I can't believe that score. Now I'm scared we might lose to Algeria. There are 9 possible scenarios for the third set of games, 4 of those 9 scenarios mean we are sure to advance. One more of the remaining 5 scenarios means we have a good chance to advance, but it's not a sure thing. Slovenia plays England and we play Algeria next week. If Slovenia wins: We can tie or beat Algeria and we will advance to the elimination rounds as the 2-seed from our group. If England wins: We must beat Algeria to tie England for first place in the group. From there, goal differential will decide seeding. We are currently tied with England in that department (because both of us tied both of our games). In short, we are sure to advance and can be the 1 seed if we overtake England in goal differential. If Slovenia and England tie and...: ...we beat Algeria, we advance automatically in a tie with Slovenia for the top seed. The same goal-differential rules apply. Slovenia leads us by a goal due to beating Algeria by one goal and then tying us (see earlier post on absurd referee). ...we tie Algeria, we end up in a tie with England for the 2nd seed. Again, goal differential tiebreaker applies. Since both the US and England will have tied all three games, it goes to total goals scored. We currently have a two-goal lead on England in this department, and so are likely to advance as the second seed in this scenario. Got all that? Bottom line, if we win, we advance. If we tie, we need some help. If we lose then we (deservedly) go home. Have fun thinking about it all week. US plays Algeria on Thursday.
The Portugese put on a great show today beating N.Korea 7-0, with two strikes hitting the posts, so it very easily could've been 9-0. Valiant effort by the Swiss today against Chile. They played with one man down for almost 70 minutes due to a BS red card. The ref was horrible in this game.
Oh man, tell me about it. They flashed a statistic towards the end of the Ghana game that the Aussies played almost 60% of their world cup minutes 10 against 11. That red card in the Ghana game was utter BS. Didn't see the one they got against Germany though. I think the refs are way too trigger happy in general with those yellow and red cards in this tournament.
Tomorrow's the big day for groups A and B. In Group A, methinks Uruguay and Mexico will tie and the French will go home to pout. Group B, Argentina is a lock. My guess the second team will be South Korea.
They need to change the rules regarding handball in the box. You get penalised 3 times for 1 offense. 1. Give away a penalty 2. Player sent off 3. Player suspended for next match Especially when its a contentious call. In a world cup you only get 3 games to qualify for the next round. One bad referee call potentially destroys 4 years hard work. At least look at reducing it to a yellow. Giving away a penalty is damaging enough. Tim Cahill's red card in the Germany game was very soft. He tried to pull out of the tackle. There have been lots of worse tackles only receive a yellow or less. The German player even admitted after the game that it wasn't worth a red. YouTube - Tim Cahill Sending Off V Germany The tackle by the Ghana player was worse and only received a yellow. Studs up, 2 foot slide. YouTube - Australia vs Ghana Addy yellow card And how bout Kaka's send off? What a joke! YouTube - Kaka Red Card Soccer is too heavily impacted by referee's. They seriously need to look at introducing video referee's. Especially for things like handball, offside, etc.
Speaking of (multiple) handballs, check out Brazil's second "goal": World Cup Match Results: Brazil vs Ivory Coast - FIFA World Cup 2010 - ESPN Soccernet YouTube - Fabiano Handball Brazil vs. Côte d'Ivoire
It might be a good idea to just allow the use of hands. The only rule would be that you can't hang on to the ball.
- Gimme some rulings on handball and sliding kicks. Can no part of the hand and arm guide the ball? You can guide the ball with shoulder and torso? So I guess you can't sliding kick a player without making contact with the ball ?
Hands and arms cannot touch the ball. Shoulder, torso, groin, hindquarters etc are all ok. The refs generally won't call a handball if someone shoots the ball and it hits a player's arms/hands inadvertently only if the arms are down and by the side of the body. If the arms are stretched out, it's a handball. In the penalty box, if the defender inadvertently gets a handball, it's a yellow card. If it's a deliberate handball (the guy reaching up etc) it's a red card. That's how I understand the handball rule, and that's why the Aussie ejection was too hard. Slide tackles are ok from the side or the front so long as you hit only the ball and not the player. Slide tackles from the back aren't allowed. So, if you slide tackle from behind, or if you slide tackle from the side but miss the ball and trip the attacker it's a foul. If it's a really hard foul, it's a yellow card. Typically if you raise your foot (and potentially hit the knee, groin, face etc) it's an automatic yellow card. If you illegally slide tackle a player on a clear path to the goal, it's a red card.
Yes, but this isn't always strictly enforced. A lot of contact is allowed as long as you are clearly making a good play on the ball.
In an earlier post, I think I said that the USA game was tomorrow. It's actually going on right now. At halftime, we're scoreless. I've been listening on the radio, so I have to take the announcers word for it: our defense is allowing Algeria too many open scoring opportunities. On the bright side, we didn't concede an early goal, which has been our trademark for months. Our offense has not taken advantage of a number of great chances to score. We did score once early but it was called back on an offsides penalty. The announcers at first said it was a good call but after seeing some replays, they weren't so sure. Did anyone see it? Meanwhile, England is leading Slovenia 1-0. If the scores stand as is, England and Slovenia are in and we are out. Let's go USA!!!!
That's actually not even quarterfinals; it's the round of 16. That USA game was a nail biter! Our last line of defense was not bad, but our midfield sucked defensively. Thank God we emerge as group leaders because if we played Germany with this style of play in the knockout round, they'd pick us apart.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not so fast. Depending on how these games play out (Ghana-Germany and Serbia-Australia playing now), we could be playing any of the four teams in group D.
And it's final. USA plays Ghana - Saturday, 2:30PM ET England plays Germany - Sunday, 10:00AM ET Revenge match for the US from last tournament's group round. Ghana beat us then and advanced to the knockout rounds. GO USA!!!!!!!!!!
Watched both the England game and the USA game. The USA fully deserved the win and to top the group. Algeria had an early chance that hit the bar but other than that they were poor. Despite drawing with England! USA could have scored multiple goals, as could England. One was all the both teams needed on the end, although england have to play germany (AGAIN) and the USA have Ghana. Come on England!! Please no penalties! (p.s. We are rubbish at them!)
