Aww that ruins it! I thought he was grabbing the first available . KT should like the smoochy soccer couple

Soccer is weird, they keep saying this guy or that guy was distracted by their girlfriend or ex girlfriend

In USA our guys have gfs burning down houses and on weapons charges and if they let it get to them there's 25 guys to take their place

The exception is Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo but that wasn't seen as a psychological issue, it was a metabolic question

Gotta give it to the Dutch, they go down swinging! <Rimshot>

Down with the Dutchies!

with global warming it was maybe your last world cup?

Primo, agreed with all the annoying referee things! I think they should just suddenly start enforcing rules on diving/complaining/dissent/time wasting etc. etc.

We can have two weeks of absolute carnage where every player is sent off at half time and then hopefully they will learn not to do it. The rules are there, they just need to be enforced.

ChickenWingz, sliding with a fully stretched leg is not an offense.

since render is too nationalistic to help us out, one of the commenters on the vid wrote this translation:

Sara:Well,how everything started,and look where we are now
Iker: What do u want me to say
Sara: Just tell me how you're feeling
Iker:I'm Happy,really really Happy, at this moment I feel great. I think we deserve this,we have deserved&#65279; it since the beggining,and I really have to thank all that people that has always been supportive.My parents,my brother...(stops talking)
Sara: It's ok, we can talk about the game if u prefer
Iker: No, ..and my friends, and YOU.
(he kisses her)
Iker: now I'm leaving

it is correct Nemeara, and the unchained melody as background music

isnt it romantic?

No it isn't, you are just plainly wrong there. Sliding with your leg stretched is what you do otherwise you won't get the ball, and it is not more dangerous than having your leg bent either. Sliding with an outstretched leg is not illegal and never has been and there is no reason why it should be. You are the first and only person I have ever come across to think that is a rule.

Anyway, that isn't why I came here. The Dutch play upset Cruyff....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8812484.stm

I just looked through the laws of the game because I'm really sad....

http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/generic/81/42/36/lawsofthegame_2010_11_e.pdf

There is no reference to the angle of flexion of a leg in a tackle.

De Jong should have been sent off though, as I will refer to the laws that I just read

"A player is guilty of serious foul play if he uses excessive force or brutality
against an opponent when challenging for the ball when it is in play.
A tackle that endangers the safety of an opponent must be sanctioned as
serious foul play.
Any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the
front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force
and endangering the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play.
Advantage should not be applied in situations involving serious foul play unless
there is a clear subsequent opportunity to score a goal. The referee must send
off the player guilty of serious foul play when the ball is next out of play.
A player who is guilty of serious foul play should be sent off and play is
restarted with a direct free kick from the position where the offence occurred
(see Law 13

> oh and i just saw the replay, the goal was not offside.

the reason mathijssen was so upset is that sneijder's freekick was blocked by the spanish wall, and instead of a corner, the ref gave a goalkick, in the counter attack spain scores.

this^^^ how the officials missed it i dont know.

still Spain were the better team. Netherlands thought they were playing karate lol<<

They beat Germany with a corner kick, soo......

from what I'm reading, in terms of reputation, I think the Oranje burned themselves more by leaving the field with complaints about the officiating than by the kung fu.  Weren't they aware they just got away with murder?  They did stuff that would get them benched in American handegg...which is a full contact sport

As I was just stating, Chris, is that the only direct red card that should have been given in this match, was the one Iniesta should have gotten for kicking van Bommel.

(Ofcourse it needs to be said that van Bommel should have had his 2nd yellow card well before that)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAE3cbjbCNc
not intended? how the hell was that not intended?  if Alonso wasn't there DeJong's foot would have been no where near the ball, he might have hit it with his ass

In American handegg, which you must admit is superior in terms of humiliation and violence, when one team goes in for assault and battery, the refs come down hard on everybody and issue penalties for farting too loud until people calm down.  This genteel style just lets reprisal and counterblow go on and on.

just saw this:

"If anything you are more likely to injure yourself because any force through your leg won't be absorbed by flexion. You could injure your own knee"

due to that exact same principle the amount of force applied on the opponent remains high (less absorbtion due to the stiffness of the outstretched leg, less force absorbed by the leg, more force applied on the target), making the sliding tackle more likely to injure someone.

and yeah sorry, i didn't pick the correct words for my arguement earlier, so i stated "leg bents, direction of force is changed, less force on opponent". what i actually was supposed to say was the stiffness of the outstretched leg prevents the leg to move after impact (the absorption, try it, leg stretched out or leg bent slightly, when the leg is bent slightly it will bend more on impact, which it won't when outstretched),
while when the leg is bent some of the force is absorbed by the leg that bends slightly further.