Spain 1 - Korea 0

[Adalbertus]

It's clear that you were playing SMAC and so couldn't watch the game...

That's what I call a wise decision

[Dr. Nick]

See? What did I tell you? What can Koreans or Americans know about football anyway?

[Keygen]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi

We already are equal. We got as far as you did. We beat quality teams like Portugal and Mexico to get where we did. And we drawed in regulation the same team you did (Korea)- and yes the referees tended to favor Korea in that game too.

You can think Spain is better on paper all you want, but games aren't played on paper. And we did just as good as you did.

USA played well and wasn't favored at all. Perhaps they don't have the stars Europe has but as a team were pretty good.
Now regarding Spain and Portugal you may consider the fact that they had a rough year.
Players from both teams played in two of the toughest champions in the world, the Spanish and the Champion's League.
You must have noticed the poor performance of players like Raul or Figo.
Spain scored twice against Korea but her goals where canceled. Some people say that if Spain was that good should had won anyway. What did you expected? Scoring 8 goals like Germany did to Saudi Arabia?

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi

It should not be long before the USA is much better at soccer then Spain. Soccer is increasing in popularit here, and we have an increasing hispanic population, and they do care about soccer. Combine that with America's natural sports talent (Most Gold Medals at the Olympics), and we will become a soccer superpower, just as we are a military superpower(unlike Spain).

Yeah sure

I think you're exaggerating a bit...

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi

Yes but the USA is bigger

So? Does this mean that China and India will have the best teams in the world soon?

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi

All that it tells you is that we had one bad game.

So had Spain...
Or better say bad referee
Does the fact that Spain was the only team along with Brazil that won all matches during the 1st stage of the World Cup tell you something?
In my opinion they had only one true bad play and that was against Ireland.

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi

Europe as a whole will now decline. With the rise of the sport in Asia and in North America, and probably in Africa if they can rebound from this tournament, the entire WC brackets will be better, so of course the European teams would be worse comparatively. So far this year only 3 teams in the round of 8 were European and 1 team in the round of 4 was(4 teams and 2 teams if you count Turkey)- lower then usual numbers. Europe will decline in soccer just like it did militarily.

Highly unlikely...
Africa might have a chance to lead but I greatly doubt that Asia and especially North America will make it.
Perhaps in 15 or 20 years from now

[Sten Sture]

Originally posted by Arrian
I live in CT, Yin, what do you expect? One can, however, follow a sporting event one cannot see on TV.

Hey - I fricking watched them all, goddammit. Living in Conneticutt is no excuse. Univision, Telemundo, ESPN, ESPN2, ESNP classic, ABC... get with the program.


I might just cheer for South Korea, since the Japanese will be thrilled about having the Koreans crowned world champs in Yokohama.

I think from reading the FIFA stuff over the past several days, future tournaments will have high level professional staff, and most major leagues will professionalize their refs.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

The Spanish coach said that he had no chance when playing against 11 men, 3 officials and 70,000 fans.

He actually said that in 1996, which was another time that Spain whined about conspiracies when they got beaten.

[Giancarlo]

We were cheated out, RJ. Simple enough. If they get Linesmen and Referees from countries like Tobago and Benin that don't even have a halfy functional stadium then something is wrong.

[oedo]

nuff said. tomorrow we´ll need a new thread called Germany 9 - Korea 0.

good night.


PS.: hi Sten, nice to see you. how are you?

[Keygen]

Originally posted by Ron Jeremy
The Spanish coach said that he had no chance when playing against 11 men, 3 officials and 70,000 fans.

He actually said that in 1996, which was another time that Spain whined about conspiracies when they got beaten.

You mean 1994, right?

Hadn't see that World Cup so I couldn't possibly know

BTW Jeremy, isn't that guy in your avatar a porn star?

[Sten Sture]

Originally posted by oedo

PS.: hi Sten, nice to see you. how are you?

Hey Sonder, I'm doing well - see you in four years, we'll be looking for you!

Korea should give you guys a fair number of free kick opportunities -> Ziege + Klose = Goal

Good luck!

