At least we know my Gunners won't win the PL this year. We've never (by never, I mean Arsene's years) won the PL when there has been a World Cup.
Welp I had a Brazil-Portugal final. Guess that's done for. Spain just outclassed them. I have to say though the game was almost unbearable to watch. It was one big game of keep away. Then again it was masterful passing by Spain, but made for a rather slow match. Didn't know this thread existed. I'm late to the party but plan on a least seeing the end out.
Schweinsteiger rips the Argentines for bad sportsmanship. Agreed. They are a much better team, however, than in 2006 - as Scheinsteiger notes also. I hope they play with more respect. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/5342296/ce/us/germany-bastian-schweinsteiger-says-argentina-shows-no-respect&cc=5901?ver=us It will be a very interesting game. This game and the Brazil-Netherlands game are the intriguing ones to me (this one more-so). Argentina has great ball skills and should win the time of possession but then the Germans have some great speed in counter attack and they have multiple players who have the ability to close on a break. Though there are many great match-ups, I think the game really will come down to how well the Germans counter-attack and how well Argentina's fullbacks handle those counter attacks.
Miami FC is third division. They are the equivalent of a Premiership team getting relegated....then getting relegated again.
THIS JUST IN...D. VILLA GOAL OFFSIDE VS PORTUGAL!! Yet another blown call by the officials. One might say that it was too close to call, but then I think back to the goal Italy scored to tie the game at 2-2 against Paraguay. Follow the link to see D. Villa's goal in 3D from multiple angles, as well as all other goals in the tournament. http://www.corriere.it/sport/specia...deo/index.shtml?videoId=UNL100629_ESP_1-PRT_0 It is in Italian but it is self explanatory.
That was impossible to call though because in real time it didn't necessarily look as though it was backheeled. If Iniesta lets it go through his legs, it's onside. IMPOSSIBLE for a linesman to see that through so many legs.
Check this out though - apologies for the terrible music - of Juan Mata doing up Raul Albiol like a kipper in the pre match: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE_bdgAeWHg"]YouTube- Juan Mata Owned Raul Albiol - Amazing Skill ![/ame]
I saw Michael Owen pull that one out of his *** once. The key...is to do that for a walk in goal against a keeper in a world cup. Then you are immortal.
I ACTUALLY FOUND IT! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EILEbeikBOs&feature=related"]YouTube- Michael Owen vs Brazil 2000[/ame]
The asst. referees are have a hard time lately. In the England/Germany game last Sunday, yea the AR missed England's second goal, but I understand why he didn't get a good look at it. He was in the right position, he was watching for the offsides, which is his first priority. For those that say he was in a bad position, they are wrong. Watching for the offsides is a AR's first priority. England was just very unlucky. The officials did miss the goal, but if your not 100% sure about giving a goal, you don't give it.
Why calling it "Soccer" is perfectly fine: http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/wo...-to-me--fbintl_ro-soccervsfootball070110.html “Soccer is a synonym for football,” said Toye, who helped launch the North American Soccer League in the late 1960s. “And it has been used as such for more years than I can count. When I was a kid in England and grabbed a ball to go out and play … I would just as easily have said: ‘Let’s have a game of soccer’ as I would use the word ‘football’ instead. And I didn’t start it.” To trace the origin of “soccer” we must go all the way back to 1863, and a meeting of gentlemen at a London pub, who congregated with the purpose of standardizing the rules of “football,” which was in its infant years as an organized sport but was growing rapidly in popularity. Those assembled became the founding members of the Football Association (which still oversees the game in England to this day). And they decided to call their code Association Football, to differentiate it from Rugby Football. A quirk of British culture is the permanent need to familiarize names by shortening them. “My friend Brian Johnston was Johnners,” said Toye. “They took the third, fourth and fifth letters of Association and called it SOCcer. So there you are.” Interesting story. I always wondered why we call it soccer. Turns out they used to call it Soccer[along with Football] in England as well. Then they stopped using the term soccer.
FULL blown Brawl almost breaks out in Houston vs. Toronto MLS match right now. 62nd minute. ESPN2 very chippy match so far.
too tight for me assuming this is accurate. btw, this thing would not load for me on firefox even though i updated flash. worked with chrome though. odd
Very true. Incidentally, German TV staged the play on an empty pitch and it was plain obvious that neither the ref nor the assistant had any chance of calling it a goal from where they were positioned. And they were positioned just fine. What strikes me as odd in the whole discussion is that the call for technical help is always related to the obviousness of the error instead of the frequency. Wrong offside calls decide significantly more games than goal/no goal situations - and yet no one is calling for technical help. Did England get more jobbed than Portugal simply because the error was more blatant to viewers at home?
gotta hunch netherlands will win this game. and brazilian media will cry out for a return to "beautiful soccer" rather than the defensive minded approach they have taken
lol scratch my last post. with that kkind of swiss cheese defense, the Dutch are going to be in for a long day
I have never been a Julio Cesar fan. he has alot of backers....I am not one of them. Always seemed shakey to me.
**** Brazil. Some really lazy, sloppy, and flat out HORRIBLE play. I can respect a hard fought loss but not this. Inexcusable. Dunga should be fired immediately after this game. This is why I was never talking big and confident about them winning this tourny.
Felipe Melo needs to be kicked off this team as well. ****ing idiot. You're SINGLE HANDEDLY responsible for that first goal and now you're responsible for your team playing 10v11 for the rest of this match. Burn this ***** when he touches down in Brazil tomorrow morning.
Entire team is out there crying like a bunch of babies. I may say what I say about Landon Donavon but I'd sure take his heart and desire right now for a rescue mission.