OT: Boneyard "Other Football" World Cup Thread

[housekeys]

You're crazy! You're flat out crazy. I'm sorry. If it just hit his hand, the hand would have flailed away from his body after the contact. Instead, the hand was coming down. It's because he swiped it. I've seen this done numerous times on the field. He knows he may miss the contact with his head, and does not know who the sliding player is coming in (I believe it was a fellow Greek defender, whose kleat you can see in the last moment of the GIF). He's swinging his arm prior to the arrival of the ball, and he gives it a "knock". Extremely easy call, and extremely on purpose...

Swiped it to achieve what? To make an own goal?
re: "He knows...does not know..". ROFLMAO. What are you a mind reader?

Congrats to Costa Rica, but really, get off the Greeks "suck" bandwagon. The Greeks had control of the game from the start and did everything but put the ball in the net. A Costa Rican wiffed at the top of the box and the ball trickles into the Greek net. Bravo. In a way the Costa Ricans did to the Greeks what the Greeks often have done to others in the past. Good for both of them.

 

[housekeys]

Nobody thinks it was a handball???

The first three links that Google directed me to, when typing "Costa Rica Greece handball" were the SB Nation GIF that I included and the following two sites, one which labeled the event as a "massive Greek handball":

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...Costa-Rica-vs-Greece-World-Cup-2014-live.html
http://fansided.com/2014/06/29/world-cup-costa-rica-defeats-greece-pks-advance-quarterfinals/#!59G50

The one that said "massive Greek handball" appears to be an English site, so there doesn't seem to be any bias on the face of their article. It was deliberate, dude. I've seen it a lot before...

Really? So there are sources that think it was a handball? Wow.

There are sources that think Napier sucks.

As for the "English" source being neutral. You don't know what you are talking about. There is no jelous a soccer nation than England. The insult of losing out to the Tico's, compounded by the Greeks winning the Euro in 2004 (something they never have done), then watching the Spanish perfect the sport, they think they own, has bloodied their ego.

You know the chant SEC, SEC, SEC? The English are EPL, EPL, EPL? Right.

 

[UConnDan97]

Def looks intentional from that angle.

Thank you. For a second here, I thought the crazies were running the asylum.

If a third-party person (which I am, because I am neither Greek nor Costa Rican) cannot conclude that the GIF shows the play as intentional handball, then they've never seen it done to them on the field. And I have no more patience for trying to explain it to those people...

 

[Jimdish255]

Greece are frustratingly hard to watch but had chances to, and shoud have won against an exhausted CR team in the last 30 mins.

As for Mexico a tough call but the time to challenge Robben was just inside midfield line instead of watching him walk down the sideline and then juke into the box. Mexico let it slip away.

 

[housekeys]

Thank you. For a second here, I thought the crazies were running the asylum.

If a third-party person (which I am, because I am neither Greek nor Costa Rican) cannot conclude that the GIF shows the play as intentional handball, then they've never seen it done to them on the field. And I have no more patience for trying to explain it to those people...

You are too much. Dude, I am neither Dutch or Mexican, but I thought that was penalty on Robben. Does that mean I am right? So you are a neutral and have an opinion on Greece v Costa Rica. That makes your opinion right?

Relax. It was only a game. You made your point and no one said you are wrong. For all I know everyone in the world agrees with you. I don't.

re: "those people"??? SMH.

 

[upstater]

Much like the penalty against Ivory Coast that Dan also thought was a dive, he's using a stilted cut shot from a different angle to jump to conclusions. When we posted the video of the Ivory Coast penalty he never came back and acknowledged that he was wrong. ESPN shows other angles of the handball which are definitive in showing he was going for the header and not at all his hand.

 

[Gurleyman]

It was intentional. Impulsive, but intentional. There was a Costa Rica player sliding in behind him trying to volley the ball, and he knew it. He went up to head it, couldn't reach it, and then stuck his hand out in desperation knowing that there would be a goal scoring chance if he let it get by. Pretty clear. This wasn't a ball that took a weird deflection or a play where bodies collided and his arm went in a direction he didn't want it to. He didn't go up in the air planning to bat the ball with his hand, but once he realized it was going over his head, he knew what he was doing.

