⚽⚽⚽ Sportsbet's Bitcointalk World Cup 2022 - discussion ⚽⚽⚽

[slackovic]

At first I also thought that it's a straight up penalty without a doubt. But when I saw a slow motion, I wasn't that sure anymore. It's true that Livakovic did come in contact with Alvarez, but he spread out his legs and arms in order to defend his goal. He didn't make a move to make a foul on Alvarez. It was basically a collision. I'm not sure that a team should be awarded a penalty after a collision. But even if that penalty wasn't awarded to Argentina, I think they would have won. They were a better team and that's it. They deserved to advance to the finals.

Now I kind of hope that Morocco will advance to the finals and that Croatia will face France in the match for the bronze medal. That would give Croatia an opportunity to get a payback for the loss in the final game of the 2018 World Cup. Besides, I think that Morocco style of play doesn't suit Croatia. Croatia plays much better with teams that are not concentrated solely on defense.

But to be honest, that wasn't a penalty at tall. It's was a collision as you said. This is a contact game, where on earth did the referrer wanted the Croatia keeper to fall? It's wasn't intentional foul. It's hurt to see how some referee messing a big match like that. After the penalty Croatia team was emotionally drained their game changed to worse. And Argentina took advantage of their emotion imbalance to deal with them. Argentina was better in the game than Croatia yesterday. Infact it was a pay back of what Croatia did to Argentina in 2018 world cup. Croatia defeated Argentina by 3 goals to nil in the group stage.

Morocco vs France game is unpredicted to me, let's hope for a tough game ahead.

Finally someone agrees with me But I don't think that the first goal was the one that knocked Croatian players out. I think that was the second goal after which they never recovered.

I hope that Morocco vs France game will be nice to watch. I don't like Morocco's games because they rarely attack.

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[cryptofrka]

The issue I have with the penalty is that it wasn't checked at all. If he saw it on VAR and still said it was a penalty, it would have been easier to accept.
As I said - there were elements of a penalty there and I have seen these given before.

The thing is that often they are not given as well and in such occasion in a game of such importance, it should have been checked at least.

[vd309]

Before the penalty Lovren made huge mistake. Watch his positioning, there  is 5 meters gap between him and the defense line covering the offside on the pass to Alvarez.

[casperBGD]

The issue I have with the penalty is that it wasn't checked at all. If he saw it on VAR and still said it was a penalty, it would have been easier to accept.
-snip

what would you said if that was between Perisic and Martinez, and referee took VAR and canceled it?
not sure about penalty decision, but I do not think it was intentionally given to Argentina

looking at pairs in competition, it all boils down to Giraud to score or not in slaman and me pair, if he score before 34 minute, I am out, afterwards depend on France cleansheet, and shots on target from Morocco
0:0 would do the job, but I do not think that will happen

[cryptofrka]

Before the penalty Lovren made huge mistake. Watch his positioning, there  is 5 meters gap between him and the defense line covering the offside on the pass to Alvarez.

Yep, it was his mistake for the 3rd goal as well, he should have closed the gap way better. He played a really good tournament before yesterday - where he had a horrible game.

what would you said if that was between Perisic and Martinez, and referee took VAR and canceled it?
not sure about penalty decision, but I do not think it was intentionally given to Argentina

The same - I feel it is soft and a lot of pundits agree as well.
I do not think it was intentionally given because it is Argentina vs Croatia though. I simply wanted him to have a look at VAR and then decide whatever he feels is best.

[darxiaomi]

Before the penalty Lovren made huge mistake. Watch his positioning, there  is 5 meters gap between him and the defense line covering the offside on the pass to Alvarez.

Yep, it was his mistake for the 3rd goal as well, he should have closed the gap way better. He played a really good tournament before yesterday - where he had a horrible game.

what would you said if that was between Perisic and Martinez, and referee took VAR and canceled it?
not sure about penalty decision, but I do not think it was intentionally given to Argentina

The same - I feel it is soft and a lot of pundits agree as well.
I do not think it was intentionally given because it is Argentina vs Croatia though. I simply wanted him to have a look at VAR and then decide whatever he feels is best.

For me was a clear penalty in the first sight. About what you say for the VAR, i dont think he is gonna view again the play, because he in the pitch conceed the penalty and was sure about that, and in the VAR surely say to him it was correct so, nothing to re-check.

And it was a play in the first half after the 2-0, Gvardiol has the hand close to the body, but he put the arm to cut the ball, that can be penalty and was not checked because two penalties and winning 2-0 can be a lot. But if the game was 0-0....

The second goal was more luck than skill, all the rebounds come to Alvarez in a confortly position.

[Harkorede]

The issue I have with the penalty is that it wasn't checked at all. If he saw it on VAR and still said it was a penalty, it would have been easier to accept.
As I said - there were elements of a penalty there and I have seen these given before.

The thing is that often they are not given as well and in such occasion in a game of such importance, it should have been checked at least.

