might as well make the thread since almost all teams are qualified and we'll be discussing the draw soon enough

I'm listening to the Ireland-France game on Irish radio and Robbie Keane just tied it up on aggregate

http://www.rte.ie/radio/liveplayer2_av.html?1_real,http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/live/radio/radio1.smil,real,200

also, Slovenia just scored to make it 2-2 (and they'd go through if it stays this way)

11/18/2009 3:36:46 PM

France and Ireland can be seen here: http://www.watchprem.com/channel1.php

11/18/2009 3:41:14 PM

http://atdhe.net/10488/watch-france-vs-ireland

Good video, but in French.

11/18/2009 3:42:09 PM

I wasted too much of the day watching Algeria-Egypt so I'm going to listen to this game

you gotta love Irish announcers too

11/18/2009 3:43:35 PM

11/18/2009 4:19:21 PM

Oh my

11/18/2009 4:21:33 PM

DEUTSCHLAND UBER ALLES!

11/18/2009 4:22:28 PM

I can't wait for the summer

We have a legitimate chance to get out of the group stages if we are given a fair draw

11/18/2009 4:27:34 PM

damn you Keane

finish that shit

11/18/2009 4:32:28 PM

lol Keane

11/18/2009 4:32:34 PM

That sucks! That would have sent France home.

11/18/2009 4:46:58 PM

Anelka needs a fucking yellow card for that shit

11/18/2009 5:06:20 PM

Yep definite dive

11/18/2009 5:06:36 PM

Anelka was pretty much parallel to the ground diving when he was barely clipped...

11/18/2009 5:07:15 PM

Henry for Arsenal/Barca = love him

Henry for France = really really hate him


WHAT THE FUCK, HE PRACTICALLY CAUGHT THAT

[Edited on November 18, 2009 at 5:12 PM. Reason : .]

11/18/2009 5:10:32 PM

Hilariously terrible missed call

11/18/2009 5:12:14 PM

Clear hand ball on the first touch and might have been in off the upper arm on the actual goal... Wow! If I'm Ireland I am fucking pissed off!

11/18/2009 5:12:30 PM

Holy fucking handball.

11/18/2009 5:12:31 PM

Too many bodies around for any ref to see what happened.

11/18/2009 5:13:35 PM

bullshit

you can tell from the play he didn't get his body around to trap that, the way it falls is blatant

11/18/2009 5:14:46 PM

Quote :

"We have a legitimate chance to get out of the group stages if we are given a fair draw"

Which team do you refer to when you say 'we'?

11/18/2009 5:19:40 PM

i was kinda hoping this game would go to penalties

11/18/2009 5:29:00 PM

fuck.

11/18/2009 5:32:57 PM

That is the biggest bullshit finish of any game ive ever seen. France moves forward on a ridiculously blatant handball.

11/18/2009 5:34:53 PM

Quote :

"bullshit you can tell from the play he didn't get his body around to trap that, the way it falls is blatant"

When you look at the reverse angle there were about 3 guys blocking the refs view. The worst part is that the line man should have called offsides on the free kick.

11/18/2009 5:35:07 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjTxllNRKM4

in case anybody missed it

^ you can tell from the way the ball was struck that the only way for it to drop that way was an arm because he obviously couldn't get around it fast enough to chest it

[Edited on November 18, 2009 at 5:36 PM. Reason : .]

11/18/2009 5:36:10 PM

South Africa
Denmark
England
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Serbia
Spain
Slovakia
Switzerland
Greece
Slovenia
Portugal
France
Brazil
Paraguay
Chile
Argentina
Mexico
United States
Honduras
Ghana
Ivory Coast
Nigeria
Cameroon
Algeria
Australia
Japan
South Korea
Korea DPR
New Zealand

and still to be decided, Costa Rica or Uruguay

11/18/2009 5:44:29 PM

I'll be pulling for England as always, and as always they will under perform.

11/18/2009 5:52:38 PM

Don't count on the US getting a good draw either because I'm sure CONCACAF will be grouped with the Asian countries which means no chance at New Zealand or any of the weaker Asian countries and a definite chance we'll see an African team that isn't South Africa, a powerhouse #1 seed, and take your pick of any UEFA teams to finish the group.... and we're in trouble.

11/18/2009 6:00:02 PM

Quote :

"I'll be pulling for England as always, and as always they will under perform."

11/18/2009 6:24:53 PM

^4 Henry could have (possibly) gotten his knee up to thigh the ball down. maybe that's what the ref "saw". he wasn't on the right stride in his run though. i don't know though, to me it would be an easy handball call.

i'm ready for some WC.

11/18/2009 6:42:44 PM

^ you comin to trivia tonight? we got us a grill to win, boy



that Henry handball is indefensible. Fuck the French, and fuck UEFA.

