I thought I would leave it a few days before writing about the Egypt and Argentina game just in case there were more developments regarding the outcome. I mean they way this World Cup is going, you wouldn't be surprised if something out of the ordinary happened, like Messi has been kidnapped and held for ransom, or Donald Trump has stole the World Cup trophy and hid it in a bush next to some jazz mags.
Do I think that FIFA are trying to influence the outcome of the competition, and favour in particular Messi and Argentina? No of course not, but I can understand, given the Balogun situation why FIFA are being called corrupt. If Infantino had grown a pair of bollocks and told Trump to keep is nose out of what doesn't concern him, although a lot of teams would be annoyed about decisions, I think they would be less likely to start banding about accusations of corruption and match fixing. Instead the focus would be more on the real reason that seemingly dodgy decisions are going against teams, and that is because of the inconsistencies of both the officials and the VAR.
I feel sympathy for Egypt, the fact that they score what would've been the goal of the tournament, only to have it chalked off by VAR because of a foul that takes place about 3 minutes before the ball hits the net, It's such a shame that VAR felt the need to intervene and take away from football a fantastic moment and a fantastic goal. So I am led to believe the ruling is that the incident happens in the same phase of play, however I am also lead to believe that if there is a chance in the build up for the opposition to win the ball back in the build up then the phase of play changes, if you watch it back you will see that Argentina have more than enough opportunities to win the ball and fail to do so. The biggest question mark for me however is that is it even a foul, granted there is contact but it's minimal. This of course brings up the argument for Argentinians 3rd and winning goal, by the same token surely there is a foul in the lead up to that goal, surely there is not one, but two fouls and both are in the Argentine penalty area, again both are soft but by the letter of your own law and the fact that you have chalked off one earlier for a similar offence, the Argentine winner shouldn't stand and the Egyptians should be awarded a penalty. You cannot give one and not the other, personally I feel that VAR didn't need to get involved in any of the incidents and Egypt's goal should've stood. If it stands do Argentina come back, do Egypt score again, nobody knows but the fact that VAR couldn't help but get involved feels shitty to me. When VAR was brought in it was meant to stop blatant mistakes, things like Maradona's hand of god, Thierry Henry's handball, obvious offside decisions and mistaken identities that leads to the wrong player being sent off, it wasn't brought in to stop teams scoring magnificent goals and taking away celebrations and moments of unadulterated elation. We were told that games wouldn't be re-refereed and VAR was only brought in to help the referees because they have such a hard job. Bollocks!! referees these days have the easiest job, and since the introduction of VAR it's obvious that the standard of refereeing has got considerably worse, not better.
In the end though Egypt can feel truly shafted by the system, that of course doesn't condone the actions of their backroom staff and their reactions towards the referee, having said that though I was quite excited about the prospect of seeing the two Egyptian brothers who manage them chasing the referee around the pitch, sped up with Yakety Sax(the Benny Hill theme) played over the top of it, but alas that didn't happen either, yet another great moment this World Cup has denied us of.
Argentina of course now contest a quarter final against Switzerland, now if the Egypt v Argentina game had everything, the Switzerland v Colombia game had nothing. 0-0 all the way to penalties, I tried to persevere and stay up and watch it but I didn't have enough matches to prop my eyelids open with. I was surprised by the Colombians, I was expecting much more from them and I thought they would've if they had gone through been a match for Argentina, but in the end you have to give some credit to the Swiss, an unfancied side that have just gone about their business and have ended up in the last 8, fair play. Hopefully they can give Argentina a good game.
At last then we are at the quarter final stage and there are some mouth watering ties. It all kicks off with France and Morocco, this is going to be a test for the French, if the Moroccans rise to the occasion. Spain v Belgium is hopefully better than that rubbish served up in the Portugal, Spain game, can Belgium take the momentum of beating USA into the match and give the Spanish a fright? England v Norway or Harry Kane v Erling Haaland has it will no doubt be billed, and finally Argentina v Switzerland which for some reason is on at 2am on Sunday morning, hopefully I wake up to good news, as it is very unlikely I am going to bother sitting up for that, just to see the Argies get through to yet another semi final.
This is now the business end of the tournament and only one of these 8 teams is going to win it, strap in and buckle up cos it's gonna be a bumpy old ride, no doubt filled with amazing moments, great performances, joy, heartbreak and of course a little bit of controversy.
Up the football!!
