<p>Mexico/South Africa on right now, 42'. Uruguay/France on at 2:30 EST I believe.</p>
<p>Mexico just got hosed big time on that offsides call. This game should be 1-0. That SA defender was unseen by the linesman. Color of the jerseys blending in with the crowd by any chance?</p>
<p>We can’t dwell on that call. </p>
<p>South Africa needs to get some more touches on the ball if they’re going to win. Mexico’s had more possession of the ball and many more chances to score</p>
<p>Go figure - Harambee, you picked not only the draw but the right score to get 3 full pts. SA definitely dominated the first half of the 2nd period, but then Mexico got momentum for the last 25 and luckily picked up the game-tying goal to pick up a point.</p>
<p>How about that style by Mexico of all-out attack in the last few minutes? Almost cost them that goal on the shot that went off the left post.</p>
<p>South Africa had a couple of opportunities to win that game, oh well. At least they kept the record alive of host nations not losing in the opening round. Either way, it’s still a win for South Africa. The fact that SA as the 83rd ranked team held their own against 17th ranked Mexico is something that Bafana Bafana should be impressed with.</p>
<p>Ahhh Im so excited about this. I looooove soccer and of course I wanted South Africa to win. But oh well. </p>
<p>But over all I want Spain to take the world cup. That would make my summer!! :D</p>
<p>That game, especially the last 15 minutes, was an embarrassment for France. They could have had 11v7 and still wouldn’t score.</p>
<p>Why does France find it impossible to finish?</p>
<p>At least they didn’t lose.</p>
<p>I’m a bit anti Thierry Henry still.(France)</p>
<p>Who do u guys thinks gonna take it home?</p>
<p>^any African team.</p>
<p>anybody else think it was funny that Henry was asking for a handball?</p>
<p>Well it was a handy and should have been a PK. But if you are asking did anybody see the irony, then yes, I saw the irony immediately. Karma! :p</p>
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How could he be “unseen” when it was the right call? Regardless, it was a good performance by both sides.</p>
<p>I don’t see why everyone sees France as a heavyweight…they barely qualified on a handball.</p>
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Actually, that SA defender was plainly seen by the linesman. Do you understand the rules of soccer? Offsides by definition is when an attacking player is closer to the opposing goal than the either or both of the two defending players closest to their own goal. However, since the keeper is almost always closer to the goal than any attacking player, one can usually judge offsides by whether the defender nearest to his goal is closer than the attacking player or not. In today’s game, the SA keeper was further out from the goal than Vela and only one SA defender was closer than Vela to the goal, thus Vela was offsides.</p>
<p>lol I was at school the time of the game. Since our year is basically done, 2 of my teachers decided to turn the game on at the end. During lunch, we saw the SA goal which was sexy as hell, then everyone once the mexico goal was scored was like **** MEXICO!</p>
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<p>I wasn’t sure whether it touched his hand, but in that position it was a moot point. They made the right call.</p>
<p>And is this thread really official?</p>
<p>To be honest Brazil, Italy, and Spain are likely to get the world cup. As much as I would like the U.S. to win, we kinds suck compared to them.</p>
<p>Not that Italy’s all that great.</p>
<p>Italy’s gone down with age. They need some youth on that team. I understand you have skill in Pirlo and the whatnot, but we need from youth on that team.</p>
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<p>You are right. I just read an article about this so I take back what I said about the ref. Good call, very good call. The thing is that it is such a rare situation when the goalie is the 2nd closest defender because, well by virtue of his position, the goalie is almost always standing on top of or directly in front of the goal line.</p>
<p>I was unaware of the full rule of offsides - I just knew the concept on how it applies to everyday soccer matches, but now I know the full rule.</p>
<p>And Italy was lucky to get out of the group last world cup, and they got through the 2nd round only because of a gift penalty in stoppage time (or close).</p>