Over the next month, I'll be covering the World Cup for Tribalfootball. And along the way, I'd like to share with you some of my experiences and keep you up to date with all the action!
Disgraceful
Yesterday, Japan advanced to the last-16 because they received less yellow cards in the group stage than Senegal.
I can understand FIFA rewarding discipline where one team's fairness can be gauged over an extended period of time, like they do with the FIFA Fair Play award.
But in a short, intense period like the World Cup, the volume of yellow cards is inevitably going to increase. This is a quadrennial tournament that players dream there whole lives to be apart of. So when the scores are tied and there's a 50-50, don't think for a second that a player will ever shirk from a tackle.
Knowing all they needed was not to concede another goal yesterday, Japan passed the ball amongst themselves for a good fifteen minutes while Poland were content with the win and stayed in their own half. It was a farcical period of the tournament and it must be changed in 2022.
Just watched Japan v Poland. The final 10 minutes are why Americans will never fully embrace soccer. It was just: pic.twitter.com/lLfFhJwkta
— Mr. Falcon (@DavidInAlief) June 29, 2018
Rest Day
Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay bloody calm! No, it's all good. No football today gives us all time to take a breather. The past two weeks have gone too fast so it's nice to have some time to reflect on the experience.
But not too long, thankfully. It's only one day until the knockout stages start with France taking on Argentina in Kazan. The underwhelming performances of both sides so far means expectations aren't as high as they'd usually be.
I'm not game enough to post any predictions, but I still remain confident in Brazil. Other than the Selecao, I can really see an outsider going deep and maybe even winning it all. Croatia look powerful and have a simpler route to the final. But Croatian fans will tell you themselves that their team has a tendency to capitulate against less formidable opposition.
The Round of 16 bracket is set and there are great game ahead. Who do you are making the quarterfinals? #brilafm#brilasports#brilaworldcup#worldcup#worldcup2018pic.twitter.com/yyPEzNVAlp
— Sports Radio BrilaFM (@Brilafm889) June 28, 2018
