All that I'll say is that they need to seriously implement instant replay in the World Cup reffing
and players that flop repeatedly should receive yellow cards.
Well maybe Griezmann(FR) fell a little too soon and quickly and was awarded that penalty kick on fake events. No?
And then maybe everything has been skewed from then on.. since that was the first goal, "it may have tipped the balance of the game"<-- literally heard from a sports commentator after the game.
but yeah, there was enough performance on the French side, to lead to a win.
Agreed. I respected soccer but got really turned off to soccer years ago when Spain flopped it's way to winning the world cup, I'm a purist when it comes to athletics and absolutely hate when people win through trickery and cheap tactics rather than winning through athletics.Griezmann flopped but it wasn't a penalty kick, it was a free kick to an own-goal deflection. But yea, that first goal definitely matters, I think the last stat I saw on this was something like the first team that scores a goal wins 70% of the time. There's definitely a morale setback to getting scored on, especially since it was an own goal. Then the handball to penalty kick was even more of an emotional blow.
But yea, there's a reason I only pay attention to soccer once every 4 years. I played throughout high school and played for Southern Alameda County youth soccer league and flopping wasn't a part of the game that I played. The amount of flopping going on in the premier leagues and at world stages is personally embarrassing to me as a former soccer player. There's no pride associated with being a former soccer player, I'd rather admit to being a former rollerblader than a former soccer player.
Agreed. I respected soccer but got really turned off to soccer years ago when Spain flopped it's way to winning the world cup, I'm a purist when it comes to athletics and absolutely hate when people win through trickery and cheap tactics rather than winning through athletics.
They really need to do something about the flopping, it is a disgusting tactic that cheapens the game especially since it can be a game changer.