Oribe!!! ORIBE!!! ORIBE!!!
Ggggggooooooaaaaaallllll! Well deserved by Mexico.
Chicharito on and Mexico looking confident despite the forward pressure from Cameroon.
Ahh, what a save by Ochoa
It was excellent, and a well-earned win for Mexico.
Pity Chicharito missed that golden opportunity in stoppage time.
Cameroon have talent, but that was a lackluster effort. Seeing that Mexico has real fire and has pulled its act together after woeful performances in qualifying, I now see them getting out of the group.
I think there’s a difference between people (like me and I believe Asterion) who love watching the world cup, and do watch it, but get frustrated by aspects of it, vs someone (likely American) just dropping into the thread to make fun of the most popular sport in the world.
There is. I was mainly referring to people like amanset who came in here to call the World Cup “such a shit sport.” Admittedly, I may have interpreted Asterion’s post too negatively, but my reaction was based on his having said “It’s really hard for me to watch soccer after watching the NHL playoffs and constantly finding myself wishing soccer was more like hockey.”
No one who loves the game wants soccer to be more like hockey. ETA: and I say this as a fan of hockey. Go Kings!
Bottom line: “the World Cup sucks and here’s why” kinds of posts really should be somewhere else, not here. Please.
I’m biased, but that penalty was wrong. Not as wrong as the Brazil one, though.
Also, not likely to change what would’ve been the outcome anyway.
Spain - Netherlands: 1-0 after a penalty shoot. Goal of Xabi Alonso in minute 27.
I thought the decision by the referee there was iffy (and I am Spanish, although living in the Netherlands).
Three games in and the refereeing in this WC has been uniformly mediocre, in my opinion. WTH…?
Clearly not a penalty, the attacker stepped on the defender’s foot before losing his balance…
Refereeing has been shite
Nice work from Costa there in the penalty box “I’m going to make it very easy for you to catch my trailing leg…”. That’s not cheating, but it is one of the darker footballing arts.
Very soft penalty for sure. But I think the referee is losing patience with the Netherlands’ thuggery.
What thuggery are you taking about? Is your perception clouded by memories from earlier games?
The Spain Netherlands game seems a bit sedated. The linesman though in the Mexico-Cameroon was diabolical.
Maybe a bit. But the Dutch really are fouling a lot in lieu of creative play. So many late challenges.
What a goal by Van Persie!
He leaps like a salmon!
End of the first half : Spain 1 (Xabi Alonso, 27 mins., penalty) - Netherlands 1 (Van Persie, 44 mins.)
Nice goal by Van Persie.
And I tend to agree with Knorf – the Dutch team are playing very harshly.
Perfect timing by van Persie.