[Brooke Turner]

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AMERICAN-STYLED FOOTBALL

Just a friendly reminder - we're not interested in having discussions about what the game "should" be called, be it "soccer" or "football" or whatever, so please don't bring that kind of nonsensical arguments into here. We've gone though 14 threads of having at least one argument-per-thread, and frankly the mods are sick of having to moderate and clean up the place for flaming/trolling. So please, just leave those discussions to PMs if you really feel the need to express your opinion on it.
Anyone who ignores this warning will be reported and subsequently dealt with by the mods.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1098999-football-thread-world-cup-special-v/

[Dan Scott]

Anyone else think it was unnecessary to run the score up to 7 goals? Seems a little classless to me.

[Ebou Suso]

No. Now Portugal are almost guaranteed to progress whilst they weren't before.

Portugal were professional.

[x a million...]

As opposed to Spain, who passed it about really well except all but Villa looked scared to shoot.

[Chris Cross Cabaret Man]

Anyone else think it was unnecessary to run the score up to 7 goals? Seems a little classless to me.

So they should have just stopped trying at 3-0? Sorry mate, but that's never gonna happen, nor should it. It's up to the opposition to stop them scoring, and goal difference is very important in the group stages.

[matt white]

Anyone else think it was unnecessary to run the score up to 7 goals? Seems a little classless to me.

It feels like they made an example of North Korea for the rest of the top brass teams benefit, showing them how it should be done instead of all these dismal performances and suprise defeats.

[HARDHEAD]

My friend was telling me about these African noise makers that people in the crowd use during games...what are these exactley? They are supposed to produce a buzzing noise.

[He got the]

Hows USA doing?

[Paul Rice]

Hows USA doing?

Pretty good. We need to beat Algeria to be sure of going on, but even if we don't, Slovenia can save us if they trounce England.

[Michelle Chau]

Hows USA doing?

They'd be doing a lot better if Edu's goal hadn't been disallowed <_< (note: I'm supporting USA because they have a Scottish player )

[Ana]

Anyone else think it was unnecessary to run the score up to 7 goals? Seems a little classless to me.

No, running up the score is important when goals count toward breaking ties in the standings. The first tiebreaker is goal difference, and the second is goals scored. In Portugal's case, it was crucial to do so. Portugal now leads Ivory Coast by 9 goals. They will advance, even if they lose to Brazil (not unlikely), so long as Ivory Coast cannot make up that difference against North Korea. Had Portugal not run up the score, they would be in danger of being sent home early if Ivory Coast were to run up the score against North Korea.

[Davorah Katz]

Am I the only person that actually took Northwind's comment as a joke? :unsure:

[[Bounty][Ben]]

I know all about goal differential and the pressure to advance, but I can't help but feel it is against the spirit of the game. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I always thought it was better to do your best and lose than to resort to all sorts of unsportman-like tactics to win (and here I am including a number of other things I see at the cup, like all the diving). A 3-0 win is a solid victory. 7-0 is just rubbing it in their faces. :shrug:

I like the excitement of the World Cup, but the lengths some teams go to win it, or even get to the next round, sort of ruins it for me. I always have more respect for the teams who lose with dignity. :shrug:

[Ashley Campos]

I know all about goal differential and the pressure to advance, but I can't help but feel it is against the spirit of the game. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I always thought it was better to do your best and lose than to resort to all sorts of unsportman-like tactics to win (and here I am including a number of other things I see at the cup, like all the diving). A 3-0 win is a solid victory. 7-0 is just rubbing it in their faces. :shrug:

I like the excitement of the World Cup, but the lengths some teams go to win it, or even get to the next round, sort of ruins it for me. I always have more respect for the teams who lose with dignity. :shrug:

I've scored the 12th goal when my old team used to rout the worse teams 12-0 and I don't think much of it. There was no real reason they were worse than my team except my team practiced harder and we played with more team spirit.

[tegan fiamengo]

7-0 is proper entertainment. I certainly wasn't complaining when Rangers gubbed Dundee United 7-1 last season. Hibs went 6-2 up against Motherwell as well, and I bet they're glad they didn't hold back, because the game finished 6-6.

