2014 FIFA World Cup

nooshinjohn

@Bernardo... did you notice what I was talking about with the coverage?

bernardo

nooshinjohn wrote: »

@Bernardo... did you notice what I was talking about with the coverage?

Sorry, I haven't had the chance. I watched Spain vs chile and Netherlands vs. Australia today, but not live, rather what I recorded with the dvr... I skipped over all that was not the actual game.
Now, since it is still saved in there I will go back and look, but realistically not before the weekend.

bernardo

How about Costa Rica? I have to say it is getting interesting!

gumbay13

^^^ Now thats a shocker!
Nobody would have predicted the Costa Ricans besting the Uruguayans and the Italians!

The game for the second spot between Italy and Uruguay will be explosive!

Love it when an underdog disturbs the apple cart.

England may beat Costa Rica in a game that will for all intents and purposes be meaningless.

gumbay13

Football-mad Indian couple head to 9th World Cup - BBC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acGZ22GNh8k


And a true freak of nature!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEEOtG3vLRo

AND a close second

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idYEGhn4LVo

bernardo

gumbay13 wrote: »

And a true freak of nature!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEEOtG3vLRo

What about this guy?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqTsB04M0eE

I am hoping for some of that magic in this World Cup...

bernardo

^^ btw, his match is just about to start

gumbay13

^^
Yep. he is also another one!

I'll be watching the replay when i get home from work tonight.

gumbay13

Ghana 2 Germany 2!
Once again the underdog shreds the script!

This opens the door for the USA to qualify IF ( a big IF) they can come through against Portugal tomorrow.
Portugal will be out looking for blood.

bernardo

Really disappointed with Argentina's play.... They need to step it up if they really want to have a shot at the title.

gumbay13

^^
The scoreline surprised me as well.
It could very well have been a draw.
One has to feel for the Iranians.

nooshinjohn

bernardo wrote: »

Really disappointed with Argentina's play.... They need to step it up if they really want to have a shot at the title.

Iran should have walked away with this one. There were so many missed calls by the officials, and even more missed opportunities...

bernardo

gumbay13 wrote: »

^^
The scoreline surprised me as well.
It could very well have been a draw.
One has to feel for the Iranians.

Forget about Iranians, I feel for me... it was really hard to watch and a huge relief at the end! But as I said, they better step if up a couple of notches. It also true that it is very difficult when 10 or 11 players defend in their own area.... It can be won (as is was)but there should have been more speed, more medium to long distance shots... Anyway, time to think about the following phase.

Just my opinion.

gumbay13

bernardo wrote: »

Forget about Iranians, I feel for me... it was really hard to watch and a huge relief at the end! But as I said, they better step if up a couple of notches. It also true that it is very difficult when 10 or 11 players defend in their own area.... It can be won (as is was)but there should have been more speed, more medium to long distance shots... Anyway, time to think about the following phase.

Just my opinion.

That got me laughing.

They and Brazil really have to step up their game or will be made to pay for it!

I may be wrong ,but i believe penalty kicks will start in the Round of 16 when games end in a draw.

bernardo

yes, less than stellar refereeing... I can understand mistakes, but sometimes it is just too much...

gumbay13

I often wonder which is worse. The refs making questionable calls or some of the players who will fall like they have been shot at the slightest semblance of a contact, especially in the opponent's box.

A player gets tackled and looses the ball and the next thing you know he is on the ground holding his face like he has been elbowed.

Not easy being a ref.

bernardo

Funny that you bring that up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiW0IPrv1Ro

I'm sure one can find examples from many other teams (Argentina included :frown:) ...

gumbay13

Yep. Classic example

AsSiMiLaTeD

Soccer basically invented the flop, between that and how the clock gets managed I end up not watching much soccer. It's a damn shame because I like the sport...

gumbay13

So So close!
What a painful way to concede a goal at the very last minute to give Portugal a lifeline!

It is indeed the GROUP OF DEATH!!!!

AsSiMiLaTeD

That's a really tough way to lose and sticks with you a long time, I love how that happens right after I **** about the stupid clock in soccer. It's absurd to just add minutes at the end of a game like that, in this case it cost the US the game.

gumbay13

^^^
The USA did not lose!

Extra time AFTER 90 minutes of regulation is pretty much standard fare in the game.
It makes up for lost playing time during the regular 90 minutes.

The game is not over until the final whistle!

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/portugal-last-gasp-strike-denies-usa-straight-passage-to-round-of-16-062214

DMara

gumbay13 wrote: »

So So close!
What a painful way to concede a goal at the very last minute to give Portugal a lifeline!

It is indeed the GROUP OF DEATH!!!!

It gave Ghana a lifeline, not Portugal.
The US only needs a draw next game to qualify for the knockout stage.
In case the US loses to Germany, Ghana got to beat Portugal by 2 goals or by 1 goals + scores more than the US. Portugal, currently at last place, got to catch up by 5 goals, almost an impossible task.

gumbay13

^^^
You are right.
Portugal is certainly in a bad spot. Today's game was a must win for them.

muncybob

To me, the U.S. needed that win....we only managed a draw against a team that was apparently not firing on all cylinders. Germany looks too good for us, but you never know.

ViperZ

Another giant critical line ref mistake - US 2nd goal was scored from offside. That's in addition to B&H goal disallowed against Nigeria, 2 Mexico goals disallowed against Cameroon & more... I don't know where FIFA gets these referees, as we very rarely see these kinds of blown calls in the Champions League.

tonyb

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

Soccer basically invented the flop, between that and how the clock gets managed I end up not watching much soccer. It's a damn shame because I like the sport...

Oh...that frickin' clock sticks in my crawl. Extra time for injury ? Yeah, by who's standard or watch ? I've seen many games go well past the stated injury time.

DMara

ViperZ wrote: »

Another giant critical line ref mistake - US 2nd goal was scored from offside. That's in addition to B&H goal disallowed against Nigeria, 2 Mexico goals disallowed against Cameroon & more... I don't know where FIFA gets these referees, as we very rarely see these kinds of blown calls in the Champions League.

The Champion League only accepts the best referees from European countries while the World Cup are like the affirmative action: it has to bring referees from multiple geographical areas for "fairness." Say it was a match between the US and Portugal, then the referees of that match needed to be ones that came from other areas than Europe and CONCACAF. That was why you saw a bunch of BAD referees because they were actually the BEST from their geographical areas

ViperZ

tonyb wrote: »

Oh...that frickin' clock sticks in my crawl. Extra time for injury ? Yeah, by who's standard or watch ? I've seen many games go well past the stated injury time.

If you care to read the rules, you'd understand how extra time is calculated based on number of injuries, number of subs, etc. Basic rule of football is that the attack does not stop when the clock stops ticking - ref lets the attack finish before blowing the whistle.

ViperZ

DMara wrote: »

The Champion League only accepts the best referees from European countries while the World Cup are like the affirmative action: it has to bring referees from multiple geographical areas for "fairness." Say it was a match between the US and Portugal, then the referees of that match needed to be ones that came from other areas than Europe and CONCACAF. That was why you saw a bunch of BAD referees because they were actually the BEST from their geographical areas

Even with that, you see sometimes big-name refs make mistakes - i.e. Felix Brych allowing Hoffenheim phantom goal through the hole in the net, or whatever that ref was that disallowed clean Ukraine goal against England. FIFA/UEFA are the biggest mafia organizations, that's why they don't want any reviews, they barely allowed that goal-line technology into the game. It's just so unfortunate.