South Africa World Cup 2010!

[Bahamut]

Reffing was terrible all around, but good job coming back Team USA!

[Fishy]

Two great wins for USA so far.

I know the final score is the important thing but seriously guys, you will eventually need to score a goal that wasn't caused by the other team's mistakes.

Also wtf Germany? Really? I know the ref was shocking but still.

[Deathtank]

ACHTUNNGGG!!!!1

anyway, too bad USA, you deserved to win!

[Tensei]

For shame, England, for shame.

Watch me eat my words after tomorrow's Netherlands vs Japan match though.

[DJ Mighty]

Two great wins for USA so far.

I know the final score is the important thing but seriously guys, you will eventually need to score a goal that wasn't caused by the other team's mistakes.

Also wtf Germany? Really? I know the ref was shocking but still.

Most goals are scored that way. (though the England goal was a gift to us) USA did a great job coming back, though if they played right the first half they wouldnt have had to. Def should have won though, that was a terrible, terrible call.

[Fishy]

Most goals are scored that way.

Not at international level they aren't. The whole point is you have the best team in your country, they shouldn't make mistakes like the ones we're seeing from many teams.

The quality of the football in general at this world cup has been pretty awful so far.

[Deathtank]

oh come on! most of the teams aren't perfect, and they must be nervous when playing on the field, plus many people complained about jaboulani (the ball).

[Archangel]

I agree with Fishy, there shouldn't be so many mistakes, it's not to be expected at this level.

I really hoped we'd beat the Yanks. Our team got a bit sloppy in the second half though. Congratulations to both teams, although in my opinion they both deserve a few fair-play lessons. =P And the referee seemed somewhat fishy (no offense, Fishy! XD).

[Fishy]

oh come on! most of the teams aren't perfect, and they must be nervous when playing on the field, plus many people complained about jaboulani (the ball).

You're missing the point - the people on the field are supposed to be the best 11 out of the millions and millions of people in their country. They're chosen exactly because they hardly ever make mistakes and are used to pressure.

They're failing to do things they do every day for their club teams. I've played with the ball they use, its fine and they've been training with it for weeks to get used to it.

Personally I blame those ridiculous horns.

[WaywardSon]

I hope Australia beats Ghana today. It would keep things interesting in group D. Not that they're not interesting as it is, with Serbia beating Germany (another one of their games with hand play in the box. Anyone expecting the same in their third match?) and all that. As far as France and England are concerned... Son, I am disappoint.

And vuvuzelas? Jeez... No, wait, what about a remix with vuvuzelas in it? No, seriously.

[Mr. Fox]

You're missing the point - the people on the field are supposed to be the best 11 out of the millions and millions of people in their country. They're chosen exactly because they hardly ever make mistakes and are used to pressure.

They're failing to do things they do every day for their club teams. I've played with the ball they use, its fine and they've been training with it for weeks to get used to it.

Personally I blame those ridiculous horns.

Fishy is right.

I blame the horns but I also think the structure of the World Cup is progressively forcing teams to play with such caution that scoring becomes a second or third priority (except for Maradona's Argentina, but Maradona is wonderfully insane).

If you think about it, in the World Cup you can't suffer as many losses as you can on most national tournaments. And provided that nowadays, even if we have just a couple of excellent teams, the overall level of play is actually much more competitive(less bad teams, actually, almost no flat out bad teams from a tactical standpoint) "not losing" becomes more important then "winning". That's why we have such strong defensive teams, that's why we have such low scores, that's why this World Cup feels a little sluggish, I think. The result, is what in Brazil we call "Futebol Matemático" (mathematic soccer), a style of play that aimes for survival, that condemns offense, exuberance and all the beautiful but risky things that make soccer fun to watch. And yes, it is pretty awful.

And the ball is fine, the one used in the last cup was much worse.

[DJ Mighty]

Not at international level they aren't. The whole point is you have the best team in your country, they shouldn't make mistakes like the ones we're seeing from many teams.

The quality of the football in general at this world cup has been pretty awful so far.

