FIFA 2010 World Cup - South Africa or BZZZZZZZZZZZ

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ebarrett:

--- Quote from: Kilgamayan on July 12, 2010, 12:28:06 AM ---Hahahahahahaha.

Yeah, I think we're done here.

--- End quote ---

It's you who are cherrypicking your own words, but if I go on I'll end up probated/banned, so I guess I must yield to the admin and shut up, right.

I mean, you're a bunch of cool dudes and all, but y'all know shit about soccer.

Kilgamayan:
Don't let my title stop you from whatever you want to say. As long as it's within site rules, you're not going to end up punished, and there are plenty of staff members posting in this thread to make sure I don't do something I'm not supposed to.

Please do describe to me how there was very little diving and embellishment in this match, how every single love tap that sent someone to the ground like they'd been shot is perfectly fine and sporting. I'm particularly curious to hear your explanation for the yellow card David Villa's acting drew when the whistle wasn't blown for at least five seconds after the tackle happened.

Of course, I'm not going to say every foul was embellished, and I'm not going to say all of the yellow cards were undeserved. That would be stupid and indicative of someone that watched zero minutes of the game.

ebarrett:
What I do detect is the anti-soccer bias which the rest of the world has unfortunately, but fairly, come to expect from the United States. The usual complaint - from the American public in general and the American press in particular - is that mr. Webb handed out too many yellow cards, in part because he was led to do so by diving and flopping, when anyone with minimal understanding of the game agrees that his biggest mistake was not giving early yellow cards for the three or four first violent fouls the Dutch commited, something that set the tone of the game. When he noticed that the players had understood he wasn't willing to send anyone off, it was already late, and when that boot to the chest got away with only a yellow, it was clear that the chance of a straight red was zero. From there on it was a hack-and-slash and trying to stay up when fouled - even if marginally - meant the defenders from both sides would hit harder the next time.

Mr. Webb did see the foul on Villa you mentioned, and in my opinion it did warrant a yellow. At first I thought he had missed it and only yielded to the complaints, but the replay showed he did see it and let the game carry on because the Spanish kept possession mostly unnoposed in the midfield, which is what the rulebook says the referee must do; let the team that was fouled carry on the advantage and give the card later. The Spanish were enraged at the foul though and didn't carry on; so the foul was called and the Dutch player was given the yellow card. You can argue that Villa "flopped"; in my opinion, the Spanish were justifiably fed up with the Dutch "anti-play" tactics. If the other team is making it a gameplan out of hacking me down, and the referee is mostly letting them get away with it, I'm going to complain more forcefully too after the 48097th time I'm fouled, screw the advantage in this play because the long-term advantage is going the other way.

The whole strangeness of this particular play, foul and card dates back from another rather violent World Cup game: Holland vs. Portugal in 2006, which was another free-for-all with all sorts of violent behaviour - actually it was much, much worse than this final. In that match the referee DID try to control things by handing out yellow cards early and often for violent fouls, but the players weren't interested in behaving and so the match ended with something ridiculous like 14 yellows and four reds, which was what they deserved for kicking each other instead of the ball. And what did FIFA do? Expelled the referee for "ruining the show", when if anything it was both teams who should've been sent home. And now most referees are terrified of handing out too many cards in a knockout game. And Webb was already known for being too lenient (as most English referees - in the last two seasons in England there were two players who had their legs broken without the players who committed the foul being sent off!). And van Marjwik is a smart guy and knew that Webb wouldn't hand out cards early. And the Dutch midfielders aren't shy of hacking down anyone (which is a valid style of play, if ugly and risky if you get a referee with the balls to send someone off early). And I'm really tired because this will probably fall on deaf ears, if not yours, someone's who'll snap back and send me into another rant sadden me much.

obligatory [/rant]

lmagus:
i second every word you said, except for soccer. it`s football =)

Edible:

--- Quote from: lmagus on July 12, 2010, 02:02:38 AM ---i second every word you said, except for soccer. it`s football =)

--- End quote ---

Association football.

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