That was just terrible...30 minute overtime, and nearly 10 minutes of it spent watching Ghana players flop and take 2 minutes to slowly...slowly...slowly..walk..off..the..field...

And then next play they're fine.

+1.

The guy who got sent off in the stretcher didn't even get tackled. And as soon as he got off, he was up walking around fine.

Yes, Ghana did every bit of the acting that you're complaining about. But you're nuts if you don't think that if the US had scored the goal 4 minutes in the extra time, Dempsey wouldn't have been rolling around on the ground as if he'd been shot any time someone cut a loud fart within 20 yards of him.

Its one of the problems football at the moment. Fifa are run by a bunch of men scared of change, who refuse to punish divers after the game is finished.
As for running the clock, I'd like to see a rugby-like system where the clock is paused each stoppage. I can't remember the last time the rules were accurately enforced: for example there's supposed to be 30secs for every goal or substitution.

^
Yeah, saw that.

And then that guy who got the flop call when he fell AND NO ONE WAS AROUND HIM!

I get maybe the US should've played better the first half, but the way I see it, they still had a good ten or more minutes of play-time coming to them if this had, again, been AMERICAN football, and you get called for Delay of Game.

That referee who penalized someone for doing that the other day was right.


Even if you don't like our Football, world, PLEASE, for the next World Cup or whatever, take a page from the nFL rulebook and institute a Delay of Game penalty...

And I agree with figlesquidge.

I like you keep the clock moving on out-of-bounds plays and the like, but if they're going to flop like that...

Why, if they're REALLY so badly hurt they need to fall, I think we'd better stop the clock (and THEN see how many do it...)

There is one: you can get a yellow card for timewasting, and extra time added on. The trouble is the referee's rarely enforce it

Then they need to enforce it, I don't mind losing (well I do, but that's the game) but you need to at least lose FAIRLY...

This is another reason I LOVE baseball- NO CLOCK!

You MUST allow the other team their fair shot, no timewasting to kill the clock, no dives to try and draw a call or waste time...

It's a nice sport, this football of yours, but it needs to fix this.

How to fix this:

Delay of game is a yellow card. Simulation is a straight red. FIFA reserves the right to review all games ex post facto with video replay to look for ONLY these two penalties.

If you get a red card ex post facto, the next game, you have to play with 10 men the entire 90 minutes.

That's clearly wrong rlum.

Also, I'm unsure about automagic suspensions.
Suppose Liverpool play ManU, then the next week they play Chelsea.
During the first match, Agger [liverpool player] gets sent off for a dangerous challenge on Wayne Rooney [ManU].
Now, rules state Agger would be suspended for at least next match. However, this would mean Chelsea had an easier time beating Liverpool, which is not what ManU would want.

Fine. Give the fourth official video replay. I'm just trying to avoid FIFA's obsession over not having instant replay.

I like rlum's idea on this one.

ex poste facto, fine, but the point is they sort... you know... cheated... DURING a game. which just isn't fair.

i think stopping the clock would be much better an idea. just stop the clock!

also yeah video review would be nice... some of those calls... i mean... really.

i don't know. i'm less adamant about that.

They need two extra referees, one for each goal.

No penalty for flopping, but clearly there should be a rule that says if you stay down long enough for play to stop, you need to come off for x minutes (1-3 would be fair). That would be enough of a disincentive for players to flop seriously enough that it affects the flow of the game.

Fuck replays, it'll never happen, purity of the sport and all that. And I agree here. Just add a referee for each goal area and you're fine. It's ludicrous to expect a single referee to be able to officiate the entire length of the field, he'd have to run farther and faster than the players!

Whats wrong with replays?
There are some key events when the game stops and the referee has to make a decision that can be worth millions of pounds to one of the teams. For example, if there's a questionable offside decision for a goal, someone may have handled the ball into the goal, someone claims a free kick in a dangerous position, etc etc etc.
In these cases the game has stopped, so why can't the decision be checked by a video referee?

There's a sense of flow and urgency to futbol that isn't there in any other game, and I think that's because even when play has stopped for a moment, the clock is still ticking. Sure there is extra time added, but it's just that, EXTRA time, and you don't know how much you're getting. I think stopping to look at a replay would literally STOP the game, which nobody wants. Also, the human element, the split-second decision-making and responsibility that comes with it are a large part of the game that just about everybody who plays and coaches it accepts. That's why adding referees (just two more pairs of eyes) seems like a good balance of increased accuracy while preserving the non-stop character of the game.

Yes added time. No to time stopping. Yes for red cards for bull crap like we seen from Ghana.

I meant to say "yes" not to added time, but to "additional referees"

Complaining about the rules, when you loose. That is bad.

Asking for them to be enforced isn't complaining about the rules. The ref should have penalized them for stalling, plain and simple.

Hey, like I said, losing is bitter, but I can stomach it...as a New York Mets fan, I HAVE to be able to stomach it, they'll break your heart...

But what I can't stand is not giving the other side the "fair shot."

I mean, baseball, again, you HAVE to, whether you lead 4-3 or 10-3, let the other team have their final turn at bat.

