OT: World Cup

[Frank the Tank]

Lloris with an epic gaffe. Good thing for him that they have a bit of a cushion.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Well that was interesting...

I figured France would win this game pretty easily, but I didn't expect them to get largely outplayed in the process.

Own goal, questionable PK goal, goal from a mile away, blooper reel goal. I can't believe we saw this in the span of an hour in a World Cup Final.

 

[Cloned]

Well that was interesting...

I figured France would win this game pretty easily, but I didn't expect them to get largely outplayed in the process.

Own goal, questionable PK goal, goal from a mile away, blooper reel goal. I can't believe we saw this in the span of an hour in a World Cup Final.

Croatia have had good luck all tournament. They were bound to have a bad luck game; it just came and avalanched at the worst possible time.

France were the best team in the tournament though.

 

[rboomercat90]

I don’t normally stick around to watch the trophy presentations after these types of events. Can somebody explain to me why the officials are getting medals? I always thought sporting events were about the athletes.

 

[Cloned]

Slightly OT, but it is stunning how much better English soccer PBP is compared to North American PBP in any of the 4 major sports. The phrasing, use of language, timing are all impeccable.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Croatia have had good luck all tournament. They were bound to have a bad luck game; it just came and avalanched at the worst possible time.

France were the best team in the tournament though.

France are worthy winners. 11 goals scored in the knockout phase is praise-worthy even if 5 conceded raises some eyebrows.

 

[soothsayer]

Slightly OT, but it is stunning how much better English soccer PBP is compared to North American PBP in any of the 4 major sports. The phrasing, use of language, timing are all impeccable.

"To the team wearing the chessboard shirts: checkmate."

That fella spent a night writing that line, and he waited for just the right moment. Other sports commentators could take some lessons. Although, I think the slower pace of soccer is more conducive to thoughtful play calling.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Unfortunate that France got two awarded goals in a WC final.

By no means possible did Croatia deserve to be down at the half.

Griessman goes down like he's shot, untouched, in the most cynical dive just outside the box and awarded a free kick from dangerous location. France scores, even aided by an own goal glance. Terrible goal.

Then Croatia ties on the most stunning goal of the match. Brilliantly taken by, moves to the side and Perisic drills it home.

But then France gets assisted by a VAR goal in what I said would be controversial impetus before this tournament is over. Lets be clear here. A non call during play results in a VAR challenge, and then PK, and goal for France.

Croatia had created the only brilliant scoring play of the half and were down.

In the end the scoreline was arguably Croatia 2 France 2 Awarded 2.

The game should still be on.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Plitvica in Lika, where my dad is from is beautiful,

Thanks, very nice, always had a draw for the country for some reason. Lake Bled also looks interesting and Dubrovnik. I knew of the areas before GOT. Just the kind of places that grab my eyes.

 

[Cloned]

"To the team wearing the chessboard shirts: checkmate."

That fella spent a night writing that line, and he waited for just the right moment. Other sports commentators could take some lessons. Although, I think the slower pace of soccer is more conducive to thoughtful play calling.

"Pogba for France, and perhaps the world! Pogba with the right, Pogba with the left..."

That's pretty immaculate play calling right there, on the spot, after a goal. Descriptive, colourful and exciting.

 

[Cloned]

France are worthy winners. 11 goals scored in the knockout phase is praise-worthy even if 5 conceded raises some eyebrows.

Their biggest challenge was shutting down the high-powered Belgian offence, which they did. They were worthy winners in my mind after that game almost regardless of what happened today.

 

[Drivesaitl]

And two more beautiful ones.

The beautiful ones coming for France in 2nd half while frontrunning in a game in which they should have been level or behind. Nice if you can get gifted 2 goals in the first half which did more to texture how this game went.

Croatia were carrying the game all day.

Not taking away from Mbappe, possibly the next Pele, but the Pogba goal and swarming unmolested attack doesn't happen without Croatia desperately pressed forward.

Also of mention Subavic was not healthy after being injured a couple games earlier and was not at his best in this one. Goes without saying Lloris wasn't at his best but he did make one outstanding stop.

 

[Drivesaitl]

"Pogba for France, and perhaps the world! Pogba with the right, Pogba with the left..."

That's pretty immaculate play calling right there, on the spot, after a goal. Descriptive, colourful and exciting.

Excepting a fair amount of people that despise Pogba. Non stop over the top antics and constant showboating from a primadonna? not for me.

Another comment that the TSN commentators were all top notch. Didn't much like the WC feed commentator this time. His take on most of the games, and this one, were decidedly off. Nothing really erases that Greissman got a cheat goal and France got a Var goal. Those WERE the difference. No, despite the commentator exorting to forget about those they actually occurred and quite arguably caused this outcome.

