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 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
What to you think about it now that you have seen it in action?

I'm a fan. It's amazing how something so small and simple can keep people in their spot and keep the game flowing better.

It really should be more used more, it's quick and painless

The only way to stop diving is to have the players booked every time or enforce substitutions because it's obvious they're too hurt to go on

I like enforced substitutions. If you're rolling around screaming and clutching your leg, you're obviously hurt. We'll get you off the pitch so you can be looked at.

Red ants (or fire ants or more colloquially "p&ss ants") are little spawns of Satan, sent from Mexico as revenge for that whole lost war thing.

They are like 10 million tiny Frazzleds, blasting away at you until you get off their lawn.

 Frazzled wrote:
Just infest the field with red ant nests. No one one will lay down again ever. Plus everyone will keep moving to keep the ants from climbing their shoes and eating them alive. its perfect. best of all, its NATURE.

Good grief, the man's a genius. Maybe some of these players will finally earn their paychecks!

That was an awesome half.

And that red will be great news for the US later this week!

Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
What to you think about it now that you have seen it in action?

I'm a fan. It's amazing how something so small and simple can keep people in their spot and keep the game flowing better.

It really should be more used more, it's quick and painless

The only way to stop diving is to have the players booked every time or enforce substitutions because it's obvious they're too hurt to go on

yes to all of the above

Either Germany's looking really good or Portugal's looking really bad. Could be both.

As the US and Germany are my teams every World Cup, I'm half-excited.

I hope that the US and Germany win both initial games and are both a sure-in to advance. That way the US-Germany game can be enjoyed without divided loyalty!

Annoyingly only got to see the 2nd half of Germany-Portugal, when really it was already over.

Muller was a pussy and went down like a sack of gak, but hey Pepe was foolish for reacting to it. Yes, they need a 4th referee who could have said into the ref's ear "nope, he dived" ten seconds after the event, and stop players continuing to be rewarded for diving.

Also, the guy who presents on UK ITV is almost unbearable. I can forgive him looking like a hunchbacked toad, but he's a sensationalist and keeps digging for arguments about anything other than the game.

Pepe's handslap really wasn't worth much, maybe just a Yellow Card and be off with. The headbutt, as soft as it was, however, is a complete no-go and he fully deserved Red for this.

 Sigvatr wrote:
Pepe's handslap really wasn't worth much, maybe just a Yellow Card and be off with. The headbutt, as soft as it was, however, is a complete no-go and he fully deserved Red for this.

I dont even know why he bodered to headbutt him.

 Pacific wrote:
Muller was a pussy and went down like a sack of gak, but hey Pepe was foolish for reacting to it. Yes, they need a 4th referee who could have said into the ref's ear "nope, he dived" ten seconds after the event, and stop players continuing to be rewarded for diving.

I think cheating / diving / over reacting / unseen fouls should be punished post match using video replays of the incident which is judged by a panel. Majority guilty verdict = 1 match ban for the player and a 1 point deduction for his team. That would clean up the game in no time.

Well, that was certainly a good start for the US

 Flashman wrote:

 Pacific wrote:
Muller was a pussy and went down like a sack of gak, but hey Pepe was foolish for reacting to it. Yes, they need a 4th referee who could have said into the ref's ear "nope, he dived" ten seconds after the event, and stop players continuing to be rewarded for diving.

I think cheating / diving / over reacting / unseen fouls should be punished post match using video replays of the incident which is judged by a panel. Majority guilty verdict = 1 match ban for the player and a 1 point deduction for his team. That would clean up the game in no time.

This but up the punishment to having both legs broken.

the big goblin wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:
Pepe's handslap really wasn't worth much, maybe just a Yellow Card and be off with. The headbutt, as soft as it was, however, is a complete no-go and he fully deserved Red for this.

I dont even know why he bodered to headbutt him.

In short, Pepe's an absolute nutter. 217 club games played in his career, 62 yellow cards.
Him and his Real Madrid partner Sergio Ramos have a total of 543 games played, 188 yellow cards and approaching 30 red cards. Filthiest pairing of players I've ever seen.

I don't care... I just want the google Homepage to go back to normal

What a weird start for the USA. Go up 1-0 in the first minute then Losing Altidore and Dempsey's nose gets obliterated possibly hampering/removing him.

I'm surprised at how bad usa's offensive possession has been in the first half. Hopefully they can put pressure on Ghana I the second.

Ghana just can't make anything out of numerous opportunities despite dominating possession.

USA defence has been very solid, though has made the game rather dull....

Also the Americans seem to be dropping like flies out there....

Yah the save by Howard was pretty clutch. Glad Dempsey is back in because losing our 2 best offensive threats in game 1 would suck ;p


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Only so many chances you can give a team before they bury one. Bummer.


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WOOOOOOOOOO USA!

Congrats USA!

 kamakazepanda wrote:
Ghana just can't make anything out of numerous opportunities despite dominating possession.

USA defence has been very solid, though has made the game rather dull....

If there's one thing I hate about football other than cheating, it's teams parking the bus. Sure it gets results, but it defeats the purpose of football for me. Not fun at all to watch.

Well played USA, that was a great game!

Great goal at the start, and did well to defend against the Ghana onslaught during parts of that match.

 shrike wrote:

the big goblin wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:
Pepe's handslap really wasn't worth much, maybe just a Yellow Card and be off with. The headbutt, as soft as it was, however, is a complete no-go and he fully deserved Red for this.

