World Cup 2010

[Abagadro]

Goal to Slovenia? US Keeper doing his best impression of a statue there, too...

He had no chance on that. That goal is on the back line. Onyewu is a stiff.

[Abagadro]

SHOOT AT THE GOAL! Jeez.

An that yellow was fucking ridiculous.

[Abagadro]

Tourney over.

[Hoax]

So much shoddy defending. Cherundelo is the only defender worth a damn the US has. I've said that a million times though. Unlucky in a way with 3-4 very good chances just moments before, I wish Donovan had slid into that cross but he clearly was surprised by the defender.

[sigil]

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[Numtini]

Our defense is a joke.

[ghost]

We don't defend and really don't finish well, either.  The US may be the most overrated team in the tourney, and in recent memory.

[sigil]

inclined to agree right now. Jesus Fuck what a pile of dogshit.

[Nebu]

US looks way too tentative on offense.  Some of those passes in the box were terrible... signs of weak indecision. 

The US is done.  I'm not really surprised, but thought they have a good shot in this match. 

[01101010]

Germany. What.The.Fuck?

Well, I still have Japan.  

[Abagadro]

Wow.

[sigil]

HOLY SHIT FUCK YEAH LANDON!

[Nebu]

They needed that kind of assertive striking in the first half.  Too little too late?  We'll see.

[Jeff Kelly]

Podolski and Klose doing their best to fuck up our chances. They'll be torn to shreds in the papers tomorrow.

edit: typing is hard

[Abagadro]

That was a great goal.

[sigil]

That was a great goal.

AAAAHHHHAHAHAHYEAAAAAAAAAA


FUCK YEAH

THIS IS WHY I LOVE THIS GAME

[Abagadro]

WHAT THE FUCK!?!

[Der Helm]

Podolski and Klose doing their best to fuck upnour chances. They'll be torn to shreds in the pappers tomorrow.

That is the Podolski I know....
(I live in Cologne)

[Abagadro]

The US got completely hosed on that call taking away the goal. Sad that such a great comeback can be robbed because of a horrible ref.

[sigil]

Absolutely fucking hosed by that call.

[Teleku]

Wow, sounds like an entertaining game.  I just went to the bbc to check the score and the commentators are all saying this was the best game of the world cup so far.

They are also saying all the replays show the call on the goal was BS.

[01101010]

Maybe he just hates freedom  

--but yeah, I agree. From what I saw, that was suspect.

:edit- interestingly, ESPN is hosed atm. Guess the comments finally got the best of them.

[Falconeer]

I've been saying this for ages, and I am from one of the most traditionalist countries in the world where football is holier than the pope: this sport is a joke without instant replay. And the US have just been robbed.

[Surlyboi]

Utterly shitty call.

The Americans actually got fouled on that score, so it was worse than a bad call, it was a willful miscarriage.

[Hoax]

There were 3 fouls in the box on that goal, Slovenia had been unable to defend without just bear hugging players on every set piece. Jozy was fouled essentially every time he got the ball and only got 2/3rds of the calls. The goal is mystifying. That said the US has no excuse for giving up either of those goals. Neither came off any sustained pressure, lightning counter or brilliant balls in. Just sloppy lack of fundamentals and concentration.

In game 3:
-Can we finally keep a clean sheet?
-Who partners w/ Jozy since Findley is suspended?
-Do either Torres or Edu start in the midfield?

Game 2 thoughts:
-Bocanegra was caught out over and over the entire first half, for some reason Slovenia went away from abusing him the 2nd possibly because they had been scored on.
-Dempsey didn't have much of a game, thank god Jozy decided to show up huge.
-Why the fuck has Torres gotten no playtime in any of the lead up to this game? If we're going to throw him in as our best possession option why hasn't he had one minute of any friendly or tune up game? The biggest mystery of the Bob Bradley regime has been why the fuck has Torres been in the doghouse for over a year.
-DeMerrit and Onyewu had their worst game at the same time, the US is lucky we only gave up to. DeMerrit was just playing sloppy, lots of bad clearance, bad touches, slow reactions and his usual rediculous fouls. Gooch though hasn't looked that bad since '02 he was ball watching the entire game and its a fucking shame we have no other option in central defense because he's clearly just not all there.
-Free kicks, though Donovan is still good for some bad corners this was the best game of free kicks for the US in recent memory. Torres' take especially stands out and I must admit I thought Slovenia's marking was atrocious and that may have made them look better but it seemed like we were getting them long and into the danger area between keeper and defenders with regularity, I hope that continues.

