WORLD CUP

[Joemailman]

According to the Sporting News, the ref called holding on Carlos Bocanegra, and didn't see, or ignored all of the other holding.
http://www.sportingnews.com/soccer/a...allows-us-goal

[Jimx29]

How can ya not love this: http://snipurl.com/xjsc6

[red]

According to the Sporting News, the ref called holding on Carlos Bocanegra, and didn't see, or ignored all of the other holding.
http://www.sportingnews.com/soccer/a...allows-us-goal

when did he hold the other guy

heres a picture a commenter posted under that article. the red arrow is pointing to bocanegra(he's the head that you see in the headlock)

[wootah]

For those of us who don't know all the rules, what constitutes offsides in that situation?

If you're an offensive player who doesn't have the ball you have to have at least two defenders (including the goalie) between you and the opponents' goal. If the ball comes to you or if you otherwise get involved in the play and there are not two defenders between you and the goal, then you are offsides. Here is a pretty good explanation for what is sometimes a subjective call: http://www.offside-ref.co.uk/laws/11...rule/detailed/

All this above AND the ball must come from a 'forward pass'; backwards pass or 'horizontal pass' can never lead to offside. Above that you cannot be offside if the pass comes from an opponents foot/head or if at the moment of the pass you're at your own half or after a throw in.

It's a shame what football has become when there's a corner kick or freekick. I don't know if there's a way back, but I'm all for giving a penalty kick everytime this wrestling takes place. After a couple of weeks filled with penalties, we might see some real football again.

[Gunakor]

Another gift from England yesterday. Algeria played England to a draw last night, which means all USA have to do is beat Algeria and they're through with 5 points. Had England defeated Algeria that disallowed goal would mean much more than it does today. USA has to be stoked that their fate is still in their own hands. Win and they're through.

[red]

Another gift from England yesterday. Algeria played England to a draw last night, which means all USA have to do is beat Algeria and they're through with 5 points. Had England defeated Algeria that disallowed goal would mean much more than it does today. USA has to be stoked that their fate is still in their own hands. Win and they're through.

who's the bigger disappointment this year? England or France? i can't believe how bad each has looked. and i just don't understand how farnce has been able to keep one of the best scorers of all time (Thierry Henry) on the bench while starting a guy in Anelka that seems completely incapable of scoring

edit, france just kicked anelka off the team LOL

[wootah]

who's the bigger disappointment this year? England or France? i can't believe how bad each has looked. and i just don't understand how farnce has been able to keep one of the best scorers of all time (Thierry Henry) on the bench while starting a guy in Anelka that seems completely incapable of scoring

edit, france just kicked anelka off the team LOL

For now, definately England. France barely qualified to begin with; they needed a hand ball goal against Ireland to qualify. Their coach has been showing nothing but incompetence for the last years with a team that seems to be over its top. Henry is an example of that; his best days are well behind him. Anelka has always been a jerk, but he played very well for Chelsea this year.

England on the other hand won everything but one match to qualify. I'm not a big fan of them, but still didn't expect them to play this bad.

Don't think that the game against Algeria will be a stroll in the parc: they gave England much more problems than the USA did in their 1st game. It won't be easy, but I expect USA to win that one though.

[SkinBasket]

the amazing thing is how fast the whistle was blown. the ball was in mid flight, so taking into account reaction time, he had to have seen something right when the ball was being kicked.

The best explanation I've heard was from some coach quoted in an article who said that sometimes a ref will regret calling the foul that led to the free kick, so to make up for it, he'll simply blow the whistle as soon as the free kick is initiated to kill the play, using some bogus ambiguous reason, and in theory he corrects his own mistake this way. Two wrongs making a right. Of course when the free kick leads to the winning goal near the end of play and several players on the free kick team were so aggressively fouled on the play, and all of this happens in a game televised around the world, then it becomes a little sticky - like it did yesterday.

If England hadn't blown their game, I would probably be put off enough by that call not to watch any more WC this year. As it is, I guess I'll manage the fortitude to watch the remaining US game(s).

