Match 58 (QF) - Uruguay v Ghana - Post-Match Thread [R]

Gyan choked. Ghana lost. It's about time we all got over it.

Choke or no choke, its beneficial for a defender to cheat in that situation as PKs are missed ~30% of the time. As a result there definitely seems to be a problem with the rules there.

I agree that a parallel can be made to goaltending. However, I'll throw up the counterarguments:

a) How do you design a rule that would be unlikely to be abused or become subjective when used in situations less obvious than this.

b) If the rule was used throughout the game, a handball in the first minute would be much more hurtful Then it would be a red card and a penalty goal. That would be a much bigger penalty. Really the issue here was that there was no downside to Suarez. However, it was a bit of a one off. I don't think you can craft a rule that says a rule should apply in the 120th minute but not the first minute.

c) What about all the times when a penalty is nuch bigger punishment than the foul. There are lots of times whne there's a trip near the edge of the area that was a very likely goal scoring situation that's still awareded a penalty because it's a foul in the box. In these situations, this is over punishment. Why are we not changing those rules to make them only direct free kicks if we're worried about the punishment fitting the crime?

Again, I'm hearing your point, but I do see these issues as needing to be addressed before any rule change is proposed.

First of all, these are the cheesiest rule suggestions ever. Goal should count and a penal??? Two posssibilities???

Anyways, Uruguay didn't cheat. It was offsides on Appiah anyways, so really the play never happened. If anything Uruguay got cheated out of having Suarez in the semi.

One year later...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcbKwkt5gRM"]¿Qué dicen en Ghana de la camiseta de Uruguay - YouTube[/ame]

Interesting ad...by the way what a blast from past...still had a subscription to this this thread.

Nice submission. I was still subscribed too and I was surprised to see this pop up. Still a sore point for me too. But a very nice ad. Africa's time will come.

just to say, Almost best match of the cup.

It definitely was and not just because there was alot of negative football being played in that cup. However African football has regressed, I hate to admit. We've lost all of our playmaking midfielders and it shows since African teams now seem to over rely on forwards and wingers in the buildup with no cutting edge when they aproach the box. No creativity. I wonder if it's a byproduct of more African players plying their trade in Europe and not being developed as attacking mids. John Obi Mikel failed to develop as one and who knows if Michael Essien might have become one if he wasn't so useful as a holding mid. I'm also not sure if attempting to build more structure defensively has neutered their offensive approach. But still a great match.