Terrible call scars World Cup opener

that player that did the Hollywood dive needs to be banned for a couple of games for bringing the game into disrepute Even now he should be called to account for his dishonesty the difference between soccer and rugby is soccer players pretend they are hurt and rugby players pretend they are not

That's not necessarily true. Some people just prefer one sport over another. I'd prefer to watch hockey all the time due to the extreme speed and skill of modern field hockey, but then I played it till I was 31. Hockey is not popular except as a playing sport, it's not at all popular with any size viewing public, so it's difficult to see any but the biggest tournaments via media. It always takes me a while to get into football (soccer) as I find it slow but usually I can enjoy it once I get used to the pace. And AFL looks untidy till I adapt to that too!

Agree with the last sentence especially Brendo

Dear Lord, some people reckon the ref got this call right???? Hell no he didn't. The only thing you can accuse Lovren of is stupidity for putting his hand on Fred's upper arm. But did he pull him back? No. Did Fred milk it 1000% ? YES. For an experienced ref to fall for that is ridiculous. But this decision fortunately didn't determine the outcome of the game. Brazil were better in just about every position and deserved their victory.

not that players in AFL/NRL act to get a penalty - I watched league for 20 years. much more scandalous behaviour and the same amount of cheating in those two sports than football. why do your type need to come to a football tab to insist that 'soccer' will never really be big because of diving which you think happens every 5 minutes. try stopping violence and mistreatment of women before you worry about a Brazilian exaggerating a fall and that means the sport will never take off. I didn't think it was a penalty but worry about big issues in AFL/NRL before worrying about football. anyway - from my experience, football is more skilful than other codes. not many countries seemed to appreciate the skill set of league and afl do they? mustn't be too enticing for them. the way they treat women and the violence means AFL/NRL will never really take off anywhere else.

Easy penaltyy Soft penalty, but easy penalty Croat shouldn't have been so stupid to grab him.....

Not sure how you can say that wasn't a clear foul by Neymar. Watch the replay he takes a look at Modric before elbowing him. If the roles had been reversed he'd have been on the floor screaming much as he was when he got Scott Brown sent off for Celtic whilst playing for Barcelona back in October.

Looked like it was the Brazilians who were committing the niggly fouls......Neymar elbowing Modric etc.

Mo I agree with that call if you watched it back on replay you wouldn't change the original decision . ___________________________ Wang Good, enjoy your sports ..

Here's a question for anyone out there. If this was cricket or Rugby League and they went to a video referral what would have happened? My guess is that there was not enough evidence to overturn the onfield decision. Similar story if he had not given the penalty - not enough evidence to overturn it. It comes down to the refs interpretation. I am completely ok with the decision - I actually thought the ref had a very good game.

http://www.theroar.com.au/2010/07/04/luis-suarez%E2%80%99s-handball-shows-a-need-for-a-penalty-goal/ My previous article about "penalty goal"

Interesting post I wouldn't mind some sort of experimentation of 3 tiered foul inside the box 1. Handball that obstructed a goal - Direct Penalty Goal - If the path of the ball is headed towards the goal and a person uses the hand to block it, it should be a goal full stop. THis should avoid the hand of Suarez type situation 2. Denying a clear goal scoring opportunity - Penalty kick - in fact this should be a penalty if it occurs outside the box as well. - Prevent scenarios where people deliberately fouling players outside the box towards the end of hte match, get sent off but prevents a goal being conceded. 3. Other fouls - direct free kick inside the box

Bondy, I would disagree with that idea. I don't know the intricacy's of soccer but if I were to summarize it as a bunch a of blokes kicking the ball back and forth until something gets close enough to kick it into the goal i'm sure you'd be able to go into detail about how much deeper it is than that. From an RL perspective, you have bigger blokes who are supposed to push into the defense to advance field position and build momentum for the back-line who are usually guided by smaller ball players who use footwork and precision passes to get through the defense. I know people like to stereotype RL and RU as players smashing into each other but if you look at smaller players like Johnathan Thurston you see they use their superior footwork to duck and weave between defenders while also being able to read the defensive line and throw precision passes at runners moving at different angles and hitting holes in the defensive line...all at speed. There is also the kicking element thrown in. Nobody was really arguing which sport was more skillful. They both have their skill sets that are unique to the way the game is played. Coding hoping between RL and RU is relatively common because the games are played in a very similar way. Some players don't make it though, ie Benji Marshal. There is not much transfer between AFL and other codes however. The AFL did poach two RL players in recent years but it was more of a marketing excessive for the AFL who had two new expansion teams in RL heartland.

wang gochu Couldn't it be said that these domestic sports are really only based on strength being physical and then wrestling you do only catch and carry a ball, that would be the reason why so many cross from code to code and master it within a week wouldn't it..