Agreed but i was referring to more thats how goals this World Cup are being scored. There has only been a few goals so far this Cup that i can actually say, "wow, that was a good goal" Off the top of my head , one was Germany, Greece and US (Donovans goal yesterday)

Group C is a mess right now, More importantly England is. However, with the last game on the line i am looking forward to them stepping up and taking control. Having Lampard, Gerrard control mid field and Rooney doing what he does best and enforce. The US should def beat Algeria, they dont deserve to be in the next round if they dont.

[Tensei]

I'm actually having high hopes for the Netherlands right now, as ironic as it may seem with our mediocre play. Last time we burned out against Russia after destroying teams like Italy and France, so it's reassuring to see we're not peaking early again.

Our defense, goalkeeper and defensive midfield all look solid as a rock, but there's some positioning issues among the strikers and offensive midfield (the so-called big 4). Once we work those out (and more importantly, once Robben is fit to play again so we have an actual left winger) I could very well see the Netherlands be on par with Argentina at the least.

[Deathtank]

whoa, red card to anelka, my poor france, it's future is looking grim...

[Tensei]

Frances future was looking grim the moment they made Domenech the manager.

[avaris]

Haha Domenech. Anyone see the article where Evra says there is a "traitor" amongst the French?

What's really nice is how this tournament shows the level of improvement of non-Euro and South American teams the past 20 years. It sure has made the tournament more competitive.

Germany and Argentina look the best with Brazil right behind them. Hope Holland catches on fire in the knockout stages. Would love for them to finally win a World Cup. Want to see how Argentina's defense and team organisation holds up against a top class opponent. Germany played pretty damn well against an excellent Serbian team with only 10 players.

Maybe Capello will finally just sit down and put out the best "team" for England and not be afraid to mix up the personal. If England's successes were met with as great of response as their failures it would probably have a drastic affect on the team. With the way team's are parking the bus on defense against the favored sides, like England, they will need to employ more creative players and more speed to unlock opposing teams defenses.

[Strike911]

If anyone cares, here's a devuvuzelator by Stardock for when you're streaming games. Now if only the damned networks would do this before sending out their broadcasts I'd be very happy.

http://www.stardock.com/labs/devuvuzelator/

And seriously, what's up with damned refs this year? Do those damned horns have mind control for bad calls or something??

[Deathtank]

If anyone cares, here's a devuvuzelator by Stardock for when you're streaming games. Now if only the damned networks would do this before sending out their broadcasts I'd be very happy.

http://www.stardock.com/labs/devuvuzelator/

And seriously, what's up with damned refs this year? Do those damned horns have mind control for bad calls or something??

really, a devuvuzelator?!?! whats next?

[Ramaniscence]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/20/ap/sportsline/main6600397.shtml

Those French are just SO DRAMATIC.

In other news WHAT the FUCK.

New Zealand was SO CLOSE to WINNING that game!

This World Cup is.......................different.

[Deathtank]

come on france! snap out of it! :mad:

[Ramaniscence]

incoming fight to the death btw

I wouldn't at all be suprised if Brazil came out of this with a tie, or even a loss. This whole tournament has thrown me for a loop.

[Deathtank]

If anyone cares, here's a devuvuzelator by Stardock for when you're streaming games. Now if only the damned networks would do this before sending out their broadcasts I'd be very happy.

http://www.stardock.com/labs/devuvuzelator/

And seriously, what's up with damned refs this year? Do those damned horns have mind control for bad calls or something??

talking about vuvuzelas...

and look what this brasilian guy dares to do in my own country!!! grrr! >=(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYkkFjEzVDE

[Fishy]

Oh ffs. Kaka's red card was a joke.

Imo there should be a rule that any red card suspensions given to a player as a result of someone else's diving or 'simulation' should be given to the diver if the appeal turns out to show it was faked. It's disgraceful that people get away with diving like that and don't get any punishment just cause the ref couldn't tell they did anything wrong.

[Mr. Fox]

Oh ffs. Kaka's red card was a joke.

