I figure its time to start a new thread as the Qualifying is done. Fifa announced seedings for the draw today. England were seeded ahead of France and Portugal which flies in the face of FIFA rankings - no complaints from me: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8390084.stm "A worst-case scenario on Friday would result in Capello's side taking on France, Ivory Coast and the United States, while a far easier proposition on paper would have England facing Slovenia, Algeria and New Zealand." I would hope the USA do not wind up with England in the group. It'd make it a lot less fun for me, I hope they do not meet in the finals at all .... unless its actually in the final .... which is rather unlikely. The FIFA Draw Procedure was also released: http://tinyurl.com/yegk9xx (long ass Fifa.com URL) The drawing on TV on Friday on ESPN2 at 11am. After which we'll start being able to yap about the possibilities .......... pray for a friendly draw, with France and Portugal out there unseeded and the USA unseeded it could get nasty real quickly if the US land one of them. I find it regrettable that they use England's impressive qualifying campaign to seed them, and yet Argentina are seeded after stutter stepping their way in. I think the Rankings are bullshit .....
Re: World Cup 2010 Wizards are hosting a watch party at 810 Zone on the Plaza with free food for the first 100 people (for everybody?? ) http://www.hillcrestroadblog.com/2009/12/world-cup-draw-watch-party.html
Re: World Cup 2010 More -- Fifa reject using extra goal line officials at the World Cup (shame really). It looks like they might also be starting to train cross-hairs on Henry .... I figure they fine/ban/punish him to take the heat off of them for not doing anything to address the obvious fact that the current refereeing setup, without the ability to refer to video or to have more eyes on the field is a fail ...... especially when the world is watching. Officials: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8391237.stm Henry: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/8391388.stm
Re: World Cup 2010 A mistake in my opinion. Goal line officials would be a great option. They have experimented with them in the Europa League, so not a totally new concept. It is hard for a ref and linesman to see all the way into a crowded box. Having an official next to the goal would be helpful not just on handballs, but incidents in the box, and for determining when the ball has crossed the line, dives, giving corners for incidents on the byline, etc... I just don't see a downside to an extra pair of eyes.
Re: World Cup 2010 .... none at all .... doesn't break the flow of the game at all, gives us extra eyes on penalty kicks as well as stupid disputed corner kicks .... hell you could even have them signal 'simulation' if they are pinned to the penalty area .... Just an extra couple of linesman really, and it takes the pressure of the referees and frankly would let us root out the real cheats - who are really not Eduardo and Henry but players who make a career out of being mock poleaxed anywhere in the final third like freaking Drogba.
Re: World Cup 2010 My biggest question is how the coordination/communication would work on calls in the penalty area. Do the extra officials have whistles to make a decision or are they considered assistants like the linesmen and have to wait for their signal to be recognized and acted upon? Needless to say, time is of the essence on these decisions as the referees are quickly influenced and judged. And how do you handle conflicting interpretations and opinions that arise between officials as can be the case?
Re: World Cup 2010 they'd wait I'd assume. They'd be exactly like linesmen, same responsibilities. At least that's how I'd have them set up.
Re: World Cup 2010 We already have this problem with the ARs... I'm just saying, they could make it work.
Re: World Cup 2010 I hope the refs ease up on the issuing of the cards. The amount of yellow and red cards damn near ruined the last WC for me. It seemed like every game had a red card in it.
Re: World Cup 2010 Just saw Landon interviewed on ESPN and thought he handled himself well. I know he gets a lot of criticism but I beleive e is a real quality player. Landon is usually a bore in interviews but he seemed to give a little more of his opinion in regards to Henry's double handball and on instant replay. I liked that he said he appreciates instant replay in football but finds it ridiculous in baseball since it slows down an already slow game! Landon also mentioned his chances of signing abroad is about 50/50. I hope he stays at LA. I think MLS needs him here. I do have a question for some of you to comment on. Do you think the push for instant replay is more of an American thing or does it really have world support? I feel it seems more American but that's my opinion.
Re: World Cup 2010 It seems to be working ok for cricket and rugby, so there is growing support in England anyway. But not everyone is fully convinced yet.
Re: World Cup 2010 Nah - it has been talking about in England for years and years - people dont want it to break the flow of the game to much, but they WANT SOMETHING sorted. Ideally adding extra officials can do the job. In light of what happened to the Republic of Ireland this topic is right on the list and it seems to have a lot of support. Personally I think the way it is handled in the NFL is really nice -- limited to a 'red flag' a half it would not be to intrusive and it'd give some leeway for the referees to quit taking abuse -- 'throw your flag Mr Ferguson/Wenger/Hughes or be quiet.' People don't want the game broken up to much ... but with all these Sallies spending half their time on the floor writhing in mock agony I don't think it'd change much. I'd rather more officials to be honest, but surely - with the money involved, and the World Cup births on the line we have to do something to keep the game more honest. It would have been nice if Maradona's hand of God could have been turned into a red card ... or France's goal struck off the other night .... I think keeping the game just would make up for whatever negatives it might bring.
Re: World Cup 2010 I would be on board for a limited number of video appeals by each team in each half. And the video ref would have a set time to view the evidence and make a decision. 60 seconds or something. But, personally I would prefer more officials than video replay.
Re: World Cup 2010 Landon mentioned it would be a little strange to look up and see an official by the goal but that everyone would get used to it. I do agree about limited replay, like that of the NFL, but still think there should be mandatory replay for whether the ball crosses the line. I can't remember who it was but there was an African team who had seemingly scored a goal in a scramble but was not awarded it. In replay it sure looked like the keeper pulled the ball out of the goal but with all the bodies around the official could not see that in real time. Also, time would not be a big factor for this since it takes 2-3 minutes for the celebrations to stop and to resume play anyway! I also agree with the post about players rolling on the ground only to be stretchered off and immediately re-enter the game. This type of acting disrupts the flow of the game more than one or two replays a game would.
Re: World Cup 2010 Also, FIFA had some "emergancy urgent radical-change meeting" today regarding replay and match-fixing. Of course, nothing was resolved or changed. Can anyone name a more useless organization than FIFA? LOL
Re: World Cup 2010 Okay, you got me with the UN! I think FIFA does a pretty good job overall as well but they seem to "chickenout" sometimes when making hard decisions. My main point was calling for an emergancy meeting that turned out to be business as usual. Sometimes I wonder about "FIFA-fixing!
Re: World Cup 2010 Yeah FIFA are gutless unless they are kicking third world nations out of international competition because of 'political' interference in their domestic Football Association. Ironic really considering it takes heads of state handing out gifts, tours and personal receptions in order to influence who gets to host the World Cup and its the governments that get to foot the bill. I cite Jack Warner ......
Re: World Cup 2010 Algeria also in the group, that's probably the best the US could have hoped for out of that pot.
Re: World Cup 2010 This reminds me of the 98 Group Ger - Eng US - US Yugo - Slovenia Iran - Algeria Hopefully, we get a 1950 result in the first game, and win the group to face another nemesis in Germany, Ghana, or Serbia (Yugo) or Australia!
Re: World Cup 2010 Full draw Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana, Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d'Ivoire, Portugal Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
Re: World Cup 2010 When I saw us in the same group with England, I thought "Oh crap...", but it doesn't look so bad now! If we don't make it out of this group, Bradley should go into hiding. Group G, group of death?