:::[Official]World Cup South Africa 2010 Thread:::

I think those were the wives of the players.
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tomorrow's game should be more exciting

hopefully it is up and down the whole game with a 4-3 score or something
 
Originally Posted by Xtapolapacetl

Weird how Wesley Sneijder can have the best individual soccer year in sport history:

Win the Italian League
Win the Italian Cup
Win Champions League
Win the World Cup
Be the top scorer of the World Cup
Be named the best player of the World Cup

And he still wouldn't be considered one of the truly elite players in the world along with Messi and Ronaldo. In fact, he might not even be considered the best in his country as Robben would still probably rank higher than him on the top *insert number* lists.
Sneijder is one of the best players in the world but he simply isnt as talented/good as Messi and Ronaldo.

I enjoy seeing him and Robben succeed after they were both kicked to the curb by Real Madrid and have since gone on to have possibly the best seasons of their careers so far
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Who are the people who said this WC sucked/was boring? This is probably one of the better WCs in recent memory. Personally I feel it's up there with the 1994 WC. The 2nd round has featured plenty of drama, surprises and the high scoring results probably make this tournament very appealing to casual fans.
 
this world cup is not as good as 1994

1994 had some incredible matches and the drama was due to the play it self and less ref drama
 
Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

Originally Posted by Xtapolapacetl

Weird how Wesley Sneijder can have the best individual soccer year in sport history:

Win the Italian League
Win the Italian Cup
Win Champions League
Win the World Cup
Be the top scorer of the World Cup
Be named the best player of the World Cup

And he still wouldn't be considered one of the truly elite players in the world along with Messi and Ronaldo. In fact, he might not even be considered the best in his country as Robben would still probably rank higher than him on the top *insert number* lists.
Sneijder is one of the best players in the world but he simply isnt as talented/good as Messi and Ronaldo.

I enjoy seeing him and Robben succeed after they were both kicked to the curb by Real Madrid and have since gone on to have possibly the best seasons of their careers so far
laugh.gif
pimp.gif


Who are the people who said this WC sucked/was boring? This is probably one of the better WCs in recent memory. Personally I feel it's up there with the 1994 WC. The 2nd round has featured plenty of drama, surprises and the high scoring results probably make this tournament very appealing to casual fans.
I gotta say the group stages were damn boring.  However, these latter stage games have more than made up for them.  As far as I can remember, the only game that I've been somewhat unimpressed by was the Paraguay v Japan game.  Otherwise, these Ro16, QF and SF games have been
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Originally Posted by Smokey1212

Originally Posted by Carlos Tevez

Originally Posted by Xtapolapacetl

Weird how Wesley Sneijder can have the best individual soccer year in sport history:

Win the Italian League
Win the Italian Cup
Win Champions League
Win the World Cup
Be the top scorer of the World Cup
Be named the best player of the World Cup

And he still wouldn't be considered one of the truly elite players in the world along with Messi and Ronaldo. In fact, he might not even be considered the best in his country as Robben would still probably rank higher than him on the top *insert number* lists.
Sneijder is one of the best players in the world but he simply isnt as talented/good as Messi and Ronaldo.

I enjoy seeing him and Robben succeed after they were both kicked to the curb by Real Madrid and have since gone on to have possibly the best seasons of their careers so far
laugh.gif
pimp.gif


Who are the people who said this WC sucked/was boring? This is probably one of the better WCs in recent memory. Personally I feel it's up there with the 1994 WC. The 2nd round has featured plenty of drama, surprises and the high scoring results probably make this tournament very appealing to casual fans.
I gotta say the group stages were damn boring.  However, these latter stage games have more than made up for them.  As far as I can remember, the only game that I've been somewhat unimpressed by was the Paraguay v Japan game.  Otherwise, these Ro16, QF and SF games have been
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I think that was due to the fact that the smaller clubs were playing defense and just playing the counter because it worked so well for Inter.
 
Words cannot describe the feeling....I don't know ##! I'm gonna do for the next 5 days.
Best believe no work will be done...
 
Spanish headlines- "Holanda nos espera en el cielo del fútbol" it means "Holland waits for us in futbol heaven."

This is going to be a good game, too bad I have a test for a possible job at TSA. FML.
 
Originally Posted by marionthebarberian

Mikeisoriginal said:
JD214 wrote:

Clearly robbed
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++#+#!%@ you mean you guys robbed ghana
cheaters never win




and how did they cheat?

