World Cup

[duncs500]

mik is correct. Players getting in the ref's face or waving imaginary cards should be instant booking, and diving should be retrospective multi-game bans. It would stop very quickly.

I cannot believe the refs in the professional game stand for the abuse they get, they never stood for it in amateur games IME as a youth.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Action against simulation doesn't evem have to be retrospective if there's suspicion during the game. In the Neymar case he wanted them to go to VAR. So they should have. Then they would've seen his acting and could've carded him immediately.

We're told that the VARs are regularly looking at incidents so they could be picking up on stuff as it goes on and alerting the reg. It wouldn't take long at all before it stopped

[JLv3.0]

I still think just killing him would be more efficient, especially if it was heavily publicised.

[GG.]

Maybe they could just save everyone some time and just whip out a luger during the anthems for maximum effect.

Offenders from the previous match take one step forward...

[Coaster1]

Bring back Paul Scholes!

and play him out of position ?

He would have had a much better and longer England career (and quite possibly better for the team), had not Sven tried to facilitate Gerrard and Lampard and played him on the left

[duncs500]

Action against simulation doesn't evem have to be retrospective if there's suspicion during the game. In the Neymar case he wanted them to go to VAR. So they should have. Then they would've seen his acting and could've carded him immediately.

We're told that the VARs are regularly looking at incidents so they could be picking up on stuff as it goes on and alerting the reg. It wouldn't take long at all before it stopped

Kind of agree, but there's different degrees of diving, and sometimes it lends itself to a bit more review than VAR allows. Players will sometimes dive out of the way of incoming heavy tackles for example, which should not be punished. I'd hate to see innocent self preservation or an off balance player getting booked unfairly. If it's an obvious no brainer then yeah, no reason VAR couldn't punish it, although I also believe it's important to keep VAR reviews down to keep the game going.

Then there's Neymar of course, but in his case I have to agree with JL's proposal.

[Rich B]

Not one writhes around on the floor like a landed salmon if they’re really in pain. That’s a good place to start identifying what’s real, it's just embarrassing.

[duncs500]

Landed salmon... knew I'd seen that behavior somewhere before.

[dinny_g]

Sven tried to facilitate Gerrard and Lampard and played him on the left

Who rated both as ‘better than Scholes’

[Swervin_Mervin]

Not one writhes around on the floor like a landed salmon if they’re really in pain. That’s a good place to start identifying what’s real, it's just embarrassing.

Also, if they're South American is a good basis of assumption that they're faking it.

[GG.]

Not one writhes around on the floor like a landed salmon if they’re really in pain. That’s a good place to start identifying what’s real, it's just embarrassing.

Also, if they're South American is a good basis of assumption that they're faking it.

Hey, come on now, that’s not fair... the Panamanians are Central Americans

[unzippy]

This is part of the solutions isn't it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39790484

I get the argument that clamping down on this behaviour by showing someone a red has a massive and potentially distortive effect on the outcome of a game, so why not bring in a punishment beneath that but above a yellow? Makes total sense to me, but then again I'm not an ardent footballist.

I'm with Mik.
No need, dissent needs to be dealt with harshly and quickly. The only acceptable to words to come out of a players mouth when talking to the ref is "yes sir, thank you sir", anything else gets a yellow card
Infact, make it like Rugby where only the Captain can address the ref.
So what if players get sent off and it has a massive effect on the game? Players need to respect the ref and the game, if they can't they shouldn't be on the pitch. It's not rocket science.

All these kids that are currently watching the World Cup, seeing their idols behave in this manner without consequences and thinking it's ok

[unzippy]

It still completely baffles me that players continue with the absurd over reacting acting. Do they not realise how many high quality cameras they have pointed at they at any time which can play if back from a multitude of different angles making them look like absolute bell ends?

I understand why they do it given what is at stake, but I really really hate it, it's just ridiculous and makes a mockery of any sporting prowess.

They are footballers Harry, the majority are more than just a bit thick

[duncs500]

Good point re only the captain taking to the ref. I was very surprised that the ref didn't call Falcao over and tell him to call his boys off before they started getting sent off.

The refs hardly deal with the captains in football, which makes no sense.

Having said that, I have noticed in rugby that more and more if an opposition player is infringing at the breakdown the players are squealing "Sir! Sir!" all the time where they used to get on and play to the whistle. Which I don't really like. Maybe rugby is slowly going the way of football.

[Simon]

There's some quality Stirling reaction on Twitter right now...

[speedingfine]

[NotoriousREV]

I’m not sure it’s coming home, but it’s definitely downloaded the Uber app.

[McSwede]

Great stuff!!

So long as we keep being positive and playing with intent I'll be happy, whatever the result.

[240PP]

Good performance, better than the Colombia game IMO.

I’m still the only person at work with two teams left in the sweepstake (Eng/Rus)

[Orange Cola]

Not any more you're not!

Croatia next. They too have been playing well to get this far so what are the chances? I don't do football at all so I've no idea.

At least we get another two games out of it no matter what!