Saint Pete

It's a shame as they looked good earlier in the tournament and particularly vs Brazil in the group stage where they were much more positive and I thought the better side. I remember they have been similar to today in knockout stages in previous world cups, they seem to retreat into their shell and not believe they can compete in the latter stages.

Apparently there might have been a handball earlier in move but no replays emerging to assess it. How surprising.

Shite.

This does have the feel that it could be an upset. But can Morocco be positive enough to sniff out a goal and then not shit the bed in defence Egypt style towards the end?

Apparently the reason for 2 game ban is because it has been classed "as serious foul play" which carries that suspension. However, Balogun's red card was also for serious foul play, but as we all know Fifa then reduced that to 1 match and then suspended it for a year for reasons that I'm not aware they even bothered to pretend to explain... other than saying they could do it according to their regulations! The worst thing for me is the complete lack of transparency, I don't know how they are getting away with it. I hope there is follow up from Uefa and other federations to halt Fifa's power in the future after this tournament.

Shaping up to be an "interesting" summer for the Geordies. Already sold both Antony Gordon and Tonali for big money and now Bruno Guimaraes reported to have asked for a transfer with Arsenal rumoured to be waiting in the wings. If they are forced to sell him too, they will be sitting on a major wad of cash and will probably be held to ransom on deals to get in replacements as everyone will know they are desperate (and minted). Maybe we can get them interested in Charles to fill one of the midfield gaps to drive his price up more?

Well, actually if you watch the pens again, both Davinson Sanchez and Akanji did stutters in their run ups to their awful penalties!

Akanji 🤣

Wow, Sanchez gave that a whack!

Barn doors and banjos spring to mind.

Missed the first half, but on basis of 2nd half so far, can't see either of these beating Argentina (or Egypt if they had got through). So if we can deal with Erling on Saturday, reckon it'll be the Argies in the semi, but wouldn't be too worried about that having watched their game earlier. Reckon Norway may be the bigger challenge as Haaland is so difficult to deal with.

Yeah, my suspicion is that Egypt goal wouldn't have been disallowed had it been an Argentina one. Argument would have been constructed to say "too far back in the move".

Defending has let Egypt down, had the game in the palm of their hand.

Also, there's plenty for Tuchel to work on if we do meet them in semis. They have looked wide open to the counter attacks from Egypt.

Shite.