WC Play So Far

Today's results: a win for the Dutch over the Danes, and a loss for Cameroon, to Japan. I only saw the last 20 minutes of the Japanese game. Would I be wrong to say they look like world class floppers?

Well, they did weigh half of some of their opponents.

But I will admit that some of their falls seemed more attributable to thespian influences than to their opponent's pressure.

Speaking of which, the Italians look to be headed for some Oscars in the first half.

They seem to have a ref that will tolerate it, too.

Big result for the All Whites today after just about everyone thought they would go 0-for-3. Scoring in stoppage time is the rough equivalent to a buzzer beater in soccer.

So I know Drogba is not fit and basically is the Ivorians' Plan A, B, and C, but what's Portugal's excuse for not scoring today?

Is the All Whites result even sweeter when compared the performance of the Socceroos?

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:
So I know Drogba is not fit and basically is the Ivorians' Plan A, B, and C, but what's Portugal's excuse for not scoring today?

I think they were too distracted by watching CRs Oscar-worthy theatrics...

So much for New Zealand's game.

Switzerland beat the Spanish to blow the group wide open. I picked a good day to get up early and watch.

Great result for Chile. It's too bad they always get compared to their neighbors in Brazil and Argentina; they have a relatively strong team this year.

Messi was brilliant, Higuain finished his chances ( hat trick) as Argentina showed the talent it has. 82% Pass completion rate, 62% posession (over 70% in the first half) And a build-up that was something to see. it took 9 minutes for Korea to get the ball over the midline with posession. Higuain's 3 goals were all from the 6 yard box( two headers and a tap in). The first score was credited as a Korea own goal, but I'm not so sure. It looked to me like it went over a Korean player and Demichelis got his head on it for the redirect. Replay here shows the own goal clearly:
http://lets-kickoff.blogspot.com/2010/06/argentina-vs-south-korea-highlights.html

Messi is in his Barcelona form. He had 166 touches, completed 89% of his passes, and totally ran the show.

It wasn't perfect. Demichelis was too casual and got picked badly by Lee Cung-Yong just before the half for Korea's goal (Mash said it was the vuvuzelas fault ), but Argentina was just too much. Best offensive show of the WC. TONS of shots from within the box.

Argentina advance with Greece's 2-1 victory over Nigeria unless Korea and Greece both win their next games by 4-5 goals.

They win the group unless Greece beats them by 4 goals.

I expect several Argentina players will get rested for that game.

Mexico knocks france out 2-1 on goals from Hernandez and a PK from Blanco.

Hernandez may have been a step offsides.


France looked old and slow.

Geezaldinho wrote:Mexico knocks france out 2-1 on goals from Hernandez and a PK from Blanco.

Hernandez may have been a step offsides.


France looked old and slow.

On the replay he looked just a tiny bit offside, but France has got nothing to say about being hurt by an incorrect refereeing decision.

I love how the Mexicans were louder than the vuvuzelas at times. Especially after France's goal kicks.

ESPN showed part of Diego's press conference after the game. It concerned some criticism he had been getting.

"I got a letter from [Beckenbauer] today and he told me he did not say what you [the media] told me he said. So I apologize to Beckenbauer. But not to Pele."

Never a dull moment in Argentinian football...

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:I picked a good day to get up early and watch.

Oh to live on the west coast and work normal people hours. I am up for 3 hours before the first game starts...What channel was the Mexico-France game today? Somehow my DVR didn't record it. Maybe it got bumped for "House Hunters" or a syndicated episode of "Law and Order:CI." Was I the only one pulling for Korea to tie that game up today and get Argentina to force it offensively? That is one talented team up top.

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:
~~~~~~


"I got a letter from [Beckenbauer] today and he told me he did not say what you [the media] told me he said. So I apologize to Beckenbauer. But not to Pele."

Never a dull moment in Argentinian football...

I laughed when Diego suggested "Pele go back to the museum"

mattywizz wrote:

PurplePrideTrumpet wrote:I picked a good day to get up early and watch.

Oh to live on the west coast and work normal people hours. I am up for 3 hours before the first game starts...What channel was the Mexico-France game today? Somehow my DVR didn't record it. Maybe it got bumped for "House Hunters" or a syndicated episode of "Law and Order:CI." Was I the only one pulling for Korea to tie that game up today and get Argentina to force it offensively? That is one talented team up top.

must be you programming skills. It was on ESPN.

mattywizz wrote:What channel was the Mexico-France game today?

Nevermind. ESPN2. Figured it out myself. Edited the series record to pick up all WC channels.

ESPN.com is showing it was on the Deuce...maybe because of the golf.

hmmm both games were on 206 Direct TV.

Geezaldinho wrote: .... Hernandez may have been a step offsides. ....

Question for the swami of all rules: If Hernandez' feet were even with the defenders, but his upper body was leaning forward past the defenders, was he offsides? When I saw the replay -- although not stop framed -- it looked to me like only his upper body was leaning past the defenders, but his feet were on the ground exactly even with theirs.

UPSoccerFanatic wrote:

Geezaldinho wrote: .... Hernandez may have been a step offsides. ....

Question for the swami of all rules: If Hernandez' feet were even with the defenders, but his upper body was leaning forward past the defenders, was he offsides? When I saw the replay -- although not stop framed -- it looked to me like only his upper body was leaning past the defenders, but his feet were on the ground exactly even with theirs.

Well, SoreKnees is an actual referee...

But the definition of an offside position includes any part except the hands or arms. I think the AR is supposed to give the attacker the benefit of the doubt.

PPT responded while I was searching for wording, but he's exactly right

In the context of Law 11 – Offside, the following defi nitions apply:
• “nearer to his opponents’ goal line” means that any part of a player’s
head, body or feet is nearer to his opponents’ goal line than both the
ball and the second-last opponent. The arms are not included in this
definition

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/generic/81/42/36/lawsofthegame%5f2010%5f11%5fe.pdf

Now, you always hear that "even is on" but I i think that's only an inference from a strict reading of the law (11)
I haven't seen that actually stated anywhere.

Fifa has also been a bit obscure about whether a player has to actually touch a ball before he can be called offsides if another on sides player touches the ball first, but that's a different issue.

I think the issue in this call wasn't so much the rule, as it was that the defender was running away from the goal, and Hernandez was running towards it, making it pretty hard for a linesman to see both when the ball was played and when/if the offsides occurred.

Even the announcers weren't sure until the slo-mo replays. Then of course, they termed the call "egregious". It was a call I think could have gone either way. If you play the trap, sometimes those calls don't go your way.

In the studio Klinsi and McManaman thought the center back made a mistake even trying to spring the trap, then made another by stopping and waiting for the flag that never came.

the play is at about 1:29 of this video. In stop motion, he's clearly off, but in real time it's pretty fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFxUVWIBl8k&feature=player_embedded



Note also that the #1 has a player directly in front of his line of sight and his head is turned towards the ball, so it was only the linesman's call.

I'm not calling this a referee gaff, I'm calling it a 50-50 call. The refereeing in this world cup has been remarkably good so far. Besides, the penalty was so egregious it didn't matter.

I'm not so sure. Look at the defender's left foot in relation to the artificial shadow line. Then look at the attacker. It looks like the defender's left foot is slightly on the "dark" side of the line whereas the attacker is entirely on the "light" side of the line. But, there also is the camera angle to consider.

On looking at the picture, it looks to me like the attacker is on sides because of where the defender's left foot is.