By: Adamo Marinelli
July 15th, 2018
Croatia is down 2-1 at the half, but deserve to be up at least 1-0.
France’s first goal came off a free kick from Griezmann deflected into the Croatian goal by Mario Mandzukic, the 12th own goal of the 2018 World Cup, that should not have been awarded in the first place. Griezmann was already going down before he was cleanly tackled by the Croatian midfielder.
France’s second goal to take a 2-1 lead came off a penalty kick awarded from a VAR review that took four minutes to decide. First of all, four minutes is way too long to make a simple decision. Second of all, that should not have been a penalty shot. The ball hit the Croatian defender’s arm, not the other way around - it’s just like hockey in a sense where it’s a goal if the puck hits off a players skate, but not a goal if the skate kicks the puck in the net - and the Croatian defender jumped up in the air to try and get the ball, it’s only natural that his arms are in front of him, not behind him and thus a non intentional handball and should not have been a penalty kick.
Both of France’s first-half goals shouldn’t have counted, but it is biased by the referees that give France hope to win their second World Cup despite France has not played so well in this game and Croatia have been the much better team today, playing like all-stars, moving the ball well, earning lots of opportunities and dominating in possession, 61% to 39%.
Apart from a beautiful strike from Paul Pogba to give France a 3-1 lead in the 60th minute, the referees won this game and the World Cup for France.
Even Kylian Mbappe’s goal to give France a 4-1 lead, though a beautiful strike, shouldn’t have counted as Griezmann on the setup, fouled a Croatian defender in Croatia’s box which should have resulted in a yellow card. Also, Croatian goalkeeper could have potentially dove and saved it.
In the 69th minute, Mario Mandzukic got revenge from his own goal earlier in this game and capitalized on a mistake from the France keeper who gave the ball right to Mandzukic who put it in the net to cut France’s lead to 4-2. The French keeper should have prevented this goal.
Despite France got two goals on their own without relying on own goals or penalty kicks, even though Mbappe’s goal shouldn’t have counted, it was the refs that gave France the push they needed with those two first-half goals that shouldn’t have counted on their way to win their second World Cup, in 2018. Regardless, France showed what they were made of on offence and it paid off with a World Cup win. Excellent tournament by Croatia and congratulations France on their World Cup win!
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