Oscar Winners of 2010 World Cup

[onetouch]

Cristiano Ronaldo definitely earned his nomination today!

[Left Foot]

Absolutely. DD, who thinks he is hot, was even disgusted by his acting.

[EWSoccer64]

Wouldn't it be great if Portugal went out in 3 games with C. Ronaldo not scoring a single goal?

[Squash]

Absolutely. DD, who thinks he is hot, was even disgusted by his acting.

It was one of the first thing your DD said at training today......how pathetic he was falling all the time and how poor of an example it is to young players. Congrats to her for recognizing poor showmanship and example on the field.

I think he went down a notch or two on the HOT meter because of it. 

[Left Foot]

Absolutely. DD, who thinks he is hot, was even disgusted by his acting.

It was one of the first thing your DD said at training today......how pathetic he was falling all the time and how poor of an example it is to young players. Congrats to her for recognizing poor showmanship and example on the field.

I think he went down a notch or two on the HOT meter because of it. 

Well, I might have taught her at least one thing then! The whole "I don't want to hear that you think some guy is hot" lesson didn't seem to work though.

Didn't grow up with soccer and the general approach to sports where I grew up was that you didn't show pain until a bone broke the skin. These guys grabbing there frickin' ankles and rolling around on the ground when absolutely no contact is made....and the refs buying it....hurt the popularity of the sport in the U.S. Don't get me wrong, I love watching soccer now, but I had to get past the Oscars in the beginning.

[EWSoccer64]

Absolutely. DD, who thinks he is hot, was even disgusted by his acting.

It was one of the first thing your DD said at training today......how pathetic he was falling all the time and how poor of an example it is to young players. Congrats to her for recognizing poor showmanship and example on the field.

I think he went down a notch or two on the HOT meter because of it. 

Well, I might have taught her at least one thing then! The whole "I don't want to hear that you think some guy is hot" lesson didn't seem to work though.

Didn't grow up with soccer and the general approach to sports where I grew up was that you didn't show pain until a bone broke the skin. These guys grabbing there frickin' ankles and rolling around on the ground when absolutely no contact is made....and the refs buying it....hurt the popularity of the sport in the U.S. Don't get me wrong, I love watching soccer now, but I had to get past the Oscars in the beginning.

Lefty, just because I always try to disagree with you .

Have you ever had the side of your shin raked with metal studs?
have you ever had your achilles tendon stabbed with a soccer boot?
Have you ever had your foot stomped on while wearing kangaroo uppers that are advertised as only weighing 1/100th of an ounce per square mile?


There are many, many things in soccer that do not show blood or broken bones but cause pain, discomfort, and the lessening of ability to execute properly.   
So says someone who has broken his big toe, his thigh bone, his nose, three ribs, and various other parts of his body playing soccer.  (And I never left the game when I broke my big toe - no foul - and returned after breaking the nose - yes, a foul.)

Now that I have disagreed with you properly, and shown what a "he-man" I as a former soccer player was, I have to agree with you that too many professional soccer players go for the Oscar when an opponent breathes on them too heavily.  Crybaby Ronaldo is one of them.

[poolboy]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6j88_italian-soccer-team-faking-injuries_fun

[switchit]

There are many, many things in soccer that do not show blood or broken bones but cause pain, discomfort, and the lessening of ability to execute properly.   
[/quote]

Wow, I might normally find myself disagreeing with Lefty, and might find myself occasionally agreeing with EW.  However, EW this time you are perpetuating many of the problems with these actors and the game.

I grew up playing the other football, and having my azz beat every day to proportions that FAR exceeded "pain, discomfort, and the lessening of ability to execute properly."  But we stepped back up to the line of scrimmage every play without the histrionics and ran the next play.

Having delved into this beautiful game fully with my DD and first born, I am proud to watch her team refuse to wobble when fouled severely.  Of course this leads to never receiving an actual foul because the refs at the younger ages only call fouls if a player is actually knocked over.  And many times the offender is the one that actually falls over and gets a foul called in their benefit.  In fact I have heard a ref at U12 comment to parents begging for a foul in a physical matchup and state, " relax, at this age they do not intentionally foul or knock over another girl."  Hello, WTH are you watching?  If you don't believe a U12 girl will dump another intentionally on their arse when then know you won't call a foul, then you sir are living in a fantasy world!

