The World Cup

[mspart]

USA vs Turkey was pretty good.   I was saddened that T scored their last goal 10 seconds before time was called.  That was crazy.   Good game.   Next up is Iran vs Egypt tonight at the Seattle Pride Festival.   

mspart

[ionel]

Anyone else think rv's team and fans are the most fun to watch? 

[Lipdrag]

17 hours ago, ionel said:

Anyone else think rv's team and fans are the most fun to watch? 

Which one?

Isn't he 110% for any country playing against the USA?  Especially since he and his fellow lefties hate America more and more every day.

[ionel]

2 hours ago, Lipdrag said:

Which one?

Isn't he 110% for any country playing against the USA?  Especially since he and his fellow lefties hate America more and more every day.

I figured he was a Norway fan but you are probably 110% correct he was pulling for Iran ... hopefully rv went home with them.

I do love the Norway fans and great to see the team dothe after last win.  

[fishbane]

Folarin Balogun ban from a red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina has been suspended and will be served outside of the tournament.  Whilst this is good news for the US in their game today, it seems unjust.  President Trump personally lobbied FIFA for this to happen and no other player in the tournament has similarly had a ban suspended. 

Twelve players have served bans at this world cup due to red cards, suspensions, or an accumulation of yellow cards so far.  Three of them served suspensions in the knock out stage so far. Three others received a red card in their country's final game and will serve the suspension outside of the World Cup by necessity. Jarell Quansah received a red card yesterday and will be suspended for England's quarterfinal match.  If you let Balogun and the US off here how were the rules consistently applied across the other 16 suspensions?  

[Caveira]

11 minutes ago, fishbane said:

Folarin Balogun ban from a red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina has been suspended and will be served outside of the tournament.  Whilst this is good news for the US in their game today, it seems unjust.  President Trump personally lobbied FIFA for this to happen and no other player in the tournament has similarly had a ban suspended. 

Twelve players have served bans at this world cup due to red cards, suspensions, or an accumulation of yellow cards so far.  Three of them served suspensions in the knock out stage so far. Three others received a red card in their country's final game and will serve the suspension outside of the World Cup by necessity. Jarell Quansah received a red card yesterday and will be suspended for England's quarterfinal match.  If you let Balogun and the US off here how were the rules consistently applied across the other 16 suspensions?  

They did this for Cristiano ronoldo last year 

go USA 

[fishbane]

11 minutes ago, Caveira said:

They did this for Cristiano ronoldo last year 

go USA 

The only other time it’s been done.  Why was it done for Ronaldo and Balogun and not Sithole, Zwane, Montes, Mokoene, Muharemović, Ahmed, Madibo, Almiron, Nagoya, Cabral, Gomez, or Lasheen who all served suspensions at this World Cup?  There isn’t a rational argument to explain it.  How is that fair to those individuals and the countries of South Africa, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Qatar, Paraguay, Belgium, Cape Verde, and Egypt?  How does FIFA suspend Quanshah for England’s next match?  

FIFA is favoring the USA and Portugal over these other counties.  

[Caveira]

11 minutes ago, fishbane said:

The only other time it’s been done.  Why was it done for Ronaldo and Balogun and not Sithole, Zwane, Montes, Mokoene, Muharemović, Ahmed, Madibo, Almiron, Nagoya, Cabral, Gomez, or Lasheen who all served suspensions at this World Cup?  There isn’t a rational argument to explain it.  How is that fair to those individuals and the countries of South Africa, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Qatar, Paraguay, Belgium, Cape Verde, and Egypt?  How does FIFA suspend Quanshah for England’s next match?  

FIFA is favoring the USA and Portugal over these other counties.  

Ok.  Go USA?  
 

Maybe they realized it wasn’t a red card boss.    It’s not always a conspiracy.   Like the no call on Messi. 

[StillUndefeated]

The Islamic Republic flag is a political symbol to most Iranians, not a national one. We don’t consider it our flag. The people who bring that flag into US stadiums during the World Cup are all regime supporters and your enemies.

Why do you guys let them live in the US when they are openly your enemies?

[StillUndefeated]

This is NOT our flag

 

Our flag:

 

[red viking]

I root for USA until pedo trump gets involved. Red cards are supposed to stand in world cup soccer so that striker should be OUT!!!

Now I root against them. Go Belgium!!

Edited July 6 by red viking

[fishbane]

48 minutes ago, Caveira said:

Ok.  Go USA?  
 

Maybe they realized it wasn’t a red card boss.    It’s not always a conspiracy.   Like the no call on Messi. 

Can't undo a red card there is no mechanism for that.  And if this backroom review decided it wasn't a red here the official review in Ronaldo's case decided it as worse than a red card.  Instead of the mandatory one game ban they decided it was worthy of a three game ban.  Why give two more games only to suspend them?

It would be better for the integrity of the competition if vague catch all exceptions weren't used in this manner and if politicians stayed out of sports.  Not unexpected from an organization like FIFA sadly.

[StillUndefeated]

The Islamic Republic actually paid a bunch of illegal immigrants in the US, mostly Mexicans and Pakistanis, to go to the stadium with the Islamic Republic flag. Iranians figured out some of them weren't Iranian, like this Mexican guy:

[fishbane]

3 minutes ago, StillUndefeated said:

The Islamic Republic actually paid a bunch of illegal immigrants in the US, mostly Mexicans and Pakistanis, to go to the stadium with the Islamic Republic flag. Iranians figured out some of them weren't Iranian, like this Mexican guy:

How much was he paid?

