Oh well...

I was cheering for Slovenia and got quite a kick out of their goal, but the Spainish team obviously consists of better individuals. Needless to say, they deserved to win, but not much more than Slovenia. I think a draw would have been the fairest result.

The refereeing, on the other hand... :rolleyes:

i thought the referees was fine. the penalty was debateable but there was a case for it so the ref was justified to give it.

Spain were by far the better team. Their quick passing, one twos and skill dominated Slovenia, who only had a couple of good chances which they put one away.

This was Spain first, first game win in the world cup for 52 years :confused:, But they look good for at least a quater final place.

Well they are the team that always disappoint but this year they could do well. Especially since they managed to do moderately well at Euro 2000.

spain didn´t impress me. the lacked pace in almost everything they did.

but i know that they can play better.

Spain are my tip to win the tournement, and I am a big fan of spanish football (well when they play well anyway:crazyeye: )
I was glad to see them finally get off to a winning start!!!:eek:

I caught part of this one and the referees were absolutely horrible. When it was 2-1, one of the guys from Slovenia got knocked on his ass within the Spanish penalty area and there was no call, then later they called a penalty on Slovenia for tripping within their own penalty zone, and the guy clearly was going for the ball; he even hit the ball yet they called a trip. That resulted in a penalty shot and Spain's third goal. Horrible.

Originally posted by ApocalypseKurtz
he even hit the ball yet they called a trip. That resulted in a penalty shot and Spain's third goal.I agree. Yet another thing covered in the FIFA rulebook: A direct kick is to be awarded if a player tackles an opponent to gain possession of the ball, making contact with the opponent before touching the ball, which would imply the opposite in the opposite situation, that is, not awarding a direct kick if a player touches the ball before making contact with the opponent.

This has been mentioned more than once on a local tv show.

Originally posted by ApocalypseKurtz
When it was 2-1, one of the guys from Slovenia got knocked on his ass within the Spanish penalty area and there was no call,
Ah, but the Slovene moved off the ball to foul the spaniard! Had he just shot the damn ball, he may have scored. What a moron.

The spanish penalty should have been placed outside the box. Worse fouls another step inside the box routinely get the free kick placed outside the box. 2-1 should have been the final score, IMHO.

Originally posted by ApocalypseKurtz
When it was 2-1, one of the guys from Slovenia got knocked on his ass within the Spanish penalty area and there was no call

I saw that and shouted penalty as did the commentator and everybody in the room. I'm pretty sure the spectators were fooled as well, for when the action replay (close up) was shown we all, including the commentator, ate humble pie and congratulated the ref.

There was no physical contact between the Slovenian and the two Spaniards, and I was f****ng delighted that he got the yellow card, for to be able to dive the way he did and to fool so many people took practice. Cheating bastards like that deserve whats coming to them. Anyone see that Liverpool game in the UEFA cup the yyear they last one it, when the Deportivo player (or some other team in blue and white stripes) faked an injury and the ref was having none of it? Diabolical. I have no respect for players like that.

However the second penalty was more dubious and probably shouldn't have been given. But in reply to some previous comments, a foul in the box, no matter where in the box, is a penalty. Worse fouls further inside the box DO NOT EVER get put as free kicks outside the box. The idea behind the box is to be careful, and not reckless.

No way was the Spanish penalty a correct call. Or if it was, Slovenia should have gotten one for the earlier call. Romero had his arm all over that guy's back.

Originally posted by Baleog
However the second penalty was more dubious and probably shouldn't have been given. But in reply to some previous comments, a foul in the box, no matter where in the box, is a penalty. Worse fouls further inside the box DO NOT EVER get put as free kicks outside the box. The idea behind the box is to be careful, and not reckless.
Oh, come on. How many replays have shown that a trip really occurred a full step inside the box, only to be given a free kick just outside? Maybe I just remember them as being more frequent than they are, but it seems that this happens. Unless the foul is really hard or flagrant, anyway. I agree that a penalty is a penalty, I was just relating my observations.

On a tangent, I remember once reading about some group that studied tapes of corner kicks in top division level games. They found that there was an average of something like 7 free-kick-worthy fouls committed on each kick! (total by both sides) So not everything gets called, and relevance to the play does come into consideration...

Brazil's penalty today shouldn't have been a penalty. The player was fouled outside the box, began to fall outside the box and landed in the box. The referee got it wrong. You cannot say that he called the penalty because he felt Brazil deserved to win. I know that this is not exactly where you're coming from, but the principle is the same. Although the Turk did deserve to go.

If a referee calls a free kick/penalty wrong it tis because he didn't see exactly where the foul occured. Sympathy should not come in to it. If it did you would have heard about top league clubs sueing because of biased decisions.

"No way was the Spanish penalty a correct call. Or if it was, Slovenia should have gotten one for the earlier call. Romero had his arm all over that guy's back."

If you see the action replay, the Slovenian fell as if his knees/shins/feet had been taken out. If he had truly been fouled properly by an arm on his back, then he would have been bundled over; his feet staying on the ground at all times.
Hence a dive, and a brilliantly executed one at that.

Sometimes a player will let a very minor foul pass him by in the box out of sympathy, but if he decides to call a foul for any reason he cannot suddenly say it occured outside the box.