[An Lor]

I prefer close games. The New Zealand-Italy game has definitely been my favorite, so far. Those Kiwis played with heart, despite being, supposedly, totally outclassed by the azzuri. I'd rather watch that than a 7-0 drubbing any day. :shrug:

I've scored the 12th goal when my old team used to rout the worse teams 12-0 and I don't think much of it. There was no real reason they were worse than my team except my team practiced harder and we played with more team spirit.

The pool of players and coaches a team has to draw from can make a huge difference. I always felt bad for beating the teams from little dinky towns who tried hard, but had to fill out their roster with fat kids who could barely run.

[Saul C]

The pool of players and coaches a team has to draw from can make a huge difference. I always felt bad for beating the teams from little dinky towns who tried hard, but had to fill out their roster with fat kids who could barely run.

Not really. Over here player pools aren't really an issue. You have kids who can't get into football teams rather than teams who haven't got enough players.

[Luis Reyma]

Nah- 7-0 was a great big whooping and it was very entertaining. Like any player would give up the chance to score in the World Cup! Not as entertaining as Germany's 8-0 win though!

[JUan Martinez]

That's because you play less sports over there. Here, we have to compete not only with (American) football, but baseball and basketball, too. At high school level track and field steals another portion of the players. So the towns that are big on soccer usually dominate the other ones.

[hannaH]

Not really. Over here player pools aren't really an issue. You have kids who can't get into football teams rather than teams who haven't got enough players.

Up here the teams are picked based on who's "cool". When we were having our inter-house tournaments at school I played one season up front and finished top scorer and one season at left back and didn't concede a single goal until the last game. We were [censored] solid. I didn't even get a look in at the school team.

[Emma]

That's because you play less sports over there. Here, we have to compete not only with (American) football, but baseball and basketball, too. At high school level track and field steals another portion of the players. So the towns that are big on soccer usually dominate the other ones.

Yeah, so I don't have to feel bad when we thrash crappy teams

Up here the teams are picked based on who's "cool". When we were having our inter-house tournaments at school I played one season up front and finished top scorer and one season at left back and didn't concede a single goal until the last game. We were [censored] solid. I didn't even get a look in at the school team.

So are ours. It just turns out that I'm cool B) (also I mainly played for a Sunday League team not a School team where being cool is less important )

[Lizs]

So, do you guys think South Africa has a chance to qualify for the next round tomorrow?

From the news in the past week, it looks like the France team is in complete disarray! Who knows, South Africa may put a couple of goals past the broken French team and qualify.

[Kerri Lee]

So, do you guys think South Africa has a chance to qualify for the next round tomorrow?

From the news in the past week, it looks like the France team is in complete disarray! Who knows, South Africa may put a couple of goals past the broken French team and qualify.

:laugh: good point. Why not?

[Lakyn Ellery]

So, do you guys think South Africa has a chance to qualify for the next round tomorrow?

From the news in the past week, it looks like the France team is in complete disarray! Who knows, South Africa may put a couple of goals past the broken French team and qualify.

That would be awesome.

[christelle047]

I know all about goal differential and the pressure to advance, but I can't help but feel it is against the spirit of the game. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I always thought it was better to do your best and lose than to resort to all sorts of unsportman-like tactics to win (and here I am including a number of other things I see at the cup, like all the diving). A 3-0 win is a solid victory. 7-0 is just rubbing it in their faces. :shrug:

I like the excitement of the World Cup, but the lengths some teams go to win it, or even get to the next round, sort of ruins it for me. I always have more respect for the teams who lose with dignity. :shrug:

You say you should do your best, but then proceed to say that winning by a large margin is bad? Surely you see the contradiction in that? Some teams are better than others and that's just the way it is, not just in football, but in every sport. If doing your best results in thumping the other team, then that's the way it should be.

[EDIT]: I hope South Africa beat France and qualify. France have been rubbish in the last couple of major tournaments and shouldn't even have qualified for this one.