World Cup 2010

[zinger]

To be fair, I don't know if I'd say it was deliberate. It happened very quickly, and looked more instinctive than anything. But Henry knew he used his hand, and he should have gone to the ref and admitted it. But then, on TV, all they did was show the slo-mo that the refs couldn't see, which shows how stupid the principle of not using replays is.

I have seen the slow motion replay and I am 100% convinced that it was 100% deliberate. He raised his arm to block the ball, then handled it not once but twice - first off his arm, then a second tap with his fingertips (!!) to drop it perfectly onto his foot for the shot.

[zinger]

I just witnessed a slaughter. GG North Korea .

Indeed. Every goal after the third one was just an insult to injury.

Definitely agree. Good grief, they were up 4-0 then scored in the 81st, 87th, and 89th minutes. I wonder if their coach or someone else was trying to send a message.

[HKA]

Portugal dominated yes, but should not have run up the score to 7. Four goals was more than enough to ensure advancing, even if they lose to Brazil. They should have turtled. Humiliation should not be a part of the World Cup. Especially against North Korea, who knows what consequences the players will suffer when they get home?

Humiliation is unfortunate.

However, suppose Portugal stopped at 4. Then they lose to Brazil 2-0. Do you seriously think anyone would then tell Ivory Coast to stop at 4 when 5 would get them out of the group in their last game?

[Tryphon]

It's really rare, but it occured that a team wins 4-0, then loses 4-5. I don't really think that a big loss in Football can be seen as en humiliation.

Whereas I'm french, I do agree that Henry must be blamed for his hand, just like I don't know which brazilian, just like Maradona some years ago...

In fact, it would have been far better for France not to play this World Cup, that would have spared us some true humiliations...

[Fedya]

Any sport with such an international sport should stop being medieval and not only use instant replays, but also have more referees. Just think: Ireland would have qualified, instead of the spoiled French who are making such asses of themselves now...

Wouldn't the France/Ireland leg simply have gone to penalties? France might have qualified anyhow.

[zinger]

It's really rare, but it occured that a team wins 4-0, then loses 4-5. I don't really think that a big loss in Football can be seen as en humiliation.

Whereas I'm french, I do agree that Henry must be blamed for his hand, just like I don't know which brazilian, just like Maradona some years ago...

In fact, it would have been far better for France not to play this World Cup, that would have spared us some true humiliations...

The play by Brazil could at least be interpreted as inadvertent. Henry's was blatantly intentional. Maradonna on the other hand ...

[zinger]

Wouldn't the France/Ireland leg simply have gone to penalties? France might have qualified anyhow.

Might, perhaps. I bet that doesn't console Ireland any.

Similarly the Mets might have beaten the Red Sox anyway, if Bill Buckner had fielded that ground ball - the game was tied at the time. But few remember it that way.

[Tryphon]

Maradonna on the other hand ...

IIRC, He didn't do anything condemnable with the other hand

[Solomon]

There appears to be an interesting pattern for the French team:

1994 - Failed to qualify
1998 - Won the WC
2002 - Failed to qualify
2006 - WC Finals
2010 - Failed to qualify

1994 - Zidane didn't play
1998 - Zidane played
2002 - Zidane didn't play
2006 - Zidane played
2010 - Zidane didn't play

HMMM...

[explo]

2002 - Failed to qualify

2002 - Zidane didn't play

France was automatically qualified because the team won the previous edition. They played poorly (1 draw, 2 loses, no goal scored) and Zidane played in the last game.

edit: Maybe I misunderstood part of your post. What do you mean by qualify? What happened in 1994 is different from what happened in 2006 and 2010.

[Solomon]

2002 - Failed to qualify

2002 - Zidane didn't play

France was automatically qualified because the team won the previous edition. They played poorly (1 draw, 2 loses, no goal scored) and Zidane played in the last game.

edit: Maybe I misunderstood part of your post. What do you mean by qualify? What happened in 1994 is different from what happened in 2006 and 2010.

By not qualifying I only meant not making it past the group stage (indeed, "qualifying" was a bad word choice), so 1994 is also covered since they didn't make it past the qualifiers and the rest as well for not making it past the group stage.

[Solomon]

Oh man was yesterday hilarious, South Korea played so badly and yet still managed to advance with an extremely lucky draw against Nigeria. I was just as happy with my friends and family and for my country as I was disappointed, strangest feeling in the world . I just hope we get our act together, because if we have defense like that against Uruguay it will not be pretty.

And with that, I leave you with the most legendary miss from our game against Nigeria:



Can't wait for England and the US games today, I'll be rooting for both of them - a bit more for the US though .

[zinger]

USA 1:0 Algeria

yeeeeeeha!!!

Now I hang on the group D games to see who we will play.

[oren]

From elimination to Group C winner in extra time...

What a crazy game. I can't imagine what Slovenia felt.

[ketchup]

Some very amazing games today, maybe not in terms of how they played, but the stories that occurred. I would never have expected Australia to do that well, especially considering their other games.