Sambalici wrote:

England lost 2 points but I still think England has the best chance to win the cup

You must be joking. They are ABSOLUTELY pathetic. Probably the most OVERRATED team in the World Cup tournament. They are an embarrassment to their nation.

As many of their fans believe, their performance thus far is rubbish.

This guy should be beat down.

Not a good day for the refs today. First, the ref gave a point to Italy after calling a penalty kick. It was just normal contact, if refs are going to call that, then there would be multiple p-kicks per game. New Zealand was robbed, just like the US. Then, how did the ref not see, not one but two hand balls on Brazil's second goal. Speaking of that Brazil game, it got rough.

Jav_sol wrote:

Not a good day for the refs today. First, the ref gave a point to Italy after calling a penalty kick. It was just normal contact, if refs are going to call that, then there would be multiple p-kicks per game. New Zealand was robbed, just like the US. Then, how did the ref not see, not one but two hand balls on Brazil's second goal. Speaking of that Brazil game, it got rough.

These referees are starting to make the NBA refs look good.

I think they should all be exposed to a firing line of vuvuzelas at 10 meters.

Tu_triky wrote:

These referees are starting to make the NBA refs look good.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

Refs must face the music for bad calls

By Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports

JOHANNESBURG – Forget the millionaire superstars from the soccer�fs biggest teams. It is the tournament referees who are the World Cup�fs most coddled and protected species.

The sending off of Brazil�fs Kaka on Sunday night in a 3-1 win over the Ivory Coast was merely the latest in a litany of atrocious decisions by the men in the middle to cast a shadow over the sport�fs showpiece event.

Kaka was given a second yellow card by French referee Stephane Lannoy when the Ivory Coast�fs Kader Keita was not looking where he was going and collided heavily with the Brazil midfielder. Kaka merely held his ground for the inevitable contact, and the incident in no way warranted a free kick, let alone a yellow card.

A serious mistake was made. Kaka should suit up for Brazil in its Group G finale against Portugal on Friday but instead he will be suspended due to Lannoy�fs erroneous red card.

So what about the repercussions for Lannoy?

Well, let�fs see. First of all, he gets a chaffeur-driven ride back to the luxury base where all the World Cup officials are cloistered, away from the prying eyes of the media, or God forbid, the public.

Then, if he fancies it on Monday, Lannoy can get a nice massage from an on-site physiotherapist and some restaurant-quality room service before – and this is the best bit – consulting a ready-and-waiting sports psychologist to help him handle the stress of his exertions on Sunday night.

At no point will he be held accountable. At no point will he have to explain his decisions. Not to Kaka. Not to the fans. Not even to FIFA.

Lannoy�fs performance will be evaluated like all others – by the FIFA referees committee. The review may be expedited due to the glaring nature of his errors. Yet until he is either called to officiate another game or removed from the final shortlist of elite refs who will take charge of the all-important knockout games, he can remain in his happy little bubble.

And therein lies the biggest problem with the World Cup.

Human error is part of sports and with FIFA having taken the decision to steer clear of video replay, it is inevitable. But this is the World Cup, the best of the best. Except for the men in charge.

Just two days after the United States had what would have been an invaluable victory stripped away by Mali official Koman Coulibaly, Lannoy messed up. Not once but twice.

First, he allowed Luis Fabiano to clearly handle the ball en route to scoring a spectacular goal that put Brazil up 2-0 on its way to a comfortable victory at Soccer City. Then, with time running out, he found himself in an obstructed position and misread the collision between Keita and Kaka. Ivory Coast head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson claimed that Brazil �gshouldn�ft complain, they got a goal for free and it changed everything.�h

There is no foolproof solution to this, but if FIFA, as it insists, is truly interested in making sure its referees are up to international standard it has to stop treating them like children. Referees should be made available to questions from reporters after each game, so that the fans who have spent good money to come to the tournament or given their time to watch it on television can get some answers for why their team was gypped.

What we should be talking about is the brilliance of Brazil, which with two goals from Fabiano and one from Elano, produced the best display of this World Cup so far. We shouldn�ft be talking about a Frenchman who works as a video games distributor when he is not taking charge of real life matches beamed around the world.

And he shouldn�ft be talking to his psychologist tomorrow. He should be talking to us.

Jav_sol wrote:

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

FIFA has got to get the vuvuzela out of its ass and institute some review process for bunk calls. These refs are DECIDING the outcome of football matches.

Oh yeah and Zidane should come out of retirement and suit up for France's next game because they're so lame.

We should have seen this coming, after France was allowed to participate in the World Cup after Henry's hand ball. FIFA came out and said the refs' decisions were final.

Tu_triky wrote:

Ivory Coast head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson claimed that Brazil �gshouldn�ft complain, they got a goal for free and it changed everything.�h

Well, he's got a point. But this is Brazil, we are talking about. They complain about everything.

Jav_sol wrote:

We should have seen this coming, after France was allowed to participate in the World Cup after Henry's hand ball. FIFA came out and said the refs' decisions were final.

Well you're right. That kind of pronouncement does set a precendent.

Quote:

Well, he's got a point. But this is Brazil, we are talking about. They complain about everything.

Hehe. Well the ejection of Kaka was definitely BS...that guy flopped so ridiculously he must have been taught by the Italians or Cristiano Ronaldo. Karma I guess.

Tu_triky wrote:

Hehe. Well the ejection of Kaka was definitely BS

Yeah, for other much harder fouls committed by the Ivory Coast players, he didn't even take out a yellow card.

