It was yet one more dramatic day on the 2022 World Cup, as Tunisia, Argentina, and Poland joined already certified France within the Final 16, however in a uncommon occasion for this event, it’s VAR that dominated a whole lot of the headlines — and (once more) reminded everybody that on the finish of the day, it’s nonetheless people who’re working the know-how and making the selections.
That mentioned, the choice to rule out Antoine Griezmann’s last-minute equalizer for France didn’t really change something past the ultimate rating in that sport. Tunisia’s 1-0 win nonetheless wasn’t sufficient for them to qualify from Group D because of Australia’s equally rousing 1-0 win over a surprisingly listless Denmark. France had nothing to play for — already assured high spot — and thus rotated nearly their total crew, however Denmark had all of it on the road. The Danes, a reasonably standard decide for a event darkish horse, go away after three video games with simply 1 level and 1 objective, even that scored by an unlikely supply in Andreas Christensen. Not nice!
France have launched an attraction to get Griezmann’s objective reinstated because of a procedural error (referee blowing for full time whereas the evaluation was ongoing) versus a disagreement with the decision (a judgement name whether or not the Tunisian defender was making a deliberate play on the ball or not). Both method, that’s unlikely to truly end in something, and as talked about, it’s not going to vary something anyway.
This video would appear to counsel there may be one quick whistle for the kick-off, rapidly adopted by the standard full-time whistle.There seems to be a small however particular hole between the 2. And that ought to inform us the referee permitted the kickoff. https://t.co/5aiyVUZFo0— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) November 30, 2022
In spite of everything that early drama off the pitch, we had some late drama on the pitch as nicely in Group C, the place the fates of Poland and Mexico have been determined by numerous tie-breakers. At one level, we have been all the way down to truthful play, which is the final step earlier than a literal coin flip, however ultimately Poland would advance as Mexico wasted a ton of possibilities and conceded a late comfort objective to Saudi Arabia. El Tri’s 2-1 win was thus not sufficient to earn them second place, which as an alternative went to Poland, regardless of a relatively poor and fairly fortunate 2-0 defeat to Messi & Co (which actually ought to’ve been a minimum of twice as massive of a defeat).
This now signifies that half of the knockout bracket match-ups are set. Argentina will play Australia, after which tackle the winner of Netherlands and america, whereas on the opposite facet, France will play Poland after which tackle the winner of England and Senegal. Tasty!