World Cup 2014

[Billy Idol]

Perhaps that TV shows that the referees still make a tonne of pretty crucial mistakes, and that in this day and age referees should be allowed / required to consult TV judges?

Exactly! I watched 3 games. In each of them the referees made a fundamental mistake that changed the whole game (all caused even a goal, or a non-goal).

There are rules in soccer. But no one seems to care - although there is technical equipment (tv proof) that would made every decision of a referee easily water proof.

Now, referees fundamentally influence the result (I don't blame refs, because it is a damn difficult job they need to manage...the density of referees compared to the size is quite low) and thus soccer is not a fair sport with appropriate rules.

Futhermore, every time I see such a decision...I do wonder if manipulation is going on by the referee, as money betting is quite strong during such an event and we already know lots of cases where this happened in different leagues.

In conclusion. Soccer don't have rules, it is not a sport.

 

[Billy Idol]

For the fakers

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwIQSbfo2_Y">YouTube Link</a>

Ha ha ha...so true!!

 

[Arwin]

I watched half a game today (hard to evade in the Netherlands right now ), and every foul had a close-up shot being replayed on TV even before the game resumed (often showing that the referee didn't see it correctly). I also saw an interview for a kids show where a referee explained how the sport works - all referees on the field have headsets to talk with each other, and then they have a backup system with a button on the bottom of the flag for instance that can be used by the refs at the sideline to signal that something happened, etc.

Shouldn't be too hard to mix in a camera-referee in the mix, if you ask me.

 

[Rurouni]

The Chile team acting hurt at every opportunity. It's really annoying to watch. Maybe we need a rule that if someone fell down and can't get up in 10secs, that person should be carried out and can only come back to the pitch after 10minutes.

 

[zed]

Theyve had TV refs in rugby for years, it doesnt seem to hold up the game too much.

Theyre also used somewhat in cricket but theres a strange situation
where India doesnt allow them but the rest of the world does, Reason why? you cant bribe a camera

 

[Mariner]

Personally, I'm fundamentally opposed to any of these 'new' technology systems when it comes to football.

For me, the beauty of the game is that the rules (well, laws as they are known) are exactly the same at all levels, whether it is a hungover Sunday League game played between 22 overweight and blearry-eyed talentless amateurs (I've seen these before!), or the World Cup Final itself.

Before the advent of the goal-line technology, you could guarantee that both games would be officiated in the same manner to the same standards, give or take the quality of the referee, of course!

The human aspect and the fallibility of referees is just part of the game and, overall, good and bad decisions tend to even themselves out throughout the course of a season and the best team always wins. In Cup competitions, there may be some small injustices here and there, but that is also just part of the game and, invariably, the best team still wins.

Trying to remove the uncontrollable aspects of football and homogenise things using technology will break up the flow of the game, it's biggest strength, so I'm against it. The push for such changes is coming from the big clubs who are looking to make big money out of the game, not for sporting reasons.

Anyway, I've just seen some highlights of the Croatia/Cameroon game last night. What sort of madness was going on in the Cameroon team!?! Song never struck me as a violent player during his time at Arsenal - he's obviously learning bad habits at Barcelona!

As for Assou-Ekotto, that was just ridiculous!

 

[Billy Idol]

Personally, I'm fundamentally opposed to any of these 'new' technology systems when it comes to football.

For me, the beauty of the game is that the rules (well, laws as they are known) are exactly the same at all levels, whether it is a hungover Sunday League game played between 22 overweight and blearry-eyed talentless amateurs (I've seen these before!), or the World Cup Final itself.

Before the advent of the goal-line technology, you could guarantee that both games would be officiated in the same manner to the same standards, give or take the quality of the referee, of course!

The human aspect and the fallibility of referees is just part of the game and, overall, good and bad decisions tend to even themselves out throughout the course of a season and the best team always wins. In Cup competitions, there may be some small injustices here and there, but that is also just part of the game and, invariably, the best team still wins.

Trying to remove the uncontrollable aspects of football and homogenise things using technology will break up the flow of the game, it's biggest strength, so I'm against it. The push for such changes is coming from the big clubs who are looking to make big money out of the game, not for sporting reasons.

Anyway, I've just seen some highlights of the Croatia/Cameroon game last night. What sort of madness was going on in the Cameroon team!?! Song never struck me as a violent player during his time at Arsenal - he's obviously learning bad habits at Barcelona!

As for Assou-Ekotto, that was just ridiculous!

Imo, that is BS...sorry. Up to now, there simple are no rules at all...especially not the same across the board. Due to the actual referee situation, to be precise, the rules are different in every single(!) soccer game, as the referee (his interpretation) so heavily influences the whole game - see the actual World Cup.

Technology and added tv referees is the only right answer. The tec is available since years and working. Lot's of other sports already use it.

But Fifa don't want it. No wonder there is so many whispering about money steered manipulation even up to the highest Fifa ranks!

 

[entity279]

And what is this flow of the game you keep talking about? All I can think of is the (sometimes) minutes passed when a player prepare its free kicks/corners, substitutions introduced in the very last minutes to preserve a result etc.

