[Genevieve]

It's coming home
It's coming home
It's coming
Football's coming home

Up the 3 lions!

Congrats to the USA aswell, nicely done. Also, commiserations to Slovenia...you played a good game, and we only won because we're English (and the English are great at pulling through at the last second). Honestly though, a good game.

As for the yellows Slovenia got...if they got yellow cards, then unfortunately so should Johnson in the opening 20mins of the game.


BRING ON THE KNOCKOUTS!

[Alexis Acevedo]

Oh, lord...

Here's hoping the Germans get second place tonight.

Wouldn't they have to tie Ghana and hope Serbia loses to get that result? :unsure:

[james kite]

Wouldn't they have to tie Ghana and hope Serbia loses to get that result? :unsure:

I have no idea, really. I was implying that I'd like to see Team Heart play against a team that isn't playing like a B-team of my city's sunday competition.

[Brian Newman]

What...? That doesn't have anything to do with Miss Yiasemi complaining about we Americans complaining. Listen... I want to like soccer, I do. I've been one of those people that hates soccer, but this World Cup has been so fun to watch. So when I come into this thread and mingle with you guys and talk about soccer and try to fit it... when I find someone complaining about complaining rather than staying respectful and congratulating us on a well-deserved job well done, it's kind of... irritating. You know what I mean?

Oh hey, don't get me wrong, I've been cheering for USA since the beginning of this world cup! I've only cheered against them when they played against Slovenia, but well... I'm more than glad to see them qualify from the group stage, and not just qualify but on the first place! But if you want to get into football/soccer, you'll have to understand that referee mistakes (and occasional referee bias, too) are part of the game. The point is that if you always play your best, the occasional mistake by the referee won't matter anyway. That's exactly what the USA team has done in this world cup so far - they've played every minute of every match to the best of their abilities, and even though they suffered a terrible referee mistake in the match against Slovenia (disallowing the goal for 3-2), it didn't matter because they ended on the first place in the group anyway. Also, that referee mistake was at least an honest one. There was so much commotion around the Slovenian goal that referee simply saw a foul that wasn't there. That happens because the referees are human beings, I do agree that these kinds of questionable decisions should also be reviewed through recordings during the game so a bad decision can be immediately fixed, but until that happens (and I doubt it ever will) the best we can do is enjoy football for what it currently is. Again, even that, in other cases extremely terrible referee mistake, turned out to not matter at all because the USA ended on the first place in their group.

[Justin]

Yay USA! :celebration:

[Marquis deVille]

Urgh, Capello's dropped Heskey for Defoe. I don't approve. If he was going to drop Heskey it should've been so Gerrard could fill in behind.

Well mate ??

[Milagros Osorio]

Going to a bar to watch the game was a bad idea. My head almost exploded when England scored. And that was only the tame bar, the other 2 I tried were full. Didn't know there were so many Brits in Bangkok.

[Jessie]

Yay USA! :celebration:

Yep i think it great England and the USA made it through

[Christine Pane]

Well mate ??

I know Defoe scored but he was useless for most of the game. His shot was straight at the keeper and he let it through his hands. He missed a sitter at the start of the second half. It was hardly a definitive performance but at least he scored.

[Star Dunkels Macmillan]

Well that was a crazy finish.Me and five others stayed in class once the final bell rang to watch the end.The last moments of my high school career where spent watching Landon Donovan score a huge goal.

[Gavin boyce]

Omg the American patriotism in here makes me wanna vom.

Australia vs Serbia will be good. I don't have much hope for the socceroos though. If Serbia can beat Germany good lord... Australia really need to play well.

[Sophie Louise Edge]

Oh hey, don't get me wrong, I've been cheering for USA since the beginning of this world cup! I've only cheered against them when they played against Slovenia, but well... I'm more than glad to see them qualify from the group stage, and not just qualify but on the first place! But if you want to get into football/soccer, you'll have to understand that referee mistakes (and occasional referee bias, too) are part of the game. The point is that if you always play your best, the occasional mistake by the referee won't matter anyway. That's exactly what the USA team has done in this world cup so far - they've played every minute of every match to the best of their abilities, and even though they suffered a terrible referee mistake in the match against Slovenia (disallowing the goal for 3-2), it didn't matter because they ended on the first place in the group anyway. Also, that referee mistake was at least an honest one. There was so much commotion around the Slovenian goal that referee simply saw a foul that wasn't there. That happens because the referees are human beings, I do agree that these kinds of questionable decisions should also be reviewed through recordings during the game so a bad decision can be immediately fixed, but until that happens (and I doubt it ever will) the best we can do is enjoy football for what it currently is. Again, even that, in other cases extremely terrible referee mistake, turned out to not matter at all because the USA ended on the first place in their group.