My intelligent daughter has pointed this out and asked if she should be falling to get a foul called.  I have proudly and demonstratively told her you do not fall unless hit so hard to knock you off your feet!  Always battle through the contact and never expect or need a foul called to benefit you.

[Left Foot]

Absolutely. DD, who thinks he is hot, was even disgusted by his acting.

It was one of the first thing your DD said at training today......how pathetic he was falling all the time and how poor of an example it is to young players. Congrats to her for recognizing poor showmanship and example on the field.

I think he went down a notch or two on the HOT meter because of it. 

Well, I might have taught her at least one thing then! The whole "I don't want to hear that you think some guy is hot" lesson didn't seem to work though.

Didn't grow up with soccer and the general approach to sports where I grew up was that you didn't show pain until a bone broke the skin. These guys grabbing there frickin' ankles and rolling around on the ground when absolutely no contact is made....and the refs buying it....hurt the popularity of the sport in the U.S. Don't get me wrong, I love watching soccer now, but I had to get past the Oscars in the beginning.

Lefty, just because I always try to disagree with you .

Have you ever had the side of your shin raked with metal studs?
have you ever had your achilles tendon stabbed with a soccer boot?
Have you ever had your foot stomped on while wearing kangaroo uppers that are advertised as only weighing 1/100th of an ounce per square mile?


There are many, many things in soccer that do not show blood or broken bones but cause pain, discomfort, and the lessening of ability to execute properly.   
So says someone who has broken his big toe, his thigh bone, his nose, three ribs, and various other parts of his body playing soccer.  (And I never left the game when I broke my big toe - no foul - and returned after breaking the nose - yes, a foul.)

Now that I have disagreed with you properly, and shown what a "he-man" I as a former soccer player was, I have to agree with you that too many professional soccer players go for the Oscar when an opponent breathes on them too heavily.  Crybaby Ronaldo is one of them.

You make my point -- you didn't leave the game AND folks fall down like they are shot when no contact is made. At least we didn't hear a shout out for  ;Dgamesmanship/cheating!

[Tosser]

Cristiano Ronaldo definitely earned his nomination today!

That cry baby should get his own lifetime achievement award - who else can claim 300 dives per season?  He has single-footedly stolen the diving championship from the entire Serie A league. 

Of course, in some cases, he was just watching a tackle on someone else when he fell over clutching his ankle...

[Brat Jr]

Oscar Winners of 2010 World Cup

the nomination goes to the Refs for making us believe they knew what they were doing!

[Str8red]

Switchit that is very admirable but it's not dishonest to play for the foul by falling when you've been kicked or hit or pushed or held or whatever. I'm not talking about flopping when there's been no contact at all.

But suppose you're running into the penalty area with the ball at your feet. The dimwit defender crashes into you; you struggle to keep your feet but you're knocked off balance and can only manage a feeble poke at the ball and it bounces harmlessly out of play. Your team would benefit a great deal more if you fell down and earned the PK. This is not cheating. It's playing smarter than the defender.

Why would you put yourself and your team at a disadvantage by trying to play through a foul in those circumstances?

[Squash]

I'd like to nominate the entire Italian team for their first half display of acting well enough to win multiple Oscar nominations...Pathetic 

[duffer]

Switchit that is very admirable but it's not dishonest to play for the foul by falling when you've been kicked or hit or pushed or held or whatever. I'm not talking about flopping when there's been no contact at all.

But suppose you're running into the penalty area with the ball at your feet. The dimwit defender crashes into you; you struggle to keep your feet but you're knocked off balance and can only manage a feeble poke at the ball and it bounces harmlessly out of play. Your team would benefit a great deal more if you fell down and earned the PK. This is not cheating. It's playing smarter than the defender.

Why would you put yourself and your team at a disadvantage by trying to play through a foul in those circumstances?

Well great players and real goal scores stay on there feet at all cost the great thing about flopers is there exsposed in these games with the slow motion replay and there ability to flop is taken away becouse refs look for it in the next game This is exacly why some great forward become average when exsposed! not to mention the lost of respect from the fans YES you SHITBAG CHEATERS CALL IT part of the game I call PUSSY BALL sadle up cowboys!

[Str8red]

Wow. I hadn't thought of it that way, Duffer. You are exactly right. Well said.

[famj]

Koman Coulibaly of Mali, who was on the sideline Sunday as a fourth referee  - ok, he was there, but we can't blame him for center biting on the dive for the PK in the first half!   

