Institutional favouritism at the world cup

[Popkon6]

Yes, yes and yes.

Its called childs of Fifa. Actually, not just Messi cause Ronaldo are also can get the same priviliage especially for getting a Penalty -lol. These is not the first time topics.

Is already repeated topics for Fifa favourite.

Messi got this advantage because the tackle he gave from behind was definitely unfair. Which was caught by the spectators but not by the referee, the matter is certainly mysterious. Because there may be a ban from FIFA so that Messi cannot be told anything no matter what he does wrong.
If it were another player, he would get a red card, but there was no disclosure that Messi committed a crime. This time, different behavior was seen from the beginning compared to other FIFA World Cups. Trapping from behind was unfair and deserved to get a red card.

[Lucius]

It's unfortunate that I have seen this thread late, but I really have to talk about that England vs Ghana match because I watched it. The penalty Ghana was denied towards the end of the match doesn't sit well with my head up to now. I was no fan of either of the teams but even the pundits agreed that that could have easily been a penalty. What is much more sinister is how they never even bother to do any VAR.
Honestly we clearly see through the cracks... Everything just feels rigged/tilted.

There can't be too many coincidences in a business that generates huge profits - things have to be somewhat under control. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, as in other aspects of life, large/powerful countries are privileged by FIFA and even act on political orders - because why is Iran the only team that does not have the same conditions as all other countries?

[LUCKMCFLY]

Since all those match ringing by refrees are not recorded as against the, and a based on speculations, is new very important to leave it the way it is an stop wasting ur time arguing on this favoritism actions from game's officials and organizers who always act in a way to is clear of their support for one team over the other

I think the corruption should stop now. There shouldn't be any more room for corruption in these games. Honestly, I'm tired, fed up with seeing so much favoritism. What happened with Messi is just one example of the blatant things that happen. There are so many rules now for playing football, and yet everything remains the same. I want the moment to come when referees are eliminated and replaced with machines, AI, because I truly believe they won't be biased. Let's see if this corruption ends.

[348Judah]

There is no facts that can be established regarding favoritism in matches, especially on majorly recognized leagues, we should also know that these are globally recognized leagues and matches that everyone tend to watch and see how it is being managed, it is not right for us to think or have a probable feelings over what is happening in football matches when we have no strong evidence that everyone could see.

[DiMarxist]

We should not assume things, that there are one or two incidents in the world cup games which the referees over looked out of their performance discretion. That should warrant us to call FIFA playing the favouritism game, no I don't buy into that kind of idea. We should know that in big tournaments like the world cup errors are bound to happen, these referees humans and is subject to error including those in the VAR room. Let's not bring in sentiment into this if a referee fails to perform then we should do well and call out the referee instead of dragging FIFA into it jus like the game between Argentina vs Algeria .

[hedgeh0g]

I think the corruption should stop now. There shouldn't be any more room for corruption in these games. Honestly, I'm tired, fed up with seeing so much favoritism. What happened with Messi is just one example of the blatant things that happen. There are so many rules now for playing football, and yet everything remains the same. I want the moment to come when referees are eliminated and replaced with machines, AI, because I truly believe they won't be biased. Let's see if this corruption ends.

Of course, this is happening, and of course, when the processes are automated, it will be much fairer in matches, without referee errors or anything that goes unnoticed. In any case, players try to make the most of the space they're given. That's why there's a lot of debate and disagreement. Besides that, I can't say I'm unhappy with what's happening today. In my opinion, things were much worse before. Perhaps fans have simply become too demanding in some areas, and we should be happy with what we have going on with tournaments and games, especially the World Cup.

[Ever-young]

There is no facts that can be established regarding favoritism in matches, especially on majorly recognized leagues, we should also know that these are globally recognized leagues and matches that everyone tend to watch and see how it is being managed, it is not right for us to think or have a probable feelings over what is happening in football matches when we have no strong evidence that everyone could see.

Sometimes you really can’t blame some people for having the intentions of questioning certain decisions, especially after controversial matches. But the truth still remains that one should not just come up with claims of favouritism with having any solid evidence to backup such claims, else it would be treated as nothing more but just mere baseless assumptions. Without any evidence to back up such claims, treating such cases as part of the unpredictable nature of football would be more appropriate, rather than stating as a fact that games are being manipulated to favour one side.

[Rgram]

There are growing suspicions that FIFA might have made some special deals to place certain countries in more preferential groups and asked referees to support them. For instance many have said Messi should have been given a red card for aggressive tackles and many Argentine played also were aggressive but referees didn't touch the. Instead their opponents were given cards just for speaking at times.

