[Lorric]

I'm just glad Mexico still managed to overcome it and win 1-0. Hope those "offside" goals aren't a factor in a GD tie break.

[Mongoose]

So why hasn't the premier tournament of the most popular sport in the world instituted video replays yet?

[The E]

Because FIFA is an astonishingly corrupt organization, I believe.

[Ghostavo]

I'm reminded of something

[Herra Tohtori]

Well, that was totally not worth a penalty.

[Lorric]

Spain are getting torn apart. It's 4-1 Netherlands currently.

[Rodo]

Nice display of good consistent football by Netherlands.
Spain had the ball and wiggled it around, but could not transform it into anything useful against a team with decent defense and powerful forwards.

[Luis Dias]

Ok I did not expect that. What a game. I am really really happy.

Tiki Taka can die a horrible, humilliating, excoriating, cringeworthy death as far as I am concerned. And Netherlands delivered it really efficiently on the second half time. Robben and Persie were amazing.

My favorites are still Germany and Brazil though.

[Lorric]

Maybe Spain are tired of simply winning tournaments now, so they decided to make this one a bit more challenging for themselves. Or maybe they wanted to bring down the odds on themselves, so they could place a bet on themselves and make some extra money while they're at it.

Netherlands did well, it was a powerful display by them, full of swagger, but Spain were a shambles. Did they think they simply had to show up? Have they grown complacent? It will be very interesting to see how they respond to this.

[Rodo]

Maybe Spain are tired of simply winning tournaments now

No, not really.
The era where football teams where afraid of the mighty barcelonistic playstyle is over now. It's been proven over and over that you don't just win a match making 300 passes alone, you need to score as well.

Del Bosque has a tough task ahead of him, keeping Spain crowd happy is the hardest task on them now. To win they will have to resort to a different kind of playstyle IMO, which in time might not suit the expectations of their crowd.

[Lorric]

Things were looking grim indeed for the Aussies after Chile blazed into that 2-0 lead, I bet televisions across Australia were switched off at that point. But they came back, and put up a fight after being dominated in the early going, and only an injury time goal restored Chile's 2 goal lead, so in the end it was a respectable result, rather than the rout it was threatening to be after Chile scored that second goal.

[Hobbie]

The Chileans were awfully grabby. Cahill was yanked out of position in the penalty box (missed by the ref) and McGowan was yanked out of position at the other end (also missed by the ref).

The outrage against Cahill's disallowed goal is unfounded though. He was really, really offside and funnily enough, if he'd been a touch less aggressive, he wouldn't have been.

[FrikgFeek]

So why hasn't the premier tournament of the most popular sport in the world instituted video replays yet?

Because it's the premier tournament of the most popular sport in the world. People are stupidly traditional about it.

[Mongoose]

Baseball is a pretty stupidly-traditional sport too, and even the MLB finally allowed widespread replays this season.  Really if you have five billion people breathing down your necks, I'd want to get those calls right.

[Scotty]

Aaaand then after scoring the fastest goal in the history of the World Cup, the US manages to upset Ghana 2-1 in the first game.

Wooooo!

[Lorric]

Aaaand then after scoring the fastest goal in the history of the World Cup, the US manages to upset Ghana 2-1 in the first game.

Wooooo!

It's nice to see someone post in this thread, this World Cup has been excellent entertainment for me, despite England opening up with a loss.

However, this is actually the fastest World Cup goal:

US / Portugal is quite possibly the game I'm most looking forward to as a neutral on the second round of matches. It's between that and Spain / Chile.

[Scotty]

I stand corrected.  The US goal was the fastest US goal in World Cup history.  Minor distinction.

[Mongoose]

Aaaand then after scoring the fastest goal in the history of the World Cup, the US manages to upset Ghana 2-1 in the first game.

Wooooo!

Yay for kickball!

[Lorric]

I stand corrected.  The US goal was the fastest US goal in World Cup history.  Minor distinction.

Heh.

England have a very fast World Cup goal in their history too:

EDIT: I see what you've done Dekker. What's with the title change?

[Colonol Dekker]

It's more Hard-Lightey.