[Trinidad]

Cyberyeti, on 2014-June-19, 03:25, said:

As somebody pointed out to me, should Mexico somehow finish above Brazil and it's clear this is going to happen from a while before the end, we could have a very amusing spectacle at the end of the Netherlands-Chile game.

The Netherlands - Chile in group B is played before the group A games of Mexico and Brazil. (Start Net - Chi is 4 hours earlier.)

Rik

[cherdano]

Meanwhile, my percentage play of always predicting 1-0 or 2-0 for the better team in our office pool has, thus far, not been a complete success yet.

[Cyberyeti]

Trinidad, on 2014-June-20, 15:12, said:

The Netherlands - Chile in group B is played before the group A games of Mexico and Brazil. (Start Net - Chi is 4 hours earlier.)

Rik

Well at least that's the right way round, unless Chile win and Brazil fancy playing them rather than the Dutch.

[MrAce]

It is amazing. The top 3 countries at club level internationally in Europe (England-Spain-Italy) seems to have such bad results at national level!

[Cyberyeti]

MrAce, on 2014-June-20, 17:09, said:

It is amazing. The top 3 countries at club level internationally in Europe (England-Spain-Italy) seems to have such bad results at national level!

Not surprising at all, the spanish had half their team playing in the (all Spanish) champions league final and/or involved in the title race that went down to the last day, the English premier league is the toughest league to play in because of its relentless pace and they play more games than most European leagues. Very few players were 100% fit and a number missing due to injury.

[blackshoe]

"I hate football" is too restrictive. Personally, I don't care one way or t'other.

[gwnn]

I know I posted above that we should talk less about referees, and I really think Bosnia were poor last night, so I'm not actually worked up. I also realise that I know less about being a good linesman than almost anything else in the world. All that said, WTF linesmen? The rules clearly say that if you're not sure, just keep your stupid flag down! How hard is it to grasp? I've seen many spurious offside decisions here but no goals that were wrongly allowed despite being offside. I know that they're trying to 'err on the side of caution' but a) that's a fallacy, both mistakes yield a swing of exactly one goal and b) the rules clearly tell you on which side you should aim to err!

[Aberlour10]

gwnn, on 2014-June-22, 01:12, said:

The rules clearly say that if you're not sure, just keep your stupid flag down! How hard is it to grasp?

IMO,It may be a psych problem. These are often less experienced linesmen, with not many matches in top international football. Its not easy to them to judge, while the whole world watches him and the thought" dont make a mistake" dominate. They get nervous and If they are not sure, (it could be offside..) they raise the flaggs more or less automatically. They shouldn't do.

So long the FIFA does not change the selecting system ,such problems will remain.

[sfi]

gwnn, on 2014-June-22, 01:12, said:

The rules clearly say that if you're not sure, just keep your stupid flag down!

Are you sure about that? The only things I could find relating to this were some US clarification stating this and some England clarification stating this to be a myth. Neither the laws nor FIFA's interpretations state this one way or the other.

That being said, I can't imagine why the assistant referee was in any doubt.

[Cyberyeti]

sfi, on 2014-June-22, 05:40, said:

Are you sure about that? The only things I could find relating to this were some US clarification stating this and some England clarification stating this to be a myth. Neither the laws nor FIFA's interpretations state this one way or the other.

That being said, I can't imagine why the assistant referee was in any doubt.

Not sure about currently, but certainly there was a FIFA or UEFA ordnance to the effect of "benefit of the doubt to the attacker".

[chasetb]

I predict USA 3, Ronaldo 2. Klinny's subs make the difference.

[gwnn]

Ouch.

[gwnn]

Goal of tournament!!!! WTF!! U-S-A!

[cherdano]

Someone send a doctor to Jeff Rubens, and put him under intensive care observation until Thursday evening, please...

[jjbrr]

• lol@our defense. just garbage.
  
• im a huge demarcus beasley hater but he played an elite game.
  
• after we scored our first goal i said i'd be very happy with a tie, but jlall was adamant that we needed to shoot for a win. he was right obv.
  
• lolmexico.

[billw55]

About the linesman and offsides calls: obviously leaning strongly toward calling offside is job security for them. A goal scored on a missed call is going to get much more replay and attention than a non-goal. The one thing a linesman doesn't want is for one of their bad calls to get a zillion youtube hits or whatever.

[gwnn]

Well, obviously they are wrong about that. Everyone is talking about the awful offside decisions in this world cup. In general I don't think there is much difference between the severity of the reaction from the public between the two sorts of mistakes. They both account for one goal. People are equally pissed off if their team loses a goal they scored or if the other team scores a goal that should not have been. And job security is not an issue. Awful referees and linesmen are not often sacked during a tournament except for the later stages where they pick the best of the crop (so getting a major decision wrong will not get you picked whichever way you erred).

[billw55]

gwnn, on 2014-June-23, 06:57, said:

Well, obviously they are wrong about that. Everyone is talking about the awful offside decisions in this world cup. In general I don't think there is much difference between the severity of the reaction from the public between the two sorts of mistakes. They both account for one goal. People are equally pissed off if their team loses a goal they scored or if the other team scores a goal that should not have been. And job security is not an issue. Awful referees and linesmen are not often sacked during a tournament except for the later stages where they pick the best of the crop (so getting a major decision wrong will not get you picked whichever way you erred).

I was talking about future events with the job security comment. I would think that an official with a reputation for bad calls will be less in demand. And one way to get such a reputation is video replays from major events.

As for "equally pissed off" either way, I would agree that this applies to the fans of the wronged team. But to the general masses, not so sure.

[Aberlour10]

Klinsmann did a good job in the question of physical fitness too. I was a bit surprised how good the US team survived in the sauna of Manaus.

The FIFA choice to play there was what we call in Germany>>>> eine Schnapsidee

[gwnn]

You can check this video and the comment section (sorry, it is also quite racist) to see if people can get excited about disallowed goals for offsides (twice for Spain and once more for a ball that never left the pitch):

https://www.youtube....h?v=y4lG2RYalS8