I didn’t understand why he wasn’t issued that red card, given that his tackle was late and well above the ankles. That would have being a red card any day any time for any other player but, the World Cup is obviously better and enjoyable when others are playing. FIFA just wants their boy to make money for them, we can’t rule that out.

There have being a couple of order issues on penalties not given to Ghana when they played against England, that could have being a winning game for them but, it didn’t get awarded. It isn’t obvious to note that, there is some level of politics in this.

[Dogedegen]

So today a German player hits a player of Ecuador in the head with his foot while trying to kick the ball, right before scoring, but the goal still counts! That was crazy. The whole Ecuadorian team was rightfully furious.

Many people have justified suspicions that FIFA might be trying to favour the teams that are more famous or from richer countries after seeing stuff like this all the time.

The referee could have at least utilized VAR, literally everyone saw what happened. In Uzbekistan's match against Argentina a goal that followed a foul was disallowed anyway. So what gives here?

I don't get why you or other people believe you have the right to decide these cases? You can't just have it your way whenever you want it because the game would not make sense. If we are going to let the public decide these things then we can get rid of the referees completely and bring someone from the public to act as a referee and have the public vote on major decisions like that one. That would be very fun, very biased and very bad at the same time.  The referees have an amount of discretion available to them to make judgement calls, sometimes they will make the right decision and sometimes they will make the wrong decision. Making a wrong decision is not a sign of institutional favouritism, it is a sign of being human. Please learn what level of evidence and intent is required to declare something institutional favouritism, it is not random cases that you select with bias.

[laspol65]

There is no facts that can be established regarding favoritism in matches, especially on majorly recognized leagues, we should also know that these are globally recognized leagues and matches that everyone tend to watch and see how it is being managed, it is not right for us to think or have a probable feelings over what is happening in football matches when we have no strong evidence that everyone could see.

Sometimes you really can’t blame some people for having the intentions of questioning certain decisions, especially after controversial matches. But the truth still remains that one should not just come up with claims of favouritism with having any solid evidence to backup such claims, else it would be treated as nothing more but just mere baseless assumptions. Without any evidence to back up such claims, treating such cases as part of the unpredictable nature of football would be more appropriate, rather than stating as a fact that games are being manipulated to favour one side.

Yes, there are some incidents that we may not accept naturally, but if we go to publish all these incidents, it may fail. But here, the way Lionel Messi was tackled, it is somewhat of a foul. The referee should have called a foul even though the opposing team was weak, which is why some people are publishing that a respected person was not told anything. But I saw that Messi tackled from behind, it was basically unfair, so it should have been called a foul.

[LUCKMCFLY]

There have being a couple of order issues on penalties not given to Ghana when they played against England, that could have being a winning game for them but, it didn’t get awarded. It isn’t obvious to note that, there is some level of politics in this.

I couldn't see that game properly, but if you say so, it must be true. Look, I've seen so many things in football, and since the last World Cup, I haven't liked how many penalties were given to Argentina. That was something that disappointed me a lot, and things keep happening like that. So it's something that bothers us, that makes us feel very powerless, and people are already expressing it. At least social media has something good, which is virality, and that virality makes things known as they really are.

[rachael9385]

That's the picture so that, we can understand what OP is talking about.

I don't think that, FIFA would stoop so low to favour a particular country over another because it will be obvious and I haven't seen anything like that yet. Expect what Messi did and we all know that Messi is FIFA son.

However, some referee can do that but don't put it on FIFA head because that's why VAR is there for a review. Argentina has a strong squad that's capable of trashing any team and win the world cup.

I don't think that FIFA would do such as well, a lot of people say that this can happen and they say it confidently which makes me want to believe that as well but no one is certain that This actually happen is the comprising of refrees but that doesn't really mean that fifa would allow such, remember that they have a reputation to protect.

[Wakate]

International games like the world cup can be more sentimental than we ever think. Corruption is everywhere and this is not the first time we are seeing it and how they propagate Messi to win the world cup for years ago. I don't think the same occurrence can happen this year again because all eyes are watching what's going on in the eyes of President Trump.
Countriesike France would never allow such to happen to them losing the opportunity to win the world cup.

[Furious 7]

At the moment the reason is still quite clear but indeed looking at the controversial Mesai with Algeria some time ago now the FAF has lodged an official complaint with Fifa but it seems that this will also not have a big impact because everything will remain the same especially since USA football sometimes treats Messi more than it should in MLS so that even though the impression of favoritism is still very pronounced but indeed at the moment it still cannot be handled properly because the fifa situation remains the same.

For Cristiano this case is actually the same as several other cases before because previously there were also players who felt this way (not only for Cristiano) because the foundation is quite strong from the standard clause of the Fifa Disciplinary Committee.

Controversies like this will always be there but to explain fraud with evidence will be very difficult because the association that receives the reports is FIFA itself.