[Str8red]

OK, so which is it?

Our guys get headlocked and mugged and we think the referee should have given the goal, and if not that, then a PK.

NZ defender grabs a fistful of shirt to hold an Italian attacker going for the ball, and when the attacker goes down to win the PK, we call it a dive.

I think if the Coulibaly call had come at the other end of the field, and disallowed a winner for the Slovenians, we'd all be talking about what a brave referee he is.

[EWSoccer64]

OK, so which is it?

Our guys get headlocked and mugged and we think the referee should have given the goal, and if not that, then a PK.

NZ defender grabs a fistful of shirt to hold an Italian attacker going for the ball, and when the attacker goes down to win the PK, we call it a dive.

I think if the Coulibaly call had come at the other end of the field, and disallowed a winner for the Slovenians, we'd all be talking about what a brave referee he is.

Only if he had some cause to call it back.   Otherwise we would have been talking about how lucky we were that the blind idiot ref called it in our favor, for once, finally, after all the crap we have had to endure from referees in the past.

[Squash]

OK, so which is it?

Our guys get headlocked and mugged and we think the referee should have given the goal, and if not that, then a PK.

NZ defender grabs a fistful of shirt to hold an Italian attacker going for the ball, and when the attacker goes down to win the PK, we call it a dive.

I think if the Coulibaly call had come at the other end of the field, and disallowed a winner for the Slovenians, we'd all be talking about what a brave referee he is.

I'll only comment on the italian pk..... the shirt pull was for about half a second and barely anything, the acting however was Oscar worthy. It was embarrassing. Their acting the entire game team wide was pathetic and gross against a team they were clearly better than.....just play the game and work harder to win in a legitimate way. Continuing to act only ruins the game for people who do not know the sport and are watching the games during the World Cup.... possibly for the first time. I personally would like to see more cards given for the flopping so players would just stop with the acting and start with the playing the way they are supposed to.

Win on the field in an admirable way....... or take a job up in hollywood. 

I can live with the no calls more than the calls that involve so much acting it gives the game a bad name.

[Str8red]

When a guy kicks you in the leg, you've been fouled. When a guy holds onto your shirt while you're trying to win a header in the penalty area, you have every right to think you've been fouled.

[Squash]

When a guy kicks you in the leg, you've been fouled. When a guy holds onto your shirt while you're trying to win a header in the penalty area, you have every right to think you've been fouled.

Next they will all be wearing skirts 

[famj]

and the winner of the next Oscar is...the Ivory Coast player who ran into Kaka, took an elbow in the chest for his troubles and fell down grabbing his head like he had been shot!     I've heard of players being suspended post game for fouls missed during the game but caught on video replay after the game.  How about we start suspending players for dives?  On the Italian PK, at least the NZ player had actually grabbed the Italian.  True, he went down way too easily and I don't think the PK should have been awarded, but at least there was SOME contact.  Running into a player with your chest and dropping to the ground holding your head?  He should be suspended for the next game not Kaka!  Would agree that Dunga also blew it by not removing Kaka when he was sitting on a yellow in a game that was getting out of hand, but that's another issue!

[onetouch]

and the winner of the next Oscar is...the Ivory Coast player who ran into Kaka, took an elbow in the chest for his troubles and fell down grabbing his head like he had been shot!     I've heard of players being suspended post game for fouls missed during the game but caught on video replay after the game.  How about we start suspending players for dives?  On the Italian PK, at least the NZ player had actually grabbed the Italian.  True, he went down way too easily and I don't think the PK should have been awarded, but at least there was SOME contact.  Running into a player with your chest and dropping to the ground holding your head?  He should be suspended for the next game not Kaka!  Would agree that Dunga also blew it by not removing Kaka when he was sitting on a yellow in a game that was getting out of hand, but that's another issue!

I think Dunga should be happy that Kaka will sit out the next meaningless game and get over the yellow card. Would be worse if Kaka got a yellow next game and miss an elimination game.
I agree that the call was terrible but it may work out just fine for Brazil.

[Left Foot]

All of this certainly leaves one with the sense that 22 players on a pitch larger than a football field just can't be effectively refereed by the number of refs currently used WITHOUT the help of some kind of instant replay.

We have the cameras in place to put the lie to so much of the acting, but no apparent way to "ACT" on the info. I fear it is really painting the game in a bad light this time around.

