World Cup South Africa, 2010 Thread

[doozwimp]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

You don't know that. Maybe they are proud to be North Korean and under that system. You're in China IIRC. Don't you run into people all the time who are proud to be in PRC, praises it and bash everything else. They'd never leave!

No sympathy here. It's sports and Portugal did what it needed to do.

No question they feel shame, and there is no way to tell how harsh any consequence for a loss might be. Hopefully they can save some grace against Ivory Coast.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by doozwimp

No question they feel shame, and there is no way to tell how harsh any consequence for a loss might be. Hopefully they can save some grace against Ivory Coast.

They'll be ok. Qualifying was an achivement in itself. They hadn't qualified for 44 years and to my knowledge, none of the teams in between had anything happen to them.

This is also a very young team that grew up together playing in both the 2005 U-17 and the 2007 U-20 in Canada. This may be the best team North Korea ever gets and they'll be alot better in 2014 since most of the are only 23.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

You don't know that. Maybe they are proud to be North Korean and under that system. You're in China IIRC. Don't you run into people all the time who are proud to be in PRC, praises it and bash everything else. They'd never leave!

No sympathy here. It's sports and Portugal did what it needed to do.

China and North Korea are massively different situations.

Sure many North Koreans in North Korea might not know any better and think their country's a good place to be but I find that very hard to believe about those that get out. There would be no need for the North Korean government to send security forces following team members all over the place or place threats against players' family members if they weren't looking to get out.

You say "It's sports" but honestly I look at all that celebration while these guys are getting embarrassed and can't help but think that some things are more important than sports, like not partying it up while socking it to a team of guys in their positions.

[doozwimp]

Thought this was interesting viewing on the 1966 North Korea team.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZcAR...eature=related

[Pastiche]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

You don't know that. Maybe they are proud to be North Korean and under that system. You're in China IIRC. Don't you run into people all the time who are proud to be in PRC, praises it and bash everything else. They'd never leave!

No sympathy here. It's sports and Portugal did what it needed to do.

Just finished reading this book. Answers alot of questions about North Korea. Brings up alot of new and scary questions however.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/bo...nest-race.html

Highly recommend it.

In this book, therefore, I aim to explain North Korea's dominant ideology or worldview — I use the words inter- changeably — and to show how far removed it is from communism, Confucianism and the show-window doctrine of Juche Thought. Far from complex, it can be summarized in a single sentence: The Korean people are too pure blooded, and therefore too virtuous, to survive in this evil world without a great parental leader. More must be added perhaps, if only to explain that "therefore" to an American reader, but not much more of importance. I need hardly point out that if such a race-based worldview is to be situated on our conventional left-right spectrum, it makes more sense to posit it on the extreme right than on the far left. Indeed, the similarity to the worldview of fascist Japan is striking. I do not, however, intend to label North Korea as fascist, a term too vague to be much use. It is enough for me to make clear that the country has always been, at the very least, ideologically closer to America's adversaries in World War II than to communist China and Eastern Europe. This truth alone, if properly grasped, will not only help the West to understand the loyalty shown to the DPRK by its chronically impoverished citizens, but also to understand why the West's policy of pursuing late Cold War-type solutions to the nuclear problem is doomed to fail.

[GirlySports]

Politics aside, North Korean sports teams lose in alot of stuff. The youth level competitions I mentioned. They make every women's World Cup but always failed to get out of the first round. They have teams in other sports, Olympics etc...they hardly ever win. I don't think all these athletes get killed or anything.

North Korea is slowly building it's sports program.

[transplant99]

Well....that call against the Swiss was nothing short of a joke.

This sport....i dont know...the better you "act" the better for your team. Not really very "sportsman" like in any way, shape or form. Really quite infuriating to watch as a casual observer...it just takes so much away from the skills of the game.

Losing interest quickly.

[Ozy_Flame]

I doubt Kim-Jong Il is so ruthless as to brutalize his own soccer team. The players are a far too important public-facing political chess piece for North Korea. Besides, his team is not defecting, they're being good sports, and they're doing everything as their told.

