[BostonCard]

Plenty of dubious plays throughout the World Cup.  I think it is fair to be critical of Argentina’s conduct in the final, but it is a difference of degree, not of kind.  To wit, I thought Spain was pretty guilty of embellishing their falls, including the one that got Fernandez his second yellow (and yes, so too Argentina, including on the disallowed goal).  On at least one occasion, the Spanish player full on flopped, but since it was correctly no-called, it didn’t lead to a VAR review.  I don’t love that about the Spanish team, but I’m not letting it detract from what was otherwise an inspired performance.  OTOH, there was a clear flop by the Swiss player against Argentina that would have led to a yellow card against Argentina but for the VAR review (I wonder how much Argentina’s reputation hurt it on the initial whistle by the ref).  I love and respect Haaland as a player, but he’s very physical, pushing the bounds between physicality and outright brutishness at times.  Doesn’t mean he’s not one of my favorite strikers.

Argentine fans got panned for being obnoxious and offensive, but AFAIK they weren’t hurling homophobic insults at the opponents goalies.  That was not Mexico’s finest moment, but I don’t want the actions of some fans to prejudice my feelings for El Tri, which is one of my favorite teams.  And I found it rich for the English fans to be complaining about the conduct of any other country’s fans:

https://youtu.be/OurbgSUrm2c?is=3vDdOx_yhOVznOQ2

And FWIW, when I did a quick search about fan misbehavior, I came across this one:

one of the earliest known instances of crowd violence at a sporting event took place in ancient Constantinople. Two chariot racing factions, the Blues and the Greens, were involved in the Nika riots which lasted around a week in 532 CE; nearly half the city was burned or destroyed, in addition to tens of thousands of deaths.

BC

[BostonCard]

Plenty of dubious plays throughout the World Cup.  I think it is fair to be critical of Argentina’s conduct in the final, but it is a difference of degree, not of kind.  To wit, I thought Spain was pretty guilty of embellishing their falls, including the one that got Fernandez his second yellow (and yes, so too Argentina, including on the disallowed goal).  On at least one occasion, the Spanish player full on flopped, but since it was correctly no-called, it didn’t lead to a VAR review.  I don’t love that about the Spanish team, but I’m not letting it detract from what was otherwise an inspired performance.  OTOH, there was a clear flop by the Swiss player against Argentina that would have led to a yellow card against Argentina but for the VAR review (I wonder how much Argentina’s reputation hurt it on the initial whistle by the ref).  I love and respect Haaland as a player, but he’s very physical, pushing the bounds between physicality and outright brutishness at times.  Doesn’t mean he’s not one of my favorite strikers.

Argentine fans got panned for being obnoxious and offensive, but AFAIK they weren’t hurling homophobic insults at the opponents goalies.  That was not Mexico’s finest moment, but I don’t want the actions of some fans to prejudice my feelings for El Tri, which is one of my favorite teams.  And I found it rich for the English fans to be complaining about the conduct of any other country’s fans:

https://youtu.be/OurbgSUrm2c?is=3vDdOx_yhOVznOQ2

And FWIW, when I did a quick search about fan misbehavior, I came across this one:

one of the earliest known instances of crowd violence at a sporting event took place in ancient Constantinople. Two chariot racing factions, the Blues and the Greens, were involved in the Nika riots which lasted around a week in 532 CE; nearly half the city was burned or destroyed, in addition to tens of thousands of deaths.

BC