WC Play So Far

The discussion about the Suarez handball reminds me of some discussion over on BigSoccer about how High Point played North Carolina last year in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. High Point packed it in to the extreme -- all 11 players in the defending third of the field for the entire game, with no attempt to score. They kept the score at 0-0 until about the 87th minute and then lost 1-0. Some UNC fans were outraged, thought it made it a terrible game, etc. My take was that you have to really appreciate soccer to know that what High Point did was the only thing they could do. Play to win, and if the only way you can win is to pack it in to the extreme and hope to get to PKs, then do it. I think if I had been at the game, I would have thought it was tremendously entertaining to see if High Point could do it. Today, Suarez did the only thing he could do to win the game, did it completely openly so everyone could see it, and was happy to pay the price -- a red card and giving Ghana a PK. I don't think he could have headed it, so anything other than what he did would have been like High Point declining to pack it in because they thought people at the game might have thought badly of them. Or a player declining to take a quick restart because fans would think it's sneaky.

Part of the agony that is soccer! Brilliant!

Stonehouse wrote:

DaTruRochin wrote:Comparing it to the Ireland debacle isn't fully accurate either, I mean at least the call was made and Ghana had the chance to win fair and square before penalties...

True.

But, pretty much everyone is saying that he did the right thing, it was smart, it was heads-up, etc. Which is true.

Yet everyone villified Henry for doing basically the same thing, even though it was also heads-up, smart, etc.

I'm sure I would have done the same thing in the same situation, but all in all it's kind of a crummy way to get a win.

Calling it "heads-up" is ridiculous at best. At the World Cup level, 78% of all PKs are converted. You could argue that the Uruguay win was very lucky. The chances of the Ghana player missing statistically are worse than a good player hitting a base hit in the major leagues. In addition, Suarez, one of the most lethal strikers of the Cup was unable to take any of the penalty kicks in the shoot out, and he'll be out for the next game. A heads up play would have been a save by using his head instead of his hands...

I'm still looking for the Uruguay foul that lead to the free kick that lead to the hand ball. Looking at the replay, all I see in Ghana offsides, and no foul by a Uruguay player as a result.

Geezaldinho wrote:I'm still looking for the Uruguay foul that lead to the free kick that lead to the hand ball. Looking at the replay, all I see in Ghana offsides, and no foul by a Uruguay player as a result.

The camera angle made it tough to see. The play before the free kick looked a bit like a flop to me...which is one reason I wasn't at all sad to see Ghana lose.

onetouchfutbol wrote:Calling it "heads-up" is ridiculous at best. At the World Cup level, 78% of all PKs are converted. You could argue that the Uruguay win was very lucky. The chances of the Ghana player missing statistically are worse than a good player hitting a base hit in the major leagues. In addition, Suarez, one of the most lethal strikers of the Cup was unable to take any of the penalty kicks in the shoot out, and he'll be out for the next game. A heads up play would have been a save by using his head instead of his hands...

But if he doesn't stop that ball they have a zero percent chance of winning. Yes, they were lucky to win, nobody is arguing against that.

I think it's funny that if the handball had not been called and Uruguay had won on PKs EVERYONE would have thought they didn't deserve the win. But since it was called only SOME people believe they didn't deserve to win.

Not much to say here but... Ouch!

Germany exposed every weakness of the Diego experiment.

Geezer, my condolances.

OK, maybe only the second biggest loss on the day...

We all know that Maradona promised to run naked through the streets of Buenos Aires if Argentina won the World Cup.

Some of you may also know that I was on the Riquelme side of the selections for the World Cup.

(i.e. Argentina should have selected Riquelme, Zanettti, Cambiasso, Gago, etc - who could actually play defense and control the ball)


But here's the real loss---


Paraguay's greatest fan, Larrissa Riquelme (no relation), promised to run trough the streets of Asunción Paraguay clad only in paint of the National red and white if Paraguay only beat Spain.




Now, I ask you-- which team did you root for?

and, incidentally, Am I the only one that has a burning desire for an iPhone?

The World Cup is so unfair...

Perhaps she was looking for a creative way of solving those reception problems the new iPhones seem to be having?? But I digress...

Geezaldinho wrote:and, incidentally, Am I the only one that has a burning desire for an iPhone?

I have an iPhone, but I do have a burning desire to BE that iPhone.

Here's my guess for finals referee _ Benito Archundia from Mexico. I think Fifa has probably lined him up because he is winning the bad call attrition contest, and because he isn't from UEFA or COMNEBOL.


Matarazzi liked him in the last cup--

the semifinals refs were announced:

Ravshan Irmatov (UZB) will do the Netherland -Uruguay match, after just having done the Germany-Argentina match in the quarters. this will be his 5th match of the World cup and he hasn't yet been the focus of any postmortems.

