Brazil 3 Croatia 1. Fix or not?

[dellzeqq]

The bod on Radio 5 was in no doubt. Homer. And that's before you take in to account the riots.

 

[swee'pea99]

Never liked the Croatians. Racist fascists the lot o' them. Hats off to 12 man Brazil!

 

[Keith Oates]

Nothing surprises me in modern football!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AndyRM]

Ref made two really bad decisions IMO - the penalty and denying Croatia's second (first) goal. They're right to feel hard done by; a draw would have been a fairer result.

 

[Doseone]

If a being were created that was the offspring of the author of the Iliad and Marge Simpson's husband it would still be less of a homer than that ref last night.

 

[subaqua]

i think there was an option on the poll missed out.
3) who coukdn't give a flying Feck about the wendyball

 

[y2blade]

That ref was bent as...!

Shocking decisions

 

[Tin Pot]

Disagree with the op assumptions. The ref was ok, nothing bent, and a good game.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Neymar should have walked for that elbow. He was looking directly at the player when he jumped and new exactly what he was doing.

 

[Crackle]

Terrible refereeing and fixing did occur to me but just as likely was that he was intimidated by the occasion. Brazil looked crap though. On the basis of that game they won't be winning another World cup.

 

[Bollo]

Not bent exactly, but sympathetic to the prevailing mood.

 

[Crackle]

You are assuming that the refereeing will improve but they won't?

I'm sure both will be improve but they don't look world beaters yet.

 

[zizou]

Probably not bent but very weak refereeing.

Not sure that refereeing in the J League is going to give a referee the experience needed to resist pressure from the big name players, the media attention and partisan home crowd - perhaps a ref who has previous experience / track record at Copa Libertadores or Champions League level would have been a better choice. Although in saying that refs who have experience in those games can have terrible performances too! I hope its not a sign of things to come in the rest of the tournament - in the last world cup Spain were very fortunate in a couple of games when playing "inferior" opposition as a result of decisions given (or not) - weak refereeing can kill the underdogs chances.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

The ref wasn't inexperienced, he has a previous World Cup under his belt during which he was the first official to show a red card. Mind you, it wasn't to one of the host nation's players.

 

[swee'pea99]

The ref wasn't inexperienced, he has a previous World Cup under his belt during which he was the first official to show a red card. Mind you, it wasn't to one of the host nation's players.

Absolutely. I'm with you on Neymar, but it would be a brave ref that sent him off last night. He'd need an armed escort to get off the pitch, never mind straight to the airport...