This. Japan looked impressive, and Holland played rather conservative and Robben still sat on the bench throughout. And they win. Even if they looked unspectacular, they were still solid in all aspects of the game. They look like a team that hasn't come close to peaking yet and they're still winning games -- that's generally a sign that they will go very far. Keep an eye on super-sub Eljero Elia. He looks like one of the best-kept secrets of this world cup.
England has star players. Cole is a world class defender. Lampard and Gerrard are star players. Peter Crouch, who for whatever reason has not been able to get off the bench, is a money striker. I'll agree that Emile Heskey is a big old lumbering has-been, but in his hey day he was a star player. England's problem is that they seem to be playing scared, either because the weight of expectations is too much or their coach is a waste of space. For whatever reason the whole is less than the sum of its parts, and they need to fix that if they want to go anywhere. This team cannot win the world cup in my opinion, but I think that they should be much better than they look now.
Wrong call. The guy's hand didn't move toward the ball, what was the guy supposed to do?! He even had his eyes closed.
The ball was kicked into his arm... there was no intent to move the arm in its path and then its debatable it even hit low enough. ... but I guess it was a good call, just like the one against the US in their match
Right call. The guy moved his whole body sideway toward the ball and blocked it with his arm. He was supposed to move his arm out of the way, use his body or head. He should not close his eyes.
The excuse of the ball getting kicked into his arm can only be used if the ball came from ~3 yards away AND the guy has his arms close to his body AND he does not move toward the ball.
I agree with rage. Defenders are instructed to defend with their arms behind their body while in the box so this won't happen, and forwards are instructed to chip the ball into their hand. Smart move. Good call.
I think Ghana is a better team than Serbia, definitely physically. We have to be really really alert when we play against them. I think we will beat them, but it will be tough.
He had his arms close to his body and did not move toward the ball. There was clearly no intent to play the ball with his hand. It's a close call, but I believe the right call would have been no call.
You need to watch the replay. Arm close to body means they are at least along side your body, sometimes even behind. His arm(s) was out. He moved his body sideway toward the ball.
I think you will be right, bad refereeing decisions aside. Ghana being such a young side tend to have the odd lapse and bad decision making at time and there will be turnovers and you guys showed against us how well you can take advantage of those.
