JadedWolf

That IS unexpected.

True, but often if there is a foul -let's say a player is held and can't reach the ball- and they stay upright, the referee ignores it, while if in the same situation the player falls over and flops around on the ground like a freshly caught salmon the ref does take action. A lot of what we've seen over the years of people headbutting or slapping people they never did look like they would cause all that damage, yet the people hit by them looked as if they were just sucker punched. So my question is, if players didn't react in such an exaggerated manner, would the ref still take action (even though according to the rules they still should)? Because I am doubtful about that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVEb2-SByPs from the replay, it looks like he barely touched the guy. yeah, the fact that strong didn't successfully do anything more than graze the croatian is a "weak" defense... pun intended. nevertheless, am thinking this clip is more a recognition o' yet another brilliant soccer flop than anything else. HA! Good Fun! ps apologies for "flop" language-- is possibly idiomatic and misleading. a "flop" is the term most frequent used in american basketball when a defending player pretends as if he were charged or run-over so as to be drawing a foul. Acting lessons are part of the curriculum for a football player. Wonder if Song would still have been sent off if instead the Croatian guy had just turned round and started laughing at Song instead?

As is Cameroon's. Not that there was much hope left. It's a shame really. I would really love to see an African team do well again.

Well, Song, that was definitely a bit too physical.

Spain, even though they have created more chances now still looks powerless. At this point I am wondering if they might end this tournament with 0 points. Today's Australia could have them, I reckon.

That would have been a beauty. Spain looking somewhat better now.

Oh my, Casillas. Spain better cancel their hotel reservations.

I can stomach a push and a shove, as long as no one is playing is such a way that they risk permanently injuring someone. Where I draw the line is where a striker is physically held into place by a defender bear hugging them. You see it a lot these days, and I think refs should deal with it. It's football, not wrestling.

You can certainly give the penalty. You have to wonder though, what is the guy supposed to do with his arm, cut it off? Tie it to his torso? My beef with the ref is that when it came to the physical part of the game he seemed to accept a lot less of the Dutch than he did of the Australians. In other news, apparently it wasn't Indi's arm that was hurt, he fell on his head and now has a concussion.

Yeah, the ref made some very funny decisions.

Does anyone here still nurse the illusion that the Netherlands is among the tournament's favourites? But who cares anyway. They're not as bad as we thought at the beginning, and they're not as good as we gave them credit for after Spain. Credit to the Australians, they gave it their all and proved a very formidable opponent. Wish they'd been a tad less physical though. I agree about Germany and Italy going far, I think between them Germany might take it though. So far they've impressed me the most.

Hope this isn't the end of the tournament for Indi, that didn't look good at all.

How vulgar. I mean, a McDonald's parking lot.

From what I saw today, Algeria. I was thinking the same thing.

So who deserves the number two spot in this group...

Told you so.

It's only a matter of time until either of the keepers lets a ball through, both look very shaky.

I am not that surprised, they may not be bursting with individual class, but they have a lot of technical skill and they play well as a team. They're a hard team to beat on their good day. Plus, Russia isn't that great.

Ibra has... issues. Though to be honest, I think he is showing restraint here towards the guy with the camera.

As kirottu pointed out earlier in this thread, spiders aren't insects! :D

As the list you posted points out itself, that list doesn't actually add endorsement deals, which would change the picture a bit: http://www.forbes.com/athletes/list/#tab:overall. But of course, Altidore is in neither of those lists, because he's nowhere near one of the best footballers in the world. In fact he is a pretty average footballer who is playing for a pretty average club in the Premier League. I just thought it a bit silly to deride American soccer players for having chosen to play association football, when they were doing pretty well for themselves having made that choice. Anyway, it is true that for a country the size of the U.S.A. the football talent coming through is not that great, and I think that's a combination of things. A lot of sports that are more popular over there are competing for the same pool, as people on this board pointed out earlier, and I am sure that doesn't help. But I also wonder how talent scouting for football and youth academies over there compare to over here in Europe. I've never heard much about it, so I can't judge myself, but I suspect there is a lot of room for improvement. As for how specific a skillset you need for football, I guess it partly depends on what position you want to play. Some positions require you to be fast, in other positions require you to be tall, etc., but the most important skillset for football is something you can't compare. The most important skillset is the ability to read the game, to know what to do when, and to predict what the others will do. So for that reason alone already I think we can't say that athlete x from a different sport would be good at association football, because we simply don't know until we actually see him play it. There are lots of people in football who have plenty of athletic ability but who can't read the game as well as others, so they will never reach the top. And as for football being popular is just a media hype, well, I guess we will see in ten years or so if you are right. Edit: comparing the two lists, the one you give and the Forbes one, the salary and winnings don't seem to match at all - and you yourself say you have a list where the highest paid football player is #22 with endorsements added. No idea what's up with that, to be honest.

Popularity of the sport is growing, and I have no doubt that we'll see a U.S.A. team go far in the WC eventually. With a population size of just 3,3 million people Uruguay managed to make it to the semi-finals in 2010. Imagine what a country like the U.S.A. with its population size could do if it put in the effort...

You have to remember that the US Soccer program only gets the athletes that weren't good enough for Basketball, Football, Baseball, or Hockey. Altidore earns 2,2 million pounds a year in the Premier League, I am sure he's crying all the way to the bank about not being good enough for other sports. I don't doubt their ability to perform, anyway. I just wonder if something went wrong in their fitness training, considering a lot of them looked on the verge of injury.