World Cup and European leagues

[mybleedinghands]

The refs are trying to screw the USA again by giving Ghana a BS penalty kick!

[Greek Tragedy]

What a joke. 

I almost cursed Beasley when he played an early ball instead of running at the defense!  Nice pass, great finish, crappy PK call. 

At least the Czechs are down to 10 men.

[foul_language]

New rule: players carried off on stretchers either stay off a minimum of ten minutes or stay off the remainder of the game.

New rule: since all the refs have those hot little communication devices taped to their faces and ears, they should be talking to officials planted in the crowd. Let the people who can see what's going on be the last word in determining whether or not there has been a penalty.

[Mr. Ypsi]

You're certainly right that the PK was a joke, but I'm surprised the commentators kept blaming Reyna for the first goal, rather than noting that it was also bogus.  Draman slammed Reyna's knee; I'd have no trouble 'picking the pocket' of a player writhing in agony on the ground either!!  That was clearly a foul, probably even a card.  (Plus, although he returned for a while, it also cost us the captain.)

Bottom line, with competent officiating the US would have 6 points instead of 1, and I believe would have been the group winner due to the head-to-head result against Italy.

I'll still watch the rest of the Cup, but the refs have really spoiled it for me.

[cawcdad]

What a disappoining end for the U.S. side.

Back to Eric Wynalda's line from this past weekend, "There are two kinds of refs, bad and worse."

[foul_language]

I'm willing to give the refs the benefit of a doubt: one center ref to keep an eye on 22 players scattered over 110 yards of playing area and compound that with the bulk of the 22 players willing to dive, whine, cry and roll around as though they've just been knifed in the back. Even basketball with half the number of players and a much smaller area puts three refs in the arena of play and doesn't restrict two of them from making or overruling calls.

Take the acting out of the game--or discourage it with consequences that mean something--and the face of the game should change. If you can't tell if someone has been seriously hurt or not, simply assume if he has to leave the game, he's seriously hurt; he doesn't come back. Especially in the waning minutes and if the injured player is on the winning side. Wasting time for a pseudo-injury should be a red card.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

The bottom line was that the US came up a goal short.  Even if the ref hadn't called the penalty, we would still not have made it.

Reyna shouldn't have been the last one back.

[Greek Tragedy]

Disappointing end to the US.  But I will continue to watch the Cup as well.  I'm hoping the Aussies go through because they are fun to watch.  I'll root for England and Holland and may as well cheer on Ghana, though Essien won't even play in the 2nd round.


I'm well aware of the fact that all players try to slow down the game when they are ahead, but Ghana was just ridiculous.  Every time there was a challenge, they'd go down like their leg was broken.  A couple of times, I just wished the US kept playing, scored and then worried about the agony of the Ghanian player later.  What a joke.  They took it to a new level.  There should've been about 15 minutes of "injury time" after those acts. 

I honestly don't think there should've been a foul on Reyna.  Maybe I didn't see it as closely as you, but I was probably just too busy being pissed at Reyna for forking it up. 

As I type, Croatia hits in the 2nd minute off a free kick!

Anyway, the ref has TWO assistant refs to help him out.  I have no idea what the center ref saw to call that PK.  I feel the game would have been much different had it been 1-1 going into the break.

Beasley must be the happiest player on the US that the Cup is over for them.  What a forgettable Cup for him.  He was horrible again today, going backward a lot more than going foward.  Aside from his pass, he was invisible, as was Donovan.  Ghana's defense was not very good at all and the US hardly pressed them or ran at them to challenge them. 

Nice to see Eddie Johnson finally coming on. 

Well, on with the Cup...

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Reyna's inury brought some bad memories for me.  I lost an MCL is a similarly harmless looking touch of knees on the basketball court.  I hope he's alright.

Michael Davies, the ESPN blogger, put it best today when he said the US has talent all over the field, but lacks one game-changing player.  If we had a Nedved in the middle of the field directing traffic, we would be very successful.

Here's to four more years of player development.  I know I'm sounding like a Red Sox fan here, but do you know how many of these guys will be in the middle of their prime for the next cup?

I'll be rooting for anyone but Brazil at this point; its no fun for the same team to win every time.  I like the Swiss for some suprises.  We'll see what happens.

[mybleedinghands]

Overall, teh US played like a high school player drafted in the first round of the NBA draft that turns out to be a bust: Shows moments of brilliance at times in a few games, and every once in a while puts in a good game, but overall he ends up being a bad player.

[Ralph Turner]

I am like most of you. 

Change the rule that stops play when a player goes down.  Play on around him.  One attendant may go to him.  In the meantime, the teams play on and they are like the referee, just part of the playing pitch.  If the injured player goes off on his own strength for evaluation and is not substituted, then he may return.

