2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa (11 June – 11 July)

[mode107]

Being that the World Cup was on African Soil this year, I was actually in favor of an African Country (over my USA) winning this year. Sucks that we lost, but now I'm gonna route Ghana all the way to the Cup

[Blacky-]

Too bad for the USA ... I really hoped to see them in 1/2.

[THUNDERDUCK]

Mexico is the team many people here have been cheering for.

[daigong]

That second defender looked like he was trying to get a foul, if he kept on going he coulda altered the shot or smth but DAMN good goal Ghana! - lol @ Dempsey being splattered all over the field.

WHOA! Postmania, tough luck Koreans :/

I dunno TDUCK. I'm cheering for some Latin American countries! CHILE!!!

[Ayabie]

Fuck yeah, ENG 0-1 REF!



Shitty refs aside, finally some World Cup quality.

[Stirfry]

 

[Amplifier]

^It's no worse than what happened to the USA in every game they played here, or to Ireland by France.

Germany has this under control if they keeper their cool, no doubt.

[Stirfry]

 

[Tuffty]

Oh God please Germany score more! PLEASE! Stryfe is absolutely right, the fans and press would never EVER let this go. And because of it they'll think they were robbed, and they would have won the World Cup had this not happened. Nevermind the fact that Germany probably should have been 5 goals up because the English defense right now has been absolutely terrible.

[Wonderboy]

It's strange to see a good game... 

[Amplifier]

Özil and Müller are awesome. Here's hoping for an awesome clash between Germany and Argentina.

[nimrod]

[Wonderboy]

Congrats Germany !

Sorry England... 
I got the phone number of the referee if you want... j/k

[Amplifier]

 

A "psychic" octopus is said by its aquarium owners to have predicted the country's football team will knock England out of the World Cup.

BBC News - 'Psychic' octopus predicts Germany victory over England

I guess the octopus was correct, then.

[Tuffty]

England ist kaput!!

Oh this is what I wanted. Just to clarify, the English press and pundits had massively underwritten Germany before kick-off, claiming they're too inexperienced to win. And they must have watched a different game last week because when I saw Germany v Ghana, Germany were playing well and in control without really trying, but all the english press seemed to watch them get dominated and they were terrible Again, shocking defending from England, I'd never seen them so stretched apart and they were just beaten for pace by the likes of Podolski, Ozil and Muller.

What do you guys think about goal line technology? I doubt much anything will happen but the debate will surely go on. Personally, I'd like to see it introduced just for instances like that, offside decisions and debating corners is too far.

[nimrod]

  Sorry England

[Tuffty]

Another team harshly done over by half time. Bet Blatter is feeling the pressure! Though there can be no excuse for the 2nd goal.

Heinze

[J-Triumf]

What do you guys think about goal line technology? I doubt much anything will happen but the debate will surely go on. Personally, I'd like to see it introduced just for instances like that, offside decisions and debating corners is too far.

From the Official Frustration thread:

Times like these I just want to abolish the whole refereeing system and make it completely reliant on technology.

OH MY GOD A MILLION TIMES THIS. It's not just a football/soccer thing, but pretty much all the major sports have had issues with inconsistent/incompetent officiating, and it's one of many reasons why I don't follow sports as much as I used to. It's just unfortunate that a lot of "fans" would be against such a logical idea on the grounds of "maintaining tradition" or similar retarded bullshit.

Yes, England lost plain and simple...even with the goal counted, Germany just kept pouring in a bunch of their own. But as far as I'm concerned it's a principle thing, and ESPECIALLY on such a grand stage as the World Cup does officiating need to be on top of everything to make sure the right calls are being made.

I agree that instant replay on everything would be going too far, but situations where the game is on the line definitely need the extra help. People are gonna complain that extra technology will just "ruin" the "great game", but seriously the game is already ruined when stupid things like this are allowed to happen. When a player messes up, he either gets punished by getting benched, or his team helps him out by covering his weaknesses; the same needs to happen with referees. The NHL has a goal review system, the NFL has red flag challenges; FIFA needs to join the 21st century already.

And don't give me any shit about "we might as well get rid of all the humans and let machines do all the work", because that's not what I'm saying; the human element can still remain, just with some necessary assistance.

Of course, this could also still lead to bad calls being made, but that's a slightly different issue.

[cool_kickin_dude]

so many controversial calls and goals not allowed..makes you wonder who really is to blame:the refs or the ball

back to the French team for just a sec. if you're going to walk out and lay an egg after making all that money, then they don't have a place in the World Cup. FIFA may suspend the group, which is fine anyway since they want to act like spoiled brats with all that  money and publickly embarrassing the country by wearing the colors

[Tuffty]

I agree wholeheartedly with what you said J. Look at the NFL, NHL, even Tennis, they have technology to introduce this stuff, but the need for Referee's/Umpires still remains. I think Blatter's reasoning is a load of bull as well. Apparently as you said, he worries it removes refs entirely, and he also said it's because it removes any talk or debate about it afterwards which fans love. Ugh, no? Fans like talking about a brilliant piece of play, the skill of an individual during a match or a mistake from the opposition, I don't think anyone likes the debate of did the ball cross the line or not. Like I said, there has to be a line drawn on how far it goes but surely situations like what happened in England's match today can be removed entirely from the game, making it fairer for all?

ckd: It's all to do with the refs mate. That ball, or any ball for that matter, would have crossed the line the way that Lampard hit it and where the ball hit the underside of the crossbar. The blame is firmly upon the referee and the linesman for failing to see such an obvious goal. Even in the Argentina match, Tevez was in the most clear offside position that you'll see at this tournament, yet again the ref didn't see it and Mexico got punished for it.

The French team probably shouldn't even be at the WC in the first place. If you want to know more about disgraceful behaviour just look up France v Republic of Ireland for the 2010 qualifying campaign and read about what happened there.