I'm just like him, using this World Cup as a way to get excited about soccer. What the rest of the world needs to understand is that football (or soccer, as we know it, but I'll call it football for the sake of the international users) isn't a very popular sport in the United States. Major League Soccer draws pretty low numbers, a lot of games aren't even televised that I'm aware of, etc. So what you have are a bunch of Americans getting their first real exposure to football. Personally, before I read about it I didn't even know how the system of relegation/promotion worked (for the record, I think it's absolutely awesome).

In the most popular sports, American football and basketball, if there's a questionable call they go to the monitors and review it. Baseball doesn't have an instant replay system, and it takes a lot, and I mean a LOT of heat for it sometimes- Armando Galarraga losing a perfect game a few weeks ago might have been the straw that broke the camel's back- and is on path to get one. In addition, there is only one sport that allows a game to end in a tie- professional American football- and that happens so rarely it's not very thought of.

So, for an average American, low soccer IQ, watching the biggest stage for the first time, they get confused. Why isn't there instant replay? Why do they just let the clock run instead of stopping it and playing set time (still a little confused on that one, too)? I mean, we're used to bad calls, but we don't like them. We complain about them and they almost ALWAYS get fixed in our sports.

I can accept it as one of football's quirks, but that doesn't mean I like it. Americans like fast-paced high-scoring action. They don't like to watch two teams kick the ball up the field over and over without any goals. Personally, I don't get excited unless it's the US playing, because then I have a personal stake in it.

So regard this complaining as a part of Americans working their way into the footballing community, and expressing our ignorance of football's quirks that the rest of the world is so used to. If football ever gets really big over here, as this world cup may actually be helping, as MLS numbers start to climb, we'll be right along with the rest of you.

[Alyesha Neufeld]

You know....I rather hope Germany come second.

WE WANT REVENGE for that HANDBALL on the German Goal Line which the referee NEVER gave a penalty for.

I still remember that handball as if it was yesterday. I remember, too, Kaiser Franz commenting later that 'You do a handball in the penalty box, you should get a penalty, end of story.'

RACHE, DEUTSCHLAND!!!! RACHE!!!

[Charlotte Henderson]

Omg the American patriotism in here makes me wanna vom.

He's just supporting his team. I don't see how simply because he's from the USA makes that equate to patriotism. I agree, some things he said do seem to be a bit patriotic and nationalistic, but I've seen and heard worse, so it's all just football.

[rheanna bruining]

I know Defoe scored but he was useless for most of the game. His shot was straight at the keeper and he let it through his hands. He missed a sitter at the start of the second half. It was hardly a definitive performance but at least he scored.

Defoe was in the correct place at the right time Heskey would have still of been on the half way line

[Ruben Bernal]

I know Veeno, I know everyone can support their team that its just reading back the majority people talk about USA, i suppose its an American based forum but its a bit one sided.

Speaking about patriotism, they don't allow singing at this world cup which I was disappointed about. I like the singing. The English have of course http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKSbkFNGT0o what does the team you support sing forumers?

[Alba Casas]

I know Veeno, I know everyone can support their team that its just reading back the majority people talk about USA, i suppose its an American based forum but its a bit one sided.

Speaking about patriotism, they don't allow singing at this world cup which I was disappointed about. I like the singing. The English have of course http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKSbkFNGT0o what does the team you support sing forumers?

Well it was a crazy finish and your right this is an American based forum.

No singing!?!?!?!?!?!IWhy not, they have those damn horns but no singing?

[Richard]

While kvetching over referees' judgment calls seems to be a pastime that doesn't know international borders, I do think that the particularly American demands for replay systems are poor sportsmanship and misguided.

Veeno put it right; basically, the refs are part of the game. You play the game by their judgment. They're human. They don't catch even a fraction of the fouls, and once in a while they see something that isn't there. That, not by employing elaborate systems for second-guessing them, is how games are played.

And I don't hold to the idea of any team actually being beaten by a referee's call. (I'm not talking about corrupt officials, just ones who make mistakes, even big ones.) It doesn't happen that way. You, as a manager or player, had 90 minutes to put yourself in a position where you would not be at risk of losing the game on a judgment call. If you did not do so, you did not play well enough to win.

Group play is about surviving to play in the knockout round anyway. If you survived, count your blessings; the goal you should have had two games ago doesn't matter, and the energy you spend griping about it would have been better spent preparing for the next match.

