goodness the dutch looked awful, totally uncreative play. denmark looked superb in their organization and discipline in the defensive third and were very dangerous in their few opportunities forward. the orange are in big trouble, thats for sure.
lol, totally disagree. denmark executed a wonderful game plane against the dutch, they disrupted their passing, had several great counters and wore the dutch team down considerably in the second half. the dutch dominated possession in the first half, but it was mostly meaningless. sure they created a million corner kicks, but only one or two were truly dangerous and they almost never really tested the danish keeper. the dutch defense got skinned multiple times and while the dutch were unlucky to score one, the danish were unlucky they didnt grab another as well.
Pepe makes a great case for goal line technology. I don't believe it's fully crossed but it'd be great to not have to look at 6 different angles to eyeball it ourselves.
clearly didnt cross the line, in fact i'd say only a fraction of the ball was actually over the line. would be nice to have the tech, but the refs got this one right easily.
Still though, I always love when FIFA tries to say the instances where it's close are few and far between. It seems like leagues can point to a game every couple weeks where it was close enough that having the tech in place would put minds at ease.
There was a ref stationed aside the goal, several feet away, who was in perfect position to look at the shot coming down on the line. Six refs in these matches.
Like the extra officials, and in this case a very bad call was not made because of the end line official.
I see players complaining to the extra officials, but from my understanding, these extra officials are only there for the goal. Can they call a foul? Great games today. 1-0 can be boring at times, but I thought they were pretty well played.
I do like the extra officials and wish it were standard across all competitions, but at the end of the day they're human and can still make mistakes. I'm still for having better technology for these kinds of things.
To add to what Ismitje said above: on one of the replays of Pepe's shot, you could see the line judge with his attention absolutely fixed on the ball. He saw it better than anyone did, and in real time. I think we jump to using technology too quickly these days. I think we should appreciate the horse and buggy approach for as long as it will last (which won't be long).
I hope Spain crushes Italy. Italy can bite my ass. I don't hold anything special for Spain, I just think Italy is crap. In fact, I'm one of those guys that says I-talian instead of the proper way. And I do this on purpose.
I think a XANGO logo would look great on the kits for Spain. RSL needs kits like them, basic yet look good.
You know, for all the shit Italy gets, they've actually been the more attractive side in this game and haven't been up to the stereotypical theatrics. I support an Italian club side and thus have some sympathies for their national team. This game is making me proud of it. I don't get people that can hate on Italy but then say they enjoy watching Spain. The ********ers in red are diving pieces of shit that bitch and moan more than they play. And their possession oriented style tends to get boring in the middle when they play the "lets get 100 passes before a shot" game
As a benedetti I couldnt help but smile from ear to ear when Italy scored, ******** fc barce.....errrr, Spain, they can bite my ass. Wtf was balotelli thinking on his 1v1?
"What kind of cool 360, juggle, off the head, volley, heel kick, flick up, bicy.... Oh shit, the defender has the ball now..... Oh well, next time, next time."
Sadly, I wasn't able to watch this as closely as I'd like (stupid work), but Balotelli needs to see a shrink or something. He's got to be one of the worst cancers for any team. It's unfortunate since he has so much talent. I don't watch very many Italian league games, but they looked pretty good today.
1) I don't want to have to listen to Guiseppe Rossi as a commentator. I'd be happy enough with a Yank, or an Italian, but not a Yank who defected to the Italians. 2) That notebook for music commercial - do you think any of the execs who approved use of that particular song listened to the lyrics first?
Croatia top of the group C now. Wonder if they'll be able to sneak by as #2 if they can steal points from Spain and Italy.
Spain v. Ireland was a pleasure to watch. Great passing, interesting (and familiar to RSL) tactical variations, great goal-keeping, shooting, and goals. Spanish fans should worry about that re-allocated Center Back pairing of Ramos and Pique who were repeatedly caught out of position. Italian fans should be encouraged and Di Natale should be starting. Both keepers are so good they covered a lot of defensive wrongs. Ireland was another story - a sad one - that side has the fitness and pace of a beer league organization. Croatia may challenge the big two (I doubt it) but we won't know it from that result. Ireland's offense was waiting for contact then flailing to earn kicks. I couldn't watch all 90 minutes. After the first match this one was just brutal to watch. ESPN gets a raging F from me on coverage. Bob Ley just doesn't get the game. The way the script focused on Balotelli like he was the latest Dennis Rodman World Peace was awful. Rossi couldn't look at the camera and was about as lively as Ted Williams (on ice). Lalas is tiresome. Ballack was pretty bland and his idiomatic German expressions rendered in English often didn't make sense. Seamus McOnionbag is approaching Dick Vitale levels of obnoxious. Thank God he had nothing to jig about. Keller may have been the only one worth listening to. The best guest host they've ever had was Ruud for WC2010. He was terrific. But that's not even my main beef. I've been in Europe when this is going on - and the scene is NOT in the studio - it's outside. There is not nearly enough stadium/crowd/fan/plaza coverage. I applaud ESPN for putting this on and having a high video production value, but their studio-focus is overdone and takes away from the event - IMO. We could be learning a lot about Europe via this event, instead we're getting a 'football' (lower case f) version of SportsCenter. It needs to move out of the studio and out into the street zones and venues.
i will give espn an A+ for one thing (or more specifically the camera crews), they have EXCELLED at finding smoking hot chicks in the stands to put on tv throughout the game. hell of a job in that area.