I dont even know why he bodered to headbutt him.

In short, Pepe's an absolute nutter. 217 club games played in his career, 62 yellow cards.
Him and his Real Madrid partner Sergio Ramos have a total of 543 games played, 188 yellow cards and approaching 30 red cards. Filthiest pairing of players I've ever seen.

Yes the guy is a loose cannon - probably shouldn't be playing at the international level if he can't control himself, that just guaranteed a loss for Portugal.

Damn you, America! Damn you! I had £10 on Ghana beating the US A!

Gimme back my money!




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 d-usa wrote:
I hope that the US and Germany win both initial games and are both a sure-in to advance. That way the US-Germany game can be enjoyed without divided loyalty!

A good result for Germany and definitely one of the favourites for the cup, but I have one word that strikes fear in the heart of every German:

ITALY

Perfect outcomes for the US.

They obviously needed to beat Ghana... and barely did. They got dominated the second half, but still came through. Great finish.

Then USA also needed either Germany or Portugal to crush the other one. Mission accomplished.

USA's best chance of advancing is to tie Portugal and then to not get crushed against Germany.

Germany and USA are my teams. I really hope both are able to advance. I didn't think USA had a chance when I saw the groups, but now I have just enough hope to disappointed later.

Pacific wrote:

 shrike wrote:

the big goblin wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:
Pepe's handslap really wasn't worth much, maybe just a Yellow Card and be off with. The headbutt, as soft as it was, however, is a complete no-go and he fully deserved Red for this.

I dont even know why he bodered to headbutt him.

In short, Pepe's an absolute nutter. 217 club games played in his career, 62 yellow cards.
Him and his Real Madrid partner Sergio Ramos have a total of 543 games played, 188 yellow cards and approaching 30 red cards. Filthiest pairing of players I've ever seen.

Yes the guy is a loose cannon - probably shouldn't be playing at the international level if he can't control himself, that just guaranteed a loss for Portugal.

Honestly though, if he doesn't get carded during a game, he is a very good defender. Very... tenacious about winning the ball, it's just that the same passion that drives him also makes him go absolutely ballistic every so often.

Do_I_Not_Like_That wrote:A good result for Germany and definitely one of the favourites for the cup, but I have one word that strikes fear in the heart of every German:

ITALY

Honestly, besides the usual England, I want Italy or Holland to win. Holland because they haven't won it yet despite so many absolute legends, past and present- Bergkamp, Gullit, Van Nistelrooy, Van Basten, Van der Sar, Kluivert, De Boer, Seedorf, Riijkard, Van Persie, Sneijder, Robben...
and Italy because they probably have the highest number of players I like, Buffon and Pirlo especially.

Probably going to be controversial here but here goes.

England V Italy should be the last game Rooney plays in an England shirt. He's done well at club level, but despite his talent he has never been at the races in World or European Championships.

Injury, position, teammates? Not a real reason for his lacklustre performances on the world stage.

I don't trust him to score goals and - providing the occasional cross/assist - isn't justification to play him.

Who replaces him? Drop the medias hyperbolic 'on his day he's world class' tagand anyone can line up to replace him.

EDIT: Just heard he has requested extra training.

 Red Viper wrote:

USA's best chance of advancing is to tie Portugal and then to not get crushed against Germany.

Not going to happen, though. USA is a very weak football team and doesn't stand a chance against Germany.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Red Viper wrote:

USA's best chance of advancing is to tie Portugal and then to not get crushed against Germany.

Not going to happen, though. USA is a very weak football team and doesn't stand a chance against Germany.

There's always the chance that Germany rest up a lot of players.

 gianlucafiorentini123 wrote:

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Red Viper wrote:

USA's best chance of advancing is to tie Portugal and then to not get crushed against Germany.

Not going to happen, though. USA is a very weak football team and doesn't stand a chance against Germany.

There's always the chance that Germany rest up a lot of players.

Came to post, what happens if Germany has already sown up advancement out of the group round and rests a bunch of players? America is a team that will be fighting till the end and there is a chance for a tie or possible win(highly doubtful they win but you never know). Now if they play each other in the elimination stages America probably has no shot but as they say "you can't win the cup in group stage"

Germany has, pretty much, already qualified and passed the group stage with their remaining opponents being Ghana and the USA, and since USA is last, they will definitely play them with the B squad.

 Sigvatr wrote:

 Red Viper wrote:

USA's best chance of advancing is to tie Portugal and then to not get crushed against Germany.

Not going to happen, though. USA is a very weak football team and doesn't stand a chance against Germany.

They don't have to beat Germany, and potentially they don't even have to tie Germany.

As long as Germany beats Ghana (which I think is very likely to happen) and the US beats Portugal (which is a possibility with the red cards and injuries to Portugal) we would have the following standings before the final game:

Germany 6 pts
USA 4 pts
Portugal 1 pts
Ghana 0 pts

But the most important statistic is the tie breaker: goal differential. And right now the US is 5 goals ahead of Portugal.

If the US ties against Germany (it's a possibility) they advance, no matter what.
If the US loses to Germany and Portugal ties with Ghana, the US advances.
If the US loses to Germany and Ghana beats Portugal, the US advances.
If the US loses to Germany and Portugal beats Ghana, then the US advances unless the combined games on the final day manage to erase that 5 point deficit that Portugal is facing.