As a very casual fan of soccer, what are some of the more committed fans thoughts on the VAR offsides rulings? Seems to me they're getting very technical and not really in the nature of the rule. One I've seen a lot of on social media was Croatia vs. Belgium....I just don't see any kind of advantage gained in this situation

so as far as the big dogs, looks like we'll have france, england, spain and probably portugal on one side

and brazil and argentina on the other side

Its hard to critique these calls without understanding how they are generated. I need to understand the technology, how it determines the moment the snapshot takes place and how that is synchronized with contact on the ball, and what is the precision with which it picks that moment. If all of that is precise enough, i really have no problem taking it all the way down to the razors edge of where the rule is (and I much prefer a black and white rule over something designed to measure some judgement of "how much advantage is gained" BTW)

I have a big problem with the way its called using the standard video method thats used in like England. Fast moving objects jump great distances between video frames, you will never have a snapshot of the true moment of contact of the ball because it happens between two video stills, but they pick one of those frames and then draw in lines, etc. I dont believe for one second that that what they are doing is precise enough to actually determine whether a player was offside within inches. There is uncertainty that is unaccounted for when they make those measurements and I believe many calls are within the margin of uncertainty.

That's no problem if you really want to make calls based on a "more likely than not basis" but on the "clear and obvious error" basis that they claim to use its really all bull**** when its a close call because one 60 FPS video still is not precise enough to catch the world as it existed the precise moment the ball was struck. HD video pixels do not have hard edges on a scale to pinpoint the precise edge and extrapolate from there across the entire width of a pitch. The edge of a Chelsea jersey in a video still is not a hard blue pixel next to a hard green one, it will be a gradient blur from blue to green, wherein somewhere in there lies the edge. There is uncertainty in where to place the line, and depending on the camera angle may introduce significant uncertainty to the final result depending on whether the line chosen is closer to blue or closer to green. The thickness of the line that the human referee places in has a thickness that is likely introducing several inches worth of uncertainty as well in some cases.

Imagine saying a few weeks ago that Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and Mexico wouldn't get out of group…

htxag09 said:

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As a very casual fan of soccer, what are some of the more committed fans thoughts on the VAR offsides rulings? Seems to me they're getting very technical and not really in the nature of the rule. One I've seen a lot of on social media was Croatia vs. Belgium....I just don't see any kind of advantage gained in this situation

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If you took away the text at the bottom of that graphic I would tell you with 99% assurance that that's onside. I don't know how they can say that's offside. Ridiculous. Just like the PK they have Messi yesterday. That subsequent block was the greatest "back don't lie" moment of this World Cup.

fig96 said:

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Imagine saying a few weeks ago that Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and Mexico wouldn't get out of group…

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No way, Germany!?! The others… nobody cares…

Its surprising

not surprised by Belgium, they have been slip-sliding away for the past few years now.

Here's the really crazy thing about Germany's exit:

Germany, the team with the highest xG (+10.0) and xGD (+6.4) at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, is going home 🤯

UNBELIEVABLE! pic.twitter.com/x0uUF9sQ7r

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 1, 2022

Soccer is played mostly from the waist down. I don't mind VAR but in my opinion onside should be judged by where the players legs are relative to the defensive. An arm, elbow or even head is not gaining an advantage.

jeffk said:

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_lefraud_ said:

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Soccer is played mostly from the waist down. I don't mind VAR but in my opinion onside should be judged by where the players legs are relative to the defensive. An arm, elbow or even head is not gaining an advantage.

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Only parts of the body you can legally score a goal with are considered when assessing offside position.

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Wasn't that a hand offside in the Croatia match?

Didn't watch that one, but I'll go look it up.

This one? Upper arm (shirt-sleeve) is what I see on the graphic.

Penalty for Croatia against Belgium cancelled due to offside. ❌ pic.twitter.com/2Mppc5DHx5

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) December 1, 2022

The tweet above shows the image.

No idea why they used a red circle on the hands there. Slight difference between the levels of shirt sleeves, which is where the infraction was.

Just adding that I don't really like the way they're currently using the tech to enforce offside. I prefer the way the MLS does it, as strange as it is to say.

Germany got FM'd?

Gotcha. I would debate that upper arm is an area that can be scored with, either way we're veering dramatically from the spirit of the law IMO.

Yeah, I don't disagree there either.

_lefraud_ said:

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Soccer is played mostly from the waist down. I don't mind VAR but in my opinion onside should be judged by where the players legs are relative to the defensive. An arm, elbow or even head is not gaining an advantage.

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IMO practically every VAR situation isn't gaining an advantage. The original intent of the rule was to prevent cherry picking. If defenders are marking/tracking (and trying to trap) there's no disadvantage.

VAR itself isn't the problem… it doesn't matter where you set the line, there will always be fractional situations that frustrate us. To me the much bigger problem is the rule itself.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12249982/marco-van-basten-on-the-offside-law-why-it-should-be-scrapped-and-the-hockey-precedent-that-might-surprise

He's raised his game, or more likely the coaching staff as a whole has, at the world cups. WHich is what you ask for. He can still do better to, with in game adjustments..if he does, we could be dangerous.

Not to mention he did it in what, at least based on FIFA World Rankings, was one of the most competitive groups.

jeffk said:

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_lefraud_ said:

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Soccer is played mostly from the waist down. I don't mind VAR but in my opinion onside should be judged by where the players legs are relative to the defensive. An arm, elbow or even head is not gaining an advantage.

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Only parts of the body you can legally score a goal with are considered when assessing offside position.

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Quoting this for emphasis.

Someone should have made a rules explainer about soccer before the WC, explaining offside, the lines being in, the ball having to cross entirely, subs, etc. Maybe someone did, but I didn't see it. I know many of my friends could have benefited.

Prices for tickets at this year. Hope they don't go way up for 2026 since American sports tend to charge way more than other nations do

Opening match: $54.85-$301.68
Group play: $10.97-$219.40
Round of 16: $19.20-$274.26
Quarterfinals: $82.28-$425.10
Semifinals: $137.13-$954.41
Third-place match: $82.28-$425.10

You can multiply those by a factor of 10. Bank on it. Well, FIFA and US Soccer will bank on it.

Yeah I'm figuring the garbage seats will be a minimum of $100 for the group stage

wangus12 said:

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Yeah I'm figuring the garbage seats will be a minimum of $100 for the group stage

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Depends on the venue. I'm guess Jerry Jone will charge $200 plus. Or is it set by US Soccer or Fifa?