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My pick of winners

Germany, Spain, Brazil and Senegal.

Moreno, the referee of the match South Korea-Italy, said that
Italy's elimination is not his fault, 'cause we didn't make
ENOUGH goals! We had to make more in order to be sure to win,
beyond mistakes!
Ah ah!!!
EXACTLY what the whole Italy kept saying BEFORE the match,
we had to make more goals than they could invalidate!!
Now, this is a justification!!!
He spoke the truth here, we had to beat the referee too,
but we failed!
Ah ah ah!
Funny.

How come we knew there would have been another goal invalidated,
and that this would have been one of OURS????
And the incredible espulsion of Totti? While Rivaldo still plays...

Now, I have to support Brazil...
At least, in all this shame, the winner should be a team who
knows how to play, so sport won't be TOTALLY humiliated.
Go Brazil!

The news here today is that the Korean player who scored the winning goal against Italy has been sacked by the Italian team he plays for, he is accused of biting the hand that feeds....

Well IRL, i was annoying all my friends by saying it will be a US Senegal final and I look to be correct!
Now that is freaky.

My picks will be germany (even thought i say a US Senegal Final), Senegal and Turkey don't know who the fourth will be.

Looking into my crystal ball, the semifinalists are:

Brazil, Germany, Senegal, South Korea.

Its nice to have some different countries winning for once. Keeps everyone guessing. Its not much of a "World Cup" if the same nations keep on winning.

Re: Korea vs Italy
Congrats to Korea, great game. Edge-of-your-seat stuff.

Yesterday I was very sorry for the Italians. I did think that they had been very hard-done-by - I thought that Totti's dismissal was wrong, he didn't dive, and (sorry, I can't remember his name but you know who I mean) was definitely not offside, on the contrary it was a beautifully timed run and just caught the Korean defence completely off guard. I have a lot of sympathy for the Italians.
Here comes the but...
But...having read your posts in particular Littiz, and seen your completely over-the-top conspiracy theories (there's nothing else I can really call them) and especially after Ahn was sacked by Perugia, and on the reactions of several Italians I know, I would call into question the sanity of the entire Italian race. IT'S ONLY A GAME!! YOU HAD BAD LUCK!!! A lot of it, indeed, this World Cup. I totally agree with you that Italy should now be in the quarter-finals, perhaps even playing Germany after having come top of the group and beating the USA (but on their current form, anything could have happened). However the way that Italy has taken this disappointment is, quite frankly, unacceptable. Just take the defeat, go on and do better next time. If you want to be picky, Korea played far better than Italy in that game and on performance, they deserved to win. If Brazil beat England tomorrow, I will be sad. If they win because of refereeing decisions that were clearly wrong, I will be annoyed. But it will pass. All I can say is, get over it...

EDIT: Korea, Senegal, USA and England

Ha! Since I am THE fortuneteller and have great knowledge of palmistry, clairvoyance, crystal ball readin' and so on rolleyes: ) I will skip my prediction for the quarter- & semi-finals (that's for amateurs) and give my prediction for the finals with the scoreline:
Final: Brazil 3 : 2 Germany
Of course, if I'm proven wrong, it will be because my crystal ball needs fixin' and my palms a good washin'.

@Kam:...

...I'm no Italian fan, but seeing all those circumstances that befell this football team, it's so hard to believe that Murphy's Law took A LOT of fancy in them.

I agree, it's ONLY a game. However, with such passion for the sport, national pride is very strong for all participants.

Originally posted by Littiz
Thanx for the commiserations Yshania, but I'm not unhappy,
we won!!!!
We scored a REGULAR golden goal, so technically we passed the turn.
Oh, wait, they said that Korea has to pass instead!
Guess their word is what counts, not the field.
...we expected a direction against us, but we wasn't prepared for
such a thing..

of course this cup is strange
I've seen an evident simulation translated in penalty (Rivaldo IIRC) while Totti, who simulated absolutely nothing, has been espelled.
(I'm not saying that I wanted a penalty here, there wasn't, as the defender hit the ball. But Totti simply didn't simulate anything)
We've had FOUR regular goals cancelled.
Of course the results of the matches are strange, then.
It couldn't be otherwise.

Damn.
We love football, but this is too much.
Interests, power, money, play an intolerable role in all this.
From what I've seen today, I'm sure that the thing it's pilotated.
As I said earlier, they keep this sistem of referee + linesmen, so they can gain control when needed.
Today was needed. Just look at the number of koreans at the stadium.......

Did you know there is a black cloud over our local Italian Restaurant? They don't look too chuffed. On the other hand our local kebab house is just whoopin it up! Go the Janissaries!

Originally posted by Yshania
The news here today is that the Korean player who scored the winning goal against Italy has been sacked by the Italian team he plays for, he is accused of biting the hand that feeds....

I saw this on another board...and I call it the worst part of the whole WC.

Originally posted by Kameleon
Yesterday I was very sorry for the Italians. I did think that they had been very hard-done-by...

But...having read your posts in particular Littiz, and seen your completely over-the-top conspiracy theories (there's nothing else I can really call them) and especially after Ahn was sacked by (Parma?), and on the reactions of several Italians I know, I would call into question the sanity of the entire Italian race.

My thoughts exactly. I wouldn't go as far as saying that Italy deserved to lose, but if this collective madness goes on, I might.

Having seen the slo-mo of Totti's fall a few times, I would say he's helping a little, which isn't a wise choice when you already have one warning for simulating earlier in the same game. When it comes to the offside situation, I can't really say since the camera angle was pretty bad and there were no lines in view for reference. Could be - there are many assistant referees that enjoy waving their flags in this WC, not just in Italy's games. Even so, since the referee blew his whistle a good five seconds before the ball was in the net, I wouldn't say that it was an invalidated goal since the goalie heard it and stopped moving. Considering how well South Korea actually did play, I wouldn't immediately assume that Italy would have scored, even though it was just one player against the goalie.

