Fix!

Next I suppose you'll tell me the French cheat at figure skating.

NEWSFALSH: someone who doesn't know anything about soccer submits a link about something that happens all the time, thinking it's some big conspiracy.

They did what? It's an outrage! Why, for this Portugal should be eliminated from the World Cup competition.

Oh wait, they already were. Bwaaahahahahahahahahaah!!!!!

Oh, it's Pravda. That means the reporter's source is he overheard two guys in the pub bathroom talking as he was driving the porcelin bus.

Tin generation!!!!

Luckily for the US, the South Koreans didn't understand what Figo was getting at.

Two European teams would have absolutely just played knock-it-about and both gone through, knowing that the US was down 2-0 at the half. They play the final games of a group simultaneously to try and avoid some of that, but it would have happened in this case anyway.

I like the South Koreans more and more every day.

Fark: the choice of a Tin Generation.

Probably thought he said, let's Thai the game, and South Korea was too busy thinking of bra-less chicks in Bangkok and scored a goal.
Cheers,
Dawg

Am I a cuckold???

yes

Trying to fix the World Cup?! Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh ...

the US have a soccer team? wtf?

*insert bondage/play with balls, queer soccer player comment here*

It's happened before, that teams have just stopped trying, knowing a draw would do both of them.
Take Ireland V Holland in 1990 for example.
When news came through that England had scored against Egypt, both Ireland and Holland kicked the ball around aimlessly for at least 15 minutes.

Halfback passes to center, back to wing, back to center, center holds it! Holds it! Holds it!
</simpsons>

both Ireland and Holland kicked the ball around aimlessly for at least 15 minutes

as opposed to kicking the ball around aimlessly for 90 minutes?

So the world's favorite sport is fixed? Maybe Ralph Nader will write a letter to FIFA like he wrote one to David Stern.

"3.5 billion people can't be wrong!" Yeah, 3.5 billion people are too dumb to know the fix is in.

43%:

LMAO.

You know what would really be Ironic?

If soccer was actually interesting enough to have internal political intrigue. That way the players could conspire to throw games, or be 'on the take' like the good old fashioned US sports teams do. Instead we have to watch the 'boys' run around and kick at a ball like we Americans used to do in elementary school. If it was a real sport, Tom Clancy could even write a book about the 'internal drama' know as soccer to Americans, but known as 'The Dark Circle of Interestingness' to the rest of the world. But that's really too much too ask from such a boring event like a soccer match... However, Europeans do get killed at these events - maybe they do have merit after all...

John Gotti's behind it... Dig him up and put him on trial!

Damn dego!

Don't fix it if it isn't broken!

S. Korean player says Portugal player proposed the two teams play for a tie game before their match so they would both qualify for the second round

so, they played for a tie game before the match?

Bleeorg
You mean like Rollerball?

I think americans would watch soccer if they just got rid of the goalies. Then, it'd be more like basketball.

Actually, I find it amusing that hockey draws large american crowds, but put essentially the same sport on grass, and americans yawn.

Actually, I find it amusing that hockey draws large american crowds, but put essentially the same sport on grass, and americans yawn.


BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!

The way things turned out South Korea would have been better losing, that way they would have played Mexico today (who just got beaten 2-0 by USA) and not face Italy.

And just to remind you it was Mexico, a non-European team, who were happy to kick the ball around for the final 5 minutes for the draw against Italy.

Yeah, how dare you compare soccer to the worst sport on Earth.

Hockey's faster, higher scoring, and the players don't flop like Karl Malone if somebody else merely touches them. But for fan interest--baseball and football rule the US, and everything else is just to bide the time between baseball/football seasons.

My post above is for Rtreynor. Duh.

Hockey's about 20 times faster with razor sharp skates, body checks, fist fights, and no red/yellow cards.

Rip someone's carotid out and you might have to spend five minutes in the penalty box.

Rtreynor
Nice flame bait

original rollerball---badass
new rollerball---suckass

Dumbest. "Sport". Ever.

.......but unsubstantiated as yet by any official "organism".........
Wonder what this offical Organism is...

Yes! Also, that suspicious phone call from Bush to Vicente Fox was to tell him to force the mexican team to lose!

Seriously, it wouldn't surprise me.

Dedigger
thank you.

Millay
I'm not too sure about hockey being higher scoring...but your point on biding time between baseball and football seems spot-on.

According to rumour flying around Lisbon, but unsubstantiated as yet by any official organism,

"Official Organism"??? God I love Pravda. The translations are just *too good*.

No way, Mex. Bush has zero guesses who the prez of Mexico is.

Rtreynor, Millay: baseball and football only exist to provide gainful employment to ex-cons who aren't bright enough to cashier at McDonalds.

Rtreynor:

I've never done the math, but I'd bet a C-note that the combined goals per game for hockey is at least 1.0 higher than for World Cup Soccer.

forget this world cup nonsense.. i'm going back to watching pro wrestling where the competition is real..

43%:

I think it's obvious that most pro athletes are not of the Bill Bradley mold. But I find baseball players tend to be the most articulate.

bill bradley is a poser with a degree in physical education..

Nightsweat :
Hockey's about 20 times faster with razor sharp skates, body checks, fist fights, and no red/yellow cards.

Rip someone's carotid out and you might have to spend five minutes in the penalty box.

They put someone in the penalty box just about every time there's a fight or an illegal check. In soccer, you only get a penalty for illegal contact, i.e. slide tackling someone just for the hell of it. Very little difference.

And soccer players have to stay in for the entire game, aside from a couple of substitutions per game. True, they're not sprinting all the time, but then they don't slide around on skates like a bunch of Ice-Capades fairies either.

If any sport were to get supplanted by soccer in popularity in the U.S., hockey would be the first. And I like hockey. I just hold the most die-hard of its fans in lower regard than hardcore NASCAR followers as far as objectivity goes.

This lends further weight to my theory that no REAL sport should allow a tie in any game.

Soccer could never supplant Hockey in the US for the simple reason that no other pro sport in existance can match the pace and intensity of hockey. The is more action in 10 seconds of hockey than there is in 30 minutes of soccer.

WarmBeer Penalties are called, but not always. a good example is the Det's Fischer's cross check to Car's Westland's face in the Stanley Cup finals. This one was egregious and bloody, but refs don't like slowing the game or giving undue advantages by calling a ton of penalties. You may be a fan, but if you consider the players just 'sliding around' you must not have watched a game in a while.

...and if hockey players played the whole game, the intensity level of the game would likely drop to that of soccer.