World Cup 2010 - Match day 8

[ethicalstrategy]

World Cup 2010 - Match day 8

Germany v. Serbia

Slovenia v. USA

England v. Algeria

Lots of interest for our posters today.

Germany victims of a hideous referee and some woeful finishing from Podolski.

Slovenia leading the US early.

[Zola]

The bookies must be absolutely mclovin this!!

Crazy game.

[Maksimov]

Germany victims of a hideous referee

Klose got plenty of warnings from the ref, but he didn't listen. The ref was a bit too card-happy, but still Klose should've known better not to kick someone from behind.

[Andreas]

Slovenia up 2-0 at HT against USA, impressive.

[Virosh]

Piss poor refereeing in that game. It's an African ref (from Mali) and he hasn't stopped making bewildering calls, as well as denying the Yanks a perfectly good goal. This proportional representation of continents isn't working really well (who would have guessed).

[Ruh Buh Juh]

The Yanks game was game of the tournament so far, it was superb. The ref had no clue, to not give the goal, the only other possible decision to give was a penalty to the Yanks, crazy decision.

[TheWestwayWonder]

"RockRavenNoMore‎: Koman Coulibaly is, hands down, the absolute WORST referee I have EVER seen call a match. The WORST!"

Someone get this fella a tv.

Here is my thing about the disallowed goal. The whistle blew about a full second before the ball was in the net. It was obvious on the replay the Slovenes just shut down on the play. Its one thing to have a full goal scored, and THEN get a whistle for a foul, but the foul call clearly affected how players reacted to the play

[Maksimov]

"RockRavenNoMore‎: Koman Coulibaly is, hands down, the absolute WORST referee I have EVER seen call a match. The WORST!"

Somebody get that man a DVD of THAT match between Chelsea and Barca.

[MHedges]

Somebody get that man a DVD of THAT match between Chelsea and Barca.

Agreed. I'm trying to explain to my friends (who only watch football when the WC is on) how this doesn't even touch the Chelsea v. Barca game - they can't even fathom.

On a side note, as an American, I am very happy with the result. In all fairness, Dempsey really could have received a red card about 1 minute into the game, and the ref let him off with a warning.

We should have no problem beating Algeria. Just hope that England with their next two games, because if America were to get tossed out of the competition with 5 points I will be livid.

[Maksimov]

Just hope that England with their next two games, because if America were to get tossed out of the competition with 5 points I will be livid.

With the way the results have been going today, England will probably score the first goal early on, dominate the match, but concede penalty in the final minutes of the game and the match ends in a 1-1 draw.

I predicted a low scoring draw from the Germany-Serbia match and a victory(with a one goal margin) for USA.

[ThunderDan]

That wasn't the worst officiating I've ever seen, but the call of a US foul did ruin the best US goal scoring moment I can remember. Stupid Malisian idiot. Never thought I'd say that. US coach Bob Bradley said "outcome" like out-comb plus a hint of scouse, and Donovan said he "was gutted". Maybe our squads are hanging out together.

Come on England, get the win and tie Slovenia at the top of group C. Tanshirts to destroy the Numidians. Good luck the the new CB (Upson?), Ash and JT to dominate, James between the pipes, show some Joe and Gareth, 4-0 England.

Edited June 18, 2010 by ThunderDan

[BrewCrew]

Mixed emotions today with the USA game. Absolutely terribe day for the ref. Not only the disallowed goal, but the yellow card on Findley when the ball hit him in the face. That's two yellows for Findley and he won't be able to play because of it. I am very positive though. I feel that England will win againsts both Algeria and Slovenia easily and the USA should be able to beat Algeria to advance. England and USA advance, just like it should be.

[Maksimov]

England and USA advance, just like it should be.

I'd rather see Slovenia advance. Absolutely no preference over whether USA or England should make it into the final 16.

[Randy36]

On a side note, as an American, I am very happy with the result. In all fairness, Dempsey really could have received a red card about 1 minute into the game, and the ref let him off with a warning.

I agree. Dempsey should have been recarded early in ther game for a deliberate elbow in the face. He is aware of the fact that many referees are reluctant to show a red card a few minutes into a game unless the foul is patently obvious. Three minutes into a game against Chelsea, Dempsey playing for Fulham, deliberately elbowed John Terry and broke his cheek bone. So I was not surprised when he pulled off a similar stunt against the Slovenian player.

[Mikstaw]

Klose red card, Podolski missed a pen... Dear...