He was just fortunate that the linesman was on the far side of the field and the referee didn't have a good angle or it would have been a PK and at least a yellow. That's a yellow in the midfield area - in the box to deny a scoring chance is probably red.

 

[UConnDan97]

Much like the penalty against Ivory Coast that Dan also thought was a dive, he's using a stilted cut shot from a different angle to jump to conclusions. When we posted the video of the Ivory Coast penalty he never came back and acknowledged that he was wrong. ESPN shows other angles of the handball which are definitive in showing he was going for the header and not at all his hand.

Show me the post where I thought the Ivory Coast PK was a dive. You can't, because I never said that. You have so many arguments going, apparently, that you can no longer remember who they are with...

(For the record, the Ivory Coast play deserved to be a PK. Even the defender didn't argue it. And that's how I know your argument on that was with someone else.)

 

[ZooCougar]

Your link shows it's unintentional. He is flying in to head the ball. Everyone thought he had headed it but he missed it and it hit his hand. You actually think he was trying to hit it with his hand there? You can clearly see his head go toward the ball to hit it. How in the world is he then going to swing his hand .00001 seconds after missing it with his head?

Upstater is the type of person who would tell you that the sun isn't coming up tomorrow or that bears don't actually in the woods.

 

[upstater]

Show me the post where I thought the Ivory Coast PK was a dive. You can't, because I never said that. You have so many arguments going, apparently, that you can no longer remember who they are with...

(For the record, the Ivory Coast play deserved to be a PK. Even the defender didn't argue it. And that's how I know your argument on that was with someone else.)

Yeah, sorry, got you confused with someone else on the other thread.

There is absolutely no reason for Torosidis to use his hand right there. The ball was flying over his head and would come nowhere near any Costa Rica player if he had let it continue its trajectory. The flip side showed it wasn't intentional. But regardless, intentionality doesn't matter at all right there anyway. But Hand of God, Maradona? Are you serious?

 

[upstater]

Upstater is the type of person who would tell you that the sun isn't coming up tomorrow or that bears don't actually in the woods.

There are so many blind fans on here that don't know much about soccer, it's my job to inform them. And the media is no better. It's been constant blindness. When you give people video evidence, they persist in what they thought they saw. We had 15 pages a few days ago on the IC penalty at the end of the game, and yet everyone still goes on and on about how Greece undeservedly got into the 16.

 

[ZooCougar]

There are so many blind fans on here that don't know much about soccer, it's my job to inform them.

Whatever you say Baghdad Bob.

 

[upstater]

Whatever you say Baghdad Bob.

Iraq was out in Asian qualifying. But, you can continue on in your ignorance.

 

[ZooCougar]

Iraq was out in Asian qualifying. But, you can continue on in your ignorance.

Plenty of people that get paid to talk about soccer agree with me. Are they ignorant too? I bet you aren't even a bona fide soccer fan. Probably a poser Greek bandwagon fan... Googled up some info. Completely full of it.

 

[upstater]

Plenty of people that get paid to talk about soccer agree with me. Are they ignorant too? I bet you aren't even a bona fide soccer fan. Probably a poser Greek bandwagon fan... Googled up some info. Completely full of it.

Agree with you about what? Are you suffering delusions of grandeur?

 

[ZooCougar]

Agree with you about what? Are you suffering delusions of grandeur?

You don't need to be grand to se that was intentional. You don't even need eyes.

 

[upstater]

You don't need to be grand to se that was intentional. You don't even need eyes.

Same stuff was said a few days ago when people saw the IC PK from one angle. The angle they showed during the game was entirely different and the last thing he was doing there was intending to handle it. The thing is, the whole discussion is irrelevant anyway, as I've said above, since there is intentionality isn't considered. The same people yapping away about the intent of the handball were also the same people who were wrong (and are still wrong) about the PK.

I have to wonder what you so-called soccer aficionados are thinking. A guy is going to intentionally try to knock the ball down with his hands in front of the goal in the 16s of a World Cup? Really now!

 

[spsct]

You're the only person who thinks it's intentional. So far one other person here besides me think it's unintentional. And the comparison to Maradona? And you think I'm crazy? Whoa.

