The World Cup 2010 Thread

[miles]

I really want to see LA play DC this Sunday just to see how the crowd reacts to Donovan being on the opposing team.

Well, if I could manage to care about Olympic basketball, I imagine I would still want Kobe on the national team, and then would have no problem going back to hating him as soon as he returned to LA.

[Drygioni]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxlUsx15RFs&feature=player_embedded Spain's celebrations, led by the effusive Pepe Reina. Turn the captions on and enjoy yourself

EDIT: 1 minute is the player introductions, the best part

[Arachno-capitalist]

http://i.imgur.com/kbwCQ.jpg

[littlefallsmets]

It is good to know that the people writing junk e-mail are getting into more legitimate business.

[CortJstr]

There seems to be a fear amongst US soccer fans that the average person now thinks that vuvuzelas are a "soccer thing" and will start showing up with them to the games here. Sorry, but no. "Soccer things" include smoke bombs, jumping, scarves, and questioning the parentage of the referee.

[littlefallsmets]

To be completely honest, I dunno.

Scanning popular culture by Americans that don't know for soccer, what seems to really have sunk in was not the big plastic horns that were always at smalltown sporting events in America that we now pretend are a new thing because there's an exotic sounding word for it...

It seems to be that there are now three American ideas about soccer instead of two.

Added to "is taken with orange slices" and "there's pizza afterward" is the idea "grown men pretending to be injured in the most obvious and lame of ways to kill time".

[miles]

"grown men pretending to be injured in the most obvious and lame of ways to kill time".

By far the most infuriating thing to me about soccer. I love to see a player get a booking for diving. I seem to recall a couple given to Germany players in their match against Australia. At least one anyway. One of the commentators said it wasn't too surprising because the ref was Mexican. Apparently they don't put up with that shit in Mexico? Maybe Judy (or anyone who knows) can answer this: can a ref give a yellow card for delaying play if it's obvious he's not injured but is on the ground?

[CortJstr]

I know I saw a player get a yellow card for flopping (I want to say from Argentina) but I don't know what the "formal" offense was.

[jaydub]

If you're in the mood for more quadrennial championships, I can guarantee the only dives these guys will be taking is across the goal cage for a score.
So far the only mainstream press coverage came from an embarrassing move by the English government barring entry to the Iroquois Confederacy team due to the antiquated low tech passports they were using.

[robot_god]

Players do get carded for delaying the game, it's usually given to a goalkeeper for holding the ball too long.  But what it comes down to is that the ref can pretty much do whatever he wants, for whatever reason.

[Drygioni]

Players do get carded for delaying the game, it's usually given to a goalkeeper for holding the ball too long.  But what it comes down to is that the ref can pretty much do whatever he wants, for whatever reason.

This, kind of. Referee will use his discretion in most cases. If a player is obviously delaying time without being injured he may well be yellow carded, yes.

As for diving, it's a cancer on the sport but one that is hard to eliminate due to the fast-paced nature of the game. It can be deceptive as well; plenty of times playing football I've been genuinely in pain but to everyone else it looked an innocuous challenge. There's no other contact sport to my mind like football in that you can dive and gain an advantage, so I guess it's a symptom of the rules and has been capitalised on by those with a lack of scruples.

Lacrosse is the bomb.

[jaydub]

If you're around Manchester, Judy you should def. try to catch a game or two.  There's a whole festival thing going on as well.

[Drygioni]

Manchester's only a short train journey from Sheffield. Will have to try and make a game or two. May well have to call on my Manc mates to put me up for a bit

[Drygioni]

Are you a Fox News Anchor LFM?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXbZKCbqou4

[miles]

Haha, LFM and Glenn Beck, cut from the same cloth.

But seriously, very few people can cause me to choke with rage the way Glenn Beck does. I'm going to need to take some benzos after watching that video.