Men's Soccer (Football) Thread [Archived] Soccer • Page 546

I'm Italian and my ancestors on one side are from a town in Campania just outside of Naples and the other side are from a mix of somewhere down near the tip in Calabrian or in Sicily... so I always tried to root for the southern teams in Serie A. I eventually just began to support Napoli for no particular reason other than I imagine if I had family just outside of Naples, they'd probably be Napoli fans.

As far as Premier League, the first match I ever watched was in 2007 when I was still in high school. I actually found the match report (here). I just remember how good the game was but then when Chris Samba won it in injury time, I thought that was so awesome. So I decided to take Blackburn as my team from that point on. I didn't realize then that they would be forever ruined by Venkys just a short while later, but I'll always love them. I'm dying to get out to a match soon.

RBNY is easy enough... born and raised in New York.

 

I guess I'm not the only Blackburn supporter in New York then.

 

One day, brother. One day. Maybe in our grandkids' lifetimes, they'll be back.

 

At one point on the old site we had 3 or 4 active Blackburn fans. Thought that was awesome.


Dunn's chiseled jawline and MGP's frosted tips are nothing more than fleeting memories now

 

Everton because of Howard and I liked playing with them in FIFA. Not a great story but it's how I fell in love.

Juve because my girlfriend at the times Dad (from Italy) loved them so I started watching games with him.

I started following European teams before I followed mls.

 

Yeah the Blackburn story is pretty sad. But it's good that despite living so far away, you've stuck with them despite it all, it'd be easy to just find a new team, especially early on when perhaps the bond with the club isn't as strong. I can't imagine seeing my team ruined in that way and I sympathise with fans of teams like Charlton, Portsmouth, Blackpool, Blackburn, Leyton Orient, etc.

 

I'm shocked that even with video refs, the refs are still widely incompetent.

 

Yep, that red card against Cameroon was a joke. And the whole process was again cringeworthy. If the ref without a VAR would have decided that this was a red card, everyone would have said that it was a very harsh and wrong decision, but maybe from his point of view it looked like a red. But after watching all these replays the two people in charge still decide that it is a red? Thats just embarrassing. VAR as of right now does not improve the game at all.

 

Don't agree. It was used very well in the U20s final tournament.

 

I didnt really watch that tournament but I have seen at least one incident from it where it was used badly (I think it was a red card against Italy).
But my hope really is that it is just that the refs in the Confed Cup are just not well trained to use it. It is a shit show right now.
They said before that VAR would be used in 1 or 2 incidents per matchday in a league competition and that sounds very reasonable. But in the Confed Cup it is used in multiple incidents per game. Its way too much and it ruins the flow of the game. The worst things are these millimeter offside decisions. VAR does currently not have the technology to decide these kind of incidents.

 

Was a referee fuck up, not VAR. Ref fucked up intially, booked the wrong man, then watched the video and sent that wrong man off. Finally watched it again and got the right man. He fucked up massively.

The linesman fucked up a Germany attack ten minutes later when Werner was inside his own half.

 

That's not totally true, using the angles of the cameras and some maths and you can definitely place soft markers on the pitch to determined distance and placement.

 

And that is exactly one reason why VAR does not really work in football. You can only use it if the ref lets the game play on. Once the ref whistles or the linesman shows the flag the game is dead. So the refs could come to the conclusion that they let the game run in uncertain situations. But if these situations dont result in a goal there wont be a consultation of the VAR. So a wrong decision will stay wrong.

 

Then refs need to stop getting those decisions wrong. That attack was easy to see he was onside. He was in his own half! If the refs can do their job, VAR will be a success. I don't see the problem with refs playing on in certain situations. It works in rugby. Attackers are apparently supposed to have the benefit of the doubt in offside situations, give that to them and there's no problem.

 

The problem is the exact time of the pass and the number of frames the camera records. You would need some kind of chip inside the ball that records every pass and is synchronized to the cameras so you can tell the exact time of the pass. And then you need cameras that record many frames per second so could actually watch the frame when the pass occured. If this was the case, then it would work. But right now we dont have that technology.
One perfect example would be yesterdays goal in the Mexico game that was overturned. The still frame they showed afterwards was clearly not the exact time of the pass (the ball was almost half a meter away from the passer). But they still used it to determine that it was offside. If they had used the correct time of the pass, maybe the concerning player would have been level. The technology is just not there yet.

 

Thats exactly what I am saying. This used to be the case but with VAR right now this rule seems to be lost.

 

I don't understand. The linesman just fucked up, there's been benefit of the doubt played already. Vargas goal against Cameroon for example. You can't blame VAR on human incompetence, which is what that offside today was.

 

A number of goals where already overturned by the VAR because of some millimeter decisions. The benefit of the doubt is not there anymore.

 

I had a MGP shirt at one point. Not sure where it is anymore. Is he still playing in Norway or is he retired?

 

I do like that football is the only sport where the fans thinks the rules should be more like guidelines.

 

Genuine question: where you frustated most of the time with the decisions made by refs until now? Do you feel so much better now that VAR is introduced?

Or did you fell in love with the game despite of its flaws?

The idea behind VAR is pretty good. But the execution right now is just terrible. Maybe there is no right or wrong call for every specific incident. Maybe it is better to keep the flow of the game than to introduce a large break just to make a controversial decision.

If you ask me now with the experience of VAR in the Confed Cup: I definitely prefer the old way of making decisions. You get the same amount of right or wrong decisions with much less of a break and you keep the flow of the game.

 

I didn't think they were using it for offsides yet?

In the U20s, the refs were using it quite sensibly in cases where they were fairly sure they'd made the right call, but had reason to question it.

I'd rather the refs had the tech than not. I don't buy into this idea that the romance of football is lost if referees can no longer make controversial (read wrong) decisions.

 

In the Confed Cup most incidents where it was used were for offsides with very slim distances between striker and second to last defender. Thats what surprises me most and what has ruined it most for me so far.

I am all for using it to overturn blatently wrong decisions but at least in the Confed Cup that is not the case.

I am a fan of a team in the 6th division. There are actually quite some atrocious decisions that I would love to be overthrown by technology. But I dont like that mostly offside decisions are overturned because in the still frame it looks like the striker might be some millimeters offside. I want it to be used for the crystal clear wrong decisions. Just like it was discussed all along.

 

I'm still here supporting Blackburn even if it kills me.

As for me supporting them I got into football the season before they won it (they came 2nd that season) and loved how Blackburn played with Shearer upfront. Was great to see them win it the following season, I turned 10 the week before they won it at anfield. Since then it's there's been a lot of ups and downs, I really loved our late 00's team with mgp, Dunn, tugay etc.

I don't live near Blackburn at all (opposite end of uk to me) but I've always stuck with them. If I'd picked a local team When I was a kid I would've probably ended up with either Portsmouth (that would've been just as turbulent as Rovers) or Chelsea (my Dad's team) as I'm about halfway between Pompey an London.

 

Plus, you would have had to actually go to Portsmouth, and no one deserves that.