0 or 2-0 at halftime because they played really poor in the first half. Second half was more of a slugfest, but I think Croatia would have had a good chance of being champions if it ended 1-0 at HT in Croatia's favor.

Very disappointed in how the decisions in the WC final turned out.

:/ worst way to lose... still feel like if we had more luck, we would win. Gosh second time France screwed us. But gotta say congrats. They are team that showed most in the tournament.

But god, I still don't think any of those goals are really fully deserved.

HOURRA ! Merciles Bleus ! Party all night ! Not the best team in terms of playing the game, but a rock solid defense and efficient attack : 5 shots, 4 goals. Although some decisions might be debatable, but at the end the best team won.

Better team lost today. France were fortunate. That handball was not justifying penalty at all.

Lloris deserved the best GK award... And honestly the second half France stumped Croatia, yes Griezmann foul is debatable, but for me clear handball. These critics are getting annoying, but the Belgians did the same last time too...

@expertfootball To be fair, Croatia performance was much better than Belgium, especially first half. But I agree the complain are and will be annoying.

Personally, I'm glad for France, they had an impressive tournament and while its true they weren't alway the most impressive side in the game they played, they were solid and took their occasion when it mattered the most. Now, about the game against Croatia, I'm not one of those guys who only critic France but I have to agree Croatia had a rotten luck in that game. The own goal and then Perisic arm being up which leaded to the penality were very unfortunate. But lets not get deluded, thats part of the game sadly and you can get punished even if you play better most part of the match. And to the people saying the penality wasn't one, if you seen Russia vs Spain, then you knew it was 100% a pen by the logic of the tournament up until now. Also, Croatian second one was lucky as well, people tend to forget that.

Feel bad for Croatia though, they played the first half like champion but sadly, that wasn't enough. :( Wish both team could have been given the trophy tonight.

France approach this tournament with better maturity compared to last euro. I have to say credit to the team of this young generation. They prioritize eficiency over style despite being a skillful squad.

Better team lost today. France were fortunate. That handball was not justifying penalty at all.

While aruging about who was "better" is fair game, that handball is not. You'd have a tough time finding a referee with all the assistance of VAR not giving a handball when the ball is on target. For crosses and stuff, whatever, but if it's a player's hand that denies a goal from an unnatural position, that's pretty much an autopen no matter who the ref is.

@Sunflash +1

Penalty was very unfortunate but sadly deserved imo.

Haters now blaming VAR for the whole thing. I thought you guys were desperate for it before the WC now you’re whining about it. 8 referees watched it together and concluded that it was PK. And the biased referee argument makes no sense. France also won against Argentina...

It is a difficult handball to give that is why he looked at it several times and was assisted by 8 referees. We had similar decisions in the tournament when VAR didn't rule it as penalty. I thought he could have let this one go and if France really were so dominant like the score suggests, then penalty shouldnt have made a difference to them but it did and made a big difference going into second half up by two out of nothing goals.

Main issue about the handball is that some refs call it and some refs don't. There shouldn't be that ambiguity in the sport because a simple play like that could affect the whole outcome of a final (such as this example). For example Rojo had a similar incident against Nigeria. Yet no handball given and it lead to Argentina winning and qualifying.

Was it a handball? Yes. But as i stands it's 50/50 wether it's called or not.

France was simply amazing, congratulations for the World Champions!

Im against VAR, and I wouldn’t call it PK. No Var = less PKs. But then again France was winning this game with or without VAR.
Fact : if it was a poor country no Pk would have been given, VAR favors big nations and will probably favor big clubs in CL. Anyway I just stopped celebrating no tactical analysis, « finals are to be won not to be played « we relied on our strength, defensive duty and spirit.
@Marcus it’s funny because more than half of England PKs were as harsh, VAR is for you but also for your opponents ( if they belong to a rich nation ofc :p )