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.

He was new at it.....he may have been under the mistaken impression that he was only expected to pick Germany. But in the 2 years since he's come a long way and now Paul understands that he should simply pick the team that his visions show to be the winner and has more than proven his accuracy in this tournament. The only question that remains is: Are the Netherlands ready to meet their fate......the huge can of ass-kicking that Spain is bringing? Frankly if I could I'd even suggest it's preferable that they not show up for the match at all. That would have Spain become victor by default with a booking of what....3-0 or something like that? Still a lot better than showing up and being crushed with something like a 5-0 or something along those lines. Given how absolutely without doubt or hesitation Paul was in his prediction I'd say they shouldn't expect anything short of Spain bringing the sky down on their heads.

NOT that I know of and all sources state a quite clear 100% prediction rate so unless you have a source your scandalous words are pointless. He keeps choosing the teams that WIN. He chose the team on the left once or twice when it was appropriate. All the people who root for the loosing team keep questioning and arguing but has he ever been wrong? The answer in NO and the Netherlands better be ready because Spain brings a major ass-kicking with them. Here's the Uruguay Germany prediction: do you see how it sits on the Uruguay box for a while before opening the Germany one? It didn't open two boxes or any nonsense and it certainly didn't open the most convenient box for accessing food as soon as possible either. When you see him going straight for Spain over the Netherlands that is absolute certainty that Spain will win and it's unusual of Paul as he tends to carefully linger over both boxes before opening one as seen in the Uruguay Germany video. That simply means that the Netherlands stand no chance and are going to get destroyed like never before without a shadow of hope.

Why? I already gave my argument for why there was nothing special to it. Any other reason on your part beyond just disagreeing to disagree? You are talking about this goal right: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/goals/video/v...2106/index.html He catches a 5 foot pass and hits it straight in the net....why in the world would that be best?

Best goal of the tournament? The other dude calling this fool a "huge threat"? I really don't think so. He got lucky....whoopsy freaking doo. There was nothing particularly special about the goal to make it best of the tournament....he intercepted a pass and managed to hit it in the net....oh and it bounced off the ground. That's as plain as a goal can be......absolutely nothing remotely interesting about it beyond adding a point to the score board. Jensen's and Khedira's goals were better by virtue of intercepting a far longer pass and catching it with the head just right amid a highly unstable situation respectively. But Forlan catching a short pass and hitting it in the net goal of the tournament? Hell no.

You would dare question Paul? I am absolutely 100% appalled!! It is beyond my ability to understand how you'd dream of questioning his predictions.

Ironically enough I get the suspicion that's why he's being kept out of the game.....because he's thinking about scoring more than being part of the team and if he would end up being reckless that could end up costing Germany precious opportunities and even the match.

Hahahaha....it figures some other fools would try to replicate this with their pets but the octopus has a flawless record so its decision far outweighs that of the monkey, parrot and pig......the panda may be on to something lol.

Hahaha lol wut.....I've seen some of the videos for predictions over Argentina and other matches.....one box always ended up close to the octopus simply because the tank isn't too spacious. At any rate if the octopus can in fact predict the fate of these matches as it so far has then that shouldn't influence the pick as it seems to not have done so far.

Oooooh SNAP!!! Octopus took no time to decide that Spain would win over the Netherlands....no time at all: Looks like Spain is going to open those cans of ass-kicking after all.