VAMOS ARGENTINA CARAJOOOO!!!!!!

Sorry, had to say that.
I'm anxious to see Argentina - Germany next weekend!

In my opinion (having played soccer my whole life), the offside rule is very important and actually adds to the fun of the game.

Due to the size of the pitch, being able to have a speedy attacker run behind the defenders and THEN have a ball played to them would ruin the game, as that would be the only tactic anyone would try.

The offside rule isn't complicated in practice, it's just a bit wordy to explain since there are a few exceptions to the general rule (such as you must be on the opposing half and you can't be offside when receiving the ball from a throw it).

The offside rule isn't the problem. The officials getting the calls wrong are the problem (on offsides and just being plainly blind). This is FIFA's problem. They need to hold their officials to higher standards. For instance, in the Argentina/Mexico match today, the commentator introduced the ref as "a hospital supervisor (or something) from Italy". Refereeing should be their job. They should have to train physically and study the rules and be evaluated consistently to keep their jobs. The sheer number of blown calls (almost every game is affected in this world cup it seems) is ridiculous.

I don't think technology is the answer either, I just think having a better pool of officials is the way to solve this.

Quote: Original post by Wan
I missed the match, does anyone have link where they show the highlights or at least all the goals?

You can watch full games that you've missed or just the highlights on nos.nl

Not sure if it will work outside the Netherlands.

Yeah, it doesn't allow viewing outside the Netherlands. It refers to a Eurovision website which broadcasts to every European country imaginable... except France. :/

But I have found some (probably illegal) streams to view the live game. I hope we play better than we did in the previous stage, even though we managed to win all three. We have to: to beat the tough Slovakia team, and to have a decent chance against Brazil if we end up qualifying for the next round.

So, with the Netherlands winning I'm now 5/5... why didn't I put money on this? [sad]

Quote: Original post by phantom
So, with the Netherlands winning I'm now 5/5... why didn't I put money on this? [sad]

To be fair you've only made one "semi difficult" prediction..

I didn't see the first half of the game, did Netherlands play well or was it a close game?

Yay. [smile]

Quote: Original post by Crazyfool
I didn't see the first half of the game, did Netherlands play well or was it a close game?

I guess they played well enough. Slovakia had a decent amount of chances to get back into the game when they were still only one goal down though.

A team like Brazil would have sliced and diced them given the chances Slovakia had...

Muito bom brazil!

Quote: Muito bom brazil!

Hell YEAH![grin]