Official Football Thread

If you manage to see the replay, you'll see that the Dutch player was half a step behind the last Uruguaian. The ball passed through his legs, so he was directly engaged in gameplay. That's an offside.
 
It was offside, but marginally. Don't think the linesman should be tarred and feathered for it. He did worse mistakes earlier in the match  :P The 3-1 goal was a very good header. It is very hard to put such power in the finish when you're moving away from the goal.

Congratulations, Foro!
 
Sure, it was a very small offside, but that one should've been noticed by the linesman. That's at least 4 wrong calls from the linesmen in the game. And it turns out that the game could have gone into overtime if that offside had been called, it would have ended 2-2. (This is pure speculation, of course. There's no telling what would have really happened.)

A good game though! Congrats to Foro and other possible Dutchmen on the forum! :D

By the way, Paul the Squid has predicted that Spain will beat Germany tomorrow!
 
Ranko said:
By the way, Paul the Squid has predicted that Spain will beat Germany tomorrow!
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Well, a Norwegianseer and healer who has been a lot in media the last few years, has said he thinks Germany will win. He said so before the tournament. You wouldn't need to be clairvoyant to come up with that prediction after the quarters, though  :D
 
Third World Cup final!

1974
1978

and 32(!) years later: 2010

:clap:

By the way, that first goal by Van Bronckhorst was really special. Not only because it looks awesome (especially these replays) but with this shot he had an important deal in reaching the final which is going to be his last match for Oranje. Here another cool angle. You gotta love that sound!

He has played 105 caps (next Sunday number 106) and I believe this was his 6th goal, thirteen years after he made his first goal. What an important one.

I don't want too much make excuses for the bad play in the first half, but Kuijt said it had to do with the kick in the face of De Zeeuw, who passed out for a short while, and is now in the hospital, where they are checking if his jaw is broken. The guys were really impressed by that incident and the result was that Uruguay became the boss on the midfield. Also in the 2nd half they often had control over the midfield. Mentally a very strong team, hats off for Uruguay!

Check out what happened on the Museumplein in Amsterdam when Van Bronckhorst scored. Perhaps 70,000, 80,000 men. Awesome!

edit:
For the first time we're going to have a European World Champion outside Europe!

9 times a European team has won the world title.
Italy: 4 (1934,1938,1982,2006),
(West-)Germany: 3 (1954,1974, 1990)
England: 1 (1966)
Frankrijk: 1 (1998)

All these titles were won in Europe.      
                                       
With this upcoming 10th title Europe will be the most succesfull continent.  B)

Brazil (5), Argentina (2) and Uruguay (2) brought South-America 9 world titles.
 
Congrats to Holland, they've not come this far for nothing, but let's be honest - first and second goal are irregular. Prior to Gio's masterpiece, in same action, Van Bommel made a really hard foul, yellow card one. Second goal was clear offside; Van Persie was offside, hasn't touched the ball, but was interfering with goalkeeper's line of sight.

I hate when people say like it was 1-1 but your goal was offside, hence we should've won 1-0. You just can't equalize stuff that simply.
However, Gio's goal wouldn't happen if the referee ruled good, and the remainder of the match would be completely different.
Uruguay has been severely harmed by bad judgment, and they were damn right when they attacked the referee after the game.

But that's football and it happens all the time. Carry on  :D

Germany is currently in best shape, plays with highest confidence, has highest morale and had best scores. Spain will have very, very tough time with them. IMHO, i think this would be the optimal line-up, in 3-1-3-3 formation, from right to left

Casillas
Puyol, Pique, Capdevila
Busquets
Xavi, Fabregas, Iniesta
Villa, Torres, Pedro

Basically, it would be mimicking Barcelona's gameplay with enough of Barcelona's backbone to achieve such feat. As we saw in this year's Champions League, the only way of defeating Barcelona is playing brutal defense. Something Germans won't do.
 
Forostar said:
Netherlands and Uruguay have met before: World Cup 1974.

Check out this summary if you like -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2RqTKm7BXM
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The video reminds me of a couple of things.  Diego Forlan's father Pablo played in that game.  Also Cruyff's goal was disallowed for "dangerous kicking" according to the commentator.  This would not be called by refs today.
Forostar said:
Far better gameplay from Uruguay in the first half? Nah.

I think the Dutch had more opportunities than Uruguay. Until the goal we were technically and tactically far better. But after the 1st goal (which was a mistake by Stekelenburg), they lost concentration and played weaker. At the end they picked it up again. It's a quite equal match.
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True, until Forlan's goal the Dutch dominated the passing and mid-field control, winning 50-50 balls more often than not.  Uruguay really pressed after their goal and into the first 12 minutes of the second half.

The first Dutch goal by van Bronckhorst was perhaps the best of the tournament so far.  This is like the third time I called a goal "the best".  The set-up of Robben header by Kuyt was perfectly sweet.  By the way, I've heard Kuyt's named pronounced three different ways, sometimes by the same person, "Cart", "Kant", "Cowt".
 
I'd say Brazil's 2-0 goal against Chile is the best. The way they managed to put together those three excellent moves with perfect timing at that speed - just impressive. Each pass was millimeter-precise and the finish as cold as you can get them.