I think the ref had a clear view of the incidence at first glance, and so did the VAR, and In this case I would blame the VAR team instead of the ref, The VAR had team could have called the referee's attention if they found the need for it to be rechecked, but they didn't so I don't think there was any reason for the referee to second guess his decision, neither do I think referee usually by themselves request to have a second look at such event after making their calls without a suggestion from the VAR.

The second goal was more luck than skill, all the rebounds come to Alvarez in a confortly position.

I think otherwise, it was Alvarez's skill and the run he made that placed him in the position of being probably lucky, because he made a brilliant run and that was what put both Sosa and the other defender in very terrible spot to have been able to make the clearance, and fortune only favors the brave they said, but still he needed his skill to have been able to put the ball past the goalkeeper so very calmly, If you saw the game between Brazil and Croatia and remember the chance the likes of Vinicius Jr missed or had saved by this goalkeeper, I don't think you'll undermine the effort Alvarez made to score that 2nd goal.

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I think the competition between myself and Kanapka will eventually come down to whether or not France are able to score in both halves while keeping a clean sheet in the process, then the number of saves Hugo Lloris gets to make, while France have not kept a clean sheet so far in this tournament, I think the nature of this match suggest they will, but will they be clinical enough to do what no other team have done so far in this tournament by breaking down the Moroccan defensive, I suppose we'll find out, but if they do I hope it's going to be no later than the 39th minute.

[BobK71]

As it was a semi final match it should have been taken a bit longer time for the decision. Everyone knows how far a team has to go to reach this stage. It is also the expected dream of many. Croatia was playing well in the early part of the match but after suddenly conceding a goal through penalty, Croatia broke down a bit and its image was reflected in the change. Then they conceded two more goals. I don't blame Argentina. There will be no question if referees spend some times on hard decisions by the help of technology.

[buwaytress]

Yeah we're only talking about the penalty because it was a semifinal and it opened the floodgates. There were at least 2 penalties (VAR reviewed too!) I remember in groups stages that were really many times softer... anyway, it is what it is.

So both semis tied after 1 game, very low points, go Harko!

We're not getting another extra time tonight, it seems, huh? France will be wanting to end the affair quickly and will probably force the issue...

[casperBGD]

-snip
I think the competition between myself and Kanapka will eventually come down to whether or not France are able to score in both halves while keeping a clean sheet in the process, then the number of saves Hugo Lloris gets to make, while France have not kept a clean sheet so far in this tournament, I think the nature of this match suggest they will, but will they be clinical enough to do what no other team have done so far in this tournament by breaking down the Moroccan defensive, I suppose we'll find out, but if they do I hope it's going to be no later than the 39th minute.

similar situation in both our semis
not sure about France being able to keep clean sheet, it will all come to how the match is going to be played, early goal and Morocco could end up with several conceived, but also few in France net

with goalless halftime, all things are starting to point into Morocco direction to get into penalty stage

I just hope that France finding the net will not be in first 34 minutes, or at least not by Giroud, but at the moment I do not think that France will win it 3:0 or something, where my thoughts were before last night match

Saiss in, and five at the back for Morocco, seems as they will not be interest at all to cross into France half until conceiving

[Trofo]

So both semis tied after 1 game, very low points, go Harko!

We're not getting another extra time tonight, it seems, huh? France will be wanting to end the affair quickly and will probably force the issue...

Yeah we made it super though for our semi finalists,  final will be even harder, who gets 2 correct is winner for sure
Just kidding a bit but we did purposely made some questions a bit harder as the competition progresses. For instance in early rounds you just had to answer who will be forward 3 players while in the last bunch you had to get starting 11 for Argentina correct. And we knew that Di Maria alone was 50:50 and then you had to get all other correct and know that both full backs are missing due to yellow cards.

[buwaytress]

Crazy overhead kick from Yamiq damn! And Lloris is already with 1 save (I thought 2 but stats seem to only count the first, guess the post would have saved him anyway?) so if he keeps a clean sheet and saves another, it affects quite a few of you...

I'm trying to see all the responses from all you guys, since I got money riding on it haha and it seems to me slaman-casper is tricky. Advantage casper I think but if Giroud scores/assists and it's all over as slaman had the earlier goal prediction, even if casper gets the point from Lloris, it's a tie, so yeah it all hangs on Giroud.

For Harko-kanapka, it's too early, France score one more goal, and advantage Harko. France scores again in 2nd half, and I think Harko wins, but as soon as Morocco score, then it's advantage kanapka! Tiebreaker advantage Harko. Everyone predicted a first half goal, huh!

Yeah we made it super though for our semi finalists,  final will be even harder, who gets 2 correct is winner for sure
Just kidding a bit but we did purposely made some questions a bit harder as the competition progresses. For instance in early rounds you just had to answer who will be forward 3 players while in the last bunch you had to get starting 11 for Argentina correct. And we knew that Di Maria alone was 50:50 and then you had to get all other correct and know that both full backs are missing due to yellow cards.

