Argentina
Belgium
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Cote D'Ivoire
Costa Rica
Algeria
England
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Netherlands
Nigeria
Spain
Switzerland
Uruguay
USA
Football. Football will win. (By football I mean soccer)
There is a fascinating article written about Suarez's early days on ESPN:
http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/stor...autiful-player
Essentially it paints him as a man so driven to not lose and end up on the streets that he will do ANYTHING to win. Worth a read as it gets to the heart of this story.
Take care all.
Highlight of the tournament has been Costa Rica so far. I love an underdog, and Costa Rica was pipped to be the alsoran in their group, only to the win the group pretty easily. I love stories like that.
Random points from games nobody else but me probably watched:
Messi looking ominously good!
I thought Bosnia would do well with Dzeko and Pjanic in the squad... shame it was too little too late.
Valencia sent off yet again, he's regressed so much from when he won the young player of the tournament in 2006.
Shaqiri finally smurfing looking good, after he's done smurf all in my fantasy football team up until now. I have both the guys who have hat tricks in this tournament in my team
France have done well in this tournament so far, but I'm surprised at Pogba. I thought he'd be the one driving it but he's actually been kinda meh.
France were looking good after their first two games but they were very ordinary in that game. Keep that up and they won't get past the quarters. Don't understand Equador playing for the draw with still 15 minutes to go
there was a picture here
I find it fascinating you actually defend this dude. Especially with saying; yeah but these are fouls too. Yeah, they're fouls. Not allowed. Frowned upon. You can't go around saying biting someone is normal just because other contact fouls are fouls too. Like Manus said, there's a line.Originally Posted by Psychotic
Comparing it to Mike Tyson is a false analogy. Mike Tyson bit part of a man's ear off; Luis Suarez left a light indentation on a man's shoulder. You cannot compare
This (Gross)
to
this.
Likewise you cannot compare a right hook to the face or an elbow to the back of the head to some mild teeth indentations. Of course a right hook is worse than that and I don't understand why you think it isn't. What if, though? He could've knocked him out and given him a concussion, ending his game if not his World Cup, a far worse fate than the one he suffered.
Chiellini didn't expect to get bitten. Muslera didn't expect an elbow to the back of the head. Arevalo didn't expect Marchisio to stamp on his knee. All three are probably not surprised at taking a hit on a football field. It's a contact sport. You expect to have people make contact with you. Yeah you can say you expect a stomp more than a bite but so what? If he'd torn his throat out with his oversized teeth then fair enough, but he really didn't. As mentioned above in regards to a punch, only one has the potential to cause serious injury and end someone's World Cup and I bet you 99 out of 100 footballers would rather take a Suarez nibble than a Marchisio stomp. Sucks for Chiellini though, yeah, and if justice is done Suarez should get a one match ban for a red card offence the same as Marchisio did. And then that's it. Everyone moves on, same as with any other incident.
I think you misunderstand me on Zidane. I know the world blew up after that. My point was that I laughed at the hysteria then and I'll laugh at it now.
I don't think you quite read my posts. I've made it clear I'm not defending him, I think it's stupid and I think he should get a ban, just as the perpetrators of any foul should get a ban. However, I also think the witch hunt is ridiculous, as are "BAN HIM FOR LIFE!" calls, especially because there are more violent and dangerous incidents that occur without anyone so much as batting an eyelid.
Chiellini is fine, the game carried on as normal, the world did not end. We should just laugh, call him an idiot and move on instead of acting like this is anything remotely important or serious.
Forget Suarez. Messi's two goals were a joy to see today
No time for "Dilly-Dallying" or "Shilly-Shallying."
Props go to the one and only, Proxy, for the signature.
Let me just check my facts. The only game that England didn't lost was against the team that beat everyone, and the only game that Costa Rica didn't win is against the team that lost to everyone. Is that right?
I actually thought you were defending him, too, Psy.But then I've been skimreading because of time constraints. Just a case of being on the defensive in general I guess that makes it come across that way.
I don't know if a life ban should be on the cards or not, but I do think that biting three players is worse than Rio missing one drugs test or Cantona fly-kicking one person, and I believe they were both given considerable bans. What length of ban do you feel would be appropriate for Luis?
The only person I can think of off the top of my head for being intentionally damaging to other players on a regular basis is Joey Barton. What's the worst punishment Joey got? And were his offences generally on the pitch, and did he actually throw punches at least three times on the pitch or was it always just pushing and barking? Obviously off the pitch Joey naturally has been to prison for things, but I imagine FIFA don't care about "off the pitch" antics. Not sure...
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
England played very well! Offensively that is. They were beautiful to watch against Italy and Uruguay on offense.
No time for "Dilly-Dallying" or "Shilly-Shallying."
Props go to the one and only, Proxy, for the signature.
The Uruguay defence was absolutely immaculate. I loved watching them just close in as soon as the offense got near. England were not flexible enough and just kept trying the same thing over and over, and Uruguay just kept shutting them out over and over. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it, although I want all referees (that I've seen) in this World Cup to die in a fire.
Just wanted to say this is a fantastic article, one of the best football ones I have ever read. Thank you for posting it. Whether or not you like Suarez it's a fascinating story and interesting to learn a little about Uruguayan football culture too.
Hoping the USA manage to go through tonight and then beast Belgium in the next round! I remember earlier in this thread black orb being shocked at people the USA liking football. Well, sir, prepare to be shocked again! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-maga...nitor-27978699 interesting to see!
More people watched the Portugal game there than any NBA finals game too, and this is a great article about the popularity of the sport there - while it'll never be a regular week-in, week-out sport for Americans like baseball/the NFL, the World Cup is almost like the Olympics in a way. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...yes-soccer-too
A few points...
- Lionel Messi is showing that he can produce on the world stage but he won't be good enough to carry what is an average Argentina team to lift the trophy.
- Luis Suarez is a world class player and a world class cock. I think a lengthy international ban will be the best course of action. I place biting in the same bracket as spitting. It is disgusting and there is no place for it in football. Yes, a player would rather be nibbled on the shoulder than suffer a serious leg break, but tackling (even bad tackling) is part of the game... spitting/biting/scratching/fighting isn't.
- England acquitted themselves well in a tough group. A few big names underperformed but on the whole I don't think we should be too disappointed. Italy and Uruguay were better teams and we can't argue with where we finished.
- It won't matter who Belgium face in the next round as they are a sporting juggernaut on a path to immortality. They will destroy whichever team they face and will do it with style and conviction.
Wow, did not expect 200,000. I wonder how many of them are actively supporting US or if a large number are supporting another team such as Mexico or England (blind guesses)?
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
Judging from this thread, probably not England!You might have some that support two teams such as Italian-Americans supporting Algeria and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
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