The refs have not been great. Calls like the disallowed goal get made fairly frequently but I think that the US got a particularly bad one. The ref in the Germany game earlier was awful though. I have never seen a ref so eager to get the cards out of his pocket. You would've thought he was getting paid per card. It is attitudes like that by the refs that leads to all the diving which ruins football. There has been some excellent officiating though this world cup, such as the offside call against Mexico in the opener. In fact, offside calls have been generally good which is not usually the case, so it isn't all bad.
God damn that US match was exciting, but I'm fucking steamed about that last goal being called back. I was watching at a bar (god bless the World Cup - nothing like drinking a beer at 7am in a crowded bar). The place went absolutely nuts after what should have been the winning goal. I don't think my heart has ever sunk so much after such a high. Here's hoping the US still manages to make it out of the group stage.
At least we can hope they keep up the pattern of screwing over the favored teams in the England game. Like PeaMan said, I wouldn't say games and individual calls like today are especially unusual. For the guy today to consistently fuck the US over with a series of horrible calls makes you wonder though (Findley's "handball" off the face, guys getting hacked down all over the field, the disallowed goal, and you could even argue that the yellow card on the foul just outside the box in the second half should have been a red. It certainly wouldn't have been harsh). I expect FIFA to come out and say the official made all the right calls like the spineless fucks they are. If we're lucky, this'll be the last game this World Cup that this guy officiates, but I'd be surprised if they actually do that. It's just a shame to see what otherwise would have been an amazing and memorable game ruined by the official's incompetence.
Well that was a dreadful performance from England. I cannot for the life of me understand Capello's insistence to stick with 4-4-2. Even when Crouch came on he'd rather stick with it and have Rooney out on the left of midfield. The players, Rooney in particular, did not look happy and lacked any drive and inventiveness. You could've given England 180 minutes and we still wouldn't have won that game. While a draw means we can still qualify for the last 16, I am now very worried with our ability to beat Slovenia.
I don't think it's "normal" by any stretch of the imagination, but just to put it in perspective: 1986 World Cup quarterfinal, Argentina gets the Hand of God goal, beats England 2-1. And just this year, Thierry Henry's CLEAR handball give the French a 1-1 draw in the game and moves them past the Irish to the World Cup final. These just come to mind off the top of my head, I'm sure there are plenty other examples. I'd say the US' is pretty far down there in the greater pantheon of poor decisions by referees with bad consequences. Still pisses me off to think about it, though.
Those generally are missed calls that while unfortunate, are explainable by regular old human error. The call in the USA game was completely inexplicable; the ref just invented a foul completely out of nowhere, whilst ignoring at least two or three PK worthy fouls going the other way, and then refused to even state what the foul he called was, much less justify it. Fucking bizarre.
As much as I support England, I hope the Slovenians give them a hiding. England have looked tactically inept, sluggish and all around useless. They drew against Algeria! ALGERIA! England should be able to give them a hiding, but no, Capello makes fucking inept substitutions, leaving Gerrard (crap), Lampard (useless) and Rooney (GET THE FUCK OFF THE PITCH YOU USELESS FUCKFACE! Did he even complete one fucking pass?) on the field, while taking off Lennon and Heskey, who were the ONLY players trying to push England forward. Defoe should start instead of Rooney, but clearly Capello thinks light shines out of Rooney's ass. Capello's out of a job after this World Cup, if the F.A. has any balls. Did anyone else hear the England fans booing the fuck out of the side after the whistle? The F.A. should refund all fans who purchased tickets for that match. Also, what the fuck is Calamity James doing in goal? Where is Joe Hart? Fuck you Capello. You gave us all (now false) hope going into this tournament. Why has Joe Cole not made an appearance, yet you keep on Lampard, who is clearly crap? Same goes for Carragher - slow and crap. Why is Dawson or Upson not there? Terry is slow enough on his own... At least Mexico beat France...
I've always been saying the Capello is a retard. England have nothing and the up-coming backlash will be so wonderful to witness.
Fuck you Italy! Well done All Whites! A win against Paraguay will see them through and Italy out. I hope Slovakia get a draw against Italy...
What a patriot and a great fan. You whine and complain about your own country (the country where you and your mother were born) even after they got a hard fought draw against Mexico where they were expected to get battered. South Africa are playing on the greatest stage of world football and have qualified to play there several times before and have won the African Cup of nations before yet they are too shit for you. Now the team you were supposedly supporting didn´t win against USA thanks to an unlucky goal and got another draw and has every chance of getting in the next round but because they haven´t set the world alight you hope they´ll lose. And tell me which of the favorites haven´t been sluggish except for maybe Argentina. Yes Holland has won their games but they haven´t been very convincing. Look at Italy, Spain, France or even Brazil. They haven´t done all that great have they. Anyway how many games have you been to then? New Zealand has really surprised me. A country that doesn´t even have a professional football league and only has one team that plays in the Australian league. They could even qualify if they get the points of Paraguay even though its incredibly unlikely. I think they were like 500/1 to get to the next round at the beginning of the World Cup. The French team is falling apart: Spoiler
Brasil qualifies why am I not surprised. Probably because all the teams I thought would easily make it to the top 16 have lost or tied most of there games. Kaka gets suspended what a bunch of shit!
Christ, what a fucking awful refereeing performance. He failed to keep the players in check, let a potentially bone-breaking challenge go unpunished and bought into the Ivorian player's blatant playacting to send off Kaka. In my opinion, video ref technology could correct a lot of what's wrong with the game these days (diving, referee screwups).
Ha ha, fuck you Italy you diving pussies. I don't know how they can take soccer so seriously when they fall over at the slightest touch. But it was a great result for New Zealand. Bring on Paraguay.
This is disgusting. How can someone fuck up that bad. I totally agree with using video replays for this kind of things.
There was no reason for Portugal to have that many attackers at such a late point in the game. I know goal differential may decide between them and CIV, but jesus. I hope they get stomped in the round of 16 now.
Well, maybe they can put Kim Jung Il on the field next world cup and he can use his supernatural powers to affect the outcome. I'm actually looking forward to seeing Ivory Coast attempting to make up that absurd goal differential. Funny thing is, against Brazil they almost looked like a team that could compete at an international level.
Wow, 7-0, I wonder how the North Korean media will handle that one. I heard a while ago that North Korea will not show live footage of any world cup games. Instead, choosing to edit the match after it has ended, to show only good things that North Korea did while showing very little of the opposing team, as if they were the superior team. Anyone else here that? I feel bad for the players and wonder what will happen to them once they return to their country. (ouch). The thing is, it was a legit game for the first 55 minutes or so. Edit: I agree, they didn't look bad at all in that game against Brazil, and I figured they might be able to pull a draw in one, or even both of their remaining games in group play. At worst, I figured another 2-1 or maybe 2-0 setback against Portugal. Never expected 5-0 (score when I tuned in) and especially not 7-0. What do you think the score will be in the Ivory Coast/North Korea match. I think 2-1 IC. I can't wait to see Portugal/Brazil too.
Yeah. I hate Portugal and I was hoping to see CIV advance especially since I picked them to get to the semis in my pool, but you can't blame the Portuguese for running up the score there. They essentially booked themselves a spot in the second round--even if they lose to Brazil and Ivory Coast wins, it's highly unlikely that a 9-goal differential deficit will get made up.