[Snail]

Uruguay-Ghana :O *gasps* Awesome match!

Ghana should've won...

[Mobius]

The last African team is gone, then...

[Snail]

The last African team is gone, then...

Yeah. Huge pity. It's an African world cup, an African team should've at least gotten through.

[Angelus]

The last African team is gone, then...

Yeah. Huge pity. It's an African world cup, an African team should've at least gotten through.

So true, it's sad for Ghana.

Germany 1 : 0 Argentina, after the first half. Looks VERY good so far. 

[Mobius]

Interesting match, indeed.

[Angelus]

WIN!!!!!!!!! 

Germany 4 : 0 Argentina

Perfect!

[Shade]

Great match, and a very deserved win for Germany

[Snail]

Man they got ****ed UP.

German Chancellor was doing the boogie by the end too. Poor Argentina.

[Rodo]

So we're out, nice match by Germany.. they won fare and square.

[Stealth]

excellent game!

[Kosh]

The last African team is gone, then...

Yeah. Huge pity. It's an African world cup, an African team should've at least gotten through.

If they played well enought they would have.

[Snail]

The last African team is gone, then...

Yeah. Huge pity. It's an African world cup, an African team should've at least gotten through.

If they played well enought they would have.

They did play well enough. In fact Ghana played better than Uruguay. Uruguay only got through by cheating. Yes, cheating.

[Shade]

No, they went through by Ghana being crap at penalties. Yes, there was a deliberate handball at the end, but it was punished with a red card and Ghana were handed a penalty. Which was exactly as it should be. That they failed to convert is besides the point, they had the chance and they blew it.

England was cheated, as a goal was incorrectly disallowed. Mexico was cheated, as a goal was incorrectly allowed. But the call in the case of Ghana's penalty was 100% correct, and they have only themselves to blame for not ending the match right there.

[Snail]

...I guess you're right, but this sort of thing still encourages cheating. If you can cheat and get results, then cheating is a good tactic.

[Herra Tohtori]

...I guess you're right, but this sort of thing still encourages cheating. If you can cheat and get results, then cheating is a good tactic.

In this case preventing the goal, even by handball, was exactly the correct decision. It prevented an otherwise obvious goal, and it was penalized by the rules. It offered a fighting chance to their team, as the overtime was about to end and a goal at that point would have otherwise been a certainty, while penalties are an uncertainty. Sounds like a good trade-off to me.


And I would like to remind that vast majority of penalties on this level translate to a goal. Ghana just screwed up on the penalties. I don't blame them, they're a young team and penalty kicks are the most nerve-wracking part in football. I agree with you that Ghana played better football and were better in the game, but they failed to score, and on penalty kicks their nerves didn't hold - the two last penalties by Ghana players were sort of pathetic to be honest.

Such is the game, and Ghana can only blame themselves for not winning the game they should have. I'd also attribute their fluctuating performance to their inexperience as well - they weren't consistent in the match.

[Klaustrophobia]

"good penalties" is bull****.  deliberatly cheating to give yourself a "fighting chance" when you were outplayed and about to be beaten shows a complete lack of class and respect, and has absolutely NO place in sports.  i realise you can't simply award the goal, and agree with that, but there ought to be some WAY more severe penalty for **** like that.

[Snail]

Whatever way you pitch it, the fact that cheating has become a valid tactic is a sad thing.

[Herra Tohtori]

"good penalties" is bull****.  deliberatly cheating to give yourself a "fighting chance" when you were outplayed and about to be beaten shows a complete lack of class and respect, and has absolutely NO place in sports.

Well, the rules have terms as to what constitutes as unsportsmanlike conduct, and hand balls aren't that. When you're left with a bad option and worse option, taking the worse option would just be silly. You're playing for the keeps in these games. If you have to sacrifice some of your personal integrity for your team to proceed in the games, it's an understandable decision.

i realise you can't simply award the goal, and agree with that, but there ought to be some WAY more severe penalty for **** like that.

Well, the direct red card means the player will miss next match. He's also one of key players in the Uruguay team, so that will somewhat hurt their performance in the next match.

Aside from that I'd also like to point out that due to shortness of reaction times in that sort of situation I wouldn't really say it was a conscious choice of the player to play the ball with hands, but to prevent the goal, and that happened and was correctly penalized according to the rules of the game.

In this case, it paid off. Would you be as eager to call for harsher penalties if Ghana had scored that penalty and won the game on overtime with no further penalties? You cannot know, because that didn't happen, but I would guess that then that hand ball wouldn't have spiked half as much controversy as it did now.


What puzzles me is that you are referring to the handball as "cheating". It's not cheating, it's simply disallowed. Cheating would be using doping to increase performance, or putting laxatives on the refreshments of the opposing team. Cheating would be fishing for penalties or bookings by diving or pretending injury. There's nothing dishonest with a hand ball, so I don't think it's cheating as such - it's a very open infraction to rules. The biggest issue I have with hand balls are those that stay undetected by lack of cameras to help referees.

[Snail]

In this case, it paid off. Would you be as eager to call for harsher penalties if Ghana had scored that penalty and won the game on overtime with no further penalties? You cannot know, because that didn't happen, but I would guess that then that hand ball wouldn't have spiked half as much controversy as it did now.

Probably not, since that would have been a harsh enough punishment in and of itself.

[Klaustrophobia]

my definition of the term "cheating" is perhaps broader than yours.  anything done intending to gain an unfair advantage, whether you intend to get away with it or not, is cheating to me.  denying a shot that WAS going to score in favor of one that has a relatively high percentage but is not guaranteed fits the bill.  this mentality of intentionally breaking rules of the game as a "tactical" decision is frankly unacceptable and is a HUGE reason why the sport is heading south.

as for if they HAD scored on the PK, yes, i still would have been as disgusted with the handball itself, just not as infurated with the outcome.  in this case i would still support harsher penalties.  just because what you did didn't pay off doesn't mean the sentence should be commuted.