Official FIFA South Africa World Cup Thread

[wuapinmon]

Puyol strapped Spain to his back for the last 25 mins of that game, and carried them to victory. I can't imagine how much that shot to the face he took must've hurt.

[Clark Addison]

Darn it! For the second time in a couple of weeks, CNN Breaking News email alerts has spoiled a game I am in the middle of watching.

[Parrot Head]

I'm no soccer expert, but Germany has been very impressive. They have absolutely destroyed Australia, England, and Argentina, and beat another quarterfinal team (Ghana).

You shouldn't have gone against the octopus!

[myboynoah]

Now is the time for all English-speaking peoples to unite behind our Dutch brothers.

Go Oranje! Kick the ball!

[SteelBlue]

I wish this would have happened while I was serving in the Netherlands. I can't even imagine the partying that I could have witnessed. I hope you will all join me in rooting for the Netherlands against those dirty Spaniards.

[creekster]

My maternal grandmother's family is from Arnhem, site of the bridge too far, so I feel compelled to cheer for les oranges.

[Clark Addison]

I have The Netherlands in our office pool, so I am definitely rooting for them.

[wuapinmon]

Spain 2, Netherlands 1

[ERCougar]

Thanks for the spoiler wuap.

I'm watching the game recorded right now because I missed it at work. I'm at the 107th minute and STILL no score (although a few missed golden opportunities). I'm usually patient with this kind of thing, but this is starting to get a little ridiculous. I'm curious what the average score has been at this WC compared to previous--it seems like there have been a lot of 0-0 scores at the end of the 90 minutes. They need to do something, but I have no idea what.

A question for everyone...there was a play in the first half where a Spanish player kicked it back to his own goalie and it bounced over the goalie's head, missed the goal, but touched the goalie's hands and went out. There was this unwritten expectation that the Netherlands player would just kick it to the goalie out of good sportsmanship, which he did. Why is this good sportsmanship? Kicking it back to your goalie is a momentum-killing wuss move that's done way too much, in my book. There should be some sort of risk to it. Just my opinion.

Still waiting for anyone to score....113th minute.

[creekster]

Thanks for the spoiler wuap.
.

I think it might have been a prediction and not a spoiler?

[ERCougar]

I think it might have been a prediction and not a spoiler?

Ha...probably. Didn't check the timestamp and I don't see how there will be 3 goals in the last 5 minutes of play.

EDIT: Check that...2 goals. Spain scores!

[wuapinmon]

Thanks for the spoiler wuap.

I'm watching the game recorded right now because I missed it at work. I'm at the 107th minute and STILL no score (although a few missed golden opportunities). I'm usually patient with this kind of thing, but this is starting to get a little ridiculous. I'm curious what the average score has been at this WC compared to previous--it seems like there have been a lot of 0-0 scores at the end of the 90 minutes. They need to do something, but I have no idea what.

A question for everyone...there was a play in the first half where a Spanish player kicked it back to his own goalie and it bounced over the goalie's head, missed the goal, but touched the goalie's hands and went out. There was this unwritten expectation that the Netherlands player would just kick it to the goalie out of good sportsmanship, which he did. Why is this good sportsmanship? Kicking it back to your goalie is a momentum-killing wuss move that's done way too much, in my book. There should be some sort of risk to it. Just my opinion.

Still waiting for anyone to score....113th minute.

I was unsure why they kicked it back too. And I was trying to be cool and predict it. I was so happy when Spain one. It was a total good-feeling release. My wife was asleep next to me at the table in our restaurant. Damn, I love New Orleans. This place just never stops partying. I would love to be able to afford to live here; I can't imagine living anywhere else and having this much fun all the time.

[ERCougar]

So, on the scoring issue. I think it's pretty universally agreed that for soccer to get big here, we need more scoring, right? There must be some good soccer minds out there who have thought about this. Some of my uneducated ideas:
1) Bigger goals.
2) Give striker some protection if he has the ball in the goalie box, sort of like the no-charge zone in the NBA. IOW, be very quick to call a foul on the defense with any contact.
3) Goalies can't receive passes from their own team.

Just a brainstorm...any other ideas?

[SteelBlue]

Thanks for the spoiler wuap.

I'm watching the game recorded right now because I missed it at work. I'm at the 107th minute and STILL no score (although a few missed golden opportunities). I'm usually patient with this kind of thing, but this is starting to get a little ridiculous. I'm curious what the average score has been at this WC compared to previous--it seems like there have been a lot of 0-0 scores at the end of the 90 minutes. They need to do something, but I have no idea what.

A question for everyone...there was a play in the first half where a Spanish player kicked it back to his own goalie and it bounced over the goalie's head, missed the goal, but touched the goalie's hands and went out. There was this unwritten expectation that the Netherlands player would just kick it to the goalie out of good sportsmanship, which he did. Why is this good sportsmanship? Kicking it back to your goalie is a momentum-killing wuss move that's done way too much, in my book. There should be some sort of risk to it. Just my opinion.

Still waiting for anyone to score....113th minute.

If it's the play I'm thinking of I believe you saw it wrong. Spain kicked (or goalie threw I can't remember) the ball out of bounds because they had a player injured and that was an out ball to assess injury. The expectation is that the opposing team will return the ball an play will resume from the point at which the original team had control, in this case the goalie. The Dutch player who returned the ball put a bit too much on it and caused the goalie to touch it out of bounds to be safe. You saw a nice long glare as a result. The announcers said that had it gone in Nederland would have allowed Spain to score uncontested. It's just the way things are done.

[Donuthole]

That game was an unwatchable abomination. Truly a microcosm of why soccer is so unpopular in the US: lots of diving, lots of bitching to the refs, terrible officiating, and no scoring. We seem to be able to tolerate the first three, provided there is a reasonable amount of scoring involved (See: NFL, NBA, etc.) Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) the fourth one seems the most inevitable of the four, under the current rules.