World Cup 2010

[Amarr HM]

Gerrard was the main reason for all of Englands woes he was terrible in every game and he's supposed to be the captain. Lampard would have been a better choice.

Your opinion is bad and you should feel bad.

I feel good actually, Gerrard sucked donkey balls the whole tournament, his decisions were terrible, his demeanour was terrible and his leadership was non existent. Also if my national teams spokesman was a dumb scouser who beats up DJ's for not playing their favourite record I would feel worse.

[Signe]

They'll all be gone next year.  They'll be too old, except Rooney.  Maybe he'll even be gone if he can't find his feet.  They can ditch Capello, too.  I wouldn't mind.

[Jobu]

Just drop everyone over 25 years old and start over, building the team around Wayne Rooney.

Yes please. Maybe the kids will be able to be taught how to hold the ball more than three passes before losing it too.

Here's a infuriating quote from Frank Lampard after the game, "It is the story of the game: nobody can stand here and tell me Germany were a lot better than us. They were not 4-1 better than us.".

Netherlands is looking strong, but I still think it's going to come down to Germany, Spain, Argentina or Brazil.

In my bracket poll at work, I tipped Netherlands to make it to the final over Brazil. We'll see how Brazil play today, but I think the Dutch are going to sneak in under everyone's radar and make it through.

[01101010]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5335440/ce/us/fifa-censor-stadium-replays

Fuck replay, we'll just censor the shit so no one will know...

 

[Paelos]

It must be hard to see anything with FIFA having it's head this far in the sand.

[Distinct]

It must be hard to see anything with FIFA having it's head this far in the sand.

FIFA hold the argument that the rules of football should be the same the world over and applicable in the local park game in the EXACT same way as in the World Cup.

No one would expect a kickabout game in a local league to have TV replacy facilities and therefore the world cup shouldnt  have one.

Using this argument of course floodlights shouldnt be used , Linesman arent nescessary and referees shouldnt be paid. 

[HaemishM]

It must be hard to see anything with FIFA having it's head this far in the sand.

That's not sand. 

The Netherlands game was pretty static with some flashes of brilliance, and the same goes for Brazil. I love this Chilean side. They play football the right way, and I look forward to seeing them in the future. They just ran up against a much better team, but they never gave up attacking.

As for replay, FIFA is a bunch of fucking tools. There is nothing but obstinate idiocy stopping them from using replay. Hell, Rugby uses replay for tries at the ref's discretion, why can't FIFA restrict the use to JUST goals? Removing replay from the stadiums is the height of stupid. Instead, let there be a television match official for games in the leagues that can afford it, and let him review any goals that are made/disallowed. There would have been at least 3 goals awarded this tournament that may have made a difference. At the very least, adding that extra goal line ref like UEFA did for the Champion's League would help some of this. But the fact that the refs who see the replay in the stands CAN'T USE THAT EVIDENCE to change their call is ludicrous.

I still think it's going to be Spain in the final, and quite likely a Spain/Germany Euro '08 rematch.

[sigil]

Chile beats most of the teams remaining in this cup, but got matched with Brazil.

Brazil is a freaking monster again.

[Jobu]

I still think it's going to be Spain in the final, and quite likely a Spain/Germany Euro '08 rematch.

Impossible. The brackets are organized with them on the same half of it. At best, they'd face each other in the semis.

[Margalis]

It's so silly that rather than fix the problem or just live with it they're going to pretend it doesn't happen.

This is like George Bush thinking, apologizing for getting caught instead of getting it wrong. According to FIFA the problem isn't that they blew a call but that spectators were shown that they blew a call.

I don't have a problem with using replay or not, I'm generally opposed to it in most cases. But if you aren't going to use it you have to live with the fact that some calls will be wrong and people will find out - trying to cover that up is inane.

[Sjofn]

It's so silly that rather than fix the problem or just live with it they're going to pretend it doesn't happen.

This is like George Bush thinking, apologizing for getting caught instead of getting it wrong. According to FIFA the problem isn't that they blew a call but that spectators were shown that they blew a call.

I don't have a problem with using replay or not, I'm generally opposed to it in most cases. But if you aren't going to use it you have to live with the fact that some calls will be wrong and people will find out - trying to cover that up is inane.

That I agree with. I think replay would be terrible in soccer, but I definitely don't think trying to HIDE blown calls is the way to go. Own that shit, bitches! "Blown calls happen, it's part of the game!" Own it!

[ghost]

It must be hard to see anything with FIFA having it's head this far in the sand up it's ass.

[HaemishM]

I still think it's going to be Spain in the final, and quite likely a Spain/Germany Euro '08 rematch.

Impossible. The brackets are organized with them on the same half of it. At best, they'd face each other in the semis.

Bugger, you're right. Shame. Spain/Brazil then.

[Chimpy]

The "Television Official" route that Rugby uses in international and major professional matches I think is the way to go. In Rugby it adds very little downtime to the match (probably less than it takes for the team to clear the bench and pile up on each other as they do after every goal in soccer it seems) and in soccer they have a lot less of the slow-mo zoom in at multiple angles thing you need to confirm/deny a try in Rugby.