So, first of all, football isn't fair. If it were, we could just give the cup to whoever's at the top of the ranking list and skip all the agony of watching our favourite team loose against some small African nation like, um, Senegal... Hey, wait, Senegal is my favourite team! Go, Senegal, go!

Second, that would probably mean Brazil could keep the cup and the rest of us would have to invent something else to fill out space on TV.

@Weasel - I agree. Very sad, but hey!! I am sure there will be many teams after him now, this is the beauty of the World Cup - it is a stage for up and coming talent Diouf has already signed for Liverpool, I hear...

Originally posted by Silur


So, first of all, football isn't fair. If it were, we could just give the cup to whoever's at the top of the ranking list and skip all the agony of watching our favourite team loose against some small African nation like, um, Senegal... Hey, wait, Senegal is my favourite team! Go, Senegal, go!

Second, that would probably mean Brazil could keep the cup and the rest of us would have to invent something else to fill out space on TV.

Nicely said

It's a game, and here's a passion that unite us, and we felt
humiliated.
Italy scored 10 (TEN) goals, 5 (FIVE) of them were invalidated.
4 (FOUR) were clearly regular, while Montella's one WAS offside (though
it was a question of 5-10 centimeters).
I don't know where to check, but I'm pretty sure this is an absolute
record.
And Moreno (the referee of SouthKorea-Italy) dared to say that we didn't
score ENOUGH goals!
As for the last, Tommasi's goal, he had already avoided the goalkeeper.
Don't rise ridicule objections, please!
Though Korea DID play well, and this "soften" the theft.
Bad luck? South Korea-Italy: the same day Japan was eliminated.
We see the stadium filled with people, we are in the home
of the only "survived" organizing nation...
My friend and I look each other and say: "there WILL BE another
invalidated goal!!!"
I'm not a diviner... the penalty immediatly against us, Totti's
espulsion, Tommasi's goal, IIRC 8 yellow carts against us and 2
against Korea...
I don't need more coincidencies, I think that with all the money and
people involved some strong team had to be sacrificed, and actually
Italy has no representation in FIFA high ranks...
If it's not something purely intentional, it's something biased.
Yet, our lives go on, and we'll win the next cup, scoring 5 goals per match!


Anyway
-Moreno has been released by FIFA.
Mostly for his mistakes in that match, and Totti's espulsion
WAS "quoted" as one of those. If Rivaldo still plays, that one
was really a joke.
Another referee who directed us, I think the one who invalidated
us two goals, has been removed from duty.

-BLATTER has said that there have been exceptional circumstances
that have conducted to multiple mistakes against the same team,
in one occasion even to invalidate a would-be decisive goal.
BUT he thinks this is not an "alibi"... (..?!)
Anyway he said that in future they have to choose better referees.

@Yshania: Gaucci, Perugia's president, is a very esuberant type.
He probably will change his mind.
Anyway, this ISN'T due to Ahn's goal. It's due to his words.
Gaucci took him from nothing, made him rich, made him famous in his
country.
He's acclamed as an hero in Korea, and BEFORE the match he starts
spitting venom against italian football and all.
He should have shown respect at least, then he could go in the field
and win as he did.

So I think Gaucci is not completely wrong

Originally posted by Yshania
@Weasel - I agree. Very sad, but hey!! I am sure there will be many teams after him now, this is the beauty of the World Cup - it is a stage for up and coming talent Diouf has already signed for Liverpool, I hear...

Perhaps he should have held out on signing a few days... Who knows, the pricetag might skyrocket

Nicely said

I stole parts of it I didn't even know about ranking lists until about a week ago. I've watched more football the last few weeks than I had previously in my life (well, almost).

Originally posted by Littiz
@Yshania: Gaucci, Perugia's president, is a very esuberant type.
He probably will change his mind.
Anyway, this ISN'T due to Ahn's goal. It's due to his words.
Gaucci took him from nothing, made him rich, made him famous in his country.

I still think it's a lousy attitude. Gaucci wouldn't have taken Ahn from nothing unless he was one really good football player. I don't believe there's much room for altruism in the Italian league. Ahn is still a good football player, which is what he was hired for. His views are his own and he has a right to express them without being fired. It's always depressing when people in power abuse their position to oppress others, may it be in football or otherwise.

There is nothing worse than a sour loser. Sure the referees have made a lot of mistakes. And sure some of them may not be qualified to umpire in the WC but Italy is not the only team who have suffered from it.
The players make a lot of mistakes aswell but still expect the referees to always see their point of view.
It wasn't the worst dive I have ever seen, the Totti one. Still diving is IMO the worst offense in football... downrigt cheating IMO and Totti does it alot.
And the Ahn thing is downright outrageous... I am stunned.

Originally posted by Bruce Lee
There is nothing worse than a sour loser.

I think you mean "sour grapes" loser, unless, of course, you're referring to players from Beijing. In which case, they could accurately be described as sweet and sour losers.

I think he ment sore looser

I read Blatter's comments in an article on BBC. I agree that the linemen are more than a bit "flag-happy", but besides that it's a pretty bleak political "dampening of waves" sort of thing.

The BBC also quotes the referee Moreno, "I would do it again," he told Il Messaggero newspaper. "I don't even have to watch the replays. Totti dived."

Having too much spare time for my own good this evening, I spent some time looking through the net for info on Totti. Turns out he's done quite a few dives previously both in Roma and in the European Championship...

On the Discovery Channel they sometimes run a commercial depicting a football player that makes a dive. Then you hear a man say "Aw for christ sake, choose football.... or acting.... not both." I love the accent on that guy.