I also think Lampard's 2-2 goal against Germany was good  :D And then you have the very first goal of the tournament, don't forget that one! Still, van Bronckhorst's shot yesterday was a beauty, no doubt.

Forostar said:
I don't want too much make excuses for the bad play in the first half, but Kuijt said it had to do with the kick in the face of De Zeeuw, who passed out for a short while, and is now in the hospital, where they are checking if his jaw is broken. The guys were really impressed by that incident and the result was that Uruguay became the boss on the midfield.
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Didn't realize it was that bad. Didn't look like he was hit that hard, but I guess he knows better than any of us TV viewers ... hope it's not a broken jaw then!
 
Thankfully it wasn't that bad after all. Something had to be done with some teeth, but no broken jaw. Still, De Zeeuw will probably loose his place to De Jong (who was suspended) anyway, so our midfield can play at full force again.

Saying that the first goal was irregular is a ridiculous accusation. Both players went for the ball, a collision followed but look how quick the Uruguyan player gets on his feet. Nothing wrong here.
I am pretty sure that Van Persie did not interfere the goalkeepers sight, he stood too far for that. The goalkeeper couldn't stop the ball because his (two!) defenders changed the direction of the ball.

@Genghis: as you might know, all three pronunciations are wrong. ;)
 
Forostar said:
I am pretty sure that Van Persie did not interfere the goalkeepers sight, he stood too far for that. The goalkeeper couldn't stop the ball because his (two!) defenders changed the direction of the ball.
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The ball went just under his right foot ... didn't interfere with the goalkeeper's line of sight? Come on. But the offside was marginal. In the heat of the moment, I suspect the linesman wasn't sure and decided to give the attacking team the benefit of the doubt.
 
Now we're at it, here some wrong decisions in favor of Uruguay. E.g.

Dirk Kuijt was called offside in the box in the first half despite being over a freakin' yard onside.

Furthermore, the decision to extend the allotted three minutes of added time to five could have sparked some discussion. Despite Pereira’s goal and Van Bommel’s time wasting, time should have been called before the end of the 95th minute.
 
I think much of those two extra minutes were down to the confusion about whether the ref had blown the final whistle or just given a free kick, but I agree that he added quite much - given that his intention was to add 3:00.

But keep in mind that 3 minutes is the minimum. If the referee had decided (before the 4th official showed the sign) that he would add 3:30, the sign would still show 3. Still, I reacted when he let play continue for almost a minute after the whole Van Bommel incident.

I also agree on that offside call in the first half. Both linesmen actually screwed up several offside calls in the first half. In the second half they got most of them right (except for the 2-1 goal situation and maybe one more). But none of those were as clearly wrong as the one you mention.
 
Saying that the first goal was irregular is a ridiculous accusation. Both players went for the ball, a collision followed but look how quick the Uruguyan player gets on his feet. Nothing wrong here.
I am pretty sure that Van Persie did not interfere the goalkeepers sight, he stood too far for that. The goalkeeper couldn't stop the ball because his (two!) defenders changed the direction of the ball.
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Bullshit. It was a 105% four for yellow card, he kicked him right in the leg just for the sake of it.
What was Uruguayan supposed to do, remain lying there while Dutchmen attack? Referee didn't blow a whistle and game goes on.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/476 ... c0c4_b.jpg

Here is a school example of offside.
 
The bottom line is that FIFA should introduce some kind of video review to avoid this sort of embarrasment. This World Cup has seen some truly bad referee work.
 
Bottom line is that Holland deserved to win this match. I understand that some people don't like it, because their favourite teams were beaten, but hey, that shit happens.

Argentina-Mexico, England-Germany, that's where the real blunders happened, but this is getting somewhat out of proportions, totally ignoring the strength of the winning team.
 
Forostar said:
Bottom line is that Holland deserved to win this match. I understand that some people don't like it, because their favourite teams were beaten, but hey, that shit happens.
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Come on. Just because people pick on ref's decisions that favour your team doesn't mean they think the other team deserved to win. I, for one, think Netherlands were clearly better except for the 10 minutes on each side of half time and the last 5. That does not make me change my mind on the 2-1 goal. However, as you say, a couple of wrong decisions went the other way as well.


Now let's focus on tonight's semi final. I must say I would rather see Germany in the final than the Spanish bunch of drama queens (Torres, Busquetts, Capdevila and so on). Besides, Germany's more direct football appeals more to me than the extremely possession-oriented Spanish style. Sure, the Spaniards can also go forward at high speed if they choose to, but they haven't chosen to do so much in this World Cup.They were actually tamed for big parts of the game against Paraguay. They have been saved by David Villa's goalgetter instincts so far.

We should be in for a classic encounter tonight. Let's pray for an early goal by either team to open things up.
 
(sorry, deleted my post just for your repost)

My old prediction for the final is still possible: Holland - Spain. :)

I have a double feeling about this. Spain might be a team that suits Holland better, because Germany is a strong unit. Still, I'd like to see Germany win, then we're even going to have a more exciting final (I hope).

Danger is exciting at times. ;)
 
Forostar said:
(sorry, deleted my post just for your repost)
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No worries, I just took away the reference to that deleted post. No big deal.

I don't really think today's winner will influence on just how exiting the final will be. I have high hopes for that match anyway. Still, if Spain win tonight we are guaranteed that whichever team wins on Sunday, they do so for the first time!
 
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