[IainC]

This seems apropos

The use of television has been a source of controversy in the sport, but experts insist it offers a fool-proof method for determining whether a team is good at football or whether it is simply a collection of absurdly over-compensated, second-rate commercial brands with ghastly, vulgar wives, locked in a sado-masochistic relationship with a cretinous media that merely reflects a society that has taken its natural intelligence, its sense of perspective and its values and violently drowned them all in a bucket of piss.

  Dailymash

[ghost]

Blatter bends the knee

[Amarr HM]

The "Television Official" route that Rugby uses in international and major professional matches I think is the way to go. In Rugby it adds very little downtime to the match (probably less than it takes for the team to clear the bench and pile up on each other as they do after every goal in soccer it seems) and in soccer they have a lot less of the slow-mo zoom in at multiple angles thing you need to confirm/deny a try in Rugby.

The time being wasted argument is bullshit, how much of the game is wasted by the ref being surrounded by angry players after a bad decision? As much as it would take to check the video replay I'd assume.

[stu]

Although the refs have been mostly terrible, color commentary from John Harkes turns out to be even worse. I was writing an e-mail while he was speaking in the background and it turned into a suicide note.

[Azazel]

Why is the early game always the boring one? The late games are always seemingly the better ones, or the ones I want to watch. But at 4:30am... 

[Amarr HM]

Quite impressed by Suzuki Honda, looks very reliable with a great engine

[Abagadro]

Ooooooh, shoot out time!

[Abagadro]

Oh man, it would so suck to be the guy who blows the PK.

[01101010]

Yeah, I feel for Komano. Surprisingly, he didn't commit seppuku afterwards.

[HaemishM]

Too bad for Japan. I didn't watch any of the game until the end, but what little I say of that team impressed me.

[Rasix]

Oh man, it would so suck to be the guy who blows the PK.

Been there.  Bury your head in your hands and weep loud enough so you don't hear your teammates talking shit about you.

[Abagadro]

This is a highly entertaining half going on right now, not the least reason for which is the ref not buying Ronaldo's flops.

[Falconeer]

I don't know where to put this, and it's old, but kind of funny although horribly sexist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3icksHJDjA8

[Mosesandstick]

Kick the ball at the goalie enough times and good things will happen 

[Triforcer]

Kudos to Japan for getting as far as they did.  Now, all the countries I am interested in are out (US and Japan).  I have close to 100% German ancestry, but strangely I've never been able to muster any feeling of kinship with them. 

Pretty indifferent at this point as to who wins.

[ghost]

It will be nice to just see some quality football at this point.  Too many crap goals or crap non-goals have happened so far.  I probably am going to pull for Germany now.  They have a fast, youthful and enthusiastic squad, and I like that. 

[HaemishM]

Spain took care of business. I've got a new term for the type of football Portugal and Italy play... bitchball. Dive, whine, complain and do everything you can to keep the other team from scoring until the refs give you a penalty. Portugal obviously have talent besides Ronaldo, but I haven't seem them try much to use it. They played totally negative against Brazil and not much more positive against Spain. Torres is obviously rusty - the way he's playing is usually how he plays right after returning from an injury. Llorente was pretty damn good for such a neophyte. That Spain team is so stocked with talent it's not even funny. When you can leave young guys like Silva, Fabregas and Mata on the bench and still have enough talent on the field to stock a Barcelona team, you know there's something special out there.

Still not sure if they can beat the Germans or Brazil, but they are my pick.

[Azuredream]

With the US out I am pulling for Germany or Brazil. They have been (to me) the most fun to watch so far, so I'm hoping they meet in the final.

[Hoax]

You have to play that way against Spain, its how the Swiss beat them and its the only hope anyone has of doing it. Spain has an experienced back line that throw questionably legal blocks in front of every attacker every time, hell that is basically the only thing Puyol has left that old fucker. There were way more blatant fouls on Ronaldo that weren't called then there were straight dives. He was very stupid however to not adjust to the fact the ref wasn't going to give him a call for being screened from the ball and he needed to fight through the defender instead of going down so easily.

Japan and South Korea really showed the world something in Africa. They took the best free kicks we have seen so far and played fun to watch and smart football throughout both teams will be missed.

re: FIFA
Did you guys not read the post that explained their stance? They want the rules of the game to be simple enough that everyone can follow them. Replay is not. I'm a big proponent of adding more refs to world cup games as it doesn't change the rules just acknowledges that at higher levels the game is harder to ref (it is) the same way that rec games are ref'd without linesmen because the skill level and speed makes the job easier. We need a linesman next to the goal on the other side of it from the linesman on that half to call things like Lampard's goal, Henry's handball, Fabiano's handballs etc.

As for showing replays on the big screen, do I need to remind people just how violent soccer fans can be? Seriously? You don't want a bunch of ultras to know that the call was just blown unless you think the ref deserves to die for missing a call.

[HaemishM]

They want the rules of the game to be simple enough that everyone can follow them. Replay is not.

Neither is the offsides rule as it's called (or not called, or called badly as is usually the case).

[Hoax]

Yes it is. It is just literally a split second matter of inches that requires you to be aware of exactly when the ball is played and be in position to see down the line and make the judgment. The calls like on Tevez v Mexico that get blown are because so much shit has happened in the box in such a short time the linesman gets out of position or loses track of when the ball was played. If there was an additional linesman who's job was to track the bang bang shit in the box the sideline guy could focus on just getting offsides right in those situations.