Samuel Baker3 said:Honestly, if you look closely, there were way more calls going against France than against us, and don't even get me started on that final play where Balić took down Abalo—that was a two-minute penalty handed out for nothing.
But really, the French shouldn't be complaining about the officiating because the referees didn't make nearly that much of a difference; they just played poorly and earned their loss.
The last time they managed to beat France in a semifinal, they ended up getting absolutely crushed in the finals when the Danes humiliated them, so let's just hope history doesn't repeat itself.
The officiating allowed for aggressive play. There were very few suspensions, which actually favored the French.
Regarding the situation you mentioned, Balić didn't charge head-on; he waited for the right moment to go down and throw the Frenchman off balance. Once the Frenchman was already falling, Balić pulled him down with his hands.
Considering the French weren't even penalized for hits to the head, I have no idea why that would be a 2-minute penalty.
Then there’s that play where Balić scored to make it 20:19. That definitely should have been a 2-minute penalty.
And those three suspicious breakthroughs? They were clearly compensation for Metličić's earlier drive that went uncalled.
The replay shows at least one, if not two, of those weren't even breakthroughs. In Balić's case, my take is he didn't hit him head-on—the Frenchman just sold the fall convincingly.
An athlete of that caliber doesn't just trip like that. No chance.
Meanwhile, Metličić practically stood still and was called for a breakthrough!?
All things considered, the Polish officials tried to call it fairly until the very end.
Take the play before Lacković's last goal: we had at least one or two goals disallowed that weren't traveling steps.
And then the French complain about the shot clock running long!?
That's how it goes. When you try to balance the scales for both sides, you just end up making mistakes.
Our win was entirely deserved, even if the officiating criteria leaned toward the French.