Looked intentional to me, but I only saw the GIF... My feeling is that his left arm position doesn't look too natural in relation to the rest of his body for it to be unintentional (don't know if I'm explaining that correctly). If he was running backwards and stretching to head the ball, I would expect his left arm to be slightly behind the body like his right arm is.

Holiday Inn Express.

Edit. By backwards I meant towards his own goal.

 

[spsct]

Show me the post where I thought the Ivory Coast PK was a dive. You can't, because I never said that. You have so many arguments going, apparently, that you can no longer remember who they are with...

(For the record, the Ivory Coast play deserved to be a PK. Even the defender didn't argue it. And that's how I know your argument on that was with someone else.)

Probably due to too many freakin' Dans around here.

 

[Gurleyman]

That's a Costa Rica player's cleat coming into the frame at the end of that Vine. The cross was bending back towards him, so he was probably going to get on the back end of it, or it would have been very close at least. It would have been a difficult finish, but the Greek defender couldn't know that since he couldn't see both the man and the ball with the Costa Rica player behind him. They had just allowed a goal, couldn't afford another, so I find it far more likely that he had a moment of panic and stuck his hand out on purpose when he couldn't reach the header than I do in thinking he just happened to accidentally put his hand in the passing lane to deny a scoring chance. World class defenders don't flail their hands around in the box when they aren't under duress. That's how you become an ex-defender.

 

[UCFBfan]

You guys can argue all you want but the bottom line is it doesn't matter either way as Costa Rica won in the end. I'm happy for them and it shows well for CONCACAF. I really am just blown away when you see teams play with 10 men for long sets of time. It's even more amazing when they play with 10 men for close to an extra hour and then need to take PK shots. Good for Costa Rica. I hope the US can follow them into the quarterfinals tomorrow.

 

[ZooCougar]

Same stuff was said a few days ago when people saw the IC PK from one angle. The angle they showed during the game was entirely different and the last thing he was doing there was intending to handle it. The thing is, the whole discussion is irrelevant anyway, as I've said above, since there is intentionality isn't considered. The same people yapping away about the intent of the handball were also the same people who were wrong (and are still wrong) about the PK.

I have to wonder what you so-called soccer aficionados are thinking. A guy is going to intentionally try to knock the ball down with his hands in front of the goal in the 16s of a World Cup? Really now!

Hence the idea of a professional handball. I've headed enough balls to know that his left arm was not in a natural or normal position.


This gif is even more revealing.


http://thebiglead.com/2014/06/29/bryan-ruizs-perfectly-placed-goal-stuns-entire-greece-defense/

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Oh, I don't know. Do you think that might have had anything to do with the fact that 2 of their top 3 attackers had been pulled off the field (Vargas, Vidal), along with their best defender (Medel)?!?

Even given all that, Pinilla still hit the crossbar in overtime...

I wonder how many lives were saved by that crossbar as it prevented a country from burning to the ground.

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

To go back to Bradley's play for a moment... I was watching with a British friend of mine who consumes ungodly amounts of soccer and he thinks Americans are crazy for thinking Bradley isn't absolutely The Man for the US. Yeah, he's had some bad first touches/giveaways, but he also has run more than any other player in the World Cup. Because he's always there. No other player on the US is close to always being in position to make a play. The alternative to Bradley's bad first touch is nobody being there. He is literally the only guy running box to box for 90+ minutes every game. Hard to blame the guy for being gassed.

I do think he needs to play better, but anybody who thinks we have a better alternative to Bradley on the bench is insane.

 

[ZooCougar]

To go back to Bradley's play for a moment... I was watching with a British friend of mine who consumes ungodly amounts of soccer and he thinks Americans are crazy for thinking Bradley isn't absolutely The Man for the US. Yeah, he's had some bad first touches/giveaways, but he also has run more than any other player in the World Cup. Because he's always there. No other player on the US is close to always being in position to make a play. The alternative to Bradley's bad first touch is nobody being there. He is literally the only guy running box to box for 90+ minutes every game. Hard to blame the guy for being gassed.

I do think he needs to play better, but anybody who thinks we have a better alternative to Bradley on the bench is insane.

This is true. There was a table posted on the bigsoccer forums that had the distance run by each player. And the winner was Bradley, quite literally by a mile.