So that the small nation of Croatia, 4M were up against FIFA, the French, the head official. Too much to ask.

Would've like the biggest game on the planet to be decided on the pitch.

 

[Cloned]

Excepting a fair amount of people that despise Pogba. Non stop over the top antics and constant showboating from a primadonna? not for me.

I was evaluating the commentary on its own; player preferences not accounted for.

Mbappe is scary. A taller, faster Messi with the ball skills of Cristiano Ronaldo but with far better vision and soccer IQ on the pitch.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I was evaluating the commentary on its own; player preferences not accounted for.

Mbappe is scary. A taller, faster Messi with the ball skills of Cristiano Ronaldo but with far better vision and soccer IQ on the pitch.

Mbappe easy to like, and everything about him is Pele, not the other two, his game has the look of Pele, before your time..

 

[Cloned]

@Drivesaitl

I'm pretty sure TSN was using one of the WC feeds, no? Or are you referring to Luke Wileman and company in the studio? Wileman is a pretty good commentator himself when he's calling TFC and Team Canada games.

 

[Drivesaitl]

@Drivesaitl

I'm pretty sure TSN was using one of the WC feeds, no? Or are you referring to Luke Wileman and company in the studio? Wileman is a pretty good commentator himself when he's calling TFC and Team Canada games.

I liked all the TSN panel commentators. I didn't like the play by play call. Theres been better. Many more sublime.

Remembering that football commentary mode is usually best on the planet coverage. This was lacking. But the panel were excellent throughout.

 

[Beerfish]

Slightly OT, but it is stunning how much better English soccer PBP is compared to North American PBP in any of the 4 major sports. The phrasing, use of language, timing are all impeccable.

No colour commentator idiot beaking off every 3 seconds to justify his job.

 

[AM]

"Pogba for France, and perhaps the world! Pogba with the right, Pogba with the left..."

That's pretty immaculate play calling right there, on the spot, after a goal. Descriptive, colourful and exciting.

I think thats the guy that has called all of the games since 78...

Seems you get good at things after a while.

 

[MikeGrier99]

It was a brilliant world cup and I'm sad it's over. The dinosaurs in the nhl should pay attention to the football world because there's a lot to learn from the worlds highest level of athletic competition. The fan participation, intensity of competition, overall production values, overall profesionalism of both club and international organizations, are all better in football. Nhl just seems to have become more of a snooze fest lately and although it still has certain virtues football doesn't have (most notably toughness and a lack of milking injuries) I overall enjoy the football product more than hockey. Hockey has little respect for the development of the international game and a terribly boring somewhat meaningless regular season, whereas football matches (even in regular season club games) tend to have more prestige, if only for the honor of the club than a meanigful result in the standings. They're both great sports but I wish the nhl imitated a few things that the football world does.

 

[Cloned]

I think thats the guy that has called all of the games since 78...

Seems you get good at things after a while.

Hughson and Romaniuk have called games for a long time too and neither of them are close to that level of PBP.

Some things you just can’t teach.

 

[GMofOilers]

Tried watching 10 mins of 1 game, couldnt do it again this year.

Just cant stand watching such a boring sport.

If they ever installed a shot clock, maybe I could watch it.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Their biggest challenge was shutting down the high-powered Belgian offence, which they did. They were worthy winners in my mind after that game almost regardless of what happened today.

Belgium-France was the real final in my mind.

Wins over Croatia, Belgium, Uruguay, Argentina, Australia, and Peru (along with the meaningless draw with Denmark). That's a very solid resume, certainly no freebies there. It's too bad the controversial handball call will cast a shadow over their run. I thought it was a 50/50 call based on what else I've seen called over the years. Seems the majority opinion is that it probably shouldn't have been awarded though.

I don't really get the griping over the first goal though. That foul gets called every time, whether the man went down easily or not. There didn't seem to be any sort of protest from the Croatians on the pitch. Mandzukic did not impress me much in this tournament and that own goal cemented it.

 

[EchoesoftheEighties]

"Pogba for France, and perhaps the world! Pogba with the right, Pogba with the left..."

That's pretty immaculate play calling right there, on the spot, after a goal. Descriptive, colourful and exciting.

Peter Drury is my absolute favourite commentator to listen to when watching Premier League every week. He's fantastic. Very glad he was chosen for the final, I could listen to that man talk all day.

 

[EchoesoftheEighties]

I liked all the TSN panel commentators. I didn't like the play by play call. Theres been better. Many more sublime.

Remembering that football commentary mode is usually best on the planet coverage. This was lacking. But the panel were excellent throughout.

KJ and Stephen are better than the Sportsnet guys Craig Forrest and Danny Dichio IMO. Though the absolute best was when KJ and James Sharman were on The Score together.