Tonight at 19:00 UTC the second semi-final between England and Croatia will be played to see which team gets the honour of playing in the World Cup Final against the French on Sunday afternoon.
Most people whom have been watching the football will agree that this has been one of the most entertaining World Cups in recent memory.
There have been plenty of goals from set pieces and open play, lots of penalties, last minute dramas and all round entertaining football.
For me though there was a glaring omission from the last four teams in the semi-finals, and that is all of the biggest cheats had already been knocked out, and that can only be good for football.
A Sense Of Justice
I've already written about how he's the most overrated player in the history of football, however one thing I didn't mention about Neymar is what a massive cheat he is.
Anybody who wasn't wearing yellow and gold tinted spectacles watching the Brazil v Belgium game on Saturday, would have been appalled at Neymar's continued insistence on trying to con the referee into giving him a penalty.
The most blatant of his dives consisted of the over-hyped Brazilian darting into the area and attempting to fling himself at a Belgium defender, who realised what he was doing and got himself out of the way.
The referee waved a dismissive arm in pure disgust at Neymar and turned away. What was hilarious was seeing the Brazilian forward call for the video assistant referee (VAR) even though he knew that he had dived.
It is almost as if he expects somebody to be fooled even when they have the benefit of slow motion and multiple camera angles. Or perhaps he is so used to getting those types of penalties he believes that it is part and parcel of the game of football.
If I fall over in the penalty area, regardless of whether I'm fouled, give me a penalty!
Ummm, no, get up you cheat.
VAR Cheaters' Poison
In World Cups gone by, the professional cheaters have been able to fool the referees, and it is only after the games when nothing can be done about it, the whole world sees how these people have swindled entire nations out of their moment of World Cup glory.
In 1986 Diego Maradona, one of the greatest players to ever play the game, besmirched his reputation by using his hand to illegally guide the ball into the net against opponents England.
When interviewed afterwards about the incident, he famously replied;
"It was the hand of God, but the head of Maradona".
Which meant that the incident would forevermore be known as The Hand Of God goal.
I saw Maradona in an interview years later, basically saying that in his football culture he was celebrated for finding a way to cheat without being caught.
Bite Another Day
Luis Suarez the Uruguayan forward has not only *BITTEN three different players in his professional career, one of whom was in the last World Cup. He too has used his hand to rob Ghana in 2010 of what would have been their's, and a first ever semi-final place in the World Cup for an African team.
As Suarez wheeled away in celebration of the goal that never should have been, he appeared to pat his hand in delight, as if revelling in the fact that he had managed to successfully cheat.
In fact his team Uruguay were some of the dirtiest players in this World Cup. What makes it worse, is it is their hardest players who commit the worst fouls, and are the ones who go down like they've been shot when you just brush past them.
However no more! VAR has come to the rescue, and now these despicable cheats can no longer spoil World Cups with their antics.
It is no coincidence that the fairest teams got to the last four. I am not saying that no player ever dived in any of the semi-final teams (I'm looking at you in particular Eden Hazard), what I am saying is that it is not in their nature to cheat.
The English have a sense of fair play, the Croatians are tough as nails and just seem to walk through tackles where others would fall over.
When they played Argentina, not only did they not get riled up against the South Americans in the face of blatant diving, they stood up to some really bad fouls.
The game last night between France & Belgium was played at a high tempo and was ultra competitive, and anyone watching could see it was played fairly by both sides.
Cheers To VAR!
I believe it is because of VAR that we have seen more goals from corners, as any illegal holding by players at corners and free kicks has been punished.
It is because of VAR that we haven't seen any penalties given for diving, and in my opinion it has done a lot for the quality of the games.
Before cheating players knew that they would get caught out by TV cameras, but of course by then it didn't matter, they still had their rewards.
Now however it is the clean players who are reaping the rewards, which is just as it should be.
So cheers to VAR and cheers to all the teams who have played fairly and given us a wonderful spectacle of a World Cup!
Prediction
For what it's worth I believe England will beat a very tired Croatia tonight, and then almost definitely lose in the Final to France; however who knows? It is 90-120 minutes of football and anything can happen.
Good Luck England!
It's coming home!
Cheers to you and cheers to fair play!!!
Title image: Fauzan Saari on Unsplash