If your permutations are correct (I assume they are), then yes: drawing lots… according to the official rulebook on the FIFA 2014 website.
It has happened before, but not for a long time… I can’t recall it in any case.
Even if you are going for the ball.
Yes, but it is possible that a ref may be more lenient when a genuine attempt is made, whereas making no attempt at all is just asking for it.
They’re saying that if FIFA ban him it will only apply to international games. That has been the case with World Cup punishments before. I’m wondering if Liverpool will be quietly pleased about this, if it puts Madrid or Barcelona off. But I have a feeling that clubs will still want him, even if he attracts a multi-game ban every couple of years.
Yes, I’ve played (though not for many years.) The point is that he clearly wasn’t making a movement to interfere with the other player. He was going for the ball before the other player decided to shoot (though admittedly he was pretty unlikely to get to it).
It would be cool if they did rock-paper-scissors.
I think it is funny that there is so much argument over the Greek penalty shot. As I was watching live, I thought that it was a clear penalty.
But as Borchevsky and Novelty Bobble mentioned above, you are liable to be penalized even if you are going after the ball (although then perhaps a lenient referee might show mercy, depending on how earnest the “going after the ball” aspect was).
I think it has to do with a perception that the Greek team did not deserve to go through, given their level of play until now. Ivory Coast played much better than Greece during the group phase, all things considered.
Strange that they don’t have another level of tie-breaking to avoid this situation, such as fair-play rankings or FIFA rankings. I seem to remember them coming worryingly close to it several times before. One of these days the football authorities are going to be embarrassed by having to eliminate a team by drawing lots.
Well it looks like I was first to make this particular joke about suarez, so I’ve photoshopped it.
Argentina are starting Higuaín and Kun Agüero again. I don’t think Agüero is fully fit. It’s going to bite them on the ass one of these games. Hopefully it does today and not deeper into the tournament.
There’s a bad joke somewhere in having a Uruguayan soccer player who likes to bite people but I can’t quite figure it out.
It already happened during the qualifiers to decide which teams were going to go to the 1954 WC in Switzerland. From the relevant Wikipedia article:
“The third and fourth place teams from 1950, Sweden and Spain, both failed to qualify. In a shock result, Spain was eliminated by Turkey: after the two countries had tied a three-game series, Turkey progressed by drawing of lots.”
It did not happen during the WC itself, but I think it is a precedent.
There are people in Spain who still remember that “disaster” 
None of those things are relevant to the fact that he clearly interfered with an attacker, in possession of the ball, in the penalty box. This gif clearly shows the contact from another angle.
If that was not a penalty, then there ARE no penalties in football. We might as well erase the penalty box altogether.
I watched the game on Spanish-language station Univision, and also saw highlights in English on ESPN, and all of the commentators agreed it was a clear penalty. I’ve also just looked at reports of the game from a half-dozen major newspapers online, and not one of them suggests that there was any controversy at all in the awarding of the penalty. The Chicago Tribune says that Sio “committed a poor foul in the penalty area,” and the Daily Mail calls it a “reckless foul.”
And, in today’s games, they haven’t played five minutes yet and Argentina and Nigeria are already tied 1-1.
Nigeria and Argentina are tied 1-1 at 4 minutes…!
Damn, I missed the Messi goal. Someone describe it please.
Leisurely start to this one…
You can see it yourself. Go to Univision’s feed and drag the slider back to the third minute of play.
It’s worth noting that the Argentina/Nigeria situation is similar to the one facing the US and Germany tomorrow. If the two teams decide to play to a draw, they are both through. Nigeria does have incentive to win, because that would allow them to win the group and avoid the winner of Group E—most likely France—in the next round.
It was a pretty standard blast in the rebound. The Nigeria goal was a thing of beauty.
If Univision doesn’t work (it’s region-locked) here’s a Vine of the goal Vine