i believe it has been used somehow to send off Zidane during last WC's final. at least, that's the story i keep hearing all the time (none of the referees had seen Zidane's headbutt, buffon came to explain what happened, then after a moment of confusion, the referees got the confirmation of what had happened - supposedly from the video replays - and Zidane received the red card). i can't remember much myself.

edit: ah, now after doing some research, i see that FIFA always denied that video has been used, but that it was the 4th referee who saw the action and that he did not have access to video... now i remember this polemic.

whether its Cote d'Ivore, Cameroon, Algeria, South Africa.. its ALL africa, and maximum RASpect to the Afrique teams. This is Africa's moment, win or lose, as they show the world its not all huts and thatched roofs..

it does look like that cavani hits the ball.

Yep. I think no players or referee spot the headbutt, except Buffon.
So he did make a fuss and woudn't let the game go on, it lasted several minutes until the decision came on.
The video was involved, no doubt.

(i don't know if it was only my television, but) it was impressive how Forlan's penalty kick managed to suddenly silence the vuvuzelas. well, only for a short time.

I know Africa is very little about huts and lion hunters and all the clichés.

Yet African teams haven't been very bright.
Except Ghana, that you forgot to mention in your list.

see if it ever is used, they do it secretly, it's not part of the rules,it's problematic that you can barely tell what happens sometimes when you watch the replay from 10 different angles, let alone the referee with 5 meters and several men between him and the ball knowing what happened in a split second.

it's a constant issue with things like the thierry henry handball etc.

a few of the african teams have had pretty decent games with hard teams, i mean ghana is the only one that won but they didn't play better than the other teams, getting lucky with a penalty near the end of the game

Dutch television mentioned the off-side thing too, albeit only after the game I think.
Seeing Suarez go down in slo-mo reminded me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9EtS_qwiSw#t=1m00s

He's well-known in holland for diving:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bht2VOqtAk

I do think this one was indeed a penalty, but it's anoying to see him go down with so much theatre... and earlier in the game he had a similar moment where he pretended to get hit in the face. It makes me really dislike him, which is a shame because he is a quality player.

you mean when they broke his mouth & he had to momentarily leave the field cuz he was bleeding, had to miss forlan's free kick (and a chance to score), & came back a bit later with a huge mouth-tampon? that was caused by a hard slap by a south-african. more of a clawing, actually.



it was a verifiable foul (hit on the shoe in mid-air) by the last defender in order to avoid a goal (the goalee wasn't even near the ball when he swept him), and inside the penalty area. so yeah, it was a penalty, and it was a red card, and if suarez had to flail a little extra to make sure the ref didn't miss that one, more power to him. he played to win. the bonehead move would be to try to be "discreet" about it.

Africa has a major handicap, poverty and political corruption, which is FIFA thinks is ok if you are in the Americas or Europe, but heaven forbid it happen in Africa. Not only did FIFA ban Ethiopia from competing in the World Cup qualifying matches, Ethiopia was supposed to hold 14 World Cup Exhibition games but FIFA banned those as well because of political corruption issues.. that didn't help any Ethiopians, it only further entrenched the political corruption, and newsflash, I read about political corruption here in the US in the paper everyday, be it at the municipal or federal level, did the US team get banned? Did they cancel exhibition matches in the US?

Several African nations had this problem. If FIFA does not include African nations in the regular games, how can Africans get the practice at World Cup level competition and expectations in order to compete on an even playing field (pun intended). Ethiopia and her neighbors could have been just as pumped as South Africa had they been allowed those exhibition games, and the African teams would have been growing exponentially.

Further, African overall poverty means players are not training in the kind of modern and world class facilities which prepare the teams to compete with the powerhouse and mulitmillion dollar clubs and federations from Europe and the Americas.. As Africa evolved into a more equal playing field their players and teams will begin to stand out give them time.

Contemporary Africa is HIM Haile I's gift to the world, Africa could very well have collapsed after colonialism and there would be nothing, no pieces to pick up.

Big Up the African teams

i always get the impression these guys bleed easily.
like they're on their periods or something.

This doesn't detract from your overall point, which I agree with, but as you know a majority of African players in this world cup receive top class training already, due to their links with major European clubs. A bigger long term problem is whether African football will ever be able to draw its best players away from these clubs to play in Africa or keep those it has from leaving (both of which, right now, I think is highly unlikely). The other big problem for African players, especially those used to playing in Champions League clubs, is that they're used to being very successfull, so having to return to represent their country, while nice, is likely seen as major comedown for a lot of them, given the general expectation that no African nation is likely to do all that well. Although the same could be said for a player like Diego Forlan who's clearly good enough to be a cup winner but plays for a country that probably isn't.

Anyway, a more general point: if this World Cup achieves anything, I hope it makes African football more sustainable at a club level. Unfortunately, I think there's so much money in European football - especially amongst its elite clubs - that I just think it's an ask too far. Beyond that, I think the World Cup, for all its commercialism and self-interest, has done a good job of 'humanising' S'th Africa to much of the rest of the world: by showing it beyond the stereotype of rebel farmers, violent crime, etc. We'll see. I generally think that by choosing S'th Africa to host this tournament (against massive opposition) Fifa have done at least a little bit of good for that country. Certainly more than had they chosen a more traditional venue, anyway.

Bugger off.

i can't decide about the Argentinians. While i love to watch Messi, Mascherano and Tevez play, i was 9 in 1986 when Maradona cheated us out of the world cup, and that's an impressionable age.

I thought Spain were stunning. I could watch Alonso all day. It'll take alot for them to not win this (maybe Argentina?)

good half.
Argentina look very good. There were reports before the world cup that they would implode and Maradona wouldn't let Messi play properly, they only just qualified etc but they look as good as ever

argentina looked great.

Diego Bad-Donut was very happy

greece sucks, damn

HAHAHHA!