World Cup Soccer 2010

I love the Italian team but have to applaud New Zealand. :yay Paston was outstanding in goal and when NZ almost scored there at the end, I found myself wishing they had. An awesome game for the underdog!

The US was robbed of the win and I'm still angry about that bogus call. I don't like drawing lots to determine advancement. Hell of a way to go out. :mmm

ETA: From FIFA:

In order to advance to the second round, the U.S. needs either of the following:

•Scenario 1: U.S. win against Algeria
•Scenario 2: U.S. tie against Algeria, England loss against Slovenia
•Scenario 3: England ties Slovenia AND U.S. maintains their Goals Scored advantage, which is currently at +2

A U.S. loss to Algeria, or a U.S. tie coupled with an England victory against Slovenia and the U.S. would be eliminated.

Wow. The officiating today was awful in the Chile-Switzerland game. I'm glad Chile won, but the ref was throwing around yellow cards like they were candy, for no good reason. The Swiss had to play a man down for over an hour and the Chileans had a tough time following through even though they dominated. It kind of wrecks the game for me.

Yeah, that was awful. Especially the red card against the Swiss player. Yes, he threw his arm backward to try to get rid of the Chilean player but he didn't throw an elbow. I also loved the guy who drew the yellow card by pretending he'd been hit in the throat. I had no problem with giving a yellow card to the other Chile player who took a dive in the box for bad acting. I really wish there was some way to cut down on the ridiculous diving. Half the time it looks like the old SNL skit where Claudine Longet "accidently" shoots Spider Sabich.

No yellow/red card was as ridiculous as the 2nd yellow card for Brazil's Kaka (I'm really immature, because I just chuckled :lol). Kaka was nowhere near Côte d'Ivoire's Kader Keita's face. Keita was getting desperate, and his desperation resulted in a very dirty move. :ohno

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No yellow/red card was as ridiculous as the 2nd yellow card for Brazil's Kaka (I'm really immature, because I just chuckled :lol). Kaka was nowhere near Côte d'Ivoire's Kader Keita's face. Keita was getting desperate, and his desperation resulted in a very dirty move. :ohno

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The two refs (the one who gave Kaka the yellow card and the one who didn't allow the goal in the US game) have been suspended from refereeing for the next round.

Unfortunately, everything else stands.

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Originally Posted by CrossingGuard;3944522;

No yellow/red card was as ridiculous as the 2nd yellow card for Brazil's Kaka (I'm really immature, because I just chuckled :lol). Kaka was nowhere near Côte d'Ivoire's Kader Keita's face. Keita was getting desperate, and his desperation resulted in a very dirty move. :ohno

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That replay just make you shake you're head. Keita's holding his face in agony, Huh? Kaka didn't even touch his face. :confused

They can suspend all they want, the fact remains, the damage has been done.

The ref's are always such an issue at these games, its very frustrating. :(

Sad that RSA has been eliminated on goal difference.
They gave a pretty good account of themselves.
Pleased that Uruguay and Mexico made a game of it though.
They could have played out a draw and left Bafana with no chance, but both teams played like they wanted to win.

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Originally Posted by GuardianAngel;3945661;

That replay just make you shake you're head. Keita's holding his face in agony, Huh? Kaka didn't even touch his face. :confused

They can suspend all they want, the fact remains, the damage has been done.

The ref's are always such an issue at these games, its very frustrating. :(

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Exactly, the damage has been done. I'm not even rooting for Brazil (only because they're the obvious favorites, and a predictable result is not that exciting to see), but it's ridiculous that Kaka can't play in the next game. And don't get me started on the "foul" on the US team.

Anyway, it's a sad day for South Africa and probably most soccer fans. Everyone that I met over there had such great hopes coming into the World Cup. Their hopes were so great that I actually believed that their boys were really as good as they were making them out to be. The soccer-fanatic teachers of my group told me otherwise... but I still had hope they would qualify to the Round of 16. Alas, now they're the first host nation to not get to that round. That's sort of a tough burden to have. But hey, at least they won their last game against a team who were ranked highly (drama aside). Still disappointing though.

I don't think it was a sad day for South Africa. CNN reported that everyone was celebrating the win against France. South Africa had to win by 5 or something anyway. I think they knew they would probably not advance. They still get to host and I think they love hosting!
Anyway, I am hoping an African team makes the next round so go Ghana! It was a tough loss for Nigeria but I'd like to see more Asian nations advance too! And I'm always rooting for teams from the Americas! Sorry Europe!

Sorry, I have to disagree. Many people that I had the fortune to meet were looking forward to their country merely hosting the World Cup. Like I said before, there was a kid who told me that he was thankful to be living during this historic time. But in addition to hosting, they were also very hopeful in Bafana Bafana winning the whole thing. Their disappointment was probably larger during the big loss to Uruguay, knowing that their boys had to overcome a big hurdle afterwards. But I know there was still an ounce of hope. So with that chance to win the cup on home soil officially over, of course there will be some disappointment, even with 1) a win over France and 2) the fact that they're hosting.