[Numtini]

That's probably the worst call I've seen short of the hand of god.

[ghost]

The game should have ended 3-1.  The offsides call that was missed in the first half versus the crap call on the last US goal. 

[Hoax]

The game should have ended 3-1.  The offsides call that was missed in the first half versus the crap call on the last US goal.  

He did not look offsides to me but I only got to see one angle. He double didn't look offsides the way offsides has been called this week in the world cup, since suddenly we have some tie goes to the runner type rule I'd never heard about in effect.

That's probably the worst call I've seen short of the hand of god.

I'm sure if I see it a few more times someone can find me a US player who shoves or holds a defender. The real bitch is that the announcers at least led me to believe that the flag was up for offsides and that is just fucking horseshit through and through.

[Numtini]

I didn't think that was offsides either. I thought the last defender call was going to be a red though.

[ghost]

It was probably just the angle I saw-  watching at work and just got a quick replay.

Falconeer is right though.  Replay is a must for football.  There are too many sketchy offsides calls in the course of games that need review.

[Falconeer]

In case someone less familiar with football is wondering what the hell the ref called there, it's the infamous "confusion foul". It's what the referee calls when he wants to make sure nothing will happen cause he's unsure about some previous decision. Basically, he wasn't sure about the call that generated that free kick (the foul on Altidore), this because the lineman DIDN'T raise his flag. Consequentially, and given the huge amount of physical play, he obviously decided preemptively that calling a generic confusion foul (which you won't find in any rulebook, but is well known to anyone who played football) would have been the best solution. He made sure to whistle BEFORE the ball reached the area confiding that, even with a replay, there would have certainly been some physical action on both sides enough to justify a call.

So, I am not sure my English makes sense here, but bottom line is that what happened is sadly common: many referees are afraid of making a mistake in the final minutes of a tight match and with a box packed with 20 angry players, so by whistling in advance he cowardly decides that it's best to skip forward and invalidate such a dangerous (for him) situation. It usually works, most of the times (unlike this one) there is such a confused mess in the area that a call could go either way.

Italian Serie A 1999-2000 was almost decided by the same ghost foul, when Cannavaro (playing with Parma) scored against Juventus with 10 minutes on the clock but the referee whistled in advance just to make sure nothing meaningful could happen. Juventus managed to lose the championship anyway by losing in the last game the following week. Justice had been done.

At this point I really hope USA will make it to the next round.

[Sjofn]

I've been saying this for ages, and I am from one of the most traditionalist countries in the world where football is holier than the pope: this sport is a joke without instant replay. And the US have just been robbed.

Instant replay just doesn't work real well in a game like soccer though. It screws up the game flow in America football sometimes, which stops naturally after every play, I can only imagine how it would screw up soccer's flow, even if they kept it JUST to "was that a goal? I think it was a goal." I'm not sure it's a good trade off. Yeah, it sucks when you're on the fucked end of a shit call, but I don't think it would actually be good for the game on the whole.


EDIT: In the LAWS OF TEH GAME the catch-all name for "I dunno what just happened but I'm calling SOMEthing" is unsportsmanlike conduct. 

[Falconeer]

It would break the flow, which is better than breaking hearts, or thousand of hours of training and hopes. Football is a low-scoring game, it's all based on very very very small details and almost invisible chances. The goal should be to make sure the winner is the one who deserved it, not the lucky one who picks up a match-deciding referee mistake. To have your dedication, hard work, let alone money blasted away by an often blatant mistake of the referee is too harsh. I say this not just as a supporter but as a player myself. It can really fuck with your mind when you know you have been robbed and video keeps reminding you forever that you have been robbed, no matter how hard you trained, worked, played. I mean, seriously, Ireland-France anyone?

They should just use the Instant Replay for goal situations. And injuries, real AND fake, break the flow of the game anyway so in my opinion the trade off between Flow and Justice is a no brainer.

[rk47]

 

[ghost]

It wouldn't be that big of a deal if they just did reviews on goals or fouls in the box, neither of which happen very often.  Or you give each coach one challenge per half.