No, the contact started clearly outside the box. Don't allow your passion to cloud your objectivity. Certain TV angles may give the impression that it was inside the box but others prove without doubt that it was outside. The American TV rules analyst said with no doubt that it was outside the box and I agree. Not because I'm rooting for France, but simply because it WAS outside the box.
Remember that the refs don't always have the best angles and best proximity with the play therefore, since a decision - a GOOD one - was made to only allow VAR reviews to change calls/no-calls in certain situations I delineated above not to ruin the flow of the sport, human error will continue to happen because refs are human. Also, VAR operators are human. In a CONCACAF qualification game there was VAR review for a goal for the United States called back for offside, that incredibly enough was not confirmed by VAR because the VAR operators picked the wrong player to draw the lines that show if it's offside or not. It was a good goal. No offside but VAR used the wrong player so it appeared like offside. Haha. The error was made by the VAR operator. It doesn't mean VAR is useless because MOST decisions get it right. FIFA has always said, soccer is a sport with a human element and no technology will ever eliminate it all unless we want to stop a game 300 times.
Poor Monte, he's probably in shock and will take a while to post here again. I was devastated when Italy did not qualify so I can relate. Bummer that Brazil also got eliminated but it's my third team after the USA (which I think performed decently and got as far as we could so I don't regret it, I'm proud of our boys) and Italy so I didn't suffer a lot for Brazil. ------------ I'm getting very enthusiastic about the underdogs Morocco, and France. Even though the underdog story is nice, I think I will end up rooting for France all the way, because seeing AC Milan players Theo Hernández and Olivier Giroud playing extremely well has been a big pleasure for me. I was ecstatic when Giroud scored the winner against England! Go Giroud! Theo saved a certain goal in the last quarter of the game but then committed the PK; I was worried for him but fortunately Kane missed so Theo did not become someone responsible for his team's elimination like Jorginho for Italy. Poor Jorginho. Theo has been good at defense and has been supporting the offense very well, which is the role he fulfills at AC MIlan. Giroud has been fabulous. What a resurgence! He is making the team not miss Benzema, which is pretty incredible. If this continues, Giroud may be elected the MVP of the tournament. Of course the competition for him is in his own squad, Mbappé, but today Giroud played much better than Mbappé and in total goals he is only one below Mbappé (4 and 5). Not only Giroud has scored 4 goals already, but today's was arguably the most important goal scored by France in the whole tournament so far. If in the semi and the final Giroud scores essential goals again, he may dislodge Mbappé as MVP. It will all depend on who wins. If France win, the MVP will be either Mbappé or Giroud. If Argentina win, the MVP will be Messi, no doubt. If it's Croatia, it will be Modric. If it's Morocco (and no, it is not impossible at all that they will win the Cup), it should be Yassine Bounou although they don't like to select a goalie for this title (but he deserves it).
Bloody penalty let us down again. Kane you tw@t, at least get it on target. I just hope an asteroid hits Qatar at a shallow angle wiping it off the face of the Earth and then bounces to land on France. I'm not bitter though.
@Montegriffo you guys are choke artists. It's NEVER coming home. You'll fail every time. Haha, since your 1966 undeserved home-advantage / biased-refereeing win, the teams I root for (Italy, Brazil, France) have won the Cup 7 times out of 13; that's better than one in two. Yours? Zero. LOL
