Official World Cup Soccer Thread

[sdifox]

good save by Chilean Goalie

 

[bigrash]

yeap, just turned it on and scored two in under 5 min.

Flushing? You have to be Taiwanese :biggrin:

Haha. Nope Bangladeshi. I'm sure I take the train everyday with lots of Taiwanese though.

 

[sdifox]

excellent try by Suazo

 

[sdifox]

Haha. Nope Bangladeshi. I'm sure I take the train everyday with lots of Taiwanese though.

Is there a lot of Bangladeshi there in Flushing?

 

[bigrash]

Is there a lot of Bangladeshi there in Flushing?

Yeah there's a big Indian/Bangladeshi population but nothing like the Asian population.

 

[Anubis]

lol @ Kaka

what happened? someone punch him in his stupid face?

 

[sdifox]

what happened? someone punch him in his stupid face?

he didn't get a pass and he was throwing a tantrum and just walked off instead of forming up for a live ball.

 

[sdifox]

What a beating.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Holy crap that was schoolage on the sideline (the juggling around the Chilean defender)...but resulted in a schank.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Good effort, but Brazil is always a powerhouse. Chile really turned on the attack several times, just couldn't get through the defense.

 

[BRObedoza]

i'm hoping for the Netherlands to win this year but Brazil have been impressive. Dont't think the Dutch can match up with them.

 

[bigrash]

Brazil vs. Netherlands should be good. Let's see if Netherlands can keep it up. I think Brazil will win easily.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

This is pretty awesome, it looks like the FIFA ranking wasnt that bad after all... If we look at their top 8 we have:

1 - Brazil
2 - Spain
3 - Portugal
4 - Netherlands
5 - Italy
6 - Germany
7 - Argentina
8 - England

So, 6 of these are still in the competition...

Hah... Even though Im portuguese, I have no idea how Spain - Portugal will be... Portugal is great at attacking, not so great at defending, so I hope they go in and try to score as early as possible

 

[Anubis]

yea TBH i think in the games to come Spain and Japan advance

Uruguay will beat Ghana
the Dutch will beat Brazil
Germany will beat Argentina
Spain will beat Japan

itll end up being Germany + Spain and the Dutch + Uruguay in the semis

and most likely the Dutch V Germany for the final

 

[KeithTalent]

No way, a South American team will win it.

Of course I will be cheering heartily for Spain every step of the way. Taking an extra long lunch tomorrow to go watch the game.

KT

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

LOL, youre saying Holland beats Brazil? NO WAY... Did you see the Chile game? Brazil's biggest strength is how effective they are... they go there once and score a goal, its amazing, while other teams keep trying the whole match and nada

 

[Dominato3r]

Still going for Agrentina.

 

[zinfamous]

That killed the Mexico/Argentina game. Mexico had a good start, but after that goal everything just went to crap. But also a failure on the part of Mexico, a professional team should keep their cool.

It was disappointing, the beginning of the match seemed to promise an intense game. Thanks FIFA.

yeah, that game went from awesome to suck pretty quickly after that.

I also agree that Mexico shouldn't have given up like they did. the 2nd Argentina goal was, to me anyway, a lack of concentration that likely wouldn't have been there were it not for the phantom goal.


....this could all be fixed if off sides rules were updated, though. (I still think Argentine player should not have been considered off sides in that situation, but as the rules are, it was a ridiculous call to allow that goal)

 

[Gooberlx2]

...this could all be fixed if off sides rules were updated, though. (I still think Argentine player should not have been considered off sides in that situation, but as the rules are, it was a ridiculous call to allow that goal)

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with the offsides rule in soccer. That player was simply offside, the refs (obviously) should be roasted for their ineptitude on that call (or rather the lack of one).

 

[zinfamous]

Gallaraga lost a place in history due to a botched call this year when an umpire got the call wrong. It definitely can be damaging.

Not having replay in sports, in some capacity, makes zero sense to me anymore. We all have instant replay and see the correct calls for major moments, there is no reason it

Yes, you do need to be careful about how it is implemented, but for soccer, adding a guy or two on the sideline watching the play on a monitor would be fine. I mean when the calls are controversial and worthy of review, players spend a tonne of time complaining and delaying the game anyway, so this could all be done in the same time frame. Think of the Mexico game; while they were running around complaining, the call would have already been reviewed and corrected.

KT

technically, that call didn't change the game. It just damaged an individuals spot in the record books. Not that such a think is OK, especially with the perfect game, but it is a different situation. What surprises me is that there was no appeal to another umpire on that call...not that base-running appeals can be made, I think. Most calls in Baseball can be appealed; it's unfortunate that the mechanics don't really allow for it in that situation, but that is really the only base-running situation that has ever seemed to make a huge difference--but it still didn't change the result of the game.

