there seriously needs to be some kind of instant replay or something, or at least an extra official that sits in a booth next to tv's and helps the officials on the floor out. two missed calls in one day in the knockout rounds is ridiculous.

it is something which everyone seems to want and in Rugby having a similar system helps the game to be much fairer

pitty i hate football so much, as I would be angry about England losing but the up side is no more bloody flags on cars

England's goal not being counted was just pathetic. The officiating for this whole tournament has been sad. Having not been a fan of "football" previously, and just checking it out for the WorldCup, this really turns me off to the sport. Why not have enough officials to properly see the plays and make fair calls? Or use the cameras and replay to insure no mistakes?
Not to say it hasn't been entertaining. I just think, if they are gonna play, shouldn't it be decided by skill? Not who's lucky enough not to suffer the shitty calls?

I, much like the rest of England, Strongly believe that had that goal been counted, the match would have turned out totally differently.
You could see how much it crushed spirits.
Terrible.

The better teams win.

I believe England, as the formal inventors of the most beautiful game, should have the veto to say so, if they wanted to have modern techniques, such as goal judges, to be introduced into the rules.

With all that, Germany had them and woulda had them, regardless. Of course, we'll never know...

On a different topic, what do you all think of these ideas?
1, do away with the offside rule. no more offside. score at will, defend differently.
2, change the penalty system to be similar to hockey's. yellow-card=2min time off for offender, red-card=5min.

am assuming the position now..

Instant replay would kill the game. As awful as the officiating has been. It's not the first time England has been robbed. Honestly, some missed calls have lead to what are some of the greatest/infamous moments in the sport.

I was old enough to remember this vividly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbbsytHDp2o

maybe not instant replay, but someone extra either standing on the goal or someone next to a tv that can help out the dudes on the field. the sport really needs it, in my opinion.

1. Wouldn't work to do away completely, but could work with another line, again, something like hockey...
2. Hmmm, not sure. People seem to get hurt all the time in football, so you don't want to encourage reckless tackling. They -have- to find something to curb divers and fakers though.

Instant replay is necessary. People were complaining before it was introduced in hockey, and now everyone loves it!

To begin, like I said, use a goal judge to challenge disallowed goals. Those are not that frequent, so that people would get used to the obvious benefits. It would probably lead to full on instant review then.

What is of concern, of course, is that the flow of the game would become fragmented. Would lead to time outs or somehow patching the half with allowances for time spent on reviews, etc.;
That would introduce the concept of commercial breaks. The game could change enough to resemble American Football, the way it manages a half.

This is true and not only that, on Mexican TV they had a list of the worst 10 referee calls on World Cups and guess what? 8 out of those where in favour of Germany and Argentina (and two of Argentina's where for Maradona!! ).
What a terrible two days (or week if we include France) for most of us.

Shouldn't that be in purple? England were way to flat, too obvious in everything. The back four were ponderous and out of position. Ozil's tanking of Barry for the fourth was an embarassment.

Oh and Glen Johnson is on 139k a week at Liverpool

I'd love to think this would finally see us blood the young players and get rid of the dead wood. Why Beckham was even there is a mystery. But I doubt we will it will be the same old "world class players for their club" argument time after time.

James, Green, Upson, King, Dawson, Johnson, Barry, Gerrard, Lampard, Defoe, Heskey, Crouch none of them should play for England again. How would a bunch of younger guy do worse than salvaging qualification with a 1-0 win over the mighty Slovenia?

no, only fair.

. . . but Sundays goal was clearly a yard over the line as viewed from every perceivable camera angle!

Classic!

compared to argentina´s offside goal ...what is a yard???

I think Mexico have much more of a right to fell aggrieved at that decision than England do.

It seemed to me he was there to do the catering or something. He appeared to have that "hmm.. what kind of bush-meat Pâté can I serve with biscuit and tea?" expression on his face.

Team motivator was his remit I believe . . . good work fella!

I prefer "reminder of failures past" member or "modelling M&S suit". Unless his Italian has suddenly got very, very good and I think we all know how likely that scenario is

As for shear, overall entertainment value, there really hasn't been much to speak of, no? Both Argentina and Brazil have shown some signs of life, but production from Messi has been dismal. Maicon and Fabio have had their moments, but still.. It seems to me the whole thing just stresses everybody out and they lose their spirit, which might have been questionable to begin with.

As far as shear entertainment value goes.... it beats the hell out of American sports. Well not the sports, but the COMMERCIAL FREE viewing. Man I love that. 45 minutes of non-stop entertainment. FU Gieco I FART A LOT..

japan out

other then brazil, i have no reason to even watch at this point

i still got spain and germany to root for.
hopefully spain goes on today.
not a fan of cristiano ronaldo