Fuuuck when will this soccer finish!?

So fucken over this boring ass world cup.



gc.

Being in the bottom corner of the world means you can sleep through the whole thing bro :>

I've really enjoyed it myself...

me too, guess it's a nice change from rugby etc

I'm with GB, SMF could just sleep right through it if he wanted to

It is amazing how quickly interest has vanished in NZ once the All Whites bowed out. And the British press have gone back to Wimbledon now their team is out. The Americans were never interested. I checked the People's Daily - the Chinese are not that interested either. I've checked the Indian online editions of their papers, and they are sort of interested, but what get their recreational pulse racing appears to be the lives and times of the Bollywood set. That's half the world's population right there.

So much for the "World Game".

More like an excruciating boring game that basically only Western Europeans and those who speak romance languages actually care about.

Fuck the Holland vs Brazil game was awesome!

Why are you checking indian and chinese publications? Both countries are shit at football!

http://www.theonion.com/video/soccer-officially-announces-it-is-gay,17603/

Of course, we all always knew in our hearts soccer was gay. Think about it. ParaGUAY, UurGUAY and GermanGUAY. Then there is David Beckham. I mean, come. on.

There are clues right under our noses if only we'd see them.

2.4 billion people, dude. World game? Whatever!

Im sure about 400 million of them have some interest in it.

I don't follow a lot of soccer outside of the WC time, but this WC has been awesome! So much drama, passion, tension - more than I can remember at previous world cups. NZ not losing a game, Italy and France out in the first round, the Dutch/Brasil game last night was legendary, Ghana getting oh so close to being the first african team to semi-final - losing in dramatic fashion by missing an almost literally last-second penalty and then losing the shootout... and beyond the big moments it's been an exhibition of passion and determination in general.

Been glued to the TV for most of the games so far, and it's only going to get better from here So looking forward to Germany v Argentina tonight!

I'm laughing at fish_boy and vadinho too

Checking the local websites as a gauge of interest of soccer in China, India etc is about as accurate research as asking 6 people at the beach whether they like the sea. People who are interested in stuff will look up news results or official websites - most of which wont be local.

lol you two crack me up.

Netherlands Argentina Final. What say u savages

lol Argentina.

Germany will beat them. And if they don't, Spain will.

imo Germany v Netherlands, Germany to take it down 1-0

Obviously Yakshas football brain is farting all over the place, 20US on Argentina tonight

No I wont make it more, and not cos Im scared. once it gets to a certain amount Im unable to enjoy the game

My prediction as well maesty

The Dutch to win their first ever. Fuck yeah.

Although i'm secretly wanting a NED vs GER final so I can hear the dutchies bring out the "Where are all our bicycles" and get one over the krauts for WWII

PS I have a lazy fiddy on the Argies to win over Germany in regular time.

Your poorest wind up yet.

arge will be champions ez no question ^_^

Tell ya what. I realise that Argentina are on-paper favourites, so I'll take your bet, but you have to give me odds. Betfair is giving odds of 3.4 for Germany to win in normal time. So how about you give me 2.5 :1 - extremely generous given the market, and I'll accept US$20. It's a must-win bet too, draw in normal/injury time is a chop. Deal?

If you post here or text me before game starts then all good

nah

scared I was basically being charitable.

lol at all of you... Argentina pffft :> I made four bets today:

a) Germany to win 2-0 @ 24 : 1
b) Germany to win without conceding a goal @ 7.7 : 1
c) Germany to be ahead at half time @ 4.4 : 1
d) Between 4-5 total substitutions @ 2.3 : 1

Owned 3/4 :>

Count yourself lucky

Where's the luck in making a clear decision not to bet more than $20USD on the game?

...

When I placed my bet I totally forgot Maradona was the coach, and he failed to coach any semblance of a defense strategy in his team.

Go the Dutchies!

I'd be more impressed if you did it before the tournament... Like I did.

Lazy tenners on Spain, Germany and Netherlands to win the tourny. Paying $55, $150 and $130 respectively. :>

Then I shall cheer for Uruguay :>

Kinda weird how you place bets against yourself, but if it works I suppose...cant really fail to get paid out here surely!

Despite this being a bit of a wind up, it genuinely WAS boring before I posted this thread. There has been some excitement towards the business end, but before that it was yawn city.



gc.

You're boring This has been the best WC in ages. Heaps of upsets, drama, controversies, stellar plays, huge mistakes undoubtedly due to pressure.... dunno what WC you've been watching tbh

lol @ this taking over from minty's FIFA endorsed, official WC thread ^_^

I know. He's gonna be FURIOUS with you smf

Personally...I think this IS the new official thread. Since mintys "official" thread was a BLANTENT takeover from my "All Whites. The Road to South Africa" thread....... that i started ~ 3 years ago

hahahha motion seconded

You evil cunt. :>

Quietly confident about Spain, they haven't looked spectacular but it was the same in Euro 2008. Other than the Russia spankings Spain just crept past most of their opponents.