[red]

yeah i saw that too skin, i think it was the US coach (bradley) that said that. or at least i know he said something close to that

If he's making up for a bad call he just made that resulted in the kick, then why did he make the first bad call to begin with? and what has happened in the 2 seconds following that call to make him think it was the wrong call?

did he get too excited and blew the whistle by accident? did a gust of wind make the whistle go off? did he get lost in the moment and thought he had a vuvuzela in his mouth?

i can understand what the coach is saying, but i don't understand how a ref can change his mind so fast

i'm with you though skin. i almost lost all interest in the cup after that goal was taken away. i only watched the first half of englands game yesterday and i didn't watch any of the games today. i'm just too disgusted by how horrible that call was

[SkinBasket]

i'm with you though skin. i almost lost all interest in the cup after that goal was taken away. i only watched the first half of englands game yesterday and i didn't watch any of the games today. i'm just too disgusted by how horrible that call was

Watched about 15 minutes of the Brazil game today. The ref was laughing with Fabiano about the non-called hand ball (twice) on Fabiano's 2nd goal. That can't play well. It appeared to be an amazing play that was then made much less so by non-called cheating. Twice. Blah.

[red]

another horrible call today against kaka

biggest sotories from the world cup so far

1. annoying vuvuzela's
2. horrible reffing
3. France team meltdown
4. the games

[wootah]

Lo & behold, a belgian ref is chosen for USA - Algeria: Frank Debleeckere. He's pretty good, but still human off course. People who don't like soccer because of the mistakes a referee can make must hate watching the NFL. Soccer has 4 refs, no cameras. Football has 7, cameras and often they still screw up.

It must be said that the refs were at a very high level at the beginning of the tournament. The last couple of games they have been screwing up terribly. The card for Kaka is just a prime example of that.
Bad reffing in the early stages has been a constant in World Cup history. The FIFA wants to be politically correct and thus invites the best referees of each continent, but the best ref in Africa is not exactly of the same level as the best ref in Europe. It's a bit part of the folklore of a WC, but when the consequences are this severe, it should not happen. I'm all for having 'grizzled vets' with experience in the top competitions in the world as referee at the biggest sporting event in the world.

Now about the French team, that's completely insane. They arrived with a lot of controversy in South Africa (like I said, they needed a hands-goal to qualify) and a couple of weeks before the World Cup it was discovered that a few players took the concept of teamspirit to another level when they made use of the services of the same underage prostitute. When you look like Franck Ribéry, I guess your options are limited...


Now it seems like the whole team is on the verge of implosion. Incredible for a national team to behave like that.

[SkinBasket]

People who don't like soccer because of the mistakes a referee can make must hate watching the NFL. Soccer has 4 refs, no cameras. Football has 7, cameras and often they still screw up.

I think people here get pretty upset when a bad call in the NFL costs a team a game.

It's not about "not liking" soccer for me. It about feeling cheated out of 90 minutes of competition when the game isn't decided by the players, but rather by non-calls and/or bad calls on the sport's biggest stage.

[wootah]

It's not about "not liking" soccer for me. It about feeling cheated out of 90 minutes of competition when the game isn't decided by the players, but rather by non-calls and/or bad calls on the sport's biggest stage.

I understand and it sure sucks when it happens, but this is inherent to any form of competition where there's a human judge. There is pressure involved, interpretation, prejudices, ... It's not only in soccer that these mistakes happen at the biggest stage; remember Big Ben's rushing TD in the SuperBowl against the Seahawks?

[Tarlam!]

who's the bigger disappointment this year? England or France?

Australia. They only have 1 point - New Zealand has 2 points. Oh, the shame....

[red]

Lo & behold, a belgian ref is chosen for USA - Algeria: Frank Debleeckere. He's pretty good, but still human off course. People who don't like soccer because of the mistakes a referee can make must hate watching the NFL. Soccer has 4 refs, no cameras. Football has 7, cameras and often they still screw up.

