2014 FIFA World Cup: Group A (BRA/CRO/MEX/CMR)

[Doormatt]

i would be pretty upset if i was a croatia fan with my coach saying that. this loss shouldve motivated croatia, they still have the 2nd most talent in this group and can easily advance.

You would be upset if your coach comes up with the exactly right conclusion why they lost this game?

hes right that the penalty lost them the game but you dont come out and say we should give up and bitch like that. just not the right way to motivate imo.

[bbms]

As a Croat, I'm not pissed at the fact that we lost. We didn't really deserve to win and were outplayed for the most part. Having the turning point being on a bull call is what pisses me off.

Pletikosa, apart from one great save, also played terrible for Croatia. 2 weak goals and a penalty kick that never should've been going right through his hands.

Don't agree at all. Croatia was solid and had a clear game plan, just got unlucky with all that aerial plays - which they dominated.

[bbms]

That finish by Oscar was kind of Romario-esque.

Ronaldo vs Turkey in 2002 WC semifinals.

[Man of Steel]

I dunnoe about you guys, but if I get robbed like that I don't just let it go. I bitch and whine and sulk about the officiating because that nonsense shouldn't just be accepted as a part of the game. I don't agree with his stance of just "giving up" because there's no point with the way the officiating went, but I understand why he said it.

[ForLoveofGame]

Too much is being made of the penatly. There was some contact, and the refree made the call. Suck it up and move on. Croatia is not eliminated, the Coach should just shut up and motivate his players and congratulate them on putting up a good fight and get ready for the next opponent.

[Bourne85]

Croatia had 1 goal, and it was made by Marcelo, a Brazil player. Brazil also had over 60 possession.

Brazil was the aggressor and Croatia was just defending for there lives an trying to counter attack all game.

Brazil won easily, wasn't as close as some of u make it.

Although, Brazil must play much better if they want to go far.

[Doormatt]

I dunnoe about you guys, but if I get robbed like that I don't just let it go. I bitch and whine and sulk about the officiating because that nonsense shouldn't just be accepted as a part of the game. I don't agree with his stance of just "giving up" because there's no point with the way the officiating went, but I understand why he said it.

i dont think they should let it go, but when your focus is on something that you cant change and has already happened then its just not good for the team going forward.

obviously this penalty call was symptomatic of a bigger problem with officiating and the sport but as a coach of a team trying to get out of your group in the World Cup this is not something that should even concern you at the moment (in the sense of motivating your players going forward)

[Doormatt]

Too much is being made of the penatly. There was some contact, and the refree made the call. Suck it up and move on. Croatia is not eliminated, the Coach should just shut up and motivate his players and congratulate them on putting up a good fight and get ready for the next opponent.

there really wasnt any contact, he barely touched him.

it was an atrocious penalty call, not something we should just move on from as fans, because it effects the game way too much. i think the teams and players shouldnt focus on it so much because they have higher priorities, but we as fans should be pretty outraged at this garbage.

[PedroGrande]

When will they ever realize you need good referees for this kind of competition?

Not that it wasn't a bad decision but these things will happen from time to time even with good referees. Something bigger needs to be changed in terms of officiating the sport.

[ForLoveofGame]

The Croatian Coach should be more pissed at his Goalkeeper for letting two bunnies go right past him.

[Doormatt]

yeah for penalties there should be some type of review system in a booth somewhere. i mean it was obvious from the first replay that it was an awful call, im sure every fan would not mind an extra minute or two to get these calls right. besides they already waste so much time arguing with the ref and setting up that there is plenty of time to review it.

[ForLoveofGame]

Too much is being made of the penatly. There was some contact, and the refree made the call. Suck it up and move on. Croatia is not eliminated, the Coach should just shut up and motivate his players and congratulate them on putting up a good fight and get ready for the next opponent.

there really wasnt any contact, he barely touched him.

it was an atrocious penalty call, not something we should just move on from as fans, because it effects the game way too much. i think the teams and players shouldnt focus on it so much because they have higher priorities, but we as fans should be pretty outraged at this garbage.

This type of thing happens all the time. No human being or refree is perfect nor will they ever be. Nobody is going to get split second decisions right 100% of the time. Croatia lost because of bad goalkeeping more than that penalty.

[ForLoveofGame]

When will they ever realize you need good referees for this kind of competition?

Not that it wasn't a bad decision but these things will happen from time to time even with good referees. Something bigger needs to be changed in terms of officiating the sport.

They just need to give each side one chance to challenge a call. Similar to what they do with NFL. That way the Coach can challenge a call that he thinks was made in error. And they can review it in a booth to make sure if it's correct or not.

[Pharmcat]

not impressed by brazil at all

questionable penalty goal, a better keeper couldve stopped all of their goals, their goalkeeper allowed rebounds late in the game

expect them to get bounced early in the tournament

[Doormatt]

This type of thing happens all the time. No human being or refree is perfect nor will they ever be. Nobody is going to get split second decisions right 100% of the time. Croatia lost because of bad goalkeeping more than that penalty.

the goalkeeping was bad and its possible brazil could have scored regardless, but the penalty quite clearly changed the game and arguably lost them the game, its not like brazil looked like they were ever a threat to score until then. and their third goal was a direct result of the penalty causing croatia to go all out to salvage the game.

i would say clearly the penalty had the biggest impact on the game followed by the shoddy keeping.

[MaliBrah]

not impressed by brazil at all

questionable penalty goal, a better keeper couldve stopped all of their goals, their goalkeeper allowed rebounds late in the game

expect them to get bounced early in the tournament

its still early but yeah ceasar was giving up some juicy rebounds.. one will land on someones foot sooner or later

[Jugs]

man i'm not even going to get too caught up on this game i expected a loss. to go down via a crappy penalty was still a gut punch but i'm looking forward to the next two games and hope that the brazil loss adds fuel to the competitive fire

[Doormatt]

i think it was the modric shot that bounced for years and he reacted like my grandma would.

too bad croatia couldnt deliver a decent cross to test him further.

[studcrackers]

The penalty ruined a great game for me.

agreed

[ForLoveofGame]

This type of thing happens all the time. No human being or refree is perfect nor will they ever be. Nobody is going to get split second decisions right 100% of the time. Croatia lost because of bad goalkeeping more than that penalty.

the goalkeeping was bad and its possible brazil could have scored regardless, but the penalty quite clearly changed the game and arguably lost them the game, its not like brazil looked like they were ever a threat to score until then. and their third goal was a direct result of the penalty causing croatia to go all out to salvage the game.

i would say clearly the penalty had the biggest impact on the game followed by the shoddy keeping.

Shoddy goalkeeping happened before the penalty. Neymar's first goal could have been stopped. Yes, the penalty might have changed the outcome of the game. But Croatia didn't lose the game by then. They had plenty of chances, they just weren't sharp enough to finish them. However the third goal happened because of bad defense and goalkeeping. I think you are putting too much blame on the penalty and not enough blame on the Goalkeeper who could have stopped two goals if he was more alert.

I will say this, though. Brazil were lucky to win this game. Because they look very pedestrian and vulnerable on defense.