Mark You dont know what your talking about read what he's written ,to me its blatantly backward . __________________________________________ wang gochu Why use an asian username when you say your not asian its a bit silly though isn't it .

Fussball ist unser leben, "What are you doing on a World Cup discussion topic, when you clearly have zero respect for, or interest in, The Game." Because I'm supposed to bow down in awe of the WC and everything about it...right? I guess it's like the Olympics. Now's the time to comment on a sport that I would not normally have an interest in. You'll probably notice this across many different message boards and news websites. Are you really that lonely & starved for interaction? - Just a slow day. Why don’t you crawl back to the discussion boards of sports that you actually enjoy watching? - I'm usually just a reader, not a poster. Today just had the urge to debate something. Don't worry, enjoy your game.

Punter, I was addressing Fussball ist unser leben's point where he said "And, from what we know, Aussies are nothing special in terms of athletic performance, physical performance, or technical ability at any sport." Obviously there are numerous sports out there, both professional and amateur where Australians have demonstrated something special "in terms of athletic performance, physical performance, or technical ability at any sport." I was also addressing Lazza's point that a comp can only be tough to win "where you have to compete against the best sportsmen and athletes from every corner of the globe." The competitiveness of a sport is going to be determined by the player development and professional pathways available to a given playing group. Australian puts a significant amount of resources into development of both professional athletes in our football codes, as well as the lesser known amateur sports, ie hockey, water polo, etc. The resources put into player development in the NRL/AFL produces elite athletes. Therefore even though the player base is mostly local, the comps are still tough because they are concentrate with elite talent. "This has nothing to do with the popularity of the sport around the world. It really isn’t that hard to understand." Nobody is having any trouble comprehending which sports are more popular around the world. That was not the subject of this thread. "Is winning the NRL GF a tougher achievement then winning the local Newcastle RL compeition?" From an elite sports perspective obviously the NRL GF. But for one of the smaller clubs in the Newcatle RL comp (ie no rep players etc) to take out the local comp...well it would definitely be a tough and proud achievement for those players.

I think the problem with penalty decisions arrives from pretty much any foul in the box equals a penalty, a one on one shot with the goalkeeper. (I know there are some things that result in indirect free kick). So in this example, where it has been argued to whether it should be a penalty or not, in reality the smallest of touchs has equalled a one on one shot with the keepr. The penatly far out weighs the foul. I play hockey, in hockey we have a dee or attacking circle were you must be inside to score a goal. Its serves a similar purpose to the box in football (obviously in football you can score from anywhere). In hockey only a foul thats stops a definite goal scoring opportunity or foul means to stop the ball going into the goal (stopping the ball with your body etc) is a penatly. Anything else results in what is called a penalty corner. The defensive team is only allowed 4 players back, the rest have to start behind half way. The attacking team pushs the ball out from a spot on the baseline, the ball must go out of the dee, then the attacking team can attempt to score. So still a great attacking opportunity and penalty for the foul. The point I am making is the penalty fits the foul more. Deliberate, goal preventing inside dee = penalty. Anything else penalty corner. I think was agrieves people so much with decisions like this, is that from the smallest of touches on a player who didn't have the ball results in the big advantage of a penalty. (If the touch happened on a player about to shoot, different story) I don't have the stats but I reckon maybe 80% of penalties are scored? However I have no solutuon rule wise to reflect this in football. The hockey rules would simply not work and change the game far too much. I think the mismatch of foul to consequence and the result it can have on the game is why some penalties in football are cause so much angst and that players who dive or simulate to get this reward cause so much anger/frustration in some viewers

@wang gochu What are you doing on a World Cup discussion topic, when you clearly have zero respect for, or interest in, The Game. Are you really that lonely & starved for interaction? Why don't you crawl back to the discussion boards of sports that you actually enjoy watching?

Bondy, I'm not Asian however my wife is. We have numerous friends of Asian extraction who follow RL including a couple that are Sydney based Storm supporters who make at least one trip to Melbourne to watch a storm game each year. If you go to a live NRL game you will see faces from all ethnic extractions, as you would at an A-League game, or just about at any public gathering in an Australian capital city. I don't usually post on forums....this is actually the first time I've bothered to post and follow up....slow day. If I feel like commenting on anything in the future I'll be using the same name.