[Football] FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa

The Curse of the Nike Ad.

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/the-curse-of-the-nike-world-cup-commercial/

 

Nike must've done an ad in North Korea featuring all of its football players.

 

arno, I know you're from the Netherlands (and they happen to be my favorite team). What are the chances of them beating Brazil?

cue KingCheetah's unlikely gif :grin:

 

So THAT'S how you make a beach ball.. Interesting.

 

There's something missing this morning, but I can't put my finger on it.

 

Maybe by Friday you will have figured it out.



DD

 

I have to wait until Friday? OH THE HORROR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Germans: Argentina shows no respect

ERASMIA, South Africa -- Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger accuses World Cup quarterfinals rival Argentina of showing no respect for opponents and referees, and urges his teammates not to be provoked.

Germany eliminated Argentina on penalty kicks four years ago at the same stage and there were chaotic scenes after the shootout, with both sides exchanging punches and kicks in a fracas that included team officials from both benches.

"The shootout is still in our memory, but what really weighs heavily on our minds is what happened after that match," Schweinsteiger said Wednesday. "We have to remain calm and not get provoked and I hope the referee will be very alert.

"You could see their behavior at halftime of the game against Mexico. When you look at their body language and gesticulations, the way they try to influence the referees, they have no respect. It's their mentality and character and we'll have to adjust."

Mexico and Argentina players had to be separated as they headed for the tunnel at halftime of the teams' second-round game, with the Mexicans furious over Argentina's first goal that came when scorer Carlos Tevez clearly was offside.

Argentina won 3-1.

Schweinsteiger also accused Argentine fans of taking the places of others in the stadiums and refusing to move. It was not clear where he got his evidence from.

But the midfielder praised Argentina as a team, saying the squad coached by Diego Maradona was better in "every sector" than the team Germany beat four years ago.

Schweinsteiger singled out veteran Juan Sebastian Veron.

"He has played very strongly here. I have been impressed," Schweinsteiger said.

Schweinsteiger repeated that stopping Argentina star Lionel Messi will need a strong "collective effort."

"Other teams also have done it. He hasn't scored yet and we want to keep it that way," said Schweinsteiger, who has played 78 games for Germany although he is still just 25.

"We'll find the right game plan to hurt Argentina, although we know how strong Argentina is. At this level, you can't make mistakes, it's the details that decide the match."

Thomas Mueller, who scored twice against England, could be the deciding factor in the match, which might be embarrassing to Maradona.

By now, he should have heard of Mueller. The last time Argentina played Germany in a friendly in March, Maradona felt so slighted when Mueller sat on the podium with him at the postmatch news conference that he stormed off and refused to return until Mueller left the stage to the coach alone.

Mueller had just made his debut for Germany then. Now, he leads his team at the World Cup with three goals.

Coach Joachim Loew said forward Cacau is unlikely to recover from a right thigh injury in time for the match.

Argentina beat Germany 1-0 with relative ease in that March friendly in Munich. Schweinsteiger said that result meant little.

"One, it was a friendly. Two, they did not create many chances either. Three, we have gained a lot of confidence by beating England and the good tactics we used in that game," Schweinsteiger said.

Germany advanced to the quarterfinal with a 4-1 win.

Schweinsteiger said he expected the upcoming match to be a tactical affair, "just as it was in 2006."

Argentina has only one win over Germany at the World Cup, in the 1986 final when Maradona was still playing. Overall in the World Cup, they have met five times and twice in the final.

Maradona led Argentina to that 3-2 win in Mexico, while in Italy in 1990, Germany won 1-0 on a penalty kick. Those were also the last times either team won the World Cup.

Germany won a group match 3-1 in 1958 and the two teams drew 0-0 in another group match in 1966.

link

 

Ouch.

 

Well duh, they're coached by Maradona.

 

FIFA tends not to like when the governments get involved. I would expect harsh sanctions from FIFA if they don't overturn this. My guess is they will be suspended from qualification for 2014.

 

I say ban the president for 8 years from watching soccer.

Isn't listening to them cheap plastic trumpets for three 90-minute games on the pitch punishment enough?

 

Escuzy for the double post, but I just read that the Nigerian president's name is Goodluck Jonathan. Goodluck.

He should've played for the national team. Even if it's for 1 minute in extra time.

 

My Guess is 50-50. The Netherlands haven't been playing good this tournament, but they didn't need it. I think they are better motivated against Brazil. And we have many payers who can win a game. (Van Persie, Robben, Sneijder, Van der Vaart). Out Goal Keeper Stekelenburg is playing with Confidence.

Brazil is good, but I have faith that the Netherlands can beat them. And it is not like Brazil has been playing great. Brazil also wasn't that impressive, their only good game was against Chile. The other games were not that good, North Korea was a joke, and Ivory Coast is also not that good.

I'm really looking forward to the game. And if we win or lose I will not post on Friday about them game, Saturday I will give my opinion.

 

Sorry didn't have time to check my grammar :grin:

Portugal was a terrible game, Both team wanted a draw, and they got it.

 

Larrionda, Rosetti left off Cup list
Associated Press


JOHANNESBURG -- Uruguay's Jorge Larrionda and Italy's Roberto Rosetti, whose blunders have prompted FIFA to rethink using video technology, have been left off the list of referees for the rest of the World Cup.
Larrionda failed to see an England shot cross the line in a 4-1 loss to Germany, and Rosetti wrongly awarded a goal to Argentina's Carlos Tevez against Mexico when he was offside.

Without giving reasons, FIFA announced the cut Tuesday.

Two more left out were Koman Coulibaly of Mali, who disallowed a third United States goal in a 2-2 draw with Slovenia, and French ref Stephane Lannoy, who harshly sent off Brazil's Kaka for a second yellow after Ivory Coast's Kader Keita ran into him while going for the ball.

ESPN Radio interviews ref Coulibaly
ESPN Radio's Ron Flatter speaks with FIFA referee Koman Coulibaly, who made the controversial call in the United States' tie with Slovenia. http://espn.go.com/espnradio/player?rd=1#/podcenter/?id=5341084&autoplay=1&callsign=ESPNRADIO

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-...d-calls-removed-world-cup-list?cc=5901&ver=us

 

It seems like the wrong guy is being punished here. The ref isn't supposed to be determining if a player if offside or not, that is what the linesmen are for, and if the linesman (who should have a much better view of the situation) says he was on then it would be dumb for the ref to overrule him. Rosetti even went to the linesman to make sure the call was correct, I'm guessing that Rosetti thought the call was wrong and wanted to double check. Maybe it's a packaged deal and they can't drop just the linesman.