Any other player and I would agree with your

but McBride is hard as nails so when he goes down, he's been smashed.

both of the reds on the americans were lame. neither player had gotten a yellow prior to it, and those fouls were nowhere near serious enough to merit a straight ejection. the elbow to the eye was justified as a red card.

anyway, now i guess i have to say go italy! beat the czechs!

and beasley needs to be benched for the whole game next time. what the fuck is up with him? the only fresh guy in there and he's jogging around like it's practice or something.

I'm afraid I have to agree with Parka - I thought the ref did a good job of controlling a very volatile game. Soccer is intrinsically meant to be a game of skill, not brawn and aggression. (And I thought at least one of the Americans was sent off BECAUSE he got two yellows?)
Looking on the positive aspects of the game - I thought the US 'keeper was freakin' excellent. Basically saved the match a few times!

This is a guy that has already been suspended a couple of times for bone-headed calls. Whatever. Beauty and soccer calls are in the eye of the beholder. No big deal.

I'll ignore the patriotic commentators, as 99% of all comments i've seen about the cards are that he got them spot on.

'Soccer calls' !?! its called Football

So, who won?

It was a TIE. WHATEVER!!!

In the States, as Parka probably knows, we call it soccer.

Whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever.... ad infinitum. It's a bloody game.

I don't know about you geo but its called football, lame americans with no knowledge of real football call it "Soccer"....... the u.s. commentators don't know shit about the game....I am just bummed that Italy didn't beat the shit out of them...
Maybe in about twenty years the u.s. team will be able to hang with the rest of the world....no matter what ABC or ESPN think....

Best "Whatever" thread ever!! Parks, I saw that game as well, it was freaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaking nunchucking NUTS !! All out war, blood all over, it was more like watching a Bruce Willis movie !!

Damn, the US really wanted to win and could have won, that goal the black dude scored should have been ok! Anyway, WTF happenned to the Italians man?? The US goal keeper was really good anyway! It's a good result for the US team

Italians should cut their hair, I can imagine the bloodbath over the San Pedro Place...

Tomorrow France is playing HAHA, that should be fucking boring as hell..

Whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever...!!!

I think geo might drink grappa when he watches soccer's football.

i need to watch the replay, but the guy was offsides and he was able to screen the goalie... so therefore if he wasn't there, there probably would have been no goal.

that's what i like to think anyways, it makes me feel better.

I have sworn off Grappa until I am a Grampa.

When you call it football the rest of the world might take you seriously as a footballing nation. At the moment, when you call it soccer - people just laugh

HAHAHAHA

Yes, but as somebody from your fair land once noted:

What's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet. (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet act II, sc. ii)

I just got curious and looked up "soccer" on Wikipedia. For what that is worth, here is what it said about the use of the names "soccer" and "football" for the game:

"The sport is known by many names throughout the English-speaking world. "Soccer" is used by the largest number of native English speakers, although "football" is perhaps the most widely used. Other names, such as association football and soccer, are often used to distinguish the game from other codes of football, since the word football may refer to several quite different games."

Whatever anybody calls it, it is certainly a game that can arouse a lot of passion. I really enjoy it myself. My daughter's high school team won the state championship 3 out of the 4 years she played (defender). She is in college now, but coaches a high school women's team in Indiana.

Gooooaaaaallllllll!

Whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever...

u say tomato... i say tomahtoe....

Yes

Hey, we are just having a discussion, and I learned some stuff along the way. Nothing wrong with that.

Oh wait! Is this really a discussion, or is it a debate, or an argument, or what?

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose – Gertrude Stein, Sacred Emily (1913).

so anyone watching Japan vs Croatia?

any predictions? Form should say that Croatia beat Japan, after that performance against Brazil. I'm going 2-1 to Croatia with Prso getting both.

for some....

I already quoted you

Looking like its going to be 0 - 0. Great result for Japan but it means if they want to qualify they have to beat Brazil

Now THAT was a good game! I'm out of breath just watching.
Japan played well but blew their best chances (as usual).
Man of the Match for me had to be the Croatian coach though...
Very dapper!