World Cup 2014

Ha, he did say that. He's ITV not BBC btw. Had a nice row with Adrian Chiles and Lee Dixon over whether Muller was justified in feigning injury y'day. Viera was in favour so that earned him some points with me. ITV has been terrible for punditry, Cannovaro v unsure in English which is a shame cos he may well be v insightful. Ian Wright is, well, Ian Wright.

espns could be a lil more comprehensive but they do have the infos u desire xp http://www.espnfc.com/fifa-world-cup/match/383290/ghana-united-states/report

xp hehehe - Vieira also expressed his astonishment over the fact that Deschamps did not take Nasri to the WC - seems he's got a keen awareness of who's paying the bills

'we' quite easily lapsed into in a group analysis session ida thought, esp in broad tactical etc thoughts, esp in yr second language

http://screamer.deadspin.com/local-reporter-captures-usmnt-game-winner-live-has-pri-1591777097/

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 17 June 2014 11:58 (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

:D

Today = Biggest football hipster lineup so far?

Brazil v. Mexico
Belgians
Russia and South Korea

and Algeria!

well done usa, you did it.

whatever happened to freddy adu btw?

age caught up with him

lol

ayew passed em both out last night

realised Viera was ITV later on. and even tho i thought his argument for simulation was a shade suspect, his calm pragmatism definitely brought the "fuck off" vs Chiles' postured moral outrage

xp to lag∞n: thx but for some reason i can't get full game highlights, only videos for individual goals. must be only for americans i guess.

huh weird

As long as Algeria don't muster up a spectacle as grimly awful as their 2010 game vs England I'll be okay.

low bar

wait. why are there more games?

The position of many pundits who are ex-players (as set out by P. Nevin amongst others) seems to be something along the lines of "oh this whole simulation / diving thing is wrong and spoils the game; still, you can't blame players for trying to gain advantage; my anger is towards the ref for giving the wrong decision". It seems a very odd position to take.

I can sympathise tbh. Need to be more retroactive yellow cards, that'll sort the players out.

wait. why are there more games?

― Sufjan Grafton, Tuesday, June 17, 2014 9:42 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

some sort of exhibition maybe

I think if players are trying to fool the refs the refs should start trying to fool the players.

something something Mark Clattenburg something something

It just seems weird to decide that the people who deserve the opprobrium in this situation are the ones who are doing their best to keep things fair.

Having just typed that out, the "something Clattenburg something" position is forcing me to re-think. "Something something Roger East something something" has me fully on Nevin's side.

refs need to start reacting to theatric claims of violence as harshly as they react to theatric violence cf pepe yesterday

this would start with the ability to acknowledge that a foul has been committed while still booking a player for diving, and would also allow that if a foul merits a red card/penalty due to position on the pitch etc then a dive should earn the same punishment

course the refs would still get everything wrong, but evening out the costs would eliminate the temptation to bottle it.

Retroactive yellow cards would not sort anything out as the advantage would be gained at that moment. If you think you can gain something, sacrifice yourself but get your team through you'd most likely do it anyway.

the flopping hasnt really seemed that bad to me, the worst is when they writhe around on the ground

what u cld do if u really cared was to have in game video review of flops and award yellow cards that way

I would automatically book anyone whose hands go up instead out out when tripped.

instead *of* out

if the play is actually a foul i dont see any problem w over reacting a lil to draw the refs attention, its the pure fakery thats problematic

"Hands up! You're under arrest!"

calling it a flop automatic yellow card

shut up u get a yellow card

I don't think anyone has beaten Rivaldo's hand on the face in the 2002 finals yet, for comedy value.

Should be a sarlacc in center of field that ref can kick players into

Probably you could increase the accuracy of the refs if you increase the number of refs

Think maybe like, 30 to 35 refs on the field would do the trick

More eyes on the players

xp Carte blanche for player wrongly accused for committing the foul to act out on it without impending punishment - would be alright with me.

Could even call it 'penalty tackle' and set a fixed distance for gaining momentum...

xp maybe the refs could just be the players. give the players whistles.

but then there'd be a master ref that settles disputes and decides who's thrown into the sarlacc

Remember Totti getting a second yellow card for diving in the quarter final against South Korea, for being felled in penalty area.

If there were no players there would be no fouls. Just 2 teams of 11 footballs rolling from each side of the pitch to the opposite ends.

maybe no such thing as fouls anything goes

now you're talkin'

knives and swords

If there were no players there would be no fouls. Just 2 teams of 11 footballs rolling from each side of the pitch to the opposite ends.

― dem bow dem bow need calcium (seandalai), Tuesday, June 17, 2014 8:00 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

22 balls start at the center. we vibrate the field and let random walk do the rest

no wait the balls would have to start off center and away from the sarlacc, into which the losing coach would be thrown

The Golden Man ‏@DinkMagic 13h
if a guy cheats he has to lie down with his tshirt off and you put the ball against his belly and kick it like croquet.. thats a second way

hot topic

pepe kickin shit out of yerman that time

would still keep offsides tho right