Im hoping Urugauy get through. After the round robin everyone was talking about how the South American teams were doing so well and Europe was struggling. Well that got turned right around didnt it with all South American teams getting bounced except Urugauy. I dont like the Netherlands. Arjen Robbins is a crybaby cheat. I also find the notion of Urugauy returning to glory ~ 40 years later somewhat romantic. URUGAUY! (sry dalai)

Uruguay can get fucked imo... cheating cunts

pffft you have no respect for the history of the game GB. Urugauy have won the cup twice, therfore they are winners and have divine rights. Ghana have NO trophies in their cabinet and are therfore losers. History howevere did not dictate that the Ghanian penalty would hit the bar, that is simply the Ghanians fulfilling their place in world football. As chokers/also rans. I hope in time age will give you the wisdom to see these matters more clearly

What everyone is ignoring is the free kick that Ghana won that lead to the hand ball was a blatant dive. Yes I know that Suarez stopped the ball on the line with his hand but it did look instinctive to me, the fact he was nearly in tears as he left the field (prior to the penalty) suggests to me it was instinctive rather than vindictive as he looked like he thought he's just cost his country the game not just kept them in it. It wasn't until the penalty was missed that he perked up.

Oh and LOL at Maedinho.

Hi Vadinho!

VADINHO IZ GOD. I CAN ONLY DREAM TO BE AS AWESOME AND WISE AS HIM

Am I missing something, or is all this a blatant load of shit?

a) How could it possibly be "instinctive" for a soccer player who's not a goalie to reach out with their hand and swipe at the ball?
b) Your reasoning is pretty weird too. He would've known that if it weren't for his handball, his team would've lost 100% of the time. He gave his team a shot... Why would he possibly think he "just cost his country the game" ? It was the last kick of extra time. There was no other outcome besides handball, or ghana win.

read an article in (i think) the guardian about how they need to introduce a "penalty goal" for exactly those types of situations.

a) Well the players head was behind the ball so in a moment of stupidity he may have put his hands up to shield his face.
b) He could have used his head to keep it out, so while he's prevented the goal being scored he's done so in a way which will probably result in his team losing. If he's used his head and not his hands he could've kept it out without conceding a penalty and got himself sent off.

Penalty goals can GTFO IMO, it'll lead to EVERY prick wanting a penalty goal when there's half a chance, if it was brought in for hand balls on the line only though you would have to eliminate the red card (if a goal is awarded you can't send someone off for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity) which could in turn lead to more players doing it as there's no deterrant not to and you might get away with it. I'd also hate to see a penalty goal awarded for incidents which are clearly not hand ball, ie if a player has his hands behind his back and the ball hits his bicep then it is not hand ball because their has to be an element of intent or carelessness (arm arm above your head is more careless than an arm down by your side).

It was a pretty cynical foul if you ask me. How could it be anything but a deliberate act of desperation?

Also fuck you Uruguay supporters. No victory beer shout for you!

Are you talking generally, case-specifically? In this case there's no way he could've used his head. He was in the wrong position and you can't just move your head any way you want to without time to get your body in the right position etc... I don't see how this can possibly be viewed as anything other than a deliberate and desperate realisation that the only thing stopping him from losing is hand-ball, like dalai says...

And in that case, when a guy is blatantly cheating because playing fair won't cut it - I really don't think the red card + penalty is enough, particularly in extra time. It'd be different if it was regular time, and there was still 20 minutes or whatever left for Ghana to utilise their extra man advantage, but when this was literally a last second play, there's absolutely no deterrant for somebody not to hand-ball in that spot. He gets red-carded which is almost entirely irrelevant (bar "next game" considerations) - and Ghana gets a penalty which historically will be converted, I dunno, 80-90% of the time or whatever. That's just not a big enough punishment for deliberately/blatantly cheating imo...

How about this for a solution....

It's amazing how such a simple sport can have so much blatant cheating.



gc.

Really?

Every SINGLE NRL scrum involves cheating
I'd say 50% of NRL play the balls involve cheating too

Oddly....I too now are sort of bored with the cup. I thik its because I have no real feeling either way for Spain or the Neverlands so I dont really care what happens

Nice work on your betting steez there dalai. Are you looking at hedging the final or you just happy to see what happens

Just caught a full replay of th germany neverlands game, wasnt that a pretty blatent penalty to the Germans right on halftime? I had read nothing about it in post match reports

Possibly, it was a touch on the calf but he went down far too easily, at full speed it looked like a dive so I imagine the ref probably felt the same way. Plus the problem, when you view things in slow mo is everything always looks worse and more exaggerated. You could say the same thing about when Pedro didn't pass to Torres late on though, Friedrich clearly catches his ankle as he was going past him, the difference was while Pedro stumbled he stayed on his feet instead of going to ground, but the stumble allowed the other German defender to nip in and take the ball. If he did fall then he would have had a very good case for a penalty, as it was he stayed on his feet so the referee ignored his protest about the challenge.

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