Yeah, I think 10/11 lineup correct was the QF, but no room for error in semis, and everyone got it wrong, that's awesome haha. And this is awesome, that at HT, nothing is determined in either semifinal.

It's going to be a cracker of a final quiz, the way this is turning out!

[cryptofrka]

We made a mistake in the Morocco question - they played all their games so far in a back 4 formation and we expected the same today and asked you to name 4 players.
However, they started with a back 5 so we promise to be more careful in the final round.

We would have accepted all the answers that had these 4 correct, but neither Aguerd nor Allah started so no points for anyone here after all

[casperBGD]

~snip

I'm trying to see all the responses from all you guys, since I got money riding on it haha and it seems to me slaman-casper is tricky. Advantage casper I think but if Giroud scores/assists and it's all over as slaman had the earlier goal prediction, even if casper gets the point from Lloris, it's a tie, so yeah it all hangs on Giroud.

and since Giroud hit the bench, we have first finalist
not an easy semi-final, slaman had great answers, I gambled with Petkovic to start, since he actually brought Croatia to penalty roulettes, but it was not enough for Dalic to send him in (and he was rotating one attacker, but stayed on same three from Brazil match)

waiting for opponent

[Shaha98]

There is a lot wrong with the Moroccan game here.  Since their first come up so high.  Because in the past, Morocco did not have such a reputation, but now Morocco participated in the FIFA World Cup 2022 semi-finals like this time.  Their backpass was the biggest mistake they could not provide much support to the defenders.  Because if two French players attack from one, then the defense breaks down and cannot stop the attack.  And because the French players are very experienced, they won today's match.  But hopefully Morocco will play much better in future.

[Trofo]

~snip

I'm trying to see all the responses from all you guys, since I got money riding on it haha and it seems to me slaman-casper is tricky. Advantage casper I think but if Giroud scores/assists and it's all over as slaman had the earlier goal prediction, even if casper gets the point from Lloris, it's a tie, so yeah it all hangs on Giroud.

and since Giroud hit the bench, we have first finalist
not an easy semi-final, slaman had great answers, I gambled with Petkovic to start, since he actually brought Croatia to penalty roulettes, but it was not enough for Dalic to send him in (and he was rotating one attacker, but stayed on same three from Brazil match)

waiting for opponent

This was super close, we have final results but I'll let my colleague publish it since he is doing the graphic and one more checkup Have to be extra careful since then we have to tell Steve to take care of the bets on site. Never thought of myself as oracle, now I can add it to my resume

It was good battle and congrats to all of you that got this far. Don't forget we also have a match for 3rd place and I am still missing quite a few BTC addresses. First game is on Saturday and we will try to put out the questions tomorrow so you all have more then enough time to enter the answers.

[cryptofrka]

It was really exciting tonight, and we have our 2 finalists!

The results are as follows:
Harkorede - Kanapka 7-6
slaman29 - casperBGD 5-6





Congratulations!

[Harkorede]

~snip

I'm trying to see all the responses from all you guys, since I got money riding on it haha and it seems to me slaman-casper is tricky. Advantage casper I think but if Giroud scores/assists and it's all over as slaman had the earlier goal prediction, even if casper gets the point from Lloris, it's a tie, so yeah it all hangs on Giroud.

and since Giroud hit the bench, we have first finalist
not an easy semi-final, slaman had great answers, I gambled with Petkovic to start, since he actually brought Croatia to penalty roulettes, but it was not enough for Dalic to send him in (and he was rotating one attacker, but stayed on same three from Brazil match)

waiting for opponent

I suppose I'm the opponent  

Kanapka was such a tough opponent, our match up was hanging on so many factors, especially France not conceding any goal, because I'd have lost two points to him, since that's the only way Hugo Lloris could have stood a chance against Emiliano Martinez which he went with and Martinez already had 3 saves, so Lloris still eventually came 1 save short, having just 2... Those dying minutes were so nervy with France being all shaky and quite uncomfortable at the back.

[slaman29]

Well done casper! I bet pretty big on myself and didn't make it, but I think it was awesome anyway in the end, you could have won 6-4 I believe but anyway moot point win is win, no matter the way to it, just ask Morocco before last night!

Giroud, as things should be, settled the game, I believe from highlights that he almost scored twice, more times than Mbappe!

Now let's all rest. I have a final round with kanapka!

[casperBGD]

-snip

Giroud, as things should be, settled the game, I believe from highlights that he almost scored twice, more times than Mbappe!

Now let's all rest. I have a final round with kanapka!

it was a good duel
Giroud had two great chances to score, hit the post, and inched near the post few minutes later, but he wasn't lucky enough to score

I suppose I'm the opponent  

congrats on passing through
hopefully, it will be a nice final, interesting till the end, as in all rounds so far

-snip
Never thought of myself as oracle, now I can add it to my resume

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