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<p>I’m watching Uruguay v. France on television and the crowd sounds like a giant bee hive.</p>
<p>^The sounds is made by vuvzuelas, theyre like horns,</p>
<p>Is it just me, or is there quite a bit of “diving” going on?</p>
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<p>Learn something new every day. Spelling is different in the wikipedia page, but an interesting read:</p>
<p>[Vuvuzela</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuvuzela]Vuvuzela”>Vuvuzela - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>The last part is “zela”. </p>
<p>I was disappointed in the 2nd game. Henry crying for a handball was hilarious.</p>
<p>On replay the 1st Mexican goal that was not allowed was a good call after all.</p>
<p>The announcers definitely called them vuvuzela. I missed the second half of the second game. I don’t even know the score. Will look up now.</p>
<p>I work in Mexico City now. This place was wild this morning. My whole staff was watching the game from 9-11. I was on a conference call with NY, all of a sudden there was huge shout, people on the phone were wondering what was going on. Soccer is a very serious business here. I was happy it was 1-1 for Mexico, or it would have been crazy out on the plaza.</p>
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Do you understand the rules of soccer/football? For a player to be onside, he has to have two opponents nearer than him to the opposing goal. Usually it’s a defender and the keeper. In this case, the keeper was further from the goal than Vela and thus he was offside. I suggest learning the rules before moaning about calls.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately the nature of the sport rewards it. It’s just like basketball. The good thing is that unlike in basketball, the vast majority of dives have no real benefit and the worst offenses are actually penalized.</p>
<p>The call on the Mexican disallowed goal was 100% correct, and not even close. Unfortunately, the ESPN announcers did not know the rules so they spent the next 5 minutes complaining about the call.</p>
<p>To be in an offside position, you must be (1) closer to the attacking goal line than the ball, and (2) closer to the attacking goal line than the last 2 opponents.</p>
<p>If you become part of the play, while in an offside position, you are offside, and the play is stopped. If you can see a replay, or can remember, on the corner kick the SA goalie charged off his line in an effort to get the ball. When the ball was headed by the Mexican attacker to the Mexican who scored, there was only 1 defensive player between the Mexican who scored and the goal (the lone defender on the post). Since there needs to be 2 defenders, the player is offside.</p>
<p>Often times the rule is described as “you can’t be further than the last defender.” In this case, by defender, they mean “field player” (non goalie). The problem with this explanation is that it assumes the goalie will always be behind the last field player. While true 99% of the time, it is not always true, as was the case today.</p>
<p>Jersey13: I don’t know why, but people seem to forget about the keeper. When they showed the replay it was clear that Vela was offside yet the announcer kept going on about Mexico being robbed, that there was a defender on the line, blah, blah, blah. And I was all but yelling at the screen that the keeper was putting him offside. Anyway, they had to explain it later, so I guess it was a “teachable moment”. </p>
<p>Is anyone else getting excited/nervous for tomorrow?</p>
<p>Crossposted with soccerguy.</p>
<p>Might get a laugh out of this… email exchange between British Embassy in DC and the US Embassy in London:</p>
<p>USA asks</p>
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<p>British respond</p>
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<p>USA responds</p>
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<p>British get the last word…</p>
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<p>British Ambassador’s assistant is a clever fellow.</p>
<p>He still kicks @$$:</p>
<p>[Maradona</a> is awesome, scores free kicks - Yahoo! Sports](<a href=“http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Maradona-is-awesome-scores-free-kicks?urn=sow,247629]Maradona”>http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Maradona-is-awesome-scores-free-kicks?urn=sow,247629)</p>
<p>Yeah!!!</p>
<p>Soccer fever hits Ruelala - as of this hour, only France and Mexico T-shirts are left. The rest sold out like hotcakes!!!</p>
<p>The guys in post 52 were on NPR a couple of days ago and were very funny.</p>
<p>Toronto, as the most multi-cultural city in N.A., is alive with World Cup fever. More cars than not have team flags attached to the windows. The paper today had an entire section with information about where you can go to watch the games in town and be with other fans of your team. </p>
<p>It’s interesting how crazy our city and country are about soccer yet the only team Canada ever has in the World Cup is the women’s team (with the exception of one totally unsuccessful appearance by the men). With more than 2 and a half million players in Canada, maybe someday we’ll see some success with the men’s team.</p>
<p>alwaysamom,</p>
<p>My kids are in Madrid, hoping to find a place to watch where they can root for the US safely. It’s on at home, but the placeto watch is like in Toronto, w/others. Go USA!! (though a really, really, really distant relative is starting for England).</p>
<p>Almost kick off. GO USA!</p>
<p>Please excuse a probably stupid question, but can anyone explain what that constant buzzing sound is?</p>
<p>^They are [url=<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuvuzela]vuvuzelas[/url”>Vuvuzela - Wikipedia]vuvuzelas[/url</a>]. Basically just small blowing horns that make a lot of noise</p>
<p>Yikes! Thanks, Mr. Green. Go USA.</p>