11/18/2009 7:06:42 PM

nah, i'm not going to be in town. work.
i miss trivia.

and ftr, i wasn't trying to defend Henry. that shit was inexcusable. i was just offering a possible reason for the ref not to blow a whistle since he obviously had one. he couldn't possibly have seent it and let that go.

11/18/2009 7:52:06 PM

^^EXACTLY! Hopefully England and France both lose out in the group stage.

11/18/2009 8:00:03 PM

Uruguay's the final team in

too bad for CR, we broke their little hearts

11/18/2009 8:05:48 PM

i still laugh when i think of how crushed CR looked when we scored that second goal.

11/18/2009 8:12:15 PM

If anyone can find a good vid of the Henry handball please post it

I've been reading about it and it seems like a disgraceful act

11/18/2009 10:38:15 PM

aimorris posted a pretty good one a few posts up.

11/18/2009 10:45:16 PM

hahaha, what?

[Edited on November 18, 2009 at 11:19 PM. Reason : .]

11/18/2009 11:19:39 PM

nah Cody, I knew you weren't. I guess I just should've phrased my post better.

Quote :

"EXACTLY! Hopefully England and France both lose out in the group stage."

Don't try to troll me, you fucking crash helmet wearing idiot.

11/18/2009 11:59:33 PM

Quote :

"aimorris posted a pretty good one a few posts up."

shit, sorry about. I just scrolled through the thread and didn't look closely.

11/19/2009 12:04:40 AM

That is disgraceful. FIFA really needs to start a case-by-case retroactive ban for diving, cheating... those sorts of things. Henry should not play in the group stage at all, possibly the tournament. To put the blame on the referee for not seeing it is completely inexcusable and downright disgraceful.

The referee has poor positioning on the play though. He should be standing on the corner of the box watching all the players run in on the ball. It might leave him out of position if Ireland get a fast break, but as we can all see, this situation is far too important to worry about what might happen. Also, the AR did an extremely poor job on this one. I'm sure he had an inkling that there was a handball, he just didn't have the balls to call it. Poor, poor job all around. Really makes me understand why the average American doesn't like soccer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S2k_6qMfEg

Actually, if you fast-forward to about 6:12 in this video, you can see the AR has a clear line of sight on the play. I have no idea what he was looking at but he shit the bed hardcore on this one. I feel horrible for Ireland. They're one of those teams that aren't as skilled as other teams, but they play their hearts out and to be cheated out of the World Cup on a play like this makes me feel sick for them.

[Edited on November 19, 2009 at 2:01 AM. Reason : video]

11/19/2009 1:57:01 AM

good lord hugo lloris nearly had his block knocked off around 1:30 i think....


and if i were of irish heritage id be sick to my stomach right now to see this...downright awful. fifa/sepp got their wish gettin the big teams in with that stupid ass seeding crap, and he/they look even worse now for it from henry's blatant cheat to get france in....

[Edited on November 19, 2009 at 4:09 AM. Reason : and the play was offsides...]

11/19/2009 4:03:26 AM

I'm definitely NOT defending Henry here but I could see where just instinctively, you reach your hand out to stop it from going out just because you're going to assume the referee will see it and call it a hand ball anyways. Kind of like where you know it's out of bounds, but you act like you've kept it in and keep dribbling.

It's still definitely cheating but I think Anelka's dive on that non-penalty call was a worse case of cheating and nobody's even talking about that. It's like we're only pissed off about cheating when the referee doesn't catch it.

11/19/2009 6:03:44 AM

Upon further reflection, I don't know what the fuck I was thinking when I wrote that first paragraph because it's dumb so please disregard it.

I stand by the second part though.

11/19/2009 6:47:13 AM

ahah epic post retraction

11/19/2009 8:51:24 AM

haha, I was thinking about it in the shower after I wrote it and was like, wtf was I thinking, I hope it hasn't been 30 minutes so I can edit that bitch

11/19/2009 9:18:56 AM

when does the draw take place?

11/19/2009 9:56:44 AM

December 4th

11/19/2009 9:57:29 AM

Quote :

"Henry should not play in the group stage at all, possibly the tournament. To put the blame on the referee for not seeing it is completely inexcusable and downright disgraceful."

What exactly is he suppose to say?? It's not his fucking job to make the call. This isn't playground basketball where the players make the calls. He did what he was suppose to do as a player...keep playing until the whistle is blown. At least he manned up after the game and admitted to the handball. I feel like a lot of players' responses would fall along the lines of, "You saw the play...the ref didn't call anything, I just kept playing." He admitted to the handball and said it's up to the refs...which it is. I don't see where he did anything wrong.

11/19/2009 10:25:28 AM