Jav_sol wrote:

Yeah, for other much harder fouls committed by the Ivory Coast players, he didn't even take out a yellow card.

The player that went down covered his face and KAKA didn't even touch his face...

Like you said the officiating is all screwed up.

Tu_triky wrote:

Oh yeah and Zidane should come out of retirement and suit up for France's next game because they're so lame.

Yeah, that team is just a mess both on & off the field. Nobody seems to get along with each other, much less the coach. And here I thought Japan's team had issues, what with their coach not speaking to the players off the field.

Jav_sol wrote:

Yeah, that team is just a mess both on & off the field. Nobody seems to get along with each other, much less the coach. And here I thought Japan's team had issues, what with their coach not speaking to the players off the field.

France is melting down quicker than a wedge of Camembert cheese on a hot summer day. 2 games and not a single goal scored.

"Don't Cry for Me North Korea...."

0-7???? Man, that's like, not even humane anymore.

I hope JPN and ROK still make it to the Final 16. Go Asians!

Ender's Girl wrote:

"Don't Cry for Me North Korea...." 0-7???? Man, that's like, not even humane anymore. I hope JPN and ROK still make it to the Final 16. Go Asians!

Awful showing by North Korea... Will Kim Jong Il have the team liquidated?

bmwracer wrote:

Awful showing by North Korea... Will Kim Jong Il have the team liquidated?

They will be tortured upon their return...while the country will be told the World Cup tournament is Western conspiracy implemented to undermine the sovereignty of North Korea and its Great Leader. Meanwhile King Jong Il will continue to kidnap hookers from South Korea as well as hair stylists to maintain the height of his buffon hairdo.

Two North Korean players try to flee, perhaps punished
Joseph Yun Li-sun
Two of four players (goalie Kim Myong-won, mid-fielders Kim Kyong-il and Pak Sung-hyok and striker An Chol-hyok) not on squad list are thought to have asked for political asylum in an African country. FIFA denies, claiming an error in list transcript. Next Monday, North Korea plays Portugal; its star player, Jong Tae-se, who wept at the sound of national anthem, has never lived in North Korea.

Seoul (AsiaNews) – The absence of four North Korean players whose names were not on the squad list for the match with Brazil was a simple transcript error, a FIFA official told reporters, as they tried to get information about their whereabouts. The four �gmissing�h players are goalie Kim Myong-won, mid-fielders Kim Kyong-il and Pak Sung-hyok and striker An Chol-hyok.

Sources in South Korea say however that two of the four players, the goalie and striker, might have asked an African nation for political asylum, and were punished by the team�fs security handlers. The attempt to defect apparently is due to �gfear over the next match�h, a source said.

On Monday, North Korea plays Portugal, the team they lost to 5-3 in the 1966 World Cup in England. Angered by the result, then North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung had most players shipped off to a labour camp. Team leader Pak Doo-ik, who scored against Italy causing the Azzurri to go down to defeat, spent 15 years cutting wood because of the defeat against Portugal.

Now history is repeating itself. The Chollima (winged horses), as the team is know, are afraid they might end up the same way, everyone, except Jong Tae-se, the player that endeared himself to the whole world when he wept when North Korea�fs national anthem was played before the match with Brazil. Born and raised in Japan, he has a South Korean father and a North Korean mother, and holds South Korean passport; however, thanks to FIFA mediation in 2007, he was able to play for the North.

Speaking to reporters, Jong said he wept when the anthem was played �gfor the emotion of finally representing North Korea against the best team in the world.�h Talking about himself, he said that his favourite food is bulgogi or North Korean-style barbecued beef, that he has no TV or fridge, useless in his view, and that he respects �gSouth Korea for having an open and international mindset�h, but prefers the North for the greatness of its people. In fact, he plays in a Japanese football league and has never lived in North Korea.

Still, he will star in the match against Portugal. North Korean coach Kim Jong-hun has said that his patriotic attitude has already been �gnoted by our leader Kim Jong-il�h. Coach Kim also said that he gets "regular tactical advice during matches" from Jong-il himself, "using mobile phones that are not visible to the naked eye,�h which the �eDear Leader�f �gdeveloped himself�h.

North Korea�fs dictator is known for his inspired ideas, usually presented in great pomp and ceremony to North Korea�fs press and nation. The last one dates back to 2004, when during an official dinner for party leaders and army generals, his kitchen staff served one of his great culinary concoctions, later described as �gsublime�h by those present, namely hamburgers.

Tu_triky wrote:

They will be tortured upon their return...while the country will be told the World Cup tournament is Western conspiracy implemented to undermine the sovereignty of North Korea and its Great Leader.

I totally expect that.... Really.

Quote:

Meanwhile King Jong Il will continue to kidnap hookers from South Korea as well as hair stylists to maintain the height of his buffon hairdo.

"Buffon Hairdo."

Hilarious.

Dude tried out for the role of Masumi Okuyama, but got edged out by Koide Keisuke.

bmwracer wrote:

"Buffon Hairdo." Hilarious.

Quote:

Dude tried out for the role of Masumi Okuyama, but got edged out by Koide Keisuke.

Tu_triky wrote:

On Monday, North Korea plays Portugal, the team they lost to 5-3 in the 1966 World Cup in England. Angered by the result, then North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung had most players shipped off to a labour camp. Team leader Pak Doo-ik, who scored against Italy causing the Azzurri to go down to defeat, spent 15 years cutting wood because of the defeat against Portugal.

No surprise.

If it were their schtick, I'd bet their leaders would request the players to commit seppuku after losing to save face.