[Caveira]

12 minutes ago, fishbane said:

Can't undo a red card there is no mechanism for that.  And if this backroom review decided it wasn't a red here the official review in Ronaldo's case decided it as worse than a red card.  Instead of the mandatory one game ban they decided it was worthy of a three game ban.  Why give two more games only to suspend them?

It would be better for the integrity of the competition if vague catch all exceptions weren't used in this manner and if politicians stayed out of sports.  Not unexpected from an organization like FIFA sadly.

FIFA used Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code to lift Folarin Balogun's red card suspension.    There is a mechanism to use. 
 

[StillUndefeated]

9 minutes ago, fishbane said:

How much was he paid?

The Iranian guy who exposed them said the Islamic Republic actually bought them the tickets and told them, 'You can watch the game for free, just take our flag with you.'

Edited July 6 by StillUndefeated

[StillUndefeated]

Of course, not all of them were foreigners. Some are Iranian-Americans who hold US citizenship but still work for the Islamic Republic.

Iranians are tracking them down, but we also need to expose them to you guys, hoping some US official will eventually step up and deport them. Like this Iranian woman who is a US citizen but works for the regime

 

 

[red viking]

1 minute ago, StillUndefeated said:

Of course, not all of them were foreigners. Some are Iranian-Americans who hold US citizenship but still work for the Islamic Republic.

Iranians are tracking them down, but we also need to expose them to you guys, hoping some US official will eventually step up and deport them. Like this Iranian woman who is a US citizen but works for the regime

 

 

Ill try to track her down

[StillUndefeated]

She was going around the stadium handing out the Islamic Republic flag to foreign spectators. On top of that, she was pointing out Iranians carrying the real Iranian flag (the Lion and Sun) to stadium security (Under FIFA rules, fans aren't allowed to bring flags other than the official ones.)

[fishbane]

37 minutes ago, Caveira said:

FIFA used Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code to lift Folarin Balogun's red card suspension.    There is a mechanism to use. 
 

Red cards are not appealable and cannot be taken away.  Article 27 cannot lift a suspension from a red card it can only suspend the penalty (ban) for 1-4 years.  In Balogun's case they suspended the sanction for 1 year.  I assume the judicial body in question here was the disciplinary committee since he doesn't have the right to appeal a red card.   So in this case the backroom review decided to be more lenient.  In Ronaldo's situation, the only other time this was ever done, the disciplinary committee opted for more discipline but then suspended all of it.  Why was article 27 used in these two instances and no others?

[Caveira]

11 minutes ago, fishbane said:

the only other time this was ever done

the first time FIFA ever lifted a red card suspension during the finals was for Brazil's Garrincha in 1962.

[fishbane]

15 minutes ago, StillUndefeated said:

She was going around the stadium handing out the Islamic Republic flag to foreign spectators. On top of that, she was pointing out Iranians carrying the real Iranian flag (the Lion and Sun) to stadium security (Under FIFA rules, fans aren't allowed to bring flags other than the official ones.)

This really isn't unique to Iran and FIFA.  The Olympics do the same thing with flags.  Only official flags of participating countries are allowed.  I recall seeing an occasional pre-revolution flag in Paris, but the majority were the official one.  There were also some protest messages in support of Iran allowing women to wrestle.  But protest and non-official flags are banned.  The iconic black power salute at the 1968 games was also against the rules.

38 minutes ago, StillUndefeated said:

Of course, not all of them were foreigners. Some are Iranian-Americans who hold US citizenship but still work for the Islamic Republic.

Iranians are tracking them down, but we also need to expose them to you guys, hoping some US official will eventually step up and deport them. Like this Iranian woman who is a US citizen but works for the regime

How could a US citizen be deported for being loyal to Iran or any country?

43 minutes ago, StillUndefeated said:

The Iranian guy who exposed them said the Islamic Republic actually bought them the tickets and told them, 'You can watch the game for free, just take our flag with you.'

I guess that's paying in some sense, but this doesn't sound like the kind of thing was done on a large scale.  I am sure the Islamic Republic of Iran had tickets allocated and people who wanted to go, but couldn't get visas.  Visas were tough enough for the players and support staff to obtain.  I am sure no spectators travelling from Iran got them.  Might have been considered the best alternative to actually attending. Sell the ticket and an opposition fan is likely to buy it.  Give it to a neutral and get them to carry your flag.  

[fishbane]

9 minutes ago, Caveira said:

the first time FIFA ever lifted a red card suspension during the finals was for Brazil's Garrincha in 1962.

That is not true.  In 1962 red cards didn't carry an automatic ban for the next match.  There was no ban to be lifted or suspended for 1-4 years.  FIFA decided to not levy an additional penalty.  There was no penalty reduction.

[Caveira]

22 minutes ago, fishbane said:

That is not true.  In 1962 red cards didn't carry an automatic ban for the next match.  There was no ban to be lifted or suspended for 1-4 years.  FIFA decided to not levy an additional penalty.  There was no penalty reduction.

Ok.  Go USA?

[Offthemat]

I couldn’t care less about soccer, or hockey for that matter, but I'm rooting for the USA to win it all.