[Matt_Horton]

Re: FIFA World Cup 2010 : Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:32 pm  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

ESPN in America. Most of the commentary team are English. Think his summariser was Efan Ekoku.

Ruud Gullit's on the show right now. There's a discussion programme as well with Andy Gray and Richard Keys.

Guess it's a Sky/Fox thing where they share commentators for each of the countries output.

Ah right, not bad for a summer holiday.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2010 : Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:45 pm  

Chris28 wrote:

When was the last time the previous finalists didn't make it past the group stage? Has it ever happened?

1966. The 1962 finalists were Brazil and Czechoslovakia, Brazil went out in the first round, Czechoslovakia weren't there.

[Matt_Horton]

Re: FIFA World Cup 2010 : Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:49 pm  

Stunning goal from Honda.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2010 : Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:54 pm  

Hate these types of Ref, the ones that think they are more important than the game/players. Let it flow man.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2010 : Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:04 pm  

Another beauty from Endo this time.

These Japanese sure know how to take a free kick. There's Shunsuke Nakamura on the bench as well!

Re: FIFA World Cup 2010 : Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:08 pm  

Can someone please explain why the hell the stupid referee made Bendtner colour in his sock tape?

Re: FIFA World Cup 2010 : Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:11 pm  

Note to Denmark

Don't give away free kicks near your own goal

Re: FIFA World Cup 2010 : Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:13 pm  

Earlier this week I had a debate over the offside law where I said that the present implementation of the law was the best it's ever been.

I don't know who was arguing against the present offside law, but I'll just ask if you think van Persie's excellent goal should be ruled out, because Kuyt was stood offside when that ball was played through.

That's a great goal. Beautiful play from Holland and brought a fantastic goal to the game. No Cameroon player even appealed for offside and the commentators never mentioned that Kuyt was stood in an offside position.

IMO that goal is an excellent example of why this rule is far better. In the past Kuyt would have been given offside and Holland would have been robbed of a great goal they fully deserved.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2010 : Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:26 pm  

Lord God Jose Mourinho wrote:

Earlier this week I had a debate over the offside law where I said that the present implementation of the law was the best it's ever been.

I don't know who was arguing against the present offside law, but I'll just ask if you think van Persie's excellent goal should be ruled out, because Kuyt was stood offside when that ball was played through.

That's a great goal. Beautiful play from Holland and brought a fantastic goal to the game. No Cameroon player even appealed for offside and the commentators never mentioned that Kuyt was stood in an offside position.

IMO that goal is an excellent example of why this rule is far better. In the past Kuyt would have been given offside and Holland would have been robbed of a great goal they fully deserved.

I think the law as it is is very good. You will never get a complete offside rule without going back to the old way which, like you say, would cost teams perfectly good goals with a man offside not involved in play. The only problem with the current implementation is how do you define somebody being involved in play? Is it right that a player can go from not being involved to putting the ball in the net? Decisions like that seem to be at the discretion of the referee. Maybe if FIFA thoroughly outlined these circumstances it could help.

Re: FIFA World Cup 2010 : Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:36 pm  

Thomas Sorenson is making Rob Green look as safe as Gordon Banks.