American football, you MUST eventually snap the ball and run a play, even when you're trying to run out the clock, and when you take a time out, even an injury timeout, you can only have it for so long.



And in NO SPORT should flopping be allowed- as many of you all have said to me on football, this is supposed to be a struggle between teams and nations, not 30 minutes of guys fainting and staying on the turf five minutes to run the clock...and then, of course, two seconds later, you see themk smiling and running again...

Maybe a rule that if you are assisted off the field in any way, your day is done.

^
At least for that STRETCHER! >:O

Wastes so much time, and how many of the players that go off on it actually NEED it, and are not wasting time?

MAYBE one or two of the like ten I've seen take off on it so far...

Most of you are clearly Americans who don't understand the beautiful game. Video replay will never happen, period. Sure bad calls get made, but guess what? It happens in every sport. Choose any sport team sport where the players share the same surface. I'm sure that you'll be able to find someone diving or exaggerating injuries. Football has a problem right now with people getting away with it, but there's nothing wrong with the rules. Referees have the ability to give a yellow or even a red for a dive. The problem is that they don't always know if it's a dive or not. It's the same with american football (say interference), basketball, hockey, etc. Those refs don't get video replay to see if it's a dive. So suck it up.
As far as time wasting goes, if you're down for over a minute you have to leave the field until the ref allows you back on. Plus any time wasted is just added to stoppage time.
Oh and have you ever run for two hours and get knocked down? Do you get right back up? No. You're tired and want to enjoy a quick breather. Perhaps added time was a little short in the game today, but you can bet that if the US had the lead their would be a lot less complaining (especally on this site) about the time wasting that would be going on.

Yeah, it was pretty disgusting. I wouldn't be surprised if a replay of the extra time gets nominated for an Oscar. We should have gotten at least ten minutes added, not three.

lol not TEN.... maybe five

normally the people who take the falls are going for the free kick, not for wasting time. you don't lose much time those fouls. also, while ill admit people do fake, you have to realize that these guys are running really fast.. according to fifa.com, donovan's top speed was 30 km/h (18-18 mph).. thats fast and these players are exhausted, i wouldn't doubt the slight contact can send them spiraling in a world of pain.

aslan is also very correct that video replay should never ever happen. that will just slow down the game. while i wish the refs kept the cards in their pocket and whistle out of their mouth more, these refs are incredibly high skilled. another side of eyes/video replay would have minimal marginal value and really what would the other set of eyes job be? all the refs jobs are clearly set out.

my real pet peeve is when the players argue the cards against the ref. i wish some sportsmanship would be showed in that respect. these refs are spectacular and need to be shown some respect and arguing rarely, if ever, change the card.

Full Disclosure: I was a certified ref in the usa.

Bull fuckin' shit. I give you the 2 disallowed goals of the US, and Germany-Serbia game. These refs BLOW.

And no matter how much time we were cheated out of, five, ten, whatever, as a HOCKEY fan I can tell you this-
]
That many flops, and you totally disrupt a game's flow and a team's RHYTHYM.

And that's fair to do in-game, but not with flops, again, if this were hockey, that'd be a penalty for delay of game, and if they kept going, a five minute major, and then the Ghana team would be short-handed a player or two for a good couple minutes or more.

We've been through this, that is against the rules, just not normally applied.
Have to disagree about diving not being used to waste time though. How many times do you see someone go down in the last 5 minutes, then take 2 minutes to be escorted off the pitch, only just jump up again once play resumes

@aslan:

Maybe it's you who don't understand the rules of soccer. Games are only 90 minutes long, not two hours. Furthermore, they have only been running for the maximum amount of time for one minute out of the possible ninety, and the mean time they have been running is 45 minutes. And just to add insult to injury, they're not always running out there, and you know it. A good chunk of the time, they're just standing there or walking.

Also, your other blatantly incorrect statements have been addressed already, but just to sum up: If added time actually were long enough to account for everything, there wouldn't be a problem. But it's not. And this silly notion that video replay is bad because refs making bad calls is a part of the game is just retarded. The refs shouldn't be a part of the game. Period. There have been several games (I would know, I've watched every single one) this cup where the Ref has been the star player for one of the teams.

rlumley + 1

In their defence, I don't think ref's want to be part of the game either. Looking at the England issue today, the ref had to go with his linesman's call because he couldn't see. Not his fault at all, and the linesman didn't have a great view given how quickly it happened.

And Argentina just got a goal from a player 2.5 yards offsides...

*sigh*

Football will be so much better when we get instant replay.

lum - have a look in the other thread: there's a Germany fan who's disagreeing with us about them

I haven't seen the call yet - I'm watching Germany England and Arg Mex at the same time. But I know what happens, due to the commentary in the Arg Mex game.

So long story short, I can't really have an intelligent opinion.

WOW!

That was a beautiful strike by Tevez.

As opposed to the first one where he was miles offside :P

How to fix this:

@rumley:
"If you get a red card ex post facto, the next game, you have to play with 10 men the entire 90 minutes."

Loooool, my god is that a dumb idea, made my day :-)

Yeah. I won't deny he was offsides at all.