Fallen Ghost

It is VERY bad for a game on 3 platforms. The average next gen game costs around 25 million dollars to develop.....I don't think Alpha Protocol even reached the break even point at which there is exactly 0 profit.

THAT post is the single biggest exaggeration I see.....a bloody former world cup referee clearly states Webb was kind or 8 dutch players could have ended up with red cards and everyone besides the dutch agrees they were overly violent but you say most of their cards were undeserved? I don't think so and ultimately even the dutch team admit the Spanish were the better team and deserved to win.

And the Netherlands were spared quite a few red cards due to Webb's decision not strictly enforce every rule. Hell nearly everyone who isn't Dutch defended the referee's handling of the match. To see the Dutch whine about a mistake against them is extremely hypocritical and wrong because after the way they played there should have been less than 5 dutch players left on the field by the end of the game as former world cup referee Graham Poll points out himself(http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/w...010/8809048.stm) and many others also indicated there should be no tolerance for the way the Dutch played. The just weren't capable of keeping up with the Spanish players' game so they resorted to violence and there's A LOT more than just the kick to the chest.

That IS the previous play(the one that ends up intercepted by Netherlands defender) NOT the final pass for goal. This is the pass for goal: There was NO offside at all from Spain when they scored.

The nearly unanimous consensus there was an offside when there wasn't makes me wonder how many other split second actions did nearly everyone fail to observe and are now using their mistakes to blame the referees. As far as I can tell the referees did a great job doing what they were paid to do.....being professionals that correctly call plays so fast that they are missed by 99% of the people watching the match.

There was NO offside period: The picture isn't ideal but you can tell the ball is in the air and that Iniesta is BEHIND the last defender.

There was NO offside from Spain when the goal was scored: and ultimate proof of no offside: You see the last defender moving back away from the keeper looking for the ball. The ball is half way to the attacker who is running full speed towards goal and is barely one step past the last defender when the ball is half way to him already. That's the best screenshot I could take but the moment that the ball was kicked to the attacker he wasn't yet past the last defender. It all happens in a split second so it only LOOKS like an offside but there was none. THIS is why we are FANS and NOT REFEREES. Because we jump to call them wrong when we're the ones who are clueless.

I looked at Spain's goal again. There was no offside on first pass(see picture and explanation below). The second pass after Spain got the ball back wasn't offside so that was clean. There was no mistake by the referees.

All in all I think there is one thing that can be said with certainty about Spain......this cup belongs to the goalkeeper Casillas he alone carried Spain to gold as the rest of the team wasn't keen on scoring goals.

Am I exagerating? The Netherlands had twice as many cards and about 50%(9) more fouls than Spain. I don't know about you but that is a very large difference in fouls. While I wouldn't say Spain was peaceful I think they only did as much as was needed to keep the Netherlands from getting to cripple every last one of them.

That's the least of what the Netherlands deserved for having played the way they did. Playing to injure is simply NOT something that should be tolerated. If Netherlands hadn't done a million fouls the Spanish would have scored long before the final minutes of extra time.

Arbiters not doing their job? WTH are you talking about? The Netherlands were desperately trying to inflict as much damage on the Spanish as they could and with the amount of earned cards they got it's a wonder they didn't get disqualified as a team. Their strategy was to literally cripple the Spanish. That deserves hell of a lot worse than losing the bloody match.....they deserve punishment as a team. I doubt it'll happen but don't tell me that after that display you think the Netherlands should have or deserved to win.

And there it is......the Spanish won.....admittedly a little less clearly than Paul indicated by instantly jumping on Spain's box but they still won and Paul is yet to be wrong.

Winning is just an end to which there are infinitely many paths.

Oh I wouldn't be so sure.....all I know is that the clarity and speed with which Paul has spoken predicts that in a few hours we'll see Spain like we've never seen them before.