Imo there should be a rule that any red card suspensions given to a player as a result of someone else's diving or 'simulation' should be given to the diver if the appeal turns out to show it was faked. It's disgraceful that people get away with diving like that and don't get any punishment just cause the ref couldn't tell they did anything wrong.

Not to mention we got our asses handed to us in terms of physical confrontations. Elano is probably not playing against Portugal, which is a shame cause Elano is a good player. But since there was a clear arm touch on the second goal (Luís Fabiano admited it on TV), I guess it kinda evens out in a very twisted way.

[zykO]

let's face it: this is parity on the global level and it's awesome. this is still the most open field i've seen in my life; in any sport let alone the world cup.

it isn't a bad thing, at all. the cup definitely feels different this time around but i kinda like the fact that my bracket is in shambles and that powerhouses are looking human against sides like new zealand, switzerland, and everybody is beating up on the french both on the field and off of it. you've got off field drama with the english and the french because their expectations are of the highest. the spanish are insisting there's nothing to fear. so are the italians. the asians are thrilled that they're playing much better than folks expected them to. the africans play passionately out of pure joy but ultimately are too undisciplined to have mustered more than a win so far (boy, do i wish egypt was in this tournament... they'd certainly take care of that). and the damn ball. and those vuvezelas

it's perfect.

well except for the thing with the officiating. perhaps the most hated official in all of sports (even baseball and its oft-despised villain, the home plate ump) is the soccer ref, the man given the most liberal call of judgement in the sportsworld (without any real checks and balances like review or replay). he has to see everything and he has to run with the flow of the game no matter how breakneck it gets and still call it right. and call what, mind you? call the most, at times, ridiculously tough things to call... a handball (well not all of them... ahem, thierry, ahem, henry... ahem, asshole), an offside (unless its the 2nd and 3rd judge that does it, usually they're on point with it... when its the 1st ref that makes the call... well, you get what we got the other day with the US), or a bad challenge/tackle.

about that. the ultimate judgement call that needs to be made is the severity of a bad or late challenge. i'm shocked that refs have been this gullible this year. they're certainly apt to bite on good acting jobs but it's the quality of the reffing that is questionable not the act of diving itself. flopping is a huge part of soccer and also of many other sports. hockey diving is an integral part of the game if you have to sell a penalty to gain the man advantage. the basketball flop, especially when drawing the charge, is textbook and is a significant power move. there is quite a bit of acting in the NFL too as you can sell a hold or interference and those can move the ball for you. i really don't think the soccer flop is the problem. i think that keita is an horrible actor as it was such a blatantly awful performance but that he actually tried it isn't the issue. the issue should be that the refs are blind and ultimately stupid. i've played quite a bit of soccer and i promise you it doesn't take a genius to be able to size up a situation pretty easily, especially if you're looking at it.

that said, refs usually try to balance the sheets. kaka is a typically clean player but he had been toughing some of the ivory coast midfielders throughout the course of the game so i wouldn't be surprised if that was a makeup call of some sort and it just happened to be a really bad judgement call on the booking. he could have simply called the foul simply to make up for a no call earlier but instead, he was sold by the acting job albeit awful and issued the booking. what makes it even more peculiar, he was acknowledging that it was a yellow card quality offense late in a game that is already pretty much over while not having a problem with it having red card consequences. why would he do that? that just seems like something that should sit him for the rest of the tourney. there are more than enough fifa judges to choose from. next. if the appeal goes through then good for brazil but the ref obviously made a conscious effort to send him off. that isn't a bad call. that's something else as it is obvious that it had to do with the scuffle that was starting to brew between the two sides immediately before that happened. unless there's video showing that kaka played a major role instigating that confrontation, then it is obvious the ref wanted him off for some other reason and that reason has to warrant expulsion.

as for the consequences, it's sad to say it but if portugal beats em, this will be often looked to as a reason why though it likely won't be directly so. the brazilians have plenty of depth and are moving on the next phase so they're not worried. the portugese have a lot more problems than worrying about who'll be roaming the midfield for the brazilians. they need to figure out a way to involve more folks than just ronaldo.

anyway, i ranted. my bad.

forza azzurri!

USA! USA!