[Arq]

I agree. Dempsey should have been recarded early in ther game for a deliberate elbow in the face. He is aware of the fact that many referees are reluctant to show a red card a few minutes into a game unless the foul is patently obvious. Three minutes into a game against Chelsea, Dempsey playing for Fulham, deliberately elbowed John Terry and broke his cheek bone. So I was not surprised when he pulled off a similar stunt against the Slovenian player.

I agree also. I was at one of the local establishments watching the game and I was utterly surprised and how people laughed at that thinking it was "cool". Granted, I want to see the USA do well but that just shocked me.

I'm appalled at the refs for today's first two games. Alberto Unidano was horrid in the Germany/Serbia game. He was the first ref to effect the outcome of a game, and quite possibly the group. Not to be outdone, Koman Coulibaly decided to make shambles of the Slovenia/USA match.

When a team is bad, they deserve to lose. No issues there at all. The ref should not determine the outcome of the game. Not like those two did today.

So far, I'm struggling to stay awake for the England/Algeria game. England look slow to me.

[ThunderDan]

I dozed off there for a while. England's defense was good to very good again, but the front 6 just plain sucked. I'm not sure what the answer is, perhaps more Millner and Bent, and less Lennon and Heskey. Only a win will get England through.

How to get through:

Slovenia - Win; Draw; Lose with US loss or draw. 88% of possible results.

USA - Win; Draw with England loss or draw. 55%

England - Win. 33%

Algeria - Win with England loss or draw. 22%

I'll stay positive and predict England and US win and both get through. Hope it happens.

Edited June 18, 2010 by ThunderDan

[loz]

I dozed off there for a while. England's defense was good to very good again, but the front 6 just plain sucked. I'm not sure what the answer is, perhaps more Millner and Bent, and less Lennon and Heskey. Only a win will get England through.

How to get through:

Slovenia - Win; Draw; Lose with US loss or draw. 88% of possible results.

USA - Win; Draw with England loss or draw. 55%

England - Win. 33%

Algeria - Win with England loss or draw. 22%

I'll stay positive and predict England and US win and both get through. Hope it happens.

If Bent gets a game there may well be an appeal to FIFA!

Milner was no better against the US than the likes of SWP, Lennon, Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney tonight so his recall doesn't fill me with any hope.

Our defence was far from good to very good. Cole was very good. Johnson was a shambles, Carragher was good one minute and crap the next and Terry was OK (pass back excluded) but seems to have taken the removal of captaincy as meaning he has no responsibility for commandong the back four.

[ThunderDan]

I see your point about Terry. But with just one Green thumb preventing 2 clean sheets, I'll disagree with your opinion of the English defense in general.

Edited June 18, 2010 by ThunderDan

[loz]

I think you are over estimating the attack forces they faced. Your lot, and Algeria tonight, were pretty much toothless up front and I would expect good defenders to deal with them comfortably time and time and time again. It is a little like the people who got over excited about Germany's performance against Australia when the truth was Australia were abominable and made Germany look better than they are. Our defence looked OK because they had nothing of note up against them - that, for me, doesn't mean they were very good.

[ThunderDan]

Well, my intractable transcontinental associate, I respect your righteousness but will continue looking for the post that causes you to reconsider something, anything.

Edited June 18, 2010 by ThunderDan

[loz]

A performance is more likely to make me reconsider!

[Phillip]

What the holy f**k was a referee from the piss-poor country of Malawi doing referreing a World Cup match? The level of play in Malawi is probably at the high school level in most countries, and the referees are probably at that level as well. It is a joke what FIFA does to make the game have a World touch about it. Stupid jerk sees a foul when all that happened was that Slovenian defenders were grabbing the U.S. attackers. His sloe-eyed look told it all -- he had no clue what he was doing out there and why he was out there in the first place.

I am still upset, as you can tell.

Oh, he is from Mali, not Malawi. What is the difference between these two piss-poor Saharan countries --

probably little if anything.

Edited June 19, 2010 by Phillip

[loz]

Oh, he is from Mali, not Malawi. What is the difference between these two piss-poor Saharan countries --

A hell of a long way!

[Randy36]

Here is my thing about the disallowed goal. The whistle blew about a full second before the ball was in the net. It was obvious on the replay the Slovenes just shut down on the play. Its one thing to have a full goal scored, and THEN get a whistle for a foul, but the foul call clearly affected how players reacted to the play

As I saw it the whistle was blown before the ball went into the net for a foul by Bocanegra. I don't understand why the referee did not redcard Clint Dempsey early in the game for a deliberate elbow. He also gets away with this caper in the Premiership and was responsible for fracturing John Terry's cheek bone which required surgery.