June 13 - Group D - Serbia vs. Ghana [R]

[DJT]

7:00 AM PDT
8:00 AM MDT
9:00 AM CDT
10:00 AM EDT
11:00 AM ADT
11:30 AM NDT
4:00 PM SAST

@ Pretoria

[beachesl]

GO BLACK STARS! too bad they don't have Essien

[beachesl]

Them Serb players tuff b#ggers!

[Juby]

I may be jinxing it by saying this but I get the feeling this will be a good fair game if the refs let them play. (fair as in no diving, not as in well timed tackles)

[beachesl]

Even the Argie commentators on broadcast are complaining about the Argie ref. Most football fans here admit theey have some of the lousiest refs in the world. Baldassi certainly bad here, awarding questionable dives to the Serbs. Lukovic, defensive dive after his fault.

[beachesl]

I may be jinxing it by saying this but I get the feeling this will be a good fair game if the refs let them play. (fair as in no diving, not as in well timed tackles)
Cmon, what about the Serb diving, like Lukovic in front of his own net????????????????????????????

[Juby]

I saw one guy go down light fairly early, (I probably missed one too) and saw a couple people complain too much a couple times in the first 20ish but it's been pretty much honest hard football for like 20 minutes. And serbia would never admit it but they could actually have used montenegro, montenegro pretty much has vucinic and jovetic and they would be perfect next to zigic.

edit: half time, I would say serbia's the better team so far by virtue of coming a little closer with their chances, nothing really on target but they were fairly close a couple times, ghana's playing well but they haven't done much in the way of testing the keeper either.

[Grizzly]

I saw one guy go down light fairly early, (I probably missed one too) and saw a couple people complain too much a couple times in the first 20ish but it's been pretty much honest hard football for like 20 minutes. And serbia would never admit it but they could actually have used montenegro, montenegro pretty much has vucinic and jovetic and they would be perfect next to zigic.

edit: half time, I would say serbia's the better team so far by virtue of coming a little closer with their chances, nothing really on target but they were fairly close a couple times, ghana's playing well but they haven't done much in the way of testing the keeper either.

Fu.ck Serbia could use any country that had a few decent footballers!

[Juby]

awww don't be so mean, their a pretty good team, and I love how I always stop breathing when theirs a high ball whenever they play zigic, he's something like 200 cm! and he's pretty good with his feet for a big lad.

edit: ghana's been looking very dangerous the last few minutes (it's like the 55th)
edit: maaaaan, serbia had I think klasnic all alone in the box, he passed it to no one...
Zigic looked like he flubbed and amazing cross to his feet.
and ghana just hit the post on a corner. good friggin match this half so far

[Jeremy]

FIFA 2010: frustration, selfish play, acting and goal drought

[Juby]

well I can breathe normally again, zigic has been subbed out, the last 5ish minutes hasn;t been as exciting. and I saw one guy this half(I think it was lukovic) whininh and getting a call for falling mostly on his own but it honestly looked like he came an inch away from breaking his own leg. As I'm typling this, lukovic got a second yellow and is sent off, their saying it was a little harsh but he was clearly holding a guys arm soooo. it looked for a second like he was gonna pull a roberto brown and not leave.

[jpg75]

Even the Argie commentators on broadcast are complaining about the Argie ref. Most football fans here admit theey have some of the lousiest refs in the world. Baldassi certainly bad here, awarding questionable dives to the Serbs. Lukovic, defensive dive after his fault.

Guess he's living up to the rep. Most Argie refs are card happy, they hand them out like candy..

[beachesl]

FIFA 2010: frustration, selfish play, acting and goal drought

Not as bad as Italy in 2006 aand 1994.

[beachesl]

Typical. Ghana with the advantage too cautious, trying to avoid the balancing red.

[beachesl]

Serbia going great guns, good thing for Kingson!

[Jeremy]

Yay, Ghana

[beachesl]

penalty...please score

[Juby]

DID YOU SEE THAT, flubbed a shot from the penalty spot, nother guy picked it up and put it on target hard but kingson's was there
and yeah, the red doesn't decide as much as some might think, for the first tenish minutes most teams come out hard after losing a man and with so little time left.
PENALTY, another ****ing handball, this exact same thing happened twice last world cup, gaaaaawwwwddddd..........goal

[beachesl]

Justice...goal

[beachesl]

hOLD ON AND gana (win!) Ghana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[beachesl]

Vidic, jerk for ManU, jerk for Serbia

[beachesl]

First Afreeeeakin'victory in Afrcia! :)

[Juby]

ghana, shot, hits the inside of the post and bounced out in the 92nd. Pretty damn good game considering it was decided by a penalty.
Man, someone has to start tieing their hands behind their back if their never gonna stop with the damn handball.

[beachesl]

Yeah, maybe best match so far.

[Vic]

What's amazing about this world cup is the dozens of players who've been shot. I can't see the bullets but they must be coming from somewhere because I've seen 13 year old girls sever their ACL's and they aren't in even half the agony as these guys. They need an agony rule - the closer to death the ref thinks you are the longer he can keep you off the field for your own good. And teams intentionally stalling in the box to mess with the penalty shooter need to be carded. Shades of Edmonton in 2002. It's deliberate and it needs to be dealt with.

[Jeremy]

I think the super slow motion replays of the divers' and whiners' faces are just making things worse

[Juby]

What's amazing about this world cup is the dozens of players who've been shot. I can't see the bullets but they must be coming from somewhere because I've seen 13 year old girls sever their ACL's and they aren't in even half the agony as these guys. They need an agony rule - the closer to death the ref thinks you are the longer he can keep you off the field for your own good. And teams intentionally stalling in the box to mess with the penalty shooter need to be carded. Shades of Edmonton in 2002. It's deliberate and it needs to be dealt with.
Did I miss something? cause to be honest, I kept noticing how for the majority of the game, when their was a hard tackle, they might look to the ref to see if theirs a call but generally they got right back up and running without wasting much time?

edit: the funny thing is, is the guy who looked like he almost broke his leg (like on the replay, looking at his leg bend) used it to get the call but he was right back up on his feet without crying about it. (edit: after the call, but he was only on his butt for like a second.)

[Canuck Oranje]

Ghana looks like a team that could keep improving for as long as they stay in the tournament. Their attack has got to be one of the youngest in this tournament.

[nolando]

Why did the Ghana coach look so ticked off at the end of the match?

[Jeremy]

Why did the Ghana coach look so ticked off at the end of the match?

he's serbian

[canucklefan]

he's serbian

I thought it was a joke but it's true! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milovan_Rajevac

[BearcatSA]

For Serbia, I was expecting more from Krasic. Looked a peripheral channel chugging flank player most of the match though perhaps you'd think he could have been used on the left to more effect, possibly cutting in for a shot or an inside one-two with the Serbian Crouch or other striker.

[jpoma]

aside from few exciting moments, that was a boring game.

[jpoma]

Not as bad as Italy in 2006 aand 1994.

http://images.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/_photos/2006-07-09-italy-in.jpg

[beachesl]

http://images.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/_photos/2006-07-09-italy-in.jpg

hahaha, but still a disgrace to the sport

[loyola]

hahaha, but still a disgrace to the sport

But Brazil 2002 isn't??? The bias against Italy is amazing sometime.

BTW, good game but I thought a draw would've been a fair result. Anyways congrats to Ghana!