It must be said that the refs were at a very high level at the beginning of the tournament. The last couple of games they have been screwing up terribly. The card for Kaka is just a prime example of that.
Bad reffing in the early stages has been a constant in World Cup history. The FIFA wants to be politically correct and thus invites the best referees of each continent, but the best ref in Africa is not exactly of the same level as the best ref in Europe. It's a bit part of the folklore of a WC, but when the consequences are this severe, it should not happen. I'm all for having 'grizzled vets' with experience in the top competitions in the world as referee at the biggest sporting event in the world.

Now about the French team, that's completely insane. They arrived with a lot of controversy in South Africa (like I said, they needed a hands-goal to qualify) and a couple of weeks before the World Cup it was discovered that a few players took the concept of teamspirit to another level when they made use of the services of the same underage prostitute. When you look like Franck Ribéry, I guess your options are limited...


Now it seems like the whole team is on the verge of implosion. Incredible for a national team to behave like that.

yup, he is one very handsome frenchman

[Joemailman]

Now about the French team, that's completely insane. They arrived with a lot of controversy in South Africa (like I said, they needed a hands-goal to qualify) and a couple of weeks before the World Cup it was discovered that a few players took the concept of teamspirit to another level when they made use of the services of the same underage prostitute. When you look like Franck Ribéry, I guess your options are limited...

Now it seems like the whole team is on the verge of implosion. Incredible for a national team to behave like that.

Alexi Lalas on ESPN today suggested they send the French team home and replace them with the Irish.

[red]

Now about the French team, that's completely insane. They arrived with a lot of controversy in South Africa (like I said, they needed a hands-goal to qualify) and a couple of weeks before the World Cup it was discovered that a few players took the concept of teamspirit to another level when they made use of the services of the same underage prostitute. When you look like Franck Ribéry, I guess your options are limited...

Now it seems like the whole team is on the verge of implosion. Incredible for a national team to behave like that.

Alexi Lalas on ESPN today suggested they send the French team home and replace them with the Irish.

its sad that god's country was knocked out of the cup by these french assholes and then they show up and act like they don't even want to be there.

there's talk that some of the frenchies might boycott the next game

that's just sad. ireland or any other country would have loved to be in their spot and they just throw it away

if i was the coach i would bench all the team leaders like evra and ribery and play the reserves instead. then i would clean house after the cup and find a whole new team (players, coaches, etc)

[Tony Oday]

Now about the French team, that's completely insane. They arrived with a lot of controversy in South Africa (like I said, they needed a hands-goal to qualify) and a couple of weeks before the World Cup it was discovered that a few players took the concept of teamspirit to another level when they made use of the services of the same underage prostitute. When you look like Franck Ribéry, I guess your options are limited...

Now it seems like the whole team is on the verge of implosion. Incredible for a national team to behave like that.

Alexi Lalas on ESPN today suggested they send the French team home and replace them with the Irish.

its sad that god's country was knocked out of the cup by these french assholes and then they show up and act like they don't even want to be there.

there's talk that some of the frenchies might boycott the next game

that's just sad. ireland or any other country would have loved to be in their spot and they just throw it away

if i was the coach i would bench all the team leaders like evra and ribery and play the reserves instead. then i would clean house after the cup and find a whole new team (players, coaches, etc)

France sucks

[red]

Now about the French team, that's completely insane. They arrived with a lot of controversy in South Africa (like I said, they needed a hands-goal to qualify) and a couple of weeks before the World Cup it was discovered that a few players took the concept of teamspirit to another level when they made use of the services of the same underage prostitute. When you look like Franck Ribéry, I guess your options are limited...

Now it seems like the whole team is on the verge of implosion. Incredible for a national team to behave like that.

Alexi Lalas on ESPN today suggested they send the French team home and replace them with the Irish.

its sad that god's country was knocked out of the cup by these french assholes and then they show up and act like they don't even want to be there.

there's talk that some of the frenchies might boycott the next game

that's just sad. ireland or any other country would have loved to be in their spot and they just throw it away

if i was the coach i would bench all the team leaders like evra and ribery and play the reserves instead. then i would clean house after the cup and find a whole new team (players, coaches, etc)

France sucks

+ 1 gazillion