[Fiera]

Originally posted by Ron Jeremy
The Spanish coach said that he had no chance when playing against 11 men, 3 officials and 70,000 fans.

He actually said that in 1996, which was another time that Spain whined about conspiracies when they got beaten.

Camacho wasn't the Spanish coach in 1996. Clemente was, and I don't really remember him saying that. Perhaps you read that in the Daily Mirror...

[SnowFire]

You know, all this complaining about the selection of referees from Third World or just generally small countries is starting to get on my nerves. Why, pray tell, is this a problem? Do they not have had to pass all the same tests that European refs have to? Have they still not refed many games that had people watching them, so if they're really incompotent people would have noticed by now?

This is the worst kind of excuse grubbing. Refs can make mistakes from any country. You want to whine that the ref was bad? Fine, whatever. But blaming the selection of refs from other countries is, frankly stupid. This whole debacle has reeked of arrogance- "how dare a team not as good as ours has beaten us? It must be the ref!" Well, if you walk into a match with the preconcieved notion that your team is better, you're signing yourself up for dissapointment. The whole point of the World Cup is to find out which teams ARE better- and apperantly the Koreans are better, like it or not.

[Dr. Nick]

SnowFire, coming from a third world country where corruption runs rampant openly, the trouble with third world refs is that they can be easily bribed.

And I am ashamed to even say it, but it's true.

[Q Classic]

prometeus--
nope, not blind. not by any legal definition, anyway. the refs aren't blind either. they're just kinda victims of perspective. i'm not apologizing for them here... i'm just saying that they're only human.

angelo scotto--
well, seems like if one says something, slightly tongue-in-cheek, where emotions are obviously running high, he gets a spear stuck up his rear.
look: what i was trying to say is that sometimes ref calls are bad--but if they can't be overturned, it's just tough. i didn't really like what happened to that korean skater guy, but see, it's nothing to get all pissy about. the ref called it, and that's just what happens sometimes.
that random events comments wasn't serious. WASN'T SERIOUS. i think refs are important--especially in hotly contested matches. now, i have to say, it's a pity that most of the refs seem to be, shall we say, substandard.
actually, the entire SMAC comparison wasn't serious.
IT WASN'T SERIOUS.
(hm... how can i make this more clear? if only html were allowed, i could set that in size 64 font, bright red, and blinking. maybe even underlined and italicized.)
and i wasn't playing smac at the time. it's just the last sid meier game i really enjoyed, and it tends to stick in memory, those things. but as for watching the game, i was watching the best i could, without cable, on reception that wasn't too good, on a spanish channel. so i will admit, i may have missed some other "goals" that were disallowed. the one i saw, though, which i don't fully agree with, is the linesman's call, the one that was "out of bounds"... which i didn't think it was.
but the fact of the matter is, ref calls, when they are not overturned, are part of the game. and it's useless to argue with them once the match's result is set in stone.

now, onto a more personal note.
don't EVER presume to know what i am thinking. i'm not thinking that you're "a bad loser". in fact, i haven't thought the italian TEAM was a bad loser. nor have i thought that the whiners were bad losers. just very irritating people who can't let go of a result that can't be changed.
if you'll look at ANY of my posts regarding the WC, you'll note that i haven't said that anybody was a bad loser. just unlucky (in the case of spain), or just irritating (in the case of italy).
just as i would not presume to know what you are thinking, do not think you know me, or my thoughts, from just a few sentences written about a matter that is beyond our control.

****

look. i'm not firmly in the korean camp here, even though i am korean. i saw one goal go in, which i thought should have BEEN a goal. and yet, now i'm suddenly lumped with all the people who agree totally with the refs?

jesus h christ, now i'm remembering just why i left forums--
it's because i can't deal with people deciding that they know every single f***ing thing about me just from a few posts.
god, how i wish you could really convey a light-hearted comment accurately here.

[Zylka]

Is there a game on tonight? Anyone?

[KrazyHorse]

There's a game on in 6 hours. Germany v. SK