How do you miss 2 hand balls? And did you see the shot of the referee discussing the call with Fabiano in a joking manner?

Supposed head shots by  with no contact or contact to other parts of the body?

Falling to the ground and writhing in pain for 5 minutes when absolutely no contact was made?

Saw a Chilean get a yellow for diving against the Swiss and, for all the diving we've seen, not the worst flop worst of the lot since the Swiss player did slide under the Chilean and would have tripped him if he hadn't pulled his leg back quickly. Most folks would have left their feet like the Chilean to avoid injury.

For gosh sakes, I already don't watch Baseball because Barry Bonds has the HR title and can't stomach the NBA because the refs seem intent on determining who wins each game!! Please, Squash, call someone at FIFA and get them to do something quick!

[Shuksan]

and the winner of the next Oscar is...the Ivory Coast player who ran into Kaka, took an elbow in the chest for his troubles and fell down grabbing his head like he had been shot!     I've heard of players being suspended post game for fouls missed during the game but caught on video replay after the game.  How about we start suspending players for dives?  On the Italian PK, at least the NZ player had actually grabbed the Italian.  True, he went down way too easily and I don't think the PK should have been awarded, but at least there was SOME contact.  Running into a player with your chest and dropping to the ground holding your head?  He should be suspended for the next game not Kaka!  Would agree that Dunga also blew it by not removing Kaka when he was sitting on a yellow in a game that was getting out of hand, but that's another issue!

A bunch of us saw the IC foul on Kaka at Starfire on Sunday.  While I would agree that replays may interfere with the game, I would think that there is a compromise where there is a review after the game and cards issued for simulation (and only simulation).  While the immediate impact may not be felt during the game (assuming the refs are still doing their job), players should know that there are consequences for this type of behavior.

[meluvsoccer]

ITALY -

The Country who cries WOLF!

[EWSoccer64]

  The solution is simple, and it will not stop the play of the game.  Have a review panel look over the gamefilms afterwards and award suspensions for violent fouls not seen by the referees during the game and for feigning a foul.

[Midfield General]

  The solution is simple, and it will not stop the play of the game.  Have a review panel look over the gamefilms afterwards and award suspensions for violent fouls not seen by the referees during the game and for feigning a foul.

This would certainly reduce the number of times it happens, but wouldn't stop it in big games unless the penalty for being caught was huge. If you can influence the outcome without penalty during the game, some players will still take that opportunity. They may think twice about doing it in a meaningless qualification game or group game, but in a close knockout game they will do whatever they can to win if they know it will not hurt them until later, and they will probably be coached to do whatever it takes to get the win as well.

[EWSoccer64]

  The solution is simple, and it will not stop the play of the game.  Have a review panel look over the gamefilms afterwards and award suspensions for violent fouls not seen by the referees during the game and for feigning a foul.

This would certainly reduce the number of times it happens, but wouldn't stop it in big games unless the penalty for being caught was huge. If you can influence the outcome without penalty during the game, some players will still take that opportunity. They may think twice about doing it in a meaningless qualification game or group game, but in a close knockout game they will do whatever they can to win if they know it will not hurt them until later, and they will probably be coached to do whatever it takes to get the win as well.

It would seriously cut down on the pattern of flops and fakery, and the less number of examples present would likely be held up to greater ridicule.  Which would further cut down on the incidents.  No it is not perfect, but it is a relatively easy and simple fix that will dramatically cut down on the problem.

[Old Dog]

OK, so which is it?

Our guys get headlocked and mugged and we think the referee should have given the goal, and if not that, then a PK.

NZ defender grabs a fistful of shirt to hold an Italian attacker going for the ball, and when the attacker goes down to win the PK, we call it a dive.

I think if the Coulibaly call had come at the other end of the field, and disallowed a winner for the Slovenians, we'd all be talking about what a brave referee he is.

I disagree with your thoughts here. We have seen what is allowed in the box as set forth by all the other games that had been played before this game in question. The shirt pull did not warrant (as seen in all the other games, but yes against the rules)the PK call but I believe he called the PK on the flop. But we should also remember that FIFA issued a warning to all teams that grabing in the box on set pieces would be called a lot closer. I have heard about assult charges sticking for a lot less contact. By the way, traveling in basketball is also against the rules but I witnessed plenty of that in the finals just last week.