World Cup 2010

[abigsmurf]

Missed the penalty but 4chan were calling it a dive, was it bad?

Some teams have been really embarassing. FIFA should've said something about all this diving, it's really spoiling things

[teenagewasteland]

I agree Jebus. A lot of these guys wouldn't survive a Sunday league game. All the diving and card waving annoys me no end as well.

Hoping to see a penalty shootout here.... goal Ghana!

[ShadowDancer]

Seeing every match this World Cup has just shown me...good lord, I knew professional footballers were poofs (no offence to genuine poofs out there) but holy crap, man up mother****ers!!

All the tippy tappy football in the world doesn't make up for plain and simple cheating, trying to get another professional booked or worse. If a ref identifies this kind of cheating, they should send the bastards off.

And that is the only way to rid it. Cheating Motts.

[EJG1980]

Great finish. Agree about the diving too, it's so annoying when you see someone brush their hand across someone's back as they're running and the other player goes flying.

If people on the street fell over that easily with so little contact it'd be impossible to walk down a busy street, there'd be bodies flying everywhere!

[Flabio]

Penalty didn't look like a dive to me, but it's irrelevant now...

[Jebus]

Aside from the over-acting and play-acting, the diving has been awful, the worst one (by far imho) being Fernando Torres, which resulted in a fellow professional being sent off for a second yellow.

In my very humble opinion, now the people in charge have had a chance to review the game, Torres should recieve a one match ban for that. It's not in the spirit of the game, it's disgraceful and not only should he feel ashamed, but he should be publically shamed within the game for it. His actions have cost the player involved a place in the team against Brazil in the last 16. Torres cheated, plain and simple, and FIFA should start acting on these things because, quite frankly, the sport (and this World Cup) is being ruined by it.

To be honest, that Torres incident has soured my opinion of the Spain team. I won't argue that they are technically gifted footballers capable of wonderful moves (see their second goal in the same game) but their actions were disgraceful at times, Chile were perhaps over-zealous some of the time but every single time they made a meal of it, it's embarrassing to see from grown men.

I forget the game, but it was recently, and the ref involved was having none of it, he very quickly booked a player for play-acting and it was wonderful to see, I actually applauded it.

Rant over, I think.

[abigsmurf]

Great finish. Agree about the diving too, it's so annoying when you see someone brush their hand across someone's back as they're running and the other player goes flying.

If people on the street fell over that easily with so little contact it'd be impossible to walk down a busy street, there'd be bodies flying everywhere!

To be fair, when you're running at full pelt, it takes very little to make you come crashing to ground.

However all too often now, they make the fall as dramatic as possible, make out they're injured or even make a little jump just as he feels contact is about to come.

It's increasingly common in European football but it's more common in English players than a lot of fans would like to admit. The latter example I gave above has been done by Rooney on 2-3 occasions last season alone.

[elaniel]

Congratulations Ghana! Play dirty and faff about for the last 15 minutes is not a way to play an honest game though.

I know it happens all the time, but still, its a dirty way to play.

US did play a bit weak for the overtime, I was hoping for a last minute goal, but the last goal we let through, should have easily been saved.

[abigsmurf]

now for all the patronising "this is so great for africa! Ghana is barely even a country but look at how well they've done! They're big boys now!"

[Jebus]

Something I forgot in my "rant".

If a player waves an imaginary card to the referee, instant red card for him. Get off the pitch ****.

[bwi]

now for all the patronising "this is so great for africa! Ghana is barely even a country but look at how well they've done! They're big boys now!"

God i thought it was just me thinking along those lines. It got to the point previously when i just wanted all the african teams out because of the commentators, sad i know but they really have got on my t*ts.

bri

[Adrock]

Ah well, I wanted USA through but at least Africa made it. Without Africa at the World Cup it'd be a travesty.

Hopefully next time, when they host in Brazil, South America can do quite well. Those poor stupid South Americans need someone to cheer on, so lets hope 2014 brings South American success. It'll cheer up the poor unfortunate people living in poverty.

Go Africa go!

[PeteJ]

I still don't understand why they don't bring in a video ref. Would cut down on all this cheating almost instantly.

[Adrock]

Regards Torres, I think he probably got clipped on his heel. It was clearly unintentional from the Chile player, that was obvious. He never broke stride or looked towards Torres.

Cant condone Torres' reaction though, atrocious. He should be banned for at least the same amount as the Chile player. Horrible way to play the game imo. Players seem to be increasingly dropping like flies as the World Cup goes on.

[prinnysquad]

I can't understand this trend for giving out yellows when heels are inadvertantly clipped. Fair enough, a cynical late lunge, but not when one player is clearly just running full pelt to catch up with the ball carrier, in the middle of the park, with no clear goalscoring opportunity (yadda yadda). It's a situation that's bled into the realms of the ridiculous now. Some poor guy today got a yellow because the ball carrier tripped over his own heel, and just because someone else happened to be running behind him he got a yellow. Ridiculous.

Some commentator said early doors in this tournament that it seemed that refs were being told that any tackle that didn't claim the ball was an instant yellow. Sometimes it does seem this way. There seems to be no distinction between a slightly late challenge and a cynical hack, and that's wrong. It's a fast contact game, tackles will inevitably miss the ball. The punishment is a freekick, it shouldn't always be accompanied by a yellow. As a ballpark figure, I'd say half the yellows I've seen have been **** wussbag decisions. And the terrible thing is, that this type of chodbucket cissiness is so prevailent, and so insidious, that you actually find yourself calling for yellows that you wouldn't normally ever shout at the screen for. A few times I've thought, 'that should be a yellow' in a particularly strictly-refereed game, then I've checked myself and thought, 'don't be ridiculous.' The type of light challenge you wouldn't even dream of thinking anything other than a free kick ten years ago. I'm not talking about a Chopper Harris special, just slightly-late, feet down, going for the ball challenges.

It's just all part of the softening up of the game, mincing hand in hand with the divers, cheats and imaginary card-wavers.