At first I thought that what Suarez did was although unethical, it was acceptable considering the punishment Uruguay got, but then I thought some more about it and it should flat out be illegal. Because:

If what Suarez did can't be considered as cheating, then that pretty much means that any time there is a free kick in the dying minutes of an all-or-nothing game in any sort of tournament, a team can just place two players on each post next to the goalkeeper and have them defend the goal with their hands if necessary, effectively having 3 x goalkeepers on the goal instead of just one - one main goalkeeper and two safety goalkeepers patrolling the areas of the goal that are harder for the goalkeeper to reach, making scoring the goal for the other team much harder. After all, obviously anyone would prefer a penalty that can be missed (+ a red card) when they have nothing to lose if that saves them from conceding a dead certain goal like that Ghana header was, whereas scoring on a penalty isn't certain, as Gyan showed.

The Suarez situation itself doesn't matter anymore now, because fortunately Uruguay lost. But it should set an example for the future and a rule similar to goal-tending in basketball should be introduced.
 
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[color= rgb(255, 51, 0)]Good to see the ORANJE army here in Toronto keeping everything at peace after winning the match.[/color]
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not like the boisterous crowd from _____ (name the most annoying supporters in your opinion, Torontonians)
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I think the edge goes to Germany in tomorrows game not so much because the German's have been on a  tear but because Spain's style is a bad match up against the Germans. Spain does have the best midfield in the world but that's not where you can beat Germany. You have to beat them in their own third where they play absolutely solid defense.
Someone else has to step up for Spain tomorrow. Unless Villa scores 3 or 4 goals they aren't winning. Where Spain's midfield does help them enormously is in defending against the German counter attack.

I think Spain can win rather easily if their players show up and play like they're capable of. Historically that hasn't been the case though and the Germans are known for being able to grind out games even if they play poorly.
 
Originally Posted by marionthebarberian

Originally Posted by Mikeisoriginal

JD214 wrote:





Clearly robbed
smh.gif
smh.gif
smh.gif
++#+#!%@ you mean you guys robbed ghana
cheaters never win






and how did they cheat?






Dude just contradicted himself a little bit. He said they robbed Ghana and cheaters never win. But if they won, that just means they didn't cheat
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Right?



There was an offside in the second Netherlads goal, I think after that goal the whole game changed.
 
Originally Posted by Xtapolapacetl

Originally Posted by marionthebarberian

Originally Posted by Mikeisoriginal

JD214 wrote:

Clearly robbed
smh.gif
smh.gif
smh.gif
++#+#!%@ you mean you guys robbed ghana
cheaters never win


and how did they cheat?


At first I thought that what Suarez did was although unethical, it was acceptable considering the punishment Uruguay got, but then I thought some more about it and it should flat out be illegal. Because:

If what Suarez did can't be considered as cheating, then that pretty much means that any time there is a free kick in the dying minutes of an all-or-nothing game in any sort of tournament, a team can just place two players on each post next to the goalkeeper and have them defend the goal with their hands if necessary, effectively having 3 x goalkeepers on the goal instead of just one - one main goalkeeper and two safety goalkeepers patrolling the areas of the goal that are harder for the goalkeeper to reach, making scoring the goal for the other team much harder. After all, obviously anyone would prefer a penalty that can be missed (+ a red card) when they have nothing to lose if that saves them from conceding a dead certain goal like that Ghana header was, whereas scoring on a penalty isn't certain, as Gyan showed.

The Suarez situation itself doesn't matter anymore now, because fortunately Uruguay lost. But it should set an example for the future and a rule similar to goal-tending in basketball should be introduced.
In that scenario, the team taking a free kick will take a penalty (against one goalkeeper), to score that same goal. It's not really any different than a defender tackling an attacker from behind when he knows he's beat, or a cornerback tackling a receiver who's in position to catch a game winning touchdown. The game has built in penalties, so something can really only be cheating if the player doesn't get caught.
And I don't really agree that this sets some bad precedent, because the scenario is way too rare. A game has to be tied, in the dying moments, and a ball has to be clearly going in with a player in perfect position to slap it away instead of the goalkeeper. If there is even 5 minutes left in the game, most players would let the goal in and try to get it back rather than get ejected and give up a penalty. 

To me, what Suarez did was heroic and commendable. He sacrificed himself and an opportunity to shine on the semifinal stage at a crucial point in his career so that his team might have an ever-so-slight chance to advance. If Gyan would have stepped up and made the penalty like a competent striker should have, Uruguay would have been punished justly for what they did right then and there. 
 
Suarez did something wrong and was punished. Uruguay were penalized for Suarez's action but Ghana could not capitalize on the PK they were awarded.

Just last year in the Confederations Cup an Egyptian player intentionally prevented the ball from crossing the line with his hand in the very last minute of a 3-3 match. Kaka stepped up and did what he was supposed to do and Brazil won 4-3. There was not much controversy about the referee's decision to send the Egyptian player off and award a PK even though the ball was on its way into the net.

