What's wrong with fat dudes?
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Blatter needs to get a pair and admit that non EU and Latin America refs simply cannot be included in the referee pool, too many stupid calls/non-calls every WC that cost a number of teams points. I know, I know, after every WC all referees are reviewed, some are banned forever, but that doesn't make it up to teams affected.



Anyway. We need to beat Algir now to qualify. Onyewu should have stayed in treatment room, too slow and not one pass from him that found a target. Same for a number of our players, they give the ball away with ease. Altidore played way better that last game, Cherundolo is rock solid (I expect a few EU teams come calling after WC). The ref had only 2 real choices today, either give a penalty for a blatant two hands hold on Bradley or allow the goal to stand. Instead he imagined a third option, a non-existing foul. I wonder if US playing another African country in the next game had anything to do with his decision. Now Algir have as much of chance to advance as US do. Oh well...

My other team is England and all I can say, I hated the Gerrard/Lampard pairing before and now have painful memory recall again, these two are a disgrace to English uniforms. Too bad the only way Rooney can see the ball is go get it himself, as he finally did today after getting absolutely no service in last game and most of today's. I seriously hope Chelsea buy Gerrard this summer, that should be the ticket (sarcasm here). If both Joe Cole and Carrick are on the bench again next game, book the tickets home. Upson should play with Terry and Lampard should sit his lazy ass down on the bench if he wants his team to advance (how many times today did he pass to the other side and never even made an attempt to go get the ball back?). Arghhh...

US vs Algir should be good, two speedy teams with all to play for.
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Everything when there are pictures of shirtless fat dudes in a thread that was full of pictures of hot chicks! The thread was like, wow she's hot, so is she, uh huh, and then POW!! - a fat hairy dude! However, there is nothing wrong with fat dudes in general! If you don't agree with that, then I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree!

Nice post Riddick, but the bottom line is we got absolutely jobbed several times during that match. FIFA needs to pull their heads out of their collective asses and do something about the reffing. The refs and the diving are a joke, and until FIFA figures it out, they will continue to lose out on sports fans who would otherwise enjoy international soccer.
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Looks like FIFA will act real quick this time around and ban the ref for the rest of the tournament, but alas, the result of the match will stand, the usual BS. FIFA should only use refs from serious leagues, how in hell is ref from Mali qualified? Its like having a ref from Mongolia ref an NBA Finals game, sure, they see great basketball on TV, but so what?
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At the least, they should rescind the BS yellow card assessed in the first half for the "intentional hand ball" that clearly hit Robbie Findley in the face. That yellow is going to keep him out of the Algeria match. That douche of a ref is now affecting the next match too, and how FIFA allows that is beyond me.
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It's amazing how many goalkeeping errors are happening...2 more mistakes resulted in 2 more goals today!
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It seems like there is a lot of people are contributing these errors to the new ball. These balls have been available to the public since early December. These goalkeepers have had more than enough time to get used to the flight characteristics of these balls.
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not true Moe. Only a few countries played with that ball. Germany for example. But all the other major European FA's are not sponsered by Adidas and they didn't get those jabulani balls. The Dutch FA is sponsored by Nike and Nike balls are used during both international games and in the Dutch league. Same goes for France, Italy, Spain, England and many many more countries.
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I know AC Milan had the ball before it was released. Adidas used several teams for testing, but you didnt need to be sponsored by Adidas to get the ball... I could have ordered it online 7 months ago!
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I kind of like the new ball if it's contributing to increased goal scoring. If I never see another 0-0 match, it will still be too soon. Faster shots with increased movement adds to the excitement of the game. Purists and goalkeepers may not agree, but seriously, defensive struggles in soccer are BRUTAL to watch. I want to see more 4-3 scores and less 1-0 or 0-0.
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I have to agree.
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Well, when someone like Howard, our GK, plays in Premier League in England, how do you figure he could have trained with the ball all along? Same for a number of others, they play outside their home home country more often than not. What FIFA has to insist on next time around is that every league in the world switches to the new ball a year prior to WC, that is the only way to have players used to it.

In regard to higher scores, or wish for those above, soccer has been called "chess on grass" for a reason, it is not just a physical game, but a (strongly) mental one as well. How often do you see huge result differences in chess games? Same for soccer, unless one team is greatly overmatched, score lines reflect small differences between teams these days, especially at WC where most teams are evenly matched and most players see each other in local leagues for years and know every little trick and movement by now. Its all mental these days, mostly.
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So could I, but I am not sponsored by Nike, so I am not bound to play with a Nike ball by contract, like the Italian, English, Spanish, France and Dutch FA's
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Italy practicing with a Jubalani ball. What Im saying Ferdi is that they must have been able to use this ball in preparation for the WC.
Italy is sponsored by Puma
Gattuso and Pirlo are both sponsored by Nike
Image
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But how many times do the national teams practice during the competition Moe? You can count those days on the fingers of two hands. The Germans used the balls in their league for 6 months, so they have a much better feeling off this new ball. I know Holland wasn't even allowed to play official games with that ball at their home games against Ghana and Mexico in preperation of the WC, due to sponsor contracts.
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I agree on the seeing scores side of this.



But what's with all the Soccer talk and Guy photos?!?!?
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And Germany still lost yesterday...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwCde0wA0Yk

There!
That's better!








:-)
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The ball is definitely a problem, not just for the keepers but also for attacking players.

We really haven't seen many goals from long range or any quality free kicks either. Most shots from long range just balloon over the goal. Players are even having trouble reading the flight of the ball because it doesn't behave the way they're expecting it to.

Everyone wants to see more goals but it seems like the number of quality goals is not so high whereas the crappy goalie mistakes are on the rise.
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Ok, no more fat dudes, Pistol Pete!:-)

Interesting about all the blonde Brazilian chicks: they're likely granddaughters or great granddaughters of Nazis that ran off to Brazil after WWII!
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