2017 Confederations Cup

Starts today in Saint Petersburg with the hosts and New Zealand. I don't know how much actual good an eight team warmup a year before the World Cup does for a team, other than becoming familiar with the logistics. I seem to recall us beating Spain in one of these the year before they won the WC. Whoopee. We didn't finish any higher than we normally do, so, whatever. I'll probably watch some of it just to get my footy fix during a slow (besides MLS, of course) period. Hope El Tri gets good and banged up from this one.

 

Been an interesting little tournament so far. The biggest issue has been the use of video assistant referees. The Gambian ref working the Mexico-New Zealand match yesterday had a chance to make full use of it at the end of the match and blew it. Melee broke out in the 90th minute and, after a prolonged stoppage, he issued 3 yellow cards when he should have sent them off. Watch the replays. It starts here at :16 when Diego Reyes pulls Michael Boxall's shirt on a counter. Then Boxall reacts to the no call with a rash challenge on Hector Herrera, who had nipped in front of him to regain possession because of the obvious foul on Reyes. Although he didn't go down and wasn't hurt, Herrera takes exception with Boxall, and the scrum ensues. Despite the clear video evidence to the contrary, no one was sent off.
What a joke.