The rule of a PK being awarded after an intentional handball inside the box has been around for many many years and no one seemed to have a problem with it until Gyan failed to win the match for Ghana. Had he scored there would not have been any controversy at all.

Anyways, I dont care what happens in the final 3 matches of this tournament...I personally rank this as at least my 2nd favorite WC behind USA 1994 (the first WC I watched). The 2nd round of this tournament has been damn good and other than a crappy 1st week, the group stage was pretty good as well. This tournament has been full of many good matches...Korea/Uruguay, Ghana/US, Uruguay/Ghana, Uruguay/Netherlands, Netherlands/Brazil...then you have Germany spanking England and Argentina. We saw guys like Suarez, Forlan, Villa, Sneijder, Mueller, Klose, Schweinsteger, Podolski, Ozil, who put on some great individual performances. Its been a great tournament so far and possibly the best one since 1986 if the 2nd semi-final and the finals are entertaining.

What'd really put the iciing on the cake of this tournament would be a good final and 1-2 players (from either Spain, Germany or Holland) really stepping up and putting on a great performance to lead their team to the WC title. Unfortunately we've only really had just 2 standout performances in the WC finals in the last 20-years...Zidane in the 98 finals and Ronaldo in the 02 finals.
 
To me, what Suarez did was heroic and commendable. He sacrificed himself and an opportunity to shine on the semifinal stage at a crucial point in his career so that his team might have an ever-so-slight chance to advance. If Gyan would have stepped up and made the penalty like a competent striker should have, Uruguay would have been punished justly for what they did right then and there.

Heroic but at the same time stupid. Only him and Forlan run that team. This dude had Forlan work like a horse today (nice goal btw) and you clearly saw his frustrations today because he had nobody to pass to.

There was NO offsides. I dont know what the hell you guys are seeing.


LittleGazelleHaters.jpg



They're bitter they're teams are just fishing right now.

Oh wait, if one of these haters are England/English futbol fans, you can start the EPL at this moment while the WC is still happening.
 
Originally Posted by Xtapolapacetl

Weird how Wesley Sneijder can have the best individual soccer year in sport history:

Win the Italian League
Win the Italian Cup
Win Champions League
Win the World Cup
Those are all team accomplishments
 
Originally Posted by PersiaFly

In that scenario, the team taking a free kick will take a penalty (against one goalkeeper), to score that same goal. It's not really any different than a defender tackling an attacker from behind when he knows he's beat, or a cornerback tackling a receiver who's in position to catch a game winning touchdown. The game has built in penalties, so something can really only be cheating if the player doesn't get caught.
And I don't really agree that this sets some bad precedent, because the scenario is way too rare. A game has to be tied, in the dying moments, and a ball has to be clearly going in with a player in perfect position to slap it away instead of the goalkeeper. If there is even 5 minutes left in the game, most players would let the goal in and try to get it back rather than get ejected and give up a penalty. 

To me, what Suarez did was heroic and commendable. He sacrificed himself and an opportunity to shine on the semifinal stage at a crucial point in his career so that his team might have an ever-so-slight chance to advance. If Gyan would have stepped up and made the penalty like a competent striker should have, Uruguay would have been punished justly for what they did right then and there. 


A corner kick in the dying seconds of a game is not "rare" at all. And in that situation, the team playing defense could completely barricade themselves and have 3 or even more goalkeepers if what Suarez did doesn't become flat out illegal. Of course they will get a penalty, but who wouldn't want to take a chance on a penalty where the success rate is, what, 70-80% over what would've been a 100% goal. In that situation, where you have nothing to lose and everything to gain, everyone would rather keep a slim hope of the goalkeeper either saving the penalty or as was the case with Gyan, the player missing the penalty.

And you're wrong, what Suarez did was in fact VERY different from stopping a charging attacker from behind by any means necessary when he would only have a goalkeeper to beat. What Suarez prevented with cheating was a 100% GOAL, everyone could see in the replays that the ball was going into the goal. Whether that ball would've ended as a goal is not a subject for debate. Being all alone and having only the goalkeeper to beat is (much like a penalty) a huge chance at scoring a goal, but it's still NOT a GOAL. Even the best players in the world are not certain to score in this situation (see Robben completely wasting a chance yesterday). Being cheated out of a certain goal and being cheated out of a very big chance are two vastly different things.

I sure would've liked to see the reaction if the Algeria defender who was lying on the ground when Landon Donovan scored the goal threw himself and prevented the ball with his hands from going into the goal. Would USA have scored on the penalty? Probably, but not certainly. But I can't help and wonder how much of a "hero" the Algeria defender would've been then had the U.S. missed that penalty.
 
Prediction:

Spain 2 - 3 Germany

I won't be mad if Spain losses though, before WC started both teams were my favorites.
 
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