[Louise Lowe]

While kvetching over referees' judgment calls seems to be a pastime that doesn't know international borders, I do think that the particularly American demands for replay systems are poor sportsmanship and misguided.

Veeno put it right; basically, the refs are part of the game. You play the game by their judgment. They're human. They don't catch even a fraction of the fouls, and once in a while they see something that isn't there. That, not by employing elaborate systems for second-guessing them, is how games are played.

And I don't hold to the idea of any team actually being beaten by a referee's call. (I'm not talking about corrupt officials, just ones who make mistakes, even big ones.) It doesn't happen that way. You, as a manager or player, had 90 minutes to put yourself in a position where you would not be at risk of losing the game on a judgment call. If you did not do so, you did not play well enough to win.

Here here :foodndrink:

[Blessed DIVA]

While kvetching over referees' judgment calls seems to be a pastime that doesn't know international borders, I do think that the particularly American demands for replay systems are poor sportsmanship and misguided.

Veeno put it right; basically, the refs are part of the game. You play the game by their judgment. They're human. They don't catch even a fraction of the fouls, and once in a while they see something that isn't there. That, not by employing elaborate systems for second-guessing them, is how games are played.

And I don't hold to the idea of any team actually being beaten by a referee's call. (I'm not talking about corrupt officials, just ones who make mistakes, even big ones.) It doesn't happen that way. You, as a manager or player, had 90 minutes to put yourself in a position where you would not have to lose the game on a judgment call. If you did not do so, you did not play well enough to win.

Well we are just use to replays out of our four major leagues 3 have instant replay.As far as human error goes in football/soccer its the same as baseball.Its a part of the game and its something you just need to accept.

[Erika Ellsworth]

I know Defoe scored but he was useless for most of the game. His shot was straight at the keeper and he let it through his hands. He missed a sitter at the start of the second half. It was hardly a definitive performance but at least he scored.

I disagree. I doubt another striker would have gotten to the ball fast enough to put it in (however flooky some people may think it was), which means we'd be sitting in silence with 3rd place right now. He was the one strike I saw consistently in the right position, every time the ball was sent in his direction, he was there. Great player, should have been using him from the beginning.

[NAtIVe GOddess]

[

Well it was a crazy finish and your right this is an American based forum.

No singing!?!?!?!?!?!IWhy not, they have those damn horns but no singing?

yep, what I heard. no singing, no drums. I remember watching England play and hearing from the croud massive claps followed by "England!" I remember hearing chanting from fans all over the world too, It was great. I miss it. Just hearing those plastic horns is rubbish.

[Kelli Wolfe]

While kvetching over referees' judgment calls seems to be a pastime that doesn't know international borders, I do think that the particularly American demands for replay systems are poor sportsmanship and misguided.

Veeno put it right; basically, the refs are part of the game. You play the game by their judgment. They're human. They don't catch even a fraction of the fouls, and once in a while they see something that isn't there. That, not by employing elaborate systems for second-guessing them, is how games are played.

And I don't hold to the idea of any team actually being beaten by a referee's call. (I'm not talking about corrupt officials, just ones who make mistakes, even big ones.) It doesn't happen that way. You, as a manager or player, had 90 minutes to put yourself in a position where you would not be at risk of losing the game on a judgment call. If you did not do so, you did not play well enough to win.

Group play is about surviving to play in the knockout round anyway. If you survived, count your blessings; the goal you should have had two games ago doesn't matter, and the energy you spend griping about it would have been better spent preparing for the next match.

I disagree. This is supposed to be the highest level of soccer being played by the best players in the world, in the most important tournament that this sport has. It should be decided by the players not by the incompetency of an official. If there is technology that can help the game be called correctly, then it should be used. To choose not to use video replay is, in my opinion, stupid and archaic. If you get beat 7-0, you got beat by your own lack of talent. If you are forced into a tie by a referee making an obviously bad call that disallows a goal, then the other team didn't beat you. The referee did.

Just my opinion.

[DAVId Bryant]

I have no idea what World Cup you've been watching Markovandemon but there has been plenty of singing and stuff when I've been able to hear over the Vuvuzela's. Also "Three Lions" is the best England song, not that silly 442 one.

[rolanda h]

I love listening to the BBC commentators talking about how England are the best thing since sliced bread just because they beat Slovenia 1-0. I hope Germany top their group and thrash England on Sunday and show them how football is really played.

Agreed, and Slovenia were in the English side quite a bit towards the end, and the one guy throwing the ball all the way back down their side, losing a ton of ground... I want England to be crushed by Germany, or anyone, so far the team has played badly, now they just win the match and its just about how great they played. Looks like they need a good loss to come back to earth.