So what's freely flowing is the time, even when nothing really happens on the field.

As for me, when I think of flow I think of handball/basketball. Much more interesting games.

 

[Arwin]

For me, the beauty of the game is that the rules (well, laws as they are known) are exactly the same at all levels, whether it is a hungover Sunday League game played between 22 overweight and blearry-eyed talentless amateurs (I've seen these before!), or the World Cup Final itself.

That part doesn't change by introducing camera refereeing - the rules stay the same.

Before the advent of the goal-line technology, you could guarantee that both games would be officiated in the same manner to the same standards, give or take the quality of the referee, of course!

Give or take the quality of the referee, even on the World Cup level, that's a HUGE variation in quality!

The human aspect and the fallibility of referees is just part of the game and, overall, good and bad decisions tend to even themselves out throughout the course of a season and the best team always wins. In Cup competitions, there may be some small injustices here and there, but that is also just part of the game and, invariably, the best team still wins.

Small injustices? A wrongly assigned goal or penalty easily makes the difference between winning and losing. The Netherlands has been 'lucky' in that regard, I think in two matches we now had two unfairly assigned penalties against us leading to a goal from the opponent, but somehow we still won (and for the record, I don't care if we win or lose, but I do care about why I stopped caring ).

Trying to remove the uncontrollable aspects of football and homogenise things using technology will break up the flow of the game, it's biggest strength, so I'm against it. The push for such changes is coming from the big clubs who are looking to make big money out of the game, not for sporting reasons.

The camera often knows what happens even before the referee has made his decision now. And I could just as easily (and not unrealistically) say that the push for keeping the camera referee out, is coming from certain parties who benefit from having a partial, prejudiced, incompetent or even bribed referee (there have been some really bad gambling related scandals).

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Great Cup so far, lots of good games. Spain fading wasn't a surprise to me, but I expected them to go through from the group stage and lose to Brazil. African teams have been performing a little weakly. Germany looking strong at least until they play against Italy

 

[liolio]

I quit watching Ghana?Germany as I already know the score.

Every competition I (even though loosely follow) reinforce my belief that this game is rigged.

I noticed quite a few grabs from Germans players that did not trigger reactions from the referee, same with an offside (or what looked like it but as there was no fault we did not get any replay).
Last action with the Gahanean guy shooting the ball out instead of aiming for the goal keeper was to much for me to stomach...

 

[BRiT]

You just missed Germany going up.

 

[Wynix]

I quit watching Ghana?Germany as I already know the score.

Every competition I (even though loosely follow) reinforce my belief that this game is rigged.

I noticed quite a few grabs from Germans players that did not trigger reactions from the referee, same with an offside (or what looked like it but as there was no fault we did not get any replay).
Last action with the Gahanean guy shooting the ball out instead of aiming for the goal keeper was to much for me to stomach...

The game ended in a 2 - 2 draw.

 

[pascal]

Few surprises for me:
- Spain exiting the World Cup. They look psychologically shaken since the defeat last year
- The Mexico goalkeeper Ochoas great performance.
- The Americas´ Teams are doing well in general.

 

[tangey]

and on the eve of England's "dead" final game, a UK national paper went with the sports headline of:-

"Hodgson's next big decision....window or aisle."

 

[zed]

A football question
why are the majority of the international games called 'friendlies'?
All international rugby games are 'tests'
With the name 'friendly' it sounds as if the result doesnt count/matter

 

[pascal]

Probably diplomatics between countries.
Friendlies sounds more light/friendly :smile:

 

[Mariner]

A friendly means that it isn't part of a competition. A one-off game, in other words.

International friendly matches often aren't much to watch these days as they tend to agree rules which allow too many substitutions - you often end up with two entirely different teams playing in either half, which just ruins the continuity of games!

 

[zed]

I think Ive discovered how england can win the worldcup football, heres what theyve played so far this year

International Friendly 5 March England 1 - 0 Denmark
International Friendly 30 May England 3 – 0 Peru
International Friendly 4 June Ecuador 2 – 2 England
International Friendly 7 June England 0 – 0 Honduras
2014 FIFA World Cup Group D 14 June England 1 – 2 Italy
2014 FIFA World Cup Group D 19 June Uruguay 2 - 1 England

All they have to do is treat the world cup matches as friendly matches & they should perform better

 

[Gerry]

I think Ive discovered how england can win the worldcup football, heres what theyve played so far this year

International Friendly 5 March England 1 - 0 Denmark
International Friendly 30 May England 3 – 0 Peru
International Friendly 4 June Ecuador 2 – 2 England
International Friendly 7 June England 0 – 0 Honduras
2014 FIFA World Cup Group D 14 June England 1 – 2 Italy
2014 FIFA World Cup Group D 19 June Uruguay 2 - 1 England

All they have to do is treat the world cup matches as friendly matches & they should perform better

Uruguay are ranked 7th in the world, Italy are ranked 9th.

Denmark are ranked 23rd, Peru 45th, Ecuador 26th and Honduras 33rd.