Did North Korea brutalize their Olympians after the Vancouver Olympics? I highly, highly doubt it.

[Pastiche]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Well....that call against the Swiss was nothing short of a joke.

This sport....i dont know...the better you "act" the better for your team. Not really very "sportsman" like in any way, shape or form. Really quite infuriating to watch as a casual observer...it just takes so much away from the skills of the game.

Losing interest quickly.

You didn't get the memo? That's a part of the game, just like fighting in the NHL. Also, many cultures enjoy diving as it's gauging how much you can cheat to trick the ref. You dont' find cheating exciting and enjoyable? Jeez get with the program.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Well....that call against the Swiss was nothing short of a joke.

This sport....i dont know...the better you "act" the better for your team. Not really very "sportsman" like in any way, shape or form. Really quite infuriating to watch as a casual observer...it just takes so much away from the skills of the game.

Losing interest quickly.

Duped the ref again! nice job!

[Matty81]

That was a brutal red. Kinda choked I missed the 7 goal game.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Well....that call against the Swiss was nothing short of a joke.

This sport....i dont know...the better you "act" the better for your team. Not really very "sportsman" like in any way, shape or form. Really quite infuriating to watch as a casual observer...it just takes so much away from the skills of the game.

Losing interest quickly.

Even though I explain how diving and duping the ref is part of the game, I'm really disgusted that refs are of such low quality in the this WC that they actually are being duped. Whatever happened to the good ref like Collina, Frisk that the players were actually scared of and wouldn't dare try anything on them.

Not surprised you're losing interest quickly. I'm a big soccer fan and I've lost interest in this WC. I'm a big Brazil fan and I didn't even to bother the watch them yesterday (that never happens).

It's the worst WC I've ever seen. The players are diving, the refs are incompetant, the ball is too light and gets blasted into row Z, the host team is out, the African teams continue to suck and the seeded teams are struggling. Do we really want the best of the worst and have a Paraguay-Suisse final?

[FurnaceFace]

A coworker and I were commenting FIFA needs to implement a review of cards. The call today and the call on Kaka yesterday need to be reviewed after the the game and the suspensions lifted if on video review it appears the player embellished. A follow on to that might be on review the player who embellished gets a yellow after the fact.

I really noticed how much diving changes the game watching the US come back in their game. As soon as they started flopping and diving and getting the free kicks they started playing better and were more organized. That's pretty lame.

[Resolute 14]

Wow, that acting job by the Swiss #5 was just embarrassing to the sport, and well, humanity altogether. Seriously dude, have some freaking pride!

I loved his teammate though. "He did it ! Ref! Ref! That bad man did it! Punish him! PUNISH HIMMMMMMMMMM!!!!"

Chile is going to win this game, methinks.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Wow, that acting job by the Swiss #5 was just embarrassing to the sport, and well, humanity altogether. Seriously dude, have some freaking pride!

I loved his teammate though. "He did it ! Ref! Ref! That bad man did it! Punish him! PUNISH HIMMMMMMMMMM!!!!"

Chile is going to win this game, methinks.

What do you expect. The ref is giving out yellow cards for mosquito bites.
This would have been a good match if it wasn't totally ruined by the ref.

8 yellows and a red and counting. And it's hardly been a dirty game.

I expect a Chilean to be sent off soon.

[MJK]

So what will be some of the big matches coming up? Make or break to the next round? I have been watching but am not sure who is in trouble.

[transplant99]

Just switched back to this game after watching tennis for an hour..how is Chile not winning? They have had the PP (yes i call it a PP) for what...an hour?

[Pastiche]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

What do you expect. The ref is giving out yellow cards for mosquito bites.
This would have been a good match if it wasn't totally ruined by the ref.

8 yellows and a red and counting. And it's hardly been a dirty game.

I expect a Chilean to be sent off soon.

I expect basic sportsmanship and dignity.

[transplant99]

LOL...just as I post that^^...Chile up 1-0.

[Resolute 14]

Yeah, the ref has been abysmal in this game.

And there we go. Chile finally scores!