Uruguay Vs Ghana

[AndresLD]

Did you guys watch the game Uruguay-Ghana? If you didn't, and don't know anything about soccer, let me first give you a simple fact: What Ghana did this World Cup is AMAZING for any African Team, no African team has ever passed the quarter finals stage, and Ghana was a cheater away from achieving this. In the quarter finals match earlier today, the game ended in the 90th minutes 1-1, which meant they would go to extra time, 2 times of 15 minutes each. At the last minute of the 2nd extra time, Ghana managed to get 3 shots on goal, the first one stopped by the goalie which went to the ground, the second one kicked away by Uruguayan player Luis Suarez, and the third one (which was going in) was knocked away by the same player, Suarez, with his hands. This is an unacceptable behavior in soccer, and the player was given a red card. Now, according to nonsense rules of soccer, Ghana wasn't awarded the goal, however they were given a penalty kick. Under so much pressure (if the Ghanaian guy scored, they would go to the semi finals, again no African team has ever done so), the Ghanaian player missed the kick, ending the extra time and going into penalty kicks where Ghana lost. At the end of the day, Uruguay advanced to the semi finals, and Ghana was sent home. Ghana played with more spirit, and let's not mention sportsmanship. Uruguayan player Luis Suarez should be penalized, thanks to his anti-sportsmanship cheat, he sent the humble Africans home. In my opinion FIFA should change this rule as soon as possible, where if a kick which is obviously going to be a goal, is blocked by foul play of a player, the goal should be awarded. What are your thoughts on this?

[ninja9578]

He missed the game winning PK

[AndresLD]

I know, he shouldn't have missed that. But I just think that they should change the rules for the next World Cup, I mean basically they DID score before the PK, but the F@.... uruguayan took it away from them cheating basically

[Abra]

My bros and I were rooting for Uruguay. That being said, I thought it was fair. :x

[tkdyo]

no...I think the rule is fine...he missed the pk...Although it was unsportsmanlike, at this level, you do what you have to to win. He knew the consequences and accepted them, in the end he was lucky enough for it to pay off.

[AndresLD]

So basically it's ok to win by cheating, as long as the team who should have been the winning one makes a mistake?

[tkdyo]

um...yes? Its not like he got away with it. Its the same as the "professional fouls" that players commit to take brake-aways away from players. They know they'll get a yellow card and risk being kicked out for a second (or if severe enough they got a straight red card) its a calculated risk one takes for the benefit of their team.

[Wildman]

I have no problem with it. Those are the rules, he did it knowing exactly what would happen, and it isn't cheating if it's covered in the rules and the referee saw exactly what happened. tkdyo is right about "professional fouls": this situation is no different than, say, intentional fouls at the end of a close basketball game. Suarez did what he had to, and it was perfectly within the rules; he wants to win just like anyone else. Also, I think it would be tough to change the rule. Based on the situation, you could always have some sort of argument that there would not have been a goal even if the player hadn't put his hand in the way (eg, another defender or the goalkeeper arriving behind him in time to stop it legally, or the ball going off the post, or curling out of bounds) -- you can't tell for sure that the goal would have gone in.

[AndresLD]

It was unfair (the handball), and I'm not saying that they should have changed the rules right away to give Ghana the goal. I mean that for the next world cup many rules should be changed/ implemented if we want to see REAL soccer. In my opinion this World Cup was a huge disappointment mostly because of the bad refereeing and the players who sometimes looked more like bad actors than like soccer players. On the other hand, I disagree with something you said Wildman. In some cases (like Ghana's almost-goal yesterday) it IS obvious that the ball was going in, I mean the goalie wasn't there, the other player had no way to reach it, and the ball wouldn't just change direction in a 90 degree angle, or stop dead before it crossed the line. I'm really disappointed with his World Cup, 4 years of waiting just to see the shittiest soccer I've ever seen. If new rules are not implemented, and if they don't implement other types of sanctioning, soccer will never be the sport it used to be.

[Wildman]

My main point was that calling Suarez a cheater is pretty meaningless. Sure, it might be argued that the rules are stupid, but right now they are what they are -- Suarez did not cheat, and he wasn't a bad sport either. As for the rule on just giving a goal instead of a penalty, the issue is that adding any new rule is difficult. I would (almost) agree that in that situation it was going to be a goal, but the problem is that there would be situations where it is not so obvious. What happens then? Is it up to the referee to decide whether to give a goal or a penalty, probably resulting in loads of controversy in situations where it isn't clear whether the ball would have gone in or not? I'm not necessarily saying nothing should be changed, but it's not easy to figure out the specifics when changing a rule or adding a new one.

[AndresLD]

Of course, what happened after the handball was exactly following soccer rules. That's my point, they have to change. And I agree with you Wildman, it will be very hard to change the rules, now that they've been pretty much the same for many decades, but I hope we do see changes during the next years.

[Saturos]

I doubt you would be complaining if one of Ghana's players had blocked the ball with their hands to prevent a goal.

[AndresLD]

I doubt you would be complaining if one of Ghana's players had blocked the ball with their hands to prevent a goal. Is that so? That's funny, I'm not even a Ghana fan, in fact I'm South American, and I was cheering for Uruguay most of the match until, in my opinion, they ripped the victory from Ghana in an unfair way.

[Xox]

The first goal by Ghana was great. Forlan's face was lulzy, even though I love him. I loved how the Ghana team celebrated!