Group H Matchday 3 - 28 June - Japan 0-1 Poland, Senegal 0-1 Colombia

[Marc]

Colombia are a good team, far better than anyone else in the group. 2 wins and a loss when they had 10 men for 80 minutes, and there's more to come from them. Add to that their best player, Rodriguez has hardly been fit.

[6666]

What did Poland gain from letting Japan just pass it around? I know they want to end on a win but it's not like they were gonna go through. It definitely wasn't a situation worth making a deal with the opposition over.

[The Artful Dodger]

Don't think the Fair Play criteria is a very 'fair' way of qualifying, it's too subject to individual refereeing performances. I'd say go straight to drawing lots.

[SirBalon]

47 minutes ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Don't think the Fair Play criteria is a very 'fair' way of qualifying, it's too subject to individual refereeing performances. I'd say go straight to drawing lots.

Possible, but a drawing lot is total luck and that doesn't happen on the field over three games.

[The Artful Dodger]

26 minutes ago, SirBalon said:

Possible, but a drawing lot is total luck and that doesn't happen on the field over three games.

Yellow cards aren't a very good indicator of merit though and are often dictated by the will of one man. 

[SirBalon]

4 minutes ago, The Artful Dodger said:

Yellow cards aren't a very good indicator of merit though and are often dictated by the will of one man. 

I agree that at times you get card happy refs.  But a referee knowing that his arbitrary decisions can determine the fate of a whole team, maybe they'll think twice.

[6666]

No real issue with seperating teams by cards as the last resort. If you achieve the same thing as another team but you did it by breaking less rules then you have proven that you're slightly better. Not an ideal way to separate teams but it's a last resort and it's still relevant to how the teams did.

[Azeem]

Shots on target anyone..

[Azeem]

Or clean sheets

[Azeem]

If there is a tie between two teams than what happend in their match should only be considered.