If the player goes down in the penalty area, the player must crawl outside the penalty area to be treated.  If he requires treatment in the penalty area, then play stops, he is removed from the pitch and he is out for the remainder of the game.

Now I haven't thought out all of the nuances of that law change, but those are the principles that I favor.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

I say just have the referees give more cards for diving.  Half the Ghana team would have been out with ten minutes to go today.  I understand selling the foul, but going down when you're not touched is just unfair.  In a sport where its standard practice to push the ball out of bounds when a player is hurt, you would think they'd avoid abusing the gentlemenly play by diving all over the place.

I think the US played well, not at the top of their game, but very well.  We need more players developing in Europe and we need some more realistic expectations in general.  In five of these groups, the US would be moving on; we got a tough draw.  US fans are used to winning all the time; they have to be prepared for letdowns once in a while.  Holland made the semis in 98 and then missed the whole thing in 02.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I am like most of you. 

Change the rule that stops play when a player goes down.  Play on around him.  One attendant may go to him.  In the meantime, the teams play on and they are like the referee, just part of the playing pitch.  If the injured player goes off on his own strength for evaluation and is not substituted, then he may return.

If the player goes down in the penalty area, the player must crawl outside the penalty area to be treated.  If he requires treatment in the penalty area, then play stops, he is removed from the pitch and he is out for the remainder of the game.

Now I haven't thought out all of the nuances of that law change, but those are the principles that I favor.

I'd suggest one amendment: if the player is out for the game, his sub does not count as one of the 3 allowed.  Otherwise it would seem overly harsh to the team if a legitimately injured player goes down after the 3 subs have been used.

At the half: Aussies 1, Croatia 1.

At the half: Brazil 1, Japan 1.  This one looked to be a stunner, as Japan led 1-0 right up through 46 minutes, but the much derided Ronaldo found the net just seconds before the end of stoppage time.

A further comment on Draman-Reyna: while I agree that Reyna should not have been trying to dribble out (I believe he had a clear pass back to Kellar), he had not yet lost the ball when the front of Draman's knee struck hard at the side of Reyna's knee (which is why Reyna got so much the worse of the collision).  I'm not a licensed ref, so someone correct me if I'm interpreting the rule wrong, but that sounds like 'dangerous play' to me.

[Ralph Turner]

I am like most of you. 

Change the rule that stops play when a player goes down.  Play on around him.  One attendant may go to him.  In the meantime, the teams play on and they are like the referee, just part of the playing pitch.  If the injured player goes off on his own strength for evaluation and is not substituted, then he may return.

If the player goes down in the penalty area, the player must crawl outside the penalty area to be treated.  If he requires treatment in the penalty area, then play stops, he is removed from the pitch and he is out for the remainder of the game.

Now I haven't thought out all of the nuances of that law change, but those are the principles that I favor.

I'd suggest one amendment: if the player is out for the game, his sub does not count as one of the 3 allowed.  Otherwise it would seem overly harsh to the team if a legitimately injured player goes down after the 3 subs have been used.

At the half: Aussies 1, Croatia 1.

At the half: Brazil 1, Japan 1.  This one looked to be a stunner, as Japan led 1-0 right up through 46 minutes, but the much derided Ronaldo found the net just seconds before the end of stoppage time.

A further comment on Draman-Reyna: while I agree that Reyna should not have been trying to dribble out (I believe he had a clear pass back to Kellar), he had not yet lost the ball when the front of Draman's knee struck hard at the side of Reyna's knee (which is why Reyna got so much the worse of the collision).  I'm not a licensed ref, so someone correct me if I'm interpreting the rule wrong, but that sounds like 'dangerous play' to me.

Mr Ypsi, you are right about allowing the sub for the injured player who must leave.  That eliminates the tactic of injuing players to take away a coach's substitution powers.

[foul_language]

I may have been completely blind, but I thought Donovan had an open shot toward the end--just to the right side of the goal and facing only the keeper--and he passed. Why not take the shot and hope for at least a rebound?

Others may have been disappointing, but I actually wondered if maybe Landon had a hot date he didn't want to miss in the U.S. His crosses were weird; his shots were crazy.

I thought McBride played very well and with a lot of effort. Beasley rarely seemed to have open field. I think he held onto the ball too long...it's one thing to make a run, it's quite another to realize when you've been discovered and have no place to go. He didn't seem to catch on. You'd think three defenders collapsing on you would be a clue.

I saw Ghana's second game (against Italy?) and thought they were terrific. I'll stick with them. I thought their passes were great and they went to the ball; they seemed to be everywhere. Ivory Coast, oddly enough, I thought played the same kind of swarming, quick game. I was impressed. Of course, I'm easily impressed.