Victor Kassai (HUN) will arbitrate the Germany - Spain match. this sort of makes sense, since both participants and Ref are from UEFA. This game will be an all-europe affair.
Kassai did the USA-Ghana, Mexico-Uruguay, and Brasil-Korea matches with no major mishaps.


This leaves the possibility of Webb (England) and Archundia(Mex) for the finals, depending on how the semis pan out. If Uruguay wins, I don't think it can be Webb.

It might be Archundia no matter what. FIFA loves this guy and he's been underutilized so far. I think they have been saving him so he doesn't have a history with any contenders in this cup. He was the semi-finals guy in the last Cup, and only gave out three cards in 5 matches last Cup, so it will be a let-'em play affair. He's not without controversy, though. the biggest tif was in the FIFA Club World Cup match between Barcelona and Estudiantes de La Plata where he gave Messi a yellow and didn't award a perceived foul in the box on Xavi Hernadez as time ran out. Canada also hates the guy, as he made a couple controversial decisions in qualifiers in matches against the USA. he's also 44, just shy of retirement age, so this may be his big send-off. Webb still has another Cup in him.

Anyway, I think those two will do the runner-up game and the finals.

The penalty kick sequence in the Spain vs. Uruguay game was great drama...3 attempts and still a 0-0 score...until Spain finally delivered. That was one of the best 1-0 games of the tourney in my opinion.

Geezaldinho wrote:
Paraguay's greatest fan, Larrissa Riquelme (no relation), promised to run trough the streets of Asunción Paraguay clad only in paint of the National red and white if Paraguay only beat Spain.

She's going to do it anyways!

pilotram wrote:
She's going to do it anyways!

Apparently so! Though no date has been set, I hope ESPN sees this as part of their World Cup coverage...

'It will be a present to all of the players, and for all the people in Paraguay to enjoy,' she said.
'They tried as hard as possible and gave it their all on the field.'

And it's now her turn to give her all.

My world was crushed a little, though. it turns out the Phone is actually a Nokia knockoff, not a real iPhone, and they declined a sponsorship deal.

I see Larissa got a 1/2 sponsorship already, which makes me want to run out and buy cheap spray cologne. I wonder who the co-sponsor will be?

Uruguay v Netherlands: I have always thought more long shots should be taken. Two beauties so far today.

That Arjen Robben header goal was absolutely phenomenal, to generate that kind of power and direction falling away from the goal? Ridiculous. Haha and from a player who is considered to be pretty weak aerially as well..



(And yes I posted this particular clip because of the ridiculous soundtrack...)

Yeah, the placement of that goal was great. I hope that the Germany vs. Spain game delivers as much spectacle. I have a feeling that Germany will run away with another one; they seem to have found their groove. But, who knows... Spain's passing abilities are ridiculous...so fast, crisp, and accurate.

Finally saw the replay... amazing goal. I wish this game would have been yesterday, so I could have watched all of it live...

It's still early, but I must say, I didn't expect Germany to put 9 men behind the ball and concede the midfield.

Spain must have 80% possesion.

Tactically naive of the Germans to think they could play a bunker and counter game against Spain. There were some intriguing matchups, and Spain won them all. Ramos owned Podolski, Puyol owned his Box and everything in the air.

And the Spanish midfield was superb. the stats say it although the final stats were 51-49 according to FIFA, it was over 60% until the score, and Germany's chances were pretty limited.
Only 5 shots (2 on frame) vs 5 and 13.

This is a good training film for how another (ahem) team could and should have handled the Germans.

Perhaps it was the absence of Muller in the midfield, but wow, the supposed "new German style" was completely absent... They looked like they regressed back into the old traditional tactical style Germany has historically leaned toward. That said, Spain is one of the deepest and skilled teams in the world, I mean you don't win 31 of the last 33 matches by a fluke. I think ultimately the stronger side prevailed in this one...

Up next, Spanish style/man-prettiness vs. Dutch style/histrionics.... Woooo, someone gets a brand new shiny gold star on their jerseys come Sunday!

I can't help but wonder what the scene would have been like if this tourney had given us one of the old Aparteid/European nations vs Ghana. The Netherlands or England vs. Ghana would have been quite the spectacle...

Although the Invictus movie actually shows me that Nelson Mandela would probably have encouraged a forgive and forget attitude toward the game...which would have been the mature response....

Actually, the England team is in the Final.

The team led by referee Howard Webb, that is. He's bound to be very familiar with both teams and he has avoided huge mistakes, so I can see how he got it.

Some Brit fans started counting up which team had more players who have played for either Man U or Chelsea.

It seems his reputation for impartiality doesn't carry over to the Premier.