[Hispo]

International games like the world cup can be more sentimental than we ever think. Corruption is everywhere and this is not the first time we are seeing it and how they propagate Messi to win the world cup for years ago. I don't think the same occurrence can happen this year again because all eyes are watching what's going on in the eyes of President Trump.
Countriesike France would never allow such to happen to them losing the opportunity to win the world cup.

Are you implying President Trump has some influence on the FIFA? Perhaps, but not indirectly.
We cannot deny there are teams which are being favored as favorites of the Federation, because there is a lot of money in merchandise, sponsorships and influencing within the world of Football and all of that involves those teams and their star players (Messi, Cristiano...).

It has been proven already FIFA responds to money and influence, otherwise there would not be so many allegations of corruption against directors and representatives of FIFA.

As long as there is bias in favor of some countries and their national teams, there will continue to be cases like those we saw with Argentina.

This favoritism is not the root of corruption, but rather a consequence of it.

[ArabBTC]

Well the issue of favoritism is still a speculation and suspicions as long as am concerned, one thing with life is that anyone that lose will want to blame his/her lose to a particular reason, some will say that they were unfair to them. People usually say certain countries are favored however, same people won’t admit some games when this same country they claim is being favored actually loss due to poor officiating. That being said i will want to point to the fact that football is a huge business to FIFA and mind you every wise business man will always want to remain in business, that is why sometimes they will want to give certain preference to some countries or clubs, the reason is that there are countries that even if they get to the World Cup final most people won’t have interest to watch because such countries don’t have players that the spectators prefer and that will make FIFA to get a poor turnover in terms of revenue and mind you FIFA wants to always make profit to remain relevant, it’s not like FIFA outrightly rob the game but they usually give preference to those big countries/teams that people love to watch just to make the competition more interesting to viewers.

[Strongkored]

There are some very clear signs of favouritism.

I've even heard rumors that the champion has already been determined. However, these are just rumors, and they always pop up at every major event. They could be true or false, just to spread conspiracy theories that have their own audience.
If you read more news, you'll find that favorites aren't just in football, but in other sports like tennis, top players get special privileges during matches, even when the media has already highlighted them, but they can't always be proven.

[Yabani]

There are growing suspicions that FIFA might have made some special deals to place certain countries in more preferential groups and asked referees to support them. For instance many have said Messi should have been given a red card for aggressive tackles and many Argentine played also were aggressive but referees didn't touch the. Instead their opponents were given cards just for speaking at times.

Then there's also the fact that certain countries will be placed at noticeably easier brackets if they pass on the second phase while others will have a notoriously harder path to victory from the start.

The final straw was FIFA commuting the standard three match ban specifically for Christiano Ronaldo after he was the recipient of a card.

There are some very clear signs of favouritism.

The reason for this is glaringly obvious. Napoleon's famous words come to mind: "Money, money, money."
Didn't they split the matches into four segments solely to generate advertising revenue? The "water break" is just a pretext for this. Even if we accept the need for water breaks, why do broadcasters immediately cut to commercials? The reason is clear.
Money!
Why was the tournament expanded to 48 teams? More countries, more broadcasting rights, and so on. It’s all about money again.
If strong teams were to face each other in the knockout stages, it would pave the way for weaker teams to win the title, and nobody would take an interest in the World Cup. Perhaps Trump even sought a diplomatic resolution regarding the conflict with Iran just to ensure the necessary revenue for the World Cup would flow in.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Of course, this is happening, and of course, when the processes are automated, it will be much fairer in matches, without referee errors or anything that goes unnoticed. In any case, players try to make the most of the space they're given. That's why there's a lot of debate and disagreement. Besides that, I can't say I'm unhappy with what's happening today. In my opinion, things were much worse before. Perhaps fans have simply become too demanding in some areas, and we should be happy with what we have going on with tournaments and games, especially the World Cup.

You're right, besides, the things that happened yesterday with Iran were unfair. It was a goal, but it was like a fingertip, something unusual, and that's why they disallowed the goal. I think that goal is much more needed by Iran than by Egypt. They are a nation in trouble, dealing with many problems, and the refereeing body does everything possible to prevent them from getting through it. It's chaos, which I've never liked.

[Joeboy]

I didn't notice anything off about the officiating, since I am kind of already used to ref favouring a team over the other ..What I noticed though is how off the grouping is .. There are some teams, Argentina especially, who are being placed with weaker opponents as compared with other team like Portugal... The path of Portugal is very difficult, if they win against Columbia or lose to them, they will till face though opponents in the round of 32 as well as other rounds... Assuming Portugal had weaker opponents then we should have seen more goals from Ronaldo than just the 2 he is currently having...