I'm not particularly interested in football but have been watching the ladies matches. They seem to play differently with less diving but today's England vs Cameroon game was an eye opener for all the wrong reasons!
Those Cameroon girls play dirty!! They've let themselves & ladies football down big time. Spitting, elbowing in the face, pushing the ref from behind, dirty tackling - studs down the shin then the Cameroon captain came over to verbally abuse the injured England player on the ground in pain! She could have broken her leg! Cameroon coach trying to calm his players down, hugging them because they were having tantrums & crying.
They cited RACISM at half time over some of the VAR decisions!
It was embarassing to watch them and the ref did nothing; no sending off, no red cards & no control. NOTHING!!
England was disciplined, played good football & didn't get involved despite the chaos from Cameroon.
I don't watch much football, but from the few minutes I saw of this game it shows how a poor ref can spoil a game. I have seen similar in rugby and it usually ends up in a brawl when the ref loses control.
It took almost 5 minutes to sort out the back pass free kick. If they won't stand on the line when asked simply book the dissenters.
Elbow in the face is a red, spitting at another player is just disgusting. Straight red and lengthy ban.
I am not a football supporter, much preferring the oval ball game. But I do enjoy watching the women play, never will I say footballers act like girls, because the girls don’t act up like the men.
But as the OP rightly said, Cameroon were not just a disgrace to woman’s football, they were a disgrace to their sex and sport in general.
They were talking about the officials and what a mixed bag of abilities they have after the game. I'm surprised at this level that there is'nt a higher standard & consistancy amongst the Refs and lines folk.
You don't see that variation in standards in other sports in my opinion.
The VAR has been a joke throughout the tournament and the new handball rule has resulted in players playing the ball off arms to get penalties.
All that faffing about with VAR and no extra time awarded.
------------- Hypercamp Alaska
Vango Force 10 mk3
Vango F10 Helium 1
Coleman Cobra Pro 3
Coleman Cobra 2
Naturehike Star River 2
Eureka! Solitaire
Dutch army goretex bivvy bag
I must admit I have not seen any of the woman's football and hearing that England won I would like to say well done but I'm also wondering do they still exchange shirts 😁😙 at the end of the game.
I've found these games far more entertaining than the blokes matches. And apparently officially the ball is in play for longer as well. Also, i would have a bet on at least one of these womens teams beating the mens England team, pre Gareth Southgate. They really were that crap.
The Cameroon team should have been sent off en masse if they refused to continue the match.
I've watched all games and really enjoyed them.no diving,no going down screaming pain until the player gets a yellow card,I can see support moving from the men to the women's, especially the international games
All this fuss about VAR. Rugby has had it for years, without a problem. Sometimes incidents are so fast or important to the game, a second look is beneficial. And to be honest, a lot of the blokes top flight football is about as entertaining as paint drying anyway. So VAR is a good diversion.
If we'd have had VAR in a certain world cup match in the 70's, old Maradona would have got his due comeuppence.
My good lord isn't it strange how you associate certain times with certain events - Maradonnas hand of god in 1986 takes me back to an exact point in time with specific precise memories not even related to footie.
I, too, prefer the oval ball (Bath season ticket holder), and also the little red cherry. In which, in the current world cup, the Cricket VAR equivalent is super exciting.
We already watch women play golf, tennis, rugby & cricket. Plus they race horses in the same races as the male jockeys. I'm not sure why there's so much fuss about adding football to the list.
I'm sure other sports will become mainstream. In New Zealand you'll overhear the blokes discussing the women's lacrosse & netball, which are shown on prime time TV, and without commenting on what they look like in their kit.