HoyaFanNY
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Never throw to the venus on a spider 3 Y banana!
Posts: 4,991
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Post by HoyaFanNY on Jun 30, 2010 5:58:37 GMT -5
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Elvado
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,080
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Post by Elvado on Jun 30, 2010 15:28:01 GMT -5
It was great to watch Barcelona beat Portugal yesterday...
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Jack
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,411
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Post by Jack on Jun 30, 2010 16:47:20 GMT -5
It was great to watch Barcelona beat Portugal yesterday... Fairly impressive that they did it without Messi, too. Though picking up Ramos and Casillas in his stead is a decent return.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,844
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Post by The Stig on Jun 30, 2010 23:34:27 GMT -5
You can also hate soccer and still love soccer announcers:
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Post by HometownHoya on Jul 1, 2010 12:28:48 GMT -5
I hate the wait in between games...thats why I hate most of the year when soccer isn't televised :-( (Sorry I don't have special channels ;-) )
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prhoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 23,259
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Post by prhoya on Jul 1, 2010 22:57:35 GMT -5
Waiting to see if Holland can handle one of the big teams tomorrow... The key for them will be their defense coping with the Brazilian attack. Set your DVRs!
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Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
123 Fireballs!
Posts: 10,355
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Post by Boz on Jul 2, 2010 10:26:02 GMT -5
Wow!
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kchoya
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Enter your message here...
Posts: 9,934
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Post by kchoya on Jul 2, 2010 10:44:19 GMT -5
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Jack
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,411
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Post by Jack on Jul 2, 2010 11:00:11 GMT -5
Hmmm... seems like a pretty open tournament now, doesn't it? You never expect to see Brazil just fall apart like that, especially this tougher, defensive Dunga-led version.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,844
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Post by The Stig on Jul 2, 2010 11:14:14 GMT -5
Hmmm... seems like a pretty open tournament now, doesn't it? You never expect to see Brazil just fall apart like that, especially this tougher, defensive Dunga-led version. Indeed. If you told somebody at halftime that Brazil was going to self-destruct in the 2nd half of that game, they'd have laughed you out of the room. Hats off to the Dutch, but Brazil lost that game more than they won it.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Jul 2, 2010 11:32:32 GMT -5
Felipe Melo better watch his back.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,844
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Post by The Stig on Jul 2, 2010 11:54:40 GMT -5
To be fair to Melo, the first goal shouldn't have been called an own goal, although Melo certainly contributed to it. But that red card was unforgivable.
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Post by jerseyhoya34 on Jul 2, 2010 11:59:24 GMT -5
The bracket is opening up, but I have a tough time believing right now that the championship will be anything other than the Dutch against the winner of the Argentina/Germany match.
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prhoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 23,259
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Post by prhoya on Jul 2, 2010 12:07:17 GMT -5
To be fair to Melo, the first goal shouldn't have been called an own goal, although Melo certainly contributed to it. Agree. The own goal was Julio Cesar's fault to come out like he did. The second Dutch goal was one of the best of the tournament.
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prhoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 23,259
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Post by prhoya on Jul 2, 2010 12:08:06 GMT -5
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Nevada Hoya
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 18,414
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Jul 2, 2010 16:31:09 GMT -5
Germany better beat Argentina tomorrow. The mere thought of Maradona running naked through the streets of Buenos Aires is too much to bear (or bare).
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SFOHoya
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 500
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Post by SFOHoya on Jul 2, 2010 16:43:50 GMT -5
Everyone must still be in shock over Uruguay/Ghana because that was the sickest, most insane ending to a World Cup match
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,844
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Post by The Stig on Jul 2, 2010 17:16:30 GMT -5
A few days ago I wanted to bomb Ghana back to the stone age. Now I just feel awful for them. That was an absolutely horrible way to lose. Suarez is a little b*tch.
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FLHoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Proud Member of Generation Burton
Posts: 4,544
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Post by FLHoya on Jul 2, 2010 18:41:17 GMT -5
A few days ago I wanted to bomb Ghana back to the stone age. Now I just feel awful for them. That was an absolutely horrible way to lose. Suarez is a little b*tch. On the contrary, Suarez did the smartest...and only...thing he could do in the situation. Obviously it's a red card, but in the final minute of extra time in a tie game...when the ball is heading into the net and the only way you're keeping it out is by swatting it...and the expulsion of a player means basically nothing with seconds remaining in extra time...that's the play to make. Obviously the odds are long that Ghana would miss the PK...but these things happen. To me, it's kind of analogous to what the Phoenix Suns did at the end of the 2nd OT in Game 5 of the 1976 NBA Finals. They were down 1 with two seconds to go and inbounding under the opposite basket. So they called a timeout, knowing they didn't have any remaining. That of course gave Boston a technical foul shot--which they made to go up 2--but under the rules of the time, Phoenix also got to advance the ball to halfcourt as if it were a normal timeout. They inbounded the ball and hit a shot to extend the game to a 3rd OT. In both cases--the latter probably calculated and the former certainly instinctual--a team/player took a "penalty" (pun intended) because the punishment under the rules was worth the potential advantage their team could gain...even if it was a longshot. They had no other option, really. What shocked me isn't that Gyan was the first PK taker for Ghana, or even that he made the PK. It was that he went high again. Jeepers. I mean for me, hit it with pace and into the side netting...if you do that right the keeper won't get over in time even if he guesses right. Landon Donovan did it just about right against Ghana. The upper 90 shots and the slow run-up things are just too cute for me. Of course, I'd be lucky to put it on frame in an intramural game. Abreu's take though was pretty boss. I've seen Jaime Moreno pull that off for D.C. United at RFK, and his was even more pronounced--basically gave the keeper time to look up after diving and see it land just behind him. Of course, I've also seen the keeper stay put when someone tries to chip it from the spot--and then you look like a dunce. The two games today were riveting television. Martin Tyler kept bringing up the 1974 Holland-Brazil game, and I seem to remember from highlights I watched on TV some time ago that Brazil melted down in that game too. Something including a Brazilian player responding to the crowd taunting them after the game by shoving three fingers in their face, for the number of titles they had at the time.
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The Stig
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,844
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Post by The Stig on Jul 2, 2010 23:57:19 GMT -5
What the Suns did was game the system. What Suarez did was cheating. There's a big difference.
For the Suns, there was no advantage gained from the timeout itself - it was just a wrinkle in the rules that gave them the advantage with the inbounds. For Suarez, the entire advantage was gained in the act of breaking the rules. Using your hands to keep the ball out of the net when you're not the goalie is fundamentally against the rules of soccer. Doing it deliberately with the intent of stopping the other team from scoring is cheating, plain and simple.
It was a riveting game though, especially at the end. One of the remarkable things about the World Cup is that it makes you pay attention to the "lesser" soccer nations. A matchup between that Ghana team and that Uruguay team would probably always be a good game, since they were very level sides that are better up front than they are in back. But outside of the World Cup they'd probably never play each other, and if they did, nobody would care. It might be a great game, but nobody would see it. The World Cup gives those entertaining oddball matches meaning and an audience, and games like we saw this afternoon are the result.
Of course, a Brazil-Netherlands game is always going to get attention, and we finally had a big name game at this World Cup lives up to the hype. As bad as the Dutch looked in the first half, I had a strange feeling they'd come back. This Dutch team just might have what it takes to do what previous Dutch teams couldn't do.
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