My main gripe about FIFA and others complaining about game stoppage if it comes to replay is the same as yours--they already freaking allow game stoppage! why do we celebrate goals for a minute at a time while the clock continues to run? why do we already have stoppage time? why do we allow un-accosted players to lay on the grass like little bitches for 10 or more seconds at a time?

hell, Ghanain players ran out onto the track and jumped into the stands after their first goal in that game vs. USA. I think time ran for 2 minutes during that? FIFA simply has their heads up their collective asses, with no real platform to stand on regarding all of their defenses against overhauling the rules.

One of the ESPN analysts (either the former Dutch player or the English one) made an excellent argument regarding the economic importance of each goal as it relates to individual player contracts and decisions made by clubs in every league. To allow this kind of broken officiating to sway the fate of the athletes' livelihood and the decision-making and budgeting of clubs is completely asinine. (He had direct arguments regarding how scoring effects individual contracts on a goal-by-salary basis and in terms of trades and such--I don't recall the details)

It makes you wonder what kind of personal financial stake that the wizards over at FIFA hold to make sure that the current state of officiating remains as it is... :hmm:

 

[zinfamous]

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with the offsides rule in soccer. That player was simply offside, the refs (obviously) should be roasted for their ineptitude on that call.

The reason that I think he shouldn't be off-sides in that situation is that he already retrieved the ball, on the advance, in an on-sides position.

He establishes onsides in the face of the Mexican defense--he essentially beats the other team in a legitimate fashion. It is now on the Mexican defense to stop him--for the goal keeper to handle that ball, which did not happen. I can't rationalize how that Argentinian player is suddenly required to abandon his legally-established advantage in reaction to Mexico making such a huge mistake in defense. Besides the fact that the Argentinian player suddenly has to make that decision to jump back on sides within the 3 seconds that that play happened (or, I suppose he is expected not to touch the ball?)...it just doesn't make sense to me.

I assumed that it was like off sides in hockey, which I think would make more sense for soccer. (though hockey is puck first, and always first; vs soccer = from the moment of kick, the attacker can pass defenders before the ball passes them, correct?)

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Just read that the US/Ghana match had 14.9 million US viewers. To put that in perspective, MNF averages 9-10 million viewers with SNF averaging ~20 million viewers.

 

[KeithTalent]

technically, that call didn't change the game. It just damaged an individuals spot in the record books. Not that such a think is OK, especially with the perfect game, but it is a different situation. What surprises me is that there was no appeal to another umpire on that call...not that base-running appeals can be made, I think. Most calls in Baseball can be appealed; it's unfortunate that the mechanics don't really allow for it in that situation, but that is really the only base-running situation that has ever seemed to make a huge difference--but it still didn't change the result of the game.

My main gripe about FIFA and others complaining about game stoppage if it comes to replay is the same as yours--they already freaking allow game stoppage! why do we celebrate goals for a minute at a time while the clock continues to run? why do we already have stoppage time? why do we allow un-accosted players to lay on the grass like little bitches for 10 or more seconds at a time?

hell, Ghanain players ran out onto the track and jumped into the stands after their first goal in that game vs. USA. I think time ran for 2 minutes during that? FIFA simply has their heads up their collective asses, with no real platform to stand on regarding all of their defenses against overhauling the rules.

One of the ESPN analysts (either the former Dutch player or the English one) made an excellent argument regarding the economic importance of each goal as it relates to individual player contracts and decisions made by clubs in every league. To allow this kind of broken officiating to sway the fate of the athletes' livelihood and the decision-making and budgeting of clubs is completely asinine. (He had direct arguments regarding how scoring effects individual contracts on a goal-by-salary basis and in terms of trades and such--I don't recall the details)

It makes you wonder what kind of personal financial stake that the wizards over at FIFA hold to make sure that the current state of officiating remains as it is... :hmm:

Well I know it didn't change the result of the game, but it was an even bigger mistake than one one blown call in any other of the 162 regular season games. There are many other instances where it could impact

I think using a challenge system for Baseball would work just fine. Won't happen until Selig's dead though I'm sure.

Very good and interesting point the last part. Goals are so huge in Soccer, having an incorrect call one way or another could be even more impactful than in many other sports.

KT

 

[eits]

Just read that the US/Ghana match had 14.9 million US viewers. To put that in perspective, MNF averages 9-10 million viewers with SNF averaging ~20 million viewers.

imagine how many it'd be if our team was badass and more marketing was done for the sport

 

[iCyborg]

Just read that the US/Ghana match had 14.9 million US viewers. To put that in perspective, MNF averages 9-10 million viewers with SNF averaging ~20 million viewers.

11am to 2pm (depending on time zone) on a Saturday ain't exactly the prime-time for TV though.