Should Be The Final? QF2 - BRZ-BEL

[tee rex]

Yes, Brazil blew it. Hat-trick of chances in the first ten minutes alone. They also got the worst of the decisions.

But Belgium, eh? Hands up if you shouted 'You're a useless walking red card' at Fellaini, when he committed his first foul, maybe even before kick-off. Then he turns into a hero. Saved the stumbling defence behind him, time and again.

And the counter-attackers who then became holders - Lukaku, Hazard, De Bruyne. Ran into the ground. Lukaku especially, he was Kane cubed.

And Courtois. Magnificent.

They would've crumbled in extra time, but ... we'll never know. Hats off, or whatever they say in Belgian. Bravo.

[Pietro Paolo Virdis]

[Alderman Barnes]

I'm not as much of a fan/fetishist of the German language as some people I know are, but every so often I have to admit they have some great 'compound words'.

One of my German friends just posted "Schwalbenkönigin raus!" - "Shallow queen out!" :-)

Sorry to nit-pick, but Schwalbe means swallow, as in swallow-dive.

[Gerontophile]

So, a word involving queens, and swallowing. Who knew?

[Logan Mountstuart]

Wonder what Marc Wilmots is doing tonight? It's not like Martinez is a genius. Just nice and competent. Wilmots might have delayed a lot of good players' international career.

Great player though. The Belgian Neeskens. But that's the point. Belgium don't have to be nice and funny and accept that the Dutch are better anymore. It's wonderful.

[ad hoc]

If a ref makes a mistake, obviously there is a moment of anger (or relief) but in the end fairly quickly you get over it because you can see how difficult it is at high speed with different view points how impossible it would be to get every call right. When a bunch of them sitting in front of massive monitors with the benefit of multiple angles and slow motion make totally the wrong call... That's unforgivable

[Alderman Barnes]

I desperately wanted Belgium to win tonight, but that was a nailed-on penalty to me (but only after seeing the replay). Regardless who it favoured, it just makes it more mystifying what the point of VAR might be.

[ursus arctos]

I presume that the VAR concluded that there was not “clear and convincing” evidence that the ball was still in play when Kompany committed the foul. As a result, they could not overrule the call on the pitch.

It’s hard to judge that decision without having access to all of the angles that they had access to,

[ad hoc]

I thought the call on the pitch was penalty. The ref pointed to the spot.

[Nefertiti2]

I'm not as much of a fan/fetishist of the German language as some people I know are, but every so often I have to admit they have some great 'compound words'.

One of my German friends just posted "Schwalbenkönigin raus!" - "Shallow queen out!" :-)

Schwalbe - Swallow- in this case means "dive"

[San Bernardhinault]

I thought the call on the pitch was penalty. The ref pointed to the spot.

I'm pretty sure he awarded a goal kick.

[scratchmonkey]

FWIW, I didn't think it was a penalty at speed or on the replay and neither did the two people I was watching it with.

We were all quite ticked off with the amount of diving that Brazil had been doing up to that point though.

[Sean of the Shed]

I think Brazil have partly been the architects of their own downfall. They've gained a reputation of ridiculous play acting in this tournament and I think the ref, subconsciously, has gone into the game believing this and judged their fouls accordingly.

[ad hoc]

I'm pretty sure he awarded a goal kick.

Really. At least that would make some sense. It looked to me like he'd given a penalty

[scratchmonkey]

Full replay of the play, I think he called it a goal kick, although it is hard to tell: https://streamable.com/21stp

[tee rex]

The best play-acting was Witzel's ball-hits-hair. You can't dive if you're already horizontal on the ground, but your head can collapse.

[ursus arctos]

The Spanish commentators (and the French and German minute by minute guys) were certain that the call on the field was a goal kick.

[scratchmonkey]

So were the Telemundo commentators. There was a shout of 'saque de meta' right afterward.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Why do the BBC always take their post-match interviews with Martinez from a domestic Belgian interviewer (but in English), do they have a co-op deal with a Belgian broadcaster?

I'd guess it's just pooled and anyone can access it? And that Belgian TV just interview Martinez in English as the easiest way through the language conundrum - I'm sure I read the Belgian squad converse in English anyway.

[Ray de Galles]

It’s weird, I don’t think I’ve seen the same with any other country’s interview. I know Belgium is the only country I can think of that I regularly find BBC 1 and 2 on hotel TV channels.

[Cal Alamein]

Courtois gave an post-game interview in Spanish.

What an impressive goalkeeping performance. That 94th minute fingertip save was something else.

[linus]

Courtois is the best keeper in the world, Brazil's shots had to be perfect to get in, like their one goal.

I think Brazil have partly been the architects of their own downfall. They've gained a reputation of ridiculous play acting in this tournament and I think the ref, subconsciously, has gone into the game believing this and judged their fouls accordingly.

FWIW, I didn't think it was a penalty at speed or on the replay and neither did the two people I was watching it with.

We were all quite ticked off with the amount of diving that Brazil had been doing up to that point though.

Agree with both points. In any case, Belgium is the better team and I'm glad they got through. This Brazil team would have been no match for France. The first semifinal has as much promise as the 2016 Euro's first semi.

Sorry to nit-pick, but Schwalbe means swallow, as in swallow-dive.

[Patrick Thistle]

I think Brazil have partly been the architects of their own downfall. They've gained a reputation of ridiculous play acting in this tournament and I think the ref, subconsciously, has gone into the game believing this and judged their fouls accordingly.

No doubt. More than partly.

Jesus rolled 3 times after being fouled. It would have been reasonable for the ref to think it was another case of playacting. We don't know what the VAR call was and my understanding is the ref can ask for an opinion but doesn't have to change his mind. So the VAR guys may have said something unclear about the level of contact and the ref just assumed Jesus had overstated his case because he had had tried to roll halfway back to Brazil.

It should have been a penalty. In Brazil 4 years ago they'd have had it. And Neymar's. And Hazard would have had his leg broken in a light spot of samba thuggery. And been booked while getting stretchered off.

[anton pulisov]

Brazil might be better off without Neymar

[scratchmonkey]

Quite possibly, in the same sense that Sweden are certainly better off without Ibra.